Summary: Question 1: Should children "Do" things to maintain their relationship in a family? Question 2: Should they "Do" something to get their parents to love them? Apply your answers to God, our perfect Father, and us as His children... How does the story we looked at in the last episode about Martha and Mary relate to "Doing for the Lord" and "Being with the Lord" and the church... Luke 10:38-42 The majority of us in this community have been believer's for a while. We have a moderate to a lot of experience living our faith and being involved with churches and religious organizations. The Martha phase of our relationship with God; 1. Welcome Christ in; Remember when you opened the door to Christ in your life... 2. Serve others; There's always a signup sheet in a church... 3. Complaining to God; Like Martha we complain to God because we feel He doesn't care about us... 4. Feeling Left alone; This is the warning sign that we're about to burnout... Martha was ready to put her serving aside and step away... Why do we, as believers, act like Martha? 1. Culture; Middle East traditional hospitality... 2. Religion; Jewish teaching... 3. Ego; need to impress, group dynamics... 4. Self-Righteousness; show others we're worthy to be saved... How can we be more like Mary, & find comfortable in Christ? Why did Martha and Mary responded differently to Christ... Contrasts between Martha & Mary: * Martha was serving, Mary was sitting * Martha was complaining, Mary was rejoicing * Martha was tiring, Mary was being refreshed John 11:1-2 John 12:1-3 There was a loving relationship between Christ, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus... John 11:5 Even though He loved them greatly, the death of Lazarus was more important than his healing... John 11:14-15 Jesus meets Martha in Bethany... John 11:21-27 Jesus meets Mary in Bethany... John 11:28-32 One sister had amazing faith, and the other had amazing love... We can "Do" faith, physically, but we can't physically "Do" love. Love is from the Spirit... Martha expressed her faith through serving, but felt alone... Mary expressed her love through loving and she was close enough to touch Christ... Martha had a "loving respect" for Christ, but Mary a passionate "Souled Out Love" for Christ... For our sake God doesn't always do what we "want most"... * The disciples didn't want Jesus to die... but for our sake He gave up His life... * Martha & Mary didn't want Lazarus to die... but for their sake and ours he did die... Things come into our life for our sake, and Jesus will weep for us because He has a "Souled Out Love" for us... not what we "want most" but what we "need most"... Because of His "Souled Out Love" for us we don't have to do anything to "Be" in a blameless spiritual relationship with Him... Christ encourages us to love, by loving us... Christ encourages us to love, by placing others in our life... Christ encourages us to love, by the events happening around us... We are encouraged by Christ, through His Spirit, to receive His "Souled Out Love". And soon we'll discover, that the "Souled Out Love" of Christ within us, will become "Love out of our souls". And we'll also realize that the true power of God in us isn't in our faith in Christ, it's His "Souled Out Love" for us!
