Growing as Disciples
Luke 10:38-42
Introduction
What does Jesus want from us? We have seen that Jesus wants us follow him. We have seen that Jesus wants us to live a life of love, love toward God, love toward our neighbours, and love toward each other in the church. Then, related to that, we saw that Jesus wants us to work toward justice.
I want to say that after I came back to faith in my early twenties, none of this was taught in the church I attended, except for perhaps following Jesus. If we were to ask the leadership of that church at that time, what does Jesus want from us, the answer would have been very simple. Jesus wants us to go to heaven. Now I am not being critical of those pastors, as they greatly blessed me and helped me develop a love for the Bible. But this was the general view within the congregation. In fact even when it came to the topic of Christian life, it always ultimately came to determining whether or not participating in certain activities would change your eternal home from heaven to hell. You might not think I am exaggerating but I am not. I remember a gust speaker saying from the pulpit that he often found it puzzling that God did not rapture us to heaven the moment we accepted Jesus as our Saviour. After all, that was our ultimate goal in life was to get our ticket to heaven. What is the point of life after that happens? He finally concluded that there is only one reason that God does not take us to heaven the moment we become a Christian and that is so that we can tell others about Jesus so they can go to heaven. That is our only purpose in life.
Based on this series and other sermons I have preached, you might guess that I do not believe that our only purpose in life is to get other people into heaven. But saying that, I fear that you will think that I do not believe in evangelism and that Christianity is for this life only. That could not be further from the truth. In fact, next week we will conclude this series with a look at what it means to grow the kingdom of God by introducing people to Jesus.
What I am trying to say is that the Christian life is far richer than just getting to heaven when you die and getting other people to heaven. It’s part of the story, an important part, but only a part.
Today what we are going to look at is growing as disciples. The Great Commission, that we often interpret as making converts, actually says that we are to make disciples. In this message, we are going to look not so much on how to disciple others but how we are to grow as disciples.
Mary as a Disciple
The story we are looking at is that of Mary and Martha. Although Luke does not tell us, the Gospel of John tells us that Mary and Martha were the sister’s of Lazarus and that Jesus was close friends with all three of them. Although in some ways Jesus was homeless, in that he did have his own house after starting his ministry, we should not think of him sleeping on the street or under a bridge on a regular basis. There were supporters, such as Mary and Martha, who would invite Jesus into their homes. That is the context for this passage as Jesus enters Martha’s home. I must confess that I have mixed feelings about this passage even though I know the point Jesus is trying to make. Martha is working away, running around, making sure everything is right for Jesus’ visit. And what is her sister Mary doing? Sitting there at Jesus’ feet, doing nothing! Martha gets frustrated, and instead of asking Mary to help, she complains to Jesus. When you read this, who do you sympathize with more? I tend to feel for Martha and can completely understand her frustration. And yet Jesus praises Mary for doing the proper thing and gently corrects Martha.
What is Jesus trying to say here? Is Jesus saying that there is no place for practical hospitality when guest comes to your house? That is very unlikely. It is completely normal to make a guest feel comfortable and to even provide refreshments. Jesus is looking at something else.
When we look at Mary, we are supposed to notice not what she is not doing but what she is actually doing. Sitting at Jesus’ feet is not doing anything. Sitting at Jesus’ feet is actually taking on the posture of a disciple. When discussions about women in ministry were at their height, some would claim that there were no female disciples. This passages demolishes this claim. There were more disciples than the Twelve and Mary was one of them. What Mary is doing is what any disciple of any rabbi at that time would do in a discipleship relationship. Mary is sitting and listening and learning. She is growing as a disciple. Martha was not wrong to be hospitable, but she should have done only what was needed and to have sat at the feet of Jesus as a disciple.
Discipleship Growth
This interplay between Mary and Martha continues to happen today, although a slightly different way. It is almost like each one of us as followers of Jesus have a Mary and a Martha on each shoulder. We are going about our business as a Christian and Mary says to us, “It’s time to sit at the feet of Jesus” and Martha steps in and says, “That’s not very productive, you better do something practical.” Do you ever feel that tension? I suspect most of us have a tendency toward one or the other. What I am not saying is that one is always right and one is always wrong. When people are preparing for KD Lunch for the students and it is time to set up the tables, I do not retreat to my office to read the Bible. There is a time to do the hands on activities that are required for things to work properly. But at some point, we also have to listen to the voice of Mary.
Basically, it comes down to this: What does it mean for you to sit down at the feet of Jesus? I cannot give you the ONE plan that is appropriate for every Christian. Some people get up at 4 am and pray for a couple of hours. That works for some but will not work for everyone. In general, I would say that sitting at the feet of Jesus includes some form of prayer and interaction with Scripture. But what that looks like will be different for different people. Some people use some of the traditional spiritual disciplines, such as fasting, silence and numerous others. Some people grow through taking courses or reading books or listening to podcasts. My desire is not to tell you what you must do and impose a curriculum on you. Rather, I want to challenge to ask what it looks like to sit at the feet of Jesus. More concretely, what is it you need to do to grow as a disciple. This is part of what Jesus wants for us. Life on this planet is a time in which we find our faith confronting all sorts of experience good and bad. You can think of it as parallel to physical exercise. As you grow in your exercise discipline, you create greater endurance and strength. The same thing happens when we attempt to actively grow as disciples. We might not see the progress at first, but slowly we get stronger. It is worth the effort.
Conclusion
What does Jesus want us to do? One of the things that Jesus wants us to do is to grow as disciples. Some of that happens in Sunday morning worship services as we look at Scripture and as we pray together. But much of it is going to take place outside of Sunday mornings. I am actually passionate about creating discipleship resources. The biggest challenge that I find is that I naturally try to create resources that will help people like me. But God has created each one of us different. Even Amanda and I are different in what helps us to grow as discipleship.
For Mary, it was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to his teachings. I would encourage you to interact with Scripture, especially the Gospels, and I would encourage you to find a way to pray. How you do it, is up to you. You know what works for you and you can find your own way to the feet of Jesus.
