Journeying In Discipleship Knowing the Lord The One Thing Necessary

Luke 10   Discipleship as Devotion

38      Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me."41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

Luke 11:1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."2 And he said to them, "When you pray, say:

           "Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

3         Give us each day our daily bread,

4         and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

           And lead us not into temptation."

5         And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves,6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him';7 and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'?8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

 

Bookends.

Luke 9:23 And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me

Luke 14: 25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

 

Wait! We are talking about discipleship these few weeks. What is the core of discipleship?

Loving Others and Loving God

Last Sunday we saw that there was the outward look to others.  The parable of the Good Samaritan is about how Jesus and all with Him, seek to save that which was lost. We have an outward look to forget about ourselves and love others.

No we have the core of Discipleship: The Upward look. 

It is the Upward look that maintains all that there is in true discipleship.

The core of Discipleship is Communion with God. Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

He is the  "but one thing is necessary."

The greatest gift you can receive in answer to prayer is the Holy Spirit Himself: "how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Communion with God, sitting at the feet of Jesus, KNOWING GOD: is the big deal!

How is communion with God attained and maintained?

I grew up in a discipling church. I had memorised about 300 bible verses after being a Christian for two years. I used to read between 30and 50 chapters of my bible each and every day. I remember for several months spending 3 hours each day on my knees beside my bed in prayer.

And yet I was going through the forms of the spiritual disciplines,  but didn't really grow  to know God.  I was "practicing the presence of God", but didn't actually have a close relationship with God. I was focussing on what I could do about the spiritual disciplines, instead of enjoying the presence of God.  And that is the main difference between Martha and Mary.

Then I discovered from the Westminster Confession of Faith that "the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever."    Enjoy Him? I enjoyed a lot of things.. but enjoy God? Enjoy knowing God?        

Communion with God is Enjoying Knowing the Lord.

Not all generations enjoyed knowing God. In Israel's history this was the real problem.

Judges 2:10  All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.

1 Kings 8:60  so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else.

Habakkuk 2:14   "For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.

Jer 2 The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' Those who handle the law did not know me;

Jer 4: 22 "For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'---in doing evil! But how to do good they know not."

You know Kipling's poem, Lest We Forget, most people think that lest we forget is Kipling's way of saying, lest we forget the soldiers. But Kipling wrote the poem to say, "Lest we forget you, our God", let me read you a couple of lines from the poem, he says   Lord of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget if drunk with sight of power, we have not the in awe if frantic boast or foolish word.
Have mercy on my people, Lord, lest we forget, lest we forget you, the living God and God brought his people back to remember him and to remember his words

 

But Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."

Jeremiah 24:7  Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. 

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

Ephesians 1:17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

1. Priority time with God

Mary Seeks Communion  Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

We are talking today abut you giving Priority time To God.

Priority time with God!

Notice the word as it turns here on the word but: "But"—

And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.40 But Martha was distracted with much serving.

But… there are many things that can distract you from Priority Time With God.

Being busy serving can be a huge problem. In fact the Lord tells Martha after her little meltdown, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

 

The godly man in Psalm 1 is described this way: in verse 2—"his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night."(Psalms 1:2) There are three things that must mark the blessed man when it comes to the Word of God. There were three things that marked Mary's life as she sat at the feet of Jesus.  Number one, he appreciates the Word; number two, he assimilates the Word; number three, he appropriates the Word.

Appreciate the Word of God  Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

How like Psalm 1  "his delight is in the law of the LORD."(Psalms 1:2) Mary loved the Lord and loved to hear Him speak. The godly man of Psalm 1 just simply loves the Word of God. From the time I have been saved I have loved the Word of God. I've not loved it as I could have loved it—ought to have loved it—but the Bible is precious to me.

Today you cannot sit at Jesus' physical feet. But you can sit at His feet spiritually as you read God's word each day. The Word of God that is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than [a] twoedged sword."(Hebrews 4:12) Many people claim to be Christians, but they don't love God's Word—and I can't understand that. A man and his word may be different, but God and His Word are not that easily separated. To love God is to love His Word.

Assimilate the Word of God    Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

She took in God's Word from the Lord Jesus.  She assimilated it. She made the Lord's Words part of her very being. She brought it deep into her heart.  Do you bring God's Word deep into your heart each day?

Now, the godly man of Psalm 1  appreciates the Word of God, but not only does he appreciate the Word of God; he assimilates the Word of God, for it says, "In his law doth he meditate day and night."(Psalms 1:2) And, I've told you before, this word meditate means literally "to chew the cud."

Appropriate the Word of God   Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

Not only must we, therefore, appreciate the Word of God, but when we appreciate the Word of God, we will assimilate the Word of God. And, when we have assimilated the Word of God, then we can appropriate the Word of God. The Bible says here, "And in his law doth he meditate day and night."(Psalms 1:2) Now, notice—the man of God is not under the law; he is in the law. What a difference! That is, he literally appropriates the Word of God. Night and day it has meaning and relevance to his life. It is not a burden to him; it is a blessing to him. It is not something that he has to do; it is something that he gets to do, because he's found that God's words are life as he appropriates the Word of God day by day. And, let me say this: that not only must you, therefore, learn it; you must live it. And you've never really learned it—until you live it.

Mary took the Lord's words deep into her soul and it transformed her.

That's why the Lord Jesus said 'but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

Mary was changed by it. You will be changed by it. Psalm 1:3 says "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."(Psalms 1:3)

You bear fruit!

Number one: Like a tree, he will show vitality—vitality. The emphasis here is the tree is a living thing as over against chaff, which is dead.

Billy Graham once told a story about the Word-centeredness of his father-in-law, Dr. Nelson Bell. When Bell served as the single doctor for a four-hundred-bed hospital in China, he made it a point "to rise every morning at four-thirty and spend two to three hours in Bible reading. He didn't use that time to read commentaries or write; he didn't do his correspondence or any of his other work. He just read the Scriptures every morning, and he was a walking Bible encyclopedia. People wondered at the holiness and the greatness in his life."

Nelson Bell was an astounding activist whose life was shaped and empowered by "one thing"—the Word of God.

Prayer time with God

Luke brings us along into chapter 11 with another incident that clearly indicates what it is to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus.  Disciples pray! 

Luke11:1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

What the Lord did was rubbing off on His disciples.  As they communed with Him and listened to Him like Mary did, they found out there was a major priority in their Lord's life. If it was a priority for the Lord of glory to pray regularly every day, how much more need do we have to pray every day.

There is Vitality

What was vital and life giving for the Lord was to be vital and life giving for the disciple.  And again, that Psalm about communion with God reminds us of the same thing.  We need to have our roots deep down into God's Word, and we also need to have our roots deep down into the Lord Himself via prayer!

Psalm 1^{: 2} but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water  that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

 Stability

The Pattern for prayer  You might have noticed that this form of the Lord's Prayer is slightly different to the one you were raised on from Matthew 6.

Luke lacks two petitions that are included in Matthew. "Your kingdom come" is not followed by "your will be done," and the final petition ("lead us not into temptation") is not followed by "but deliver us from evil." Jesus clearly taught his disciples about prayer more than once. Also, the lines from Matthew are implicit in Luke's shorter form. That is, when one prays, "Your kingdom come," he or she is implicitly praying, "Your will be done," and likewise, "Lead us not into temptation" implies a desire for deliverance from it. The variations in the Lord's Prayers come naturally from Jesus' desire to teach a pattern for prayer rather than a rigid insistence on a form for prayer.

Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

3 Give us each day our daily bread,  4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation."

Do you notice that the Lord doesn't say pray the first thing that pops into your head about whatever you want God to do for you!  God is not a Jeannie!  He doesn't grant you three wishes!

He is directing you to a communion with God about the really big things of life. So often we don't see the really big things the Lord wants us to focus on. Instead the urgent overshadows the important, and as such we then get really messed up in life.

The "Prosperity Gospel" people mess with our thinking a bit.  We think the world revolves around us and our wants! It isn't about us!

"Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."(Psalms 1:3) Now, right away we're going to have to understand you don't spell prosper M-O-N-EY. Most of these churches say, "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."(Psalms 1:3) Prosperity is the continual achieving of the will of God for one's life. That is prosperity, and this is God's plan for blessings. And God's will for your spiritual prosperity is set out in the Lord's prayer. And the first thing to notice is that it isn't about you!

Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

And secondly it is about you, but not the way you think..

Daily bread, forgiveness of sins and temptation. They are the three big things about you.

3 Give us each day our daily bread,  Give me just enough to get bye.

4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation."

And forgive me my sins!   And don't let me be tempted by the world around me and my own sinful desires!

Consistency

9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Keep Asking!    Keep Seeking!   Keep Knocking! If you don't ask you won't receive!  Do you want to grow as a Christian? Ask for it!   "Ask" implies requesting assistance for a conscious need. We realize our lack and thus ask for help. The word also suggests humility in asking, for it is commonly used of one making a request of a superior.

"Seek" denotes asking but adds action. The idea is not just to express our need, but to get up and look around for help. It involves effort.

"Knock" includes asking plus acting plus persevering—like someone who keeps pounding on a closed door.

The stacking of these words is extremely forceful, and the fact that they are present imperatives gives them even more punch. The text actually reads: "Keep on asking, and it will be given to you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you." The man in this picture just will not stop knocking! 

   Prayer is the soul's sincere desire    Uttered or unexpressed—

    The motion of a hidden fire     That kindles in the breast. 

"Ask," "seek," "knock" is the hidden fire of the heart that believes God will answer and values what he gives.

Do you know what? You just got to do it consistently! "but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion"   Just Do It.

 

Perspicuity

And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves,6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him';7 and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'?8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

 

Do you see the issue the Lord Jesus raised here? He is encouraging you to realize that God isn't like the friend next door that has to be badgered into doing something for his neighbor.

Have you ever had a friend that badgers you.  You can shut the door on that. But not if he is raising a ruckus at night and the only way to shut him up is to open the door!  Usually it's the other way round. The Music is too loud next door!  We shout out " knock it off! Turn it down!" In this case there wasn't any loud music. But there was need for some food for a late visitor! So the guy turns up the noise to get his neighbor to cooperate!

The point is, God isn't like that!  Did you notice how the Lord keeps referring to God as "Father" here?

"That God should be personally addressed as "Father" may not seem out of the ordinary to those of us who frequent the church and pray the Lord's Prayer, but it was revolutionary in Jesus' day. The writers of the Old Testament certainly believed in the Fatherhood of God, but they saw it mainly in terms of a sovereign Creator-Father to whom they owed their existence. In fact, God is only referred to as "Father" fourteen times in the huge corpus of the Old Testament's thirty-nine books—and then rather impersonally. In those fourteen occurrences, the term was always used with reference to the nation, and not to individuals. God was spoken of as Israel's Father, but Abraham, for example, did not speak of God as "my Father."

The Jews were so focused on the sovereignty and transcendence of God that they were careful never to repeat his covenant name and invented the word Jehovah (a combination of two separate names of God) to use instead. The distance from God was well guarded.

But when Jesus came on the scene, he addressed God only as "Father." All his prayers address God as Father. The Gospels record his using Father more than sixty times in reference to God. So striking is this that some scholars maintain that this word Father dramatically captures the difference between the Old and New Testaments. No one had ever in the entire history of Israel spoken and prayed like Jesus. No one!"

But there is more—the word Jesus used for Father was not a formal word. It was the common Aramaic word with which a child would address his father—"Abba." The great German New Testament scholar Joachim Jeremias, perhaps the most respected New Testament scholar of his generation, has argued convincingly that Abba was the original word on Jesus' lips here in the Lord's Prayer and, indeed, in all of his prayers in the New Testament—with the exception of Matthew 27:46 when he cried out from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" But there Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1. Jesus reverted to Abba with the final words before his death: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" (Luke 23:46, quoting Psalm 31:5).

The word Abba was also the word Jesus regularly used to address his earthly father, Joseph, from the time Jesus was a baby until Joseph's death. Everyone used the word, but as the careful examination of other literature of the time shows, it was never used for God—under any circumstances. Abba meant something like "Daddy"—but with a more reverent touch than we use it. The best rendering is "Dearest Father."

To the traditional Jew, Jesus' prayer was shocking. Think of it. God was referred to only fourteen times in the Old Testament as Father, and then it was as the corporate Father of Israel—never as an individual or personal Father. But when his disciples asked him for instruction on how to pray, Jesus enjoined them to begin by calling God their Father, their Abba! As Jeremias says:

In the Lord's Prayer Jesus authorizes His disciples to repeat the word Abba after Him. He gives them a share in His sonship and empowers them, as His disciples, to speak with their heavenly Father in just such a familiar, trusting way as a child would with his father." Hughes. Luke.

And He wants you to know that the Father calls you into a communion with Himself!

You have an appointment each day with God!  And God your Father invites you to come talk to Him.  I like John Newton's hymns. 

Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring

For His grace and power are such none can ever ask too much

But you know if He was only the King I wouldn't be game to ask.  But He is our Father. Your Father in heaven!

 

Fertility

And what is the biggest Petition you could ever ask?

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Galatians  5:22: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control"(Galatians 5:22–23)

Do you want to know the Lord? You can only know the Lord through His Holy Spirit. And He offers Him feely through the the Lord Jesus's death for your sin. He will give His Holy Spirit to you to know Him and to change you from within!  Our biggest battles in life are with.. US!  And His Holy Spirit will fight those battles in us for us! If we ask Him!

"but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion"   Just Do It.