October 26, 2025 // Luke 10:38-42
APPLICATION: Read & watch/listen to Luke 10:38-42
Sermon Title: Choosing What Matters Most
Sermon Notes:
Martha’s Invitation to the Table (v. 38)
Martha’s Distraction at the Table (v. 40)
Mary’s Devotion around the Table (v. 39, 40)
Jesus’ Instruction to the Table (vv. 41–42)
Life Application:
Take My Room
Roy Angel (Shields of Brass, 50–51) tells the story of a man and his wife who searched over Philadelphia late into the night for a hotel room. Finally, they trudged into a third-class hotel. The man asked the night clerk if he could please find them a room. They were too tired to search further. The young man thumbed through all his records and checked each room. All were filled with sleeping guests. “Not a single room,” he reported, “but I do have a small room on the top floor. It is my own room, but I have to work tonight. You could sleep there.”
Grateful to God and to the clerk, the couple took the elevator to the top floor and slept peacefully for the rest of the night. Next morning, they came down and sought out the young clerk. The young man sat at their table as they ate breakfast. “Hope you had a good night’s sleep and the room was big enough,” he said.
The elderly guests assured him it was just what they needed and thanked him again and again. Then the man astounded the young clerk. “Son, I want you to come work for me. You are too good for a small hotel like this. I want to build a luxury hotel in the middle of New York City and hire you to manage it for me. I’m Jacob Astor.”
The young clerk faced a crossroads in his life without knowing it. He made the right choice. He loved with his complete heart, soul, strength, and mind. He made the self-sacrificing decision because that was his nature. The one small decision to show love to a couple in need changed him from a clerk in a third-class hotel to manager of a world-class luxury hotel.
Jesus invites us to make a choice between the world’s selfish ways and his loving, self-denying ways. When we choose his self-denying ways, he gives us his most precious gift. He reveals the Father to us. He places us in God’s loving presence and lets God reward us with his salvation. He shows us Satan’s defeat and the kingdom’s presence. He promises us eternal life. When decision time comes in your life, God will be looking for love in action. Do compassion and mercy so fill your life that you can be sure when God comes that he will find you faithful?[1]
Digging Deeper:
A. Time and Place - This event probably took place during the Lord’s brief visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication late in December. In the next spring, at the Feast of Passover, the Lord would be crucified. The scene is set in Bethany in Martha's house. Bethany was on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, which stands at 2,500 feet above sea level. The Mount of Olives is slightly higher and stands as a screen between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, which is about 1,290 feet below sea level. In the course of about twenty-five miles, the land drops nearly 4,000 feet into the subtropical heat of the Jordan Valley. Down on one side was the sterile desert, a breeding ground for prophets. Over on the other side was Jerusalem, ever ready to kill the prophets (13:34). Martha's house was a sweet resting place, a shelter in the time of storm. Jesus seems to have come to Martha's house for a short rest before facing the storm ahead.[2]
B. Work or Worship - The preacher wonders what would become of the church without him (and perhaps the people dream of what it would be like without him!). The elder thinks that if he were removed, the whole place would crumble. The evangelist imagines that no one would be converted if he were to retire. How self-deceived we tend to be. A fly on the wall of the church might as well imagine that everything going on below him is dependent upon his presence and would cease if he flew away![3]
C. Tunnel Vision - Martha attempted to force Mary to serve Christ her way. She wanted Mary away from Jesus’ feet and in the kitchen with her, because in her estimation, what she was doing was more important. Such tunnel vision is common. Our responsibility, our means of service, is deemed to be everything by us. Since we teach Sunday school, and it is such a fruitful field, and since more teachers are needed, anyone who is not involved is—well, wrong! It is so natural to think this way about one’s involvement in the youth program or missions or pet ethical concerns. We assume everyone should be committed to the same Christian cause we are committed to. If others were good Christians, they would certainly live like us. If they were together spiritually, they would be doing what we are doing. Martha’s attitude, unchecked, can destroy the inner soul of service.[4]
Questions to Consider:
1. In what ways do you sometimes find yourself preoccupied and bothered as Martha was? On what should you refocus?
2. What patterns and practices could you institute in your daily life to make you less like Martha and more like Mary?
Prayer Time:
[1] Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 175–176.
[2] John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of Luke: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Lk 10:38–42.
[3] R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 397.
[4] R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 397–398.
Sermon Title: Choosing What Matters Most
Sermon Notes:
Martha’s Invitation to the Table (v. 38)
Martha’s Distraction at the Table (v. 40)
Mary’s Devotion around the Table (v. 39, 40)
Jesus’ Instruction to the Table (vv. 41–42)
Life Application:
Take My Room
Roy Angel (Shields of Brass, 50–51) tells the story of a man and his wife who searched over Philadelphia late into the night for a hotel room. Finally, they trudged into a third-class hotel. The man asked the night clerk if he could please find them a room. They were too tired to search further. The young man thumbed through all his records and checked each room. All were filled with sleeping guests. “Not a single room,” he reported, “but I do have a small room on the top floor. It is my own room, but I have to work tonight. You could sleep there.”
Grateful to God and to the clerk, the couple took the elevator to the top floor and slept peacefully for the rest of the night. Next morning, they came down and sought out the young clerk. The young man sat at their table as they ate breakfast. “Hope you had a good night’s sleep and the room was big enough,” he said.
The elderly guests assured him it was just what they needed and thanked him again and again. Then the man astounded the young clerk. “Son, I want you to come work for me. You are too good for a small hotel like this. I want to build a luxury hotel in the middle of New York City and hire you to manage it for me. I’m Jacob Astor.”
The young clerk faced a crossroads in his life without knowing it. He made the right choice. He loved with his complete heart, soul, strength, and mind. He made the self-sacrificing decision because that was his nature. The one small decision to show love to a couple in need changed him from a clerk in a third-class hotel to manager of a world-class luxury hotel.
Jesus invites us to make a choice between the world’s selfish ways and his loving, self-denying ways. When we choose his self-denying ways, he gives us his most precious gift. He reveals the Father to us. He places us in God’s loving presence and lets God reward us with his salvation. He shows us Satan’s defeat and the kingdom’s presence. He promises us eternal life. When decision time comes in your life, God will be looking for love in action. Do compassion and mercy so fill your life that you can be sure when God comes that he will find you faithful?[1]
Digging Deeper:
A. Time and Place - This event probably took place during the Lord’s brief visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication late in December. In the next spring, at the Feast of Passover, the Lord would be crucified. The scene is set in Bethany in Martha's house. Bethany was on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, which stands at 2,500 feet above sea level. The Mount of Olives is slightly higher and stands as a screen between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, which is about 1,290 feet below sea level. In the course of about twenty-five miles, the land drops nearly 4,000 feet into the subtropical heat of the Jordan Valley. Down on one side was the sterile desert, a breeding ground for prophets. Over on the other side was Jerusalem, ever ready to kill the prophets (13:34). Martha's house was a sweet resting place, a shelter in the time of storm. Jesus seems to have come to Martha's house for a short rest before facing the storm ahead.[2]
B. Work or Worship - The preacher wonders what would become of the church without him (and perhaps the people dream of what it would be like without him!). The elder thinks that if he were removed, the whole place would crumble. The evangelist imagines that no one would be converted if he were to retire. How self-deceived we tend to be. A fly on the wall of the church might as well imagine that everything going on below him is dependent upon his presence and would cease if he flew away![3]
C. Tunnel Vision - Martha attempted to force Mary to serve Christ her way. She wanted Mary away from Jesus’ feet and in the kitchen with her, because in her estimation, what she was doing was more important. Such tunnel vision is common. Our responsibility, our means of service, is deemed to be everything by us. Since we teach Sunday school, and it is such a fruitful field, and since more teachers are needed, anyone who is not involved is—well, wrong! It is so natural to think this way about one’s involvement in the youth program or missions or pet ethical concerns. We assume everyone should be committed to the same Christian cause we are committed to. If others were good Christians, they would certainly live like us. If they were together spiritually, they would be doing what we are doing. Martha’s attitude, unchecked, can destroy the inner soul of service.[4]
Questions to Consider:
1. In what ways do you sometimes find yourself preoccupied and bothered as Martha was? On what should you refocus?
2. What patterns and practices could you institute in your daily life to make you less like Martha and more like Mary?
Prayer Time:
[1] Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 175–176.
[2] John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of Luke: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Lk 10:38–42.
[3] R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 397.
[4] R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 397–398.