Making the most important thing the most important thing

In Luke 10v38-42 we see Mary as the model disciple - sat at Jesus feet listening to him reveal God and teach about the kingdom, in contrast to Martha who is distracted by serving. It confronts us with the challenge to make listening to Jesus words important in our discipleship, not to become distracted by them but to treasure time learning about God.

We were exploring yesterday how we do that when we meet to hear the Bible taught. The average Bible Talk lasts 20-30mins – the equivalent of one episode of the Simpson’s or Eastenders. If that’s the only Bible teaching in your week it amounts to 0.3% of your time (even if you go twice its 0.6%). 99.7% is spent sleeping, eating, working, watching, talking, shopping… Do we want to make the most of that 0.3%? How do we?

Be Ready – Before playing sport what do you do? You warm up, you get ready, you make sure that you can play to your full potential without injury and enjoy it. What do we do before we come to Church?

We need to do the equivalent of a spiritual warm up before we get to church and it isn’t about a quiet 5 minutes prayer before the service starts. It starts with reading the passage in the week beforehand, asking questions like what surprises me? What don’t I understand? What would someone who has never read the Bible before make of it?

It means coming well rested, waking up early enough that it isn’t a rush to get here, but also not being tired from the night before, watching late night movies or even Match of the Day will probably not be the best preparation.

Pray as we come that God would show us again the wonder of salvation, reveal where our hearts are hard and by his spirit change us.

Be Here – If you aren’t in church you aren’t being taught, and mp3’s are no substitute. In church we worship together, pray together, praise together, pastor one another and prepare to hear God’s word together. We spur one another on you can’t do that with an mp3. Be in your local church, commit to it and miss it rarely. That way you will get maximum benefit from preaching series and pointed localised application.

If you want to carry out a little test, for the last 3 months or the next 3 just note down every time you miss church and why you have missed it. Then review your diary - it may reveal a dangerous distraction.

Be Listening – Mary doesn’t allow Jesus’ words to wash over her she engages with them. Do we? We are accountable to God for how we listen just as preachers are for their preaching. We need to be checking out what is taught, is it what the passage really says, is it in context, does it fit with the rest of the Bible?

We listen to God’s words taught together and need to be discussing and wrestling with application together. Do we spend time afterwards over coffee discussing what the Bible has taught us and how we apply it, or over fellowship meals afterwards.

Be Changing – Are you brave enough to ask yourself this question regularly; When did I last change as a result of God’s word?

Be Praying – Pray during the week for the person preaching, pray they prepare well, avoid distractions and that God speaks to them, pray for yourself and for each other.

There’s a lot there to think about. Christopher Ash's little booklet Listen Up! is a practical guide to listening to Bible teaching be it good, bad, or heretical and how to encourage good preaching. Its a good place to go to follow this up and take the word of God seriously and make it a priority in your life.

"Normal" Christian living

Being a Christian involves ministry, the Christian cannot be passive or a spectator. How should that affect our careers and where we live. In February's briefing this order is suggested:

1. What's the best gospel work for me to be involved in?
2. Where do I need to live in order to share in that ministry?
3. What sort of job do I need to fund living in that place in order to do that ministry?

Tony Payne goes on to say: "...if you're making your decisions in reverse order then you haven't grasped the radical nature of the normal Christian life."

It is a provoking but helpful thought.

Contemporary idols

When we come to examine idolatry in both Old and New Testament it is easy to spot the carved images and statues but we live in a society that is rife with idols.

Family, relationships, fashion, home, career, sport, fitness, hobbies are all things which are good but which we are constantly being subtly pressured into making the ultimate thing. I think probably the one we struggle with most is family, that is partly why we find statements such as Luke 8:21 so hard: "My Mother and Brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into action."

It is not that Jesus attacks family it is that he prioritises God's word and his response to it. We live in a world that encourages us to do the opposite, to put our families first. But the challenge is to be those who have ears to hear and put God's word into practice.

Priorities

Been looking at Luke 10:38-42 for Sunday and it raises the issue of priorities and of choosing what is best over what is good.

Discipleship involves listening to what Jesus teaches and Mary places herself in the position of listening despite the busyness around her. The temptation is to think that Mary didn't face the same pressures as we do that life then was more sedate. But I can't help but think that the pressures then were greater, when your daily bread was your means of living it has to be more pressured than when it is just one option along with pasta, rice noodles, and whatever else. We don't work to live, so much of our work is to consume.

The challenge is to reorder our priorities to be those of the disciple rather than just absorbing those around us that we are bombarded with by advertisers, producers, and the like. The antidote is to sit in the place of the disciple and hear what Jesus says our priorities should be.