Are You Anxious and Troubled? Sit at Jesus' Feet!

Luke 10:38-42 We can easily imagine the scene before us:  having important guests for dinner and all that entails—a house to clean—the meal to prepare.  And all the while we are rushing about trying to make sure that everything turns out just right—the folks that are supposed to be helping us—our kids or our husband--are just laying around—to our eyes not doing much of anything at all.  I can hear myself saying:  “What on earth is wrong with you—have you lost your minds--get up and get to work”!

That’s the way I was raised and I bet you were too.  I never told my parents that I was bored or that there was nothing to do because their response was:  “I’ll find you something to do”.  We identify with poor old frazzled Martha because she looks like us:  more to do than there are hours in the day—her “to-do” list pushing her onward mercilessly.

The Lord wants us to see ourselves in Martha because he has something to teach us about ourselves-- and something to teach us about what our life with God is really all about—for you see, even though we identify with Martha-- it’s Mary that the Lord commends—Mary is the one that he lifts up as an example—Mary is the one who chose the good portion. 

This cuts right to the heart of our in-born difficulty in understanding that our relationship with God is all about his gracious gifts and not about our frantic strivings to get his attention or our ceaseless efforts to please him—thinking it depends on us.

This is the natural religion of mankind and it becomes readily apparent that this is true of us too when we find ourselves identifying with Martha --even when we have the Lord’s own words that Mary is the one who got it right that day-- because she was content to sit at the Lord’s feet and RECEIVE from him the one thing needful.  The Bible says that:  Asthey went on their way, Jesus entered a village.

Jesus entered into that for exactly the same purpose as he entered into world--to give us life.  He said that he came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” –he said that it is the devil who comes to steal and destroy while he came to give abundant life.  You can bet that the devil was there that day—trying to choke out the word of life out of Martha’s heart with the cares of this world.

I have absolutely no doubt that Martha was glad for Jesus’ visit to her home—it was an honor.  We know her from other places in the Gospels as a stalwart confessor of the faith.  But that day she saw Jesus as someone who was going to add to her burdens rather than take them away.  What about us?  Is that how we see our life with God?

We need to ask ourselves on this Lord’s Day:  “Have we received the Lord’s visitation (his real presence in Word and Sacrament) as a burden (getting up early, putting on special clothes, arranging our many other tasks) or are we thankful to simply be in the Lord’s presence, to hear his voice, and receive his gifts of salvation?  As we sit here in church this morning:  are we Mary or Martha?  The Bible says that:

A woman named Martha welcomed Jesus 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.

            If Jesus came to our home like he came to Martha’s home we would do exactly the same things--we would fly into action—making sure that things were neatened up and that the bathroom was clean and that there were refreshments to serve.  His visit would not mean “rest” for us-- but frantic action.  It would mean one more thing that we had to add to our busy schedules.  It would seem to be a burden rather than a blessing.

And a truer picture of what sin has done to “twist and distort” our understanding of what life with God is all about-- cannot be found than Martha’s frantic, exhausting, distracted rushing about—focused upon herself and all that she had to do. 

It’s the same attitude that keeps people away from church on Sunday.  After a long, busy work week they tell themselves that they need this time to get done all the things they didn’t get done during the week.  Their own agendas more pressing than the presence of the Lord who stands ready to give them rest.

How different is the picture of Mary!  Mary was not going to waste a single moment that she could spend with the Lord on anything else.  Mary was content to simply be in the Lord’s presence.  She wanted to hear his words and sit at his feet. 

Mary knew that what Jesus came to do for her --was infinitely more valuable-- than anything she could do for him.  She knew that what Jesus really desired from her was the opportunity to give her-- what only he could give.

Jesus had shown that in his ministry again and again.  When the wedding couple ran out of wine—he gave it.  When the multitudes were hungry—he provided.  When the widow lost her son—Jesus restored him.  Each miracle was a sign of his mission:  that he came to lift our burdens—not add to them.  We need to be reminded of that just like Martha did that day.  The Bible says:

Martha went up to Jesus 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. 

            How human this scene is—how sadly familiar!  Martha knew all of the things that she wanted to get done—her mind was full of what she thought had to be accomplished.

Let me ask you a very simple question:  at that moment, who was it that stood at the center of Martha’s universe?  She did!  She had HER “to-do” list.  She had HER schedule.  And everyone within her orbit was supposed to do her will—even Jesus.  “If you really loved me Lord you would adopt my agenda.  If you really loved me you would act on  my time frame.  Don’t you care about me Lord?” 

But of course he did—too much to let her go on like that!  “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.”  And how could she not be!  We human beings are not equipped to be God and yet when we treat God as our servant—expecting him to do WHAT we want, WHEN we want it—when we insist that others (even Jesus) yield to us—that is exactly what we have become—weak little gods of our own, sad little worlds.  But Jesus loves us too much to let us go on this way.

Of course the Lord cared about her—that is why he came there that day and that is why he came into our world in the first place—to deliver us from the terrible, sinful burden of being our own gods—of going our own way—of making our will our master--and to restore us to what we are meant to be:  children of the one true God, re-born in his image by the Spirit-- who live in perfect agreement with his will and his timing.  He said:

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion.

There are all kinds of important things that we have to do—we have serious and weighty responsibilities—all of us feel the press of full schedules—but there is really only one thing that stands at the center of our lives—only one thing that can be the main thing—only one thing that gives order and meaning to all the rest—only one thing that is finally, irreducibly necessary—and it is not something that we do—but something that has been done for us-- by Jesus—the one thing needful. 

Christ’s death on the cross has paid for every one of those times that our “to-do list” and our schedule has taken precedence over God’s will and God’s timing.  His death has fully atoned for our rebellion against God that wants to turn him into our servant and lifts us up into his place.  And his resurrection is the promise of a brand new life for us in which we live “now and forever” in a right relationship with God as his children.

That is what Mary received that day at the Lord’s feet listening to his words.  It’s what we have received in Holy Baptism where the benefits and blessings of Christ’s death and resurrection become our own.  It’s what we receive each time that hear that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.  It’s what we receive when we come to Holy Communion today--the assurance in body and blood that we are loved and forgiven.

            Christ is the Giver-- not the taker-- and he promises that these gifts of his gracious love will not be taken from us. 

The meal that day at Martha’s house came to an end.  The scraps were thrown out and the dishes were washed and Martha’s neat and tidy house got dirty all over again.  All of those things that Martha thought were so important—they came to an end too.  Over time Mary and Martha died and their home crumbled into dust. 

Everything was taken from them except for the needful thing—the necessary thing—and that was Christ and his Word of forgiveness and life.  That endures forever-- and because it does—so do they live forever—and so will we who have received Christ in faith.  May God grant it to us all for Jesus’ sake!  Amen.      

General Prayer Pentecost 9 Proper 11

Gracious heavenly Father, as we come to You in prayer we entreat Your favor with all our heart and ask in the name of Jesus that You would be gracious to us according to Your promise:

During this last week we have been reminded that the earth is full of Your steadfast love.  We thank You for the gift of rain and pray that You would use it to prosper crops and livestock and so bless the work of farmers and ranchers.

Grant that we would follow the example of Abraham in our worship, service, and stewardship.  Help us to have a faith like his that trusts in Your promises and is counted by You as righteousness.

We thank and praise You that You have reconciled us to Yourself by the body of Your Son Jesus Christ nailed to the cross.  Because it is Your will that we would stand before You holy and blameless, grant that we would be stable and steadfast in our faith, placing our hope in the Gospel that we have heard.

Empower and energize our congregation and our church by Your Holy Spirit so that like Paul we would work to make Your Word fully known in our communities.  Especially do we ask Your blessing upon our synod as it meets in convention that every decision would be right in Your sight and good for the church.

When we are anxious and troubled about many things set our hearts at rest with the assurance that in Your Son Jesus Christ we have the one thing necessary and it will not be taken from us.  Especially do we pray for those who are troubled with illness and disability and the frailty of old age that You would grant them healing and strength according to Your will.

Bless our nation and its leaders and our fellow citizens with a desire to keep Your commandments and a willingness to learn Your statutes.  Watch over and protect our military men and women.

Whatever else You see that we need; whatever is good for our neighbor and brings glory to You; grant to us dear Father in heaven for we ask it all in the name of Jesus Christ, trusting in his promise that You will hear and answer us for his sake.  Amen.

My Prayer For You

Colossians 1:9-14 “Pastor, would you pray for me.”  I have cancer.  I’m struggling in my marriage.  I’ve got this big decision to make and I don’t know which way to go.  My child is on the wrong track.  “Pastor, would you pray for me.” 

I’m always glad to do that.  In fact, I’m blessed to be able to share your joys and sorrows and struggle.  I want you to have every good gift that God bestows upon his children in this life and so I am happy to take these things to the Lord in prayer, confident that God will always answer for your good.

But my prayers for you don’t end there because there is much more to our existence than just being healthy, wealthy, and wise.  My job as your pastor is to help you have a life with God—in this world and in the world to come.

And so my prayers for you do not stop at material blessings—but also include spiritual blessings.  I pray that you would have a knowledge of God and his will so that you would live holy lives here on earth.  I pray that God would give you his strength so that you could face the challenges of life with faith and joy.  And I pray that you would be filled with thanksgiving to God for his gift of salvation.  The Bible says:

We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

God is Your heavenly Father.  Jesus has saved you at the cost of his own life.  The Holy Spirit has been working in your life from the very beginning to make you God’s child.  No one knows you better or loves you more than God.  And the Lord has a will for your life—every part of your life—and that will is not hidden.  It is plainly revealed in his Word.

As your pastor I am thankful to God that you know and believe that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.  There is no substitute for that.  There is no life with God without that.  But God wants you to know what that means—not as some intellectual agreement with the truth and not as merely some dogma that we say correctly in the creeds.  But he wants you to have a living, heartfelt knowledge of his will for you.

There is one way to come to that knowledge and that is through the Word of God.  That is why I pray for you to be faithful in church and bible class attendance—that you would hear the Word of God read and preached on and taught. 

God has a will for how you order your priorities and how you deal with money and how you manage your family and unless you hear and study his word you will not know be able to live the holy life that God expects of those he has redeemed.  The Bible says that we are to grow in our knowledge of his will so that we can:

walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

That is a high calling indeed—to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.  Just think of that!  Our lives are to be lived in such a way that all of the care and concern and time and love that God has lavished upon us has been worthwhile to him. 

We have been saved for a purpose—so that we can live lives that are pleasing to him.  We see that so clearly in our Old Testament lesson.  Again and again God says:  I am the Lord—the God of your salvation—and so this is how you are to live.  And as we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and as we do good works—our knowledge of God himself will grow.

This is something that Christians are confused about.  We can learn about God’s will from the Bible ( and that is the first step) but a knowledge of God himself—filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding-- comes as we step out in faith and begin to actually live out what the Bible says.  That takes courage and conviction and so I pray that God would give you the strength to do so.  My pray for you is that you:

…be strengthened with all power, according to God’s glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,

Throughout these verses we hear the high calling of our Christian life—that we are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord—that we are to live our lives in such a way that they are fully pleasing to God—that we are to bear the fruit of good works and patiently endure all things.

None of us naturally have the strength or resolve or faith to do any of these things.  And yet the Lord calls us to do them.

Is this high calling an act of cruelty on God’s part, seeing that we have no strength in ourselves to do it?  No!  Rather, it is an invitation to be strengthened by the Lord—to have his glorious might active in our lives—rather than relying on our own strength.  Let me give you an example.

Paul struggled with something he called “a thorn in his flesh”.  We don’t know what that was but it was a real sign of his own frailty and he prayed earnestly for it to be removed.  But God wanted him to have strength far greater than his own and so the thorn remained but along with it Paul was given God’s strength.  God told him:  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”.

That power that is perfected in our weakness—that power that strengthens us for the high calling of the Christian life is the Gospel—the Good News of Jesus.  The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. 

The world thinks of power only in terms of earthly strength and might and so has little regard for the power of the Gospel.  But it is only the Good News of Jesus Christ that has the power to deliver us from the dominion of darkness and transfer us to the kingdom of God.  It is only the Good News of Jesus that has the power to change enemies of God into his children.  It is only the Good News of Jesus Christ that has the power to defeat death and the devil.

The Gospel is the power of God that strengthens us for the Christian life and we receive it over and over when we hear the story of salvation in the sermon and receive Holy Communion and when we are forgiven of our sins in the absolution. 

We need every bit of God’s strength that we can possibly receive, every time we have an opportunity to receive it, so that we can patiently endure the challenges we face as Christian people because we now that many will fall away and it is only those who endure unto the end who will be saved.

As your pastor I want you to come to church on Sunday because I know that this is the place that God has appointed where you can receive the strength you need to face the challenges of living as a Christian.  And those challenges are many.

We live in a world that scorns our values.  The devil prowls around like a roaring lion.  Our own flesh wages war against the new people we are in Christ. 

In our own strength we are hopelessly outgunned in the spiritual battle that we must wage and win throughout our lives if we are to finally enter into heaven.  That is why the Lord has generously promised to empower us through the Gospel so that we can not only endure—BUT ALSO A LIFE OF JOY.

God does not want our life with him to be drudgery and disappointment—Jesus came to give us life and give it to the full—and yet there are struggles and setbacks. 

The key to joyful Christian living is the promise that we are God’s own children, forgiven of our sins, and part of his family—no matter what we face-no matter how often we fall—God loves us.  Strengthened by this Good News we can live a Christian life that is joyful and thankful.  And so I pray that you would:

give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered you from the domain of darkness and transferred you to the kingdom of his beloved Son,  in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

I’ve met a number of people who are bitter.  Their life has not worked out like they planned.  They feel like they’ve missed out on some things that mattered.  No matter what is going on in their life—even if it is a blessing—it’s just not quite good enough—not the right timing, etc.  There is no joy because there is no thankfulness.

I can’t think of anything worse for a Christian than to lose the capacity for thankfulness.  And so the question is:  in this life where there are struggles and setbacks—where things don’t always go as planned—how can we retain our thankfulness and joy? 

The secret to thankfulness and joy is whatwe have set our hearts on and wherewe have fixed our hopes.  If the object of your life- is this life- you will finally be disappointed because even a life that is blessed materially will end and then eternity.  Jesus said that it is the worst kind of trade to gain the world in this life if we lose our souls for eternal life. 

Of course we know that there are plenty of people sitting in pews that try to have it both ways—people that are really focused on this life thinking of their faith as an insurance policy for eternity.  But this is not really faith and there is no joy or thankfulness for them because it is impossible to love God and mammon.

The only cure for this is to refocus our lives on what truly matters—what will never disappoint—and that is the gift of salvation.  God has rescued us from the devil at the cost of his Son’s life.  He has made us members of his family by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He has forgiven all our sins.  A life of thanksgiving comes from the joy of our salvation—God’s promise that we are his children who have an eternal home waiting for us.

Knowledge of God’s will.  Strength for the journey.  A life of thanksgiving.  This is my prayer for you.  Amen.

Proper 10 Pentecost 8 General Prayer

Gracious heavenly Father, as we come to You in Jesus’ name, asking for those things we need, we pray that You would be gracious to us and lift us up:

We confess and believe that You are the LORD—the God who has delivered us and saved us by the death and resurrection of Your Son Jesus Christ.  Help us to live as Your people and love our neighbors as ourselves by caring for those in need and living justly with others and forgiving others as we have been forgiven by You. 

Fill us with Your Holy Spirit so that the seed of the Gospel which has been implanted in us through word and sacrament would bear fruit and grow strong.  Continue to raise up faithful ministers of the Gospel like Epaphras who will make known to us the truth of Your grace and Your love for us in the Sprit.

Empower the mission and ministry of our congregation so that many in our community would leave the domain of darkness and be transferred into the kingdom of Your Son where there is forgiveness for their sins.

When we are tempted to justify ourselves in Your sight by the things we do and say, remind us that Your standard is perfection and then point us to Your Son Jesus in whom this perfection is found and through whom we are truly justified in Your sight.

As we  look upon a world in need grant us compassion and a willingness to help and so prove that we love our neighbors as ourselves.  Help us to walk in a manner worthy of You, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in knowledge of You.  Especially do we pray this for Timothy, James, and Jonathon as they celebrate their birthdays.

Prevent our enemies from shouting in triumph over us.  Empower and protect all of those who bear the sword as Your ministers for our good.  Help them to exercise their duties in a way that is right in Your sight.

Gracious heavenly Father, we know that we have a hope laid up for us in heaven through the glorious resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  Grant us the wisdom and the faithfulness and the endurance to walk the narrow way to our eternal home.

Whatever else You see that we need; whatever is good for our neighbor and gives glory to You; whatever will work for our salvation; grant to us dear Father in heaven for we ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, confident that You will hear and answer us for his sake.  Amen.