Luke 10:38 Now as they went, He entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her home. (39) And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to His word. (40) But Martha was being drawn about with much serving, and she came up to Him and said, Lord, does it not matter to You that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to do her part with me. (41) But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; (42) But there is need of one thing, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
[Part 2 of 2]Consider the story of Martha and Mary. It serves as a good illustration of our point [that according to John 6:29, doing the work of God is to believe and receive Christ] . Martha was busily serving the Lord. She did a great deal of work and was so busy that she asked the Lord to send her sister over to help her. Perhaps she thought that by expending so much effort, paying such a price, and suffering so much hardship she would be considered as having served the Lord and having done some work for Him. Yet the Lord did not praise her. Instead He said, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; but there is need of one thing, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42). What had Mary done? The Bible says that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His word. Sitting and listening do not constitute a work at all. She was not as busy as her sister; she was quietly sitting at the Lord's feet and drawing near to Him. Listening to His word is receiving His word. The Lord's word is spirit and life, and He dispenses life to men through His word. Mary was receiving the Lord's word and affording Him the opportunity to operate on her. She was giving the Lord the opportunity to dispense Himself into her through the word. Mary was just a receiving vessel. The One doing the work was the Lord, not Mary. She, the person, was the work of the Lord; she was the object of the Lord's work. Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works." Thank the Lord that we are not the work of man but the work of God. God's work is fully trustworthy. Oh, what a glorious fact that we are the work of God!
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, General Messages, Vol. 38, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp. 264-265. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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