SIMPLICITY

I Was Just Thinking About – SIMPLICITY.

When you consider the world and culture, do you ever have thoughts or express your opinion regarding how complicated the politically correct culture has become? When you listen to sermons online, television or in a church worship service, do you ever opine how complicated and convoluted the sermon was? When you read religious answers to particular personal questions, do you ever feel that the point was either missed or deliberately avoided. One example to illustrate this point is the recent comment by Pope Francis regarding homosexuality: “God made you like this. God loves you like this. The Pope loves you like this, and you should love yourself and not worry about what people say.” Can the Pope prove this Biblically? Has he ever read Romans 1:18-31? Has the inspired Word of God accurately recorded the words and acts of God? Can the Pope or any other human being have authority to change that which God has determined and declared?

Sadly, you will find many church groups and clergy pontificate and attempt to reinterpret the Word of God to meet the cultural demand of the day. There is little or no regard for God’s action regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. What should the Church of Jesus Christ be fixated upon and be found declaring. We need to identify with the words of Paul in First Corinthians 1:10-17 (ESV), I appeal to you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment…Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. This same passage in the NLT states: “Has Christ been divided into factions? Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.”

The task of carrying out the commission of Jesus Christ is to simply state the Gospel so anyone from an infant to the most elderly, from the ignorant to the most astute intellectual and all will understand: “Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so” (John 3:16). Will one encounter those who wish to raise question and create doubts in terms of God’s Word and His intent? Yes! I love the story about the man who scoffed about a woman reading her Bible. He asked her whether or not she believed everything in it. She replied: Yes, I do! He then asked if she believed that a man could be swallowed by a whale and still survive. She once again replied: Yes, I do! He persisted to ask how she could prove it. She replied: I’ll ask him when I go to heaven. He asked: What if he isn’t in heaven? She replied: Well, then: You can ask him!

We have gotten away from the simple things in life. Years ago, my wife would occasionally go to the store and buy a Simplicity Pattern that she would use to make clothes for our three daughters. While purchasing a pattern is still a possibility, fashions and the culture have dictated what is acceptable. This results in a simple pattern becoming much more complex.

Communication in the public square and religious forums has also departed from the simple to the complex. The bottom-line message of the Church to the culture must be in the statement of the Gospel in Ephesians 2:4-10 (NLT), “God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,  that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)…God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” Is this what you believe? Is this what you share with the many “whosevers” with whom you have contact? Keep it simple!

Prayerfully – consider these things with me.

Simply trusting every day,
Trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.