Look how perplexing things are nowadays. Am I suggesting we need to go back to a simpler time? Am I suggesting we need to go back and just not take advantage of technology? The answer to that is “No”. You can’t go back. In the midst of all the demands that you have on you and all the perplexities and complications of life, I believe that there is a walk that you can enter into that can make life less stressful. That’s all I’m talking about. I’m not talking about you shouldn’t have a cell phone, a computer and not know how to get on the internet. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m just talking about taking the stress away.

So Lord, it’s so perplexing sometimes. How in the world can we find relief from all of the stress that there is in life? Well I want you to turn along with me to Luke 10:38, if you will. There are some truths here that the Lord has for you and so he who hath an ear, let him hear.

All right, what can we learn from simplicity? Preacher, you’re talking about just keeping it simple. What can we learn from simplicity? If simplicity could have spoken to Martha, simplicity would have said, “Martha, stop fretting and fussing because Jesus and the disciples are here more for each other than to eat. She is to stop fretting and fussing over food. It’s about more than that!” You’re all ‘discombobulated’, fussing and fretting over some preacher being in your house because you want to make sure the food is like it ought to be. But what Jesus was saying is, “It’s not really about that.” It’s about something else. It’s about fellowship. Jesus scolded Martha. He reproved her.

1. Why did Jesus scold Martha?

• She was trying to do a lot more than necessary. It was not necessary to go through all that she was going through to have someone in her house. What do you mean preacher? She was trying to make sure that they were having “pheasant under the glass,” and some chicken wings would have done. Amen! Come on with me now because I’m going somewhere with this thing. So she was making a big to-do out of something that didn’t need to be all of that. Because we’re not here to do a bunch of eating; we’re here to fellowship with Jesus! Come on with me now folks; don’t back off because I got something for you. And so what he was saying to her when he reproved her, when he scolded her was, “Listen Martha, you’re making a lot more out of this thing than is necessary.” Sometimes saints, we can make a bigger deal out of something than it really is.
• She was consumed by trying to make everything perfect. Some of you are consumed with dotting every “i” and crossing every “t”, and if it just doesn’t come out perfect, you are upset about it. I knew you’d back off sooner or later! Some of you are perfectionist and I know how you feel, beloved, because I lean that way myself! So a lot of this is for me. I want everything to be just right. I want everything to click and be exactly right. But sometimes we can put more pressure on ourselves than necessary because everything is not going to be perfect. You might as well tell it. You want everything to be right. You want everything to be perfect. But sometimes it doesn’t turn out perfect! And Martha was running all around because she wanted everything to be perfect! And Jesus was saying, “It’s not necessary. We’re not here for everything to be perfect.”
• She was trying to put on the “dawg.” She wanted folks to say, “Man that girl is full of hospitality. She’s the queen of hospitality. We went over to Martha’s house and child we had a time!” She’s trying to put on the “dawg”; trying to show off a little bit. You know how we do when folks come over sometimes.
• She was trying to make it seem that what she was doing was more important than what Mary was doing. “Hey I’m doing something more important than Mary, Jesus. Rebuke her and make her get up and help me because after all, what I’m doing is more important than what she is doing. She’s just sitting at your feet. I’m trying to get a meal here.” She tried to leave the connotation that what she was doing was more important than what Mary was doing.

2. How will simplicity help?

• It will keep you from doing more than what’s necessary in a certain area. Have you ever gone to a restaurant and the waiter asked every 6 seconds, “Do you want some more water? Do you want another coke? Do you have a napkin? Do you want another napkin? Do you want a bigger napkin? Do you want some coffee?” You almost wanted to say, “Hey man, calm down. Chill. We’re talking here. You’re just bugging us now.” We’re not talking about being an overachiever. We’re talking about carrying a good thing too far. “Martha, all of that is not necessary. Just calm down, chill and enjoy us!”Some of you are making all these big plans and you’re fussing and fuming and carrying on about doing this and that and all God is saying to you this morning is “Just keep it simple.” How are we going to take care of this? How are we going to take care of that? Just keep it simple. But what are we going to do about this? Just keep it simple. Stop overloading your brain trying to figure everything out. Somebody needs to hear me. Just keep it simple.
• It will keep you from being stressed out if things don’t work out perfectly. Simplicity helps us find the balance between seeking excellence and yet enjoying life in the meantime. Now folks, I’m not talking about not seeking excellence. How many of you are hearing me? You always seek excellence and you always want things to be better. But dear God, if you put so much pressure on yourself to make it perfect, to make it just right, you aren’t even enjoying life. I believe in excellence. Hey folks, I was on the Marine Corps drill team, the most precision drill team in the nation and we were good! We really strutted our stuff. We were as good as you can possibly be. I know what it is to seek excellence. It was drilled into me. I know what it is to seek perfection. But I know you can try to be so good and so perfect and do it so right that you don’t even enjoy life. And all God is saying to you this morning is, “Yes, you seek excellence. Yes, you want to do it right. Yes, you want to better yourself. But you don’t want to put so much pressure on yourself that you don’t even enjoy life!” Am I making sense? Hallelujah! Well, listen to me.
• It will keep you from being stressed out if things don’t work out perfectly. It will help keep you from putting on the “dawg” when company comes. Does everybody know what that means? I’m from Philly and we know what that means. So that’s not a Greene County thing. Putting on the “dawg” because somebody showed up. Preacher, shouldn’t we put on the fine china when guests come? It’s one thing to try to honour someone; it’s another thing to try to impress someone. There’s nothing wrong with trying to honour somebody. Listen, if we come to your house and you say, “The preacher is coming. We’re going to put out the fine china.” That’s one thing. But if you say, “The preacher is coming, let’s put on the ‘dawg'”, that’s another. Simplicity is not impressed about being impressed. Jesus represented simplicity. Just keep it simple. Don’t try to impress us with all this business. Some folks live for you to try to impress them. Jesus wasn’t running around trying to get folks to impress him. And folks we’re not going to do it at The Lords Table. We’re going to try to shoot for excellence. We’re going to try to do everything right and do it as articulate as we can. But we’re not going to try to put on the “dawg” to try to impress somebody. Because every time you do it, it won’t turn out right.
• It will help you from thinking that what you’re doing is more important than what someone else is doing. Now why did I say this? There were two agenda’s in the house. Martha had her agenda and Jesus had his agenda. The disciples and Mary flowed with the agenda of Jesus. But Martha had her own agenda, “Hey this is important, what I’m saying here and what I’m doing here.” What’s important to you Martha? “Taking care of this food and dealing with this.” And what Jesus was trying to say was, “Listen, I want you to get involved in my agenda, not your agenda.”

Anyone not fully connected with God’s agenda will think that what they are doing is more important than what someone else is doing. Why did I say that? See Mary never felt that what she was doing was more important than what Martha was doing. Mary never said, “Well what I’m doing, sitting at Jesus feet is more important than what you are doing.” So people who are not connected with God’s agenda will feel like their agenda is the most important agenda. Listen folks, what we’re doing at The Lord’s Table is not more important to the kingdom of God than what they’re doing at Adamsville Baptist! It’s not! We’re doing something for the glory of God and they’re doing something for the glory of God. But what we’re doing is not more important than what they’re doing. Amen. And God help us if we get to thinking that we’re the only ones that are doing this thing right. The worst thing you can do is begin to think, “Dear God, why doesn’t everybody help me because what I’m doing is the right thing to do.” No, sitting at Jesus feet is the right thing to do. Amen!

3. Why is simplicity so vital? (vs. 40)

• Simplicity will keep you from complaining the whole time that you are serving. The whole time she’s serving, she’s whining and complaining. Have you ever asked somebody to do something and you were sorry you asked them to do it, because they whined and complained the whole time they were doing it. And you thought, “My God, I’d rather do it myself!” Listen folks, you don’t have to whine and complain when you’re serving. Amen! And if you really don’t want to do it, don’t do it. Because nobody wants to be around someone whining and complaining about serving. How many of you would rather do twice as much and not hear somebody’s mouth? I would. If we call on you to do something here and you whine and complain, we’ll say, “We appreciate you. We’ll get back with you!” That’s what Martha was doing. Just whining and complaining the whole time she was serving. And folks, God don’t want us to be that way. Can you say Amen!
• Simplicity will help you enjoy your service. In other words, yes, we’re doing things for the glory of God, but we want to enjoy what we’re doing folks. Am I making any sense here? Even on your job. God wants you to enjoy your job saints and not feel like its back to the salt mines every Monday morning. That’s a different message all together. I’ll preach it pretty soon. I’m about due to preach it again: Putting Enjoyment in Your Employment. How many of you know we got to make it rhyme!
• Simplicity will keep you from offending others while you’re trying to get your job done. Now, from time to time God might call on you to do something here folks. You might sing on the choir or you might play in the band. Well listen, God doesn’t want you offending somebody while you’re trying to get the job done. Some people are so job-oriented that they don’t care who they have to kill to get the job done. Now folks, God don’t want us to be that way. Come on Martha, you don’t have to hurt Mary’s feelings over you doing all of this, that wasn’t even necessary from the beginning. Folks if you’ll just keep it simple, it will help you enjoy what you are doing for the glory of God. Can you say Amen!

4. How can I keep simplicity in my life? (vs. 42)

• We must first focus on the one thing that is necessary – There’s a lot of things that you are doing that are not necessary. Now let me give you an example. We had a friend come to visit us from Illinois. He was one of my closest friends. He’s the preacher that gave $5,000 to this ministry a year or two ago when we first got started. So when he came here, I just really wanted to show him a good time. And to be truthful, I was trying to put on the “dawg” too! You might as well tell it! It gives you something to identify with. Everything went wrong! It rained from the time they got off the plane to the time they got on the plane. Great big drops of rain! Everything we did went wrong. I wanted to take him to a fine restaurant in Dunn and we drove to Dunn in the rain. And I kept saying all the way, “It will be worth it.” And when we got there, the whole place was under reconstruction. There were boards laying everywhere. It was a mess. We had to climb over wood and timber to get in the place! And everything on the menu had been there for weeks and months. It was terrible. And then he said, “I’ve heard there’s furniture here. We’ve always wanted to visit the furniture places.” So I said, “We’ll go eat quick and get out of here and see some furniture.” We got there just in time for the doors to be shut and locked. So then I said, “Let’s rent a movie.” So we rented a movie and they didn’t like the movie. Nothing went right folks! It was so bad that I literally told my wife, “Well, that’s the end of that friendship!” When we finally got together again, I said, “Brother, I tried so hard to make everything right when you came.” And he said, “You know what we enjoyed. We just enjoyed being with you.” The fact that it didn’t work out right and come together wasn’t even the point. I said, “I hear you Jesus.” Amen! Sometimes folks, just being together are enough. We don’t have to put on the “dawg.” We don’t have to try to impress each other. We don’t have to try to make everything perfect. Dear God, sometimes just being with each other is enough. And that’s what God is saying to us. Don’t try to make everything perfect all the time, just enjoy your brother. Just enjoy your sister. Just enjoy your family. Am I making any sense? Praise the Lord! That word one also means first. And what Jesus was saying was, “Martha, first things first.” Martha wanted to rebuke Mary for sitting at Jesus feet. Watch this scenario: Jesus comes in and the disciples are there. He’s God. He’s got a Word. He wants to share himself. What would you do if Jesus came to your house? Would you run and get the vacuum cleaner? It’s too late. He’s here. You’re going to sit at his feet, “Tell me something Jesus.” What does Martha do, “Well, I’ve got to get the beans and weenies on.” Hello! Amen! Jesus was saying, “Martha, first things are first. Before you try to serve me, let me first serve you.” See you can’t serve anybody until you’ve been served, because you don’t have anything to serve. That’s all Jesus was saying, “Hey, we’ll get to the eating, but first let me serve you. Let me minister to you, so you can minister!” Hallelujah! It all starts with Jesus. It’s all about Jesus. Amen!
• You cannot effectively help others until you first let Jesus help you – Listen, some of you are anxious to do something for God, but God is anxious for you not to do anything. Now folks, I just feel in my spirit to say this and some of you are going to recoil at what I’m about to say. But folks, if you are going to do something for God, you have to do it not just physically, but do it in the right spirit. God’s got angels that work for him; he’s not looking for folks to work for him. He’s got angels. Amen! So it’s not just, “I want to do something for God.” You’ve got to do it with the right spirit! And your spirit won’t be right until you spend a little time with Jesus. That’s what he was saying to Martha. “Martha I know you’re anxious to serve me and I appreciate it. But listen, if you’ll sit at my feet, you’ll be able to serve me with the right spirit. Because right now you’re serving me, but you’re not serving me with the right spirit because you’re complaining, whining and angry with the world.” And someone in here needs to hear that! Amen! But see that’s what Jesus is saying, “I want you to do it, in the right spirit! I don’t want you to just serve me. I want your spirit to connect with my spirit so that we can be one.” Can you say Amen? Praise the Lord! Father, I just pray that I said something that will help somebody. Somebody who’s like a Martha, Lord. They are just running here and there, making things so much harder than they really are. It’s so complicated for them. Lord, help them to simplify it. That brother, that sister that is struggling in their marriage, help them to simplify it. That sister that is struggling with her job situation, help her to simplify it. Give them something that will simplify matters so much that it will take all the perplexity and the confusion out of this matter. And Lord, we won’t hesitate to give you praise for it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Categories: Luke