Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

C. S. Lewis, the brilliant atheist who became one of the most famous Christians of the 20th century, said, "It is no good asking for a simple religion after all, real things are not simple."

Little did he realize, when he wrote those words in his early book, Mere Christianity, just how true they were to become in his life.

He was a middle aged bachelor living with his bachelor brother, and both of them were scholars and authors.

Life was so simple and uncomplicated until Joy Davidmen came into it.

Joy was a living example of life's complexity.

She was born into a Jewish home as a near genius.

She was reading history and philosophy at the age of 8, and like her father she became a atheist.

She got fed up with the American economic system during the depression in the 30's, and joined the Communist party.

She taught school, wrote books and scripts for Hollywood.

She got married and had two sons, and then she heard the Gospel and surrendered to Christ.

She became a devoted Christian, and immediately she used her skills to write Christian books.

She discovered C. S. Lewis, and fell in love with his writings.

To make a long story short, she eventually got to England, and met Lewis in person.

They were two brilliant former atheist who now loved Christ, and were writing books to tell the world of their faith.

They enjoyed each other immediately.

When she returned to the United States, and to alcoholic husband, there were problems.

She fought for years to keep her marriage together, but finally her Christians friends advised her to divorce him.

She did, and moved to England, and there her and Lewis had a romantic relationship for three years.

Life was still fairly simple, but then the British government sent her a letter saying her permit to stay in England was expired, and she had to leave.

That is when Lewis realized he loved her and could not live without her.

But the Anglican church, of which he was a member, did not allow the remarriage of divorced people.

He was torn, and had to act, and so he married her secretly so she could stay in England.

They lived in their own homes separately.

She kept her own name.

It was very complicated, and gossip began to grow as this 59 year old bachelor began to spend an extraordinary amount of time visiting Joy.

He pleaded with his church to be allowed to marry her, but he was denied.

Joy discovered she had cancer, and was very soon on her death bed, but God spared her long enough for them to have a beautiful honeymoon.

They traveled to Ireland and Greece.

Then her cancer returned, and she died in her early 40's.

C. S. Lewis was never well after he lost her, and he died three years later in 1963.

He was a brilliant godly man who changed the course of history for millions, but he knew from his study, and from experience, life is not simple.

Even though it is true that life can be complex, the common people heard Jesus gladly because they knew what he was saying.

Jesus had the gift of simplicity.

He said, "love thy neighbor," and not what the intellectual scholar might say, "Display empathy in a psychic ethnocentricity."

Jesus said, "Fear not, I have over come the world," and not, "unlock your libido, the existential predicament has been transcended."

With a little thought Christians can be lifted beyond the reach of the masses, and be lost in the complexity of language.

Better have five words that people understand, says Paul, then 10 thousand in a tongue they can't understand.

Simplicity is best, but Paul wrote that because Christians were getting caught up in complexity.

Paul knew that life was not simple.

Nevertheless,

that is a goal to aim for.

A judge in Illinois issued an order that forced a patient to have a blood transfusion she had refused on religious grounds.

She lived because of it, and then sued the judge who had saved her.

The Illinois Supreme Court agreed, he had violated her first amendment rights.

He had saved her life, but he was reprimanded for violating her rights.

Had he let her die, he would have done no wrong-legally.

Life is not simple.

How can we reconcile what we know about the reality of life's complexity with the emphasis of Jesus on simplicity?

One of the dominant themes of Matthew 6 is on, success in simplicity.

Do you want to have a life well rewarded for your spiritual efforts in prayer, giving, and fasting?

Jesus says do not make it complicated by trying to please the masses.

You only have to please God, and so keep it secret, and keep it simple.

Do not think you can snow God with eloquent, but empty, words.

If quantity of words was the key to prayer, then the pagans with their prayer wheels, which through a prayer off to God every time they revolved, have us all beat.

Jesus says stay away from all ideas that make prayer complicated.

God already knows your need before you ask, so keep it simple.

Jesus gives us the example we call the Lord's prayer.

It is so simple, and so short, you can pray it in 20 to 30 seconds.

Jesus simplified everything he touched.

The Old Testament saints had ten commandments to guide them, but Jesus said you can simplify these ten, and reduce them to two.

Love God with all your being, and you neighbor as yourself.

This is not easy, but it is simple to grasp.

In verse 24 Jesus says you cannot serve two masters.

Even when things are down to two, Jesus is still saying, simplify, and cut it down to one only as Lord.

Thoreau said, "Simplify, simplify, simplify!

I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand--simplify, simplify."

Jesus went beyond this and said your life is a complicated mess until you cut down to only one ultimate loyalty, which is God.

He ends this chapter by saying do not get caught up in worry over many things.

Simplify by seeking first the kingdom of God, and all the complex pieces of the puzzle will come together.

Don't reach out into tomorrow, but keep it simple, and live one day at a time.

This entire chapter, from beginning to end, has one common theme: Keep it simple.

Life is complicated; love is complicated; but the Lord is not complicated.

How can this be when He is the author of life and love, and all the vast universe of colossal cosmic complexities?

But that is just it, the many have their source in the One, so that though reality is complex, the source of reality is simple.

When our lives revolve around the One, which is God, life can be simple in one basic sense, even if it is complex in many areas.

There is no escaping the paradox involved in simplicity, for it is both sought and shunned,

because like everything else there are two sides to it.

In other words, simplicity is not always simple.

The Bible deals with both sides of simplicity.

The book of Proverbs warns of the folly of being simple-minded, which means lacking wisdom and discernment.

The simple can be simpletons, and be led like an ox to the slaughter by the cleverness of the tempter.

Paul is amazed at the foolish Galatians who are such simpletons that they allow themselves to be led back into trusting in the law.

It is possible to be simple in a way that makes simplicity synonymous with stupidity.

There is a childishness as well as a child likeness, and they are opposite kinds of simplicity.

John Bunyan, so famous for his Pilgrims Progress made this clear with his character named Simple.

He was one who said, "I can see no danger," and the result was he walked into a snare set for him, and he ended up enslaved.

It happens all the time to the simple-minded.

Alexander Whyte, in describing Simple in his book, Bunyan Characters writes, "There is so much that is not simple and sincere in this world; there is so much falsehood and duplicity; there are so many men aboard whose endeavor is to waylay, mislead, entrap and corrupt the simple-minded and the inexperienced, that it is next to impossible that any youth shall long remain in this world both simple and safe also."

We know this is true, and we dare not leave people in that state of simplicity like sitting pigeons to be ensnared.

They need to be taught that things are not always what they seem, and there is value in being somewhat skeptical, and not believe everything they hear and read.

In other words, even though simplicity is our goal as Christians, it is possible to over simplify and go to an extreme that only complicates life.

The same is true in the realm of science.

Albert Einstein said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler."

Alfred North Whitehead put it, "The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex facts.

We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest.

The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, 'seek simplicity and distrust it.'"

This makes a good motto for the Christian life as well.

Simplicity is our goal, but there is a superficial side of simplicity that can get us off the truly simple track.

One master is better than two, but this does not mean that one leg is better than two, or that two heads cannot be better than one.