The Simple Church . . . Connecting the Dots

From our study of the Simple Church we remember that the reason we become the Simple Church is to have a simple process to move folks into the full maturity of Jesus Christ. A mature Christian lives like Jesus lived. We learned from our study together that the church that wants to be a Simple Church attempts to only do those things which help folks live like Jesus lived.

So what do we know about how Jesus lived his life?

Scripture tells us that it was Jesus’ habit to be in church on the Sabbath. Not only that, but time and again we see Jesus going off to a deserted place to have some one-on-one time with God. The life Jesus lived shows us how essential it was for Jesus to take time to be in relationship with God. It was in those times with God that Jesus was able to celebrate that which God was doing in his life to bring about the transformation of others; during those times Jesus was able to share with God his frustrations and received guidance and encouragement from God.

We also see from the Word that Jesus spent a lot of time with those who chose to follow him. It would appear from Scripture that at one point 120 people had left everything to follow him. During that time he invested his love and his teachings with him. We can only imagine how their fellowship together was.

There is another dimension to their time together that is important. When, for example, Peter followed his confession, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, with his rebuking of Jesus, we can only imagine what the others learned that day from this dialogue between Jesus and Peter. I am certain it was a karios moment for them which enabled them to understand God’s purposes in Jesus better and it had to have helped to increase their faith.

There is another element to Jesus’ life and that was the time he spent out in the various communities bringing the Good News of God’s love and grace to those who were sick, tormented, and oppressed. He didn’t stay hunkered down away from folks even though his presence and message stirred up those communities. He didn’t hide in the comfort of someone’s home in order to escape the wrath of the authorities.

So, let’s review: Jesus spent time with God; he spent time with other believers; and he spent time with folks who were far from God. And he has taught us to do what he did. Do these 3 elements of Jesus’ life ring any bells in your mind? These are the same 3 principles of the Lifeshapes we know as the Triangle. The triangle is simply a memory tool which reminds us how Jesus lived his life. Having the 3 elements that Jesus had in his life is the way we become mature disciples of Jesus. We live like Jesus did.

The principles of the triangle is not just another fad that will come and go in our lives, it is the way Jesus has taught us how to live. The triangle simply helps us to remember and explain to others how Jesus lived his life and how we are trying to live our lives. The triangle is the way we live out the mandate of being the Simple Church. It is the way we do or become the Simple Church. They are inextricably joined together.

We actually started implementing the Simple Church last year. When we had the Teaching Summit last summer we went over the way folks become mature disciples in Jesus. The Bible Study, the Companions in Christ class (which is all about deepening our UP and IN, our relationship with God and other believers), the renewed passion for the CHOSEN ministry (OUT) and even our leadership class, are all ways in which we are trying to help folks become mature disciples of Jesus.

Jesus lived a life that modeled for us how we can become mature disciples . . . in other words he modeled the Simple Church for us. The 3 elements in his life that we have outlined above can help us to live a balanced life like Jesus did. Living a balanced life is what we are called to do and it is a calling that we will struggle with all of our lives.