Happy Lord’s Day!
This past weekend, I had the privilege of preaching on our hope when we’re weighed down by burdens. You can watch the sermon in the link below or on YouTube. You can also listen on SoundCloud.
I’ve also included the sermon transcript below. 🙂
I pray the Lord blesses you through His Word!
~Blake
P.S. The sermon starts at the 30:50 mark.
Introduction
I’d like to begin this morning in an unusual way—giving you sixty seconds without noise.
Feel free to close your eyes, take some deep breaths, pray, take a quick nap—how you use this time is up to you. My only request is that you don’t talk to one another or take your phone out during this time.
Don’t worry: This will connect with our sermon this morning. In one minute, we’ll dive in.
Sixty seconds of silence, starting now.
[Sixty seconds of silence.]
Alright, sixty seconds. Congratulations. You just experienced (or perhaps survived) more intentional, undistracted, digital-free waking silence than most people have in the past week. (I wanted to get little trophies for all of you, but unfortunately it wasn’t in Chapelstreet’s budget!)
We live in perhaps the noisiest generation in human history. In a world where everyone has a handheld computer in their pocket and voices constantly in their ears (podcasts, music, social media, TV shows, etc.)—not to mention the noise of parenting, projects, pets, and so forth—physical silence is quickly becoming an endangered species.
And yet, even as rare as undistracted physical silence is in 2024, there’s an even rarer silence: the calm silence of a soul at rest. Far fewer people have experienced even sixty seconds of that kind of silence in the past week.
Perhaps even during our sixty seconds of physical silence a few moments ago, you felt noise in your soul—anxieties, stressors, temptations, distractions. Any of us can manufacture sixty seconds of physical silence. But we all have a hard time living in the kind of deep, soul-level rest that is found at the feet of Jesus.
Why is that? Why do our bodies and souls have so much trouble simply resting at Christ’s feet? There are countless reasons, but three distractions plague many of us: busyness, bitterness, and burdens. Putting that another way—what keeps our souls from resting at the feet of Jesus?
- A busy heart
- A bitter heart
- A burdened heart
These three things are where a lot of the noise in our hearts comes from—and each of them, at times, can leave us feeling utterly restless. In fact, I’d argue that it’s impossible for our hearts to be busy, bitter, and burdened—and also restful—at the same time. Fortunately, our text for today addresses each of these distractions and shows us how we can return to the rest our souls long for.
Join me in praying for God’s blessing, and then we’ll dive into the text.
Lord, you know our hearts. You know we are anxious and burdened about many things—even as Pastor Jon prayed about earlier—but you tell us that only one thing is necessary. Use your Word today to help us see, savor, and live out of that one thing. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scripture reading
Our text today is Luke 10:38-42. I will be reading from the English Standard Version (ESV).
[38] Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. [39] And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. [40] 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.” [41] But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, [42] but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Noisy hearts
We are continuing our Face to Face sermon series, which is full of life-changing encounters with Jesus.
As Pastor Brian mentioned last week in the story of Zacchaeus, Jesus came to “make people what they aren’t.” We might say he came to unburden us from the oppression of sins and false saviors and to bring us into the abundant, restful life of fellowship with him.
Today, we are zooming in on one follower of Jesus in particular (Martha), who—at least in this moment—was distracted by a busy, bitter, and burdened heart. She seemed to have a lot of noise in her heart on this particular day.
And let me tell you: I am so thankful this text is in the Bible, because it is a picture of me every morning! I felt this noticeably yesterday. I woke up, opened my eyes, felt about two seconds of serenity, and then the cascade of emotions, thoughts, and worries flooded in—temptations, fears, regrets, tasks that needed to get done, etc. So many things were clamoring for my attention; it felt like a zoo of animals had come blitzing into my bedroom, seeing who could be the loudest. Have you ever felt this way?
This is not an unusual experience for me—it happens every morning, to varying degrees—and I’ve spoken to many older Christians who have felt this cascade of emotions, too.
So, the question is this: Where do we turn? Where do we turn when the noise of busyness, bitterness, and burdens come clamoring for our attention?
According to this text—we have a place to turn—in fact, we have a person to whom we can turn. This person is a Savior who is:
- Present in our busyness
- Patient in our bitterness
- Perceptive in our burdens
Let’s look at these one at a time.
Point #1: Jesus is present in our busyness.
Notice again verses 39-40: “[Mary] sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving.”
In 2018, I lived with my parents, and I was very busy with two jobs and school. I still remember an instance when my mom asked me to sign a birthday card for my Grandma. Now, I deeply love my Grandma (we called her Nanny). She was a huge part of my life growing up. I got to preach at her funeral a few years ago, and her sacrifices and love continue to impact me to this day. (I could tell you all about Nanny sometime; she was a gift from God.)
But on this particular day, when my mom asked me to sign the birthday card, I felt pretty overwhelmed. And this is a little embarrassing, but in this moment—when my mom asked me to sign the card—I remember thinking something like, “Mom, do you actually think I can work two jobs, go to school, AND sign this birthday card for Nanny? Who do you think I am—Superman?”
And it hit me immediately after I had this thought, “Huh. Maybe I’m spread a little too thin right now. If signing a birthday card feels like climbing Mount Everest, something is probably wrong!”
Now, jobs and school are both good things. But in this moment, I had allowed my busy life to give me a busy heart—to the point that I felt too overwhelmed to focus on the people and things that mattered most.
This experience seems to be (at least part of) what’s happening in Martha’s heart in this story. The key phrase in verse 40 is not the words “much serving” but rather the word “distracted.” Martha’s problem was not that she served a lot—service is good and commendable. The problem was that her service—at least in this moment—had become a distraction from Jesus.
Jesus spoke just a few feet away, but the noise in Martha’s heart drowned out his voice. Can you relate to this feeling? Most of us affirm (conceptually) that Jesus is always with us—but how often do we live (functionally) as if he’s not? How often do we allow the noise in our hearts to drown out the voice of Jesus?
Corrie ten Boom said that if the devil can’t make you SIN, he’ll make you BUSY. He’ll do anything to distract us from the voice of Jesus. But here’s the good news: Notice how accessible Jesus is to Martha in her busyness. In all of Martha’s busyness, Jesus was unbelievably close—all she had to do was look at him.
We’ve all seen movies in which the main character has to travel on a long and treacherous journey to reach the hidden residence where the sage or savior lives. This scenario is precisely the opposite of the way Jesus relates to us. When you feel overwhelmed by busyness, Jesus does not say, “You must travel through hell and high water to get to me.” (That would only add to our stress!) Rather, just as Jesus took the initiative to come to Martha’s house, so Jesus took the initiative to come to us—even to our very hearts by His Spirit—and says to us, “I’m right here. All you have to do is look to me.”
The first step in calming a noisy heart is acknowledging Jesus’ presence and refocusing our eyes on him. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”—the one who is with us and will never leave us.
So, first, Jesus is present in our busyness. Secondly:
Point #2: Jesus is patient with our bitterness.
Notice again verse 40: Martha was distracted with much serving. And she 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.”
I’m guessing this tone was uncommon for Martha. However, it seems like she felt bitterness toward Mary (at least in this moment)—which then spilled over into bitterness toward Jesus himself—to the point that Martha began to doubt his care and even demand his obedience.
One of the greatest pains I have ever experienced came in college when I ate a bunch of sugar-free honey—and yes, you heard that right—sugar-free honey! Have any of you ever had this before? I bought this “honey” thinking it would be a great way to save calories and sugar. It tasted fantastic, so I ate a lot of it. But after about 20 minutes, I started to feel a sharp pain in my stomach—and that pain got worse and worse until it felt like knives were stabbing my intestines. I genuinely thought I might pass out because the pain was so severe. So, for a couple of hours, I writhed on the floor in agony. (By the way, I later discovered that this “honey”—if you want to call it that—was sweetened with maltitol, which I’m apparently allergic to! So you now know my kryptonite.)
Bitterness functions similarly to sugar-free honey: It looks great on the shelf and tastes sweet going down. Then, it proceeds to ravage us from the inside out. It destroys our peace, our relationships, and ultimately, our communion with Christ—which is exactly what we see in this text. Martha’s bitterness toward Mary hindered her communion with Christ.
Yet perhaps the most encouraging part of this story is how Jesus does not respond to Martha’s (seemingly) bitter and demanding words. Notice that Jesus does not fire back, “How dare you talk to me like that?!” Jesus doesn’t match her bitterness. He doesn’t shame her in front of everyone. In fact, if anything, Jesus seems to honor Martha for bringing her emotions to him—even if there was some sin in them. Notice the first two words of Jesus’ response (and we’ll come back to the rest of his response in the next point):
Martha, Martha.
Many commentators have noted that this double naming is often used as a term of endearment and deep affection. You may remember King David—after his son Absalom died—weeping over his son, saying, “Oh, Absalom, Absalom!” Or, you think of when Jesus wept over his people, saying, “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her young!” Now, in Luke 10, Jesus says (basically), “Oh, Martha, Martha, your heart is busy and bitter and burdened—and how I would carry these burdens if you would only lay them down at my feet!”
Notice that Jesus’ primary reaction to Martha’s stress and bitterness is not wrath and anger but rather patience and compassion. This is not to say that Jesus ignores our sins or that he won’t ever discipline us—only a father who hates his children would never discipline them—but here’s what I want us to see: We tend to read this passage and think, “Hey, wait a second Martha—you can’t come to Jesus like this!”
This text reframes and corrects our instincts. Our instinct is to think that we can only come to Jesus once we have it all together. I mean, surely we can’t come to Jesus in our sinfulness and brokenness, right?
This passage reminds us that not only can we come to Jesus in our sinfulness—but he is actually the best place to bring our sins and emotions. His heart swells with care when he sees us in need. Consider how freeing this is in our brokenness. You’re telling me when I’m at my worst—when I am busy, bitter, and burdened, with all my messiness before him—Jesus is patient and gentle in his response and correction? That is the kind of Savior I need. Sign me up for that!
Jesus is a safe—no, the safest—place to bring our brokenness and emotions. What if when we brought all our ugliness to God, he wasn’t disgusted with us, but his heart actually swelled with care?
Are you feeling distracted with bitterness and sin today? Bring all of your sins and emotions to the feet of Jesus. He won’t reject you. He won’t say, “What! You’re a sinner?! I had no idea. How dare you!” Jesus already knows the condition of your heart perfectly—and his heart longs to help you. It’s as if Jesus says to each of us today, “My child, my child, how I would help you if only you would only lay down your burdens at my feet!”
Jesus is present in our busyness. He is patient in our bitterness. Third and finally:
Point #3: Jesus is perceptive in our burdens.
Notice again verses 41-42: 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.”
It can be tempting to read this passage and conclude that we should live more monastic lifestyles—spending all day in our bedrooms praying and reading the Bible rather than serving. This notion is precisely not the message of this text.
One of the most fascinating things I discovered when studying this passage is the fact that Mary shows up in three stories in the New Testament, and—get this—in all three stories, the text explicitly says that she’s at Jesus’ feet:
- In Luke 10, Mary is listening at his feet.
- In John 11, after Lazarus dies, the text says Mary was weeping at his feet.
- In John 12, before Jesus dies, the text says Mary served at his feet—anointing his feet with precious perfume.
Whether she listened, grieved, or served, Mary did it all at Christ’s feet. Implementing this practice (and heart posture) is at least part of what I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to take away from this passage.
When we read this passage, should we feel challenged to prioritize time in God’s Word and prayer? Absolutely—we need that now more than ever! Spending time alone with God is how we breathe spiritually—breathing in God’s Word and breathing out through prayer. Time spent with God is essential for our faith—the foundation for everything else we do.
But today’s message is not, “Okay then—drop all of your responsibilities and spend every waking moment in God’s Word and prayer.” Today’s message is that whether you’re listening, grieving, serving, or otherwise—do it all at Christ’s feet. Being at the feet of Jesus is first a heart posture—one of humility, dependence, and an eagerness to hear from him.
Jesus knows our burdens perfectly
Now, you say, “Blake, you said Jesus is perceptive in our burdens. What did you mean by that?”
Notice that in this story, Jesus seems to know Martha’s burdens even better than she does. Martha does not come up to Jesus and say, “Lord, I am feeling busy, bitter, and burdened. Will you help?” Rather, Martha simply spills her heart to him. In response, Jesus says, basically, “I know. I know you are anxious and troubled about many things—I fully know all of these things.”
Consider how relieving it is to have a Savior who knows our burdens. When we feel overwhelmed, Jesus doesn’t say, “You’re feeling burdened? Well, explain yourself. Give me the rundown of exactly what you feel and why you feel it.” Wouldn’t that be terrible? Sometimes, we don’t know what we’re feeling or why we’re feeling it.
Fortunately, when we feel overwhelmed and burdened, Jesus simply says, “Come. Rest. I know your heart. I know what you’re feeling and why you’re feeling it.” At Jesus’ feet, we can simply say, “Lord, I’m a mess right now. Please help me.” And—praise God—Jesus is perceptive to knowing our hearts’ burdens and how to help.
Collapse into his loving heart!
I want to point out one final thing as we close. Consider the imagery of this passage for a moment: Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet. This imagery ought to encourage us when we feel exhausted and overwhelmed. Why? The feet of Jesus is not something you must climb up to. All that is required for us to get to the feet of Jesus is to fall down. As Dane Ortlund put it, “There’s no minimum bar you need to get over to get to him. All you have to do, actually, is collapse in order to get into the heart of Christ.”
Jesus doesn’t say, “You come to me by lifting up your burdens.” He says, “You come to me by laying down your burdens.” Jesus isn’t adding another thing to your to-do list by calling you to sit at his feet. He’s inviting you to collapse into his present, patient, and perceptive heart.
Come and find rest
The ultimate reason we can have hope in our busyness, bitterness, and burdens is that Jesus bore all of these things on his shoulders on the cross, dying for us so that we, through faith in him, could rest eternally at his feet.
Whether or not you have already put faith in Jesus, his invitation to you today is the same: “Are you weary and burdened today? Come to Me, and I will give you rest.”
Let’s pray.
Thank you, Lord, for being present in our busyness, patient in our bitterness, and perceptive in our burdens. You are the Savior we need. Give us rest this week as we lay down all our burdens at your feet so we might follow you with undistracted and worshipful hearts. In Jesus’ name, amen.
_____________________________
Blake Glosson (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is a pastoral resident at Chapelstreet Church in Geneva, Illinois. He has been published by The Gospel Coalition, Life Bible, and Crosswalk.com and republished and/or referred by Eternal Perspective Ministries (Randy Alcorn), Challies.com (Tim Challies), DashHouse (Darryl Dash), Moody Radio (here, here, and here), The JOY FM (here and here), Rooted, Monergism, ChurchLeaders, The Aquila Report (here and here), and numerous other sources. Previously, he served as the director of young adults at New Covenant Bible Church in St. Charles, Illinois.
Watch or listen to more of Blake’s sermons here.
Read “3 Lies to Combat in Suffering and Anxiety” here.
Read “12 Easy Ways to Improve Your Listening” here.
Read “Atomic Habits and Bible Intake: How Tiny Changes Add Up” here.
Read “Satan’s Two Favorite Lies (and Christ’s Victory)” here.
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