SO CLOSE, BUT SO FAR

0:00 Would you join me in prayer before we get started this morning? Jesus, thank you that you are in our midst. And may we never forget what a privilege that is. God, I know life can get crazy, it can get chaotic, and we can forget that. That you're with us. That your spirit dwells with inside of the believer. And so I pray that this morning would be more than just some songs and a talk. that this morning would be a morning of transformation, of change. Thank you that your word says that it never returns void. And so I thank you in advance that your scripture, your word is going to do what it was intended to do. And I pray that our hearts would be open and receptive to what you want to say this morning. We ask all these things in your son's name, name everybody said amen quick question why are you here sincerely like i wonder what made you show up today because it's not like you don't have options right and and you decided on a sunday morning may 31st 2026 to be here i'd venture to bet that some people in the room um it's like you're a creature of habit that's what a good texan does if the cowboys aren't playing, you show up to church. If they are, it's a toss-up. For others of you, like you showed up maybe for a family member or a niece or a nephew that was getting dedicated this morning. You received the invite. You felt obliged. Like, oh, I'm going to go and show support. Others of you, you've genuinely been changed and transformed by the message and the story of Jesus and this community. And you can't imagine being anywhere else on a Sunday.

1:47 and then I'd venture to bet that there's a group of people here today, here at Grapevine, at Dallas, at Fort Worth, and Frisco, and probably a higher percentage than we'd be willing to admit. And the honest answer is you don't know. You don't know why you're actually here. But I would argue today that there is one thing that threads all of us together, that we have one thing in common, one reason why we're actually here. And that is that underneath it all, underneath the habit, the loyalty, the love, the not fully knowing, whether we've acknowledged this or aware of this or not, we all have this desire to get closer to God. Even the person who's sitting in the seat and it's like, Sam, I just showed up because I kind of had to today. I don't even believe in this stuff. I would say, I would bet cash money that somewhere in the recesses of your soul, you have asked the question, like, if God is real, could I know him? Could I actually get close? And it just so happens that you're not the only person that's asking that. Because one of the most Googled or chat GPT questions, because let's Let's be honest, who uses Google anymore?

3:13 But one of the most frequently asked questions in our world today is a spiritual one. And it's that, how do I get closer to God? Which tells us all something to varying degrees. If we're willing to be honest, we all kind of feel a little distant. we feel maybe a little bit further than we want to be or we feel like we ought to be and so we're doing our best to close the gap and so I want to ask a second question completely judgment free and I sincerely mean that and that is this if you were to rate your closeness to Jesus this morning between a scale of 1 to 100 100 being like I'm in heaven singing with the angels a one being like couldn't be further apart where would you find yourself on that scale and as i give you a second to actually consider that question i do have to explain one theological truth that is very very important that is the difference between union with christ and communion with christ so this is this is very important that we understand this union with christ is the reality that anyone that has confessed and put their faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ has been unified with Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells with inside of you.

4:40 That doesn't fluctuate. That doesn't change. You are unified and together with Christ. But there is another theological concept called communion with Christ. This is the relational aspect. And just like any other relationship, that fluctuates. And so as far as communing with Christ, like where do you find yourself on that scale? Not where do you feel like you should be? not where does your spouse think you are, not where do your friends think you are, not where were you after that missions trip when you were a teenager. Where are you today? May 31st, 2026. If you're being really honest with yourself and with God, where do you find yourself on that scale? Here's what I found. It is possible to externally look like a 97 and internally be like a negative 30. Like you can come into church with all the smiles, dap the people up on the way in, get there in worship, put both hands up, have one single tear come down from your eye, get to the message and be excited and then go to 17 different serving positions and everybody can look at that person, that guy or that girl and be like, man, they're close with God.

5:54 But internally, you're like, my soul feels like a desert. The dominant disposition of my heart in relation to God's heart would be defined as distant. And the scary part is, for many people, nobody knows it but you.

6:18 And there are some people that have been in that state for so long, you've just given up. So you'll show up. Sure, you'll come to church and do the church thing because that's what you're supposed to do. You'll come because it's good for your family. But you're checked out. you're um you're present but you're not really present and to you i draw your attention to genesis 1 and 2 the creation story we see something really unique and also incredibly powerful and that is like unlike the other creatures god doesn't just speak humans into existence he speaks with them, which shows you and me something. We were made for communion with our creator. We were made to be in a relationship with God. So what's your number? Sincerely, what is it? Whatever it is, I want you to hear this this morning. I don't believe God's disappointed. I don't think he's upstairs in heaven, like with his arms crossed, like 70, hey, try 54, big guy. Your Bible has been gone and lost and found for two weeks and you don't even know it. I don't think that's what's happening. You know what I think? I think if you've been honest this morning, I think he's really glad that you're honest. Why? Because you can't move closer to God if you won't first and foremost admit where you're actually at. You want to know distance tends to come in for me and my commuting with Christ, it's when life gets busy.

8:02 Because when life gets busy, I tend to get distracted. And when I get distracted, I tend to get disoriented, meaning I orient my life around the wrong stuff. Like I forget the whole point of life is about him. And this is one of the benefits, one of the many benefits of us coming together as a body of believers. We get to remember what life is actually worth living for. Like, oh yeah, it's bigger than just me. I'm not the main character here. I've been invited into an eternal story where he's the main character. That is the beauty of what we get to be a part of. Like this is what we believe as Christians. Like the reason there's breath in our lungs, the reason there's a heart beating in our chest cavities, pumping blood throughout our bodies is not just because of Christ, but actually for Christ.

9:02 But do our lives reflect it? I don't know about you. I don't want to get to 90 and look back in the rear view mirror of life and think, I missed it. I lived life disconnected from the creator of mine I want to get there towards the end of my life and look back and think thank you Jesus I wasn't perfect but I did my best to live with you and for you and every day I get here on earth is a day closer to seeing you face to face forever where my communing with Christ will be unhindered by sin and I get to be with him forever but we are distracted because life gets busy it gets crazy I recently saw something that speaks to this level of distraction that we all deal with and I've kind of tweaked it a little bit for today's purposes.

10:19 But if you're 35 years old and you live to 90, this is your life expectancy in months. Now, I don't know about you. I'm pushing 35. I'm 32. I'm like, I want more dots. Give me more dots. I need more months than that. But that's it. So if you're 35, those dots are the amount of months that you have left. And again, I look at them like, give me some more. but then we start to look at some things and you realize how limited our time is. Because as you look at this, you're going to sleep for 220 months. You're going to work for 144. Cooking and eating, 83.

11:02 Bathroom and hygiene and stuff, 61 months. Driving, 41 months. For some of you, 39. I've seen the way you leave this parking lot. chores and errands 41 so that's your free time that that's that's that's the stuff that you get to decide fully and entirely this is what i'm going to do with my time for some of us this is where you get to fully realize some of your god-given dreams goals and purposes in your life 53 months. But there's one more stat, and that is that for the average American, 49 of those 53 months are going to be spent scrolling a screen, looking down at a phone outside of work.

11:57 This is just scrolling and doing stuff, and this is not an anti-technology talk, so don't worry. But we'd be lying if we all didn't say and realize and admit that we've all got weapons of mass distractions sitting in our pockets. We do. And I don't know anybody that wants to get to 90 and be like, man, I wish I would have scrolled more. so here's what I've realized most of us aren't living evil lives we're just living distracted ones distraction slowly slowly steals what matters most and you begin to drift and so I believe that if the enemy can't get you to deny God he'll just distract you from him and so let's go back to the OG question here how do we get closer to God well in order to unearth that we're going to take a trip a mental field trip to ancient Israel in a tiny living room as we kick off this brand new series called encounters where we're talking about divine interruptions that Jesus has with people in the gospel of Luke on the way to Jerusalem to the cross and here's what we'll see in all of these divine interruptions, they actually turn into divine invitations. And my prayer is that as we look at these encounters, as we look at these divine interruptions, that we would have our own encounter with the risen Christ and we would receive and accept the divine invitation being given to us. And so we're going to go to a tiny little living room in ancient Israel with two sisters and the most famous human being to have ever stepped foot on this round ball we call earth. He actually made it. His name is Jesus. If you've got your Bibles, you can go to Luke 10.

13:46 We're going to read five verses, and I believe these five verses have the ability to not just change our Sunday mornings, but to change our lives. Here's what the Word of God says. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said but Martha was distracted somebody say distracted by all of the preparations that had to be made she came to him and asked Lord don't you care I love this that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself I love it because it's not a question it's a rebuke and this emphasizes it Tell her to help me. Emphasis on the me, because Martha has slipped from serving Jesus to serving herself.

14:42 41. Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. So let's get a recap here. there's two sisters and at first glance it looks like a paradox between a type a personality and a type b personality you've got the older sister martha who's responsible she's got lists and she's like i'm about to make the best meal that jesus has ever had in his entire life and then you've got mary who's just like she doesn't know what going on she's like oh it's jesus this is awesome he's here i'm gonna sit down Thank you. But as we dive into this text, we're going to see that there's way more going on than just that. In fact, the first thing I think we have to point out is that in ancient Israel, Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus was taking the seat of a disciple of a rabbi, and that was not allowed for women in that day.

15:48 So this text is just as much as a point of Jesus saying, hey, guess who's welcome at my feet? Absolutely everybody. the people who culture says they don't belong in church they shouldn't be sitting in that seat you don't know what they've done Jesus says no no no all are welcome to be a follower of me that's good news for you and it's really good news for me like who gets access to God think about this is absurd who gets access everybody anyone who wants it you've got a VIP pass 24 7 unhindered access to God. It'd be like, imagine if you went to your mailbox when you got home and there was a letter from the king of England and it was like, hey, come and have tea with me because that's what they do in England.

16:36 Flight's been paid for. Everything's taken care of. And so you get on a plane and it's first class. You get to lay down on the flatbed. You're like, this is great. You land and you get the rental car and you're kind of driving a little bit nervously on the wrong side of the road and you make it to Buckingham Palace. And imagine you just stop at the fence and just look at Buckingham Palace and you're like, wow, that's so cool. You'd be like, what a fool. Like go in, you, you get to meet with the king. But imagine you just sat there like, look at that thing. Now, why is the fence there? It's there for a reason because not just anybody can roll in on royalty. And yet we know that because of the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ, that there are no fences in the kingdom of heaven, that you have an invitation personal to you to come and sit down with royalty beyond royalty, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. But how many of us sit behind fences we created by ourselves and look at a distance and go, wow, in God, great. You've been invited to have a seat at the table and you're sitting behind the fence of busyness and distraction. What a shame it is. And that's Martha. She's stressed. She's got stuff to do and it's not even bad stuff. And before we throw too much shade on her, Jesus is traveling with at least 12 of his, of his disciples. She's got 15 plus mouths to feed. And so she's rolling around the kitchen. She's looking around and the sourdough bread's not rising the way that it should. And she's looking over at Mary and Mary's like, Oh my gosh, this is so great. And she's like, are you kidding me? She busts down the door. I don't think there's a door, but it would be awesome if there was just to put an exclamation on it. And here's, here's the picture. This is something we miss in the English, but here's, here's the picture.

18:33 Jesus, Jesus would be seated on the ground and Mary would be seated at his feet. And so Martha comes up and is standing over Jesus, pointing down, going, don't you care? And how many of us do the exact same thing with God? When life gets chaotic, when life gets crazy, we come strutting in and trying to tell God, why didn't you show up? Why aren't you doing something or telling somebody to help. And Jesus doesn't scold her. He responds in grace and compassion and says, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about so many things. The thought here is there is a riot going on in your soul.

19:31 But few things matter. Indeed, only one. So let's just pause for a second and acknowledge that Martha is showing us that it's possible to be around Jesus and never actually be with Jesus. Like, think about this. She's 12 feet away. She's losing her mind in stress and anxiety, and she is 12 feet away from the Prince of Peace. But she can't acknowledge it because she's just caught up in all of the stress. and I think that this is a struggle of Dallas-Fort Worth Christians in the fact that there is a lot of people who are content with knowing about God, but never really knowing him for themselves.

20:24 So you come to church, you do the things, but you don't know him. And what a shame, and I don't believe that God is like, are you kidding again? I think he's gracefully coming to you. there is something better for you. I was talking to someone about this text and they said to me, you know what, Sam, I've realized that there's a lot of Christians who know about the love of God, but very few have actually experienced the love of God for themselves. So another question this morning, when's the last time you experienced the love of God for yourself? and if that sounds like an odd question to you chances are you maybe never have and what I mean by that is like when is the last time like you were just upended by the grace and the mercy of God that he chose someone like you to he died for you it's like people are desperate for validation in our world and I'm like what more do you need than royalty hanging from a tree giving his life for you.

21:36 We get busy, we get distracted, and we forget. And then you go to Mary, and this is one of my favorite parts of the text, because Mary doesn't say a word. I don't know about you, if you have siblings, but I'd be like, Jesus, tell her. I'm doing the right thing. You better let her know. I chose the one thing.

21:59 Or like after he says it, like, yeah, that's right, Martha she just sits she just sits there in fact the Greek says this and this is you want the point of the sermon this is it right here so if you tuned out tune back in she intentionally positioned herself at the feet of Jesus. She intentionally positioned herself at the feet of Jesus. She oriented her life around the creator of hers. she said if he's here nothing else matters more than this and so a question that I've got for you today is what would it look like if you intentionally positioned yourself at the feet of Jesus and I know I know what some of you are thinking you're like Sam I'm a single mom of three or Sam I run a business and well I'm responsible for a lot of people.

23:16 So if the idea of today is like, hey, I've just got to sit down in the Lord's presence for two hours. Man, it sounds like a great idea. There's a lot of stuff that I've got to do and I can't just do that. And to think that that's the answer would be to totally miss this text. I always make a joke that worship leaders love this text because they're like, we need to stop working so hard. We're just going to sit down and enjoy the Lord's presence. I can make that joke because I was a worship leader. Anyways, I'll keep going. but that's that's not that's not the idea it's not like sit down for four hours and pray and read your bible which if you can do that i mean i think that's awesome this is not a text to cover up laziness or to like cut your ambition out we know that because this is intentionally off of the heels of the good samaritan where the good samaritan just did a whole lot of doing and working and helping a friend and a brother in need and jesus says go and do likewise so this isn't just like sit down and do nothing here's what it is if your doing is severed from your communing you're in trouble let me rephrase that if you running a business is severed from you and your relationship with Christ you are in trouble if your parenting and leading the family where you feel like it needs to go is severed from communing with Christ, you are in trouble. And so I think we all should answer this question. What does it look like for me in my context and my season of life to intentionally position myself at the feet of Jesus? For some of you, it might be as simple as turning on worship music as you drive to and from work instead of listening to the news and just praying for others of you, it might be instead of going to your phone first thing in the morning, you're going to go to God's word for others of you. It might look like putting your time with the Lord in your calendar because your calendar reveals your priorities and you want to prioritize the most important thing.

25:18 I don't know what it is for you, but please don't leave here today without defining it. Because if you don't, you will get to the end and you will think, man, I missed it I fully and completely missed it I've been doing all this stuff and there's a riot in my soul and I've had access to God and I've overlooked it because I've been distracted the psalmist says it this way in Psalm 42 he says as the deer pants for water so my soul pants for you. So my soul longs for you. So the last question I'll ask this morning is, what is your soul longing for? Not the church answer.

26:12 The real one. What are you longing for right now? For some of you, it's more money. And you've convinced yourself that once you get to that certain number, you'll finally have security and here's what will happen if you get to that number you'll just add a zero for others of you it's like a spouse it's like man once i get married life will totally make sense and everything will be perfect talk to any married couple ever for others it's like the promotion at work it's like once i become the partner of the firm i'll finally be able to be proud of myself and here's what'll happen if you get it you'll be proud of yourself for like seven days and then those same insecurities will bubble back up there's a famous quote that says this every young man that rings the bell at a brothel is unconsciously looking for God.

27:11 What is the point? All of our longings, both good and bad, they're pointing to our greatest longing and we often misplace it. What if, what if, what if your soul could long for God? I believe it can. In fact, I believe you were made for it. Scripture calls him the desire of all nations. You were hardwired to commune with your creator. So what if the point of life isn't who you impress, what you achieve, or what you accomplish? What if the point of life is a person?