Simplicity
1 Corinthians 1:17-18 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Paul had set up the church at Corinth on his first missionary journey there. He had left the church under the charge of Aquila and Priscilla, and the young church had struggled in many ways in the midst of pagan society that surrounded it. There were huge sexual immorality issues, and the church had become divided among it’s members on who they claimed to be following. Paul was responding to two letters sent to him; much of this points to the instructions of how to conduct themselves as Christians, and as a church; to follow Christ and not an individual. Paul had his hands full in how far this church had slipped away from God. The city of Corinth was a city full of great sin, and that sin had worked its way into the church.
In history it is known that the Jews sought a sign for their coming Messiah, and that the Greeks sought after wisdom to reach their God. Both failed in their attempts. Even those Jews that appeared to be the most religious, were the ones who murdered their King. There are those today that seek their relationship on a level of intellect, a level of “book smart”, yet not the level of “heart smart”. A knowledge of Christ may be found in the pursuit of him, but a relationship with Him is found the understanding of grace. You can never cultivate your salvation by filling your head with the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of the world elevates the achievements of oneself, righteousness found in the knowledge gained to some degree. God has chosen the simplicity of the Gospel to dispel oneself supposed achievements by worldly standards. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Do you get how simple the Good News of God’s grace in Jesus Christ is? Do you feel the need to complicate it by adding your good works to it? Do you believe that their must be some higher goal to achieve, some higher price to pay? That is the way the world teaches; it simply cannot be this easy, can it? John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loves you; he sent his son to die for you to pay for your sins; it only takes a humble, repentant heart that realizes and accepts that free gift. You can never earn your way, in any way. Only a humble, repentant heart finds the true way. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Quit trying to complicate it; rest eternally in the simplicity of it.
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