After telling us that Jesus entered the home, Luke immediately draws his readers’ attention to the posture of these two sisters.  We are told that Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching.  Martha, on the other hand, was distracted with much serving.  The reader then learns that this difference in posture created tension between these two sisters.
 
I believe that all these years later these two postures often create tension within our own hearts and minds as we relate to Jesus.  We know that we are called to sit at the feet of our Master and saturate our lives with His teaching and presence.  However, we also know that our lives must be humbly patterned after this One who came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:20-28).  So then, where exactly did Martha go wrong?

Was Martha’s mistake made in her desire to serve?  No, for the attitude of a servant should be found in each disciple that bears the name of Christ.

Was Martha at fault for taking care of the necessary preparations for this feast?  Surely not!  There were many good things that needed to be done.  In fact, we too should eagerly desire to do all that we can for Christ.  Our hands, feet, mouth, mind, heart, and passion must all be dedicated to the work of God’s kingdom.  All that we are must engage the goal of seeing God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

As I understand it, Martha’s error was that she allowed herself to become distracted by all the preparations.  She forgot Jesus Himself and became solely focused on what she was doing for Him.  Even more, she became focused on what others were not doing for Him.  Martha allowed her service for Christ to take precedence over her communion with Christ.  She had lost sight of proper priorities.  She had failed to understand that our best service always flows out of time spent knowing and enjoying God.

The great preacher, Charles Spurgeon, said it this way in his devotional book Morning and Evening: “Beloved Christian, don’t neglect the external things needed for life, for they have their purpose, but be determined to continually enjoy vital, personal fellowship with Jesus.  Make sure you never neglect sitting at the Saviour’s feet, even if it appears to give others the misleading idea it is service to Him you are neglecting.  The first priority for our soul’s health, the first priority for His glory, and the first priority for our own usefulness is to keep ourselves in continual communion with the Lord Jesus and to see that the vital spirituality of our faith is maintained over and above everything else in the world.”

This is exactly the lesson that Jesus wants each of us to learn.  All these years later we need to hear our Lord speak to us the same words He shared with Martha; “you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.”  Today, may we hear Jesus invite us to re-prioritize our own lives and make time for the one thing that is most necessary.  May we hear our Master lovingly call us to join Mary at His feet.

Pastor Curtis

Out of this somewhat mixed background, God began to give me longing for the kind of church community I saw in the New Testament. A number of us felt the need for a community of believers free from the “institutional” ties of camp. I had often said that I would never be a pastor—something about the church scared me. Yet God led us into establishing a church on the island, and I was pastor for 20 years.

Two early influences nurtured a vision of the church. In The Firs School of Ministry, an annual pastors’ conference, leaders like Larry Richards and Ray Stedman gave us instruction in principles of the New Testament church. In the early ‘80’s I joined my cousins, Allen & Paul Thompson of World Team, in leading a conference on the nature of the church in Sacramento, California. We were joined by a group of blacks from Watts county, whose fervour for the Lord was life-changing—to worship with them you had to be physically fit. For more than a week we talked about and experienced the dynamics of the church in action—teaching, fellowship, worship and prayer. Gradually a vision emerged of what the church was meant to be as it is described in Acts 2. The vision of a dynamic church has motivated me for 35 years.

When I first came to College Heights my first sermon was on Acts 2:42 – 47. When I came back on staff last August my first sermon was on the same text. I do not have all the answers for dynamic church life, but I think I have learned some important principles over the years. I will share some of these over the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

Pastor Alan

As tempting as it may have been to not pick up our kids up for a day or two, we eventually made our way out of the warm house and into the plummeting temperatures of Prince George.  During our half hour drive to pick up Hope I had the privilege of listening as Sue shared about her ongoing personal study of the Psalms.  We went on to discuss how each of us had felt God speaking into our lives.  Specifically, my wife shared with me about how the Lord was teaching her the importance of perspective and proper thinking from Psalm 3; which is a song written by king David that was inspired by the events of II Samuel 15-18.

The Psalm begins with David crying out to the Lord about his troubles.  His focus is clearly fixed upon his many foes who taunt him with the words, “God will not deliver you this time, David!”  It seems in these first verses that the slayer of giants is struggling to believe he’ll escape once more.  His mind is consumed with the jeers and sneers of those who oppose him. 

Where are your eyes fixed today?  What troubles or trials have captivated your attention?  What taunts weaken your own spirit as they echo in your heart?  What weighs heavily upon your mind?

The beauty and simplicity of Psalm 3 is found in its gentle call to take our eyes off of our various troubles and fix them instead upon the sovereign One who is enthroned over and above all the circumstances of our lives.  David reminds us to make God our shield and defense by trusting in Him at all times.  The king even goes so far as to say that though he is surrounded by an encampment of tens of thousands of hostile soldiers he is able to lay his head down to sleep at night and find rest.
 
Isn’t that what we want all these years later?  Rest.  Peace.  Comfort.  Strength.  Courage under fire.  Calm in the midst of storm.  Room to breathe.  Someone to quiet the taunting of our own adversary.

Where are your eyes fixed today?  What’s on your mind?  I pray that you would follow the example of king David and make God your shield.  Go to Him in prayer with your troubles knowing that He both listens and answers.  And, may the declaration of your own mouth be, “Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

Pastor Curtis

The primary purpose of redesigning our site was twofold. The first was to make it a fun, usable place for people to find out more about our church. The reality of our time is that people who are looking for a church to attend start their search online. We wanted to give them a better idea of what CHBC has to offer and what we believe in.

The second reason was to create a better resource for current church attendees. A place to find out what’s happening at the church and to encourage everyone to spend more time in God’s word. That can come from listening to older sermon’s, reading bible study guides, or some thoughts from our pastors on the church blog.

We hope you enjoy the changes.