Sermon Tone Analysis

Thoughts

Goal of the series—how to walk out the Kingdom including the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

The Great Priority is to start now where you are.

Being Interruptible is the the title in the booklet for this series.

The problem is that it is passive and a good heading should be active.

Also, not all interruptions are good.

Steven Covey talks about the Urgent vs the Not Urgent and the Important vs Not Important.

Managing those 4 quadrants is a key part of his book about Time Management (First Things First).

That is a great book title because it ties in with Jesus’ words to Mary commending her for choosing the one thing that is necessary.

So, what exactly is that one thing!?

Learn how to interruptible but not distractable!

To be inconvenienced but that NO is a complete sentence so we can focus on what is most important in the moment

Simple Rules for Life:

I can choose

Only a few things really matter

I can do anything but not everything

Who is my neighbor is anyone God puts in my path and I am now responsible to care for “Go and do likewise”

Are people the real point of my life or just as interruptions!

Three Questions about Interruptibility:

Do you constantly look at your smartphone when meeting with someone

Can you easily maintain eye contact with another person

Do you make the conversation about the other person or yourself

“It’s hard to overestimate the unimportance of practically everything “John Maxwell

It’s hard to overestimate the unimportance of practically everything “John Maxwell

John Piper—The Problem of Distraction

Technology is Novelty Candy - the fear of missing out

Being Interruptible is the title in the booklet for this message.

The problem is that it is passive and a good heading should be active.

Also, not all interruptions are good.

Steven Covey talks about the Urgent vs the Not Urgent and the Important vs Not Important.

Managing those 4 quadrants is a key part of his book about Time Management (First Things First).

That is a great book title because it ties in with Jesus’ words to Mary commending her for choosing the one thing that is necessary.

So, what exactly is that one thing!?

Technology is Ego Candy - what other people are saying about us

Technology is Entertainment Candy - feasting about what is weird or fascinating

Technology is Boredom Avoidance

Technology is Responsibility Avoidance

Being Interruptible is the title in the booklet for this message.

The problem is that it is passive and a good heading should be active.

Also, not all interruptions are good.

Steven Covey talks about the Urgent vs the Not Urgent and the Important vs Not Important.

Managing those 4 quadrants is a key part of his book about Time Management (First Things First).

That is a great book title because it ties in with Jesus’ words to Mary commending her for choosing the one thing that is necessary.

So, what exactly is that one thing!?

Technology is Hardship Avoidance - so I can escape from the hardships that I am dealing with

Being Interruptible is the title in the booklet for this message.

The problem is that it is passive and a good heading should be active.

Also, not all interruptions are good.

Steven Covey talks about the Urgent vs the Not Urgent and the Important vs Not Important.

Managing those 4 quadrants is a key part of his book about Time Management (First Things First).

That is a great book title because it ties in with Jesus’ words to Mary commending her for choosing the one thing that is necessary.

So, what exactly is that one thing!?

The context is the “travel narrative”.

Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem and has warned his followers what will happen when he gets there.

The first part of is the story of the sending out of the 72.

In other words, it demonstrates the Great Commission.

Jesus tells them that the signs they witness show how the kingdom has come near.

Jesus tells them when they return after a successful mission NOT to rejoice in their defeats of Satan but because their names are written in heaven.

We then have the Good Samaritan parable.

A lawyer asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life.

The lawyer is testing Jesus.

Jesus turns it back on the lawyer by asking him what he thinks.

The lawyer’s correct answer is to obey the Great Commandments—to love God and neighbor.

But then the lawyer asks Jesus to define what it is to be a good neighbor.

The famous GS parable follows.

It demonstrates the point that we need to be interruptible when a need like this confronts us.

It is a practical example of obeying the second greatest commandment.

Note that these two commandments combine two OT passages: and

The last part of the chapter goes back to the first and greatest commandment—to love God above all else.

This is the story of Martha and Mary.

This does not teach the false dichotomy of either doing acts of service for God versus the contemplative live of devotion!

The point is that Martha is DISTRACTED whereas Mary has “chosen the good portion” by sitting at his feet and listening to his teaching.

Culturally, women were NOT normally allowed to do that since they were expected to be be working in the kitchen!

Mary has different priorities and Jesus affirms that.

“The one thing necessary” in Jewish tradition was studying the Torah.

Jesus is subtly saying here that listening to his teaching trumps study of the Torah

Distracted is explained by Jesus as being anxious and troubled.

So, these are not the trivial distractions of social media etc but things that are causing us to be thinking about the wrong things - cf the sermon on the mount where the focus is on seeking first the kingdom of God rather than being anxious about the basic needs of life.

Research has shown that the mere presence of a smartphone can lessen the quality of a conversation—even if it’s just sitting on the table (pg 68 I Hear You).

The problem is that we are too readily and willingly interruptible and less likely to spot the kind of interruption that the GS parable teaches.

Divine encounters is a term we use in YWAM that better fits the GS event.

JD Greear calls them divine opportunities—stop what you are doing and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading.

You see, distraction is not the same as divine interruption.

There is a time for service, and there is a time for communion with Jesus.

Like Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet instead of working like her sister Martha, we need to know what time it is and be all-in in that moment.

Have you noticed that often the best moments in our lives come in the form of unexpected interruptions?

A healthy Christian life is one in which you learn to live free of devilish distractions so you can be open to divine interruptions and obedient to the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps being AVAILABLE is a better term than being INTERRUPTIBLE

Note how the 72 are experiencing being led by the Spirit during their mission.

Outline

The background is that Jesus is now on his way to Jerusalem from Galilee.

Before he left Galilee he heard Peter acknowledge that Jesus was indeed the Christ ().

He then shocked them with the news that he was about to be killed—but that he would rise again.

He then challenges his disciples with the idea that following Jesus would cost them everything but the rewards were infinite!

He illustrates that with the Transfiguration.

He follows that with another warning about what would happen when he reached Jerusalem.

The disciples did not get it!

Their journey to Jerusalem continues through Samaria.

One village rejected Jesus and James and John think Jesus should call down fire on those villagers!

The chapter ends with another reminder about the cost of following Jesus