The Power of Keeping it Simple
Simplicity is a beautiful thing. We complicate things when we try to add unnecessary details to our lives. But when we make things plain, it is less complicated, less stressful, and is easy to understand.
This principle is the same for the preaching of the Gospel of Christ. I've seen many Christians today who, in their pursuit of making the Gospel appealing to the unbelieving, have strayed away from the simplicity and easy-to-understand nature of the Gospel of Christ to their own deception. Sadly, these beloved people don't know they're lost again.
Led astray
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Paul, speaking to the Christians in Corinth, expressed such concern for those who might have been deceived:
"But I fear that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve through his trickery, so your minds might be led astray from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3)
Many Christians, failing to establish themselves in the simple foundation that is Christ, are easily deceived and led astray. Paul aptly describes how it happens in the succeeding verse:
"For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might submit to it readily enough." (2 Corinthians 11:4)
No other Gospel
Friends, there's only one true gospel of Christ, and it is best to believe it and communicate it in all its simplicity and untouched beauty:
- God created man in His image and likeness, but man sinned and fell short of the glory of God; (see Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:23)
- Because God is holy and cannot tolerate sin, man has been separated from Him; and because God is just, He has to punish man's sin in hell; (see Isaiah 59:2; Romans 6:23)
- But because God is loving, He sent His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to purchase forgiveness for the sins of man by sacrificing His blood on the cross; (see John 3:16-17; 1 John 2:2)
- Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and was the only one worthy to meet God's requirements; (Matthew 1:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21)
- By believing in his heart that Christ is risen and declaring with his mouth that He is Lord, man is able to have a relationship with God – with Him as Father and us as children; (see Romans 10:9; Galatians 3:26)
- Because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are official sons and daughters of God the Father and co-heirs and co-laborers with Christ, are empowered to become His ambassadors, and are being molded into the likeness of Christ; (see Romans 8:14-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Romans 8:28-30)
- Because Christ commissioned us, we are given our life's purpose: to love God above all; to love our neighbors as ourselves; and to preach the Gospel to all the world. (see Matthew 22:37-40, 28:18-20; Mark 16:15)
Profess to know nothing but Christ
Friends, let us hold on to the Gospel of Christ so that we won't be led astray by the many "new" teachings that we hear today. Let us establish ourselves in the Good News that is in Christ, and profess to know nothing but Him crucified, died, risen, and coming again.
"You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own firm footing, being led away by the deception of the wicked. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen." (2 Peter 3:17-18)
