Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
We have the privilege and calling to co-labor with Christ in the Father’s business. We all are called to testify to the grace of God (Acts 20:24). In John 20:21, Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
All believers receive grace (Acts 11:23), but as Paul indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:10 we may not always take advantage of our privilege and the grace of God can be wasted. Sure, we always must keep in mind to not trust in our selves and natural strength to serve as agents of grace, but rather allow the very same grace to work mightily in and through us. Paul worked harder than all the Apostles, but he pointed out it was grace in Him doing the work. We just have to let it.
The Father has always desired for us to work alongside Him. In the beginning, before man’s fall He gave Adam the work of naming animals, cultivating and expanding the Garden of God (Gen. 2:15-20). It was after man’s fall that the curse of toiling came upon him (Gen. 3:17-19). Biblically speaking there is a world of difference between working and toiling. Working speaks of grace working in us and toiling speaks of doing it in our own strength.
The first recorded words of Jesus were about doing the Father’s business (Luke 2:49). Jesus promised us that we would actually do greater works than He did (John 14:12). The gospels are about what Jesus began to do and teach (Acts 1:1). Paul told us we were created to walk in good works (Eph. 2:10). The book of Acts is dedicated to telling the stories of the works the resurrected Christ did through His people.
We have been taught that the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10 is about a doing versus being heart, a works versus rest mentality. There is truth in that for sure, but that is just scratching the surface of what is being told.
In the culture of Jesus’ day, sitting at a rabbi’s feet equated to being that rabbi’s disciple (see Acts 22:3). Mary had become a disciple of Rabbi Jesus; something women did not do in that culture. It was taboo from a cultural and religious perspective in Jesus’ day.
Martha was concerned and distracted about the shame and disgrace it would bring upon the family for Mary to be sitting with the men as a disciple of Rabbi Jesus. So she used the guise of needing help in the kitchen to get her sister out of this controversial circumstance. Of course, Jesus spoke right to Martha’s heart and let her know what Mary was doing, not simply just sitting at His feet, but being His disciple will not be taken from her. It was the ultimate women’s rights moment. Jesus gave men and women the privilege of being His disciples.
Like Mary we love to hear the words of Jesus, the stories and songs of His grace, but discipleship includes something beyond simply hearing. It includes doing the works of Christ (Luke 8:21). Not only was Mary freed to sit at Jesus feet and hear Him she was also freed to do what He was doing. Apart from us personally doing His works, the words, stories and songs can become a form of godliness with no power. Men and women were created to hear His words and then do them. Our hearts will never be satisfied apart from being about the Father’s business.
Many Blessings, BW