The Simplicity that is in Christ

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is changeless and immutable but yet Satan is forever trying to pervert men’s ideas as to who He is, what He came to do, what we can expect from Him, and what He expects from us. Although Satan can’t change Jesus from Who He is, what He came to do, and what He is to those who believe, He can alter the perception men have of Jesus, thus effectively achieving the same thing. Satan is a master of misinformation – the arch-deceiver.

There is simplicity about Jesus that is at the same time eternal and contemporarily relevant. His stated objectives for coming are non-negotiable.

• He came to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10). • He came to be Lord (Romans 14:9). • He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8b).

Many contemporary concepts of Christ and His objectives are the result of thinking corrupted by the taint of secular humanism and its rationalistic concepts – the serpent. Instead of viewing man and human affairs in the light of the gospel, the contemporary church largely views the gospel in the light of modern rationalistic thinking. Instead of accepting the beliefs, standards, and agendas of Jesus, modern churchmen have largely established their own. Much of what contemporary churches believe and practice is because of their insecurity about the validity of its God-given message and commission causing them to adopt the values and agendas the world finds palatable.

Few of us have escaped the contamination of religious humanism. As Paul warned the Corinthians about the deceptiveness of Satan and the thinking he filters into Christian thinking, so we should be warned today. A very simple test of to determine the presence of corrupted thinking is to objectively assess where and how we have derived what we believe about the teachings of the scripture. The extent to which we subject scriptural teachings to interpretive explanation tells us how much we deviate from the simplicity that is in Christ. Much biblical interpretation is an intellectualized attempt to explain away those scriptural teachings and experiences which don’t fit within the acceptable norms of our particular belief or to provide persuasive arguments to get others to accept our systems of belief.

An acid test of simplicity would be to present the scripture, without accompanying explanation, to a primitive society which has had no previous exposure to the gospel. Aviators for Christ as well as other organizations have done precisely that. They have airlifted the gospel to remote tribes of people and have been amazed at a later date to find newly formed churches in those locations established on very simplistic and biblically orthodox understandings. These new converts were not corrupted by rationalistic modern thinking but simply took the Word literally in understanding and application. They were not defiled by prejudicial thinking and unbelief. If the Word said it, it was settled.

The corruption of Eve by the serpent was occasioned by his planting one very destructive thought in her mind, “Yea, hath God said” (Genesis 3:1b)? When man falls prey to that question, his mind is opened to all the insinuation of the enemy – in contemporary terms, doubting the reliability and veracity of the Bible. The Corinthians were warned that the tempter and deceiver would come as another spirit with another gospel (in both cases, heteros – another of a different kind). If the enemy can’t get us to reject the Bible he will attempt to get us to doubt it, to be confused about its message and to ultimately to accept another (heteros) gospel.

Many today are embarrassed by literal scriptural concepts and practices and have found creative ways of explaining (explaining away) the scripture and/or have derived new standards of practice and behavior. For example, if we consolidate all the express commands of Jesus into their simplest forms our commission would be to preach the gospel of the kingdom, cast out demons, and to heal the sick. A significant portion of Christendom doesn’t find these basic commands acceptable to the modern mind. As a result they seek out and establish alternatives to the simplistic commands of Jesus thus formulating a new gospel.

If I understand this word today, it is calling us back to a more simplistic and fundamental understanding of scriptural truth and practice not defiled and corrupted by rationalization and social acceptability. We must get back to the “God said it, it is settled” framework of thinking. God moves within the boundaries of His thinking, not ours.

Jeff

Jefferson H. and Norma R. Floyd, CO-directors, Jubilee International, P. O. Box 572, Noblesville, IN 46061, Copyright November 2007 by Jefferson H. Floyd. All rights reserved.