Volume 46 Number 9 May 2004
In San Francisco for a convention, I was walking to McDonald's for breakfast when a beggar approached me for money. I invited him to eat with me, and instead received a rebuke, "I am a professional beggar, and I prefer cash." My choice of dining should have given him a clue that I was an amateur giver, and I politely declined. Professionals are not always what they are made out to be!
Occasionally I will offer extra credit to my public speaking students to visit a church service during a gospel meeting and write a critique of the evangelist's sermon. Invariably, many are often drawn more to the simple talks surrounding the Lord's Day communion service. Brevity could be a reason, but lasting impressions are not always tied to impressive professionals.
All of us should be professionals in the sense that we profess our love for Christ every day. For example, our attire will be proper if we profess godliness (1 Timothy 2:10). If we profess to know God, our works will reveal it (Titus 1:16); otherwise He will profess not knowing us (Matthew 7:23). The Greek noun homologia, "same word," is better rendered confession in Hebrews 3:11, 4:14, and 10:23. This confession made at our conversion (1 Timothy 6:12, 13) should be maintained throughout all our days. Neither is it limited to one location, even though my children spoke of the "confession stand" when they first started playing baseball!
All of us should desire to give the Lord our best efforts (Hebrews 6:10; 1 Peter 4:10). In the Christian age, one cannot hire another to perform priestly duties we should be doing ourselves. It is true there was a clergy system present in the old system, even temple singers, but the authority for a choir or professional priests has passed. The Apostle Paul even warned Timothy about professing false knowledge (1 Timothy 6:20, 21).
As one new Christian in Louisiana, converted from Catholicism, once told me, "1 appreciate the simplicity of the church of Christ." Simple things are elegant. Parsimony, a simple, elegant explanation is appreciated in many arenas, including science. Efforts to make things complicated, formal, and professional, destroy the power inherent in simplicity. For instance, the natural artistic talents of George Caleb Bingham, Missouri frontier and riverfront artist, were ruined, by some accounts, by his study abroad. When he returned, he painted all his characters with a jolly Frenchman smile that lacked realism.
I want to develop and use all my talents for the Lord. I do not want to be part of a system that encourages members to bury theirs (Matthew 25:25). The Lord never compares you to others. The one talent man was not faulted for having only one talent, but for not using it! The Lord used simple men to establish a simple church. Let's appreciate the beauty of simple things:
Do you know that there were evidently "professional mourners" (Jeremiah 9:17; Matthew 9:23) in Jesus' day to insure that proper mourning accompanied funerals? Let the dead bury the dead and give me heart-felt, genuine devotion!
To talk about simplicity does not mean that everything is apparent (2 Timothy 2:14-19; 2 Peter 3:15-18). There are some difficult passages and issues (Deuteronomy 29:29). Simplistic (note the difference) explanations are inadequate. Consequently, brethren, preach what you know-what convicts you-not what you question. As the song suggests, "make the message plain." Indeed, the mark of an educated man is the ability to make things simple. The Greek noun haplotes is sometimes rendered "simplicity." Simple means single-minded, focused. Our mission is to please God, not ourselves. When this view of God is clear (Matthew 6:22; Luke 11:34), we become like him. We will give with singleness of heart (cf. James 1:5 & Romans 12:8), and we will work as unto the Lord (Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:22).
Simple also means pure, unadulterated. It becomes an ethical issue (2 Corinthians 11:2, 3), and consequently we must mark those who ruin the innocence of the church (Romans 16:16-19). Pictured as the bride of Christ, the church must remain pure. Pure and undefiled religion (James 1:27) is our desire.
Finally, simple means devoted to good, "without evil," akakos. Simplicity strikes an emotional chord with people. The adage holds true: no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. To be simple is to be guileless, harmless, sincere, without pretense, unaffected by wrong and skepticism. That describes Jesus (Hebrews 7:26) who went about doing good (Acts 10:38). This simplicity is maintained by holding forth the word (Philippians 2:12-16). Christianity is simple, "unmixed" akeraios, if we stay with the book.
The Lord's church is elegantly simple. Professional splendor may attract, but it does not endure. Never underestimate
the power of simplicity nor be tempted to criticize the less eloquent brother. All of us love to hear great preaching, but we should rejoice more at the development of multiple speakers and teachers in our congregations.
Another way that you can dialogue with me about these thoughts
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For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth over and around us lies:
For the beauty of each hour, of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree, and flow 'r, sun and moon, and stars of light:
For Thy church that evermore lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on ev'ry shore her pure sacrifice of love:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our sacrifice of praise.