Glynlea Grace United Methodist Church l Southside l Arlington l Jacksonville Florida

SCRIPTURE

Luke 10: 38-42

Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her."

FOCUS and FUNCTION

Focus: Halloween will soon be over. Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. Christmas is

not far behind. The holiday season will hit us like a flash of lightening. It is

considered to be the most stressful time of the year. It doesn’t, however, have to

be this way. The holidays become stressful because we forget what is truly

‘needful’. The only needful thing is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Mary understood this but Martha lost sight of this as she scrambled to do

everything that was expected of her. Let’s be more like Mary. Let’s remember

what the holidays are really all about. Let’s focus on the one thing needful.

Function: To encourage the congregation to maintain focus on the ‘one thing needful’

during the upcoming holiday season.

The Sermon

I. Introduction: “Home for the Holidays Song”

A. Song, “Home for the Holidays” speaks about how great it is to be home for the holidays and engage in all the activities that go along with the holidays. But, is this always true?

B. Typical activities that can make the holidays extremely stressful and less enjoyable

· Couples being pulled in two directions: Must spend time w/ the husband’s family and wife’s family. Feel guilty if we spend to much time with one side of the family

· Must get the exact right presents for the children. Must get enough presents for everyone.

· Huge dinners that take up most of the day preparing

· Baking all the goodies

· Making travel plans

· All the various parties and plays that we feel required to attend

· Picking the right Christmas tree and putting up all the decorations

C. The problem: We get so distracted by all the various holiday activities that we forget to focus on the ‘one thing needful’

D. Jesus addresses this problem in the story about Martha and Mary

II. The story of Jesus visiting Martha and Mary

A. Jesus is invited to have dinner with the family of two sisters, Mary and Martha

B. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens to Jesus while Martha runs around preparing the meal

C. Martha complains to Jesus that Mary isn’t helping her with the meal prepearation

· We understand where Martha is coming from…It was hard work to prepare a meal in Jesus’ day…Had to collect the firewood, start the fire, keep the fire going, butcher the animal/prepare the meat, wash the vegetables etc… There was no grabbing something from the freezer and popping it in the microwave

· Jesus turns Martha’s complaint into a teaching moment

- It would have been understandable for Jesus to tell Mary to get off her lazy behind and start working but instead

- Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”

- To paraphrase Jesus, “Martha, you are so worried about making sure the meal is ready and perfect. You want every detail to be just right. I appreciate this. However, you are being distracted from the one thing that is vital. You’re neglecting the only thing that really matters. Mary has not forgotten this ‘one thing needful’. Don’t you forget the ‘one thing needful’.

- This brings up the question: What is the ‘one thing needful’?

III. The ‘one thing needful’

A. The ‘one thing needful’ in our lives is a personal love relationship with God.

B. It’s interesting that this story comes right after we learn that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord w/ all our heart, soul, strength and mind. (Luke 10:25-28) This is the greatest commandment because we were created to have an intimate love relationship w/ God. We all have a void in our soul that can only be filled by God.

C. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement in England, understood this. He preached a sermon titled ‘The One Thing Needful’. In this sermon he described the ‘one thing needful’ as ‘the renewal of our fallen nature’. We must be transformed and cleansed of our sin so that we can enjoy an intimate love relationship with God. Wesley goes on to say, “For to this end was man created, to love God; and to this end alone, even to love the Lord his God with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. But love is the very image of God: it is the brightness of his glory.”[1]

D. So, the ‘one thing needful’ is a personal relationship with God and we must maintain our focus on the ‘one thing needful’ during the holiday season. If we do this, we’ll be less stressed and the holidays will become more meaningful.

IV. Maintaining our focus on the ‘one thing needful’ during the holidays

A. Giving this sermon now. If we wait until we are in the holiday season to focus on the ‘one thing needful’ it will be too late. This requires prior planning.

B. Practical ideas to maintain focus on the ‘one thing needful’ during the holidays

1) Key word: Simplify. By simplifying we create more time to devote towards God and serving others.

- Simplify the meals

- Simplify the decorations

- Simplify the gift giving

2) Conduct a daily family devotional during Advent

3) Realize that not every member of the family needs to be present. Although it’s great for the entire family to be present, Christmas is not about family. It’s about Jesus.

4) Each year randomly select a member of the family not to receive any gifts. Donate to this person’s favorite charities the money that would have been spent on him/her. This would be a reminder that Christmas is not just about receiving gifts.

5) Instead of exchanging gifts, the family could volunteer to serve some people in need.

6) Spend Christmas day at a homeless shelter, nursing home, prison, hospital or any other place where people are in need.

7) Make Christmas Eve a simple birthday party for Jesus. Make a birthday cake for Him.

8) Keep the Christmas Eve dinner simple and go to Christmas Eve service.

9) Read the Christmas story before opening presents.

10) Send a thank you note for each present received

V. Conclusion

A. This holiday season, be like Mary and maintain your focus on the ‘one thing needful’.

B. The ‘one thing needful’ starts with repentance and trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. If you have never repented and placed your trust in Jesus, you can do so right now. Invite Jesus into you heart so that you can receive the ‘one thing needful’ this holiday season.