One Giant Leap - Week 2: Simplicity

We're we're gonna continue in our series today one giant leap. Last week we

talked about silence and solitude and I challenged you to to just get silent for

thirty minutes a day and uh and and I hope you. I hope you

tried that. I hope you did that. And uh, here, here's

here's your here's your homework before we get started. I want you to do

it again this week. Amen. Amen. So uh so, so do

that again this week and continue to practice that discipline of of silence and solitude.

And uh, because what we're gonna talk about today, it's gonna take

you more than just uh, You're not gonna be able to just go do

this today, Amen. This is gonna be a process that you have to

to draft and accept over time. But today I want to talk to you

on, uh, the spiritual discipline of simplicity. Simplicity. You know,

I think that most people recognize Jesus as savior. I think the Church has

done a really good job of teaching Jesus's savior. It's his blood that washes

away our sin. Amen, that one moment we're not saved, we have

a grace collision with Jesus, and then we are saved, that he is

our savior, that the sacrifice he made on Calvary was for the remission of

our sins and to save our soul, to give us an opportunity to spend

eternity with him in heaven. And we do a good job of preaching that.

Most every church does a good job of preaching that. And we recognize

the impact that Jesus has his savior. But I think that one thing we

don't do, as the American Church very well is realize that he's not just

savior, but he was also teacher. But to understand that Jesus is not

a teacher but the teacher, and he teaches some things that make us very

very uncomfortable in his word. As a matter of fact, he teaches some

things that go against the mainstream flow of the Western world, especially us as

Americans, because somehow over the course of time, really starting back in the

forties, in the fifties, at at the the initiation of that that thing

that we call the industrial military complex, where where we realize that that that

lots of people get rich when we go to war, and we've created an

economy that churns out money, and money makes everything go. Something began to

happen, and we began to then marry theology to the American dream. Oh,

let me say that again. We begin to marry our theology to the

Eerican dream. And now we have this hybridized gospel that says, oh,

if you're a good Christian, if you're a good Christian, you'll drive nice

cars, have a good house and a white pickt fence, and if you

pray hard enough, you'll even have a cat and a dog to get along

with each other. You know. That's and somehow we have incorporated those things

into our theology. But the reality is, when we really read the words

of Jesus, he teaches a very different reality of life. As a matter

of fact, he teaches something that is the exact antithesis. It's against everything

that we spend most of our time chasing after. And he says, if

you really want joy, well, let me just ask how many of you

truly want joy and happiness. If you really want joy and happiness, then

you push back against culture that says this is how you get it. And

if you push back against that, not just with not just with lip service,

right, not just saying that but actually living that, then you awaken

to a whole, noother realm, beyond anything you could ever imagine. You

know when I talk about simplicity. I'm struggling with this right now, and

y'all are gonna laugh, but you know, my life has gotten My Sunday

life has gotten complex. Now, don't laugh, because this is something that

really affects me. Because sometimes y'all tell me your issues and I think they're

as big as you think mine is. Okay, so I just want to

I mean, you're not gonna think my issue is big. Sometimes I don't

think y'all's issues are big. I'm just being honest transparency, right. But

I used to have four or five shirts in my Sunday rotation. It was

one of those four or five that I always wore on Sunday, and y'all

all know the one, the orange one that has the hole in the back.

I've preached my best sermons wearing that shirt. And something happened at Christmas,

and I guess my family decided that I needed more clothes to preach in.

So I have gotten like double the shirts now that I have to worry

about on Sundays. And it's overcomplicated and added a layer of complexity to my

life that now I have to wake up, And I honestly wake up on

Sunday morning, I think what am I going to wear today? Before I

just walked in and grabbed the first one I saw. If that had buttons,

I grabbed it right. But now like eight or clean at one time.

And that's simple and it's funny, but it's just the underlying level of

complexity that we bring into our lives. If you got a Bible, go

with me to Matthew chapter six, starting in verse twenty four. If you

there say amen, not oh my, the old mise just read along on

the screen. No one say that's me. No one can serve two masters,

for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else

he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve

God and Mammon. Now, depending on what translation of the Bible you're reading

right now, right under that verse of scripture, some of you may have

a heading change. There's some bold letters there, which indicates change of thought.

Right, But you know Jesus did not put those bold lets. He

didn't put that heading there. This is one conversation that's happening. And sometimes

when we read our Bibles, we stop reading when the heading changes. But

Jesus continues his teaching, and the next verse of scripture says, Therefore,

I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will

eat or what you'll drink, nor about your body what you'll put on.

It is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Let's pray, Father, we thank you for your word. See only change

agent on the face of the planet. And I pray right now that we're

changed forever. That it's the very fabric of our being. This word takes

root and blossoms into life and life more abundantly in Jesus' name, Amen,

Jesus said. Jesus doesn't say you shouldn't serve two masters. He says you

can't serve two masters. He says, hey, hey, for the very

skilled people, you may be able to get away with it. But for

now, he says, you cannot serve two masters. And then the things

he chooses to contrast are God and the monetary system of that day, the

wealth gaining agent of that day. Are the things that he contrasts with one

another. He says, listen, you can't serve God and chase money.

Now, first of all, this is not a poverty gospel message. I

want to go ahead and free your mind of that right now, because I

do not believe that God wants you broke, busted and disgusted. Amen.

But he does want you to live your life in a way that it's full

of joy and happiness and peace. And he says you can't serve them both.

You can't chase after God and chase after the system of the world.

It just cannot be done. Nobody has the ability to navigate that, and

you end up hating one or hating the other. And I want to tell

you that, I want you to despise the system that has been created to

trick you into thinking that happiness comes from stuff, because happiness does not come

from stuff. Happiness comes from Him. I've been to the poorest parts of

the world and see more joy and happiness in the poorest parts of the world

than I do in the most influential place in the world, America. Listen,

I've been to Disneyland, the happiest place on earth, and the only

people smiling at Disney World are the ones taking money up. Everybody else is

crying and mad and yelling because things don't make us happy. Things don't bring

joy. As a matter of fact, he goes on to say, Hey,

the reason you worry about these other things? Do you see that?

He says, Hey, the reason you worry about what you wear, the

reason you worry about your food, The reason you worry about those things is

because you're a mile to the other system. I mean, your your master

buy the other system. You're subject to the other system, and the other

system. Says, Hey, if I have to eat a hot dog,

it's a downgrade from a steak. If I have to buy my clothes at

whatever discount store fill in the blank, it's a downgrade that if I buy

them at this place. If I have to wear the no name, I

can't send. I can't send my kids to school wearing those shoes because somebody

will make fun of them. I can't. I can't send my kid to

school with an actual peanut, butter and jelly sandwich. It has to be

an uncrustable. You don't know what an uncrustable is because you don't have kids.

You got kids, You know what an uncrustable is. It's a sandwich

that they cheat you out of the crust just what it is. I mean,

you know the rest you buy a off of bread, you bay for

the whole thing uncrustables four times the amountain they chop the good part off.

And we think through these things because we chase after a system that makes us

think the external is where happiness comes from. Look at Matthew, Chapter ten,

verse twenty, and he answered, this is the parable of the rich

young ruler, it says. And he answered and said to him, teacher,

all these things I've kept from my youth. Now I want you to

He says, hey, what do I need to do to get to heaven?

What must I do? And Jesus says, listen, follow, and

he lists the parts of the ten commandments. He lists them off. And

this young man's response to Jesus says, hey, I've done all that.

I've got the spiritual stuff checked off. If your spiritual life is a checkbox,

if it's a list of things to check off, if it's a list,

if it's a sequence of things to do, then you were not in

love with the right master. Spiritual checkup right here. If it is a

list of things I must do, that is not a fervent spiritual life.

The disciplines flow out of me chasing after the master, just like those other

disciplines flow. If you're chasing after another master. If you're chasing after the

master of lust and self gratification, those spiritual disciplines are secrecy and deceit.

It's creating separation from those that hold you into account so that you can participate

in those things. And those are disciplines that you practice in your life.

If you're chasing after the Master of Mammon, if you're chasing after the that

that just another dollar, just another thing, then those disciplines also follow.

You get up and you work way too much for way too little, and

you've fallen into the system, and you think that one more thing for your

kid is going to make up for those few hours that you spend away.

And we have these arguments with our spouse. The reason I do this is

because I love you and I want to provide for you. Come on,

somebody, I felt that hit right here, so it hit somebody right there.

Because these disciplines all have trade offs. And if we follow the master,

and we chase after the master, and we begin to simplify our lives.

We trade off some of those exterior things, some of those external things,

for the joy and the peace, and the love and the compassion and

the happiness that God desires for us to have on the inside. The reason

we fall into sin, into pursuit of happiness is because we haven't simplified our

lives so that we can find it. In the presence of Jesus, he

answer said, teacher, all these things I've kept from my youth. Then

Jesus, looking at him, look at this word. I'm sorry. I'm

turning my back to the camera. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved

him. When Jesus teaches hard things in his word, it's because he loves

you. The reason he teaches these difficult things is because he wants you to

have his best for you, not what you think is best for you.

The reason you discipline your children is because you want the best for them.

And Jesus teaches us hard things. He says, Listen, Jesus loved this

man and said to him, one thing you lack, go your way.

So whatever you have, give it to the poor, and you will have

treasure in heaven. And come take up the cross and follow me. But

he was sad that rich young ruler was sad at his word, and he

went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. He had lots of stuff.

He had a rolls Roy's buggy. Come on, somebody, They probably

have big spinners on it, camel leather seats, probably had somebody fanning him

like an air conditioner when he was driving down the road. He had the

trappings of joy. But he came to Jesus and he was looking for more.

And Jesus said, here's the key. Simplify. I see what this

man heard was become poor. And some of you are going to hear my

message, get ticked off and not come back, because what you're gonna hear

me preach today is you need to be poor. Let me say one more

time. I'm not telling you you need to be poor. I'm telling you

you need to simplify your life and not pursue things. God doesn't care if

you have some things, but our problem is that things have us. And

Jesus says, listen, what you need to do is simplify. Because you

can't take up your cross and follow me. You can't drop everything at a

moment's notice. You can't just run out onto the into the third world and

do missions, because you've got all this stuff that has to be taken care

of before. You have all the trappings of success, with no success,

only bondage because of all the things you have. In One Timothy, chapter

six, verse nine, it says, but to those who desire to be

rich. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare,

and to move, and to many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown

men in destruction and perdition. Let's stop right there. He says, Listen,

if you desire to be rich, now, it doesn't mean you won't

become rich. But if your desire is wealth, if you set out and

your only desire is wealth, says listen, you're going to fall into a

trap. Not you might, he says, you're going to fall into a

trap because you're chasing after the wrong system. You're serving the wrong master.

You're in a direction, and the enemy knows exactly what that direction looks like.

Come on, somebody, The only way to wealth is an attitude of

more, and the only way that Jesus is an attitude of less, less

of the world, less of me. We live such complicated existences because it's

always more more more. Verse ten says, for the love of money is

the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the

faith and their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. He says,

the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, because

once you fall in love with it, it's your god and your master,

and it does not have the ability to bring you peace. It only has

the ability to bring you wanting more. The richest people in the world have

been asked the question how much is enough, and they always answer more more.

I'll just have more because we're created competitive by nature. You may think

you're not, but you are. It is the principle of survival. We're

created with this thing on the inside of us that competes. And in today's

world we reach a certain place where we can't throw a ball or or run

as fast as we used to. So the only way to keep score now

is how much money we have, and if we can just get more.

If I've got now, let I'm preaching to myself. If I got a

taller Santa Claus on my porch at Christmas than everybody else has, Lissa,

we got a Santa Claus on our porch. Not now, I moved it

like last week, but we got a Santa Claus on our porch that every

time I walk out the door starting November the first is when he goes out.

I know, Lisa, listen. Every time in the morning I go

out, I open the doors, start out, and it makes me want

to draw my gun because I think somebody's waiting to jump me when I go

out on the porch and you know what, that's Santa Claus and his dog

that's dressed just like him. It really doesn't make the important parts of Christmas

any better. And the important parts of Christmas is after all the gifts are

given, and we look at each other and their smiles all around the house,

and we are in the room together, kind of like every other day

that we're in the room together. The reason you love Christmas is not about

the things. It's about the fact that you're off work and nobody's invited your

kids over for a sleepover, just there together, and you don't have to

put on anything except your pajamas all day long, and it's simple. The

pressure is gone in Luke, Chapter ten, verse thirty eight. It says,

now it happened as they went, that he entered a certain village,

and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had

a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.

But Martha, now watch the wording here, But Martha was distracted.

That's the word of God, not the word of Steve. I just want

make it clear that I did not put that word there. God did.

Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord,

do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Therefore tell her to help me. She said, Jesus, don't you see

that my lazy, no good sisters just sitting in the floor looking at you.

And she ain't helping me make sausage balls. She ain't helping me make

dip. She ain't getting no chips, she's not got listen, she hadn't

made sweet tea, she hadn't done anything. We got all these people coming

to the house, and how am I supposed to host all these people?

Well, she's just sitting in the floor. Tell her to get up.

And I think that. If Jesus had been me, he would have said,

oh, so you think these people are coming from the sausage balls and

sweet tea? So you think this is about you? Do you realize everything

that we do to build complexity in our life is born out of jealousy,

greed, or pride. Very few people buy their next car out of wisdom.

I'm just being honest. If we did, people would not make one

hundred thousand dollars car. There would be no market. Now, you may

buy your car for different reasons, but there's some pride involved, probably some

jealousy involved. We even do this with our children. Come on, somebody,

We over complicate our lives to try to get our kids everywhere to make

sure they have everything, and we live this complicated sometimes even my life,

I feel like when I leave in the mornings, I have conducted a major

military operation. It's like okay, and in my mind we got the map

out there. I'm like, okay, Lexy, if you'll swing over here,

and then you know, you just pause there and you wait till I

get over here. And then once I get over here, lex you go

and you go straight up the middle and you go to target and I'm going

to academy sports LEXI. You go to school, and then at the end

of school, I'm gonna swing back over here and I'm gonna get you,

and we're gonna go to the ball field. Nanjie, you go by the

restaurant, then we're gonna convene right back here. Eighteen hundred dollars. Raise

your hand. If that's the way your life feels, that's too complicated.

That's too complicated. We choose the part of being busy tonight. Some of

you gonna have people over for the Super Bowl, and you're already worried about

is the house clean? Oh my gosh, the Santa Claus is still on

the porch, and people are coming over for the super Bowl. I gotta

make this, and I gotta go buy that. We gotta go buy the

grocery store. And right now you're thinking, oh, we're gonna have to

go back home, get three cars to get everything done that has to be

done for the Super Bowl. I got an idea. Call the people that

are coming and say eat before you get here. Grab a bag of chips

and some French onion dip. Stop complicating everything, because in the pursuit of

life, we have programmed out simplicity, those times where we just go and

lay in the grass and just enjoy God's creation. Do you know that because

we neglect the simple things of life, people have sold us more stuff to

try to make up for the things that we don't do anymore. I'm not

telling you to go buy this thing. That's I'm just saying what I did.

Okay. I don't even think I buy into the science of it,

but I just thought we'll give it a try. I bought this thing that

goes on our bed, that plugs into the ground of our home so that

I don't have to walk around barefooted and lay down in the yard anymore to

get the negative charges that we absorb through our microwaves and all those things out

of our bodies anymore. Because I don't take the time listen, and I

grow gardens, and I have animals, and I do all those things,

but I do it so fast that my feet never hit the ground, because

of complexity, because of the pursuit of one more thing, when the only

thing we really need is Jesus. And Jesus answered her and said, Martha,

Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. You're what Jesus

says, says, listen, you got to worry problem. Girl. This

is not about your sister sitting here. This is about the fact that you

try to get too many things done. If you don't get to the grass

and it grows one extra week, who cares. If you don't get to

that movie on opening night. It's not like it's gonna get stale. Who

cares if you've got four shirts? Who cares? If you're reading the Bible

and the baby starts crying, you should care. But you don't have to

run right in there. Babies have cried for the history of creation and made

it just fine. Everything doesn't have to be a hurry and a rush.

Jesus is so a parent and close in the slow times. He said,

girl, you got a worry problem. You're worried about many many things,

but one thing is needed, Jesus says. You see that. Jesus said,

Hey, I mean I could go over a pickle, but I don't

have to have one. I'm okay. Chill out, look at your neighbor

and say these spiritual words. Chill out. Listen. I want to I

want I want to say, I want to say these things too, And

uh, I got I got that coach of softballs here with me today,

and I want to say these things for for for you parents. You don't

have to spend now I did mhm. But you don't have to spend five

hundred dollars on a new softball bat. If your kid is not already hitting

the ball hard with a twenty dollar bat, they're not gonna hit it hard

with a five hundred dollar bat. That doesn't train your child up and the

way they should go, and when they grow old, they'll not depart from

it. It's not teach them Bible stories. It's find out what they're good

at, get behind it, and give them every opportunity to succeed in what

they're already gifted at. Don't make them so busy that they end up not

good at that either, because what they need to be good at is sitting

at the feet of Jesus. Jesus said, but one thing is needed,

and Mary has chosen that good part. Mary has chosen to sit at my

feet. She has chosen to hear the wisdom and the teaching. And she

can feel the peace exude from my body. She cans and feel the joy

that I've been anointed with because she's taking time and she's just sitting and you're

stressed out, and she's happy. And the same Jesus is in the same

house at the same time, and one's worried and one's happy because one is

choosing the simple path. Play. You guys can come and get ready.

In Matthew chapter nine, Jesus is with ministry, team, disciples, whatever

you want to call it. It says, but when he saw the multitudes,

he was moved with compassion for them. And listen to what he says

about the multitudes, because they were weary and scattered. Now we want to

we want to focus on the next few words of this. But Jesus had

compassion on them. He was he was broken hearted for them because they were

weary and they were scattered, because they were living complicated, fast paced existences

that they weren't designed to live. They can't keep up with the pace.

You can't keep up with the pace. There is one of you, and

you cannot keep up with the pace. Jesus says, you cannot serve two

masters and only one gives joy. Because they were weary and scattered, like

sheep having no shepherds. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly

is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of

the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest, says. The reason the

world is in the state that it's in, listen to me. Nothing else

gets you. This should the reason the world is in the state that it's

in. It's not because you don't sing the right song, or because Amber

hits the wrong note, or because Spencer Tunes's guitar while I'm trying to talk

and it's so loud that it distracts me. It's not the reason the world

is in the state that it's in. The reason the world is in the

state that it's in is because the Church lives such complex, complicated existences that

they don't have time to be laborers in the harvest. The reason we're facing

the issues we're facing, it's not because of Joe Biden. It's not because

of the woke agenda. It's an indictment against the Church of Jesus Christ and

an indictment against us as believers that we have bought into the same thing that

the rest of the world is bought into, and we're trying to get one

more thing to make us happy, rather than sitting back and experiencing the peace

and the joy of Jesus and being available to go out and make a difference

in the lives of hurting, broken people that are caught in the trap that

we should escape. Church, it's on us. It doesn't matter what they

make legal, it doesn't matter what gets legislated. We are the carriers of

change. Bad things have been legal for a long time, and we just

go reach into the hearts of the lost. But you've got to slow down.

You gotta declutter your life. What's that lady that if this feels good,

keep it. If it doesn't bring your joy, throw it away with

Condo or whatever her name is. You need to take some self inventory,

reach inside you and say, hey, this doesn't bring me joy, I'm

gonna throw it away. The only thing you're gonna find that really brings you

joys Jesus. Now listen, don't go quit your job. Don't gonna quit

your job and call say Pastor, I got all this free time, thought

i'd swing by and get a check from the church. Cut away the things

that can be cut away. First, Let me say that again. Cut

away the things that are easy to cut away First, in the words of

Dave Ramsey, sell the car. If you are working a second job to

pay for your car, sell the car. Oh well, I'm upside down

and I'm gonna take a loss. Sell the car. Listen, if you

can't afford your home because your life situation has changed, sell your house while

prices are up. I gotta buy something else, a lot smaller. Jesus

looks at our lives, and he says, guys, why why are you

doing the things to yourself that you're doing. I died for you. I

died for you to have life and life more abundantly. But the only thing

that is abundant in your life is debt and worry and complexity. To simplify,

we should be a congregation of minimalists. What does that mean? Rid

of stuff you don't need. On Christmas Day, the whole family was at

my house and I didn't want to cook bacon in the kitchen right because every

time I cook bacon, the fire alarm goes off. So I went outside

and I cooked. I put the bacon on sheets. There was no I

don't know why it happened, but I was cooking bacon on my trigger,

and I smoke stuff all the used. I used that thing all the time,

loved it, and I would turn something that I could cook inside in

forty five minutes into four and a half hours outside. And I walked by

and looked out the door, and there were flames shooting out of that thing

everywhere. And I went outside. I was gonna throw the fire blanket over

it, right, But that thing draws air from underneath, too, so

I knew what I was doing. I knew what it meant as soon as

I picked up the fire extinguish. You're right, my grill is ruined because

once that stuff is, it's just you can't wash it off. It's corrosive.

It's gonna rust, it's gonna it's gonna be destroyed. My family was

inside. They had no idea I was about to burn the house down.

They're just hanging and having fun. And I spray that I think it got

the fire, and I wanted that said, we're not having bacon, having

sausage. The first thought was, man, I love that grill so much.

I can't replace that. I don't have the money to replace that thing.

And I start thinking about all the things that I cook on it man,

no more, no more pull poor, no more brisket, no more.

And I just go through all these and I'm going through all the time

like, oh, you know, I'm just this staying and you know that

what happened on Christmas Day? And so do you know what I did.

I just stopped cooking those things. I just stopped cooking those things, and

my life is no worse for it. I don't look back over the last

two months and think to myself about to starve to death. I just said

I have something I don't need, something I liked, something I wanted,

but it didn't bring me real happiness and real joy. So now I just

cook a hamburger or a hot dog on the real grill, throw something in

the oven. Just simplify your lives. Stop worrying about what's next for a

little while, and you're going to find how much easier it is to find

that thirty minutes that we talked about last week for silence and solitude. Everybody's

staying with me right now, Jesus says, all you who are weary,

heavy lady, come to me and I will give you rest. Listen,

He's not calling you to the altar when he says that he's calling you into

a minute by minute, day by day walk with him where you learn the

simple principles of the kingdom and you experience joy, joy unspeakable. Trust him

as teacher. These things are true, just like two plus two is four.

No matter how strange it sounds, it's real. If you're here today

and you're overwhelmed, you're exhaust you're beaten down, you're confounded and confused,

you're pressed, you feel like you're about to be crushed. If you're here

today and you've never asked Jesus to be your savior to forgive you of your

sins, or if you've allowed sin to come into your life and you don't

remember how to trust him like you used to trust him. In just a

moment, I'm going to count to three. If you want to surrender your

life to Jesus, if you want to come to him and bring that that

heavy burden got to open the altars, our Ulster team is gonna come right

now and get ready on the count of three. If that's you, if

you just say, hey, hi, sir, I need to I need

to make things right with Jesus, or I just need relief on the count

of three, one two, three, step out and move right. Now

come, the band's gonna play.