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"Keep It Complicated"

9/11/2012

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It is interesting to me how many people I meet seem content to have what they call a "simple faith."  Usually, this self-description comes up in the context of a conversation in which the person is struggling to accept some particular teaching of scripture with which they are unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or both.  In these cases, my sentiments are usually fourfold: 1.) I praise God for the faith that the person already has, "simple" or otherwise.  2.) I am burdened for the person to be able to love and trust all of the Word regardless of the implications.  3.) I am burdened for pastors and other teachers (myself included) to be willing to "dig in" to the Word in their teaching in such a way that people will learn to "wrestle" with the Word while still loving and trusting it, thus molding maturing believers.  4.) I am burdened for myself not to arrogantly expect everyone to believe everything exactly as I do on the same time frame that I do.  With that in mind, I found the following article by Randy Newman to be appropriately challenging and gracious...


I am sometimes told, when discussing how to present the gospel to a non-believer or how to formulate a sermon or Bible study, to "keep it simple." Sometimes the admonition is "to keep the cookies on the lower shelf."

If the advocate of simplicity elaborates, he'll tell me that, if we "make things complicated," people may get confused, reject our message, get lost in unimportant issues, not remember what we said, or fail to benefit from the Bible's teaching, the gospel's power, or the truth's beauty.

But what if "keeping it simple" is really distorting the message? What if our message isn't really simple? What if the gospel is complex, rich, multifaceted, nuanced, far-reaching, and touching upon an infinite number of other aspects of life? What if the Bible isn't really a simple book after all? What if God's Word points us to its inspirer---the God who is beyond comprehension, beyond finding out, beyond our finite reasoning, and beyond all we can pull together?

What if "keeping it complicated" really did justice to the subject matter and "making it simple" misrepresents it? What if we can't "keep" it simple because it never was simple to begin with? What if we're not "making" it complicated but reflecting the truth as it really is?

Have I made this argument complicated? Good.

Nice and Easy
I certainly see the need to find ways to state things concisely and simply. Sometimes you only have a few minutes to explain what you believe to a sincere inquirer. In those instances, a short booklet or a diagram drawn on a small napkin is the best vehicle for telling people the message of salvation.

But it's one thing to draw that diagram or read that booklet and say, "This is one way for me to express my faith in a concise way. There's obviously more but this is a helpful introduction." It's another thing to say, "There. That's all there is to it."

I have often pondered the best-selling book title, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Apparently, given its popularity, a lot of people think it's the only book they need to read. But I remain unconvinced. All I really need to know? Really? I have found that the dramas of life, the complexities of marriage, the trials of disease, the confusion of evil, the pain of death, the ever-evolving challenges of parenthood, not to mention the wonder of beauty, the joy of music, the blessing of laughter, and all the delights of worship to be just a few of the things my kindergarten teacher left out of the syllabus.

Do I think the lessons I learned in kindergarten were helpful, foundational, crucial building blocks upon which to learn many of the lessons that would follow? Absolutely. Am I thankful for kindergarten? Remarkably.

But am I glad there was also a first grade and a second grade and every other learning experience I've encountered since kindergarten? Increasingly so.

If I reflect on this tendency to "keep it simple" vs. "keep it complicated" from a missional perspective, I would have to say, "keeping it simple" hasn't served the church all that well---at least, not lately. Our world is complex, and people know it. In fact, people love it. They reject (rightly, I believe) simplistic answers to complex questions because those answers haven't worked. Formulas haven't helped them make relationships work. Short explanations haven't helped them grapple with long problems. And the people who insist, "it's really quite simple" seem to be out of touch with reality.

Many people wonder about the complexities of life and want to explore them. They long to see how seemingly unrelated topics intersect. They are not surprised by mysteries that keep unfolding, revealing more and more levels of wonder. They enjoy movies like Inception.

Maybe we should try to "keep it complicated" because God's Word and his gospel are complicated---not in the "confusing" sense of complicated but in the rich and beautiful and intellectually fulfilling and aesthetically pleasing and awe-inspiring ways. I think it's worth the experiment---both for the deepening of our faith and the challenging of our friends' searches.

Randy Newman serves with Campus Crusade for Christ’s Faculty Ministry in the Washington, D.C., area. He blogs about evangelism and thoughtful faith.



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"Worshipping at the Altar of Family"

9/10/2012

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Check out the following article by authors Kristin and Ted Kluck.  As a father of two with one more on the way who will happily welcome any more that God may bring along thereafter, I appreciated their thoughts on keeping things in God-centerd perspective.


When visiting a number of Reformed churches in the last few months, we've noticed a significant trend. These churches are bursting with children---lots of biological children, of course, but also a good number of adopted and even foster kids. This is a great thing, all those kids, even if we are a little extra sensitive, due to our status as Dreaded Infertile Couple. But we've gotten used to this baby boom---the infant dedication.../rose-on-the-piano acknowledgements, the romper-room-kindergarten-classroom atmosphere in the sanctuary, the baby showers. And lest we sound too much like curmudgeons, we assure you that God has helped to heal the pain of infertility through the adoptions of our two sons (and used those same two wiggly, loud, preciously infuriating boys to confirm that we were not, ever, meant to be parents of a huge family).

But perhaps this sensitivity to the "normal" family experience of marriage at 21 with five kids by age 30 (five is the new two) has given us some perspective that may have escaped the Normals. It came to me this Sunday while sitting behind a family with six or seven kids and listening to the pastor talk about the things we sacrifice to God's agenda. He was talking about how the disciples had ambition for the wrong thing---power in an earthly kingdom. He went on to apply that faulty expectation to misplaced ambitions in our lives: wealth, power, and fame. He clarified that these things are not inherently, incurably wrong, and some devoted Christians do indeed gain wealth, power, and fame. But he spoke of the lust for them, the chasing after them, the have-to-have-them, the sum-total-of-my-being, as being the problem. He quoted David Powlison: "good gifts, bad gods." True, powerful, and convicting words.

And it struck me that those examples---wealth, power, fame---are primarily idolized by men. Sure, women may want some of those things. But more often men fantasize about being the richest guy, the prodigy in their field, wielding power and influencing people, being known and respected. A family may support him off to the side, but he's longing for the accolades, the respect, the riches. But I found myself, while he described the feelings of idolatry---the sense that this is my whole life, this is what I live for, this is what I dream of,this is what completes me and gives me significance---thinking that, for me, this is family.

This stuff of many women's fantasies includes an adoring, faithful spouse; attractive, obedient kids; people who depend on you, love you, give you a reason to get out of bed, regularly stand up and sing your praises. And it is idolatry, just like money, power, and fame. It's the thing that causes the mom in your women's Bible study to post the 67th picture of her daughter's birthday party on Facebook. It's the reason for the magazine-quality family pictures all over the house. It's why the mother-of-the-bride obsesses about her daughter's wedding and treats it like a part-time job. It's (at least in part) why Christmas letters get sent and then end up making their recipients feel mad and competitive.

Gift or God?
What makes it even trickier and more confusing is the value the Bible places on family. It is the building block of a just and moral society. It is a hedge of protection for the traditionally vulnerable children and women. The Bible has much to say about the blessing of a godly spouse and a houseful of children and includes lots of good directives on how to keep those relationships healthy and godly. Parents are charged with the precious task of directing and guiding our children's hearts towards God, so it is easy to think of family as an unqualified good. "Family values" is practically synonymous with "orthodox Christian."

If so, then why do I feel so convicted, sometimes, about worshiping at the altar of family?

Isn't family still a gift, not a god? Isn't it still something that can be elevated into first place, which should be reserved for God alone? I think we see the problem in our reactions to the hardships of family life---fractured relationships with parents, wayward or difficult children, marriages that are anything less than Christian-movie quality. We take it personally. We feel somehow personally affronted ... by God, as though the Perfect Family were our birthright as Christians. And when I say "we," I mean "I." It's a personal battle, waged mostly silently by other families and friends.

Churches encourage our husbands daily to not make idols out of their careers, and to not look at porn. But how are we, as wives, encouraging and exhorting one another not to make idols out of perhaps our greatest gifts: our families?

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    Author

    Chad Skaran, pastor

    A note from Chad:
    While I will occasionally write original material for this blog, time constraints and my own slow writing style will usually lead me to share content from other authors who have already said it well themselves.  Enjoy!

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100 5th Street SE - Stewartville, MN 55976
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