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.....