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March 10 - Simplicity and Service - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Inordinate self-concern has often been called “concupiscence” (see Rom. 7). Concupiscence is a rich concept, one that at times has been reduced to sexual desire, but more properly refers to inordinate desire of any kind—the desire to center the world on oneself, the desire infinitely to consume the finite. As Paul Tillich put it, concupiscence is the desire to “cram the world into one’s own mouth.”1 In verses 13–34 Jesus is offering us the choice between concupiscence and kingdom living.
        
        Kingdom living - it all comes from God - and the breath in our lungs is from God... Acknowledgment of this provision is the source of “richness toward God” (v. 21) and, concomitantly, richness toward others. The rich man fails in this most basic covenantal responsibility (see the Great Commandment in Luke 10:27).
        We live interconnectedly.... that is how we are designed... the rich man is only thinking of himself - he imagines his life without community... but it is no doubt, his workers, his neighbours, the soil, the ecosystem that makes it all possible...n he is isolated...and does not participate in the economy/ ecology of God...in a bid for control... he loses control - 'v20 and the things... whose will they be?' He loses control.
        The second threat to kingdom living... anxiety - if greed/ lust is the symptom - anxiety may be the disease...
        Paul Tillich talked of anxiety as the “threat of nonbeing” and interpreted anxiety in three categories: the anxiety of fate and death, the anxiety of guilt and condemnation, and the anxiety of emptiness and meaninglessness.
        Perhaps it is anxiety that causes the rich man to build bigger barns, to try to secure himself against any perceived threat to his being. Of course, by doing so, he cuts himself off from the source of his own being and from the only source of faithful courage in the midst of a vulnerable world.
        trust that it is God’s “good pleasure to give [us] the kingdom” that grounds our otherwise ungrounded existence. Grounded in that faith, grounded in the divine benevolence, we can live, not without anxiety, but with faithful courage in the midst of anxiety. We can choose kingdom over concupiscence, to the glory of the Father.
        
        there is no absolute right to anything - it all comes from God - it all comes from the earth - the earth is not ours to put fences around...
- - - - Having said all this, I must hasten to add that God intends that we should have adequate material provision. There is misery today from a simple lack of provision just as there is misery when people try to make a life out of provision. Forced poverty is evil and should be renounced. Nor does the Bible condone an extreme asceticism. Scripture declares consistently and forcefully that the creation is good and to be enjoyed. Asceticism makes an unbiblical division between a good spiritual world and an evil material world and so finds salvation in paying as little attention as possible to the physical realm of existence.
        
        Simplicity is the only thing that sufficiently reorients our lives so that possessions can be genuinely enjoyed without destroying us. Without simplicity we will either capitulate to the ‘mammon’ spirit of this present evil age, or we will fall into an un-Christian legalistic asceticism. Both lead to idolatry. Both are spiritually lethal.
        
        But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well’
        The central point for the Discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary will come in its proper order. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of Jesus’ insight at this point. Everything hinges upon maintaining the ‘first’ things as first. Nothing must come before the kingdom of God, including the desire for a simple life-style.
        Focus upon the kingdom produces the inward reality, and without the inward reality we will degenerate into legalistic trivia. Nothing else can be central. The desire to get out of the rat race cannot be central, the redistribution of the world’s wealth cannot be central, the concern for ecology cannot be central. Seeking first God’s kingdom and the righteousness, both personal and social, of that kingdom is the only thing that can be central in the Spiritual Discipline of simplicity.
        
        To receive what we have as a gift from God is the first inner attitude of simplicity. We work but we know that it is not our work that gives us what we have. We live by grace even when it comes to ‘daily bread.’ We are dependent upon God for the simplest elements of life: air, water, sun. What we have is not the result of our labour, but of the gracious care of God. When we are tempted to think that what we own is the result of our personal efforts, it takes only a little drought or a small accident to show us once again how utterly dependent we are for everything.
        
        To know that it is God’s business, and not ours, to care for what we have is the second inner attitude of simplicity. God is able to protect what we possess. We can trust him. Does that mean that we should never take the keys out of the car or lock the door? Of course not. But we know that the lock on the door is not what protects the house. It is only common sense to take normal precautions, but if we believe that precaution itself protects us and our goods, we will be riddled with anxiety. There simply is no such thing as ‘burglar proof’ precaution. Obviously, these matters are not restricted to possessions but include such things as our reputation and our employment. Simplicity means the freedom to trust God for these (and all) things.
        
        To have our goods available to others marks the third inner attitude of simplicity. If our goods are not available to the community when it is clearly right and good, then they are stolen goods. The reason we find such an idea so difficult is our fear of the future. We cling to our possessions rather than sharing them because we are anxious about tomorrow. But if we truly believe that God is who Jesus says he is, then we do not need to be afraid. When we come to see God as the almighty Creator and our loving Father, we can share because we know that he will care for us. If someone is in need, we are free to help them. Again, ordinary common sense will define the parameters of our sharing and save us from foolishness.
        
        When we are seeking first the kingdom of God, these three attitudes will characterise our lives. Taken together they define what Jesus means by ‘do not be anxious.’ They comprise the inner reality of Christian simplicity. And we can be certain that when we live this way the ‘all these things’ that are necessary to carry on human life adequately will be ours as well.
        
        Application: To experience the liberating spirit of simplicity will affect how we live.
        Can we discern when we have an addiction
        Can you develop a habbit of giving away
        Can you de accumulate... de clutter literally
        Refuse to give in to propoganda
        Learn to enjoy things without owning them
        cultivate a deeper appreciation for creayion
        Reject things that oppress others... these are tinged often with racism, secism, classim... God ohn Woolman, will call us ‘from the desire of wealth’ so that we may be able to ‘break the yoke of oppression
        shun destraction from the main thing May God give you – and me – the courage, the wisdom, the strength always to hold the kingdom of God as the number-one priority of our lives. To do so is to live in simplicity.ii
- - - - The rich man misjudges the harvest at hand. He thinks it will bring much relaxing, eating, drinking, and merriment; but instead, the harvest at hand is the same one that John warns about in the wilderness, that “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down” (3:9). The rich man lives a life solely on a horizontal plane, not aware that life has a vertical dimension as well.
        
        The problem with sacrifice is that it is terribly frightening. It is a move from relying on inheritances and building up storehouses to a life that gives beyond measure, while relying on God. In our culture we often measure ourselves by the size of our storehouses. In the kingdom of God the storehouses are sold, and life is measured by what we do for others.
        In the parable the barns are torn down to make bigger barns – the kingdom asks that we pull down barns so that the kingdom of God could be made manifest…
        
        Jesus attempts to calm our fears by presenting a few illustrations that feature birds and lilies. If you think about it, they live fragile lives, and who knows how much fear courses through the life of a sparrow or lily? I suspect that Jesus was trying to convey the providence of God. Paul says it this way, “Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8).
        
        Jesus does not reject the rich but, rather, those who “store up treasures for themselves, but are not rich toward God” (v. 21). It can be inferred, therefore, that the rich who share their abundance with the poor are also being rich toward God (14:12–14; 19:1–10). This is a sign of faithfulness.