The Complicated Gospel

I grew up in Sunday School, and whenever the teacher asked a question it seemed like the answer was always from a short list. . . Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Pray, Read Your Bible, and Witness.  

As I grew older, it seemed like life got a lot more complicated and so did the church’s instruction on matters of Faith. 

It didn’t matter what the issue was, God’s advice in Scripture was simple.

MARRIAGE

“Husbands love your wives.  Wives respect your husbands.”

MONEY

“The Love of Money is the root of all evil.”

RELATIONSHIPS 

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

LEADERSHIP

“If you want to become great, become a servant of all.”

MINISTRY

“Go and make disciples of all people.”

Yet Christians have written countless books on all of these subjects!  When preachers preach on these subjects we get a list of 17 action items!

How can we take something so simple and make it so complicated? 

It is this last subject of the ministry in which I have found the greatest frustration within the church.

I graduated from high school and said yes to God’s call to go into the ministry.  So naturally I set off for Bible College.  

I thought the ministry was simple!  

“Preach the Word!”  “Love God, Love People”  “Make Disciples!”

 HAHAHA. What a fool I was!

Once again I discovered that Christians had filled libraries with books on how to correctly go about doing the work of the ministry!  I had entered college confident that with God’s help I could do what he had called me to do.  I left scared that I wasn’t prepared for the ministry!

That was only the beginning.  

Once I actually got into the ministry, I discovered that it was even more complicated than I had been taught in college.  

There were so many expectations put on the performance of pastors.  I heard horror stories of small churches where the pastor and his wife worked tirelessly to do everything while the people in the congregation sat back, did nothing to help and responded with complaints that their needs weren’t being met. 

I read books from the so called “experts” in large churches who laid out their complex systems with charts and graphs on how to disciple people.  

I became so overwhelmed that I cannot tell you the number of times of I have wanted to quit the ministry because I have thought I wasn’t qualified as a leader.

I was told that church services had to be polished, seeker-friendly, organized, micro-managed and planned down to the minute.     

How have we made something so simple become so complex?

When I read the gospel accounts about Jesus’ ministry, it still seems so simple.  

He lived life with people, loved them and showed them truth.

When I read the accounts of the early church it still seems so SIMPLE!

They devoted themselves to doing life together, praying together, eating together, and listening to the apostles teaching. 

How have we made something so simple become so complex?

We see complexity trying to creep into the church very early on.  In Acts, the apostles start to get roped into a conflict about serving food to the poor.  They realize what is taking place and designate other people to take care of the problem so they can “devote themselves to the teaching of the word and to prayer.”

I wish I could tell you that we have been faithful to the apostles example and that 2,000 years later the job description of a pastor is to “devote themselves to the teaching of the word and to prayer.”  But that is far from the truth!

How have we made something so simple become so complex?

Why do we as believers rush to purchase the latest Christian book on life issues instead of studying and applying the simple truths of scripture?

I believe this happens for a couple of reasons.  

For some reason, human beings love making simple things complex.  I don’t think we have evil intentions, but I don’t think that we are aware of what we are doing either.

If by God’s grace we just simply followed the simple teachings of Scripture, God would get all of the credit, and that doesn’t sell books.  

But if to truly get breakthrough in an area of our lives requires following some experts complicated advice, then we as human beings get the credit.  

A verse that constantly rings in my ears is this from psalms “Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain!”

Let us as believers and as the church leave this complicated gospel that rests all upon our efforts to figure everything out and return to the simple GOOD NEWS!

Jesus calls to us simply, “COME FOLLOW ME!”