Introduction:
A. What is Simple?
Webster's def: 1. uncomplicated 2. easy to do or understand 3. without additions 4. plain 5. without guile or deceit 6. natural 7. common.
Not Simple as
in dumb or stupid!
B. Christ was a simple man; he was easy to
understand by
the common
person; he didn't add things or exaggerate
things. Christ didn't own much by this worlds
standards; we
would consider him to be a common person.
He was without deceit.
C. Paul felt he was sent by
Christ to proclaim a simple gospel! (I
Cor. 1:17)
Trans.
We should too
as we see that , "A Beautiful Tongue is
a Simple
Tongue!"
Prayer
I. A Simple Tongue uses a simple yes or no. (Matt. 5: 34-37)
A. This is talking about expressions like:
1. "I swear by God!"
2. "I swear on a stack of Bibles that this
is true!"
3. "Cross my heart and hope to die!"
B. He is saying here that we shouldn't have to
do this.
C. We should live such a life that a simple yes
or no is sufficient!
II. A Simple Tongue avoids superficial flattery!
A. This is flattery that isn't really heart
felt, and it
is exaggerated
greatly!
B. Examples:
1. Your house is just "divine!"
2. Your dress is "absolutely
marvelous!"
3. or in some way exaggerating it
more than we really feel!
C. This isn't to say we shouldn't pay someone an
honest, sincere complement. Just
don't color our speech up so much that they won't know whether to
believe us or not!
III. A Simple Tongue avoids Exaggeration!
A. Tells it just like it is with no additions!
B. If we catch a fish that is
12" long, don't tell that it was \
/ that long!
C. If we are in a certain
financial bracket, we don't need to try to give the impression that we are in a
higher one!
D. We are to be without deceit in all things!
IV. A Simple Tongue uses simple language with God!
A. When we pray, our speech doesn't need to be fancied up for God! We don't need to try to use big words to please others either!
B. Jesus had some instructions on prayer: (Matt. 6:7
NRSV)
"When you
are praying, do not heap up empty
phrases as the
Gentiles do; for they think that
they will be
heard because of their many words."
After saying this, Jesus followed it up with a model prayer of directness and simplicity without fancy speech!
"The Lord's
Prayer"
That
we will pray during our communion service!
C. Two things wrong with a fancy prayer:
1. It probably isn't sincere and heart felt.
2. It doesn't encourage others to lead in public
prayer!
V. A Simple Tongue uses simple language when referring to God!
A. We need to be careful not to
use big words when talking about God without defining them, assuming everyone
knows what we are talking about.
B.
We need to be careful about using Churchy
language
that only people in the church will
understand without
explaining it: salvation, sanctification,
justification, trinity, and etc.
1. This
goes for other things in the church as well.
2. That
is why I explain that “catholic” in the
Apostle’s Creed means universal church so often!
3. That is why I explain what we are doing when
we
light the candles and carry the flame out at the
end of the service so often!
4. Again, we don’t need to use churchy language
that
outsiders don’t understand without explaining it!
C.
We need to be careful about using inside acronyms
that only people on the inside understand without explaining them: VIM, UMCOR,
PPR, etc.
D. This is the reason I like to do communion like I do, giving an explanation what open communion means, explaining what it means to remember Christ’s Body, explain what it means to remember Christ’s blood, explaining what it means to encounter Christ at the table etc. We can’t assume people just know why we do what we do!
Conclusion:
A. Life is getting so complicated. Let's be careful and
not make the
Gospel complicated!
B. As we encounter Christ at the table today, let's
commit
today to let our tongues be simple
tongues, and to
present the gospel in such a way that all can understand!
Prayer
of Confession
Service
of Communion
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