K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple

Summary

Imagine a life where love leads the way. Following Jesus is about simplifying your heart and actions to reflect God’s love. In this heartfelt exploration, discover how loving God and your neighbor can transform every moment into a blessing.

Transcript

Following Jesus is simple. On the surface, we've talked about that. Following Jesus is simple. Go to the ends of the earth, proclaiming the good news, baptizing people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Very simple, right? Go and spread the good news. Or, as in Luke, go and offer blessings to people. All the words of the prophets and all the laws hinge on those two things. Love God and love your neighbor. You can filter your whole life through those two things. This week, we're talking about probably my least favorite topic to talk about in the world, and that's rules. Rules. I know some people here love rules.

It's what makes their life go round. It gives them structure. It gives them purpose and identity, and it helps them know which step to take or which step not to take. It shows how to follow God and how not to follow God. But I want to simplify it, and we'll just talk about how simple it is. What are the rules to following Jesus? And they're pretty simple.

And I say simple, obviously, we know that following Jesus can put us in some pretty crazy and precarious, it's a big word I just came up with, but some scary situations to follow our faith, to be good, obedient disciples of Jesus. It's simple to follow Jesus, but it can be very difficult to do that in the world that we live in. It causes us to have a different rhythm in life. It causes us to have a different posture in how we interact in the world and how we exist in the world. And it causes us to have different attitudes towards each other, towards what we call others, and even to the attitude we have towards ourselves and how we treat our own selves and our own souls. It is a simple thing to follow Jesus, to say you follow Jesus, but it is very, very difficult to live that out every day, every moment, all the time. So let's talk about these rules.

There are many rules in our lives. We all have rules that we have to follow by, both spoken and written down and unspoken. Some of the rules we follow that are spoken laws. We have to follow the speed limits sometimes, not in Dallas, that's not really a rule in Dallas. Speed limits, registering your car, criminal stuff, don't steal stuff, stuff we've written down into the laws and ordinances. They say if you do something, this rule, if you break this rule, you'll be punished for it. So we have these written rules.

Out here we have game rules, like sit down to play a game. How do you play a game? And you have to make up. I was telling my wife yesterday and my kids that I thought I knew how to play this game called Farkle.

It's a dice game. And I had all these rules up my head and I won every time. I thought I was the best dice player in the world until I read the rules again. And I realized that I was playing the whole game wrong. And as soon as I played by the rules, I lost the very first round. So rules are important to let other people win occasionally, I guess. But we have game rules, we have paperwork rules.

And I just think like in our denomination, even we have to fill out paperwork to say this is what I've done as a pastor or whatnot. If you're in the pipeline to become a pastor, there's rules you have to follow and paperwork you have to follow. There are rules you have to follow if you're waiting in line, right? No cutting. There are assignment rules and school rules, which are my mind because I'm in school. So all these different are written down that somebody has said these are important for you to follow. And usually they come with consequences if you don't follow them.

Then there's some unspoken rules all around us. And these ones probably we may not always be aware of, but we do them all the time in our lives. And it's till somebody comes in and disrupts the social norm, that we realized that there was a hidden rule or something that we cared very much and deeply about. So here's one I think everybody can agree, but don't wear whites to a wedding. That's like a pretty big rule. Everybody kind of knows it. You won't get arrested for it.

You might get thrown out of the wedding for it, but don't wear whites to a wedding. Social norm. Give up your seat for an elderly or pregnant person on the bus or train. I think even the buses and trains have that written up there. You don't give up your seat. That's a social norm. How about some food and cultural norms?

Since I've moved to Texas, I have come to realize, of course, it's you all knew that Texas is the best state in the union. It is its own thing. It's the best. And if you think any different, you can be shunned. But here's where I might break the rule, that beans do belong in chili. And so I know some of you here have talked to Jonathan in food. That's a big no-no in Texas.

No beans in chili. I call it hot dog sauce where I'm from. If you don't have beans in your chili, it's hot dog sauce. Here, it's chili.

See, unbroken rule. Don't put that on line. Okay, back. I am no stranger to rules myself. I have a lot of rules. I have a lot of social norms and written down rules I'm supposed to follow. In fact, every time I open up my computer, I have a program that says a big banner comes across it.

And it says, don't waste your time today, Jeremy. Because it's very likely that if I open my computer up to do some work, I'm going to end up wasting my time. So that rule I've given myself, don't waste time. It's very simple. It's just a reminder to be like, hey, do what you're here to do. So again, my rules, personally, I have school rules I have to follow. I have pastor rules I have to follow.

When I was in the army, we had so many rules. We had rules that exist just for the military. And stuff you could get prosecuted for in the military that you can't get prosecuted for on the civilian side. A whole bunch of extra rules. And customs and courtesies and saluting people. And when do you salute people? When do you don't salute people?

When do you wear a hat? When do you don't wear a hat? You can put your hands in your pockets, the answer is no. So rules help an organization like the military function.

I have rules as a husband. I have rules as a dad.

But here's the thing. As much as I dislike rules, I hate them. I think rules are meant to be broken. That's why they put them there so I know what the line is. I can choose to jump over it or not jump over it and consider the consequences, and if they're worth it. But I need rules. The miserable part of my brain, not miserable, that's the wrong word, but the dichotomy, I guess, is I have to have rules so I can function in life.

I've talked, I have ADHD. You can tell I'm talking very fast right now. If I don't have rules in place, my brain just kind of goes all over the place and does whatever it wants to do. So I need the rules. And I think a lot of people, I think that a lot of people actually enjoy having structure in their lives to know what they can do, what they cannot do, because it makes everything way easier when you know the expectations up front. But I think there's sometimes an expectation that rules, if they're very difficult to follow, or they're very complex, or there's a really, really big consequence if you don't follow through or adhere to the rule, we have this thing that we think those rules are the most important rules in the whole world. Because if the rule's really complicated, then it must be really, really important, and more important than all of the other rules.

Because a rule without consequences is just kind of a suggestion, right? That's what my kids would say, at least. It's kind of a suggestion. And I think that's why there's so many questions about rules thrown at Jesus. Jesus always asked about the rules. How does somebody get to heaven? What's the best way to get to heaven, Jesus?

How do I get there? What's that look like?

Who is my neighbor, Jesus? Who am I supposed to help?

And who do I care for? Or, hey, what's the biggest commandment? We've got this whole Old Testament, Jesus. But what's the greatest commandment out of all of them, right? What's the power structure like? Colby talked about this last week. Who's going to be in charge?

When you're in charge, Jesus, who gets to be the next in charge? Let's start fleshing out the power structure so we can have some boundaries on this. And I think also, perhaps, this is why Paul, who writes a lot of this is what you guys are doing. This is where you're wrong. He is talking about what the norms and the expectations and the rules that people have followed for so long, what they actually mean and how to follow them and where freedom is found. And so Paul talks so much in the New Testament and spend so much time fleshing out theology and understanding of what it means to to follow Jesus, to be a good Christian person, to the point where he says the law is there just to show you how much you have failed. I'm paraphrasing.

The law showed you how much you failed, but freedom is found in Christ against the Holy Spirit. There is no law. You can't do it. If you're following Jesus and being led by the Holy Spirit, then the law won't really matter because the author of the law, the creator of the universe, is the Holy Spirit. So Paul talks a lot about rules and expectations. And I get it. I think if we have to work really hard to achieve something or if we have to work really hard to resist something, we feel really, really, really good when we've accomplished it.

Did anybody give up anything for lunch? Just raise your hand if you gave up something for lunch, 40 days, 40 nights. If you do and you made it all the way through, you feel really, really good. Maybe you need a little reward. One time Carmen and I did the Daniel Fast, 21 days of eating, in my opinion, pretty bad food. But at the end of the 21 days, we were in the Pizza Hut parking lot at 11.55 p.m. with the pizza that we had ordered on our laps.

And as soon as it hit 12 o'clock, our fast was broken and we deserved to reward ourselves for following the rules for 21 days. We made it. High five. And we ate a whole large pizza. That's not the first time I've done that. In basic training, you know, like in the army, at the end of the nine weeks, you have a pizza party. You get to have a half a pizza and two sodas.

And what happens? Everybody ends up sick because they haven't had that much food in that way.

But we feel good. Rules feel good when we adhere to them. When we follow the rules, when we do what's expected of us, we can feel really good about it because we have conformed to the expectations that somebody else has put on us. In teaching, when I was a teacher, classroom management was a big deal we talked about. And a lot of people said, people, kids just want structure. That's true. Kids want to have structure because otherwise it's kind of explode all over the classroom.

People like to have rules and structure. I mean, even the pastor we read earlier with Second Kings, and we hear this story about this great general who has leprosy. And it gets to the grapevine and a believer says, hey, go see this prophet.

He'll heal you. And so they send the letter over to the King of Israel. And his first reaction is he's mad. He's mad because he's thinking this is like, you can't do this. So if you can't do this, we're going to come back and attack you. He's provoking him. And it gets to the grapevine again and says, hey, no, just go see the prophet.

And he'll tell you what to do. It's like this big deal. We're talking about nations at war right here. Like, so heal this general. I can't do it. So you want to fight. And then no, go see this prophet.

And the prophet doesn't even come out to see him. Right. He just says, hey, take a bath. He says, go dunk in the river seven times. Go take a bath seven times. You're going to be clean. And what Naaman do?

He was super, super mad. He was really angry that I traveled all this way from my homeland, these other rivers in Damascus, they're beautiful rivers. Can I just take a bath there? And his servant, you know, a lot of nerve to the servant. They say, well, my father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? If it was a complex and difficult ritual and a rule to follow, wouldn't you have done that? Because you thought it was more complex and there was some magic in that.

Because Naaman wanted him to come out right here. I thought he would come out and wave his hand over me and like have a magic wand and cure me of my leprosy. No, he says something very simple. Go take a bath seven times.

You're came here, you submitted. I mean, that's what I think this story's about. He comes and he submits to the prophet, the voice of God, submits to God to cure his leprosy. And he gives him something so simple to do that it shows like, I wanted something complex. But as I said, you don't need to. Just take a bath and he was cured. He was healed and all was good.

Now, if we look at Luke 10, so that's our gospel passage today. If you look at one through 11, and so the title of this is called Jesus sends out the 72. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals and do not greet anyone on the road.

When you enter a house first to say peace to this house, if someone who promotes peace is there, your peaceful rest on them. If not, it will return to you. Stay there eating and drinking whatever they give you for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them the kingdom of God has come near to you. But when you enter a town and you are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you.

Be sure of this. The kingdom of God has come near. I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. And so Jesus gives a pretty simple instruction, simple set of instructions to his disciples, the 72 to send out there is travel light. Don't take anything with you. Offer blessings to the towns you come across and to the people that you meet. If somebody accepts that blessing, stay with them and let them offer you hospitality for as long as they want.

Don't go around to somebody else's house then, just stay there. Heal people and then declare the kingdom of God has come near. That's pretty simple. I mean, I know that's a simple thing to do. Go and bless people and proclaim the gospel. That's really simple. Now we know that if you're going on a multi-day journey and you're told not to bring anything with you just to close on your back and that's it.

We know that will be complex and difficult and you have to rely on other people and figuring it out, but it's a simple set of instructions. Go, bless people and accept hospitality.

And then it's simple. Okay. If that doesn't work out, what do you do then? If they don't accept your hospitality, the instructions are simple. Just leave. And then also, what do you do? Proclaim the word or the kingdom of God has come near.

It's very simple. Go, accept hospitality. If they don't give you hospitality, leave. Colby said last week, he talked a lot about not strong-arming people to believe in the gospel. His instructions weren't, hey, browbeat these people with scripture and logic and apologetics to they will believe. It was much simpler. Go, accept hospitality or don't.

And either way, proclaim the gospel. Very simple. Very, very simple. And Galatians, this comes a little bit before the section we read today because I think hospitality is like a core tenant of being a Christian. I think it's kind of our bread and butter and our jam. And so, as it turns to Galatians chapter six, we're going to go. I think that like we have to ask, are we like Jesus?

So, the disciples were sent out on behalf of Jesus. He says, go to the places where we're going to go. So, do we accept people like Jesus who come to us? Do we love them despite whatever baggage they're bringing into the doors with them? Do we desire the best for them and point them to Jesus and proclaim the good news? Do we journey with them through their struggles? And do we offer grace, forgiveness, compassion?

And do we spend time with God? Do we allow people to come and be hospitable here? We're hospitable to them and offer the good news. And then Paul writes about this in Galatians chapter six, one through 10. He says, brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the spirit should restore that person gently.

But watch yourselves as you may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something, then they are not. They deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else. For each one should carry their own load.

Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. So I think share together, be hospitable towards one another, bear one another's burdens and work together for the good of each other and for all. Pretty simple instructions, right? Hospitality, be hospitable to people. So, and then back in Luke, the 72 return. So they go out on their little mission trip and they come back and they're, they're jazzed. So if you look at verse 17 through 20, this is what it says.

The 72 returned with joy and said, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name. Jesus replied, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of your enemy. Nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice at the spirit submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Don't celebrate because you have exerted dominion over the people that you have met and you have won them because of your actions, but some, uh, celebrate that it's not your power, but the kingdom of God, both here and now that you were able to go and accept hospitality but then also the kingdom of heaven because of your actions. You, uh, your names are written in heaven.

It's not about what you were able to accomplish because again, your accomplishments were what you traveled light. You went to a town, you gave them a blessing and you accepted hospitality. That's all you're supposed to do. And if they didn't, you left. So don't boast about what you did. You just traveled around and offered blessing. That's all you did.

Don't boast about that. It's not your power.

And then later in Galatians, we finished this up, uh, here, uh, at the end, we just read, um, I'm gonna start at verse 13, chapter six, not even those who are circumcised, keep the law yet. They want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast me, Paul, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is the new creation, peace and mercy to all who follow this rule to the Israel of God. You don't like he's saying here, this great debate of whether you become a believer, you should be circumcised or not. You should be marked as a, as a believer in God.

Should you be, uh, following the rules so people can know from the outside. And he's saying here that even the people that are already following God, supposed to be following God, who are demanding you to be circumcised, to follow these rules, even they do not follow the rules that they're making you follow. But that's not even what matters. That's not what matters. What matters is that you have died to the world and you live in the joy and the, uh, the miracle and blessings of Jesus Christ. I can boast not in my own power and my own achievement, but I can boast in the newness of life that I find through Jesus. The rules are not that important because the rules when Jesus were asked were very simple.

And so why is it so hard for us to be simple? We always have to go and make things so complicated, right? It goes back to the idea that something has to be difficult to mean something. Following Jesus is simple on the surface. We've talked about that. Following Jesus is simple. Go to the ends of the earth, proclaiming the good news, baptizing people in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit.

Very simple, right? Go and spread the good news. Or as in Luke, go and offer blessings to people. And the greatest commandment out of all that is love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And the second commandment that's just like it, just as important, is love your neighbor as yourself. Everything could be filtered through those two things. All the words of the prophets and all the laws hinge on those two things, love God and love your neighbor.

You could filter your whole life through those two things. Is my actions, are my actions loving God? And do my actions love my neighbor? Keep it simple. Following Jesus is a lifelong reinvention and surrender. And I understand. I could say, follow Jesus, follow the ways of Jesus, love God, love your neighbor.

That's very simple. I get it.

But it is a lifelong journey of surrendering yourself, finding out there are parts of you that you didn't know you had to surrender until you get to them, and you have to struggle and fight with those, and you just surrender that again, and you keep working through it. It's a lifelong endeavor, but it's simple.

Love God and love your neighbor. So I want to end with this beautiful acronym that I try to live my life by as much as I can. It's KISS. Anybody know what KISS stands for? Not the rock band. This is an old military term I learned, I don't know, but that's where I learned it actually, is the military is the Navy, but it is keep it simple, stupid.

Keep it simple, stupid. In the military, there's a lot of really, I say, there's a lot of really kind of dumb people in the military, and that's okay.

I love them. I was probably one of them. I know I was one of them, you know what I mean?

But that's what it is. Keep it simple, stupid.

Some people change it. Keep it simple, silly. Keep it simple, sailor. Keep it simple, stupid, because when you try to complicate things, you try to add so many things to what you're supposed to do, and so many rules that you have to follow, and so many contingency plans, and this and that, you get lost really, really fast. We're not told, even in the military, at my feet, illuminate the next step I'm supposed to take, and that next step should be, am I loving God, and am I loving my neighbor? Here at Journey, we've made it really simple for the whole year of 2025. We've offered you two, I'm not going to call them rules, two activities to help cultivate your spiritual life.

Do you remember what they are? We have to, we have to pray, yes, and we should also do what?

We should do good deeds. Pray daily, and do good deeds.

Keep it simple, stupid. You're not stupid, but you can be overwhelmed. Pray daily, do good deeds, and love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.