Freedom of Simplicity

Life today is frantic. Literally thousands of things vie for our attention each day. We each have countless responsibilities that compete. . . each with a hundred reasons why they are the most important. And too often we respond by frantically trying to do everything. . . we find ourselves unable to discern which things are truly important and which things are not. We cannot distinguish between the voice of God and the countless human manipulators.

This morning I want to help us realize that we can be freed from this modern mania. I want to turn us away from the many things that our culture has taught us. . . and help us to understand that we can experience freedom and liberation through Gospel simplicity . . . not passivity and weakness. . .but a strength to rebel against the world and live free of its control. George MacDonald once said, “to have what we want is riches, but to be able to do without is power.”

This morning I would like to first explain why simplicity is important biblically and theologically. . . but then I want to give you some very practical things that we can all do to live lives of simplicity. . . lives that free us to give ourselves fully to God.

To begin this journey towards simplicity, we must realize that our value as humans is not tied to wealth, status, accomplishments, or position. . .Our human value. . . what we are worth. . .is not at all dictated by the world, but was given to us as a gift when God created us in his image. We are not people rooted in the American economy, but people rooted in the book of Genesis. We must return to this fundamental Christian understanding of creation. We are not independent people all competing against each other for success. . . but people wholly dependent on God. Simplicity is a journey from a false sense of independence and to a posture of dependence.

Our scripture from Romans this morning speaks to this with reference to sin. We do not have to be slaves to sin. We do not have to be slaves to this world. The freedom that we have in Christ gives us the power to look the world in the eye and say, “God knows a better way. I know a better way.” That better way is righteousness.

Simplicity in a sense is prioritizing. Richard Foster in his book, “Freedom of Simplicity,” (which is the source for much of this sermon) says, “for years I loved God and sought to obey him, but he remained on the periphery of my life. God and Christ were extremely important to me but certainly not the Center. After all, I had many tasks and aspirations that did not relate to God in the least. . . I thought that serving God was another duty to be added onto an already busy schedule.”

But we cannot view the service of God as a task. . . it must be viewed as integral to who we are. . . as an aspect of everything that we do. Our faith in Christ is not separate at all, but the foundation upon which we order our lives. This is precisely why simplicity is so important.

As we make our lives and the world around us more complex it becomes increasingly difficult to keep Christ as the Center. The multiple things in our lives compete against God for our attention. We need to move more and more towards God and away from other things that clutter our lives.

Now this starts to sound pretty spiritual. . . pretty theological. . . only something a preacher would say but does not make any sense in real life. . . but I think it should make a lot of sense to all of us. The idea is not to sit around in a log cabin in the middle of the woods and meditate on God all the time. . . No! The idea is that we should seek to move towards God in everything we do. . . and in moving towards God, we must shun those things that hinder our progress.

Richard Foster asked in his book, “What for heaven’s sake does swimming and gardening have to do with God? I was deeply committed, but I was not integrated or unified. . . But slowly I came to see that God desired to be not on the outskirts, but at the heart of my experience. Gardening was no longer an experience outside of my relationship with God – I discovered God in the gardening. Swimming was no longer just good exercise – it became an opportunity for communion with God. God in Christ had become the Center.”

The seeking of simplicity and the true heart of God requires the asking of some tough questions of our lives. . . Is it possible to come to a place in our life where we do not desire a larger or nicer house even if we can afford it? Is it possible to come to a place where we don’t care what people think of us when we walk into a room? Is it possible that all of the technology in our lives has made it more difficult to see God? Is it possible that we do not have to own things to enjoy them? Is it possible that our desire for privacy and independence prevents us from interacting with the image of God in other people? Is it possible to decide on a particular economic level that we can live at and rest contented with that level, even if our income exceeds it considerably?

John Wesley, a Christian theologian and early English leader of the Methodist movement, believed that with increasing income, what should rise is not the Christian's standard of living but the standard of giving. . . And Wesley backed his beliefs up with his actions. in 1731, Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds. Instead of letting his expenses rise with his income, he kept them to 28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds. In later years sales from his books would often earn him 1,400 pounds a year, but he still lived on 28 pounds and gave the rest away. Now Wesley was single most of his life and never had children, so he did not deal with the financial problems engendered by a family, but the idea is a sound one. We may have to make adjustments for children and savings for college, etc., but the principle remains the same. Simple living.

This is not a sermon about giving though, even if Wesley is a great example of generosity. No, this sermon is about simplicity and freedom. So I want you to see the freedom in Wesley’s choice. You see Wesley was so detached from worldly conceptions of what was good. . . so detached from misplaced desires for larger homes and people’s impression of him. . . so fully focused on simply living by the daily bread that God gave him. . . that he did not need the extra money. He was free from it.

I want you to soak up this idea of freedom. Freedom in God’s eyes is not necessarily a bunch of government rights. . . no the freedom that we have in Christ is a freedom from the need to impress, a freedom from the need to always be the best, a freedom from never feeling satisfied, a freedom from always needing more. G.K. Chesterton said once, “there are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.”

Through simplicity we learn to desire less. And what we find when we desire less. . . is that we are free. . . we are free to be exactly who we were created to be. . . we do not have to worry about others’ expectations or impressions of us. Be Thou My Vision, the song that we just sang, speaks to this truth. . . “Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise. . . thou mine inheritance, now and always, thou and thou only first in my heart, high King of heaven, my treasure thou art.”

Now I hope that I have impressed upon you the importance of simplicity. I hope that I have underscored the importance of ordering our lives in such a way that we facilitate God’s work. . . and not clutter it out. But how do we live simply. . . what exactly does that look like and what can we do today. We have to be careful here, though. These are suggestions. . . ultimately you need to pray and discern the areas in your life that need simplifying. Let the Holy Spirit lead you. . . and don’t take this list as something that we should be legalistic about. But this list does function as a starting point for living lives of simplicity.

Richard Foster gives us ten controlling principles for living a simple life. Ten sounds like a lot, but I think that they are exceptionally significant and each of them are directly connected to our struggle to make God the center of our lives.

1) buy things for their usefulness rather than their status. . .

This is directly related to the question. . . who are we trying to impress? Do we read the bible and say, “I want to be her. . . or I want to be like him” or are we more likely to watch TV or a movie and say, “I want to be like them.” We should buy things that we need. . . things that are useful. . .not things because they will increase our worldly status or reputation.

2) reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. . .

Addictions are gods. Addictions are not just alcohol or cigarettes or sex either. Addictions can be those things that we just cannot say no too. I think that I can be addicted to the internet at times. Actually last lent I gave up the internet during lent because I wanted to try to free myself from the attachment. We must identify the addictions in our lives and flee from them. They steal our time, thoughts, and adoration from God.

3) develop a habit of giving things away. . .

One of the most affective ways of decreasing your desires or covetousness is to give things away. If you have things in your life that you would not be willing to give away to someone in need, you may need to consider the importance that you have placed on that thing. By developing a habit of giving things away. . . not just money. . . but things that we use, we gradually break ourselves away from our attachment to those things. We begin to be set free.

4) refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry. . .

This is a particularly difficult one for most Americans. But believe it or not, we do not always need the new and improved version. Faster is not always better.

5) learn to enjoy things without owning them. . .

If we own something we feel like we can control it. . . and if we control it we are under the illusion that it will be better. So when it snows an inch, everyone on the block walks out with their snow blower and blows away the snow. . . then it sits in the garage for another few weeks. . . and then 9 months. What would happen if we bought one snow blower with our neighbors and shared. . . sure it would may be a little more difficult. . . but just like we tell our kids. . . it is better to share.

6) develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. . .

God created more than just us. The Psalms say, “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” Learn to appreciate nature. Try to see God’s hand in everything that He created. As we develop this eye for true beauty, “things” will start to look like counterfeits.

7) look with a healthy skepticism at all “buy now, pay later” schemes. . .

Don’t be tricked into buying things before you can.

8) obey Jesus’ instructions about plain, honest speech. . .

Don’t say things that you do not mean. . . and do not say more than is necessary. Make honesty and integrity the distinguishing characteristics of your speech.

9) reject anything that will breed the oppression of others. . .

I attended a symposium on Justice several days this past week and one of the speakers there said, “Live simply. . . so that others may simply live.” Our extravagant living in the United States is not without a cost. It is often at the expense of workers who are underpaid and who do not have adequate benefits. Simplicity requires that we are conscientious about the products and services that we use. That we do not abuse others, directly or indirectly, for our personal gain.

10) shun whatever would distract you from your main goal. . .

Stay focused. In the complexity of life we often find ourselves scattered. . . and we may find ourselves doing things and we don’t know why. Reevaluate the things that you do each day. . . and ask yourself whether those things are consistent with who you are and who you want to be as a creature created in the image of God.

This list is daunting. When I first read it I was very convicted. The point of the list is not to foster guilt though. It is to prompt action. It is to call us to radical living that detaches us from the concerns of the world and sets us free to fully love God.

Simplicity is not admired in our culture. Actually it is even at times frowned upon. But living a life of simplicity does not mean that we are weak, or boring, or weird or whatever. . . it actually means we are strong. . . we can set our priorities apart from the world. By taking steps to slow down and reconsider the priorities in our life. . .we can experience a gift from God. . . the freedom of simplicity.