SIMPLICITY

 
November 17, 2017                          SIMPLICITY
Acts 10:34-35, 43: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him. Of Him all the prophets bear witness through His name everyone one who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
If we so choose, we can hear numerous sermons, read countless books, and engage in lengthy discussions about what the Christian life is supposed to be. And, we often hear conflicting messages and differing viewpoints and interpretations of what the scriptures actually teach. However, God never intended the message of the gospel to be complicated-any complication or confusion is self-inflicted. The bible is an amazing book-it challenges the brightest minds, it is a history of mankind, it touches every aspect of life, but its message can be understood by all who have a desire to know God. The core message of the gospel and the reason for Jesus giving His life on the cross was that we might receive forgiveness of sins and be rightly related to God. There has been much debate on the subject of salvation-how one is saved, can one loose his salvation, is it by works are purely by grace, and whether some are elected to be saved and some doomed to hell. As Jesus always did, in the verse above, He makes it crystal clear that anyone who ‘fears’ (believe, respect) Him is received by Him and He forgives their sin. This central truth is the foundation of the Christian faith and it is on this foundation that we come to know all that God has for us. By knowing our relationship with the Father and by following the leading of the Holy Spirit, we live in the beautiful simplicity of being the sons and daughters of our Father-who is God. The Holy Spirit was given to reveal the Father to us, and the primary way He does that is through the scriptures. The scriptures are not a set of laws we must keep, and living according to the scriptures is not burdensome once we know our identity in Him and once we come to know Him as our Father. On the contrary, the truths found in the scriptures are the doorway to life and we discover that through the reading and study and application of the teachings scriptures, we do indeed experience life to the fullest. Man, outside of God, is lost in his way and his life tends to move toward complication, without a satisfying purpose. As believers, the Spirit of God lives in us and is at work transforming us into the image of God; because we have been joined to God and made new, we can actually live a super-natural life-a life unlike the life of one who does not know God. Even as believers, if not alert, we will move from the simplicity of the gospel, just as Paul warned the believers in 2 Corinthians 11:3. May we be quick to recognize when we begin to move away from the simplicity of the gospel that is ours in Christ. The truth from which we live is that our sins are forgiven, we have been made new creations, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God is our Father. When God rules in our hearts, we experience peace and joy, and find purpose in what we do. Let us mature in the Lord, but never move from the foundational truth of what it means to be a child of God.
Ephesians 1:18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
Blessings,
Buddy