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Tonight Im continuing a sermon series called faith lessons for life. This summer were

looking at ten basic faith lessons that can help us navigate our journey of life. Weve used the

game of life as a way to get into each lesson. In this handout is a Life Card that shares biblical

teachings on the faith lesson. If you would like to take notes I encourage you to use the white

sheet of paper on the table. Tonights faith lesson is Discovering Simplicity in a complicated

world.

My grandmother, my moms mom, was born in 1914which means shell be 99 this

September. I dont think any of us would argue that the world is much more complicated than it

was compared to 99 years ago.

For one you and I are overloaded with information. There was a study done by Martin

Hilbert from USC. He determined that you and I receive the equivalent of a certain number of

newspapers each day. He determined the amount of information in one newspaper and then

determined how much information we receive each day.

Who thinks we receive the amount of information that makes up

10 newspapers50 newspapers174 newspapers

We receive enough information each day to fill up 174 newspapers. Since July 4th last week you

and Iif we are average and I believe that everyone at Chain of Lakes is above averagewere

received enough information to fill over 1,200 newspapers.

If you wonder why you feel overwhelmed thats why you feel overwhelmed.

I dont think in 1914, the year my grandmother was bornthat people received

information to fill up 1,200 newspapers every week.

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Life was simpler in 1914. Think about how people communicated with each other in

1914. Face-to-face. They didnt have E-mail, they didnt have texts, they didnt have snap-chat

you only know what snap-chat is if you are or are about to have a teenager.

People would call on the phone in 1914. Not really

The phone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. According to one web site

that I trust the national average of phone usage in 1923 was 13.1 percent. .

In 1914 people visited each other. They saw each other face-to[-face.

How do we communicate with people today?

We can call them. But what phone number do we use? How many different phones do

you use. We might have a cell phone number or a home phone number of maybe a work phone

number.

What happens if the person isnt there. Leave a message. What happens if the person

doesnt check their messages.

Send an E-mail. Which E-mail account do we use? Think about how many E-mail

accounts that you have. The average person has three E-mail accounts. I have four. I only

check two of them. What happens if the person doesnt check their E-mail.

Facebook messages. Put something on their wall. Send a Facebok message

What happens if they arent on Facebook or dont check Facebook.

Send the person a text.

Send the person a Twitter message.

My daughter communicates on yelpits a messaging service. She also communicates

on Snapchat. Theres more ways to communicate

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Add this upwe can phoneone of the three numbers, E-mailone of the four E-mails,

, Facebok, Facebook message, text, Twitter, yelp, Snapchat.

Its complicated.

Or we could just go over and see the person un-announced.

Whatever happened to simplicity!! Somewhere in the last 99 years we became

accustomed to living in a complicated world. There are days when we just say, Lord, can it just

be simple.

Even simplicity is not simple. .

I can give you a simple program for almost any important issue of our life.

Take finances. I dont have training in personal finance, but I can give you a simple

personal finance program that will work. Its called the 10/10/no program.

Give ten percent of our money away

Save ten percent of our money

Dont accumulate any credit card debt

Im not a personal finance person, but I can almost guarantee that if you follow that program

whose name I just inventedyou will do fine.

Its a simple. Its not that simple, is it?

Im guessing that most of us have struggled with our weight during our lifetime. Though

Im not a dietician I can give you a simple program for losing weight. If we eat less than 2,000

calories a day and exercise 30 minutes a day four days a week we will lose weight.

Simple, right. Its not that simple.

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Take a common addiction. For an alcoholic a simple way to overcome alcoholism is not

to drink. Or for a drug addict not to take drugs. Just say no. Its simple, right? Its not that

simple.

Simplicity is not a programits a matter of the heart.

For many people in the world, simplicity is not even an issue. If were honest we have to

recognize that simplicity is a 1st world issue. Over half of the worldthats over three billion

peoplelive on less than the equivalent of $2.50 a day. This group of people is not worried

about a complicated life. They are just trying to eat enough calories a day and have a place to

sleep, and live in a safe place. 12.3 percent of Americans are under the poverty line. Their main

concerns are not living in a complicated world, its having enough to survive.

Stillwe live in a complicated world.

What did Jesus say about simplicity?. Nowhere did he use the word simple or the word

simplicity. But Jesus did teach quite a lot about the condition of our heart. If we push into what

Jesus taught about the condition of our heart we can relate that teaching to living in a

complicated world.

I think that the main reason Jesus didnt speak about simplicity is life wasnt that

complicated for his followers. They lived on less than $2.50 a day.

I think if Jesus came into our world he would talk about simplicity. He would say that

simplicity is a condition of our heart. We can start to understand this by looking at the story that

Kate read.

A crowd numbered in the thousands had gathered around Jesus. Someone in the crowd

said to Jesus, Teacher tell my brother to divide the family inheritance. I imagine the person in

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the crowd yelling this question at Jesus, Teacher, tell my brother to give me the money I

deserve.

I loved Jesus response. It was quite simple. He basically said, figure it out yourself.

As the crowd of thousands watched Jesus used the question to launch into a teaching

about greed. Jesus taught them to be aware of all kinds of greed. Ones life does not consist in

the abundance of our possessions.

You and I know this lesson by heart. Weve been probably taught since we wore diapers

that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. What fills us with love and joy and

peace is not the size of our house or the number of shoes we have in our closet.

If were honest we have to admit that we have an abundance of possessions. When you

go home tonight count the number of pairs of shoes that you do own. I didnt do an exact count,

but probably have at least ten pairs of shoes in my house and garage that I possess.

What is important is for us to remember that though we have an abundance of

possessions we dont experience life from our abundance of possessions.

Jesus went on by telling a story.

Jesus said there was this rich guy. He was a farmer. He had a lot of money. His crops

produced abundantly. The rich guy had a problem. He didnt have a place to store his crops.

He decided to build bigger barns. Then he could store all of his crops.

If we push into this story we can say that there is nothing wrong with building larger

barns for storing crops.

The mistake the man made was in the next part.

SLIDEAnd I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink,be merry. Luke 12:19

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The man could only think of himself. He wanted to know what the abundance could do

for him. He didnt think about what he could do to help his neighbor or how he could give back

to God. He wasnt thinking about how much he could put in the offering plate. His heart was

focused on himself. He had all of these riches and all that he could do was consider how he

could relax, eat, drink and be merry.

Jesus went on to teach the thousands in the crowd some more. He went on to say this:

Then Jesus said this:

SLIDEdo not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

This is important. God, who Jesus called abba or father, wants to give us the kingdom. In fact it

gives God pleasure to give us the kingdom. Jesus closed this teaching with a verse that is worth

memorizing. It wouldnt surprise me if many of us have it memorized.

SLIDEFor where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Treasure is money. This teaching is about the intention of our heart, really its our focus.

Jesus is teaching us that we become our focus. Our focus becomes the condition of our heart. If

we focus on money and making money that is where our heart will be. If we focus on being

busy and living a complicated life, that is where our heart will be. If we focus on all that is

wrong with our life that is where our heart will be.

The essential question, then, is on what do we want our heart to focus

Let me wrap up by sharing two areas of our heart focus. They are simple teachings. If

we let these teachings bloom in our heart, we can live with simplicity. These lessons are both

very simple

First, let us give thanks for what we have and not focus on what we lack.

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Last year I preached a series on gratitude. I challenged all of us to start our day by giving

thanks to God. What would happen if every time we came to consciousness in the morning we

gave thanks for a new day. Instead of letting our mind be corroded by all we have to do in the

day, what if we started out by sharing thanks. Thank you God, for the person sleeping beside

me; thank you God for the people in my house, thank you for the people who love me, thank you

that I have a bed, thank you that I have a house. Of course, we can give thanks for the spiritual

treasures we are offered. Thank you for the gift of salvation, and a relationship with Christ, and

the presence of your Spirit. Lets start our day with thanks.

What would happen if we ended our day by giving thanks. When we find ourselves back

in that bed perhaps we can review the day and give thanks. Im confident that all of us can find

at least three reasons to give thanks during every day. Even if we have a terrible day, we can

give thanks that we were able to make it through the day. Lets start and end our day by giving

thanks.

When we focus our heart on thanks we ground ourselves in God.

This is a message that weve all heard many times, but we have to keep hearing it. Our

culture does its best to teach us about scarcity. Were scared into thinking that we dont have

enough. We dont have enough shoes or clothes, or food. Were not going to have enough in

retirement, or savings. We have too much credit card debt and no way to get out. We have to

keep striving. When we focus on what we lack our heart will feel empty.

We discover simplicity by giving thanks.

Second pointmay our focus be on being people of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus told his followers this idea:

Strive or seek the kingdom, and these things [what we will eat and drink and wear] will be givento you. Luke 12:31

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Abba wants to give us the Kingdom.

The foundation of the Kingdom is sacrificial love. It is the same love that Jesus taught

his disciples and the love he displayed while dying on the cross. He knows that the world wont

be changed unless enough people commit themselves to this sacrificial love. Its not a love that

focuses self, instead its a love that looks to the interest of the other. We love that person as we

would have that person love us. We commit ourselves to living out the Fruit of the Spiritlove,

joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We look for

ways to bless other people.

Were starting this church not to build a buildingthough a building will be important;

were starting this church not to have a piece of propertythough property is important; were

starting this church not to become financially self-sufficientthough this is important too.

Were starting this church so a group of people can bless the world through acts of sacrificial

love. Im talking about mentoring at a school, volunteering at Manna Market, helping someone

at Chain of Lakes who is going through a difficult time, blessing our staff. We want to be an

authentic, Christian community who makes an impact. We make an impact when we go out of

our way to bless others.

What if the focus of our heart is how can we bless another person. Instead of thinking

about our selfwhich is so easywe go out of our way to bless and love. The treasure of our

heart is sacrificial love.

We need each other to do this. I dont think these acts of sacrificial love can happen

unless we have a community of people who are helping us.

Lets help each other love others in a sacrificial way. Perhaps this week we can ask each

other how we are blessing others. Lets ask each other the question. How are you blessing

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others through sacrificial love. We ask the question not to be judgmental peoplethe

motivation is not to point our finger at others. The motivation is to help each other. We help

each other to love.

That is a simplicity. Its not a program; its a condition of our heart.