What it means to abide in Jesus Christ's pattern - Stop, Look, and Listen.

 Introduction:

    The last few posts have looked at what it means to abide in Christ. The posts are based off of a recent sermon I preached on the subject. Featured in the posts are Mary and Martha, two sisters whom Jesus met in the course of His earthly ministry some few months before His crucifixion. The last few posts dealt with how Mary highlights for us what it means to abide in the presence of Christ. We learned that to abide in Christ means:

"To abide in Christ is when my faith is settled in spiritual union with Him, identification with Him, and bearing fruit for Him." 

    Mary had her faith "settled in Jesus" by how she abided in His words, His cross, and His majesty.  We are now going to switch our attention to her sister Martha to learn what it means to abide in the pattern of Christ. 

    Today's post and the next couple are based upon another sermon that deals with the same subject of "abiding in Christ", only with the nuance of abiding in His pattern. In today's post we will see how Martha abided in the pattern of Jesus Christ by taking the time to "stop, look, and listen".

Stop, Look, and Listen. Luke 10:38-42

     Let’s turn our attention then to Luke 10:40-41, notice verse 40 “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.’ 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things.” 

    When you're driving and come to a railroad crossing, you’ll sometimes see this sign, “Stop, Look, and Listen”. Martha was rushing around her house at a thousand m.p.h. She was stuck in her pattern and needed redirection to realign with the pattern of our Lord. Stop your pattern. Look at His pattern. Listen to His Word to change your pattern.

   A. Stop your pattern.

     Martha had some unlearning to do first before she could effectively go further in her abiding in the Lord. Her pattern of life was full of distraction. Sound familiar? Our church life in the Baptist world has not done well to incorporate “rest patterns” or “sabbatical patterns”. We make the mistake of equating “abiding” with idleness. 

     I heard it once said that even though Jesus had a lot placed upon Him, He never once felt imposed upon. Why? He abided in His Father’s presence and pattern. Jesus’ words to His disciples in between busy seasons conveys this first step of “stop”. Mark 6:30-33 “The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) 32 They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. 33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.” 

    The problem is our pattern. We need to unplug the devices. Get out of the rut of being people pleasers. Get away from making ourselves look strong when we’re really not. We’re too “bothered by many things”. That word translated “distracted” in Luke 10:41 gives the idea of focusing so much on what is going around you that you forget what is in front of you and you “stumble” as it were. [note: in 2 Samuel 6:5, we have the episode of David bringing the Ark of the Covenant on an oxcart into Jerusalem, and how the ox “nearly upset it”. The Greek Septuagint translation used the same word we find in Luke 10:40 to describe the ox’s distraction and stumbling, which caused the ark to nearly topple off the cart]. Stop your pattern. Secondly….

     B. Look at His pattern.

     After we have “stopped our pattern”, we secondly need to look at His pattern. Martha was so overwhelmed and frustrated she blurted out in Luke 10:40 “Lord do you not care….”. Have you ever accused God of not caring? 

    Elijah the great prophet in 1 Kings 19:14 was at the end of his rope following an otherwise tremendous victory over rival false prophets in Israel. A wicked Queen Jezebel put a price on his head and Elijah fled for his life. He went to the very mountain God had revealed the ten commandments, Mount Horeb. He tells God in 1 Kings 19:14 “Then he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

    God had to redirect Elijah’s focus away from his pattern of worry, anxiety, and flat-out exhaustion to remind Elijah of God’s pattern of faithfulness. 1 Kings 19:18 “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 

    Notice how Jesus never gets up to help Martha, nor does He tell Mary to go assist. He lets Martha fume and come to the end of herself to redirect her to His pattern. 1 Peter 2:20b-21 ….”but if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. Christ Is Our Example 21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” Stop. Look. Then.

   C. Listen to His Word to change His pattern.

    What amazes me about this entire passage Luke 10:38-42 is that we do not see a nice little bow tied on the end of it. Notice Luke 10:41-42 “But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”  We’re not told whether Martha stopped and sat down at Jesus’ feet. We don’t know if she went back to what she was doing and Jesus kept on teaching Mary. Scripture does this on occasion. I call this a “truth cliff-hanger”.

     The Book of Jonah ends this way with us not knowing whether the prophet Jonah repented of his anger toward God whether he remained angry (see Jonah 4:11). In Luke 15:32 we find Jesus ending the parable of the prodigal son with the father pleading with his eldest son not to be angry, making the argument that, “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’” 

    Did the older brother come around or did he remain outside the family’s celebration? We’re not told. These “truth cliff-hangers” are purposeful to force the reader to a decision: will I remain where I’m at or yield to the Lord’s pattern? That’s what we see happening here with Martha. We are forced to listen to God’s Word and either change our pattern to match Jesus or remain stubbornly in our own. There is your first step then, Stop. Look. And Listen.

More next time.....

What it means to abide in Jesus Christ's pattern - Character Studies On Mary and Martha from Luke 10:38-42

Introduction:

    The last few posts have looked at what it means to abide in Christ here Growing Christian Resources: What it means to abide in Jesus Christ's Presence - Character Studies On Mary and Martha from Luke 10:38-42 and here Growing Christian Resources: What it means to abide in Jesus Christ's Cross - Character Studies On Mary and Martha and here Growing Christian Resources: What it means to abide in Jesus Christ's Majesty - Character Studies On Mary and Martha from Luke 10:38-42. 

     The posts are based off of a recent sermon I preached on the subject. Featured in the posts are Mary and Martha, two sisters whom Jesus met in the course of His earthly ministry some few months before His crucifixion. The last few posts dealt with how Mary highlights for us what it means to abide in the presence of Christ. We learned that to abide in Christ means:

"To abide in Christ is when my faith is settled in spiritual union with Him, identification with Him, and bearing fruit for Him." 

    Mary had her faith "settled in Jesus" by how she abided in His words, His cross, and His majesty.  We are now going to switch our attention to her sister Martha to learn what it means to abide in the pattern of Christ. Today's post and the next couple are based upon another sermon that deals with the same subject of "abiding in Christ", only with the nuance of abiding in His pattern. 

How a block of wood and a wooden ball illustrate abiding in Christ.

    My late father was a carpenter by trade. As a younger man he had taken a small block of wood and worked at carving out a ball to where you could see the ball in the wood, rolling around. The ball and that block were made of the same material, and there was no way you could get the ball out of the wood. My dad had carved the block in such a way that you could view the little ball he had carved from all sides. The ball and the block were clearly different while having a union that had the ball abiding still in the block while freely rolling around inside of it.

We had defined in our last few posts “abiding in Christ”, to abide in Christ is when my faith is settled in spiritual union with Him, identification with Him, and bearing fruit for Him.   Jesus reminds us in John 15:7-9 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”                                                                                                               The Pattern of Jesus Christ

As we return to Luke 10:38-42 once more, we see Mary abiding in in the presence of Jesus, listening to Him teach. She is abiding in His presence, in stillness. Martha is learning to abide in Christ’s pattern while she struggles. She was serving His pattern. What is the pattern of Jesus Christ? One way we can answer that is by noting how He served as shown in the passages below.

 Jesus came to serve (Mark 10:45 “not to be served, but to serve…”, Philippians 2:7 “but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant….”.) Later after this episode in Luke 10, Jesus would wash His disciples’ feet and say these words in John 13:15, “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” We as Christians are called to abide in this pattern of Christ, Galatians 5:13b “….but through love serve one another.” 

How God uses stillness and struggle.

Martha’s serving was invaded by her struggle of worrying. Luke 10:40-41 “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.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things.”

Stillness and struggle go hand-in-hand. God has been teaching me that these last several months. I wish I could report I’m an “A” student – I’m pulling a “C-” at the moment. Some reminders about the need for stillness before God. Psalm 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Also, Isaiah 40:30-31 “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength….”. Isaiah 30:15 “In quietness and trust is your strength.” As we saw in John 15:9 “abide in my love”.

If you struggle with stillness with God in abiding, you’ll see why God pairs “struggle” with “stillness”. That’s why these two sisters are put together by the Holy Spirit in our text. Martha was a different personality than Mary. Martha struggled in an area we all know to well – worry. This was the testing ground to show her how to abide in Christ as her pattern. How did she learn to abide? How can we?

1. Stop, look, and listen. Luke 10:38-42

2. Seek and know. John 11:20-28

3. Serve and rejoice. John 12:1-3  

More next time.....

How To Refocus On God When You’re Distracted

 

Introduction

     We will continue our current series on "abiding in Jesus Christ" in the next post. Today I wanted to take time out to address how Christian people can refocus on God when they are distracted. I remember hearing a statistic forty years ago that noted that Americans watched between 3-7 hours of television per day. All of that has changed with the dominance of social media. The organization “addictionhelp.com” conducted a poll on social media use and what it identified as “social media addiction (the entire study is found here Social Media Addiction Statistics 2026 - Usage and Effects. Here is what it noted, 

“Many mental health professionals worry that children and teens are particularly at risk for social media addiction. Such concern is due to the way social media platforms encourage endless scrolling, impulsive behaviors, and the need for instant gratification.” 

It then noted these statistics,

“Young social media users aged 18 to 22 account for a shocking 40% of all Americans addicted to social media. According to research from Common Sense, teens average 7 hours and 22 minutes of screen time per day, and kids 8–12 years old get an average of 4 hours and 44 minutes of screen time per day.”

     I’m not advocating that social media is evil that we must avoid it. Like all previous forms of technology, social media and A.I. are tools. How we wield them and for what end we use them is where prudence is needed. Yet, when it becomes an addiction (i.e. “something I cannot live without or defines how I conduct daily life) or a distraction (i.e. where I lose perspective and neglect what is important), such things can lead to serious emotional and mental issues. That same website noted the following negative effects of such a distraction,

“Out of the 1,141 respondents aged 13 to 17, teens reported that: 70% felt left out or excluded when using social media; 43% have deleted social media posts due to receiving too few likes; 43% felt bad about themselves if no one liked or commented on their posts; 35% reported experiencing cyberbullying. One of the most serious risks social media addiction poses for young people is increased thoughts of self-harm and suicide.”

     We need Psalm 135 as an antidote for our distracted minds and prayer-life. How can we get refocused on God when we’re distracted?

1. Remember the names of God. Psalm 135:1-4, 13-14

      We do not know the author of this Psalm nor the occasion. Nevertheless, its timeliness and timelessness is perfect for our distracted lives. Sometimes what I’ll do is take a sheet of paper or reflect upon the names of God as I begin my prayer time to reel in my scattered thoughts. Notice Psalm 135:1-4,

“Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O servants of the Lord, 2 You who stand in the house of the Lord, In the courts of the house of our God! 3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely. 4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession.”

Then notice Psalm 135:13-14, “Your name, O Lord, is everlasting, Your remembrance, O Lord, throughout all generations. 14 For the Lord will judge His people and will have compassion on His servants.” 

One resource I have in my library lists over a thousand names of God in the Bible. Our Lord Jesus Christ alone has over two-hundred names ascribed to Him. Sometimes I like to say some of those names in alphabetical order to get myself refocused. The point is God’s names represent who He is or what He has done. We remember then the names of God. How else can we defeat distraction in our prayer-life and in our thought-life?

2. Review the perfections of God. Psalm 135:5-6

     We begin by focusing on God's names, not let's put before us God's perfections. Notice with me Psalm 135:5-6 “For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.” 

    When I say “perfections”, I’m speaking about what are called His “attributes”. An attribute is a perfection of God that reveals the kind of God He is. God doesn’t merely “have” certain characteristics. Rather, He is whatever that attribute reveals Him to be. Notice firstly, God’s greatness, especially in how He is above all other “gods”. The Psalmist here is not granting existence or reality to other deities, since God and God alone is God (Isaiah 43:10-11). The Psalmist labors to show that the idols people worship are breathless, sightless, deaf creations of men. 

      Secondly, notice God’s Sovereignty in verse 6. These two headline perfections of His greatness and sovereignty contain other perfections which are just as wonderful as they. 

     To illustrate, sometimes Debi will ask, "are you here?" because my mind is thinking in different directions. We all have “divided attention”. We all, like every other created thing, can never be all nor give all of ourselves to everything. 

      This is why praying to God, who alone is undivided (what theologians call “Divine Simplicity”) is so crucial to “pulling together” our prayer life and thoughts. Just like the names of God, it is helpful to have God’s perfections written down as you pray. Perhaps pray for a little bit and then praise God for one of His perfections. I promise you God’s perfections and names will help bust the distraction. Notice a third way to defeat distraction here in Psalm 135.

3. Recall the works of God. Psalm 135:7-14

     This is the longest section in the Psalm, and rightly so, since God does so much! Psalm 135:7-14 records for us God’s works or providence. The Heidelberg Catechism, question 27, raises this question, 

“What do you understand about the providence of God?”

It gives this answer: “The almighty and everywhere present power of God, whereby as it were by His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth, with all creatures, and so governs them, that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yes, all things, come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.”

    We definitely see God’s providence here in Psalm 135:7-14, “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; who makes lightnings for the rain, who brings forth the wind from His treasuries. 8 He smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. 9 He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 He smote many nations and slew mighty kings, 11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan; 12 And He gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to Israel His people. 13 Your name, O Lord, is everlasting, your remembrance, O Lord, throughout all generations. 14 For the Lord will judge His people and will have compassion on His servants.”

     We see God’s providence at work in His creation, redemption, and our future. God knows what is best. These truths are what we glean from focusing upon the works of God.  

      Sometimes when I cannot readily see His work in my life at present, I’ll focus on His works over the past course of my life. God never changes (Malachi 3:6), which means He will always be at work in my present life and in whatever He has ordained for my future. One of my favorite passages is Psalm 31:15 “My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.” How do we defeat distraction in our prayer-life and thought-life? By remembering His names, reviewing His perfections, and recalling His works. One more method from Psalm 135.

4. Repeat the praises of God. Psalm 135:19-21

     Psalm 135:19-21 “O house of Israel, bless the Lord; O house of Aaron, bless the Lord; 20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord; you who revere the Lord, bless the Lord. 21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!” 

       That word translated “bless” speaks of “bending the knee in thanksgiving to God”. The force of the Hebrew verbs translated “bless” gives the idea of continuing a process. We could even say there is a certain what we call “antiphonal” quality to this final set of commands.

     Have you ever heard a choir sing a line of a song, with one part repeating the line and the other perhaps joining in with a chorus or some other line that adds and builds momentum? That’s what we mean by “antiphonal”. To make it clearer, Isaiah 6:3 records a worship scene in Heaven involving the Seraphim, a special class of angels, “And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” The whole of Israel is told to begin, followed by the priestly leadership of the Aaronic priesthood, then the servants of the temple – the Levites, and then each personal member of the nation. Praise is made personal. 

Closing thoughts:

We focus on God by His name, perfections, works, and repetition of His praises. Let’s use this antidote of Psalm 135 to refocus on God and defeat distraction.

What it means to abide in Jesus Christ's Majesty - Character Studies On Mary and Martha from Luke 10:38-42

 

Introduction:

   What follows below is a post that derives from a recent sermon I preached in our Sunday morning service at the church where I pastor. It is part of our verse-by-verse sermon series through Luke's Gospel ("Meeting Jesus in Luke's Gospel"). In the message I preached about the importance of "abiding in Jesus Christ". We've have studied about Mary and how she typified what it means to abide in the presence of Christ. In the last post we noted how Mary abided in the reality of Jesus Christ's pending crucifixion, what I termed "abiding in Jesus Christ's cross". In today's post we will note how she likely continued in her awareness of Christ's presence in her life by how she abided in the presence of His majesty. 

Abide in the presence of His majesty. Acts 1:11-15

    We’ve witnessed Mary abiding in the presence of Jesus Christ by His Words and right before His crucifixion. For her, as it is with all His followers, Jesus Christ is powerful and precious. We turn our Bibles to one final scene, Acts 11:11-15,

“They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’ 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. 15 At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together).”

     We have a core of devoted followers of the Lord Jesus Christ present in this upper room gathering. We have of course The Eleven Disciples and the four women who would had went to the tomb after Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:56-61; Matthew 28:1). The seventy whom Jesus sent out to proclaim the Gospel while He was journeying to Jerusalem were likely there as well. Although Luke does not specify who the remainder of the audience was, there is a good chance Mary of Bethany, her sister Martha, and their brother Lazarus was among those gathered. The text tells us they were all together “with one mind, continually devoting themselves to prayer.”

    They all were captured by witnessing or hearing about the majesty of the ascended Christ. If indeed Mary of Bethany, who anointed our Lord and who sat at His feet was present, she with the others were delighting, devoted, and depending upon their Lord. The majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ in His ascension was all about His coronation in Heaven as Prophet, Priest, and King. 

    She had heard Him teach the Word of God as Prophet, and now in His exaltation He would ever speak through all the words of Scripture. She anointed Him as one would have anointed the High Priest in the Old Testament. He is now in Heaven to pray on behalf of all believers (Hebrews 7:24-25). 

    The 120 believers were in prayer in the wake of His exaltation as King of Heaven and looking forward to what will be His return to set up His Kingdom on Earth. They could never forget His Majesty. She saw His glory in His time here on Earth. 

    All true followers of Jesus Christ ought to be eager to follow Him as their Majestic Lord in Heaven. In other words, we’re abide in His presence, since in His exaltation He is with His people always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). As I close, remember: abide in the presence of His words, His cross, and His majesty.

   In the next post we will turn attention to Mary's sister Martha and how she learned to abide in the pattern of Jesus Christ. Stay tuned!