Words of Jesus Podcast - Life is More Than Fair

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

We don't know what is good. Circumstances judged on an emotional level will throw us off track. Trust God the Father to know the circumstance we need to become a mature child of God. There is striving, endurance and overcoming to secure a relationship with God. We are admonished to "grow-up in Christ" by becoming a servant. "Know ye what I have done to you?" Jesus asked the disciples. He washed their feet. He served. He humbled himself. He led.We minister to the LORD in physical ways, picking up garbage, cleaning, feeding the hungry; "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."Present your body as a living sacrifice; holy and acceptable to the Lord. John 4:23“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”***59: Jesus In The Home Of Mary And MarthaLuke 10:38-42Jesus In The Home Of Mary And MarthaWhen he came to the village of Bethany, Jesus rested in the house of a woman named Martha. Martha had a sister, Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to his words.            Martha, who was very busy taking care of the house and serving, went to Jesus and said:             “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.”            Jesus answered Martha, saying:            “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello my friends and welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. I'm Don Harris, your host, taking you through some more red ink. Today we're talking in chapter 59. Jesus is in the home of Mary and Martha. Let's begin reading. When he came to the village of Bethany, Jesus rested in the house of a woman named Martha. It's interesting here that Martha was the acquaintance.

Mary and Martha turned out to be very close friends. And, of course, their brother's name was Lazarus. Yeah, that Lazarus. But at this particular point, he came to the house of Martha. He evidently had had a prior meeting with, or at least had become familiar with Martha and was invited to her house for a place to rest or a place to eat or to relax relax and so jesus found himself in bethany

and he says i'm gonna go see martha so he went to martha and he found out and we continue to read martha had a sister mary who sat at the feet of jesus listened to his words. Martha, who was very busy taking care of the house and serving, went to Jesus and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she would help me. Jesus answered Martha, saying, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful,

and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Jesus essentially rebuked Martha. And at first glance glance you're going to look at this and you're going to think she really didn't ask anything that was unfair not at all um but there was some selfishness involved in this i don't know if it wasn't i I'd like to believe that the jealousy was not that I'm having to do all the work and she's not working. But the jealousy may have been that Martha wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus. But she knew that if she did, that nothing else would get done.

Well, it's that nothing else would get done thing that was driving her to see that other things were done other things jesus says you're troubled about too many things i appreciate you know everything you've done you know the pillows are nice and fluffy everything's nice the tea's nice and hot everything you're doing is is really wonderful but i want you to know that you don't need to do this stuff not for me uh everything's everything's fine here what i have come to do and i believe that you know i i realize i add a lot to these stories, but I want you to see that perhaps they're not so cut and dried, and these aren't the only words that were spoken,

and these aren't necessarily, you know, they did this and they said this, and then he was gone to another city. But these conversations continued, and there were many things said that are just simply not recorded. But I think that if you take a look at what is there, you can see why certain now introducing Mary, her sister, to Jesus. I can't help but believe that Martha's jealousy was not the fact that I'm doing all the work

and she's doing nothing. It may very well be that Martha wanted to listen to the Lord Jesus speak as well. But there's other things that need to be done. And I can't help but believe that Jesus may have said to her, now Martha, you've had this time with me that Mary is having now. So perhaps you should look at what you do, all the stuff that you have to do in the house all the preparations that you're making perhaps this isn't just you know dreary housework

i always feel sorry for the housewife who says you know somebody says what do you do for a living oh i'm a housewife you know i just think wow man really is it that bad um i mean is it is it that dreary is it is it that lackluster that uh you that you're just borderline ashamed of yourself that you're uh that you're a housewife? Oh, I think you're missing something wonderful here. You see, it's like when the Apostle Paul says, let women be keepers at home. People say, that's sexist. He's a sexist. And the truth is, is that, let's face it, we all have homes. Many of us do. And there are certain things that have to be done. You know, clothes have to be washed. Meals have to be made.

Dishes have to be washed. Carpets have to be vacuumed. Somebody has to do that. And Jesus is telling Martha, perhaps you need to look at this not like dreary housework, or we need to share this among us, among ourselves. And, I mean, this is some of the speeches that men get, right? You know, you need to help me with the housework.

You know, come on. Have you ever thought about this just might be a ministry this might be something that you're doing to doing for the lord himself you know if you have a man in your life who is a godly man and you're doing these kind of things at home and keeping his home in order making him uh so that he doesn't want to not come home hey ladies let me tell you a little something and guys i'm not betraying you here i'm not going to call your names okay but ladies you should know there's a lot of your husbands they don't want to come home that That's a fact. They'd just rather not be there.

Why do you think they're working late? Why do you think they have a job that takes 16 hours of their life? Why do you think they're running off with their secretary? Why do you think these things are happening? They don't want to come home. You ought to find out why they don't. But nevertheless, probably counsel for another day, right? But Martha, she was convinced that these things needed to be done

and was doing them, and I think Jesus was saying, look, this is Mary's time. This is Mary's time. You should look at what you have to do as ministry to me. Why not? Why not do that? Don't be so selfish here. Don't be so self-centered here.

And frankly, I think Jesus was making this very clear. You know, there is one thing that's needful. And it's not whether or not this house is all clean and spick and span and the pillows are fluffy one thing is needful and you know what you ought to thank your lord god that mary has found that good part that good part not a good part Not a part of what is needful. But she found the thing that is needful. That good part. What good part?

The needful part. She found it. You've got to thank God she's done that. This is a wonderful day. I had my time with you i need my time with her and frankly martha if you don't understand what i'm saying if you don't get it you're still going to feel selfish you're still going to think that all these things need to be shared and shared alike or whatever else you need to know something i'm not taking that part away from her you're not going to convince me otherwise wow that's quite a statement on his part it shall not be taken away from her

i will not take this from martha i'm sorry i will not take this good part from mary so you know get with the program look do you think the lord was being rough here i've had him be rougher to me and if you spend any time with him you're gonna find out that he's gonna be rougher on you than this this is not necessarily a really rough talk right here but jesus makes it clear and and you know i find this is my philosophy a lot of times i want to give you a dignified way out of this i want to give you another way of looking at this i want i want to offer you perhaps a different perspective perhaps stand in a different place, perhaps add a little objectivity to this situation

so that you can feel better about it. But if you refuse that, I'm not going to succumb to you because you're whining. I'm not going to do that. This part that Mary has chosen, this is the good part. And I'm not taking it away from her. I mean, this is Jesus pretty much

drawing a line in the sand. Martha, I don't want to make you mad, sweetie, but your sister's doing the right thing. And, you know, frankly, you ought to remember, she's doing just what you did. You sat at my feet at one time. You listened to what I had to say at one time. Let's bring your sister up where she needs to be.

Now, there are people who, you know, condemn, not condemn Martha, but they, you know, they kind of show her to be at fault. She's concerned about stuff she ought not be concerned about. That's not what Jesus said. He's saying there's one thing that's needed. Not one thing that's wanted. Not one thing, you know, that all the stuff that you're encumbering yourself with. You know, we don't need all that. You know, we don't need all this, you know, all the fluff.

No, I don't think that's what he was saying at all. That's a wonderful thing. Do it. But look, I'll tell you something more important than your feelings of inadequacy, your feelings of, that you're doing something that's not appreciated, it is appreciated.

And I know that Mary has probably always helped you if you had company before or whatever else. But you know, Martha, you ever think that the only reason I'm here is for her? Do you ever consider that? only reason I'm here is for her? You ever consider that? Friend, we need these times with the Lord to open this understanding. It's not all about you. It's not, you're not the most important person in the room. I don't care who's in the room. You're not more important than they are why don't we give

of ourselves why don't we suffer why don't we is is that the is that the deal you're not going to do without anything is that the deal you're going to make sure everything's fair i get so tired of people talking about you know fairness and such you know then and you get people say well you know life's not fair i got news for you life is fair it's it's more than fair nobody gets what they deserve in this life you know why you think you you know why you think life's not fair because you think you're better than you actually are you're not better we all need correction we all need correction. We all need somebody to rebuke us,

to stand in our way when we're doing the wrong thing, to say what's hard and hurtful sometimes on the part of the speaker and on the part of the listener, to bring us into the place that, frankly, we need to be. And I just think that it would do us all good to realize that there is something really, really wonderful about ministering to the Lord

in a very physical way. I know you don't think that there's any way to worship God by picking up garbage. I understand that. It doesn't make sense. You know why? Because all of our religious heroes are all religious heroes. They don't get their hands dirty doing anything.

Does your preacher change his own oil? I bet he doesn't. But, okay, look, if he's busy in the things of god then perhaps he ought to have somebody change his oil i'm not saying that you need to do those kind of things but wow we all need to be willing to don't we don't we all need to be willing to do these kinds of things to pitch in and to help help one another make sure things go like they ought to go, and not be cumbered about by many things. I wondered as I read this,

I was thinking, I wonder what she was cumbered about. Whether the tea was hot enough, really, or that it was served on time, or that there were enough cookies on the plate, or the house was clean. I wonder if that was what was on her mind, or some of the things she was cumbered about was the fairness of life, and, you know, equal division of work, and, you know, the equality of women, or whatever else, you know, that just cumbers our lives, something awful. Maybe it was something like that.

Don't know. But I bet they talked about it. Lord Jesus was probably one of the best counselors that ever was. Because, you remember where it says that he really didn't care whether or not men, you know, appreciated him or liked him or, liked him or would vouch for him. And it says that it didn't mean anything to him because he knew men. And he knew what was in men. Do you know, I think that perhaps you may be a little more tolerant of people being less than you uh or not having your particular uh characteristics or desires or or they don't think it's the things that you think are important

are not necessarily important to them or instead of looking down on them perhaps we ought to realize that Jesus knows what is in man and it alleviated him of his concerns to impress him. And I think that if we understood what was in us, it would alleviate a lot within us that causes a lot of this friction that we have. We have, in life it seems like we have little impertinent frictions that are so unnecessary you know we we fuss and fume about the silliest little things what color we paint the parking bumpers outside the church or the you know the whether or not

so-and-so cuts their grass often enough or any of the rest of this foolish thing go there and cut it for him shut up go do something nice for somebody be good to them you know i know i just don't like the way she dresses her children we Do you ever talk with her about it? Maybe she's doing the best she can. You know what your problem is? You just don't know what's in man. We're depraved human beings, man. We've got problems. We need one another.

We need to help one another. We need to be good to each other. Quit fussing. Quit worrying about equality. In any case, in any situation in any any social or domestic or in the workforce or any of the rest of the stuff quit worrying about all this stuff man take your lot in life man and just just caress it about the shoulders and love what you do the fact that you can do it you know i've recently faced in life this you know this horrible thing about getting old and realizing you just can't do what

you could always do it's a very humbling thing and you know the the fact that you can do it ought to be something within you, an impetus or an impulse or a motivation because you can do it to do it as unto the Lord and not unto men. I recently had a friend that lost his long-time job. And it was a shame and everything, but the fellow's a solid Christian, solid. And he says, you know, I just pretty much fell back

on everything I've learned from TRI. And that is that, you know, good and bad things happen to good and bad people i'm not sitting around wringing my hands and wondering oh god what did i do to lose my job or anything else he says that is you know the lord will provide and it wasn't just it wasn't just mouthy stuff it wasn't just you know just saying it to make it so either hey when he when he said it you just thought wow he really believes that uh that everything is going to be all right and um by golly everything just turned out fine uh you know you know a little period of time in his life when he didn't have an income but because of you know

the council and and because of this ministry and because he understood what Christianity really is, you know, he'd made provisions for his family. He'd made provisions for, you know, having money in the case of a crisis and things that we teach people, not necessarily on a show like this where we talk about theology and such, but we do have, you we have counseling and hearty counsel and all the radio and television shows and things like this where we talk about these things. He was a

tither, and he tithed properly according to the scriptures. Not just an obligatory 10% of everything that he had but he understood you know tithing uh for the feast of the lord and tithe into the levite you know you know he understood all these things everything was was fine in his life he had the cushion he had what it took because he just he was because he was a christian and he lived righteously and um and so now you know he's got a job that's even better and i said oh my goodness i said uh how about the sabbath taken care of took your advice what'd you do well i

went to him and said look you know i i can't work on saturday it's the sabbath of the lord but i have good news for you i don't mind working on sunday at all and you know just like you said he said man i need a guy that can commit to sunday you know because we're open on sunday we need somebody here you can be here every sunday absolutely and it. And it worked out. Everything just all fell into place. Everything was fine. Was he cumbered about anything? Not a thing.

Was he worried about anything? Well, probably no more than anybody with any sense would worry. But you know what was great about that? The words of Jesus, the red ink, indelibly imprinted in his heart in his mind in his life and they come out of his mouth constantly see this is a this is a this is a trophy situation do you know you can do that do you know you can live that way there's only one way to do it, though. Have the mind of Christ.

Be a Christian. Live righteously. Keep the law. Make sure that, you know, the things in your life are the way they ought to be. Don't look at the commandments as, you know, do this, don't do this, do this, and don't do that. But, you know, look at it as my Father cares cares my father knows that i have needed these things

it's just a wonderful life and how do you do that by essentially not complaining not you know uh you know making sure that your your little bone gets chewed making sure that everybody knows how you feel that things ought to be fair and whatever else you know this guy walked away saying life is fair it is fair when you do the right thing then everything just works out friend life is fair you just don't know how wrong you are that's why i mean things like this you know uh when you keep the commandments of god you don't worry about your salvation i'll tell you something else that doesn't happen you keep the commandments of god when bad things happen in your life you say well

this is this is what the lord just has uh empowered me to endure it's you know it's not like oh what did i do wrong you know what something in my life somewhere you know i i that i needed unrepented sin all these kinds of foolish ideas that are kind of pushed down our throat you're not going to go anywhere with that it's not going to work it's not going to give you any comfort. The only thing that gives you comfort is when you do what's expected of you to do by your Lord God, and you know that you can answer a good conscience toward God,

everything just falls into place. If your Christianity doesn't resemble what we're talking about here, I can tell you what's missing. You're living against your conscience. You're not obeying the commandments, and you're not taking time every day to hear the voice of God. Guaranteed.

Guaranteed. Oh, well, I'm doing two out of the three. Not what I said. I'm doing one of them, and it's not what I said. And you can take my advice. Hey hey you don't have to take mine you can take the lord jesus's advice very similar to what i'm telling you deny yourself be willing to die for what you believe and follow jesus christ your whole christian life will will burgeon and blossom a million times more than graduating from seminary a hundred times more than what it would be if you read the bible cover to cover every year

i i think you should read the bible but don't look for any magic act don't look for some wild incantation to change your life don't look for angels to part the sky or for god to come down and pat you on the head tell you what a wonderful guy you are it's not going to happen you're going to have trouble but you don't have to perish by them now martha was headed that way jesus decided to head her off. But it was so important to him that he made it very clear to her, Martha, here's the way to look at this. Martha, I want you to remember this

about you and I, about our beginnings. Remember this. Think about this. Another way of looking at it, stand over here, get a different vantage point but if you can't i want you to know i'm not listening to your whining anymore you want me to tell mary to get up and go help you make coffee i'm not doing that i'm not doing that not in any way shape or form she chose the good part

and he wasn't really saying that Martha didn't choose I've heard that too you know that you know Martha she chose the she chose all the the temporal and the ridiculous and the and the you know the stuff that doesn't matter and Mary she chose the good part he wasn't comparing Mary to Martha he was saying the part that Mary has chosen is the good part Martha it's the part you chose you remember Mary chose the good part and I want you to know I want you to feel good about this I want you to I want all this to work out for you but if you just can't work it out here's one thing you need to know I'm not telling her to get up I'm not telling her to go in there and help you make coffee it's not gonna happen

simply not gonna happen it will not be taken away from her. Alright, our time's gone. Oh boy. I love the red ink. I love doing what I do. And I hope you do as well. If you do, I want you to do something for me. I want to hear from you. I want to know who you are and where you're listening. How you're hearing this broadcast.

We like to be good stewards over what the Lord's given us and we want to make sure that where we apply our resources, that people appreciate what we do. So the only way I can know that is if you let me know. You can email me at don at thinkredink.com, or you can just simply write to Think Red Ink Ministries. P.O. Box 718, Pytown, New Mexico, 87827. See you next time. Bye-bye.

You've been listening to Don C. Harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredc.com. That's ThinkRedInc.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you