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.....