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September 30, 2026 | Ozzy Wei teaches from Luke 10:38-42 about the dangers of busyness distracting from Jesus and emphasizes the importance of prioritizing unhurried time with Jesus. He compares Mary and Martha to highlight that work is good but only when preceded by focused time with Jesus. The talk includes practical encouragement to involve Scripture and consistency in one’s time with the Lord.
Various midweek classes on wednesday nights
All right, let's start at our tables today. We're going to be in Luke 10, verses 38 to 42. And as we've done in the past, I've given you a chance to read the passage at your table so that you can discuss how God's Word is speaking to each person at your table. It's always great to hear different observations, to raise different questions, and so I hope we've gotten into the routine of doing that. So let's read this passage, take a few minutes to ask questions about it, and then we'll dive into it together. All right, let's go ahead and jump into this passage together. So, if you haven't heard, today we're talking about busyness. All right, how many people want more work? All right, yeah, we all got enough work, right? We're all busy. So tonight we're talking about the cure to busyness. We all feel it, we're all experiencing it to some capacity, and something in the story, as you've just read, is going to teach us something about how to be busy well. Not to be busy in a distracted way, but how to be busy well. When we think about life and we think about our culture, it seems like things are only getting faster and faster. We are not on track to be slowing down at all. We have the recent invention of AI and how popularized that's become. Technology has been booming, especially the past couple of decades. Work responsibilities, kids, and then personal matters piled up on top of all those things. You have a recipe for being constantly tired. We're constantly tired. There always seems to be something to do, something to be worried about, and it always feels like there's never enough time to do everything that we want to do. But the thing is, God created us to be workers. We are supposed to work. In Genesis, Adam and Eve were told to work the garden, they were supposed to take care of it. But while God has given us energy to work, he also created us with limits. We are all limited. As humans, he is God, we are not, we have limits. We need rest, we need sleep. Some of y'all might be about to sleep right now, right? We need sleep, breaks, vacations to recover from the tornado of life. It's just busy. And our limits remind us that we can't do everything, but that we are dependent on God and his provision to both survive and thrive. We need God, and being tired reminds us that we are limited and need him. As you just read, we have two sisters, and they are contrasted with each other. They are opposites. One is focused on Jesus, and the other is distracted from him. So let's do a little side-by-side comparison. You know how they do, like, statistics, or you want to compare two things. Let's compare Mary and Martha's resume, according to Luke. So let's start with Mary. Mary sat and listened at the Lord's feet. Gold star. And she received his affirmation. Not only was she a good student, she also got the pat on the back from the teacher, all right? Received his affirmation. Martha was distracted by making dinner. She lashed out at Jesus, and she was told by Jesus that she was wrong. Not a very good resume, right? And we don't need to guess who was in the right here, because Jesus says that Mary was. When you're unsure about something in the Bible, you always want to focus on what you're sure about first. And Jesus very clearly affirms Mary. So we have two truths that we can gain from this passage. Two truths. The first is that busyness can take our focus off of Jesus. Busyness can take our focus off of Jesus. Busyness isn't bad, but it can be bad. We were made to be workers, but sometimes we can work our way away from Jesus rather than being with him. Verse 40 of our passage says, But Martha was distracted by her many tasks. She was distracted. And she came up and asked Jesus, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand. Even when you are busy with the right things, an unhealthy pace or a wrong motive can take your attention off of Jesus. So we're talking about the right kind of busyness versus the wrong kind. Martha wasn't just busy, she was distracted busy. You know when you ask someone a question and they just kind of nod their head like, mm-hmm, yep, but you know they really aren't listening? You have to imagine how frantic Martha was trying to get things ready to host Jesus well. Martha wasn't doing anything wrong per se, it was just the wrong time to be doing it. Martha was so focused on doing that she neglected being. I'll say that one more time. Martha was so focused on doing that she neglected being. She was working for Jesus when she was supposed to be sitting and listening to him. In verse 39, take note of Mary's posture. Mary sat and listened. You're not going anywhere if you sit down. All right, she was ready to receive whatever Jesus wanted to teach her in that moment. She wasn't running back and forth, she wasn't perched up standing up against the wall, she wasn't freaking out, she sat and listened. This leads me to ask us in this room tonight, when was the last time we have spent unhurried time with the Lord? Unhurried time. So you aren't squeezing your time in the Bible, you aren't forgetting about it or doing it at the tail end of the day just because you remember before you go to bed. When was the last time you said, for the foreseeable future I'm just gonna put myself before the Lord? I'm gonna sit and I'm gonna listen to Jesus just like Mary did. Unhurried time. When was the last time you've done that? Now like I've been saying, being busy is not bad, it's not always a bad thing. The Bible says, idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches. If you want to make a living, you got to work. If you want to do well, you got to work. You got to work well. All right, so we have a biblical basis for working, continue to work. Colossians 3 23, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. So we were made to work, we were made to take care of what God has entrusted to us, but when busyness becomes a distraction from your relationship with Jesus, busyness is a problem. I heard a pastor say, the devil doesn't need to destroy you if he can distract you. I'll say it one more time, the devil doesn't need to destroy you if he can distract you. He doesn't mind if we're occupied with everything but Jesus. He's not having to focus on us, but it's the ones who are most focused on Jesus that he's probably going to target. And so some of us in the room might be going through spiritual warfare because you're actually pursuing Jesus. You might not be doing anything wrong, you just might be getting opposition from the enemy because you're doing right. So that might be you tonight, you might be on the right track, but the devil is trying to distract you. Others of us, I believe both types of people are in the room tonight, you are distracted and it's time to get back on track with Jesus. Don't necessarily stop what you're doing, but maybe consider how would God want you to do what you're doing. Spend time with him, enjoy those hobbies, work hard at work, but spend time with Jesus first and see how he might want to work in you and through you, at your job, in your neighborhood, whatever you're doing. In Revelation, there are letters to the church, different churches, and they are critiques about, this is what's going on, and this is kind of what I like, but this is what you're missing. So the church at Ephesus, this was written about them. I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance. So this is a hard-working church. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary, yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first. They were doing all the right things, but they missed being with Jesus. They forgot their first love. If what you are doing is making you less loving, it's not from the Lord. When your busyness negatively affects your character, you are distracted. Picture this, maybe we can all relate to this. Fast drivers on the road, a lot of times, are probably in a rush. They don't have time to stop. They try to beat every red light. They are swerving dangerously through the intersections, through these lanes. They are trying to get somewhere. It's a lot different driving when you're not in a rush. It's a lot different when you're working on a task when the deadline is not very close. But when you're chasing, and chasing, and changing, and it's just urgent, and you're in a hurry, your character starts to get left behind. That is a telltale sign that you are probably distracted. You're focused more on doing than being. First Corinthians 13 says that without love, you're nothing. And so fill in the blank. If I have this, whatever you want, but you don't have love, we're missing the point. How can we become more loving with the work that we are doing? Work well, work hard for God's glory, but consider how you're becoming more loving. Mary gave her attention to Jesus while Martha was trying to get his attention.
Mary gave her attention to Jesus while Martha was trying to get his attention. Martha was doing something good, hosting Jesus, right? But it made her restless, and she got distracted. So do well at your jobs, love your hobbies, serve the church, and fix around the house, but don't neglect what matters most, time with Jesus. I'm going to throw it to your tables right now, and I want to have you answer this question. What tends to crowd out your time with Jesus? What are those few things in your day-to-day life that gnaw away at your time with Jesus? Take a few minutes, and then we'll continue on. All right, guys, let's wrap up those conversations, and let's bring it on up here again. Before we move on to this next truth, is anyone brave enough, maybe one or two people, to share what, for them, tends to crowd out your time with Jesus? Work, yeah, you do have to do it, that's right. Work, anybody else? Right, because it might be a steep drop to just be like, all right, I'm back from work. Somebody else? Go ahead, Laura. Phones, April, you as well? Phones? Yes, back there? Being undisciplined, yeah. Pam? Sure, yeah, I'm a planner as well. Sometimes when I wake up, and before I get out of bed, I'm like, okay, what do I have to do today? And then I forget, oh, yeah, like, I need to meet with Jesus first. I had to share these things, not to discourage us. We are in this fight together. The culture is not set up to push us towards Jesus. We need to make time for it. We are all in it, in different types of struggles, different types of expressions of struggles. The Bible says that no temptation has come to us except what's common to all. So when you are tempted not to spend time with Jesus, know that there are other brothers and sisters in this class that are also being tempted, maybe even at the same time. And so we are in it together. We're tempted together, and we're going to win this war together. All right, we need to make time to spend with Jesus. Second truth in this passage is, spending time with Jesus is what really matters. Spending time with Jesus is what really matters. As you're writing this down, I want you to know that the cure to busyness is not really revolutionary. I'm not here to give you like an antidote for you to take, and it's just going to solve all your problems. The cure to busyness is really a question for you and I, is will we take Jesus up on the rest he gives us? Most of us know that we're supposed to spend time with Jesus. And yes, that is what really matters. That is what really matters. But how many of us actually do this? That's the cure to busyness, is how many of us actually sit like Mary? All right, so let's look at verses 41 and 42. The Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it would not be taken away from her. I always thought it was interesting that the Lord uses Martha's name twice and put your own spin on it. I hear Martha, Martha, slow down, breathe, lady, right? I've also heard someone say Jesus was probably like Martha, Martha, right? Like you just don't get it. Whatever spin you want to put on it, Jesus is making a correction to Martha saying, hey, your sister, even though she's not helping, she has made the right choice in this time. Martha's frustrated that Mary isn't helping her. And Jesus responds that while Martha is worried about so many different things, Mary is the one that actually chose what would last, what wouldn't be taken away from her. Serving Jesus is important. Work is important. We read a proverb about that. We read Colossians 323. But we should first want to be with Jesus. It's about priorities. We're going to spend most of our day working. And so why not give Jesus our first part of the day? Last week when Matt came talking about leadership over the zoo, one of the ways he encouraged us was getting our days started off right. Starting our days off maybe with a walk around the neighborhood, maybe saying the Lord's prayer before your feet hit the ground out of the bed. What is a rhythm for you where you can just reorient and say, this is how I'm going to start my day. I just want to have a better day today. I think about how athletes stretch before they exercise. They don't just jump right in. They're going to hurt themselves. Musicians tune their instruments before they play a concert. If they don't, it's going to sound really bad. All right, they're making music. It's not going to sound as good, right? In the same way, when we have these long days ahead of us, because there's a lot that goes on in our days, we want to make sure that we're starting our days off on the right foot. A lot in this world really doesn't matter from eternity's perspective, right? A lot of the things we're worried about don't truly matter, like spending time with Jesus. That's what actually matters. Think about all of the ads in the world that are trying to get a quick decision from you. You've got to have this. This sale ends today. They're not really after you. They're after your money, right? What you can give them. If a company can get you to buy once, maybe they can get you to buy again. And maybe since you're a loyal customer, we'll customize a deal just for you. Maybe you've seen on Amazon, they have, like, the customers typically buy these two or three things together at the same time. It's like, no, they don't. Like, these items aren't even related, right? They're just trying to get you to buy the package deal, right? Seriously, look at them closely next time. I'm just like, no, they don't. But these companies are trying to get something for you. They want your attention. Because in this culture, while money is important, I think they're after our attention as well. If they can have your attention, they can also have your money. They have your energy. They have your time. And so attention is what we're getting after. Your character is shaped by who you spend time with. If I wanted to know why you are the way you are, I could probably figure that out by what you do most of your days and who your closest friends are. For better or worse, good influencers, bad influencers, whatever you spend the most time doing or whoever you spend the most time with, that is going to shape your character. As the saying goes, show me your five closest friends, and I'll show you your future. This might be a little hard to swallow, but it's true. Might be a little hard to swallow, but show me your time with Jesus, and I'll show you your behavior. Right? Show me your time with Jesus, and I'll show you your behavior. Jesus says that marriage shows the one thing necessary, that time with Jesus is what matters most. It wouldn't be taken away from her. The psalmist says here, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever. Is God your portion? Or is he your leftover? Is God your portion? Are you satisfied with him, just who he is? Everything else is a blessing from him. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, but are you satisfied just with him? Parents in the room, or even uncles and aunts, you probably want to be with your children more so than anything they can do for you. Spending time with them, hugging them, just laughing with them, seeing them do silly things, all of that matters so much more than maybe something they're serving you, they're working for you. You'd much rather have that relationship with them. In the same way, God is our heavenly father, and he wants a relationship with us, and that requires being with him. So think about screen time on our phones, TV shows trying to get you to watch another episode, social media reels. Everything is competing for your time and attention, because if they have your attention, then they can manipulate you. All right, so here's the point. You will serve and work better when you sit with Jesus first. So this is not a quit your job talk, okay? This is a, God has blessed you with work, and he wants to see you work. He put you here on this earth to work, but he wants to be with you first. It's kind of like being with the coach in the huddle before you actually make the plays out there. Spend time with Jesus, get your day started off right, he wants to see you succeed. Here's how I remember this, three words, sit, then serve. Sit, then serve. Martha wasn't doing anything wrong, she was doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. Sit like Martha, sit like Mary, sorry, and then serve like Martha. Sit like Mary, and serve like Martha. So I want to answer this question, and then I'm going to throw our last discussion question to our tables. So spending time with Jesus is the most important thing, it's what really matters. What does spending time with Jesus actually look like? Okay, that's a fair question, because we want to know how we're actually doing.
this? Are we actually doing this correct? I'm gonna give you two pointers here, and it's very simple. Again, not revolutionary, but the question is, will you take Jesus up on this offer? First, it has to involve the Bible. Has to. If you are substituting Scripture for a song, over five or so years, or even five or so months, you're gonna become a different person than looking at the truth of Scripture. It has to involve the Bible. This is not legalism. This is not a random rule. Time with Jesus has to involve the Bible, because God's Word is truth. So if you don't know the truth, you won't live correctly. Jesus prays, sanctify them. He's talking about us. Sanctify them by the truth. Your Word is truth. It may not always mean reading a chapter a day, or a Bible, or the whole Bible in a year. If that's you, that's great. That's a great accomplishment. But your time with Jesus must always involve His Word. Here are a few other ways. Maybe walk around your neighborhood praying Scripture. Maybe meditate on one verse that stands out to you. If you like writing, journal your thoughts as you are reading Scripture. Whatever expression your time with Jesus takes, indoors, outdoors, walking, running, sitting, whatever it is, make sure you involve Scripture and that you are distraction-free. Involve Scripture, make sure you're distraction-free. Phones off, computers away, and try to get by yourself if you can. Okay? Involve the Bible. Secondly, be consistent. Remember, your character is formed by who and what you spend time doing and with. So if we want to become more like Jesus, we've got to be consistent being with Him. We're not going to catch a little bit of Him and then become like Him. We need to give our whole lives to Him so that it's only natural that we'll become more like Him. Paul told Timothy, train yourself for godliness. And that word for train has the idea of sweating in the gym. It's where we get our words for gymnastics and gymnasium. So if you think about your gym memberships and all the sweat that you put into working out, how you change your diet, all these different things to exercise, same thing spiritually. Some of us are unfortunately being discipled more by social media than Jesus. Some of us are being a little bit more discipled by football than Jesus. Pick a time or part of the day to help you with this. I love mornings, maybe you love evenings. What works for you? What will help you be consistent with your time with the Lord? Pick a time, show up every day. If you miss a day, show up again the next day. Just pick up where you left off. As you show up consistently, you start to become more like Him. Make meeting with Jesus a habit. That is what's going to propel you into your work and to do it better. Alright, so last discussion questions. I got two here for you. What time of the day is best for you to spend time with Jesus? Maybe it's a lunch break, morning, evening, what's best for you? And then in your experience, if you have some, what helps or has helped you spend quality time with Jesus? Take a few minutes and then we'll finish out here. Alright, let's wrap up those conversations. And if you wouldn't mind, I'm gonna do something a little different right now. I want to illustrate this. I very sneakily moved the table up here and have some objects up here, alright? So I have a clear bin, clear plastic bin. I have a clear plastic cup, and I have a pitcher full of water, okay? And I wanted to use this illustration as a way of hoping this will stick for a very long time, alright? When we talk about the cure for busyness, spending time with Jesus, the pitcher of water is going to represent our time with the Lord, right? This plastic cup is going to represent us. So when we're sitting before Jesus, we are praying, we are memorizing His Word, we are reading every day, this is what's happening. The Lord is pouring into us, and we have something to work with throughout the day, right? We have a pretty good day at work, we're pouring out, we're pouring out, slowly starting to get drained, but we make it. Okay, so we come back the next day, we get a little bit more. Maybe we had a really good quiet time, alright? So we'll fill it up a little bit more. So we're going, we're working, we're working, we're pouring out, pouring out, pouring out. Let's say one of these days we didn't have too great of a day. We still got a little bit in, alright? We all have those days, guys. And so we pour out, we pour out. Maybe there's a really, really rough day, and you just feel empty. All of a sudden you miss another time with the Lord. You're going about your day, you got nothing in you. You miss another day, something starts to irk you a little bit. Maybe you act a little bit uncharacteristic, right? So you go back, spend some time with Jesus, you have a little bit more to pour out. But a lot of us are operating like this. We got nothing in the tank, and we just get by. This is how we're supposed to be working. The Lord fills us up, and as we go about our day, we're overflowing into the people around us. We have something to give. You can't give what you don't have. We have a full cup, and we're able to pour out into other people's lives. And so your time with Jesus is a way to receive and then give to other people. And so I don't know where you are, if this cup is you, what it represents, but I wouldn't be surprised if many of us in this room are not as full as this cup. And as we've talked about for the past 45 or so minutes, you have the way to fill up your cup. And so the question is, will you take him up on it? So a few things here before we wrap up. Pastor Keeney Dickinson says, we tend to pray in the context of ministry, but Jesus ministered in the context of prayer. I want to say that a different way. We tend to pray when we know we're supposed to. Meals, medical emergencies, financial burdens, we know when there's a need. And we know there's a God up there that would love to meet that need. Jesus, as we read in the Bible, prayed and then went about his day. And then he started working and working and working and working, because he sat like Mary, and then he served like Martha. Jesus was ministering, having already prayed. And he was ready to face his day with confidence. So here's a good passage of Scripture, we'll talk about the cure to busyness. Matthew 11, 28 to 30. Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus's yoke is easy and his burden is light. We will find rest for our souls. We will be refreshed. He will pour into us like a pitcher of water, and we as empty cups, so that we can overflow into those around us. Last year I moved into a house of some friends, and we met an uptight neighbor. Anyone else have one of those? Their name is really hard to pronounce, but it's spelled H-O-A. That's pretty good, right? So we got a letter when we first moved into the block, and the HOA said, hey, y'all need to plant flowers in your mulch bed. So I'm like, I never thought I would get a letter like that before. So in a house full of guys, because I have other roommates, out of fear of the HOA, right, fear of the HOA is beginning of wisdom, right? So we start planting these flowers just to get them off our back. I've gotten a lot into gardening because of it, pulling out weeds, just edging the lawn, everything like that to make sure we don't get another letter, right, that we can actually live in this house. And it's amazing how much yard work is just about showing up. It's amazing how much yard work and just tending flowers is just showing up the next day. A lot of times you don't really see the growth, you just do it. But the other day I was outside, and one of my actual neighbors, all right, he's a Bellevue member, and he hollered at me, he said, looking better Ozzie. So I don't know how to take that, but it's better now, okay? Here's my point, this is why I shared that. I couldn't tell you when things started to get better, but someone else started to notice. And all the work that I had been putting in behind the scenes started to show. As you spend more time with Jesus, others begin to notice your life change. You might not notice it, but someone at work might notice that it's been a while since you've acted up. Someone at work might notice that, hey, you handled that problem a little bit differently than you normally did. And the Bible says to let the lips of other men praise you. Let them praise you. Your job is to show up. Show up before Jesus, spend time with Him, and let Him change your life. Let me pray for us.