What is so wrong with being Martha?

you Shalom hovering and welcome to seeking truth in Torah and I am really really excited about this teaching as I'm always excited about the teachings and I really pray that you'll get this excitement and get what I'm going to be sharing today with you so I just wanted to say welcome and I pray that you'll just be so blessed with this teaching is I truly believe that you will be because this is something that is really been on my heart for quite a while so this teaching to do this with you and so let us just pray first before we get into it father we just thank you this evening father for being with us father we thank you so much that you love us father's so uniquely as we are as individuals that you have a unique set of gifts father that you have given to us you ever need a unique personality that you've placed in each one of us father and I pray that through this teaching we will realize more of who we are father and how to use what you have given to us father to benefit you and your glory father and your kingdom and we thank you for that I just pray a blessing over everyone that is blessing to this father the ears will be open to receive father your message or treater their spirit father will receive from your hand Messiah is sure we do this all for your glory and once you just whistle for me and we thank you for all that we pray this and your mighty name amen so the teaching I have entitled it what is so wrong with being Martha what's so wrong with being Martha now continually actually I'm always in country in this negativity regarding Martha there's actually songs that Christians have written about Martha Martha why you so busy why you so afraid sit down sit down and there's this continual thing about victimizing Martha and I really believe that that's a very inappropriate way for us to see her or very negative way for us to see her as Mary and Martha are actually two very special woman and two very strong witnesses about Yeshua even in their generation but also in ours because Hebrews 12 as we know says that there's this great cloud of witnesses that cheering us on and they are part of that great cloud of witnesses they walked with Yeshua they ate with him they spend so much time with him and and this evening I just want us to look at Mary and at Martha but mainly at Martha and to ask our Falls where's our perception of Martha come from and what's so wrong with being Martha so I just wanted to say that we should never actually take people whose lives we don't know much about and say they bad and they good and many pastors many preachers have spoken and teachers alike have have used Martha and her story only one particular story which is fine in Luke chapter 10 which is where we're going to begin but many people have just used that story to to indicate what kind of people they are and it's incorrect for us to just take one story out of context and and to just use that so let's get into it in and and it's look at Martha so let's start with that it started with Luke chapter 10 this is what it says as Yeshua and his disciples were on their way he came to a village where woman named Martha opened her home to him she had a sister called Mary who sat urges she was feet listening to what he said but Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made she came to him and asked teacher don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself tell her to help me but she sure answered and said Martha Martha you are worried and I've said about many things but few things are needed or indeed only one mary has chosen what is good and that will not be taken away from her now as I started off saying this scriptural passage of Scripture has been used many times here we have Martha and we have Mary we have Mary Martha's sister who is indeed actually just sitting at your shoe is feet just listening to what are you saying just receiving from him and Jay you have Martha who is is distracted by all the preparations that she has to do and she just add in this way now we need to look at actually what is actually going on here while this is not the only interaction that readers have with martyrs throughout the word I'm going to show you later on we have other interactions with her that needs to draw on on who we see her as but as this is this is not only that first time that we see her but it's one of the only places that people actually remember Martha it's one of the only interactions that we recall to our mind and I pray this evening that through this teaching you're going to be able to go and when you hear someone speaking bad about Martha that you'll be able to go and point out to them that that maybe you're not seeing the bigger picture and and I pray for that so so this Luke chapter 10 is going we're gonna unpack it we need to look at the context we need to look at what Mary is doing what Martha's doing watches schewe is actually doing because that is gonna tell us a lot the but he's interaction with Martha and with Mary so this is the context of Luke chapter 10 Yeshua and His disciples are making their way through a village named Bethany it's about two miles from Jerusalem it's very close to Jerusalem and while he is traveling through this village he meets a woman named Martha Martha goes at him and invites you sure into her home so notice this Martha is the one who goes our to Yeshua first and invites him excitedly into her home and then she gets busy preparing for the evening meal and and work against happened there was a lot of people heard about Yeshua this great man that was performing all these miracles and it is safe to say that a lot of people began to gather in her home once they heard that this controversial man named Yeshua was sitting down to supper in the small village Bethany was a small village and obviously there was a lot of talk about Yeshua and people wanted to see him they wanted to hear his teachings so not only were they twelve hungry grown men disciples with his schewe who had to be fed and and looked after but guests soon began to pour in and I think that any of us would begin to feel overwhelmed because Martha began to feel overwhelmed she began to feel trio she has a distinguished guest in her house she has a Schuette and then she has all these people who are coming in she has these hungry disciples and this is the first glance that we get into the character of Martha so what we can first see what we need to step back and see is that Martha is naturally a warm person she went out to Yeshua she'd wait for him to pass by her little gate and wave and say hi I'm having supper would you like to come Xuan add to him with this natural warmth that she had and she invited him and his followers into her home so it shows that she also has a hospitality gifting and how many people do you know with the hospitality giving I know quite a few people with that gifting and it's a it's a beautiful gifting to have people that make you feel welcome when you go into the home people that are always wanting to give you something to drink give you something to eat you just feel at home in their home and I believe that that is truly how Martha was she had this Hospitality gifting and you'll see throughout the Scriptures where we encounter her she's always serving she's always making the meals some scholars say that Mary was always sitting at your shoe his feet while Martha was always serving him and that is truly what we see in the character of Martha we see a woman that is as the picture is behind behind in my video it's showing her needing this dough and making the things that needed to mate it's not as easy for them as it may be is for us many people I know entertain people and all they do is go down to the local store and buy some TV dinners a woman and pop it on a plate and everyone thinks that they made it but the truth is that's not how it was nearly everything was made from beginning to end and had to be made with the hands so here we see that all these people are in her home and now she's beginning to feel truly truly overwhelmed by what is actually happening she's beginning to feel the pressure and on that day in Bethany Martha was using what she had to serve she was doing what she always did she was being hot biddable she was actually being Martha that's all she was being it was part of her nature part of her design but it all became a bit too much for her and I want us just to pause there and I want you to just think about yourself and say what is part of your nature what is part of your design what what what do you naturally bring when you're in a fellowship for example or when you go to someone's home what is it that naturally runs through your mind what what is it that you naturally want to bring to other people because that's part of your design it's part of who God made you to be so Martha is actually just Bleen Martha she's using what she was given by the great I am he gave her this great gift of hospitality and warmth to use to serve and that's what she's doing but suddenly because of this great extent of the pressure it suddenly begins to be a bit too much for her and we see that she becomes overwhelmed and she actually singles out Mary fine willingness to help she's trying to find a place to place her frustration and many of us do that I know sometimes we can kick over the cat's water for example and suddenly shot at someone else's sailing in close vicinity and all of a sudden it's their fault but it's not their fault we are just simply looking for a place to place our frustration and this is what Martha's changed she is so suddenly frustrated and overwhelmed she singles myriad foreign willingness to help but she she was seized deeper than that he seized their place in her and he reaches out to her in her chaotic and overwhelmed state and he's words say Martha Martha and if you look at them in the original language they are so full of care for her and concern and of tenderness it's the kind of I love you dear woman statement that Yeshua makes often to those in his most intimate circle he is not he's not um condemning her he's not judging her he's seen where she's coming from and he's saying he's saying to her Martha Martha on that day in that Satan Yeshua called to Martha and he tells her they he he says exactly what's going on I mean he's not going to that's how you sure it is without sometimes we feel a certain way and maybe we don't even understand how we feel or we feel fearful but something anxious or scared about something and we don't know the route but you're sure he gets right to the root because he wants to go into that place with us and he says who you are anxious about many things so what is he doing he's actually doing what a good psychologist should do he notices the feeling and emotion that she is struggling with anxiety he says you are anxious for many things and it's important for us to be able to look at the mean of that word the Greek word for anxious here is Merriam now it means an anxiety or state of restlessness that deeply disturbs and disrupts the tranquil state of mind and it disturbs your personality and your actions yoshua then goes on to say she's not only anxious but you are troubled Martha again now he's recognizing the secondary emotion that she is feeling you're troubled the word for travel here is to Daisy a state of being in a noisy surging crowd that just closes you in it becomes way too much for you in other words Martha's god-given gift of serving in such a beautiful way is no longer coming from a place of trust it's no longer can it come from a place of rest but it's become a chaotic place of striving because now there is too many expectations placed on her beard expectations from her self beard expectations from the crowd be it something that's happening in her mind because it is happening first in her mind and you know thoughts I need to serve I need to help it's coming from a state of restlessness and I can honestly say that this Minister is deeply to me because I and I know that administers deeply to many people because sometimes people maybe put an expectation on us and we have a god-given gift to do something and all the sudden it we are we can't do it in a state of peace can't do it in the state of race because maybe we have a deadline that that's looming and we may be sick and so sometimes we have to strive to meet this deadline or maybe I know and believe that moms feel like this a lot because mothers have a lot on their plate they're dealing with children sometimes their children get sick sometimes their children and it has been a sick at the same time sometimes working moms have this this work that they need to do this career they focus on and also being a mom being a wife having all these things to juggle and many times are gifts that can't be used in effectively as it should be because we have an anxiety or state of restlessness this even goes deeper into sometimes we're dealing with things within ourselves sometimes we dealing with disappointment or grief or something has happened that's quarters of God and it's hard for us and at that time maybe maybe you're in a ministry where you're still serving or you have to preach every week we have to be the worship leader or you have to minister or your accounts there but yet inside yourself that state of rest and peace isn't there because of the situation you find yourself in and you know what there's nothing wrong with that there's nothing wrong with recognizing and being real with your feelings and your emotions and recognize what's actually going on and that's a big part of this teaching that I feel Yahweh wants me to bring our this evening is to ask ourselves what what is it that is driving what we do in other words what is it that causes you to serve what is it that causes you to use your gifting is is it the sense of loneliness is it a sense of sadness is it a sense of you want to do what someone else is doing what is is the the starting point of why you want to serve and and for Martha it was this reality of knowing that her gifting is to be hospitable and she's used to be in like that but now there is too much that is disturbing her so she can't be at peace in a gifting she can't choose a place of rest with at being so troubled in herself and now resting is not about going on holiday it's not about sitting back and doing nothing what father has taught me about race is that rest needs to be a part of our work in other words if you work at something you can come at it from a place of rest in peace within yourself people don't rest when they strive for perfection maybe Martha wanted to do it so well because she wanted to bless your schewe maybe she wanted to bless the people around her and striving for that state of doing it in a perfect way striving for that place of perfection also comes from a place of fear fear of failure and many people I know do things striving for perfection but it's actually motivated by a fear of failure so they never have rest while they are working they use their gift but it you'll never maximize a gift and the use of that gift if your place that you're coming from is not good so let's move on Yeshua called to her as he saw straight through what she was doing and as I said already not in a judgmental way but in a manner of love he called her so that she could acknowledge that her character needed a little bit of changing her character needed a little bit of changing in that environment in that setting in that way he didn't want her to strive anymore he wanted her to be able to do what she was doing but in a place of rest and the chapter ends with issuer's words to Martha he says mary has chosen what is good and that will not be taken away from her now a lot of people use that that scripture for many things and it sounds a bit harsh in that English language the words sound quite harsh you know maybe chosen what's good is not gonna be taken away from her deal with it but that's not what he's actually saying keep in mind the context that we've just discussed the Greek word for good here is AG office it means good profitable useful something of benefit or blessing in other words Yeshua is not condemning Martha's actions he's not condemning what she's doing and neither is he comparing her conduct you marry you she was never he's gonna do that he's not gonna come and say to me hey you know your thing that you do it's not as good as your neighbors thing he's not that kind of God he's not that kind of father he's rather he's Tali Martha that mary has chosen a place of Solace a place of stillness she's chosen the position of a student because I personally believe every time I encounter Mary through the scripture that that's her natural way Mary naturally sits and you'll see that just now when we encountered the next scripture she's naturally a person that's 13 she's naturally a person that is still she's naturally that kind of person and we need to realize that there's a place for action Martha is that action person Mary is that stole Satine person you know sometimes you go to a prayer meeting and you have these people they sit quietly on the couch and the worship is going and their eyes are closed and there's just this this oh there's this beautiful sense about them that they're just in a place where they encountering father and at the same time in the same prayer meeting you have someone that's walking up and down that's praying outline and they're also in the presence of the father so you see these different ways that we connect with Yeshua and that is what is happening and Mary is this stole person she is chosen a place on the floor close to your schewe she wants to be close to him so she can hear his life-giving word because she needs him so much and she knows she does and she wants to receive the fruit thereof this is a beneficial choice and Yeshua will not take that away from Mary and that's beautiful because he's saying moth I'm not gonna take that from Mary because this is Mary's natural way just like he's not gonna take from her her desire to serve he never tells her not to soothe he just tells her you're anxious and you're troubled for many things so he wants her to deal with the negative emotions whereas Mary she's just been who she is she takes that seat she takes a place of stillness that's who she is and and that's what that's what she schewe is actually saying he's saying that Martha I'm not gonna take that away from her she's just being herself she's just truly truly being herself now I'm not gonna take that from her so it's not a condemning thing and it's not a bad statement to me but it's just it's just the way that he is communicating with both of them now yuxuan loved Martha any loved Mary and we need to realize that his desire was for each one of them to become ature and to become sit apart as true disciples worry and anxiety over thinking which many people do and over clouding our minds and our souls separate us from knowing father in a more deeper way Yahweh's word spoken through as I reflect the lesson that you sure was trying to teach Martha and this is what he was trying to say it's one of my favorite scriptures it says for that's it yeah we the Holy One of Israel in returning and rest you shall be saved in quietness and in trust shall be your strength but you were unwilling as I a 30 verse 15 let us not be unwitting when Yeshua says to us return and rest in me because they in a quietness and in a deep trust with him that's your stream if you have a gift today which you are trying to use for the kingdom but you feel like as though it's not working nothing's happening for you or all you just feeling no rest no peace no quietness no trust then go back and sit by the feet of issue take the place of Mary and say father what is driving what I'm doing why do I want to do this is it because I want something that you don't want for me is it just that you are trying to teach me something what is it and take to heart you want you she was saying he's saying bestow he's saying rest he's saying return said in him rest means that you can work and have peace still inside it doesn't exactly like I said it doesn't mean that you don't do anything it means that you serve from place of wholeness that you become a servant led by the Spirit we also need to realize that while Martha was using her giftings to get things working in her own home Yeshua could have fed those people on his own he fed 5000 with with a few little fish and a few little loaves and this doesn't minimize what Martha was doing for him however it asked her to take a closer look at where she was coming from what her emotions were there that were driving her and that's what we need to see so Natalie's borden are rising on the character impressive Martha we've unpacked the scripture that everyone uses to maybe condemn author and uplift Mary but we see that they were naturally two very special people and I want us to look at a scripture that's vitally important for us it's the time when Mary and Martha in a state of mourning it's Johnny leaven their brother has died Lazarus has died it's the tragic death of Lazarus Yeshua comes a few days later and though in in a natural sense it seems like your shoe is running late but he's not running late he's perfectly on time and this is what happens he reaches the village of Bethany again and when you shoot her when Martha heard that Yeshua was coming she went out to meet him but Mary stayed at home lord Martha said schewe if you had been here my brother would not have died but I know even now that God will give you whatever you ask Yeshua said to her your brother will rise again Martha answered I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day if she was say to I am the resurrection and the life the one who believes in Me will live even though they die and whoever lives by believing in me will never die do you believe this yes Lord she replied I believe that you are the Messiah the son of God who is to come into the world after she said that she went back and called her sister Mary aside the teachers yes she said and he is asking for you when Mary heard this she got up quickly and went to him now issuer had not yet entered Bethany in the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him now I want us to reflect on this story and look at the different reactions of both Martha and Mary what do we see exactly like we saw earlier on Martha gets up she gets up and she goes are too sure she did this in the story that we read in Luke just now Martha gets up from a place of mourning and she goes out to meet you sure what does Mary do Mary doesn't move in other words she is sitting exactly like we saw in the story earlier on Martha goes ad she's that busy woman she goes out Mary sits even in her grief even in Martha's grief she's the very first person in her family to go out to schewe she was the one that invited him to her home in the beginning she is the one that goes out of him again she did not sit around waiting for a rabbi to come to her but rather she went after him and I feel that that's so much sometimes what we need to do we need to take the negative that's happening in our life and and not allow it to get us to a place where we are defeated but we can get up even in a place of mourning and we can run to him and and and she has a deep conversation here with Yeshua she an inner conversation with him she expressed an intimate faith that should be inspiring she expresses something that's completely inspiring in her devotion to issuer she expression expresses the ultimate confession of faith and the ultimate belief that she sure was the Son of God now this is just before Yeshua died and just before he was resurrected even without this knowledge and the witness of his death and resurrection she knew who he was we need to compare this to Peters confession in Matthew 16 in Matthew 16 Yeshua asked Peter who do you believe that I am and Peter declares that he is the Messiah the Son of God and Yeshua sees the in flesh and blood have not revealed this to you but only Yahweh himself it's exactly what happens with Martha what does she say she sieze yes Lord she replied I believe that you are the Messiah the son of God who is to come into the world and you know after this she goes and she she calls Mary and then Mary comes Martha is expressing the ultimate confession of faith that every disciple must make that every single person must make and and the writer of this gospel is comparing her confession to Peters they confess the exact same thing what does this mean to us that Martha is a disciple of Yeshua and he met her alone one-on-one on the road and he asked her what do you believe and she confesses and it's touching and it's moving and it's intimate and it's special after this encounter with Yeshua Martha went and she called to her sister Mary and then she told her to go and meet her sure and I want to say this on the roles reversed here on the roles completely reversed is not Mary caught up with her situation is she not not able she's unable to see beyond yes her brother had passed away suddenly and truly the grief was unimaginable but at times Mary also chose to follow her feelings she chose to follow her own attitude and don't we all do the same she was in that reversed role just like we saw Martha had feelings that were holding her back initially in in with the serving and with Mary being in a state of stillness and freedom to experience issuer the roles are completely reversed Mary here is sitting the natural way that Mary is she sit but her feelings are holding her to that place and it's and it's Martha that goes to and says hey the teacher wants to see you he's here and then Mary gets so excited and she runs out and there is no condemnation for Mary's feelings she is completely human Yeshua's not condemning us for being human he's not condemning us for having these feelings I believe that Mary understood her own frailty and she understood her dire need for Yeshua so much so that she marry she anointed him with a whole years worth of spikenard she comes in again later on yoshua spend hes final week before his death he spent it in the home of Mary and Martha and you can read that in mark chapter 11 and and this home must have been a special one because you sure wouldn't have gone to a home that wasn't a home where he could really be himself he wouldn't have been there he went there and that's where Mary comes an annoyance his feet and if you read mark chapter 11 verse 11 and actually says that Martha served the meal and isn't that amazing Martha was serving the meal when Mary came in and anointed his feet here again you see Martha with this amazing servant heart and attitude to serve and prepare his meals and take care of his needs Mary is continually sitting and continually at his feet even to anoint his feet for his death and it's just incredibly special and truly this family was incredibly special to schewe and we should neither judge them nor condemn their lives because there were just amazing people I want to say this there are only four people mentioned in the Gospels that Yeshua loved it says the one Joshua loved this family is listed as three of them isn't that amazing Johny 1115 says now Yeshua loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus I find it very interesting that Martha's mentioned first and this tells us a lot about how much is she loved he's faithful follower Martha if he loved her very much and He loves us very much and he sees beyond the things that we struggle with even in our own feelings even when we struggle to use our gifts properly maybe sometimes even when we struggle in just living a natural everyday life sometimes things get tough he sees that and he says that we need him and he wants us to come and sit at his feet and he wants us to serve Him and he wants us to declare that he is the Messiah and he wants us also to receive from him you know the place where Mary fed was a place of receiving and that is what he wants for us he knows that we need him and he wants us to come he wants us to sit and he wants us to rest at his feet Yeshua's invitation was for total restful Martha and for total love and if we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we also have Martha moments and we have Mary moments we have moments we we can be so overcome by our circumstances that we just sit and we don't go out you sure and maybe we should and sometimes we have moments where we feel chaos maybe feel anxiety and where we put our frustration on someone else or on something else when you're sure it just wants us to rest so that is that is a big thing that we need to see and realize and I just wanted to add this in at the end of the teaching that in actual fact there are many many legends about Martha and I when I was looking at this I found it very interesting I found it in in a book dealing with the different legends of the different disciples of Yeshua and this was one of them it says in the South of France legends developed claiming that Martha Mary Magdalene and Lazarus had actually traveled to spread the good news there traveled around and spread and was actual so taught that Martha preached publicly that she healed the sick in the name of Yeshua and that she even raised the dead in one of her most famous exploits she defeats a dragon that was terrorizing the town and at the time this legend became so widespread that in the 12th and 13th centuries the later the people that began to make windows on the churches began to make pictures featuring Martha with a slain dragon at her feet because this legend just spread and also other arts has painted her and used to paint her a lot as a very devoted disciple of Yeshua and there's a lot more legends they've got into it and we know legends don't always have truth but they do reveal a certain kind of true turf and that certain kind of truth says then many many people knew that Martha was an amazing woman she was a strong woman and his legends show us that she was a woman that truly a devoted disciple of Yeshua she was a woman that was recognized for power for strength and and for her her righteousness for the way that she loved your schewe for the way that and I do I do believe that Martha I believe that Mary maybe even Lazarus we don't know but I do believe that they would have shared the good news I believe that their lives were touched remember they were there when Yeshua died there's also many paintings depicting Martha at the cross at the foot of the stake of your shoe there are many woman that follow Joshua and many woman that were there at his death they were there at his resurrection and were there when they receive the Holy Spirit and and I believe that their lives were touched their lives were touched in a way that we cannot even imagine and it led them to want to do great things for the King and so this evening what I want to leave you with is the fact that you have a gift and you have a calling and you have a unique personality and you mustn't try and be like somebody else you don't need to be like anybody else you don't need to be like your sister you don't need to be like a family member you don't need to be like your mom or your dad you don't need to be like the person next to you and don't try and use your gift like someone else uses this because each one of us is different each one of us communicates differently works differently creates differently we are unique what what father is saying is what is driving your need to serve me what is driving your need to serve me and what is driving your need to serve your sure tonight is it the need to be like somebody else's or the need to stop feeling so insignificant is it the fact that you still feel fatherless and you're trying to earn his love by serving him he doesn't want that from you he wants you to receive what he has purchased for you he wants to look at your face he wants to look in your eyes and he wants to say you need me now let me serve you because that's what he came to do he came to serve us and he came to give us everything that we would need so that we do not need to strive and that we do not need to be anxious and that we do not need to be troubled and so let us just pray and let us reflect them when I said this evening for all of us each and every single one of us need to ask ourselves why we do what we do and if we know that we're doing it in a pianist of heart but yet sometimes we've get anxious because we normal people we're all I pray this evening that you're sure father that you would come into that place of anxiety within us or even their place of fear or even in that place of confusion father where it just feels too much father that you would take that come farther from us and that ever father you will help us help us serve you as you want us to serve you father and help us be people father that know that we can work hard for your kingdom but Yahweh that we can rest deeply father even in that work father as you said you give a nice rest all who are weary and heavy-laden come to me and I will give you rest tonight father we know that sometimes we carry burdens father we carry so many burdens and we know that you're the burden carrying enter him and tonight we come with our burdens father let me surrender them to your father we have needs and we surrender them to you father we get down on our knees Cecilia father Here I am here we our Father he used us as you went may our stories reflecting your story father may you write with the pen that you have chosen father may you write our stories and may we be the people you want us to be father we bless you and we thank you we thank you for the role models we thank you for the men and woman of faith we thank you for who Mary was we thank you for who Martha was father and we thank you that they are part of the great cloud of witnesses that all are cheering us on every day and we thank you that we will one day meet with them as well that we will all be together father as we serve and strive to just be who you want us to be we thank you Father and we praise you tonight you are worthy ever father we worship you Yahweh we praise you yes you were and we just lay our house before you Yeshua Michelle we praise you we thank you now thank you Father amen and I just want to say thank you for joining and thank you and I pray that you will be able to to answer someone when they say to you Martha wasn't a good person or she didn't do good things because that is not true she did and I just bless you I bless you in the wonderful name of Messiah Yeshua Amy you

Channel: Treasured Inheritance Ministry

Views: 16,100

Rating: 4.7441859 out of 5

Keywords: Biblical women, Mary and Martha, Martha in the Bible, Lazarus Bible, Biblical Equality, A new way of seeing Martha in the Bible, Biblical Character Studies

Id: tta2ts3uQzU

Length: 39min 28sec (2368 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 31 2015