SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/7/2016 8:06 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Heartfelt Service of Martha
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 12:2
Message f the verses: “1 Jesus, therefore, six days before the
Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the
dead. 2 So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of
those reclining at the table with Him.”
I find it
strange that yesterday I seem to have a change of mind about Martha, as
whenever I saw her from Luke’s gospel in chapter 10:38-42 “38 Now as they were
traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him
into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s
feet, listening to His word. 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;
42 but only one thing is necessary, for
Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’” Now as I look at that chapter and have heard
different sermons on that chapter I have come to the conclusion that Martha was
doing something wrong, and yet I think the only thing that she was doing wrong,
and something we all have done, is to tell the Lord what to do. However as I was thinking about this
yesterday I came to the conclusion, especially after looking at out text today
that Martha’s gift was serving, and so that is what she did. There is a spiritual gift of hospitality
found in the Scriptures, and Martha surely had that gift. Now as I listened to the sermon from John
MacArthur on this section yesterday I found that he came to the same conclusion
too. This is not the first time this has
happened to me either. In that sermon he
talked about how in the millennial kingdom that Jesus will serve some of the
saints, literally serve them food, and so I have a new respect for Martha and for
people who have this gift.
What we see
in this section is Jesus going to a supper, which is the main meal of the day,
a meal that would take a long time to eat as those who attended would be
sitting around a “U” shaped table on pillows as they kind of stretched themselves
out and enjoyed the fellowship with others as they ate their meal.
We have to
go to Matthew 26:6 and also Mark 14:3 to see that this meal was not in the home
of Martha and Mary, but we find it was in the home of Simon the leper, now of
course Simon was no longer a leper or they could not be at his home according
to the Jewish Law, but we have to believe that Simon was healed by Jesus. Just think about the conversation that went
on during this meal as Simon was healed by the Lord, and Lazarus had been
brought back from the dead by the Lord.
And the best part was that Jesus was there too.
John
MacArthur writes about Martha’s serving:
“Though others were served also, Martha’s service on this occasion was primarily
directed at Jesus, and was commendable for two related reasons: it was motivated by loving gratitude to Him,
and by a desire to generously honor Him in the way she best knew how. There was no rebuke as in the earlier incident. Like her, all Christians are to be engaged in
selfless service (Rom. 12:11; cf. Gal. 5:13; Col. 3:24; Heb. 9:14). Jesus said, ‘The greatest among you shall be
your servant’ (Matt. 23:11) and declared of Himself, ‘I am among you as the one
who serves’ (Luke 22:27), and, ‘the Son of Man did not come to be served, but
to serve’ (Matt. 20:28).” So we learn
from the Lord and see it in the service of Martha that we all should be
servants in some kind of way because of what our Lord did for us.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have learned from this section that I need
to be more like Martha, and as I wrote yesterday to be like both sisters would
be the better, but to be like Jesus would be the best.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: To be like Jesus as He came
to serve, so I need to serve.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:8-10) “8 Now if we have died with Christ, certainly we shall
also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is
never to die again, death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin
once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “David” (Romans 1:3).
Today’s Bible question: “Who said, ‘Drink thou, and I will draw for
they camels’?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/7/2016 8:45 AM
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