weekly sermon
1-13-08
Woe Is Me
First turn with me to Luke
Chapter 10 verses 38-42. "(38)Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered
into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her
house. (39)And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and
heard his word. (40) But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to
him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve
alone? bid her therefore that she help me. (41) And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: (42) But
one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be
taken away from her."
Why did I use this passage of scripture? Well mostly because it is the scripture
for this message, but seriously, in this passage we are going to learn something
about ourselves through Martha and how Jesus handled the situation.
I recently had a conversation with a person that I consider to be a fairly good
friend. The conversation that we had did not go along the same path as the
normal conversations we have. This friend has had a series of undesirable
situations that has left her with a pretty bad past year. Well, our usual
conversations consist of this person coming to me to talk and get things off of
their chest, so to speak, and hopefully make them feel a little better than when
they started.
For those of you that know me know that I am usually a very upbeat and happy
person. I believe that at the beginning of each day, it is a new day. Each day
should start out to be a great day. If something happens to alter that path,
then our great day slowly starts to dwindle into not so great a day. Every day
that I spoke to this friend, it just seemed that they had a bad day, then got
out of bed the next day carrying the same issues into the next day. Nothing ever
seemed to go this persons way at all. This happened last week, this happened
yesterday, this is happening today, or this is what is going to happen tomorrow.
I have given much advise to this friend, been very sympathetic, or empathetic
with them.
This past week, when I heard from my friend, we had a conversation, and of
course, it was the same type we usually have. It was the, "this is happening to
me, you would never believe this, or guess what went wrong now, woe is me".
Remember, I said that the conversation did not go as it usually went. In the
above paragraph it really sounds like it was the exact conversation we usually
have. At first it was, but then I decided that something really needed to be
done.
I told this friend that I had done everything within my power to physically and
mentally help them, and that it was obvious to me that nothing I was doing was
working for them. A person must first want to help themselves before anyone else
can help them. They wanted to stay in this rut and there was nothing I could do
to bring them out of it.
Martha, in the story above, comes to Jesus, and says, woe is me, look at my
sister, here I am doing all this work, I am having to do it by myself, and Mary
is sitting there at your feet. Please, Jesus, go tell her that she needs to come
help me with the chores. Jesus told Martha that Mary was performing an act that
was needed at the time and that she (Martha) should respect that Mary was busy
with that item. Even though Mary had chosen the good thing to do instead of the
more strenuous that it was not her fault and that Jesus was not going to order
the other to do anything more than what she was doing. What Martha, and my
friend, had was a severe case of self pity.
Look with me in Philippians 2:14-16, "(14)Do all things without murmurings and
disputings: (15)That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without
rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as
lights in the world; (16)Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in
the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain."
This passage states that we are to "do all things without murmuring and
disputings..." Be joyful in all things you do, whether they are something you
like doing, or something you do not care to perform. It says in the last verse
that we should rejoice in Christ that we have not run in vain. This is telling
us that if we lose our self pity and perform all works according to scripture
and with joy, we can show that we did not run our lives in vain. Remember that,
just as it says in, Psalms 118:24, "This [is] the day [which] the LORD hath
made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." No matter how bad your day is going,
we have to remember that God created this day, that everything created was
created by Him, and that we are exactly where we are supposed to be at the time
we are there. The things that are happening in our lives are happening for a
reason and God will someday inform us as to what that particular reason might
be. So, good, bad, or indifferent, we are NOT to grow this self pity on
ourselves, and that we are to rejoice the day of the Lord and be glad the things
are happening to us, no matter what the item or items might be that are
happening to us.
How did the conversation end with my friend? Well, I was a little more harsh
than usual. The more I talked to this person the more I heard what Jesus was
saying to Luke. Luke 9:5 "And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of
that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them."
I had, in the past, listened, advised, and just plain ole told them what I
thought might happen. It finally came to the point that I had to inflict what
most, now, call tough love. I tried helping and finally had to just "shake the
dust from my feet".
Does this mean that we should kick our friends over their self pity? On the
contrary, we should try to do all we can to turn this person around and make
them realize they are better off than they really thought. I did get upset with
this person over some things that was said and done toward other friends. I, of
course, was upset, but then again the conversation we had, I think, helped them
to finally understand that they should be on a path that was not so gloomy,
because our paths are charted by God and He is watching over them. We just
recently moved into a new house and have no furnishings for this house so we are
sleeping at the moment on an air mattress. The air mattress is about 5-6 inches
thick, making it difficult to get that low and get up in the morning. Sure it is
a simple example that could become self pity, the woe is me, this is a terrible
way to have to sleep. But as I sat a bottle of water next to me on the floor,
God said just look at what a huge night stand you have. There is ALWAYS a
positive thing in the midst of a bad thing, you just have to really look for it.
We all need to make sure that we do all we can to rid ourselves of this evil
called self pity. Try starting the day with a positive attitude, just once, to
see if it really works. You will be very surprised at the results.
We never close a message without offering someone to receive Christ as their
personal saviour. If you do not know Jesus Christ as you very own saviour and
friend then please say this simple prayer with me.
Dear Lord, come into my
life and forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received
salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our
link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few
things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone