The One Thing Needful

THE ONE THING NEEDFUL.

Luke 10: 38 – 42

Sermon by:

Prof Dr. A. Baars

PUBLISHED BY THE
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

OF THE

FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.

(January 2006)

LITURGY:

Votum

Psalter 163

Law of God

Scripture Reading: Luke 10: 25 – 42

Text: Luke 10: 38 – 42

Psalter 71: 3, 4

Congregational Prayer

Offerings

Psalter 64

Sermon

Psalter 203: 1, 2, 3, 5

Thanksgiving Prayer

Psalter 428: 5

Doxology: Psalter 197

Congregation,

The text for this sermon is taken from the portion of scripture that was read to you, namely, Luke 10: 38-42. “Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Shouldn’t we all go into the monastery? You may think that this is a strange question. However, this is the way our text has been explained for many a century. Martha stands for the so called active life. The life of you and me, people that are married, have a family, have a business or work for someone else. But that is not the easiest way to have it, according to the early Roman Catholic theologians. That is a difficult way to go to heaven. A way in which you are much distracted as Martha was. The straight way to heaven is represented by Mary. She was sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and listening to His words, this stands for the contemplative type of way, the life in the monastery. Occasionally, we too, think that in the midst of all the turmoil of modern life that we would like a quiet place to sit and meditate. This in itself is good. A place in solitude is not so bad after all. But…is this the meaning of the text?

We hope to see it with the help of the Lord. The theme of the sermon is:

“The One Thing Needful”

1. Mary and the one thing needful. She was searching for it while she was sitting at feet of the Lord Jesus Christ listening to His Word.
2. Martha and the one thing needful. She was forgetting all about it, being distracted by many things.
3. Jesus and the one thing needful. We will look at the last part of the text, “and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

It is true of all passages of scripture that they should be read in the context of the chapter, and this is particularly true of this passage. Let us go back to the beginning of our scripture reading. “A certain man called a lawyer, better translated as a scribe, someone who is really interested and occupied with studying the law of God, this man came to the Lord Jesus Christ while He was traveling in the direction of Jerusalem. He came with the question, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Now, you will agree with me that that was a good question. Sometimes, when I pastor a congregation, I wish that more of the parishioners would ask this question. “What shall Ido to inherit eternal life?” But, on closer investigation, you will see that this was also a loaded question. He didn’t come to the Lord Jesus to be taught by Him about the kingdom of heaven and about entering the kingdom, and wanting to know the Lord personally. No. He came as we read in scripture to “tempt the Lord”. He wanted to trap Him, and catch something that was amiss in His sayings. “What shall I do to enter eternal life?” The Lord spoke in a most remarkable way.

For, He says to him, “What is written in the law?” You are a lawyer, a man who has studied the law of God and should therefore know all its implications, so, what does the law say about this question that you have posed to me? The man replies that he already knows the answer for it is recorded in Deuteronomy that” Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” To that answer, the Lord Jesus simply says, “Well, that is what you should do.” Your answer is correct. Do this and thou shalt live. The Lord says nothing more. Why? For two reasons, firstly, the Lord knew what was in the heart of this man and that he came for wrong reasons. He didn’t come with a burdened heart. Secondly, the Lord Jesus answers very often with a word from the Word of God. He wants the questioner to dwell on the word which had been given to the people of Israel in ages past. But, the man was not completely satisfied. He still wanted to trap the Lord Jesus, and for that reason, he says, “Who then is my neighbor?” The Lord then begins to explain in a most beautiful way who his neighbor is by relating the parable of the Good Samaritan. In it, he explains what it means to be neighbor to someone else. But, something is lacking!

The Lord has only answered the question, who is my neighbor. But what about the first and most important part of the law of God? “Thou shalt love

the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with all thy strength and all thy soul and with all thy mind?” Maybe this question was also present in the minds of some of the disciples. The gospel writer, Luke, who was guided by the Holy Spirit, adds this story, our text, to the whole conversation with this scribe after relating the parable of the Good Samaritan. One of the reasons that Luke wrote his gospel was to show how to love God with all the heart. The more I read the gospel of Luke, the more I see these lines of thought. Luke’s special way of arranging things, and things that he should write guided by the Spirit about the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a purpose behind it all, namely, to teach us.

And so, we come to this well-known story. We read here that the Lord Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, came to a village called Bethany, and in this village lived friends under whose roof He often stayed. In the small house lived Martha, Mary and Lazarus. In the beginning of the text, we read, that Martha received Him in her house. Maybe this is an indication that Martha really owned the house, as some old scholars have indicated. Martha had been married briefly, had become widowed, and then invited her single sister and brother to live with her. But, it is really her house. This is also evident from what follows, for we read that Martha was busy doing all the things that was necessary to make the stay of Jesus and His disciples pleasant.

When the Lord Jesus came to the house of Martha, and sat down with His disciples, Martha was busy fussing and doing all the preparations, while Mary was sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus hearing His Words. We should realize what this expression, “sitting at His feet” means.

Comparing scripture with scripture, this expression means at least three things. Firstly, the most obvious, “sitting at one’s feet” means that you are one’s disciple, a student. The apostle Paul, when he was young, sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel or Gamaliel the great was the most influential scribe in the Jewish history in that day and age. So when Paul says that he has been sitting at the feet of such a one, he means to say that he was a student of this Gamaliel. To some degree he was also very proud of this fact. And in this context, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing what He was saying. She was listening to Him as a teacher and she was the pupil.

She was a female disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. In scripture we read of women serving the Lord Jesus, which is a beautiful expression too. But most importantly, she was a disciple of the Lord. In this story we see an example of one who listened to His voice, and wanted to be instructed by Him. This is an important aspect of our text and worthy of our attention.

We live in a day and age in which there are many distracting things, things that occupy our minds and hearts. You find this in our society and also in our churches. It is most important that we know this great secret, this great mystery of godliness namely, to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. To listen to His voice, this means, that we come to the services to hear the proclamation of the word of the living Christ. We should also open the scriptures personally and as a family and listen to the voice of the Lord as He speaks to us through His word. We should also read good material that shows us the riches and treasures of the word of the living God. We need to plead and pray that the Lord would open the scriptures to us, that we might be fed by the Word of God. Is that your desire? Has the Word become a lamp unto your feet? Do you desire above every else to be taught by the Word of the living God? “Lord, wilt Thou speak to me!” Our minds can be so darkened and occupied by all the things that happen in life, many images may flash in our mind, many voices are heard in our mind, and yet, it is so important to come before the Lord empty handed and have just one desire, namely, that the Lord would speak to me. Wilt Thou instruct me? That is something that all the children of God have learned, no matter how different the ways in which the Lord has dealt with them, all have become teachable as Calvin wrote. That means that they desire to be taught. Do you know these things personally?

Calvin very seldom writes about his own personal life, but one precious comment that he made in his introduction to his commentary on the Psalms is this,” God converted me suddenly and I became teachable”. This is not only true in the beginning of spiritual life, but also seen and experienced more as you mature on the way of salvation. “ Lord, I need to be taught” and I love to sit at Thy holy feet and listen to Thy words, O grant me opportunities, moments in which I may listen and experience that through the power of the Holy Spirit, that Thy word is a power also to my soul unto salvation. That is the first thing, “sitting at His feet”.

Secondly, when we compare scripture with scripture, we should also realize that in the Word of God whenever we read of people sitting at His feet it means that they bow or kneel at His feet in order to pour out their hearts. We read of Jairus, who daughter was very ill, coming to the Lord Jesus, and fell at His feet and cried, “O Lord, remember me and my poor daughter”. The feet of the Lord Jesus in scripture is also the place where poor, lost and undone sinners like Mary and you and I may pour out our hearts. Mary didn’t only listen, which is very important, but she also could ask questions such as” Lord, clarify this for me”. She also could bring her needs to the Lord as the Psalmist says,” pour ye out your hearts before me”. This is also a very important aspect of spiritual life. It is also part of the one thing needful. We need to know of these moments, of the life of prayer. May I ask you my young friends, and older ones, do we know this important aspect of pouring out our hearts, of confessing our sins, confessing that we are poor and undone. If we know nothing of this, it is important that we bow before Him, confess our sins and guilt and the hardness of our heart. And even when we know of the grace of God, and know much of this grace, we frequently need to come to the Lord confessing our sins especially against the special care of the living God which can become so painful to the true people of God. We need to confess them and we should confess them. Those that humbly wait for Him may bring all their needs and confess them at His feet. All our cares and all that relates to our diseases, our pains, our problems and the crosses that we are called to carry. They may be hidden or known crosses, but whatever it may be, we need to pour out our hearts before Him. And then the beautiful line of thought found in our text is this that we may bring all our needs before the Lord in order to be taught by Him, that we then may hear His voice in order to bring our needs unto the Lord. It all belongs to the ONE THING NEEDFUL.

The last aspect is this that sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus is a place of rest in the midst of all the turmoil of sin, of unbelief and doubts. A place of rest for Mary while all the things were happening around her. Think of the verse from Mark 5 where it describes the man possessed by a legion of devils, a man considered very dangerous by those who knew him, people were afraid of him, and consequently bound him. By the power of the devils he broke all the chains. And now the Lord Jesus came to him in the land east of Jordan and east of the Sea of Galilee, and with a word of His power He broke the power of the devil in this demon-possessed man. When the

people came to see the Lord Jesus they saw this same man sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed and in a right mind, the text says. Sitting there, at ease in great spiritual rest! The Lord Jesus says it Himself, in Matthew 11”Come unto Me all ye that are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest”. Do you know what this rest is that the Lord Jesus provides? It is this, when you may sit at His feet and listen to His words, and pour out your heart to Him. Then you experience something of the sweet communion while sitting at His feet.

Someone may ask “where can I find this blessed rest?” Obviously, you cannot go to the Lord Jesus and physically sit at His feet. Our bodily eyes cannot see Him any longer here on earth because He has ascended into heaven. But He is the same yesterday, today and forever! That means that in a more hidden and veiled way, He is still the same Lord Jesus and He still wants to dwell among His people, through and under His word. He has given His invitations to poor, lost and undone sinners to come unto Him and He will give them rest. The Christian Sabbath is especially the Day of Rest in a spiritual sense. Then we may sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus, not seeing Him with these eyes but hearing His voice in the Word read. We may hear that all those who are heavy burdened and laden with guilt may pour out their heart at His feet and find rest. That is the ONE THING NEEDFUL.

Let us now look at Martha, Mary’s sister. Before I continue, let me say that we should not deal with Martha too harshly. Sometimes that is done. Recently, I read in a sermon in which Martha was described as full of unbelief. It is true that she wasn’t doing the right thing here, for she erred and grieved the Lord. But notwithstanding, she was a true child of God. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that Martha truly loved the Lord, truly feared the Lord and had received a new heart. And on the occasion of the death of her brother Lazarus, in John 11, you may have noticed that Martha had more faith at that particular moment than Mary. She had more confidence in what the Lord could do, even though her brother had died. So let it be clear to all that Martha was a true child of God. Again, although she was a child of God she could err. This must be emphasized.

Today, we hear of God’s people or those who consider themselves to be God’s people, who feel themselves beyond reprove and warnings. They don’t need humbling instruction from the Word of God, for after all they

have arrived. They are people of God. That is not what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us that God’s children, even God’s dearest servants may err. Think of Peter who denied His Lord and Savior. A terrible thing! Then there is Martha. She didn’t deny the Lord with words explicitly but it can be seen in her whole behavior that she didn’t love the Lord with ALL her heart, with all soul and with all her mind and with all her strength.