Complexity to Simplicity

I'm excited to be up here with you guys today.

And before we jump into the message, I do want to make you aware of a really great opportunity that's coming up in the life of our church.

It's Shop with a Hero.

And Shop with a Hero, this is I think the 14th or 15th year we've done Shop with a Hero, and it's always an incredible event.

And it's an opportunity for you to get connected and to serve and also for you to give.

Now, just let me tell you a little bit how this works.

We uh have um some connections with our local schools, and uh the counselors actually nominate kids to be a part of this program.

But in the course of my conversation with some of the schools this past week, um I was talking to one of the social workers, and she tells me that there's several families in the school system um that are homeless, um, that are literally living in their vehicles right now, them and the parents and their kids, single mom.

And uh she said, I just wanted to let you know that your program with Shop with a Hero is going to actually make this Christmas a special Christmas for these kids.

And so when we're doing Shop with a Hero, it's a fun, it's a great event, and we're excited to be a part of it.

But really, we're getting to make a difference practically in the lives of people.

And that's really what uh when you give to Church at the Grove, that's what you're giving to be a part of.

You're giving to be a part of making a difference in the lives of people on a practical level and on a spiritual level.

And so we need you to volunteer.

Um, if you haven't volunteered already, you can do that through our Church at the Grove app.

You can uh go to the table on the way out and you can see information there.

And we need you to give.

We need you to give to make this event a reality and to make it special, to change the lives of people in our community.

And you can do that again through the Church at the Grove app.

You can give through our giving box, through our website.

Um, lots of ways for you to remain faithful in your generosity by giving to be a part of Shop with a Hero this Christmas season.

Um, well, this morning uh we're continuing a series called Enough is Enough.

And if I haven't met you, by the way, my name is Nathan.

I don't know if I introduced myself yet.

Um I'm typically down at our social circle location, and me and Russ decided to flip-flop this morning.

And so he's down there with uh Social Circle, and I get to be up here with you guys and be online, and so welcome for the people online.

And uh this morning, like I said, we're continuing our series called Enough is Enough.

Now let me ask you a question.

Um, how do you know when you have a problem?

I I have this idea and this theory that I think sometimes we can get so kind of wrapped up in our own little world and focused on our life individually, just kind of what's going on with us, that we miss out on the reality of what is.

And so we kind of make up an alternative reality where we think that maybe we have our lives figured out or that we don't struggle in certain areas.

And really what it takes is it takes other people around us to point out the issues and to point out the truth and the reality of what is.

Some people would call this an intervention.

An intervention, according to dictionary.com, is this it's an occurrence in which a person with a problem, such as a drug addiction, is confronted by a group as a friends or family members whose purpose is to compel the person to acknowledge and deal with the problem.

So that's what an intervention is.

And sometimes it can be intentional and planned, sometimes it can be more of a spur of the moment coming from a casual conversation.

And I had an intervention several years back prior to COVID starting.

I like to call prior to COVID BC, um, before COVID, like that's what we're gonna refer to it as.

So BC, I had some intervention where somebody stepped into my life and called out the drug of Amazon.

Um and I'm not trying to make light of anybody in here that has really struggled with substance abuse issues, but my drug of choice was Amazon, where I could open up an app and I could buy millions, if not billions, of items right there from an app, and a day or two days later they would show up on my front porch.

And I was so bad at this that there were several times where packages would arrive on my front porch and I would have no idea what was actually in the packages.

Anyone be able to relate?

Okay, I'm the only one.

Okay, a few people with hesitant hands coming up, but but yeah, I was so um surprised.

It was like Christmas morning all over again when I got to open up these packages and remember what I ordered a few days before.

And so the conviction came and the intervention came when a neighbor had just moved in next door.

Uh, a widow and her son, they moved in next door to us, and we began a real deep relationship and friendship with them.

And uh we're in conversation one day, and she said, You know, I notice when I'm driving home from work every single day that you always have tons of packages on your your doorstep.

Um she said, it just seems like it's it's never ending.

Uh she said, and just real casual, she didn't mean anything by it.

She wasn't trying to be, you know, judgmental in any way.

She just said, Man, I wonder how much money you spend at Amazon.

And I was super convicted, and so I figured out a way where you can actually go on Amazon and you can print off a PDF of everything that you've ever bought on Amazon.

And so I went back and looked at what I had spent that year, what I'd spent the past 10 years, and I was fully convinced to actually come in here this morning and tell you what that number was, but I'm too ashamed and embarrassed to tell you what that number is.

So let's just say it was a large number, and I'm super convicted even this morning, looking at that number again this past week.

And so it was an intervention of sorts where I was deeply convicted because I had bought all of this stuff.

Some of which I still use.

A lot of it is just stuff that's probably been thrown away or broken or consumed in some way.

And eventually I had to come to a place where I said, enough is enough.

And that's what we talked about this past week in this past Sunday when we talked about contentment and said that practicing contentment breaks the chains of consumerism in our lives.

But this does not happen easily.

And so this morning, as we continue this series and we look at the idea of simplicity in life, my prayer has been that we would have a Holy Spirit intervention.

That the Holy Spirit would come into our lives and into our presence this morning and that he would intervene in our lives and awake us to the reality that simplicity is where freedom is ultimately found in our lives.

And so I know we just prayed, but I would love for us just to pray again and just invite the Holy Spirit to intervene into our lives now.

And so, Holy Spirit, we ask you to come.

Lord, we ask you to come, and Lord, we ask you to reveal what is.

Not what we think is, but what is truly reality.

Lord, that you would intervene in this moment.

Lord, that you would give us ears to hear your voice, and Lord, then you'd give us the boldness and the courage to do what you called us to do.

And so, Lord, we ask you to come now.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

So as we talk about simplicity this morning, I want us to understand that the idea of simplicity is not going to come naturally or easily.

Um, because our world and our culture is drastically pushing us in the opposite direction of simplicity.

It's pushing us towards a complex way of life.

In fact, it's it's intentional by the people that have kind of formed and created our society to push us in the ideology of consumerism.

Um Sigmund Freud, the famous Enlightenment thinker in the age of reason, he believed that this idea of unconscious, your unconscious could be formed by your desires, that your wants and your desires, that you had this animal-like brain.

And ultimately what came from his ideas was that you could be manipulated from the outside and deceived on the inside.

That somebody could tell you enough lies and eventually you would believe it from the outside, and it would affect your behavior.

This is the same kind of ideology that Hitler used as he was a master manipulator during the Holocaust, and it was part of his propaganda plan.

Well, this guy named Edward Brynies was an intelligent officer in the U.S.

Army, and he was actually in Europe during World War II.

After that, he came back and he thought to himself if Hitler used propaganda during the war to shape the minds and actions of people, could the same tactics be used to shape the minds of people during times of peace?

And so Edward Burney is considered now the father of American advertising.

Some theorists believe that politicians, bankers on Wall Street, and advertisers on Madison Avenue all worked together to get people to buy more stuff.

This is a shift that happened really right after World War II, right after, or shortly thereafter, the Great Depression, where we have been kind of manipulated in believing that we need more stuff.

Paul Mazer of Lehman Brothers said this we must shift America from a needs culture to a desires culture.

People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed.

We must shape a new mentality.

Man's desires must overshadow his needs.

So it's this kind of ideology and this thinking that has been put into place and forms so deeply into the fabric of our culture where our desires overshadow our needs.

And this is why we buy phones every new year when they come out.

This is when we have clothes in our closet, but yet we still yearn to have more clothes or more shoes or more hunting gear or cars or golf clubs, whatever it might be, and we we try to get new and better, and we consistently think that more is going to fill our life.

We've changed the terms where covetousness is now called ambition, where hoarding is called shrewdness, where greed is called industry.

And that's what our culture and our world has drastically pushed us towards.

But where does this all end up for us?

Well, Robert C.

Roberts, what a name, Robert Roberts.

Um, Robert Roberts of Baylor University says this upward mobility often ends not in satisfaction and peace, but in exhaustion, disappointment, and emptiness.

This is somebody that's coming to life and he's looking and he's going from just an outsider's perspective and saying that when we walk down this world of complexity, when we chase after more things and greed fuels our life, it leads to exhaustion, disappointment, and emptiness.

It's almost as if Jesus was right.

Jesus taught us that life is not measured by how much you own, that life is so much more than that.

And that's what I want us to see this morning, that our lives are naturally gravitate towards complexity, but the way of Jesus is the way of simplicity.

So how do we break out of the cycle of complexity in our lives?

Complexity to simplicity begins with a kingdom first mindset.

That's going to be kind of the big idea for this morning.

That complexity to simplicity begins with a kingdom mindset.

And the idea of simplicity is this.

Simplicity is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them.

Let me read that again.

Simplicity is the intentional promotion of the things we most value, and the removal of anything that distracts us from them.

And this is ultimately what Jesus taught over the course of his ministry and the way that he lived his life.

Matthew 5 through 7, we get the greatest sermon that has ever been preached, the Sermon on the Mount.

And in that sermon, Jesus is talking to a large group of people, and they're not a middle class audience, they're not an American audience, but they're mainly a poor audience with agricultural jobs that are living hand to mouth.

They don't have 401ks, they don't have savings accounts, they don't have a fridge that is full of food and groceries.

And Jesus says this to them Matthew 6, 19.

Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and still.

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also.

Your eye is like a lamp that provides light to your body.

When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light, but when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness.

And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is.

No one can serve two masters, for you will hate the one and love the other.

You will be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Now just take a break from the passage for a second.

The word money here is not simply the word money as we think about it, but rather it's talking about a spirit here.

Money is neutral, and so it cannot be good or bad, but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

Mammon is the word that's used here, and mammon is a false God that is being used by the enemy to try to draw you away from serving the one true God.

Following the God of mammon enslaves yourself, and it makes it impossible for you to fully serve the Lord.

So we have to understand that there's a culture that is pushing you into complexity, pushing you into the desire of wanting more, but there's also a real enemy, a real spiritual enemy that is trying to do the exact same thing in your life.

And we cannot serve both God and money or and mammon.

Now remember, Jesus continues this passage and he's talking to a poor audience, and he says, verse 25, that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear.

Isn't life more than food and your body more than clothing?

Look at the birds.

They don't plant or harvest or store food in the barns, for your heavenly father feeds them.

And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?

Call all the work your worries add a s can your uh sorry, can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

And why worry about your clothing?

Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.

They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all of his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

And if God cares so wonderfully for the wildflowers that they are here today and thrown in the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.

Why do you have so little faith?

So don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat, what will we drink, what will we wear?

These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

And then he makes this statement which hinges everything we're talking about this morning.

Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today's trouble is enough for today.

So Jesus tells us not to worry, but telling us not to worry is like telling us to not think of a pink elephant, and then you think of a pink elephant, right?

So but he tells us the thing that this all hinges around is ultimately seeking first the kingdom.

This is the central point for the practice of simplicity.

It's to seek the kingdom of God in our lives.

We talked about the definition of simplicity is what values most to you and removing all the things that distract you from what you value most.

And so this is what Jesus is calling us to do.

It's to seek the kingdom of God.

Let that be the driving force in our lives.

And as a result of that, then all the other things in this world, all the other distractions, suddenly begin to fade away.

As we focus on the kingdom of God in our life, if we keep the first things first, then God will provide and he will meet everything that we need.

But our job, our responsibility is to keep first things first.

That's what we prioritize in life is of such importance.

We cannot go through life and just like a feather in the wind, but instead we have to be people that keep first things first.

That's what we're called to do.

Now, seeking God's kingdom first is a personal thing, but it's also a social thing.

It's an inward thing that we have to develop, an inward habit, an inward uh behavior and ideology, but it's also an external behavior.

And so I want us to look this morning in that framework of internal and external, how do we focus on simplicity in our lives and ultimately seek the kingdom of God?

Now Jesus shows us uh one of the inward fruits of simplicity in our lives is freedom from anxiety.

He says several times, do not worry.

Do not worry, do not worry, he says.

It's this idea that if we live lives of simplicity, if we live lives that are singularly focused on seeking after the kingdom of God, then we won't be filled with anxieties and worries in our lives.

Now, I don't think that it's that's uh it's a coincidence at all that our culture is more and more anxious, and while we've become more and more anxious, we've also become more and more complex.

Where we've desired more and more stuff in our lives, and as a result, anxiousness has followed.

I don't think that that's a coincidence.

I think that those two things are intricately linked together.

Suren Kirkingard said it this way: he said, Riches and abundance come hypocritically clad in sheep's clothing, pretending to be security against anxieties, and they become then the object of anxiety.

They secure a man against anxieties just about as well as a wolf which is put to tending the sheep secures them against the wolf.

So it's like putting a wolf in the sheep's pen and asking them to protect them from the wolf.

And that's the same idea when we think that more stuff is going to somehow make us less anxious in life, only to make us more anxious in life.

This is the cycle that many of us fall into.

So when we talk about simplicity, we're not just talking about uh this idea, this modern kind of fad and idea of minimalism or tiny house living.

Those things are great and good.

But what we're talking about is really an internal perspective that begins to be translated into an external behavior.

But we first have to embrace the internal realities of simplicity.

Richard Foster, he wrote a book called The Celebration of Disciplines, and in there he gives us three inward realities that I think are so striking and so powerful in our lives today, if we can uh implement them into our behavior and into our way we think and how our heart ultimately gravitates.

The first thing is this if we're going to have lives of simplicity, if we're going to develop the fruit of not having anxious lives, then we have to understand that everything we have, everything we've received, is a gift from God.

That what we have we received as a gift from God.

We must cultivate this in our lives that we believe that literally everything that we have been given has come from God.

It's not dependent upon our own provision.

It's not dependent upon everything that we have done, but rather it's been dependent upon the Lord.

And this isn't just our material possessions, but it's it's the daily provisions that we need for life.

It's the sun, it's the air that we breathe, it's the rain that falls from the heavens, it's it's the water that we drink, it's all of these things that God has so richly provided to us.

And we have to come to a point where we recognize that.

I love the song that we just sang, gratitude.

It's been something that I've been playing often over the last couple of weeks and just thinking, like, there's some times when I'm so down and so discouraged, but I can still be thankful.

I can still come to a place where I say, All I have, Lord, is my hallelujah because of what you have given to me, to recognize that the blessings that I have in life ultimately come from the Lord.

They're not of my own doing.

But it's easy for us to fall into the trap of believing that we're the provider for our lives, that we're the provider for our family.

And I'm not saying we don't work hard, I'm not saying we don't go to our jobs and and provide for our families that way, but ultimately the Lord is the one that provides.

He is the one that gives us the gifts that we have.

Uh uh Richard Foster says, when we are tempted to think that what we own is a result of our personal efforts, it takes only a little drought or a small accident to show us once again how utterly dependent we are for everything.

You look back at 2008 and the great recession that we walked through for so many of us, and you all probably know people, or maybe you were somebody that lost a job or lost a house, and you recognize in that moment that it's that it's not me that provides it, then in a moment things can fade away, but ultimately the Lord is the one that provides.

I love what Job says.

He says, The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

Blessed be.

The name of the Lord.

It's this idea of coming with gratitude.

It's this idea of receiving that everything we have has been a gift from the Lord.

Second thing we must internally kind of promote this in our lives, and this idea is that not only to have a life of simplicity do we have to trust that everything comes from the hand of the Lord, but also that God is able to protect what we possess.

That everything we have is ultimately not just from the Lord, but it's also in his hands.

That he is the one that protects us.

He is the one that sustains us.

He is the one that we can ultimately trust in with our lives.

And so we put things in his hands.

Now that could be taken to an extreme, and that could mean you don't lock your doors at night, and you don't lock your car when you go out and you leave the keys and the ignition and stuff.

Me and Pat have this back and forth where Pat will come to the church and it will no one else will be here and he'll still lock the doors to his truck.

It just is crazy to me.

And I'm someone that like never locks my car and never locks the doors of our house.

Don't hope that's online.

That's not good.

I mean we need to change that.

But you can take it to an extreme where it's not healthy.

But but when we begin to think that it's our job and our responsibility to protect everything that we have, then we begin to live with a lot of anxiety in life.

Because we're not trusting in the Lord, we're trusting in ourselves to take care of the things that we have.

We're not trusting in God sustaining our lives, but instead, we're taking our hands, our lives in our hands, not putting our lives in God's hands.

And as a result, anxiety fuels our lives.

And so we've got to come to a place where we understand that not only does God give us everything that we have, but that he is also able to protect everything that we possess.

And so we don't lose sleep at night thinking about going on vacation and leaving our house empty for a week at a time and worrying about somebody breaking in and stealing because ultimately it's the Lord's.

Whatever comes, it's his.

And so we have to cultivate that attitude.

Finally, we have to, third, we have to make what God has provided available to others.

It's this habit of generosity in our lives.

The life that is wreaked with anxiety and succumbed by a spirit of mammon is one that believes that what we have should be that is not uh succumbed to anxiety, is one that believes that we have everything we have should be available to others.

And so we just live with open hands.

We live generously.

We let people borrow the things that we have because ultimately they're not ours.

And if they break, if they're stolen, if somebody doesn't give them back, they're the Lord's.

And we get so wrapped up in kind of holding on to the things that we have that we oftentimes don't live generously.

And you know people like this.

You know people that are just stingy, that just they have stuff and they're just so stingy, they won't let anyone borrow things.

They you you know that, like, hey, I just need to, I just need this, and they're like, I'm sorry, you know, like I can't do that, I can't give that to you.

Like, you know people like that.

They're miserable people, they're full of anxiety typically in their life.

Richard Foster again says, if our goods are not available to the community when it is clearly right and good, then they are stolen goods.

They're stolen goods.

Because what we have to understand is that we're blessed to be a blessing to others.

And the moment that we are not willing to be a blessing to others, then we recognize that we have stolen the things that God has given us.

We are not owners, we are stewards of the resources that God has given us.

And so we have to cultivate this inward attitude where we understand that everything comes from God, that God is able to protect everything that we possess, and then ultimately that everything that we have is to be shared by others, to let other people borrow.

This is what the inward reality looks like for someone that is seeking first the kingdom of God.

It's this life of simplicity where the stuff does not get a hold of our hearts and our souls, where we're not serving God and trying to serve mammon at the same time, but rather we're serving God, our priority is focused on him and him alone.

We are called to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then everything else will be added to us.

So complexity to simplicity begins with a kingdom-first mindset.

It's an inward reality that we have to come to, where we recognize that everything has come from him, he protects everything that we possess, and then ultimately everything we have is to be shared and used by others.

That's what we have to move towards.

Now, with that said, there are things that we can do practically that can help translate into making that an inward reality.

We can't just go, you know what, I just want to think about uh being generous and never have to actually be generous, and it never changes your heart.

You actually have to do something, you have to put action behind what you believe so that your beliefs begin to line up with your actions, if that makes sense.

And so for us, we have internal realities that we have to have, what I just talked about, but then we also live those out by practicing outward behaviors, outward disciplines, outward practices.

And when we do those things in tandem, our hearts begin to shift and we begin to truly seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and we trust that everything is going to be added to us.

So, what are some practical things this week, moving even into the Christmas season, that you can do that can help move your heart in this direction?

If you're taking notes, this would be a great thing to write down.

If you're not taking notes, just act like you're taking notes because it makes me feel better about myself.

All right?

So here's seven things.

Seven things.

First thing is this buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.

We live in a culture and a world that just values name brands.

And listen, I'm not saying that you can't have name brands.

I'm just saying when you go to buy things, buy things because you need them, not because you're buying a label.

You know, if it has the check mark on it, right?

You know, that that's okay.

But why are you really buying that?

Is it for the status piece of it?

John Wesley, the great revivalist, he said, for apparel, I buy the most lasting and in general the plainest I can.

I buy no furniture but what is necessary and cheap.

I'm not saying we don't have nice things.

I think it's better really to have nice things and less things.

But ultimately, when we're buying things for status, then we're missing out on truly cultivating a life that God has called us to cultivate.

We get what we need, but not necessarily what others think we should have.

Second thing is we develop a habit of giving things away.

We de-accumulate, we uncomplicate our lives, we sell things, we get rid of things, we try to live in a more minimalistic mindset.

Um I heard of somebody that talked about instead of buying Christmas presents for people, they took the things that they valued very deeply and they began to give those things away to people during the Christmas season.

Man, what a cool kind of idea and concept to give away the things that you truly value the most.

But we we live in this way where we uncomplicate our lives by developing a habit of giving things away.

Third, we refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry.

So, in other words, we don't think that uh gadgets are the newest thing that's coming out of this software, this program, or this phone is gonna make our lives easier.

This is the lie that I am led to believe all the time.

There's gotta be some software, there's gotta be some system, there's gotta be some type of gadget that I can get, and it's gonna make life more simple for me, only to find out that it actually makes my life more complex.

And so we don't fall into that trap of being uh sold this lie that of modern gadgetry is gonna somehow make our lives better.

Fourth, we learn to enjoy things without owning them.

We enjoy to we we just love the things that maybe we don't own.

So instead of buying the book, you go to the library.

Um, for some of you, so a library is this a library is a a building that has books in it, and you actually go in, they check it out, they give it to you, and you get to take it home for two weeks, and you get to bring it back.

Crazy, right?

That you that you borrow things, that you, you know, instead of you buying a tool that you need, that you you have a friend that has it and you ask to borrow what they have, that you just enjoy the things without actually owning them.

That this can be enjoying the uh instead of putting a playground in your backyard, I'm not there's nothing wrong with having a playground in your backyard, but it instead of doing that, maybe it's going to the community's playground.

Instead of trying to get more, you take advantage of the things that you can get and not have to own them.

Um fifth, you develop a deeper appreciation for God's creation.

You get outside, you walk, you bicycle, you you do go to the park, you do things like that instead.

This is actually coming from the scripture that we just read where Jesus says, consider the flowers of the field, consider uh the birds, right?

What he's actually saying here is that you slow down long enough to actually consider the world around you.

Oftentimes we're so busy and we consistently are running, running, running that we don't actually slow down long enough to just have a casual walk outside and enjoy the world around us.

But when we develop in a deeper appreciation for God's creation, somehow within us it makes this inward reality possible.

Six, we look for healthy skepticism at all the buy now pay later schemes.

In other words, we stay out of consumer debt.

There's this idea that's trying to be sold to us that you can get all that you desire now and you don't have to pay for it for 24 months.

Interest free, right?

And it doesn't matter if you pay it off within that 24-month period.

That's that's beside the point.

What you're cultivating in your heart is you're fueling your desires rather than your needs.

And so for us, we have to come to a place where we look at with healthy skepticism at the buy now, pay later.

We stay out of consumer debt, a thing that only deeply creates a trap that deeply embodies us, embondages us.

Seventh and final thing to us to put into practice is that we shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God.

And this could be a number of different things, but I'll just be quite honest with you.

I think one of the things that I see more than anything else in our world, in our culture today, is this technology and cell phones and social media.

And I'm not preaching against that, I'm preaching from an iPad this morning.

I've got a cell phone, like I mean, I understand.

But I think so often those things can easily distract us from actually seeking after the Lord and his kingdom.

And so I think that we just ask that question in our lives is what I'm going to buy?

Is the how I'm spending my time?

Is this going to somehow develop this idea of seeking the kingdom of God in my life in a practical way, or is it going to lead me in a different direction?

Simplicity is not something that we naturally fall into, but it's something that takes dedication and can can uh commitment.

We have to push back against the cultures of this world and pursue and gain the life that Jesus can ultimately offer.

Again, I don't think it's a coincidence that anxiety rates have consistently risen as the average person's life has continued to get more complex and more complicated.

In order for us to experience the life that Jesus offers, we must live the life that Jesus has called us to live.

And in order for us to do that today, he's inviting us into a life of simplicity.

And I'll tell you what, that's very refreshing.

He says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Jesus' way is the best way.

But in order for us to experience the life that Jesus offers, we have to live the life that Jesus has called us to live.

And that means we cultivate a life of simplicity where we focus on his kingdom and seeking first his ways above anything else.

That we keep first things first.

So we cultivate the inward reality and the external behaviors.

And when those things work hand in hand, God shifts us to focus after him and him alone.

Imagine.

What would a church look like in a culture of consumerism that intentionally lives simple lives?

In a culture where it's always about wanting more and more for myself.

What would a church look like that said, oh, it's about generosity and giving to others?

I think of the early church where that says that there was no needy people among them because they lived generous, kingdom-first lives.

What would happen if just a room full of people here lived in such a way?

Man, I think God would do something significant and power and even supernatural in our midst, and our community would want what we have.

And so this morning, as we kind of close out this message, and I want us to kind of reorient, reorient our lives to focus on Jesus this morning.

We're going to move into a time where we celebrate communion.

And communion is this really significant sacrament that we get to do and participate in with the church.

And it's when we're ultimately coming to the table and we're taking the juice or the wine and the little uh cracker, and it represents Jesus' spilled blood and his broken body for the forgiveness of our sins.

And Jesus, on the very last night with his disciples, he took part in this meal.

And ultimately, when we come to the table, we come, and it's a time of repentance.

It's a time where we come and we kind of lay everything before the Lord.

And maybe some of you need to do that this morning before taking in communion.

Maybe you need to come and you need to just kind of uh repent of this idea of consumerism and more, and uh, maybe it's the drug of Amazon or something else.

And maybe you just kind of had this intervention of the Holy Spirit before you take in communion.

But when you're ready, we just invite you to come to the table.

The band's gonna sing and lead us, and you take the little cup and the bread and you step off to the side, you can pray by yourself or pray with your family, and just ask the Lord to give you a heart that is singularly focused on Him, that you would truly seek after His kingdom, and as you seek after His kingdom, that God would use you in powerful ways.

And so, Lord Jesus, we do thank you.

Lord, we thank you that the reason that we can live with a simplistic way of thinking and a simplistic way of life is because you have conquered death.

You you have you have bore our sins on the cross, and as a result, Lord, we can now walk in the freedom, not just from our sins, but the freedom from the way of life that our culture pushes us into and the enemy pushes us into.

That you've given us victory through your sacrifice, Lord.

And so as we come to the table this morning, Lord, I pray that we would not come flippantly and that we would not come just out of habit.

But instead, Lord, we would come with sincere hearts, asking for you to give us a heart, an inward and external behavior, Lord, that is singularly focused on you and on your kingdom.

And so, Lord, I pray, Holy Spirit, Lord, as we just take part in this uh sacrament of the church and we remember what you have done, Lord.

I pray that you would just be with us, Lord, and you would help us to see what we need to repent of, and then how we need to actually live that out in our daily behavior.

But Lord, give your church simplistic lives that seek your kingdom above everything else, and that we trust you that everything else we have will be taken care of.

Lord, we love you.

It's in your name we pray, amen.

So come as you feel led to the table, and we'll continue.