Venciendo la deriva | Jeremy DeWeerdt

Hello, City First Church. It's good to have you here in the church. And before I start talking today, please come back next week. Bring friends. It's our annual vision Sunday where we're going to give you the theme, but also the exciting things that we believe God is going to do this year, 2026. It's a very special Sunday and I hope you're here, that you bring people. So, well, let us know. Well, the weather, right, the weather here in the Midwest, it's difficult. Even in Cape Cod in Florida, there's also snow. And in Florida, this generally doesn't happen. And, well, here in Illinois, Wisconsin, we want to tell you this, in Cape Coral, you're welcome, you're welcome. We wanted to give you a little present that we're still giving. So, well, we're sending you snow. Welcome to our daily life. Well, I know it's the first weekend of February, but how many of you

already want a vacation? Well, we, the Duarts, when we go on vacation, we like to be by the water. And I remember a couple of years ago when Pax, our little boy, he's almost 14, but we went to Florida, to Cape Coral, to a beach. And when we were in the beach, well, we were in the beach and I was playing with Pax and about 10 or 15 minutes later, I turned to look at the beach and we were already like 50 yards beyond the coast. And I was like, this is crazy. So we went out, we walked back up the beach to where our chairs were and we went back into the water. And about 10 or 15 minutes later, I turned again and we were already in the drift, it had taken us to another side and this current had taken us further away, right? And again, we went back into the water, we walked again, and we did it several times.

And Jen told me something that I think was deep, and she said, you know what? That's life. You go into something and over time, the drift takes you to another side. And I was like, ooh, that's a sermon. That's a sermon. So you don't notice it, right? Because you're playing with the water. And the drift happens in everything. It can happen in your relationships, in your marriage, in your career, in your praise to God, in your friendships. Like how many of you have said, I haven't talked to my friends. Well, it happens, right? And the most important thing is it can happen in your relationship with God. The drift can't happen naturally. I want to talk about several things, how we can get out of the drift, go back to where we were, go back to the waters with God,

and do it again. And it happens inadvertently. And you say, Pastor, why are you talking about the drift when we're only in the first month of the year? And I say, well, how are those new year resolutions going? Right? I mean, we all drift. It happens unintentionally, but it happens. And there are two stories that I want to talk about. Two stories that are from the same people. We're going to talk about Luke chapter 10. That's what the Bible says. Kind of a famous story if you grew up in church. And well, if you haven't heard it, you're going to learn it today. It says, During the journey to Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples came to a certain village where a woman named Martha received them at her house. Her sister Mary sat at the feet of the Lord to listen to his teachings. But Mary, listen, was distracted with most of the preparations for dinner. And so she came to Jesus and said, Master, don't you think it's unfair that my sister is here,

leaving me to do all the work? Tell her to come and help me. And the Lord said, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried. but there is one thing that is worth it. Mary has discovered it and no one is going to take it away from her. If you grew up in a church, it's a famous story, two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha is in the church, she's sweating, and Mary is at Jesus' feet listening to how Jesus speaks and listening to his teachings. Now, I'm going to say something that may surprise you as a pastor, but I'm going to be candid about my thoughts. I don't like this story. Why don't I like this story? Well, because every time I've heard it, they always say, oh, Martha, bad, she was in the kitchen, she's not with Jesus, Mary, very good, sitting with Jesus, and I said, well, this bothers me, because I'm in a church and without Martha in this church, we don't have a church. We don't have people who are doing things, serving. I know I'm here talking a lot and it's different, but I tell people, I'm like, I don't need people who have a good heart, I need people who want to do things. And Martha is doing it. I don't know if I said it, I don't know if I said it,

but I said it. Martha is doing things. I have a problem with this story, because here in the church, someone has to be here at six in the morning to turn on the lights, open the doors, that the carpets are clean, that there are chairs, that the bathrooms are clean so you don't smell bad. Someone has the praise team, they don't come up here for the first time and they start playing, no, they practice all week. There's a lot of work that goes into this. And Martha is like a slave in the kitchen, doing all the things, and then there's Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, writing. And Martha says, okay, you went to sit with Jesus, Mary, and I'll be here in the kitchen, I'll be cooking, I'll be taking out the fires, have fun, Mary. And when you get done listening to Jesus when you're hungry, you can come and eat the food that I cooked, right? Some people know, they know what I'm talking about. You don't like that story because you say, well, in a church, in a family, in a business, in a community, there are problems that have to be solved. There are issues that have to be solved. There are things that have to be done. The grass doesn't get cut by itself, the garbage doesn't get taken out by itself, right? The dishes don't get washed by themselves. Amen, amen.

So Martha says, well, you're going to have your moment with Jesus, okay? And then when you're done having your time with the Bible with Jesus, maybe you can come and help wash the dishes. And Mary has attitude. And I'll be candid and transparent. The reason why I think I have a problem with this story is because in this story, I am Martha. I tend to be in this category. There are two, there are two. And the first one comes from Martha, right? The first drift is this, the drift of distraction. What is this, a current of distraction? In the English version of the Bible, it says, in the ESV, it says, what is the current of distraction? The ESV says, Martha was distracted, serving a lot, distracted, serving. Well, many of us right now with life, we are distracted by a lot of things. Because we are doing a lot of things. And it isn't that, it isn't for real. But there are a lot of things to do at work, at church, at home. There are a lot of things to do. And unfortunately, all the distractions that you have are the things that have to happen.

And maybe they have stolen a little bit of your relationship with Jesus. Your relationship with Jesus has suffered. Let's take it to the next step. It's easier for us to work on the problem or what's in front of us than to be in the presence of God. I mean, we're far more comfortable doing something for God, but we're more comfortable being for God but not being with God. And it's silent because you're in this and you're thinking to yourself, you know what, Jesus is going to bless my life, he's going to bless my life, I'm not in the presence of him because I'm working a lot. You say, ah, this is going to bring his grace. I don't know if that's how it works. Like when we fall into the distraction, we can dress him in noble ways, make him feel good, we can maybe feel a little bit like a martyr. I'm carrying the weight of this family. I'm caring about this church, this job. You know, I'm here. Yeah, we're going to have to be like this. I've heard that said before. So I'm cleaning and the person that works with me is watching their TikTok. And we can feel proud, you know? Maybe we're the ones that are really worried.

And here I'm just saying, and here's the thing, the enemy is strong. Why? Because if we fall into the Martha of distraction, then most of us are occupied with the distraction, in the derivation of the distraction, but everyone knows they can count on them. In other words, I know they do it intentionally or unintentionally, they actually can count on you because you can be led by. People count on you and you're good at that, whether it's at home, at work, in the church, in the house, if you have something to get done, you can give it to someone and they're going to do it. Or you can give it to someone and they don't know if they're going to do it or not. You're kind of like, oh, I don't know if you're going to do it or not. Well, when you have something, you go to the person you can count on. And the enemy knows this derivation of those who are in that distraction because you're able to. And you get things done. And when things happen in the church or in the business or in the work, why? Because people come to see you because they can count on you

and it puts more weight on you. And it also feeds the drip, it accelerates the drip because you already are ready to work and you say, oh, I'm a hard worker and now there's more work to be done. Listen, I don't think Jesus was angry for Martha's professional ethics. No, no, it's not like he said, Jesus is not saying, you're not responsible. But what Jesus is saying is, Mary, your sister has chosen the good portion which she's not going to take away from her, what does this mean? What does this mean? Well, you have to go into the Old Testament and there's a little book of Psalms and there's some verses that talk about the portion of God. So it defines what is this in Psalms 73. It says, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is my strength, my heart, and my portion forever and ever. And what is he saying? He says, I'm going to be your protection. I'm going to be your source and I will be your identity, your portion. So what Jesus is telling Martha, he's saying, hey, listen, your protection is not in your work, Martha. And you know what?

The source of your life is not in your work, Martha. And lastly, your identity is not in that, Martha. Some of us, Martha, have fallen into this drift because we have to be careful. We don't want to lose our identity. It's not in your work, Martha, it's an identity. Jesus is not telling Martha to not work, he's just saying to Martha, you've been distracted because you're just working and you're working to replace a relationship because you're so busy. His identity is to be in the kitchen and the work has replaced the worship of Jesus. Doing the work became more important than being there. Martha has drifted off the shore, to put it that way, right? and she needs to go back and re-enter the waters of God's relationship where she once was. So, today, maybe it's the red flag saying, we have to do this too. We're in a current, we're drifting, we're going in the current to the other side, we're working, working, working. And I know that maybe it's become our security, our identity. So, Marta, you're in this current. There are people who are watching right now and they're saying, oh, I hope my husband is listening to this. Oh, I hope my brother, or my son, or my friend, or my friend is listening to this.

Because Pastor Jeremy, yes, yes, he's giving them a hard time, the pastor. All right, well, let me, let me talk about Maria for a moment. And the second drift is the drift of Maria. And it's a different story. It's chronologically speaking, it's in John 12. And it says in the next six days, it says in John 12, it says, look at what it says here. It says, we're going to read this version, six days before the celebration of Easter began, Jesus came to Bethany, to the house of Lazarus, the man to whom he had risen. They prepared a meal in honor of him. Mary served, what do you think? She was still in the kitchen, it wasn't the same bush. And Lazarus was in the kitchen, even a couple of years before. It says, well, imagine, it's like a new Martha. She's still cooking in the kitchen. Martha, you don't have to stop working, but it can't be your identity. It can't replace your relationship with Jesus or other important relationships. So now, basically, Martha is serving, and it says, you know what? And it says, you know what? It says, Mary took a, what does it say here? The next one, right? Mary took a jar with almost half a liter of an expensive perfume, prepared with the essence of nard, washed it on her feet, and dried it with her own hair.

The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. However, Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, this perfume was worth a salary. Why wasn't it sold and given to the poor? It's not that Judas cared about the poor, really, because he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he would often steal a portion for him. Jesus said, leave her alone so that she may have it there for my burial, because the poor are always going to have it, but you're never going to have me. And it's a very interesting story. Got to understand, first of all, what does nard mean? It's a weird word, right? We don't use it a lot. It's a very, very expensive fragrance, and it was very important in those days. It was from the north of India. It was equal to a working person's annual salary in India. So, like, think about it now, what is a, how much does an American make, more or less, this oil was worth a person's annual salary. So, imagine, so, well, Mary was practically, Mary didn't have Social Security, didn't have retirement plans, but this was the retirement plan, and they would buy these jars of nard, and then later on in life, they sold them, and they lived off of that money. And other gospels describe the life of Jesus,

and it says that Mary, not just her head and her feet, but her feet. So, now think about this. Imagine, break this jar of nard, and when you break it, it loses its value. So, she can't sell it anymore. And she takes out the oil, and she puts it in her head, in her hair and in her feet, and it's just symbolic in many ways, and I don't have time to explain it all, but really what she's saying is, I'm giving you something that cost me to be able to share how much I love you, Jesus, and to be able to communicate my sacrifice with my feet and my head. And, well, she puts it in her hair, and this was very abnormal at the time, because women, Jewish women, women would never let their hair fall unless it was in the privacy of their home. So, she is letting her hair down, and she's taking her hair, and her feet is taking the oil, and putting it on Jesus. This is so humble to do that. This is incredible, the symbolism here, she's giving everything she has to Jesus, her finances, her financial, her financial security, and also her, maybe her selfishness.

She put everything in humility before him, her feet. What happens immediately? Judas, who betrays Jesus, right? Judas, and he says, hey, why are you being so extravagant and excessive? Now, before we get angry with Judas, we deserve to treat him like that, maybe. Get angry a little bit at what he did. But other disciples were also thinking the same thing, they just weren't as carnal as to say it. And others are like, what are you doing right now? And Jesus allows him to do it. Now, the Christian tradition, and the historians believe that this Mary, the sister Mary, is Martha, Martha's sister. But we are like, we don't know who she is exactly, but we are like, maybe it's the same Mary. Why would she do something so excessive, so expensive, so much sacrifice? Well, because Mary had taken time with Jesus, and it didn't feel extreme, it felt normal. And it didn't feel so sacrificed, because to her it was normal. Well, and that is the second derivative, the derivative of being reasonable. What does that mean? The people are saying, this is not reasonable. This is reasonableness. And he says, well, it's like getting into the water, right? And he says, well, this is reasonable.

It's kind of like when you come to church, and you're like, oh, I want to sit at the feet of Jesus. I want to be blessed. I want to be blessed. Can I just, you know, this sermon didn't bless me enough. That worship, I don't know, it didn't touch me enough. And that's what he communicates, is that the church is about making you feel a certain way. Was church ever about you? Was church ever about you? Was church ever about you? Or was church ever about saying, we're going to be together with saints, regardless of the style of the praise or the eloquence, the sermon, because if you liked the sermon or not, it really doesn't matter. It was about that. And the first place, it was about us collectively being, we're going to get up. We're going to get up the name of the King of Kings. God of God, it's all about him. You know, if we're not careful, all of a sudden, we're going to start living our lives thinking, what is reasonable? What's going on? There's a really good book. It's not Christian, but it's based on biblical principles, and it's called Power of Moments by Shippit and Heath. They're brothers, and if you're a leader, read it. It's a very important book.

I've read it, and it's very, very strong, very good. And after Good to Great, there's the book. I mean, like literally, it's an incredible book. And there's this whole phrase of reasonableness, and this is what the brothers are saying, beware the soul's force of reasonableness. Beware the soul's force of reasonableness. In other words, when you allow what is reasonable to a greater risk and sacrifice your life, your life is minimized. Maria did something very unreasonable. She took away everything, and I put it in parentheses, right? She wasted, because people did see it, she wasted her savings on Jesus. How is it? You see, there was risk, there was work up, and there was also humility, humility in this. And some of us, I want to say it this way, in life, we're not playing it safe. And so, Maria's act of worship, act of worship to the good works, and David said this, he goes, I'm not going to give God a sacrifice that costs me nothing. I'm not going to give God a sacrifice that costs me nothing. What does this denote? that you can sacrifice things that don't cost you anything. And David knew, especially as a leader, he was the king. He could give the impression of sacrifice and it didn't cost him anything.

It was this reasonableness, Maria, that makes you believe three lies. Number one, we have to find balance in life. Many of you go to seminars where it talks about the balance between work and life. That's a unicorn, I'll talk about that in a moment. It's a lie. Number two, we should live for our emotions. That's another lie. And number three, we should obsess about what's best for us. All of these lies are super prevalent in our society right now and they feel so right. They're talking about it all the time. And I'm going to say this, it's not so bad. Like there are truths to all these things. There are benefits in all of this. And do you remember this? The best lie, 90% true. We're going to break that. We're going to talk about the balance in life. The balance in life. I'm not saying that you work 80 hours a week and you don't listen to your family and something like that. No, I'm not saying that. But what I'm saying is that people are trying to find balance and my friend says the culture, the word balance means mediocrity. In other words, the balance is mediocre sometimes. Person, show me one person who has changed the world that is balanced.

Tell me one person who has changed the world that is balanced. Most people who have accomplished important things they're not balanced. They're passionate. So here's the impression about many people, they're passionate about their purpose, they're passionate about their business, they're passionate about their family. See great things are rarely accomplished by people who strive for balance and security. You give people a chance to balance. Martin Luther King, did he have balance? No, he didn't have balance. He was going against the culture. How about the Apostle Paul? Was he a balanced? No. How about Mary in this story? Was she balanced by taking all her money and giving it to Jesus? Is he a balanced person? No. Was Jesus a balanced person? No. You know, we are passionate. People are passionate about something. We don't admire people who have balance. We follow people who are passionate about life, their health, their mission.

And ultimately, we follow people who are passionate about God. So how do you find that balance? It's a lie. Find passion. Passion for the things that are important. Secondly, the lie of the emotions. Our culture is so in, it's filled with emotions, Drake. You heard what I said. There is no culture, I think, in the history of humans, that has had to reassure itself more frequently than we do, that we are well. We have to look at ourselves and say, I'm well, I'm well, I'm well, I'm well, I'm well. There is no culture in human history that does that. Now, I'm not saying that when there are difficult things, you don't have to say that. No, I'm not saying that. I'm talking about, is that in the culture, there is an obsession that we are well, and we are safe, and we are comfortable, and that our feelings can never be interrupted. Lisa Turkis said, feelings are indicators, not dictators. Feelings are important because they indicate things, but they don't have to dictate things. In other words, people who have significant life, are not allowed to let their feelings dictate their decisions. Now, feeling is one. Thirdly, the, what is the best thing for me? Can I just say, as it is, following Jesus is not safe. It's not safe, it's not reasonable, it's not stable,

it's quite the opposite, it's risky, it's a dying to self, it's not a preservation, it's a dying to self, it's a loss, it's not comfortable to self, it's a failure. It is obedience when we don't make sense. It's an embrace of confusion and sacrifice. sacrifice and take us up to the cross. And it's the best way to live. It's the best way to live. Maria, if you pursue safety, you're never going to have the complete life that God has for you. Luke 14, Jesus is speaking. He says, multitudes followed him, and he turned to them and said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, or mother, or wife, or children, or brothers, or his life, he cannot be his disciple. Did you just see what he said? This is something he said directly. He said, what? He said, whoever does not carry his own cross, after me cannot be my disciple. What? If you hate others, wife, children, brothers, father, mother, he said, on the contrary, you cannot be my disciple. Also, if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. This verse is radical. It's interesting because the Bible says

that a multitude followed him. I think, let me multiply the fish and eat for free. Oh, do you want me to heal someone? And he turned and said, okay, you don't hate your brother, your mother, your father, your children, your wife, you don't hate yourself. You cannot be my disciple. At that moment, also, the followers said, but I liked the fish and the bread better. This is tough. Let's look at it in context. Jesus is not saying that we hate these people. It's a very bad translation. But when we translate from Aramaic to English, they lose something. You have to go back to the word in Aramaic, which said, hate, it means to love less. In other words, if we don't love everything else, we cannot be his disciple. Like, for example, I love my wife, Jen, with all my heart, but I love Jesus more. You know what? Jen loves me with all her heart, but you know who she loves more? Jesus. Our God, our dog, the bears, the bears of Chicago. Look for that Aramaic translation. You catch what Jesus is saying, it's not that you hate, it's not what he said, it's a bad translation because it's not the original Aramaic.

You have to love those people. You have to love that life, and even yourself a little less. Love yourself. There's another verse that talks about loving others like yourself. Love yourself, but love yourself less than Jesus. So as we close today, I'm going to leave you with two things that are going to happen if you don't get out of this. Martha? Martha? If you don't get out of this, this work, work, work, work, work, work, work, or this presence that you're going to miss will result in that you're going to lose purpose. You're going to work, and you're going to work. And believe it or not, you're going to work, you're going to work, and you're going to work, and you're going to work, and you're going to lose purpose. And you're going to lose energy. Work without screwing up, this is like, I feel like going into a field, going into a base of raw hamster in life, going to just have full advantage of oneself. You're going to lose purpose, because it just, work never gives you the identity that you want to have. And you're going to find yourself doing things, and you're going to have medals and things, and little things that you can put on your wall,

that say, oh, he's the employee of the year. And yet, at the end of the day, you're going to fill the void, because the word can't replace the relationship with our creator. And work is something that's always there, and you'll find yourself getting annoyed, and it just, the work never ends. All right, Mary. Well, Mary, if you don't get out of there, well, what do you think? If you're going to be there, if you're going to live reasonably, well, the sacrifice that you don't make is going to result in a lack of purpose, in this other drift, right? If you work, you work, you don't have purpose. And if you also live a life that's about safety, and I, and comfort, you're not going to have purpose. You see, both of those, purpose is a casualty. What's going to happen, Mary, is that you're going to try to design your life so that they never bother you, never surround yourself with people, and you're going to allow the emotions to enter your life, and you're going to rationalize things. And you're not going to really do that. You're going to say, Martha, you're cleaning up the kids, because I'm just going to leave my son there.

Look, what's going to happen is that you're going to create stability and comfort. And Jesus is not going to fit into your comfort zone. Jesus is going to destroy your comfort zone. He did it to me, and he's doing it to me all the time, even though I'm trying to maintain my comfort zone. So, you're going to find that over time, Mary, if you don't sacrifice anything, if you don't take risks for God, that your life is going to be smaller if you're in that drift. In the Mary or Martha, in the drift that you're in, you have to get out of that current and go into the waters of God's relationship where you started. And in 2026, my prayer is that we come out victorious in the drift. Those of us who are Martha, we're going to spend more time in the presence of God. He misses you. And those of us who are Mary, we're going to leave our comfort zone and we're going to allow God to make us grow in areas of faith that we're afraid of. And then in 2026, Martha and Mary, we're going to see purpose. God's purpose is going to come into our lives this year. Let's pray. All right. God Almighty, thank you for the Marthas

that we have that conviction and challenge to spend more time with you. Let the identity be our work. The work is our source. But no, we have to be you. We have to be the priority. You are our source. You are our identity. And as the Marys, may we not be reserved. May we be like a story where we break a jar. May we break what we need to break in our lives. And may we take a risk for our faith in a new way. May we take a risk for both of us. Mary, help us. We love you. In the name of Jesus, we say amen. Amen. Let's give God our praise.