Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 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.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42 ESV

This is a familiar passage out of Luke’s Gospel, and it’s one that I think about often. Martha is the devoted and responsible sister, who is dutifully hosting Jesus and His disciples, while Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening with His disciples to His teaching! Especially after a long Sunday, it is easy for me to see myself in Martha, valuing serving Jesus over sitting at His feet and treasuring His Word.

Of course, right from the outset, I should note that this passage is not warning us against diligent service for Christ. In this text, Jesus never denounces Martha’s service; rather, He simply warns us that service alone is never enough. Indeed, there will never be an end to all the ways for us to serve, and like Martha, it is all too easy to become anxious and troubled about the many needs that must be met and works that must be done. Jesus strips all of those concerns away by saying, one thing is necessary.

Surely, He can’t be serious? Isn’t preaching the Word necessary? Isn’t leading worship necessary? Isn’t teaching children necessary? Isn’t overseeing the church treasury necessary? Isn’t maintaining the church building necessary? To a degree all of those things certainly are and probably more that I have left out. However, they are not necessary for you individually.

What I mean is that God will accomplish His will with or without you. We are used to build the church. Amen! But it is fundamentally Christ who builds His church, not us. You and I are not necessary; only Jesus is.

That is true philosophically, which distinguishes between necessary and contingent beings. God is the only truly necessary being. All things are upheld by the word of His power and dependent upon Him, but He Himself is dependent upon nothing. He is perfectly sustained in Himself. We, however, are dependent and contingent upon Him. As Paul said, “in him we live and move and have our being.” Thus, you are not necessary, and sooner or later, your death will prove it.

That truth was cemented in my mind after watching a church member breathe her last in a darkened hospital room. The air was thick and hushed for the moment, but we soon stepped out of the hospital into the bright summer sun with the roar of the highway in our ears. The world hadn’t skipped a beat.

The same was true of even someone as well-known as Queen Elizabeth. The United Kingdom and many more mourned, but life continued.

And it will be true of me. If I were to die tomorrow, my church would certainly mourn, but they would also begin to look for my replacement pretty quickly. My death would fundamentally alter the lives of my three daughters that are all under seven-years-old, but their lives would not cease. The Lord would give them strength to keep going, as He has done for many children before.

You and I are not necessary.

It is bitter to hear, but it is nevertheless good medicine for the soul.

Yes, the Word must be preached, but you are not necessary for doing so. Yes, the church’s building and finances must be maintained, but you specifically are not needed for those tasks. They can be done by another, and even if not, the world will continue onward.

Only one thing is necessary for each of us, which is sitting at our Savior’s feet and hearing His Word. That alone is the good portion that not even death can take from us.

Mary chose this good portion. Christ’s teaching attracted her attention like a magnetic pull upon her very soul. Not so with Martha. She was so consumed with serving that she was distracted (literally, dis-attracted) from listening to what the embodied and eternal Word of God was saying.

Has that ever been true of you?

Have you ever been so focused on serving on Sunday morning that you completely missed hearing Christ speak?

Sidenote: if the Scriptures were read on Sunday, He did speak.

Or maybe you are so exhausted with serving that in your heart you don’t even want to go to church anymore. You just keep going because things will fall apart without you.

But if this is the one thing that is necessary, we should not take it lightly.  In fact, here is the consequence of neglecting this one thing:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 7:21-23

How tragic to be in that place on the day of judgment! How many will say: “Lord, did we not preach in your name each Sunday?” “Lord, weren’t we faithful to serve at VBS every year?” “Lord, don’t you know how many committees I was a part of?”

Note that preaching, VBS, and committees are not the problem. Neither was prophesying, casting out demons, or doing mighty works, for that matter. Yet none of those things are ultimately necessary.

But knowing Jesus is. In fact, Jesus Himself said while praying to the Father, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life is knowing Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life.

Fellow pastors, this means that the most eternally practical part of any of your sermons is to show from God’s Word who God is.

Church members, your greatest desire from the sermon on Sunday morning should be to be shown more of who God is from His own mouth, that is, from the Scriptures. Praise the Lord that His Word has much wisdom to give us on marriage, parenting, work, time management, friendship, and much more. But most fundamentally, the Bible is God revealing who He is to us. He Himself is the treasure hidden in the field. Sell all you own to buy the field, and you will be infinitely better off.

If you are currently neglecting that good portion because you have become distracted with serving, take heart at how compassionately our Lord answered Martha. Sproul notes that “there are about fifteen times in the Bible when a person is addressed by the repetition of his name. ‘Moses, Moses.’ ‘Abraham, Abraham.’ ‘Saul, Saul.’ ‘My God, My God.’ It was Jewish idiom of personal affection. Don’t miss Jesus’ tone in His response to Martha. She had just rebuked Him and told Him what to do. He said to her, ‘Martha, Martha.’ Can you hear the tenderness from His lips?”[1]

Let us hear the tender call of our Shepherd, for He also has many goads us to keep us from wandering away. One such goad is the warning that Jesus gave to the church of Ephesus, which apparently had become a congregation of Marthas:

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Revelation 2:2–5

Let us not lose our love for the Lord in the flurry of serving Him. Let us not neglect the joy of knowing Christ through His matchless Word even when our time is filled with ministering for the sake of His kingdom.

God’s Word is still more desirous by far than gold and sweeter than the purest honey dripping from the honeycomb. Jesus Himself is still the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In His presence there is still fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. Dive into Scripture again simply to taste and see that the Lord is good!

The good portion is still at hand. Don’t allow the distractions of serving to keep you from listening to Him.

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[1] R. C. Sproul, Luke, 314.