Praying, COME, LORD JESUS to Him Who Comes to Lead Us in Daily Life

Rev. Lutjens

St John's Lutheran Church Wharton

Praying, COME, LORD JESUS • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago • 8:59

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CHRISTMAS COMING BRINGS OUT CARES AND WORRIES

“Oh, man! How many days until Christmas? I don’t see how I’m going to be ready! Can’t you do more to help me? Do I have to do all of the shopping myself?”

“No, I can’t make it to church. I have to get that this project done for work. Plus, I have to get to the store. They are open on Sundays and if I get there early, I can beat the crowds.”

“What? Join you for devotions this morning? Are you kidding! I don’t have time! How can you take time for that when we have so much to do around the house?”

Am I being too cynical by suggesting people make such comments? Perhaps. But there are many cares and things that upset us, and they can sometimes be worse during the so called happiest time of the year. On top of the usual pressures, like job stress, monthly bills, struggles with relationships; there are now the holiday pressures of extra events, presents to buy, and gatherings to plan. Who would have thought that activities that are supposed to be focused on Christ, could be so stressful?

CHRIST’S COMING BROUGHT OUT MARTHA’S CARES AND WORRIES

Well, it was true for Martha. Jesus was actually at her house. Should not that have been a joyous time? In our text, Martha was concerned about getting things ready for Jesus, and she was obviously stressed out. Jesus had come to be a guest in her home and she was not meeting her expectations for hosting him. So she cries out in frustration: first, she is annoyed with Jesus, the one she was supposed to be hosting. “Don’t you care,” she says, “that my sister has left me to serve alone?” then, she demands of her Lord, “Tell her to help me!”

But what was Mary doing? She was in her home listening to the words of Jesus. Martha was not able to do that right away. Her heart was sealed up with cares and worries that were resisting the word of God.

In last week’s sermon we looked at a story that Jesus told, called the parable of the Sower. It revealed strong obstacles to our hearing the word of God, to receiving the “one thing needed.” We called these obstacles, the unholy trinity—the devil, the world, and our sinful nature. Last week we were reminded that Satan is constantly working to snatch away the word of God, like a bird that gobbles up a seed before it can be planted.

Today we are facing another planting problem described in the parable. Jesus said, “A sower went out to sow.” And some of the seeds “fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.” This planting problem was caused by rocky ground with shallow soil. He said this is what happens when the word of God fails to penetrate into our hearts. It does not develop deep roots that can sustain us under the scorching heat of pressure and persecution.

If this can happen with one of Jesus’s close personal friends like Martha, who dearly loved Jesus and wanted to serve him, then it can be a challenge for any of us on any given day.

GRACE IN GOD’S WORD

In replying to Martha’s outburst, Jesus gives her something that she really needs. He lovingly speaks a word of law. He gently rebukes her and redirects her attention to what he calls the “one thing needed.” “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” In other words, “Stop it. Be quiet. Listen.”

Yet into these words of law, he also weaves words of gospel hope. He talks about the “one thing needed” and the “better part.” We can observe from another encounter with Jesus that he was giving her hope in himself through his words. After all, “the one thing needed” is his dying and rising to save sinners. The “better part” is the hope of eternal life that he came to bring.

Martha doesn’t know it but she will be facing some scorching stress and pressing persecution in the days ahead. Her brother Lazarus will die. Her dear friend Jesus will be crucified. It was no doubt that because of encounters like this that God’s word broke up her heart’s hard ground and put down deep gospel roots. We do know that when Lazarus died she confessed faith in the “one thing needed,” the resurrection of her Lord, Jesus Christ. At that time, with a much smaller degree of anxiety in a much worse situation, she confidently confessed: “I know that Lazarus will rise again on the last day,” and “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world” (Jn 11:27).

After that, basis for this hope would soon be realized as God’s plan of salvation took final shape. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, his opponents came to their house in Bethany looking for Jesus to crucify him. Later they would be successful. However, it was revealed as Jesus rose from the dead that this was all God’s plan to provide the “one thing needed” to save sinners. Which today, leads us to desire “the better part” as well.

GRACE IN THE WORLD

It is a “better part” than the expressions of holiday stress I shared earlier. It involves a word of repentance and faith to focus on the “one thing needed.”

As we shared last week, a function of our Advent sermons this year is to encourage the practice of daily household devotions. Just as Jesus came to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, we desire that he come to be present with us, as well. He does so by his word. That is why we are encouraging one another with the practice of daily devotions. The first priority is simply to invest time daily in devotion to the word of God, moving from Martha’s busy activity to Mary’s focused listening. Whatever helps you develop a habit or routine to do that, do that!

A second goal for daily devotions is to let the word of God address us as Jesus did Martha, calling for repentance and faith in “the one thing needed.” In service to that goal I will share a way that is simple yet reliable for carrying out a devotion. Other approaches are good, too. This is just one way to do this. It is the plan for morning and evening prayer in Luther’s Small Catechism.

This plan provides a word of law in the Ten Commandments. Besides giving God’s guidance, this also breaks up our hearts in repentance as we recognize our sin. The catechism then presents the Apostles’ Creed as a summary of the saving gospel. These words plant in our hearts the “one thing needed” for life and salvation. The final part is the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus teaches us to talk with God in ways that strengthen us to face the daily realities of life. These include the stresses of the holidays and much worse, as was true for Martha.

Last week, I asked us to envision a scenario where members of a family, be it a household of one, two, three or more sat down for a short 15-minute daily devotion. Think of it as being like Mary sitting at Jesus’s feet. Now, I’d like to add to that vision someone who has something distressing going on in his life, a character like Martha. But because the daily devotion is now a holy habit, this person still encounters Jesus and his word. And that word redirects him to the one thing needed to find hope in the promises of Jesus, confessed by Martha at Lazarus’s grave. What could have been a bad day, what could have led to being scorched by despair, now handles the heat. There are roots laid down by the word of God, so that even the hottest of stresses cannot cause this life to whither but rather to flourish.

Therefore, we continue to pray “Come Lord, Jesus” daily and deliver to us the “one thing needed.”