The Good Portion

well good morning and happy New Year to all of you and a big shout out to those of you who began with a New Year resolution to eat healthy that you’ve already paused until monday. My name is dan. Um if I haven’t met you yet, I’m one of the pastors here and we’re going to Continue our coverage of the gospel of Luke and we’re gonna begin in verse 21 this morning. But before we get there I want to set the table for you by kind of laying out the title of this teaching which is the good portion. Now you’re probably wondering what, what is the good portion? Well, let me tell you this. So the last two months, right? The last two months been two big holidays where we probably ate more food than we could possibly eat in an entire year. Right, christmas, thanksgiving and christmas, lots of food, large family feast for some of us multiple family feast multiple times, getting together and eating lots of good food. And when I was a child, whenever my mom would make one of my favorite foods, one of my favorite dishes. I really wanted the good portion, I wanted a good sized portion, I wanted to dig in and I wanted a large amount, give it to me mom, this is my favorite right? And then when I got married and when my wife would prepare one of my favorite dishes, one of my favorite foods, she already knows you gotta fill this plate up. It’s got to be a good portion. And so this morning when we think of the good portion, I want you to think of God’s will being the good portion and that you would have the same desire that God would would help you to desire his will being done in your life like this is it, this is it for me, nothing else. I want your will. That’s a good portion for me for my life. I needed God. I’ve got to have me some of that in my life, your will being done for me. But I also want you to know something though. We would all agree and say amen and nod and shake our heads. Yes, God’s will. That’s a good portion for me. I want that in my life. We also need to be aware of the fact that sin is constantly leading us to bring our will up to the place of God’s will and even supplanting God’s will and us wanting God to bless our will and that God would adopt our will as his will. But it doesn’t work like that. And yet we’re all tempted to operate like that. And so not only this morning do we want to say yes to the good portion to God’s will being done in our lives, but we want to be aware of the way in which sin would lead us to bring our will elevated up to the place of God’s will and try to get God to adopt our will as his will for us and then let’s pray and then we’ll jump into the passage, Father in Heaven, thank you for your word, it is your revealed will for us, help us to understand it, Help us to desire it, not only in word, but Lord also indeed that our hearts would reflect that we desire your will as a good portion for our lives Help me this morning to teach your word with great clarity so that we, your people would indeed be satisfied with a good portion of your will. I pray this in christ’s name. Amen, I mean, so luke 10, beginning in verse 21. Um we’re actually gonna read through to the end of the chapter that might scare some of you, you’re probably like how long are we gonna be in here today? You know, there’s 21 verses, he’s talking about covering man, how are we gonna get through all of this? Right? Um but bear with me, we’re gonna we’re gonna walk through this and we’re gonna see God’s will for us is a good portion as we do so, But again, verse 21 is where we will begin now, just a little bit of context here, this is jesus gathering with his disciples. He has just sent out the 72 they’ve done some incredible things in his name. Derek talked about this last week, Pastor Derek talked about this, where we are called to be good ambassadors for christ and these, these 72 disciples, they’ve gone out as good ambassadors. They reported back to jesus, all the things that they’ve seen done in his name as they proclaim the gospel, how God worked in a mighty way. And so here they are as they’re reconvening and Jesus is responding in this way here in verse 21 at what he has just heard is this in that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little Children. Yes, father, for such was your gracious will, all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows who the son is except the father or who the father is, except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Then turning to the disciples, he said privately, blessed are the eyes that see what you see for. I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. I’m gonna pause there for a moment. Let’s talk about this passage here. First, we have King jesus rejoicing that the will of the father being done, that it was the father’s will to help some see him as the messiah and that it was the father’s will to resist those who were proud in their learning. And then they’re on wisdom, it was the father’s will to resist them and to keep them from seeing jesus as the messiah. So jesus admonishes human pride in that passage. And yet he commends childlike faith. He commends it. And we ought to be asking, what is childlike faith and why does he commended? Well, there’s something that God created in the heart of a little child that is to be admired. A little child has the capacity to trust over and over again. The promises of his parents. Now some sinful men and women will exploit that innocence. They’ll exploit that innocence and a little child don’t make promises and they will never fulfill them. And that little child will continue to believe and believe and believe until one day he grows up in his heart is hardened and he’s no longer able to trust authority. He struggles with trusting anyone because he’s been let down so many times. And so that’s a very shameful, very sad situation for a child to experience. But what we want to see this morning is that that very innocence where that child trusts his his parents, his father and his mother every single problems. That’s something that God says ought to be in us in terms of our trust and our faith in him. And so jesus commends childlike faith. He’s not saying that you need to become immature, like a child. But when it comes to trusting your God and father, that you would take on those characteristics, I’m saying God is good and I submit to him, but I trust him. And so jesus rejoices that God’s will being done for jesus, this is the good portion. And for those who have the childlike faith, this is the good portion for them. But for those who trust in their own understanding, their own wisdom, their own experiences, they can’t see the will of God. Everything revolves around their own will, their own understanding, what they’ve experienced, the things that they hold to, that is what God must conform to. That’s what the messiah must conform to, Jesus must act according to their understanding and their will. And so they miss the good portion, they can’t receive it. They can’t experience the good portion for their lives. We have to be careful that that doesn’t become our walk with God and that we allow our will to somehow you assert God’s will, allowing the things that we’ve experienced to be the final answer and the final say on who God is and what God is like. We know from the word of God that James 46 that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble well, you know, in first Corinthians chapter one, verses 27 to 31 that God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the proud and the weak things, to shame the strong, so that are both would be in christ, that’s it, that’s a good portion that we have, that childlike faith that trusts in God, the innocence of a little child that says that my God, even though I don’t know how things are going to play out in my life, I trust him, even though this messiah, this jesus here may not look like what I would have expected a kingdom look like. I trust that this is God’s messiah, You’re alive, the circumstances of your life where you are, that you start looking to God with that same innocence and saying God, I trust you for your will to be done in my life, I’m gonna give myself to that. And so the good portion here in this passage is it God’s will for me, God’s will for you, God’s will for us is that in christ that we would humble ourselves before him and that we would trust him even when we don’t know what he’s doing, even when we don’t understand fully what he’s doing. The disciples here, don’t fully understand all that God is doing, but because they trusted Jesus says, blessed are your eyes for you. See what many prophets and great men have all wanted to see, blessed are your ears for they hear those same profits and Godly men in the past I wanted to hear and those guys just like whoa, he said, we’re blessed and yet there’s still a group that he admonishes who can’t see who can’t hear because they don’t trust God. And so they miss the good portion. And so, reading on jesus here, talking about the contrast between the innocence of childlike faith and those who trust in their own wisdom and their own understanding and their own experiences now brings us to a very popular parable called the good samaritan. And I would submit to you that he uses that statement of those who are childlike and those who trust proud about their own understanding, their own wisdom, their own experiences to help us fully understand the parable of the good samaritan because he’s gonna walk up and experience a very similar situation. It says here in verse 25. Behold a lawyer stood up to put him to the test. Now there’s a lot of good lawyer jokes out here, We’re not gonna throw one out, we don’t wanna put our man Lincoln on the spot because we love him. He he did a good job leading us in worship this morning. But the scripture here isn’t talking about that kind of lawyer in this context. What what God is, what the scripture is talking about, is those who were experts on the mosaic law and its application. Someone who just like jesus said, God has hidden a good portion from someone who is wise and understanding according to his own standards according to worldly standards, that’s who we’re dealing with here. The lawyer stood up to put him to the test. He’s trying to embarrass christ. He’s trying to show him to be a fraud. He’s trying to show that he knows more than this man who claims to be the messiah, he can’t see the good portion, he can’t see christ, he can’t humble himself before christ ah but jesus, you know last year we got a Disney plus account and we um splurged on all the Star Wars films and stuff. I missed all that as a child, I didn’t see that stuff. Um but my kids love it and so I sat down and I watched it with him and you know they talk about those Jedi mind tricks like this right here is what jesus is about to do to this lawyer. This is like a Jedi mind trick like 1000 times more impressive. Let’s look at it. So this lawyer stood up to test him saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life, what should I do to inherit eternal life? He’s not asking what should I do in order to go to heaven when I die someday. That’s not that’s not the question he’s asking, he’s asking what can I do to earn myself the kind of life where I won’t ever die, I won’t ever experience the pain, the sickness and the Brokenness of this world where I will be with God forever and I will live out the purpose and design that God has for me, that’s what he’s asking there again, jesus, this is a Jedi mind trick on steroids, he says to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? He says to an expert in the law. What is written in the law and how do you understand it? Mr expert, he knows where this is going. What are you not? And the lawyer answered, You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. Now, some people think that Jesus was the first person to say that, but no moses was actually the first person to summarize God’s law like that and this expert on the mosaic law understand. And so Jesus says to him, you have answered correctly. Do this and you will live in verse 29, but he desiring to justify himself. Mm hmm. There’s a motive there, he said to jesus, who is my neighbor. And Jesus replied again, Jedi mind trick here a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road and when he saw him, the man he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite. When he came to the place and saw him passed by on the other side. But a samaritan as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion, And in verse 34 he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. I don’t know why. For some reason, I just imagine that stinging a little bit, but maybe it was good. Then he set him on his animal and brought him to an end and took care of him. And in verse 35, and the next day he took out two Denarii, which is two days wages and gave them to the innkeeper saying, take care of him and whatever more you spend. I will repay you when I come back. And in jesus Ask this question which of these three men do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers and the lawyer said, The one who showed him Mercy, and jesus said to him, you go and do likewise, wow! I keep saying this is the ultimate Jedi mind trick, because if you didn’t catch it when you see it, you will understand why I said. A teacher of the law, expert in the law, ask how to inherit eternal life, and jesus points him back to the law. Why does he do that first? The law reveals a perfect and holy standard. It is a revelation of the character of God, the perfection of God second, no human being can attain to that standard. No human being can attain to that standard. And yet this teacher of the law thinks that he can attain to that standard. And so jesus tells him the parable of the good samaritan. So many people have made this parable about doing good works and there is a calling on the life of the christian to do good, to do good works, to have compassion and to show mercy. But this is about that and so much more because this man asked the question who then is my neighbor? And he’s asking that question like your kids would ask that question like well what what what part of of of my chores should I do and which part should be left to someone else? You ever have to deal with that with with young people and young kids when you give them responsibility and they want to know exactly where to draw the line because they don’t want to go over the line and be generous, they don’t want to be guilty of doing good and doing someone else’s chores. They only want to do what they have to do. And so this man is asking the question, who is my neighbor because I want to know who can I stiff armed, who cannot ignore? Who can I can who can I kick while they’re down? Who can I just move right on past and get on with my life again, an expert in the law, not realizing that no man can perfectly keep God’s law. And so jesus is showing him the wickedness of his own heart and he does it by making a samaritan. The hero of the story, jews hate Samaritans, they despise Samaritans and he says this is the hero of the story and the man can’t even acknowledge that a samaritan is the hero of the story, says the one who showed mercy, you won’t even say samaritan, He takes him through his whole scenario of a priest, one who is called the minister in the presence of God. How even a priest looks at this man and cannot show love to his name and then he says levi one who assists the priest who serves in the temple looks at this man and cannot show mercy cannot fulfill God’s law and a samaritan, who do you think is blind and ignorant when it comes to God’s law walks in a very fulfillment that you gave as an answer to the law was the ultimate Jedi mind trick, proud man. Can’t see that jesus is the good portion who trusts in his own works, his own good deeds, who looks down on others, probably thinking that if someone fell among robbers like that, then maybe they deserved that as the punishment of God. That’s why we as christians when we see the very horrible things happening, where storms and fires and floods and hurricanes and all these things that that that come through the earth as a result of the Brokenness and the curse of sin. We as christians. We we respond like this good samaritan not asking do the people there deserve this judgment, but as a response, as a, as a show of a fulfillment of God’s law that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, showing mercy. And we do this because we realize that the good portion God’s will for me, God’s will for you. God’s will for us is that we love him with all our heart that we love our neighbors as ourselves. And we still trust in christ alone for our righteousness. We see that as a good portion but this lawyer who represents the very thing that jesus it Mon Ishtar earlier, those who I can’t see God’s will, it’s hidden from them because their own wisdom, their own understanding, hmm, can’t walk in this. He can’t desire this. He has allowed his own will to supplant until you search the place and the role of God’s will in his life. But moving on Verse 38 now we get to another popular story. So Martha and mary many of you probably have heard a sermon or hurt some kind of teaching on being a busy Martha and to be like mary, but I want you to see that this is also a continuation of the same thing. The same idea that God’s will is the good portion God’s will. And then we must be careful from allowing our own will to creep up into your serpent to replace or supplant God’s will, wanting God to bless our will for us. So, in verse 38 says now as they went on their way when jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house and she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone siblings? Right, alright. You told us to do this and he’s not helping. I’m doing it all by myself, dad. He won’t come and help, right? And jesus, he knows, but he’s gentle on his rebuke verse 41. But the Lord answered her, Martha Martha, I’m repeating her name. There’s such a an endearing and tender response to Martha. Mark Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from them. Not now and not for eternity. She has chosen the good portion. Never be taken away. And so Lord offers a very gentle rebuke there to Mark. It’s interesting when you think about this, that story because Jesus enters this village in Martha’s. She desires God’s will. This is God’s will has come to this village. She desires to open up her home. She sees that God has given her a home and the capacity and the ability to be able to host the Lord and this huge crowd that’s coming with him and you know, it’s going to be a party, you know, it’s going to be a bit of a circus. There’s lots of people that want to hear, jesus teach, they want to see jesus do a miracle. There are people who are fascinated with him. There are people trying to figure out who he is. There are people that are gathering and Martha with this gift of hospitality. She wants to make sure everybody feels comfort. She’s eager to make the environment comfortable for everyone. She has a gift of hospitality. God has given her that gift. Like so many of us. When we first discover a gift that God has given us, we’re a bit immature now, we use it, we’re a bit immature and how we understand it. And so, Martha wants her sister to also operate in this gift and be occupied with her will to make sure that everyone is comfortable in this setting. And in the process. She is not seeing a good portion. She’s not realizing that the people haven’t come because of your gift, Martha. The people aren’t here to be comforted by your gift, Martha. They’re here because of this man, jesus christ and you’re anxious and troubled by all these things and you’re missing the fact that these people have come because I’m here, they’ve come to receive from God, I married your sister. She can see that she can see the proportion she can see that not much else is needed in this moment. You need to see that. And that’s why he says, Martha Martha, let’s just say, open your eyes, I’m the good portion, I am. The good portion is what he’s saying to her. She wants everyone to be happy, Martha does, but she’s forgotten the true source of happen man, jesus, jesus christ. She’s wanting everyone to be comfortable and satisfied and she’s forgotten the only one who can satisfy our souls. The only one that can comfort us and whatever pain or sorrow we’re dealing with in jesus say, open your eyes, Martha Martha mary can see that I’m the good portion. You need to see it as well because when you see it, it won’t be taken away from you, not now and not forever. So God’s will for me, God’s will for you got some more for us is that we will learn to rest in christ find true happiness in him and stop trying to impress this work, rest in it, find true happiness and stop trying to impress the world he is. The good portion God’s will for you is that you would trust him and you would humble yourself before him, even when you don’t understand what’s going on in your life. God’s will for you is that you would love God? That you would see the beauty and the goodness of your God and all the good things that he has offered to you in christ. And that your response would be to love him with all your heart. And in the process that you would look at your fellow man, your neighbor made in the image of God, that you would love him as yourself and not be impressed with doing good to them. But trust christ alone for your righteousness, God’s will for you. That as you live this way that you would rest in christ, find you happiness in christ and stop trying to impress this world Psalm 27 4 reminds us of this very fact. Who says one thing I’ve asked of the Lord that I will seek. After that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To gaze upon the beauty of the world. That’s what mary is doing Psalm 62 1 says, for God alone, my soul waits and silence from him comes my salvation in silence and solitude, resting, you know, that needs to be a rhythm in your life. Silence and solitude and resting, reflecting on his goodness. Hebrews 13 success. So we can confidently say that the Lord is my helper. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what what can man do to me? Because you see jesus as your good portion, as you trust in him. You humble yourself before him. You see him as your righteousness alone. Did you rest in him? Did you find your happiness in him? You have this confidence. So as we go forward in this year church, I want you to understand that the will of God is a good portion for your life. And I want you to understand that your own sinful nature, that my sinful nature wants to elevate my own will to the place of supplanting God’s will. And I can observe when that is happening when I’m wanting God to bless my will, or when I’m trusting in my own understanding, my own wisdom and my own experiences to validate for me everything there is to know about God. I know at that moment I’ve missed a good portion, but God wants you to desire the good portion and to walk in. Amen man. Let us pray Lord, I thank you for your word. Thank you Lord. That we can indeed trust you. You are good and you are faithful God. Even as Ryan declared at the beginning, there with the announcements that though the years change, You are the unchanging God, you are the same yesterday today and forever. You’re good and you do not forsake your people. So Lord, would you help us to be aware or the need to have the innocence of a child to trust you and to receive the proportion in life and help us to have the mature sensibilities to be aware of. When we are allowing our own will to creep up and to supplant your will. May we resist that? And the grace that christ gives us, and when we live our lives fully for your will, your glory and maybe our delight, all our days, we pray this in christ.