Drawing Closer To God

Resisting in Simplicity

 

On our metaphorical Cruise we are docked at the island of Simplicity.  Simplicity is a place where I would like to live.  The pace is flowing without urgency.  There is no buzz of busyness.  The people are open.  They have space in their lives for authentic conversation.  There is a sense of the "now", where everyone enjoys God's gifts.  It is an amazing place where we have God at the center of our existence.  The distractions, which compete for our attention, fade to the back.  We are happy when we eat Happy Meals.  We live in the presence of God.  Simplicity is a place I would like to live. 

 

Living in Simplicity has a double blessing; uncluttered lives and joy in God's gifts.  In Simplicity, we can trade the unnecessary for time with others.  We can swap the redundant for joy in God's blessings.  We suddenly have time to love, both God, and our neighbors and our stuff.  I really would like to experience both the blessings of Simplicity; uncluttered lives and joy in God's gifts. 

 

Last week I gave you an assignment.  If you wanted to get off the boat, you placed dots on your cell phones, or other things, as a prayer reminder   How many of us remembered, at least once every day, to pray "'Tis a gift to be simple. 'Tis a gift to be free."?  It worked for me.  I sang first line of Simple Gifts a gazillion times.  But, it also is an indictment of how often I check my phone.  This is my problem.  Having a cell phone and singing Simple Gifts characterizes my competing desires.  I would really love to live in Simplicity, but I like my smart phone too.  I feel pulled in both directions.

 

These competing desires are where I want to begin this morning.  Here is the bottom line question, if we want to live in Simplicity, what is keeping us from it?  What is it that keeps on the cruise liner instead of getting off the boat in Simplicity?

 

James 4:7-8 gives us the answer. 

 

James 4:7-8 Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you.

 

When we submit to God in Simplicity, Satan is going to place obstacles to our coming closer to God.  It is not just a matter of submit, our verses tell us there is resist and come.  That is what I want to accomplish this morning.  We are going to explore the obstacles the devil places in our way which we need to resist.  What obstacles am I going to have to resist for Simplicity?  Let me suggest that there are at least three such obstacles. 

 

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Let's begin looking at the first obstacle it is pretty obvious.  The first obstacle is our belief…

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Obstacle: More is better

Satan has worked hard, in our culture, to convince us more is better.  We need to have the biggest house we can afford.  We need the highest definition TV we can charge.  We need the coolest car we can finance.  Obviously, we need the best paying job we can get in hopes of paying for the rest of the stuff.  We need to have more.  More is the key to happiness.  Upgrade; maximize; latest and greatest; improvements; get more.  "More is better" is a real obstacle to Simplicity.

 

Many of you have seen our aquarium.  In our aquarium we currently have a problem.  Our biggest fish is being challenged by our next biggest fish.  Among Cichlids, the kind of fish we have, there is always a pecking order.  There is competition for who is going to be the Alpha fish. The pecking order is resolved all the way down to the lowest fish.  Our current problem is that Oscar and Snook are fighting over who is going to be the Biggest Fish in the tank.  From my perspective this is a silly fight.  It is just an aquarium it doesn't matter who the Alpha fish is.  If they don't quit fighting one of them may in up being filleted for dinner. 

 

The silly thing is we think much the same as my fish.  We view people in this same kind of hierarchy.  One of the criteria we use to determine the Alpha fish is "more is better".  Obviously, the more wealth you have the more important you are.  The person with the most expensive house and cars and makes the most money is higher in our pecking order.  We consider Bill Gates better than the guy who drives the UPS truck.  Isn't that odd?  Which one actually helps us the most?  We must change our thinking to live in Simplicity.

 

Here is God's perspective on our little fish hierarchy.

 

Luke 12:15-21 Then he said to them, "Watch out!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."  And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.  He thought to himself, 'What shall I do?  I have no place to store my crops.'  "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do.  I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years.  Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."'  "But God said to him, 'You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'  "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

 

Is there a scarier warning in scripture then this parable?  How terrible it would be to be the Alpha Fish of the aquarium and then get filleted?  We need to remove the "more is better" obstacle from our thinking if we are going are to live in Simplicity.

 

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The next Obstacle moves from having to doing.  The second obstacle is…

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Obstacle: Busy is important

We assume busy equals important.  We take pride in our "work ethic".  If we are busy then we must be significant.  Busy people are obviously more valuable than people who have nothing to do.  We fear being labeled lazy.  So, we fill every waking moment with doing.  People are no longer human beings they are human doings.  

 

It is actually even worse than that.  We don't just fill every moment we with activity, that is not enough; we multi-task.  The idea of multi-tasking has to be the work of the devil.  We can hold a conversation while texting on our smart phone while driving down the highway, eating our Happy Meal.  We are not even present when we are present.  The sad part of that is that we are dishonoring the person we are talking to, and making mistakes in our texting, spilling coffee on our clothes and driving… really scary.  We have bought into busy is better. 

 

Some of you may remember an old beer commercial which expresses the lie we believe.  "You only go around once in life you have to grab for all the gusto."  We only live once, so we have to cram the most we can into every moment.  What if we miss out on something?  What if there was something that we could have enjoyed and we didn't?  What if I was really good at something and never discovered it?  What if I was the best saxophone player in the world but never touched one?  We think that way?  We need to experience everything.  To come close to this, we must multitask.  We have to cram at least two lifetimes into this one.  We don't want to miss out.  Missing out on something is a disaster

 

This is sad.  Our addiction to activity prevents us from ever living in Simplicity.

 

There is a truth we need to resist this lie.  It is found in 2 Peter 3:13-14.

 

NLT 2 Peter 3:13-14   But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world where everyone is right with God.  And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to live a pure and blameless life. And be at peace with God.

 

There is a movie out called "The Bucket List".  It is about all the things you want to do before you kick the bucket.  The premise is if you don't get them done before you die you won't ever be able to do them.  2 Peter 3 challenges this premise.  There is another life after this one.  There is going to be a new heavens and a new earth, when this one is done.  On the new earth there will be plenty of time to pursue an infinite bucket list.  So, so, let's make sure we are at peace with God.

 

In order to live in Simplicity we must abandon the idea that "busy is better." 

 

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But this is one more obstacle which may be the most difficult to resist...

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Obstacle: Fear of "what if"

Fear is quite the motivator.  In order to live in Simplicity we have to squelch our fears.  On a fundament level, we fear what may happen to us.  What if I lose my job?  What if the economy crashes?  What if I get cancer?  What if my kids get sick?  What if my car breaks down?  What if I hurt myself skiing?  What if I outlive my money?  What if I don't?  What if I lose my marbles?  What if global warming changes the environment?  What if a terrorist blows me up?  What if our country goes to hockey sticks in a hand basket?  "What if's" drive us out of Simplicity?  Fear is fundamentally incompatible with Simplicity.

 

Our fear blocks us from Simplicity because it is based upon a lie..  Satan whispers, "YOU have to cover all the bases!  It is YOUR responsibility to make sure that no matter what happens YOU are prepared.  YOU have to be ready for every contingency.  YOU are the one who is responsible to take care of YOURSELF and your family."  So, we worry.  So, we buy all sorts of insurance.  So, we spend and save and invest and hoard and we trust OURSELVES.  "I have to cover all my bases!"

 

 Fear leads us to hoard.  Fear leads us to mistrust.  Fear leads us away from joy and presence.  Fear leads us out of Simplicity. 

 

But the truth is simply stated in Hebrews 13:5-6.

 

Hebrews 13:5-6 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?"

 

The truth is we have a God who has promised to never, never forsake us.  "The Lord is my helper I will not fear!"  Trust in the care of our Helper removes fear as an obstacle to Simplicity.

 

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As I said last week, I want to end each sermon with the practical.  Let's not just be here to think about it on Sunday morning; let's work all week.  Let's look at some exercises which may help us resist the devil.

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We have looked at three obstacles to Simplicity; "More is Better";  "Busy is Important" and the "Fear of what if".  I want you to look into your heart and pick the one you think is the biggest obstacle.

 

 Do you struggle with a craving for more?  Is there a craving to buy something, anything? 

Uncomplicated your life by choosing a few areas in which you wish to practice "letting go".  Clean out the garage, basement, closet or attic.  Make a catalog of all the gadgets you have in your home, from the dishwasher to the lawnmower…  Which gadgets have made you freer?  Which could you get rid of and not really miss?  Get rid of something this week and don't buy a new one. 

 

Are you addicted to activity?

Allow yourself to be bored for an hour.  Intentionally drive in the slow lane.  Intentionally choose the longest line at the bank or grocery store.  Intentionally sit longer over your meal.  Intentionally chew your food.  Intentionally take a longer shower.  Relish the time. Can you do nothing for an hour? 

 

Do you fear the "what ifs"?

Remind yourself, "Life isn't an emergency.  Life isn't always a Soap Opera."  Every time you feel like it is an emergency, repeat Hebrews 13:5, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  Keep track.  Can you say it 1,000 times this week?

 

Let's change our dots.  This week your dot will remind you one these exercises.  When you see your dot work on getting rid of something; be bored for an hour; Repeat Hebrews 13:5.

 

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Next week we are going to extend our stay one more day in Simplicity.  I want to explore a concept in Richard Foster's discussion of Simplicity, "The Christian Discipline of Simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style.  Both the inward and the outward aspects of simplicity are essential."  We will explore this outward/inward idea as we learn how to come to God in Simplicity.

 

Why can't we live on the Island of Simplicity?  My challenge is, get off the boat.  Resist the devil.  Don't allow the obstacles to keep you from living in Simplicity. 

 

Tim Stidham

Los Alamos Church of Christ

February 13, 2011