Morling Tuesday Chapel: Mary and Martha

Recently I've read through a helpful book called "Grace rules". Although this book has got nothing to do with the speaker in Morling Tuesday Chapel today, some of the message with respects to "works" is quite similar. 

Topic: Mary and Martha

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42

Mary and Martha was Jesus’ friend as they already knew Jesus prior to this event according to the Bible passages.

Mary and Martha are polar opposites.

Martha was on overdrive, goes through a lot of trouble, eg. this is for Jesus so it must be very good, or to meet social expectations of the day.

Mary host Jesus by sitting at his feet and giving him her full attention.

Why did Jesus drop in? For gourmet food, or to spend time with his friends?

Martha: What must I do? Activity driven approach to Jesus.

Mary: Approach marked by devotion.

What would I do when Jesus drop by to visit us? Jesus isn’t going to drop by because He lives in us!

What kind of host are we? Do we tend towards Martha’s activity or Mary’s attentiveness? Tasks vs relationship?

Distraction is something that happens in our heads: when our thoughts get consumed by other things (it’s not necessarily busyness). Even ministry can be a distraction, if our minds get preoccupied with what we must do to serve Jesus.

Busyness: Martha’s struggle, she feels she has more to do than she has time to do it. “More time exists at some point in the future” is a deception! Life doesn’t get less busy. Be attentional in our choices, including saying no to some things.

When the speaker served as minister in church, ministry was a real struggle: the messy people stuff, not enough helpers, etc. Work hard and little fruit. It drove her towards devotion. It started with discipline initially: One hour a week initially, in the bath, because she’s so activistic that this was the only place where she doesn’t get distracted into doing something. Then gradually the discipline got transformed into a desire for God. She learned how to do ministry through the power of the Holy Spirit, and paying attention to what the Spirit might be prompting.

Serving and devotion are not “either or”. But serving must come out of our devotion to God! We need to be like Mary as the basis of what we do. Devotion is the foundation of effective service.

Morling Tuesday Chapel Luke 10: The theophanies of God

29 March, 2016

Topic: The theophanies of God

Speaker: Gary Nelson, President of the Tyndel University College and Seminary http://www.tyndale.ca/

(Wiki info: The Toronto Bible Training School was founded in 1894 by a group of brethren under the supervision of Elmore Harris pastor of Walmer Road Baptist Church. In 1998 the school was renamed Tyndale College and Seminary after William Tyndale, a Reformation theologian of the sixteenth century. The leadership intended the name change to indicate their vision to build “a world-class centre of Christian higher education in Canada”. Tyndale Seminary is now the largest accredited seminary in Canada with more than 700 students at the masters or doctoral level, and the University College received high rankings in the 2009 Maclean's University issue's measure of student satisfaction)

Scripture: Luke 10

Each Gospel book have a different focus. For example, Mark ends abruptly with the women: Some monk didn’t like the ending of Mark and inserts more stuff. Mark ends it because he wants to. He could be saying “the women saw it, now it’s your turn to be the witness…”

Luke tells the story as a historian. Rather than linear history, he’s gathering stories together to drive home the theme.

Luke 10 talks about the theophanies of God.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a story of what happens when God gives us an opportunity to respond to. Regine is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. The church’s response to the genocide: did not respond. Yet, at the same time there were also amazing stories of when people responded to the “God moments”. For example, one of the priest’s response: When the Hutus came and said “we are here for the Tutsis.” The priest responds, “There are not Hutus or Tutsis. We are all one in Christ. If you want to kill the Rwandese kill me first.”

The story of Martha and Mary tells us to not miss the moment to sit at the feet of Jesus. Recognising times, and realizing there are particular times where the moment is critical in our lives. Some people seem to have the concept that you find God when you retreat to the mountains. Being a city dweller, how do we find God in the midst of the concrete? By being and doing.

The opposite of hope is not hopelessness, but the lack of imagination. Let God tune us to His imagination.