Open—L. Smith, D Rule
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206.
Change.
To worship in my ear.
And let my grades fall every word.
That is my holy year.
As my blood.
May sinners meet.
And I do come.
And worship.
US.
In all.
Only turn off wrong.
My precious.
Name is all we show.
Our only passport, Lord.
Is now we know.
Oh Lord, asleep, it's all I know.
It's good.
Praise.
And shameful.
Life alone.
Loving Lord. Cancer.
Turn with me, please, to Acts Chapter 8.
I.
I was thinking of the joy.
In the Lord's heart.
As he is there in the glory.
By the Father's side.
His.
Joy and desire to impart to you and I.
All that he is for us.
That our hearts would grasp.
The magnitude.
It will never come to the end of so fast.
Here in Acts chapter 8.
We find.
Let's see first.
Let's go to Acts chapter 6.
It's interesting that in the early church.
We get this wonder of.
The risen Lord and.
A murmuring that arose.
In verse one, chapter 6.
Against the Grecians, well.
It wouldn't be a very good thing to continue with, but out of that comes.
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Different ones that are chosen to minister to the widows of.
Basically the Gentiles.
And of those, verse five says?
They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip.
And Procurus, and Nicanor, and Time, and Parmenus, and Nicholas, proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they prayed, they laid their hands on them, and the word of God increased.
In chapter 8.
We get.
Inverse.
12.
When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ.
So we know what his message was. Later we find him in the book of Acts. He has four daughters that prophesied in the house. So here's a man who has a godly family.
And he has fruit from his preaching of the gospel.
Verse five says he went down to city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
And.
The result was.
In verse.
Well.
And missing it I guess there.
Oh yes, verse eight. There was great joy in that city.
The gospel had reached their hearts and changed them, the Lord of glory.
Had wrought in souls.
But while he's prosperous there.
The.
Spirit of God.
Says to him in verse 26.
The Angel of the Lord spake unto Philip.
So here's a man.
Laid out.
Chosen.
The apostles had prayed over him. He has the gift of an evangelist. There's fruit from his work. There's joy from his work. There's joy in those that heard it.
It's interesting, the Lord's directing him, the Spirit of God saying no, you leave this happy work, I got something else for you to do.
Wonderful, isn't it?
And I was thinking to the Lord.
In the glory.
If we look back in time, go way back to King Solomon.
Solomon wanted wisdom.
He said I am but a child. I don't know how to go out or come in. Give me wisdom Lord, to judge this thy people.
We know the Lord gave him more than he asked for.
But let's look at a verse in First Kings chapter 8.
We get Solomon's prayer and it's quite lengthy. We won't touch upon all of it, but.
In verse.
There 41.
As he's praying for Israel.
His heart reaches out according to the heart of God.
Moreover, concerning a stranger that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for Thy namesake. For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm, when he shall come and pray towards this house. Hear thou in the heaven, thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for.
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That all people of the earth may know thy name to fear thee, as do thy people Israel.
And that though that they may know that this house which I have builded is called by thy name.
So if we go back to Acts chapter 8.
I couldn't help but thinking.
We've had some.
Wonderful thoughts before us as to the chapter we read.
And we think of the Lord in the glory and all that's his by right and his desire to give.
To the souls of men.
What was it like?
For the resurrected Lord in the glory to look down, and he sees this guy right in his chariot.
Maybe for weeks.
To go up to Jerusalem to worship.
He's got the knowledge that the true God is with Israel.
Perhaps he's even a proselyte.
We know that centuries before, the Queen of Sheba came and listened to Solomon's wisdom.
And her heart was really taken.
We've read something of Solomon's prayer about the stranger.
And here comes this man with his chariot.
And he comes to Jerusalem.
It's after Jesus has been has lived out his life.
He's been crucified.
Buried, risen again, ascended to the Father's right hand.
The Spirit of God has been given.
What was the Ethiopian eunuch given?
We know at least this. He's been given a portion for sure of the prophet Isaiah.
And the Lord says, by the Spirit, Philip.
Got another job for you?
Are you available for that one?
Would you go down?
Done between Jerusalem and Gaza and join yourself. I got a job down there for you. It's desert. You just go there. I know you're having a wonderful time over here. This great joy in this city, the results of the gospel.
But there's a Lord in the glory wanting to impart we've been speaking about.
This wondrous treasure written.
In the heart.
And that Lord and glory, says Philip, I want to use you.
So here we get this verse 27. He arose and went, and behold a man of Ethiopia, and a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, and was returning and sitting in his chariot reading Isaias the Prophet.
Then the spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
Philip ran further to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? He said, how can I except some man should guide me? And he desired Phillip that he would come up and sit with him.
Must have been sort of a rest stop in the man's journey.
He'd been to what was.
Once the place.
Where you would expect.
To find.
The Lord.
But it was, it had become that which the Lord of Jesus said.
Your house is left unto you desolate.
That didn't change the fact that there's this wondrous truth.
Centuries before, Solomon's prayer had gone up for the stranger. Now a stranger's come, and the Lord of Glory says, I cannot let this charioteer, this chariot writer, go back without the treasure inside.
So.
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Verse 32. The place of the scripture which he read was this.
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before her, his shearers so opened he not his mouth.
In his humiliation his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth?
And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or some other man?
Here's a very important man.
He's in charge of the Queen's treasure.
But inside his soul.
He wants to know.
Who is he talking about?
When the Lord of glory, he's looking down, I'm sure with wonder at what's happening in this precious soul.
And he knows what he wants to impart to him.
Verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
Isn't that wonderful?
Go ye into all the world.
And preach.
Let's look at it Matthew 28.
The last couple verses.
Verse 19. Well, there's a better to get. Verse 18.
And Jesus coming up, spoke to them, saying, All power has been given me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things, whatever whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.
What's behind us, dear brother? All power.
The problem is not the power.
If there's a problem, it's the belief or the unbelief.
We're supposed to teach something. I would believe that Philip was teaching this from the rest of this chapter.
X8.
He preached unto him Jesus, and as they went on their way, they came to a certain water in the eunuch said, see, here's water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? So he must have said something to him about baptism.
That we've had a little bit of in ministry today.
Its significance?
The Deliverance.
But here.
Philip said, If thou believers with all thine heart, thou may us. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Wow, isn't this wonderful?
He commanded the chariot to stand still.
There must have been others driving the chariot.
And they went both down, both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, And he baptized him.
So.
As far as what it says, there's not a lot of other witnesses.
They're still up in the eunuch, but it implies.
Someone was commanded to halt the chariot.
And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away. Philip.
See, the message was delivered, and as far as the messenger is concerned, he was at the Lord's disposal.
He could go down to the desert.
He could deliver the message and the Lord could say, OK, you're needed somewhere else.
Dear young person, are you available?
For the Lord to use.
Do you know Jesus as your Savior?
You have a treasure inside.
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God.
The Lord wants to impart that treasure to others.
How we feel at this.
So then, it says, the unit saw him no more.
You see, the vessel was so out of the way, he's not occupied with the vessel that delivered the message.
What happens? He went on his way, rejoicing. Philip had gone to a city, and he caused joy there.
And now here goes the eunuch.
And I just love thinking the Lord's looking down from the glory.
And he's so happy.
He's indwelling that man.
He's got the treasure inside.
And he's going home, back to Ethiopia.
With a wonderful message.
He's not any longer attached merely to a shadow of things that you find in the temple.
But he's got the person of the Lord inside.
But Philip was founded as Otis, and passing through, he preached in all the cities.
Till they came to Caesarea.
Well, perhaps someone else.
Has a little word and May God bless His word to our hearts.
Turn with me to John's Gospel, Chapter 13.
John's Gospel, chapter 13.
And verse one. And now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God.
He rose earth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself, and after he had poured water into a basin, began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel, wherewith he was girded. Verse 12. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them.
Know ye what I have done unto you.
You call me Master and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am.
If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet.
He also ought to wash one another speed.
For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done unto you.
Verily, verily, I say to you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that has sent him. If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
As I look at your faces.
I can look at you in different ways.
I can view you this afternoon.
As a room and I address you as fellow believers.
As a room full of saved sinners.
I can also look at you.
As the hymn that we sang referred to you.
Saints of God.
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I can also.
As we will do.
Look at you as a room full of servants.
And in the scriptural sense of servants.
The character that the Word of God calls bondservants.
Or more commonly, slaves.
It's rather interesting here in Addison.
To have a room full of slaves gathered together in one place.
But in truth, I'm looking at you as a room full of slaves.
That's not a very elevated word, in this world at least.
But we're going to look at you that way here, the Lord Jesus.
Was the perfect servant.
The one and only perfect servant.
When he came into this world, he came into this world to be God's servant.
Taking his place as a man, he took the place of absolute.
Unconditional obedience to the will of another.
We're not talking this afternoon about service for the Lord in the sense that.
Well.
I've got Lords Day afternoon and I've got a couple of hours available. Lord, do you have anything you'd like me to do this afternoon?
I got some time, maybe there's something I can do for you.
No, that's not the character here.
The Lord Jesus is addressing and what we've just read some service.
And in addressing those servants, He's not looking at them simply as Savior. He doesn't use that word. Every one of us I trust as I address you on His behalf.
Know him as Savior.
But in truth, your place of service to Him is not in that character as Savior.
He says just to notice.
Verse 13 Ye call me Master and Lord.
Master here means teacher.
And you'll see that in the new translation. So they had a certain way of looking at him.
They looked at him and they said maybe you've come here this weekend to be taught and that's valid and that's good and he's a teacher and he can use whosoever he will to teach you.
And the tendency of them, they had to learn something through his life because they tended to look at him. Would they say Jesus was Lord? Yes. Would you? Yes. But in the practicalities of the matter, it's pretty easy to say teacher and Lord in that order.
But it doesn't make for a good servant.
It doesn't really make for a good servant. If you see yourself and the Lord Jesus in the relationship of Savior or Teacher, you're not really putting yourself in your proper place as a slave or a servant of him. And so as it says here, when they say you call me Master or teacher and Lord, you say, well, I am that.
But notice the next word.
If I then be your what?
Lord and Teacher.
One of the very first things about service and being a servant is to get a right understanding of our relationship to the one we serve.
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We serve him as Lord.
We serve him as supreme.
In authority, in every detail of service.
Philip, we have just looked at was an excellent example of one who understood.
He didn't choose where he preached. He didn't choose how long he was there. He didn't choose according to the apparent success of where he was and the joy he didn't say to his Master as Lord.
Boy, we're having a good time here. There's lots of joy in this town. The people have responded very well. I think I'll stay here a couple more weeks.
No, he understood.
When he was told to go, he went.
So he says here.
I have given you an example.
Do you want an example of the what it is to fulfill your responsibility and your calling as a servant? You have one, the Lord Jesus.
He is your perfect example of the service that you are to render to him as he, as a servant rendered it to God.
No standard any less than that is suitable or proper.
I have given you an example. So we have one. We say, well, you know, it's kind of hard to know how to do it and how am I going to manage this. And we always like examples to go by to help us to understand and do things. You have one with a lot of examples of it in this one who is called you.
To service.
Just notice his last words that we read, verse 17, he says.
Do it.
You'll be happy.
You want to know how to have a happy life?
Here it is.
Take your place as given of God.
Take the role that's given to you as a servant.
And you will find happiness. You know, I don't know of any examples where it ever in scripture calls a master happy.
As a master.
We kind of like, you know, to be in the in charge role, choose what we're going to do and when we're going to do it, kind of like the master role.
We like the freedom of choice in such roles, but I don't know anywhere in the Word of God in that aspect of things that God ever refers to that as a person in that responsibility is happy, but the servant, yes.
If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
We won't take the time, but right here we have a living example when we say, as I have shown you, here is a servant who's serving.
And so he takes off his being served robes. You know, he's at a meal and you sit down and you enjoy fellowship and you have interact and you sit at the meal table and everything's fine. And he's going to give some an object lesson and and character of service. And the first one he gives to them is he takes off all those nice things and he gets down on the floor.
And he does what servants do.
In those days when you went into a house, they normally traveled on dusty streets and they had their sandals on, and when you got into a house, you had dusty feet.
And so at the door, you took your sandals off and the servant came and he washed your feet. I know there's a much more elevated spiritual application here, but we're going to confine it to its essence and service and so.
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The Lord Jesus was doing that. You know, He went to a household and he was sat at a table with a man and a woman came in and she got at his feet.
And started to do something. And later on, he says to the man, You know, when I came, you didn't have your servants do that to me.
Perhaps a little indication to us that service requires getting down pretty low little level.
To properly fulfill it. OK, let's go on to chapter 15.
Verse 9.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
This is my commandment. That she loved one another. Greater love hath no man than this. That a man lay down his life for his friends. You're my friends if you do.
What assoever I command you henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what is Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Beginning of the chapter is having a fruitful life.
The Lord Jesus wanted his disciples to be fruitful.
We just had the example of Phillip and.
Lemoyne commented on the fruitfulness of what he was doing.
The Lord Jesus here is speaking to some servants of His, and He wanted their lives to be fruitful.
One who is a master.
Has servants for purpose and they work that there be fruit.
So having presented himself in that way to them here.
He says.
If you love me.
Keep my commandments.
This is a prime number one order instruction to you as a servant in this room.
And I'm going to say you, but of course I'm in the same position, but I want to apply it to all of us and it's more directed if I say you.
Obedience.
Obedience.
Sometimes it's easy.
Comparatively speaking, to do what we think the Lord wants us to do, and sometimes it's difficult.
It doesn't matter in the servants place obedience.
Is essential.
You're called to be an obedient servant.
For God, for the Lord Jesus in this world.
Again, verse 11, he refers to the consequence that my joy might remain in you, and your joy will be full.
So let us in this room have children.
We know what it is to say do this.
And sometimes it's easy. We say go to the store and buy ice cream cones.
And boy, most kids are ready to go. They like that command and they off they are to do it.
Sometimes we say take the trash out. Oh, I got homework little later.
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And we're not quite so ready too. All day.
Because basically we don't want to.
But it's very important for us to understand in our responsibility that we have to be obedient. And a consequence of obedience, just like in the last case, is joy.
His heart gets joy, and when we obey, so do we.
You want to be unhappy.
Be disobedient.
It's a guaranteed path for the servant to be an unhappy person.
So if you like being unhappy, well, you can be unhappy. We're going to look at a man that got a little bit unhappy for being a disobedient servant.
Or we can give joy to our master, and he says, I'll give joy to you in it if there is obedience.
Something that is also introduced here.
We're told greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.
That's as far as you can go.
If someone is your friend.
For such, some would even dare to die.
And get down there.
So the Lord Jesus here says to his servants, and he says to you as his servant.
You're not only going to be my servant.
But I'm going to bring you into an additional relationship with myself as my friend, and that will help motivate you to give everything.
In the service. And so we have the joy of being brought into not just servants, but servants who also know our master as our friend. It doesn't put aside our servant responsibility at all.
But it adds to it that dimension that helps to encourage and motivate us.
By that relationship of friendship and love that we will be obedient even if it causes takes us to the point of death.
He says.
Verse 16 Ye have not chosen me.
But I have chosen you.
And ordained you that you should go.
In this relationship.
There is not a single person of us in this room who chooses our service.
You do not choose.
To be a servant even.
This person, your Lord.
Has chosen you for that responsibility to himself. You are a chosen servant.
And the one who chooses you is the one who chooses what you do.
I well remember a very down to earth but helpful illustration in this regard.
My first Sunday School teacher, known to some in this room who probably had her as their first Sunday School teacher, was a woman that we called Miss Patrick or Catherine Patridge. I think I went into her class when I was probably three or four years of age.
And I well remember this little lesson she gave to us more than once. She said, you know, and I was young. I said to the Lord, Lord, what's my gift?
The only answer I could get from the Lord was children.
But she said no. Lord, what's my gift?
And the response that she got was children.
Here's the point.
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Her work, her service with children.
And the Lord gave her what was necessary to fulfill her service.
You don't need to know what your gift is really. You may need to know after you know what your service is, the limitation of your gift because we have different measures of capacity.
But the real question is, Lord, what will thou have me to do?
I will say by the side of the way, that woman.
Was the most gifted evangelist gifted evangelist to children I have ever known in my life.
Absolutely incredibly gifted.
But that's not what the Lord said to her. That's not what the Lord wanted to be occupied with.
It was children, and she devoted herself to children, even choosing to be remain single to fulfill fully.
The calling of her service turn with me to numbers.
Chapter 4.
Numbers, Chapter 4.
And verse four, this shall be the servant service of the sons of Kohath in the Tabernacle of the congregation about the most holy things. And then the services that the Coethites were to do is described in detail, and then we come to verse.
19 But thus do unto them, that they may live and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things. Aaron and his son should go in and appoint them everyone to his service and to his burden.
Going to notice four things in this 19 verse.
One we've already seen and that is.
Shall appoint them.
You don't choose your service.
Your Lord chooses it for you.
2nd.
Everyone.
There's not a single believer in this room who is not a servant.
Every single one of us, whether we're young, in the faith or whether we're older, it's everyone. No exemptions.
And #3 shall appoint them to his service.
And to his burden.
There's not only the service.
There is also the burden that goes with the service.
Sometimes we like the service.
As long as we can do it without the burden.
And that causes difficulties.
We're going to look at two people.
First, our object lessons to us about this matter of service and the calling to it. Turn with me to the prophet Jonah.
Look at Jonah is about a prophet who went to a place called Nineveh, as you know, to prophecy. But the matter of what he prophesied in history and in the grand plan of God's things is is rather small really. We don't find Nineveh mentioned in coming days of prophecy and all those things as to having a future.
It's more.
If I could put it this way.
The dealings of God with a servant.
The lessons of God were the servant, and some lessons are hard to learn.
And being a true servant is not an easy.
Knowing Savior.
Well, once we get that, it's wonderful. And so on.
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But sometimes the matter of Lord is a more difficult task to come to a practical realization of it. And I think in recognition of that fact, as far as I know this is the only book in the whole Bible that ends with question mark. May comment on that a little later. As far as I know I haven't checked it out completely, but.
I think it's the only book in the whole of the Bible that ends the book with a question mark.
Question.
OK, Jonah, Chapter one.
We got a servant. Verse one. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amity. I sing Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come before me. But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Problem here, right?
Here's a servant. He's just been given a job to do.
He's just been told what he's to do.
And very obviously.
He doesn't want to do it.
He's supposed to go West. No, he's supposed to go E to Nineveh. So immediately he starts West.
He goes down.
In disobedience.
We talked about what's Lord's over his servants, and he knows how to deal with us if we're going to be disobedient servants. And so we're going to see some dealings with a servant who's at this moment a bit disobedient. And so he goes down, he gets a ticket, he gets in a ship, he goes down, he gets in the bottom of the ship, and he goes to sleep.
Conscience doesn't apparently bother him very much here.
He's asleep, Storm comes up, doesn't wake him up. Everybody else is concerned but.
He's he's OK. It's possible, you know, it's a lesson.
Is it possible we've got some disobedient Jonas sitting here this afternoon? You say why my conscience is OK?
That really, you're asleep.
Well, Jonah keeps as the story goes, he keeps going down.
So.
The Lord, working with him, says you're going down, Jonah. Let's go down a little farther.
So he takes him down to the bottom of the sea, in the belly of a whale.
You know, if we don't serve as we should, it's a downward path and sometimes the Lord will take us farther than we wanted to go.
Down that road.
The prodigal son is another example of someone who didn't really want to stay at home and serve his father's interests.
So he says give me.
And he receives from his father, and off he goes, and he goes down.
That's really that story is a picture of God and you and I, if we are prodigal sons who say to God, give me my time, give me my talent, give me my health, give me my money.
And then we turn our back and go down into the far country, but we go down until we spent all.
And then God can get our attention.
When we're in one, well, Jonah's in want here when he's in the belly of the whale and he learned something, He learns that you know what he probably already knew Salvation is of the Lord in chapter 2. And so in chapter 3, the word of the Lord comes to Jonah the second time saying arise, going to Nineveh, that great city. So he arises and he goes.
He's learned something about obedience.
But he hasn't gotten to the root of the problem.
Sometimes the Lord has to teach us a little bit at a time, and sometimes we learn a lesson, but we haven't really learned the whole lesson. And Jonah is an example to us of the learning process. He's learned I better obey. So he goes and he obeys.
Is he a happy servant? No, he's not. But he's at least obedient, and that's something.
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So he goes to Nineveh and he does his preaching.
Verse 10 of the next chapter, the Lord God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do, and He did them not, but Jonah was just, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
Now we're getting to the root of the problem.
Jonah.
Did not share.
In the heart of his master.
All service ultimately can only be performed properly if the servant reflects and displays the heart of the master.
That's a universal in the word of God.
You and I are part of the Christian testimony in the world today, and collectively we have a collective responsibility to all our fellow man in this world.
The first calling of the master of his servants, as it's described to us in Revelation 2 and three, was with respect to the assembly in Ephesus.
The Church is here to display the heart of God in love and light.
And to Ephesus, he said, Thou hast left thy first love, and if you don't repent, I'm going to remove you from that service.
Because if you're not walking in the law, my love, you cannot.
Present my love to your fellow man.
And the church will be removed as a Candlestick in this world in the end, and that's the root of it and everything else that will flow from it.
Here, Jonah, he's, he's angry.
Our time is getting along, so we'll try to keep this part brief.
Jonah and God didn't share a common heart toward Nineveh.
God's heart toward Minerva was one of mercy and grace if there was repentance.
Jonah's heart was about himself. I'm the servant.
And I, the servant, should be honored.
My honor is more important than Nineveh.
If I preach, they're going to be destroyed and they're not destroyed, what's going to happen to me? What do people think of me?
We may not.
Be quite Jonah like we think, but in principle and in route. Very often when there's a unwillingness to do the work of the Lord, of some service rendered to it, it's because we're thinking about ourselves and perhaps our pride, our reputation, our place in that service.
God gives him a quick, I say quick, quick this afternoon object lesson. He says, OK, Jonah.
Let's try this lesson a little differently.
Here's a gourd.
And the Lord brings the gourd up.
And it shelters Jonah. And he's exceedingly glad.
And then God does to the gourd. Think of Gorda. The gourd is a lesson like Nineveh. God wanted to be merciful to Nineveh and Job didn't. I mean, Jonah didn't. So God takes a gourd and puts it kind of in the same position as Nineveh was in, and then he brings it along and.
Jonah loves that gourd for the benefit to himself, but then God treats the gourd like Jonah wanted Nineveh treated.
He sends a worm. Worm eats the gourd, the gourd dies, the tree over his head dies, and he faints and he.
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Is exceedingly angry and Lord, says Jonah, do you have any reasons to be angry because the gourd isn't?
I mean, let's look at it, Jonah, like you looked at Nineveh.
You didn't have any problem with this city with all these people being destroyed. You didn't do anything for the gourd. You didn't invest anything like I did in Nineveh for the benefit of the gourd. So what are you angry for the gourd for?
Because I didn't show at mercy. Because that mercy benefited you.
Well, our times along. So we'll leave Jonah with his question mark and ponder it. There's more to it. Turn with me quickly over to Luke's Gospel chapter 10.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 10.
The end of the chapter.
Verse 38 Now it came to pass, as they entered into a certain village, a certain woman named Martha received him into her house, and she had a sister called Mary, which sat at Jesus feet and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about with much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister had left me to serve alone? Bitter therefore that she helped me, Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful.
Has chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her. Just a few quick remarks here.
Martha is an example of a servant who is doesn't care to share or not share isn't really the right word. Bear the load of the burden that isn't given to her in her service.
We can be like that. The Lord can put something upon us in service to himself, and we can in our hearts say, Lord, I wouldn't have written the story this way.
I probably would have written this story and not gotten to the root of the story and said.
Come on, I'm Martha. Come on, Mary, get up and help. There's work to be done and I need help. Why aren't you getting up and helping me? I'm tired and I've got too much to do here. You should share with me in this work.
Lord doesn't address that. What's the route?
Mary says it to the Lord. I mean, Martha, she says, Lord, dost thou not care?
Dost thou not care?
If we are given a heavy burden.
And every work has its burden. There is a tendency of the human heart to say relief, please.
Relief, please.
And at the root of it.
We are really dealing with the one who gave it to us. Don't you care, Lord?
If you really cared, would you put me in this situation? Why can't you give me some help?
That's the root of it. It's a lesson here.
If you go on to Chapter 12 of John, you see the same people in the same house.
Is Mary helping Martha?
Has things changed? No, they have not. Martha is doing the same service, carrying the same burden. Mary is at this chapter in Jesus feet and you go to the 12Th of John and she's at Jesus faith. They're still in the same relative positions and service. Yes, Mary had a service too.
And in chapter 12, she's anointing the Lord's feet from her place at his feet.
But stick with Martha.
Get the lesson with Martha. Lord, dost thou not care?
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Well, I'll say this about Martha. I appreciate Martha this way. If that's how you feel, there's a person to go to.
Go to the Lord.
Go to the Lord. If you feel like some burden you have is too much in your service that's given to you, the Lord, then go to the one that gave it to you. Don't try to.
Get a Mary in there, go to the Lord and obviously not all explain to us, but Martha learned and we don't have any murmuring or any problems in John 12. She's learned her lesson and I'll say this for Jonah, he learned his lesson too because.
We the book ends with his lesson doesn't show us that he fully gotten it yet, and he hadn't.
Well, we know he learned the lesson 'cause he wrote the book.
Let's pray.