Message: “Where is God When I’m Distracted?” from Dr. Rick Mandl

Sermon Manuscript: Where Is God Message 7- Where Is God When I’m Distracted?
Sermon preached by Dr. Rick Mandl, Eagle Rock Baptist Church, May 16 & 17, 2020
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

 

I want to welcome you, wherever you are and however you may be watching. If you’re watching us on our YouTube channel, or on Facebook Live, or through our website, let me encourage you to make use of that chat box to let us know who you are, and where you’re watching from. Also, let me take a moment to encourage you to go ahead and download the message notes. . .  Those notes look like what you see on your screen. Those notes will they’ll help you to follow along with the verses we’ll be covering as we continue the series we’ve been in called “Where Is God.”

 

Today looking at “Where is God When I’m Distracted.” And this is a problem for a lot of people, because today in this always connected, always on, digital age in which we’re living, it’s really easy to get distracted, and if we’re not careful it can even become dangerous… [Video Clip]

 

And ironically, do you know how she warned them? By TEXT! We are a distracted culture. . .

 

In Luke 10 we find the story of someone who was suffering from distraction. I want us to look at an incident from her life to help us answer the question, “Where is God when I am Distracted?” In Luke 10 beginning at verse 38 we find these words. . . As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.  But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 

This story, even though it’s only 5 verses long, is packed with a lot of truth. Mary and Martha were sisters. They also had a brother, Lazarus, whom Jesus will raise from the dead not too long after this event. From that story in John 11 we learn that Lazarus was a beloved friend of Jesus, so it is likely that Jesus often frequented this home. It is also likely that Jesus wasn’t alone on this visit described in Luke 10. He probably had some, if not all of his disciples with Him, and they were probably all hungry! Martha we’re told was “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.”

 

A lot of us are like Martha. We’re distracted by a lot of things. And not all of the things that distract us, would be described as bad things. The thing that Martha was doing in this story was a good thing. She was serving Jesus. I believe the real problem for Martha was that her distraction with the preparations, led to her being spiritually distracted. How can we tell if we are spiritually distracted? One way is to see if our lives manifest any of the signs we see in Martha.

 

The first sign we are spiritually distracted is we call God’s character into question. We question God’s character. Look at what Martha says to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?” This seems to be a common question among God’s children. Remember the account in Mark 4 when the disciples were out in a boat taking Jesus from one place to another. Jesus was sound asleep, and a big storm came upon them. The disciples were filled with fear and cried out to Jesus. They said,“Don’t you care if we drown?” God, don’t you care? This seems to be what the prophet Isaiah was addressing with the people of Israel in Isaiah chapter 40. The International Children’s Bible makes this very clear. People of Jacob, why do you complain? People of Israel, why do you say, “The Lord does not see what happens to me. He does not care if I am treated fairly”? Again and again, the Bible clearly teaches that God is love. That He is compassionate, and that He does care for us. But when we are spiritually distracted, it becomes easy for us to feel like God doesn’t care about us, or that he has forgotten about us, and to call His character into question.

 

A second sign that we are suffering from spiritual distraction is we’re worried and UPSET about many things. This was Martha. Using our sanctified imaginations we can picture her checking and rechecking the food to make sure it was going to be delicious, and arranging the table perfectly so that it would be pleasing to Jesus. We can see her bustling about, pouring drinks, wiping up a spill, and getting more and more agitated that she was working alone. She was “worried.” She was upset. When we’re “worried and upset” about many things, we are probably spiritually distracted.

 

Now let me be clear. I’m not talking about normal concern over things that are difficult or dangerous. If I’m waiting for the results of a biopsy, it is natural for me to be concerned. If I lose my job, and I’m not sure how I’m going to pay my rent or my mortgage, concern is an understandable response. But Spiritual distraction is indicated when we worry about things we can’t do anything about. Remember Jesus’ question to the crowd in Matthew 6:27, “Who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”

 

Another indicator of Spiritual distraction is when we are rehearse our worries over and over, and we being to feed off of them. We’re like a cow chewing its cud. We regurgitate our concerns and chew on them over and over. For example, IF we are waiting for the results of a biopsy, it is natural to be concerned; however, Googling all of our symptoms to try to diagnose what type of cancer we may have, will feed rather than alleviate our concern. This can be a challenge for some of us during the pandemic that we’re all going through. It is understandable to be concerned, but watching hour after hour of news reports, or constantly scrolling our news feed for the latest story is not likely to be helpful. It will probably cause us to be more worried and upset.

        

The third sign we are spiritually distracted is when we fall into the comparison trap. This is where Martha found herself. She was hustling and bustling, trying to get everything done when she suddenly notices her sister Mary, sitting by Jesus and listening to Him. We can almost hear her saying to herself. “Why am I the one always doing all the work?” “How come I never get to sit down and watch her work?” “No one is even noticing or appreciating everything I’m doing.” Until she finally can’t stand it any more and she says to Jesus, “Don’t you care that I’m working my fingers to the bone and Mary isn’t doing anything? Tell her to help me!”

 

When we find ourselves comparing ourselves, and our difficulties to others, we are probably spiritually distracted. When the questions rolling around in our mind are things like... “How come I’m the only one that can never catch a break? Why do these things always happen to me?” “Why does he have a perfect wife and perfect kids, while I’m stuck with this mess?” “It’s not fair that life is so easy for her.” ...we are spiritually distracted.

 

So where is God in the midst of all this? Where is God when I’m distracted? In the case of Mary and Martha, the truth we have been coming back to again and again every week couldn’t be more obvious. The answer is . . .

 

1.God is with us.Mary and Martha were in the same house. Jesus was equally present to both of them. Mary experienced the blessing of Jesus’ presence, while Martha did not. The issue wasn’t proximity, the issue was focus. Mary was focused on Jesus. Martha was focused on the distractions. The same thing happens to us today. Two people come to a church service. The Bible tells us that where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus, He is in their midst. So we believe God was present with those two people when they came to that church service. One person comes away having encountered God, the other person leaves thinking, “That was a waste of time.” Why is that? How do you explain the difference?

 

Usually it’s because the first person came expecting to encounter God. They were anticipating that encounter, and they found what they were looking for. While the second perhaps came looking for a “valuable” experience, so they filtered everything through that expectation. If they liked the songs they sang - it was a good experience. If they didn’t like the songs - it was bad. If the room was a comfortable temperature - it was good. If the room was too hot or too cold - it was bad. If the preacher was entertaining and ended on time - it was good. If the preacher was dry or went too long - it was bad. If the message was uplifting or addressed a sin they don’t struggle with - it was good. If the message was convicting or hit too close to home - it was bad.

 

The promise of the Bible is that God is with us. Experiencing His presence may partly depend on whether or not we are looking for Him. Listen to His promise from Jeremiah 29:13, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” The writer of the book of Hebrews expands on this: “It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). God was with Mary, and He was with Martha. One experienced the blessing of His presence; The other did not. The Bible promises that God is with us. I want to challenge you this week, to be on the lookout for Him. Don’t miss out on the blessing of His presence because you are focused on so many other things. Where is God when we’re distracted? He is with us.

        

Also, He is calling us to cast our cares on Him. Martha did the right thing in coming to Jesus. She might have had the wrong attitude, but she did the right thing. 1 Peter 5:7 tell us, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” Martha came to Jesus asking, “Don’t you care?” God comes to us saying, I care - give me all your worries. Jesus echoed this thought in Matthew 11:28, “Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Then come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis” (Matthew 11:28 TPT). I love that picture of Jesus being our oasis. Do you feel like you’ve been walking in the desert? Do you feel like no one cares about you? Come to Jesus. He is your oasis.

        

I recently read this explanation for h ow we cast our cares on Jesus. The secret can be found in the word "cast." First . . . Commit your burden to the Lord. Give it over to Him who cares even more than you do, and who has the power to do what you cannot. Second. . . Ask for His help in prayer. Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

        

Third. . . Search the scriptures. Within them you’ll find that God has a promise to correspond to every one of your needs. 

 

And then fourth . . . Trust Him. He has told us He cares for us, and has demonstrated that by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Will you take Him at His word?

 

God is with us. He is calling us to cast our cares on Him. And . . . He is inviting us to invest in the one thing that is better. Look at what Jesus said to Martha in response to her complaint. Luke 10:41-42, “You are worried and upset about many things... but few things are needed—or indeed only one.” What is the one thing? It is our relationship with Christ. That ought to be our primary focus. This is not a story about two different personality types… The contemplative and the doer, one good, one bad. And the point of this account is not that serving is bad – It’s not saying don’t serve, just sit. The point of this account is that nothing should distract us from our relationship with Jesus - not even serving Him.

 

The passage we looked at earlier, where Jesus asked, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Ends with this admonition: "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). Seek first - it’s a matter of priority and a matter of focus. Martha was worried and upset about many things, Mary was focused on Jesus. Back in the good old days, when we used to be able to have our whole family over for a meal, you would often find most of us hanging out in the kitchen where the meal was being prepared. I was there to be the taste tester, but most of the family was there to talk to one another. That’s where the conversation and the laughter was. The focus was on being together.

        

My wife, great theologian that she is, is convinced that Martha could have solved her problem if she had just invited Jesus into the kitchen where she was doing the preparation. She could have said, “Jesus, I’d love to hear what you are saying, but I know you are all hungry, and I’m trying to get dinner on the table. Would you mind coming in here so I can participate too?" My wife is convinced that Jesus would have happily moved the party to the kitchen, and probably would have helped cut up the veggies.

 

Jesus invites us to invest in the one thing - our relationship with Him. We do that by including Him in all the activities of our life rather than by keeping Him in the “spiritual” compartment of our life. He doesn’t want our lives to be compartmentalized. He wants to be integrated into all of our activities. Working, playing, parenting, learning, shopping - think about how Jesus can be part of all of those activities. When we do that, these things stop being a distraction to our spiritual life, and instead are venues where our faith can be worked out. We see Martha two more times in scripture. The first takes place a few months after this when her brother Lazarus has died. Let’s look at her encounter with Jesus.

 

Read John 11:20-28. We’re told . . . “When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” “Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.”

 

In this passage we see a depth of spiritual understanding in Martha. She recognizes that Jesus is the healer. She proclaims that God will give Jesus whatever He asks for. She understands that there will be a resurrection on the last day, and she confesses that she believes Jesus is the Christ - the Messiah. Then she goes to Mary, and tells her that Jesus wants to see her. Gone is the frustration, Gone is the distraction. It seems her focus has been adjusted, and her priorities are in order. The last time we see Martha is in John 12, just about a week before Jesus is crucified. Listen to what John writes about Martha: "Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served…” (John 12:1-2). This last time that we see Martha, she is once again serving. But this time she wasn’t worried and upset. I believe she had found a way to keep the one thing “the most important thing.” My prayer is that we would learn that lesson as well. Let’s pray.

 

Father, the psalmist writes, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Give me an undivided heart.” That is our prayer today. Give us undivided hearts. Help us not to be distracted and upset by many things. Help us to cast our cares on you. Remind us to invite you into the kitchen, and the workplace, and the car, and the grocery store. Help us to rejoice in Your presence with us, and help us to keep the one thing, our relationship with you, as our top priority. Then, empowered by your Holy Spirit, allow us the privilege of serving You, Your church, and the world you died to save. In Jesus' Name.

 

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

 

 

Related Topics: Faith, Friendship, Jesus, Love, Peace | More Messages from Dr. Rick Mandl

From Series: "Where is God?"

Sermon Notes