We are a people worried and distracted by many things.  On ESPN, there is a competition that happens every year called the World’s Strongest Man.  These giants of men come from every country to compete in these events and the one with the most points is given the title of World’s Strongest Man.  One event in particular I would like to talk about this morning.  This event absolutely astounds me because the competitors must pull themselves along a stretch of road using a piece of rope with a fire truck tied to their backs.  I always wanted to pretend I was sitting in the driver’s seat and just as the horn blared and the clock was started, I pressed down on the brakes.  Come on, come on, you aren’t pulling hard enough.   But anyway the competitors have to walk this small stretch of pavement by pulling themselves along a rope with a fire truck tied to their backs.  Needless to say, I hope, but the weight of the fire truck is always trying to pull back on the person, trying to pull the person away from the finish line.  Some guys have done it before and they lean all the way forward and push with their legs and pull with their arms.  Some guys have less experience and stand straight up and try to do it with their legs.  Some guys do it real fast and some guys don’t finish it at all. 

            We Christians are a lot like these guys trying to walk with a fire truck tied to their backs.  We are trying to walk the way of faith, but there are things in this world which worry and distract us and try to pull us away from Christ.  We all have it seems some days when many fire trucks tied to our backs trying to pull us away from Christ.  Many people today work jobs that require 50 or 60 hours of work with 6 or 7 days in the office.  Imagine the pressures and stress of those demands.  The stress of trying to close a major advertising account.  The stress of trying to win an important case in court.  The stress of trying to get our lessons planned for our students.  The stress of being a principal or manager responsible for overseeing hundreds of people.  The stress of being a police officer and not knowing what can happen just looking into an open driver’s side window.  Is it any surprise then, that our jobs are so successful at pulling us away from the feet of Christ like Martha in today’s Scripture?  Martha who is so consumed by doing the chores, the cleaning of the house and the cooking of the food; but while she is so busy working, she is not listening at the feet of Jesus.  While we are so busy working, either at our jobs, or in our fields, or in our houses, those things are pulling us away from the one necessary thing in life, sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening.

            If you are a parent, you know what its like to have a fire truck tied to your back.  Because your kids have this insatiable desire for a bottle even at 3:00 in the morning.  They have school, they have soccer practice, they have band practice, they have the chess club, and the school play, and more importantly, we have to drive them there.  Of course that is after working our ten hour day.  Quite frankly, our kids don’t care if we have had a long, hard day, they just want to get to basketball practice; they just want us to take them and a couple of friends out for ice cream.  Is it any surprise then, that our families and their daily activities are so successful at pulling us away from the feet of Christ?  While we are so busy trying to be good parents, or so busy running around trying to do everything, that those things are pulling us away from the one necessary thing in life, sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening.

            What about your church activities?  Sunday worship, attending Bible studies, baking cookies for the fellowship dinner, visiting homebound people and cleaning the sanctuary, and that is in between working 10 hrs a week and driving your kids to soccer practice.  Is it any surprise then that from working so hard and for so long, driving around town dropping kids off and picking kids up, and being a part of every program and committee that goes on at church, that we become distracted and worried just like Martha?  While we are so busy trying to be good Christians, those things we are doing are pulling us away from the one necessary thing in life, sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening.

Like Martha have we not given Jesus a piece of our mind?  Tell that lazy, good for nothing spouse or co-worker of mine to get their butts into gear and help me with this project, the dishes or making this infernal ice cream.  Have we not sounded off on Jesus demanding justice for the inequity that the world and the other people in it have done to us?  Jesus do you not care about me and the fact that I alone am here doing your work?  And like Martha we get words of rebuke from Jesus.  You are worried and distracted by many things; there is only one necessary thing, me.

            I am all that you need to get by in life.  I am your food.  I am your drink.  I am your security.  I will provide for you.  I will keep you.  Not getting the dishes done, or the laundry or the overtime on our paychecks.  Unlike the TV commercial, we don’t need four clones of me to help me multitask at work.  Unlike the TV commercial we don’t need to become more efficient by buying all my travel tickets from American Airlines.  We don’t need just a few more hours every day to get all of our responsibilities accomplished.  We don’t need to win the lottery, buy a boat or a bigger house or to take the kids to Disneyland, what we need is more Jesus.  Why, because man does not live on bread alone but upon every word from the mouth of God and the mouth of God is Jesus, Son of Mary. 

            Paul states it best in Colossians, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation, all things are created in him, in heaven and upon the earth, visible and invisible, he is above all things and all things are held together by him.  Does our job hold all things together?  Are our hobbies above all things?  Do the fields and the cows and the tractors create all things, in heaven and upon the earth?  Then why do we spend more time doing those things and worrying about those things than the one necessary thing in life: Jesus?  Because we are sinners. 

            And because we are sinners, Jesus comes along with a rebuke.  In those times and moments of our lives when we are a carbon copy of Martha worried and anxious, Jesus comes to dinner.  And when we hustle and bustle around trying to get everything accomplished, Jesus breaks into our anxiety with these simple words.  Come and sit, listen don’t talk.  Rest, don’t worry.  I can’t think of a more appropriate thing in today’s world.  There is no peace of mind, there is only this wonderfully American idea, of more work, more work, more work.  There is no trust, there is only this wonderful idea of our government, of be afraid, be afraid, be afraid.  There is no rest, there is only more stress, more agitation and more disruption.  But in the name of Jesus Christ, there doesn’t have to be any of those things anymore.  We don’t need that job that is slowly driving us to a heart attack, we need to sit at the feet of Jesus.  We don’t need to be involved in each and every activity at school and in our community, we need to sit at the feet of Jesus.  We don’t need to be involved in every church activity, visit each person, cook for every meal and be a part of every committee; we need to sit at the feet of Jesus. 

            But what does it mean to come and sit, though?  It’s easy to say, but what exactly does it mean we do?  I would like to briefly suggest that there are several marks of the disciple who takes this seriously.  The first way is to pick up this book and to read it.  Through this book, Jesus becomes the teacher and we become the student.  Through this book we become a part of the body of Christ, in which he alone is the head.  Through this book we learn about Jesus who is the beginning of the church, who is the first born of the dead, who reconciled all things in him after making peace through the blood of his cross, upon the earth or in the heavens.  Can Facebook teach us that?  Can we learn that from watching NASCAR, or by playing on our XBOX 360, or our iphone?  Through this book, Jesus speaks to us, we only need to come, sit and listen.  The mark of a true disciple is that a true disciple wants to know what Jesus has to say to them through the scriptures.

            The second way is prayer.  I am not talking about the type of prayer where we babble on for a few minutes about random topics.  I am talking about the type of prayer, where we lock ourselves in a room by ourselves, empty our minds and listen to what God is saying to us.  How impossible is this?  I can’t do this, because I am too worried about the sermon I am going to preach.  I can’t do this, because I am too worried about when I will get to sleep tonight.  I can’t do this, because I am too worried about getting the grass cut, or the trash out, or doing the dishes or cooking the food.  What does Jesus have to do? Mark you are too worried, come, sit and most importantly listen.  Who really needs to do the talking us, or Christ?  For someone who sees all things and knows all things, for someone who is the fount of all wisdom, does he really need me to babble to him, or do I need to shut my mouth and listen to what he has got to say?  I’ll be honest, I can be quiet for about a minute, and then my mind starts going off again.  I guess what it all boils down for us, is if we are the disciple and Jesus is the teacher, then we need to stop talking and begin to listen.  The mark of a true disciple is that a true disciple wants to know what Jesus has to say to them through prayer.

            The last mark of a true disciple that sits and listens is the disciple that listens to the spoken word.  This last mark tears me in two.  On one hand I am worried that I am only trying to get you into church, so that I can feel good about being a pastor, and on the other hand I am encouraging you to come to church, because I think Christ has something to say to us all.  My fervent hope is that you come to church, not because someone, myself included has conned you into coming, or even because you feel guilty when you don’t come to church, I hope you come because you want to hear what Jesus has to say to you.  And true disciples of Christ come to church not to be entertained by the service, not because they have always gone to church, not even because the minister is a good speaker, but they come to church, because they want to hear what Jesus has to say to them.  This means they come to church even when there is a minister who stinks at speaking.  This means they come to church even when the service is boring.  This means they come to church even when they can’t stand the music or its too hot, because its not about all this stuff, it’s about sitting and listening to Christ, the one necessary thing.  The mark of a true disciple is that a true disciple wants to know what Jesus has to say to them through the preached Word.

We may live in a world of information overload, but because of Jesus Christ, we can live a world of Spiritual satisfaction.  Because of Jesus we have been baptized into a kingdom where simplicity, peace and contentment reign instead of chaos, anxiety and distractions.  Let us therefore do as Paul suggests and continue securely established and steadfast in the faith without shifting from the hope of the gospel to those things which pull us away from Christ.  Brothers and sisters because of the grace of Jesus Christ we are given a burden of peace and through his grace this is one burden we can carry.  Amen and Thanks be to God.