Tag: Simple

A Trip to the Grocery Store

Spring TimeJan sent me to the grocery store the other day to buy apples. That seems like a simple, straight forward task, but when I arrived at the produce isle, I was confronted with a chaotic world swirling with choices. First, did I want organic or regular apples? Did I need red or golden delicious; gala, jazz, pink lady, honey crisp? Domestic or imported? In despair, I fled to the potato chip aisle, but that was even worse! Kettle, ridges, Pringles, sea salt, cracked pepper, salt and vinegar … I backed into the cereal aisle and had a complete meltdown. “Clean up on aisle 13!”

Why can’t life be simple? On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he prayed, may my disciples “be one as we are one,” (John 17:13). Sadly, the number of different varieties of Christian denominations is now measured in the tens of thousands. There are more flavors of Christians than there are flavors of ice cream! Why can’t we all be one as Jesus wanted?

“Well John, it’s not as easy as it sounds,” the Rev. Blowhard announces. “You see theology and dogma are complicated subjects full of subtle nuances.”

Suzy Simpleheart suggests, “Let’s just get everyone together and sort it out! We could have a worldwide conference and reform our faith until we all agreed.” But, it made international news a few years ago when the Roman Catholic pope crossed himself according to the Greek Orthodox practice in the interests of unity. That didn’t last long. Now imagine the stir that would follow asking the Calvinists to drop a letter out of their famous acronym, TULIP.

“What if we asked God to reveal which church is the true church in a blinding light?” asked Mike Moroni.

The answer is, God already has revealed the answer. He gave us the Bible. Why not just follow it, instead of being this flavor or that? Why not just be “Christians”?

A wise man, over two hundred years ago, set a slim denominational creed book beside a Bible and noted, “If it’s smaller than the Bible, they must have left something out.” And then he set the Bible beside an encyclopedic set of theological books and observed, “If it’s bigger than the Bible, they must have added something to it.” He then asked, “Why not just follow the Bible?”

Perhaps that’s too simple, but why don’t we give it a try? Let’s just be Christians and just follow the Bible.

Simple

John McKeel
Sunday Morning Sermon
June 4, 2017

When did the world become so complex?

“God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising,” (Ecclesiastes 7:39, JB).

  • Duplicity: Our lives are made complex by trying to hold on to two competing values.
    1. Like Lot’s wife, we can’t decide where we want to be or what we want.
    2. James coined the term dipsuche to describe that pitiful state (James 1:2-8).
  • The results of duplicity are:
    1. Worry
    2. Confusion
    3. Helplessness

The Virtue of Simplicity

  • Don’t reduce simplicity to a set of outward actions, James 4:8.
  • We find the virtue of simplicity by becoming single-minded.
  1. Single-minded devotion to Christ, Matthew 6:25-33.
  2. Single-minded conviction based on God’s Word, John 9:25.
  3. Single-minded ministry, Philippians 3:13.
  • People who are committed to the simple life will…
  1. Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
  2. Reject anything that is producing an addiction.
  3. Develop the habit of giving things away.
  4. Learn to enjoy things without owning them.
  5. Develop a deeper appreciation of the creation.
  6. Beware of “buy now, pay later” slavery to credit.
  7. Cultivate simplicity of dress and speech and life.

Simple Church

The church is not immune from complexity. There are over 9,000 denominations in the world today and I find that terribly disturbing!

So how can we simplify things? Perhaps we need to discover the cause of our divisions.

  • Our traditions divide us.
  • Our written creeds divide us.
  • Our un-written creeds divide us.
  • So-called “new revelations” divide us.
  • What we need to do is go back to the source!
    1. In 2005, Israeli scientists announced to the world, a Judean Date Palm – a tree long thought extinct – had just germinated.
    2. The Apostle Peter reminds us, 1 Peter 1:23 – 25,

You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable,
through the living and abiding word of God; for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Some Things to Think About

  1. What keeps us from living our dreams?
  2. When does something go from being an entertainment to becoming a distraction?
  3. Why makes life so complicated anyway?
  4. Why is it so hard to say “No”?

John@GrotonChurch.org