The answer to “Death by Church” is to focus on life in Christ. The one word answer is “Simplicity”. We need individual Christians to return to the (little talked about) discipline of simplicity; while at the same time we need churches who also model simplicity in the way they plan and carry out ministries. In this post I will address the individual Christian’s responsibility to live simply.
To live simply does not mean a believer is to do what Earnest T. Bass calling “hermitizing” himself. Living simply is to look away from everything else in life and to have only one focus, one goal. It is the purity of heart that Soren Kierkegaard defined as to will (desire) only one thing.
This is what David taught us in the 23rd Psalm when he prayed, “1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” (NLT) This is also what The Master himself taught us when he said in Matthew 6:33, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness …”.(NIV)
As believers our FOCUS cannot be to read our bibles, or to pray, or to witness, or to be a good spouse, or to be a great parent, or to be a productive employee. All of those are a byproduct to what Jesus Called “abiding in the vine” in John 15:5. Jesus goes on to say that we will produce fruit if we remain (rest) in Him and that apart from Him we can do nothing!
All things done outside of focusing on Jesus as our ONLY DESIRE is wasted energy at beast and at worst could be considered idol worship! We are all “prone to wonder” , as the great hymn says, however we must continually look away from all this world offers and find our satisfaction in HIM alone. Quoting the phrase that John Piper has made famous, “God is most glorified in us when we are most SATISFIED in him.”
In Part 3, I will come back and address the role of church in helping to “create” simple lives.
For more on living a simple life read the chapter on simplicity from Richard J. Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline. Order the book here.
[...] Death by Church – Part 2 [...]