The Christian Women's Challenge: Choosing the Better Part

Okay, turn with me to Luke, the gospel of Luke, chapter 14. I feel old, all of a sudden. Mother's Day in the life of the church is a great time, not only to honor mothers, but to honor all women because they have a very special place and role in the life of the church and in the work of God. Peter warned husbands in his epistle that they watch out that they not value their wives as finally crafted works of art that God has created for his own work, and also to value them as equal errors of the manifold grace of God. He says, if you don't, it's going to hinder your prayers. It's very significant how you treat your wife. In the creation account, God that we read this morning, God deems it necessary to teach Adam the value of having a helper fit for him, a wife.

And so what he does is, first of all, he allows Adam to feel what it's like to live in this world without a wife. And then he takes him on a tour through a zoo. And he has him name all the animals, and the thing that Adam notices that every animal has a helper fit for it, a one to stand alongside. And he recognizes that there is no helper fit for him. He allows him to sense his need. And then, of course, he puts him to sleep and takes a rib out of his side, closes the side back up, fixes the wound, and then from that rib, it says, God formed a woman. He built Eve out of Adam's rib out of his side. Now out of his head to be over him, not out of his leg to be under him, but out of his side to be alongside of him.

And he calls her a helper that's fit for him. Sometimes that upsets radical feminists for Christians to say that the woman is the helper fit for the man. But it's one of the most lofty terms in all the Bible. It's used 22 times in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word is there. It's used 22 times and 18 times it's used to refer to God. He is our helper. So the woman has a very God-like role in the life of her husband, not to rule over him, but to help him in ways that he desperately needs. Another problem, though, in being a helper, as God designed the woman to be, is that you can get really busy. You can become very, very busy people, especially in our world today. I mean, Eve didn't have a minivan, and there were no little leagues.

I hear of some parents who have five kids and five on five different teams, and those kinds of things. We have Judy Sisters raising two of her grandchildren, and they're both soccer players. And we were down there one time, and we went to take them to their soccer games, and we had to go to two different locations, and you run back and forth of these soccer games. That's that. Wow. What an assignment. Women, especially, can be very busy. I did miss a lot of Frankie's football games and basketball games. I went to as many as I could, and I went to most of them, but I did miss a lot. But his mother had a responsibility, you know, to go to all those things and to participate in all those things.

That's how it is. And in thousands of churches today, preachers are preaching on Proverbs 31, and women are thinking, oh, brother, how am I ever going to live up to this? I'm busy enough as it is. I can barely, my tongue is hanging out. I can barely keep up with what I have, and now I'm being told I have to what? And make some wise investments, and make some income for the family, and go buy some real estate, and learn how to deal in the affairs of this world, and help my husband even more. What I want to do today is to go in the opposite direction. I want to look at Luke 14, where Jesus gives some good advice to busy women. He gives it to a busy woman, but I think by application, it's great counsel to all busy women.

That's what Jesus is going to do here in Luke chapter 14. Let me read the story to you, beginning in Luke 14, no, Luke 10, boy, I'm looking at Luke 14. There's no verses there like that. I guess I am getting old. That gray hair is probably from dead brain cells. Verse 38, Luke 10. Now as they were traveling along, he entered a certain village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home, and she had a sister called Mary, who moreover was listening to the Lord's word, seated at his feet. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me. The Lord answered and said to her, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things.

But only, and quite literally, it says, probably the best texts it says, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Now the setting here in verse 38 is that Jesus is traveling along with his disciples. He is making his way along, and this isn't really put in the historical setting of Luke 11. He kind of puts this here, but what we do know about this incident is about four months before the arrest and trial and crucifixion of Jesus. But he is traveling along with his disciples, and probably a few others that are traveling with him, and it says that he, in contrast to all of them, decides to go into Bethany and to visit some people that are very important to him, some close friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

This is before the resurrection of Lazarus, but these were very good friends of Jesus. He knew they had the kind of home that he would love to spend an evening there with him to rest, and also to have fellowship with him, and so he turns aside. And the implication of the verse is that the disciples didn't go with him into Bethany. They traveled on, or they stayed where it was that he left them, but he goes, and he makes a personal call upon this family. And it says that Martha, when he meets up with Martha, whether that was at the house or she saw him on the city streets, it says that she invites him into her home, and quite literally it says that she invites him under her roof. She wants him to be a house guest.

They have that kind of friendship and relationship, and so Martha is excited about having him, and you can tell by the account there's real eagerness with her that once more, she's going to have Jesus as a guest in her home, and she wants to treat him as an honored guest. This is a disciple of Jesus Christ, this Martha. What we know about her from the other accounts, then we have a couple of others, we know that she's a hard worker. She's a leader in her home. She's probably the older sister of the home, and said to be her, so she may be the oldest in the family, even older than Lazarus. She has this younger sister, and she is welcoming Jesus into her home so that she could minister to him. That's what she wants to do.

She wants the minister to Jesus because she loves Jesus, and she is one of his disciples. But then notice in verse 39, we have this simple little statement. It's all it says about Mary, but it's really what this story is about, and Martha's reaction to it. It says in verse 39, and she had a sister called, actually, Mariam, who, moreover, was listening to the Lord's words, seated at his feet. Now, we don't know for sure, but there's certainly the implication that she may have been at his feet because she had just washed his feet. That was the normal custom that when you entered into a home, and if you were treated as a special guest, that either the lowest servant, or the lowest person in rank, would wash your feet.

You remember the account just a couple chapters before this, in chapter seven, when Jesus goes into the house of a certain Pharisee. And the Pharisee doesn't wash his feet. He doesn't treat him, creating with a kiss, and so forth. And when this woman who comes in, and some actually believe this woman that comes into wash Jesus' feet in Simon's house there in Luke 7, is this same Mary. I don't know that it is, but it very well could have been. And she comes in and begins to wash his feet, because you see, this was the role of the lowly servant. And it was an expression of love and affection. It was an expression of wanting to serve Jesus in a most intimate way. Also, in this text, although it's not translated, it implies that this was just one of the things that she did was sitting and listening to him, and it implies that something else had gone on.

And so we assume that she probably had washed his feet, because as he traveled along the road, which it says he had been doing, on those dirt roads, with sandals, his feet would be very dusty and dirty. And so it was a common practice when you went into the house, into a home where you were a guest, they would wash your feet. In fact, as you know, Jesus made this, a picture in the upper room, washing one another's feet of lowly service and love for each other. And he says, this is how we ought to serve each other as servants, that ought to be our attitude. And so here Mary takes the role of a servant. And not she positions herself here as a servant. And so if you can imagine her, Jesus sitting on something like a couch, a demand that has pillows on it, probably cross-legged, then she got down, and she began to wash his feet.

And she is there at the feet of Jesus, interestingly enough, in the book of Luke, this is almost a recurring theme, that you have over and over again people at the feet of Jesus. Peter, when Jesus caused a supernatural thing to happen, when they had been fishing all night and caught no fish, and Jesus said to them, put your nest out on the other side of the boat, and they did, and they caught a great catch. And when Peter got back to the shore, he fell at the feet of Jesus. He worshiped him. There are other accounts, and in Luke 7, as I mentioned, the woman who comes in, if it was Mary, she comes into the house of the Pharisee and Jesus at the feet of Jesus, lowly service and worship. And we see it again over and over again, five or six times in this book, in this gospel, people pictured as being at the feet of Jesus.

We sing a song that we worship at his footstool. And that comes right out of the song. That's an expression out of the song, that it's a picture of humility. To picture of us coming before the Lord and recognizing who he is, and so we bow before him. And so this is where Mary is at the feet of Jesus. And while at his feet, he begins to talk. And maybe there were others there, no doubt, and he begins to talk. But just not idle talk, but he begins to teach, because that's what he always did, because every question was an opportunity for Jesus to teach, for to feed them on his word. And so as she is at his feet, she takes not only this position of a servant that she takes the posture of a disciple.

She sits there and listens. Maybe there was just this natural transition. She's there washing his feet and when she finishes, finishes, she simply sits and she listens to the words of Jesus. Now there's something significant about that, because it was the practice of rabbis not to have women as disciples. Women were not normally a part of the discipleship group of most rabbis. There may be some women that went along and that, you know, accomplish certain things for the band, but they certainly wouldn't be considered on the same level as those who could sit at the feet of the teacher and listen to him teach. But here's Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus like a disciple and Jesus continues to teach and she listens to his word.

And notice it's not his words plural that she listens to, but she listens to his word. And the emphasis of that is it's not just that he's speaking and it would be fascinating to listen to Jesus speak, wouldn't it? It'd be fascinating to hear what his voice sounds like. I think all of us wonder what that would be like. I wonder what kind of voice quality he has. I wonder what his expressions would be like. What would it be like to hear the voice of Jesus? But it doesn't say she's listening to his words, but she's listening to his word, which implies his message. She's listening to the content of his teaching. She's listening to what he is communicating, the word of Jesus, the message of Jesus.

Now that expression she was listening is very specific. Every reader of Luke's gospel would understand in the context of this book that when it says that she was listening that meant that she was giving heed to. She was understanding she took an obedient position. She wanted to hear what he said so that she could do what he was commanding. This is the word that's the primary word for obedience in the New Testament. To listen attentively so that you might obey hearing the voice of Jesus. And this action of listening is all that we hear about marrying this narrative, but it's the chief thing around which this whole narrative is told. It always based on the fact that Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to his word, attentively listening to the master.

In the moment Jesus indicated that he had something to impart, and Mary was there because she wanted to hear what Jesus had to say. And so this natural, devoted, devout, complete attention to Jesus' word is a picture of the true mark of a disciple of Jesus Christ. That's what a disciple is. The disciple isn't somebody who just keeps the set of rules. It isn't somebody who dresses a certain way in a ten certain meetings and fills out certain little workbooks. Although all those things are good, a disciple is somebody who knows how to listen to Jesus. That's what a disciple means. A disciple is a learner. It's someone who has an ear for the voice of Jesus Christ. And here we have such a beautiful picture, the simplicity of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, of having an ear to hear.

And you remember Jesus repeated those words of Isaiah over and over again. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. Do you want to hear the word of Jesus? He has something to say. He has something to say. And you know one of the problems that we face is the same problem that Martha had. We are so busy. I've had some of you tell me that at different times. When we talk and you've told me it's very difficult for you to be in the word because you're so busy. You know, I have the same problem and same weakness. I can make myself so busy that I don't have time to listen to the voice of Jesus. And you see to the degree that we do that, we are not being and living as true disciples of Jesus Christ. That's what a disciple is to have this kind of heart, a dothful heart, that bows at the feet of Jesus and listens to his voice.

And to close the ear, to turn your heart away no matter what the cause is, is bound to be fatal. You know why it's fatal to the believer? It's because the word of Jesus is the scream that feeds your faith. Your faith will never grow if you don't listen to Jesus. If you don't learn how to listen to Jesus, your faith will never grow. Because that is what feeds your faith. It's nothing else than the word of Jesus. Now the word of Jesus comes to you in many ways. It comes to your reading as word primarily, listening to his voice in his word. It comes through the teaching of the word that you said under. It comes through fellowship with believers when you talk about his word and discuss his word together.

But it must come through the word of Jesus. Now notice, as Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening and the tenses that are used there is describing something that's derivative. It's going on. And she was there sitting and listening actively listening. At the same time, Martha was actively doing something too. It uses the same kind of tenses for her actions that she was continually distracted and it worked. And getting things done, she was so busy. Listen to what happened to her. Verse 40, it says that Martha was distracted with all her preparations and she came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? I know that she doesn't say, Lord, I'd like to sit at your feet too.

That wasn't her desire. That wasn't what she was bothered by. She wanted to serve. She wanted to do what she was doing. She wanted to prepare the meal, but she was upset that Mary wasn't helping her. You see, she wasn't discerning in her love. Remember in Philippians 1, that's one of the things that Paul prayed for us that we would grow in love more and more in all discernment and true knowledge. And you see Martha lacked discernment. She was distracted. The word distracted here means literally to be drawn away. It's kind of the picture of something spinning around and around. And as it spins, it goes further and further away. There's this centrifugal force of busyness that draws you further and further away from sitting and listening to the voice of Jesus.

What a contrast with Mary. Sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus, well, Mary is being drawn away in her busyness. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, it's that passage of Scripture, if you've ever heard anybody talk about the New Testament teaching on marriage and divorce and remarriage and engagement and all those things. And in that context, Paul says, what are you trying to communicate to them that God wants you to order your life in a way that you will be able to serve him without distraction? Same word that's used here, without distraction. Do you hear that? Without distraction. He wants us and new mothers. It's obvious from the sound effects that that's a difficult thing for mothers to do to sit and listen to the voice of Jesus without distraction.

And that's why it's such a challenge. Notice she's busy with all her preparations. Now Martha, we have no record. She's not married. She has no children, but she's busy with other kinds of preparations there, preparing for this meal for Jesus. She's being drawn away around much serving. That's interesting. It's her service. It's the word de-occan, the word for a de-occanon, the word for service, ministry. She was involved in ministry to Jesus. She's preparing to give him a meal, a home cooked meal. And because of that, she's being drawn away from the things that are important. She's making many preparations. These elaborate preparations to give Jesus a wonderful meal. And it was a wonderful thing to do because she loved Jesus.

Jesus isn't shining her for serving this elaborate meal and preparing it. What he is shining her for, what he is proving her for in a very gentle way is because she is distracted and drawn away to things that for the moment were quite unimportant. She had the opportunity for months before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to be personally in his presence and to listen to his voice and to hear his message. But she's so bent on preparing this elaborate meal that she's angry with Mary because Mary is sitting at his feet and listening to his word. Too busy for the word and prayer and worship. You ever been that way? You ever been too busy for the word and for prayer and for worship? I've heard people say at times, why don't you make your service early in the morning so it doesn't destroy the whole day?

What an amazing thing to say. If we just compact this time of listening to the voice of Jesus into 15 minutes, it'd be so much more efficient, wouldn't it? That's how Mary, that's how Martha felt. You know, the same thing is true of the other extreme swath. There's some people who are too slothful for the word and prayer and worship. They can't put out the energy. That'd be more my tendency. My wife's tendency would be to be so busy. It'd be hard to sit under the word and prayer and worship. My tendency would be to be so lazy and to watch a basketball game, sleep through the second and third quarter, wake up for the fourth quarter. That's my pattern. Too lazy or too busy for the word and prayer and worship.

You see what the problem is, she lacks discernment in her love for Christ. She loves Jesus, but she lacks discernment. She doesn't understand that the feed on Christ is more important than to feed Christ. To drink from Christ is more important than to serve Christ. I want to tell you, that is the major distinction between religion and Christianity. Religion starts with this. What can you do for God? Christianity starts with this. What has God done for you? Have you learned what God has done for you? Do you know what God has done for you in Christ Jesus? No, you don't. And I don't either. I only know this much of an ocean. And that's where we start. That's the difference. In John 737, Jesus says, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Isn't that easy? Let him come to me and drink. Not let him come to me and work. Let him come to me and drink. That's the first thing. He was believing in the out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. And you see, there is this order here, before you can give out, you have to take in. Before you can water can pour out of you into the lives of other people. It must be drunk. You must drink it. It must fill you and overflow. And so Mary had it right and Martha had it wrong. And notice, she's frustrated. She's not only distracted. She's frustrated. Notice, she came to him. And that's very strong term. And it means she came right up to him. Very unusual for a woman to do this, especially to a male guest in her home.

She comes right up to him, suddenly. And she speaks to him. There is the sense of frustration with her. She's frustrated. She assumed Jesus would agree with her when she finally told him what was going on. But she assumed, like most men, he's not paying any attention. We once had a couple in our home. No one here, somebody else. They had a small child. And wonderful people. But this little boy was beating the daylight out of our furniture. And he literally walked through door. I mean, he was just wreaking havoc. And the amazing thing about it was the daddy sat there. He never noticed the thing. I mean, I would be talking to him and I'm watching the kid beat the coffee table with something. And he didn't even notice it.

And sometimes men can be this way. And so maybe Mary thinks that's what's wrong with Jesus. It's this male thing. And so she wants to let him know. Now, probably she disapproved of Mary's actions. She thought she was immature and irresponsible. She's just sitting there listening instead of working and getting up and helping me. And boy, that can be frustrating, can it? When you're working hard and sweating and somebody walks along and they want to shoot the breeze with you and you're about to collapse under the load. And they don't even think about helping you. And so she's upset. And she assumes that Jesus would be. She's probably been trying to get Mary's attention. She's probably been clearing her throat, sighing very loud, clanging the pans together.

She's preparing the meal and Mary's not getting it. Because Mary is focused on the word of Jesus. And Jesus knows exactly what's happening. He's orchestrating the whole thing. Because he's going to teach Martha something so important so that we'll hear it. So that you busy women will hear it. And so us lawful men will hear it as well. And so she bears her heart. She interrupts him. She speaks out to him and she bears her heart. It's pretty ugly too. When she bears her heart, she doesn't even know it. She says, Lord, don't you care that my sisters left me to do all the serving alone? In the Greek, it's quite impressive. The expression here, it's literally, this is the word order, alone. She has abandoned me to serve.

In other words, she wants him to understand how she feels. She feels abandoned. And she literally commands the Lord. She gives him an imperative. Can you imagine that giving a command to Jesus? That's what Martha does. She commands him. This is like a mother talking to a little child. Tell her to help me. And tell her right now. That's the tense. Tell her right now. She should help me. Do it now. Martha wants Jesus to scold Mary. Because she assumes that Jesus would feel the same way that she does, that it's inconsiderate and foolish for Mary to do what she's doing. She just takes it for granted that Jesus would agree with her. And so she tells the truth from her heart. And that's one of the great things about prayer.

If you see this in the Psalms, David comes before the Lord and he just tells the Lord the truth about what he's thinking. And then in the midst of his prayer, he realizes that his heart's been exposed and he repents. That's one of the great things about prayer. Tell the Lord the truth. Telling what you're really feeling. And in the midst of that conversation, you will begin to see the truth about your heart. And that's what happened to Martha because Jesus is going to put a mirror up and show her what's really going on. She says, notice this. She says, tell her to help me. The word help here. It's almost amusing. It's a word picture. It's a picture that is a word that is a picture of an action.

Auntie Lambana may means that the picture is this. I'm carrying something very heavy that I can barely carry. It's too heavy for me and I can't carry it. And it means that somebody comes in and takes up the other end of the load. They pick it up and so we both carry it along. And this is what Martha says. I'm carrying this load that's too heavy for me. And I wanted to come and help me to take hold of this. And here's Mary standing there with her hands in her pocket, so to speak. And she's sweating and she's exhausted and Mary's doing nothing. Yeah, I feel for it because I have felt that way before doing the work of the Lord. And sweating and moving things around like that and somebody walks along and doesn't pay any attention.

I can have that Martha complex too once in a while when I work. But Martha, this busy server of the Lord, is blinded by her busyness. And her desire for approval. This is how she gets her identity. This is who she is. She's the worker. She's the one who is in charge. She's the one who gets things done. She's the head of this household, so to speak. She leads this. She's the house despot. That's one of the expressions used in the New Testament of wise. They are wake off despotay. They are house despots. It's their role. And that's how it should be. But boy, Mary is taking this to the extent that she's angry because Mary's not falling in line and serving her alongside of her as she should. Now I want you to see something.

Turn to John chapter 12 and notice that this isn't the only time. And Martha probably learns her lessons. Her lesson because in this account, she doesn't oppose what Mary is doing, but the disciples certainly don't get it. Here we have the same woman, Mary, in John chapter 12. It says in verse 1, Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was. In other words, it's just about time for Jesus to be arrested, whom Jesus had raised in the dead. So they made him a supper there. And Martha was serving. Here she is again. That's great. That's wonderful. That's what she should be doing. But Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table. That's what men should do. Recline at the table, right, man?

Amen. Reclining at the table with Jesus. I'm being facetious, ladies, honestly. Mary, therefore, took a pound of very, here she is. Here's Mary again. She's not around the table putting a plate down. She's not serving alongside of Martha. Look what this woman is doing. If this is the woman in Luke 7, it says that she was a sinner. She was a notorious sinner. Now, I'm not sure if that's her. There's some good evidence both ways. If it was, isn't that striking? That this woman, maybe she was the shame of the family. Maybe this was the woman that shamed both Lazarus and Martha. And now she has come to faith in Christ. Her life has changed, but they've always been kind of sick and tired of her. And her unruliness and not walking according to the rules.

And now look, it says, Mary, therefore, took a pound of very costly perfume, a pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of that perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was intending to betray him, said, why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denari? That's a lot of money. A denari is a day's wage figured out. Three hundred times that. Why wasn't it sold for three hundred denari and given to poor people? Now, he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. And as he had the money box, he used a pill for what was put into it. Jesus, therefore, said, let her alone.

In order that she may keep it for the day of my burial. See, Mary had spiritual perception. Not only did she value the right thing, she had such spiritual perception. She knew that the crucifixion was not far away. Her disciples didn't, but she picked up on it. For the poor, you always have with you. Jesus said, but you do not always have me. Wow. You see, this woman, this Mary is quite perceptive and she has spiritual perception and discernment. She values the right thing. She may have a messy house, but she has a warm home. And that's not a bad combination. See, Mary has it right and Mary and Martha has it wrong. Now, listen to Jesus' review, Converse 41 and 42. The Lord's response to Martha.

But the Lord answered instead to her, Martha. Martha, and this is an expression of endearment. Him repeating her name like this. He loves her. He cares for her. He says, oh, Martha, Martha, you're worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is really necessary. For Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away. Jesus gently rebukes her by holding up a mirror to her. And let's her see the truth about herself. He lets her hear her own voice as a response to her. You're worried. You have a divided mind. That's what it means. You're thinking about so many things. You lack peace. You don't have peace. Because you're thinking of a hundred different things. And you are troubled.

You're tossed about. Why is she troubled? Because Mary won't help. She is distracted by all that she's doing, but she is troubled. Because Mary won't help her. And Romans 15, verse 13, the Apostle Paul says, if you want peace and joy, you will have it while you are trusting Jesus. If you're lacking peace and joy, it's because at that moment, you are not trusting. You're not depending upon Jesus. Now, that's something we all do all the time. It's not trust him and depend upon him. That's the great struggle of the Christian life. It's a little life of faith. And that will cause us to lack peace and joy. And that was what was going on with Martha. And then, notice in verse 42, Jesus gently teaches her by explaining Mary's actions.

He's got to not only hold the mirror up to Martha, but now he's going to explain. He's going to interpret Mary's actions. He says, you're only one thing is necessary. In chapter 18 of Luke, where Jesus tells the rich young ruler, one thing, same expression, one thing that you still lack after you've kept the whole law, as this man said that he did. And this is what you lack. You don't love me more than anything else. And so he instructs him. He says, here's the test. Go sell all you put this and distribute it to the poor. And you shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. Want me more than anything else in life. And you'll have the one thing that's necessary. You know, the one thing you need to live the Christian life, the one thing that you need in order to be a Christian, is you must see the value of Jesus Christ.

You must be a lover of Jesus Christ. That's the one thing. That's the necessary thing, Jesus said. In Psalm 27, the psalmist said, one thing I have asked from the Lord that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. Now what the Bible is telling us is not that we need to go off and join a monastery. It's saying we ought to live our lives with one orientation. That all of our life flows out of this relationship. My relationship with my wife and my children and with you and with everybody in this world flows out of this one relationship. It's my relationship with Jesus Christ. That's the one thing that is absolutely necessary.

The one thing that Martha failed to have in Mary head, Jesus says that Mary did choose for herself the good part. The Lord's word to every busy woman and business woman in this room is choose the better part. Choose the better part. You know, you can stay home and raise kids and still not choose the better part. You can do what all the conservatives tell you how to do is a mother in this culture and still not choose the better part. The better part is Jesus. The better part is listening to the voice of Jesus. It's hearing his voice. The amazing thing about that is you can live the Christian life in a community like ours and no one will ever know until Christy comes. That you don't choose the better part.

Mary has chosen the better part. The word means the beneficial part. They had been taged as part. The fitting part. The only sane part to choose in life is to listen to the voice of Jesus. And those few weeks later when Mary goes in and pours out this costly perfume on the feet of Jesus and anoints his head with it in order to prepare him for burial ceremonially, she understood the better part. This woman had spiritual perception. She may not have been a very efficient housekeeper. Maybe she couldn't even get a meal together. I couldn't. And I'm a good Christian. I'm just kidding. I couldn't get a meal together. I might be able to bake a potato. And then after I eat the potato, I could make some toast.

And after I make the toast, I could do something else. But I couldn't put a meal together. And you know, maybe Mary couldn't either. But she did choose the best part. She chose the important part. Now there's a play on words here. Because the word part, she's chosen the good part, if the same root is the word worry. Because worry means you're divided. You have so many parts. You've got so many parts to your life. You're going this way in that way and backwards and forwards. And there's so many things to do and so many things I have to read and so many things I have to look at on the web and so many things to do around the house. But Jesus says she's chosen not the better parts, but the better part.

She's single-minded. Paul says, and second Corinthians, one of the things that I fear is that you might abandon and lead the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, the simple devotion to Jesus Christ. Your life can be very complicated. You can still choose the better part. You can be doing a lot of things. Some people have the capacity to do a million things. I have friends that I'm amazed at the things they can do in the ministry. You can still choose the better part. Or you can be slothful and do hardly anything and still not choose the better part. The better part is learning to hear the voice of Jesus Christ. And he says, this good part, fellowship with Jesus. And it's center is notice. You might say, well, how can I do that?

You know, that sounds also mystical. How do I learn to hear the voice of Jesus? Well, I think he gives you the key to it right here. What was she doing? She was listening to the word of the master. Where do we have the word of the master? We have it in this book. We have it in a book that you can carry around with you. That you can buy on cassette and CD and you can listen to it. And you can read it and you can listen to the voice of the master. You can hear his word. Because this is his word. Is your life centered around the word? Does the word of God play a central role in your life? And ladies, I feel for you. I know how it must be to be so busy to have a life so full of so many responsibilities.

So many things can displace this. But all I want to say to you is what Jesus said to Martha, this is the necessary thing if you want to be free from. Drink of Christ and then out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. There's no better place to be than at the feet of Jesus. No place we are more welcome to be than at the feet of Jesus, the feet of our Lord. When we sit at his feet we acknowledge his majesty, his power, his goodness, our need. When we sit at his feet we rightly reflect the response of the creature to the creator. We recognize him for who he is. We listen for his voice because we know he has the answers. And I think today especially in a day where there's so much data that is accessible to you.

It's an amazing thing how much data you can get. So how can you sit at the feet of Jesus? You have to turn it off. You have to turn off the spicket for a while. You have to learn to come before the master and learn how to listen to his voice through his word. And trust the Spirit of God can speak to your heart in a very powerful way. May you come to his feet now. I like Mary and humility and dependence and adoration of Jesus. For it is he and he alone who welcomes and saves sinners like you and me. And gives us what we really need in this life. That's what he's calling you to do. I commend every woman in this room who is a follower of Jesus Christ. I want you to know that the impact of your life is great.

I can give you an example after example of men in gospel, ministry around the world who will tell you that the primary influence in their life for Jesus Christ was a mother who taught them how to hear the voice of Jesus. Very first song I ever learned. I vividly remember it. I wasn't even in school yet. It must have been four years old. We live in Oakland, California and in an apartment house. And I remember helping my mother make the bed. She was teaching me how to make the bed. And she taught me a song, oh, how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. That's a Calvinist song. Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me. Teach your children. But the only way you can teach your children is you have to sit at the feet of Jesus.

You've got to have the one thing in place. Let's stand together and pray. Our kind and gracious Heavenly Father, how we thank you for their good gift that you gave to Adam when you gave him Eve. That you gave him an Isaiah that was fit for his need a helper to stand alongside of him and to make him complete. How grateful we are, O Father, that we as a community appreciate the women in our church and the way that you worked in their hearts. They're deep desire to serve you and to hear your voice and to live out of that relationship. I pray that you would just increase their tribe among us. I pray that the older women in this church would learn to teach the younger women how to hear the voice of Jesus, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be home makers.

O Father, how we give you thanks for them. And I pray today as families gather together and we celebrate this good gift that you put into our lives. We pray that our mothers, our wives, all the women in our church would feel edified and built up and appreciated for the great gift that they are to us. And I do pray in the midst of their busyness and the midst of all their responsibilities. Father, I pray that you would teach each one of them to have the most important thing, to choose the most important thing, to learn to sit at the feet of Jesus and to hear his voice. Make us disciples who hear, I pray. In Jesus' name, for his glory and his honor, we pray. Amen, amen, thank you. Happy Mother's Day.