Simplicity

Posted on March 7, 2025 by Don Merritt

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33

This verse pretty well says it all about the Spiritual Practice of Simplicity. Like Frugality, Simplicity is more of a way of life than anything else; you don’t withdraw to a quiet room for this one.

Jesus told the people of His time not to worry about anything and not to be overly concerned about money, possessions and above all not to be pulled into greed. Yet the society of His day was far simpler than the one in which we live today. Is it even possible for us to live simple lives?

The starting point of simplicity is to have an absolute passion and priority for the Kingdom of God, so much so, in fact, that the acquisition of material possessions is based purely upon practical necessity. Here’s an illustration:

When I was 8 years old, we did not have any of the following items:

A color TV, cable, or satellite.

A cell phone of any kind.

A computer or tablet.

A microwave or convection oven.

A garage door opener.

Air conditioning, either in the house or the car.

A big house.

A powered lawn mower or any other powered lawn or garden tools… or any kind of power tools for that matter.

Electric kitchen appliances.

A printer or fax machine, or voice mail in any form; needless to say, we didn’t have internet either.

My sister and I walked to school every day by ourselves.

Were we poor? No, we were upper middle class, and our swimming pool was actually heated. The only thing is, most of the items, necessities of life that they are, didn’t exist− so I know that none of them are actually “needs”.

To practice simplicity, we must learn to tell the difference between things we want and things we need, and to sacrifice the wants for the sake of the Kingdom.

Many people who practice simplicity find that having a better connection with the Creation is beneficial, although city dwellers can practice it too. Many find that a heightened appreciation for God’s natural creation is helpful because it reminds us that we really don’t “own” anything, for all that we have was provided by God for our Provision, except maybe things that are on my list above…

Some find it helpful to live in very simple circumstances in the country rather than in town where the pressure is greater to follow the crowd. Some might even learn to live “off grid” like the Amish do. Others believe that an enhanced connection with Nature brings them much closer to God; some of those practice Naturism to be at one with Nature as Adam and Eve were.

The point is that the practice of simplicity is all about your priorities and mindset. I think we can all agree on that. To be honest, this one has a certain attraction for me, and when I was a young man, I wanted to buy a place out in the mountains, a simple cabin sounded good, and live a simple life as many of our ancestors did on the frontier. Of course, wives have a way of using their Veto power to derail such notions… not to mention the fact that, having grown up in the city, I lacked all of the skills required by such circumstances. Being older now, it also occurs to me that living a life way out yonder would make it a little difficult to build the Kingdom by sharing the love of Christ with squirrels and jackrabbits.

We can all have a different outlook on the materialism of this world in which we live. No matter how we view simplicity, it seems reasonable to me that the focus doesn’t need to go to the extreme for most people, rather the focus is simply on God, and on the things and activities that enhance our relationship with him.

Any thoughts on this one?

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Lines Crossed

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Don Merritt

Acts 21:17-26

When Paul arrived in Jerusalem he was warmly greeted, and the next day he reported to James and the elders of the church about his adventures among the Gentiles. They received his report with joy, and no doubt were also happy to learn that he was not guilty of the things that were being said about him in Jerusalem, for it would seem that many Jewish Christians had been told that Paul was telling Jews in faraway places that they should not observe the Law of Moses.

We know from Paul’s letters that he often spoke highly about the Law, we also know that he often spoke harshly about Jews who insisted that Gentile believers be circumcised, and that Paul himself claimed that he was not under the law as a Christian, but that he observed the law when dealing with Jews, and not when dealing only with Gentiles. At no point in his letters or recorded remarks does he advise Jewish Christians not to live according to the Law.

As you see, there are some fairly fine lines here, and one might understand how a Jewish Christian might misunderstand Paul’s position… especially when his position was deliberately misrepresented by those who sought to discredit him.

James proposed a solution to this problem: Paul could join in a purification rite which would be a very public demonstration that Paul had not rejected Jewish law or custom; surely this would convince anyone who harbored a genuine misunderstanding about Paul’s teaching that he had not done the things he had been accused of. Paul quickly agreed to this and participated, in accordance with Jewish practice.

What follows demonstrates to us very clearly that there was something much more sinister afoot than a simple misunderstanding…

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Summing it all up

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Don Merritt
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Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,  casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 5:6-11

Peter sums up his letter in these few verses, so let’s join in his summation…

We need to humble ourselves in his service, casting off our anxieties, firm in our hope and faith in his love. Don’t be too concerned about earthly challenges and problems, keep your focus on your relationship with Him. He cares for you… can you imagine?  He has a whole universe to run, and yet He cares for you. Just let that sink in…. Amazing.

Humble in spirit, and secure in Jesus Christ, we also need to be clear in our minds, alert in our lives, for we are on the front lines in a conflict that rages all around us, a conflict that we can’t exactly see in the usual sense, a spiritual contest.  Our foe is one the prowl, looking to pick us off one by one. Scary. Be ready to resist!

It might not strike you at first that Peter’s admonition to resist the devil is good news, but actually it is.  Once again, I find myself pointing out here that something which can be commanded is something that we can do, therefore, in spite of the strength and cunning of our Adversary, he can be resisted.  Come to think of it, why should this be a surprise?  Jesus has already overcome this world, He has already defeated the devil and His Spirit lives within us, therefore, in Him is our victory!  Better let that one sink in too…

We are not alone.  Not only can we access the presence of Christ any time, we are also one with our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world! Oh yes, there are tough times ahead, but we can and will endure them, and in the end our destination in Christ is safe and assured… and glorious!

Love one another!

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Paul Heads to Jerusalem

Posted on March 5, 2025 by Don Merritt

Acts 21:1-16

After the long farewell to the elders in Ephesus, Paul and his party returned to the ship and set sail. Much of this passage tells of the ports of call along the way, and in some instances of ports where Paul and his party were able to meet with other believers while the ship was loading or unloading cargo. It would seem that everywhere they went; Paul was warned not to go to Jerusalem.

Luke has not told us why Paul was so intent upon visiting Jerusalem as opposed to returning to Antioch and reporting to the elders there in the church that had actually commissioned his journey; we can only speculate about his thinking. Yet whatever his reasons were, he was determined in spite of the warnings that the Holy Spirit was giving him.

They arrived in the port city of Caesarea where a prophet by the name of Agabus gave Paul yet another warning with a dramatic illustration of what would happen to him in Jerusalem and everyone begged him once again, not to go:

When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” (21:12-14)

Looking at this moment in purely human terms, it would be easy to conclude that Paul was acting rashly, that he was just being stubborn; we might even wonder if he had some kind of martyr complex. Oh, I know that we really won’t confine ourselves to this moment, since we have all read further in the story of Acts, not to mention through Paul’s letters, and we know that the ultimate result was that the Gospel would go to places it might not otherwise have been, and that letters were written that are now part of the Scriptures, that might not have otherwise been written.  Try to step back from all of that and ask yourself a question: If the Holy Spirit was leading Paul to Jerusalem, then why was the Holy Spirit warning him not to go there?

At this point in the story, in spite of all the nice little “Sunday school” answers we have heard over the years, there really is no way for us to know; perhaps Luke will give us some clues in the chapters that follow… or perhaps Paul was making a big mistake, and God used him to spread the Gospel anyway…

One thing however is certain, Paul’s companions finally gave up trying to talk him out of the trip, and left everything to God’s will, for they were willing, when all was said and done, to place their faith in God.

I would suggest that this is a pretty good lesson for us to learn as well.

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Frugality

Posted on March 5, 2025 by Don Merritt

There’s a word we don’t hear often in the 21st century! We do, however, hear the word “stewardship” occasionally. Isn’t being a good steward about the same thing as being frugal?

That really isn’t as easy as it sounds, since descriptions of frugality tend to be in older styles of writing and language use than those more modern descriptions of stewardship. The result is that frugality seems to just sound cheap, while stewardship seems to be more flexible. For the sake of this discussion, I’m going to say they are the same thing, but I’m going to use the word frugality, since that is the name of the Classical Discipline, and that seems to mesh better with the discipline of Simplicity that we’ll discuss another time.

Frugality means that we don’t waste anything; not money, not food, not material items such as clothing or paper or plastic bags. A frugal person will avoid expensive cuts of meat, extravagant meals or clothes, luxuries, fancy cars and so forth so that they can save as much of their resources as possible.

That’s the part that might just sound cheap, but there’s more…

They do these things so that they will have plenty of resources available for two reasons: First, so that they are never a burden on anyone else, and second, so that they are in a position to give very generously for the needs of others and the building of the Kingdom to the glory of God.

Many would hear this and just think such people are crazy, others might be shamed by it because, deep down, they know that they haven’t really thought about what they could do for the less fortunate or for the work of God. You see God and serving the needs of others is their priority and keeping up with the Joneses isn’t even on their radar screens anywhere.

Yes, you are right if you are thinking that the Spiritual Practice of Frugality runs counter to modern culture.

In practice, someone who practices Frugality might save the lining bags from cereal boxes to use instead of buying costly plastic bags. They may wear quite a few items of clothing that are homemade. They drive cars that are economical and dependable, they have basic cable or an antenna, rather than premium channels. If they have a cell phone, it’s probably a 10-year- old flip phone, because it still works great. They may make their own soups, stews, stocks and breads so that they use everything and throw nothing away, while saving money at the same time. They vacation by visiting out of town relatives, not at resorts in faraway places. Maybe they hunt or fish to save money. They probably grow their own vegetables and fruit and can or give away any extra.

When they hear someone is in need, they don’t just tell the church, they leave groceries on the person’s doorstep or walk into the electric company and say they are there to pay the bill for such and such an address. They don’t even consider limiting their giving to 10%, and when the church needs to pay off a mortgage or replace the roof, they come up with half or more of the total… quietly.

Some of us might snicker at such people, but in reality, we are shamed by them, for they are answering a call we all have to serve others and glorify God, and they are doing so by denying themselves.

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Bad Moon Rising

Posted on March 4, 2025 by Don Merritt

 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Acts 20:25-31

Paul begins this part of his farewell by telling the Ephesian elders that they will never see him again, and as we see in Acts 21:11, he has in mind a prophecy about coming troubles in Jerusalem, to which he is about to travel. He continues by warning them that they will be dealing with “savage wolves” that will come upon the church after he leaves. Clearly, these “wolves” are false teachers, many of whom will arise from among the believers themselves, who will seek to lead the entire flock astray.

Looking at these verses, we can see that Paul has been warning the leaders about this for quite some time, and while his presence has kept false teaching at bay for three years, it will soon be up to them to protect their flock as a shepherd protects his. In all of this, Paul makes a curious point: He is not to blame for what is coming, precisely because of his continual warnings, and the fact that he has ensured that they all understand God’s entire will. Interestingly, this carries with it the implication that God’s will for them and the church is that they be tested by false teaching, which is not the way we usually understand such threats today.

In any case, as we know from Paul’s letters later on, that trial did sweep through the churches of Asia.

 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Acts 20:32-35

With these words, Paul concludes his farewell to the elders of Ephesus. By committing them to God and “the word of his grace”, Paul is reminding them that it is only through their relationship with God, and the truth of His Gospel, that they will grow and prosper spiritually and thus be sustained through the challenges they will face; and so it is with us today…

Then he turns to an area of temptation that cannot be avoided for those who find themselves in a position of leadership; he reminds them of the fact that at no time over the past three years has Paul or his companions ever asked for any enrichment financially. Rather, he reminds them that it was by the work of his own hands that all of his party was sustained. Notice that he says that it is by “hard work” that they help the weak. In this, Paul is not referring to those who are poor or disadvantaged in monetary terms, but rather it was the elders themselves who were the “weak” ones, for this is not a monetary admonition as much as it is a spiritual one. In fact, the really interesting, and frankly significant aspect of this admonition is that it was by his hard work to pay his way that he supplied the spiritual needs of his (spiritually) weak brothers, for he took the earthly element of money completely out of the picture by hard work.

I mention this because it is entirely counter-intuitive for most of us today, for so great is our attention to money and material things. Once again, notice that throughout the entire farewell, Paul’s emphasis has been entirely on spiritual concerns, and not those of this world.

Luke ends the section in vv. 36-38 with their last tearful moments together, and then Paul heads for his ship, never again to see these dear ones. Luke picks up in chapter 21 with Paul’s journey to Jerusalem, where a whole new set of adventures await his arrival.

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God’s View of Us

Posted on March 4, 2025 by Don Merritt
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When God looks at you, what does He really see?

No, wait. Strike that. Let’s try it this way: Does what you do every day affect the way God sees you? Yes, that’s a little better.  God’s opinion… yes, God’s opinion of me.  Does what I do change God’s opinion of me?  OK, that’s the question I want to ask, so here goes…

Does what I do change God’s opinion of me?  No, darn, that’s still not quite right… Oh!, right, you don’t care about God’s opinion of me, you care about God’s opinion of you!  Right, OK this is the real question… ready? Quiet on the set, roll camera and……. ACTION!

Do the things we do change God’s opinion of us?

Anybody have a guess?  Ah, you all have an answer to that when you go on “knowledge” mode, and that answer is “No!”

The problem is that we normally don’t really believe the answer that we would give in Sunday school. God knows all, so He must remember all.  If He can do that, He can have a spreadsheet in His head, sort of a ledger, and He can see which way things are going, debits and credits and balances. No doubt, he has a tally of our average daily balances, and when we screw up too much, He is ticked off at us and sends trouble our way… and the only way we can get back in favor is by working, serving and sacrificing… getting our accounts back in the black; paying off our overdrafts…

Obviously.

The only problem is… that isn’t the way God thinks… that’s the way we think.

When God looks at us, what he sees are His dear children. He sees the ones for whom Jesus died, because of His great and immeasurable love. He doesn’t see our sins, for if we are in Christ, our sins are gone… yes, they are GONE as in not anywhere to be seen. Well, you ask, “What does God see when He looks at those who are mot in Christ? Ah, yes, a very astute question, dear reader!  What He sees are His dear little ones for whom Jesus died; lost, confused and in need of mercy… so He nudges one of us to go and tell that person (or persons) about the love of Jesus Christ, and Jesus called this “making disciples.” When God looks upon our brother or sister in Christ who needs help in their understanding, or who is hurting for one reason or another, He nudges one of us to help, teach, nurture and or just to love the other Christian; to help him or her along their journey, and Jesus called this “making disciples” also.

We who are in Christ are built up into a Body, a community of love, faith and brotherhood for a purpose, and Jesus called it “making disciples.” You might ask for some clarification of terms here, asking something like, “Hey, what’s all this about making disciples all the time; I thought we were supposed to be loving each other, not doing some project!? ” So many see it that way until they come to realize that to love one another and to make disciples are the same thing; “love” is the What, and “make disciples” is the How, and Jesus gave us a three-year course on what this looks like.

This is another indication of how awesome our Lord really is… He didn’t just save us from sin and death and turn us loose in the wilderness to wander around lost, not sure of what to do or where to go, He gave us instruction as to exactly where to go and what to do: Love your brother and make disciples… do exactly what He did.  This is not to earn favor in His eyes, for you already have it.  It is to share His gift with others, so you will have real and concrete purpose, becoming part of God’s Purpose, which is by far the greatest gift of all.

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Paul’s Mindset

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Don Merritt

And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Acts 20:22-24

As he continues speaking to the leaders of the Ephesian Church, Paul’s mindset now comes into the discussion as he tells the elders about his intention to go to Jerusalem. He says that he doesn’t know what may happen to him there, and that everywhere he goes, the Holy Spirit warns him of hardship and prison. Here, then, he makes the statement that is the key in understanding his way of thinking: his life means nothing to him.

In several of his letters, Paul speaks of putting self to death, of life by the Spirit as opposed to life by the flesh, of the “old man” as opposed to the “new man”.  As you know, each of those passages is about mindset, about setting aside selfish motivations and interests in favor of serving the Lord and serving other people. To Paul, this meant that we set everything aside and are all in for the Gospel… but what does it mean to us?

In my experience, when Paul talks about death to self, we talk about other selfish people. In passages where Paul uses the expression “Spirit” and “flesh”, it seems that we talk a lot about the sins of others. When he talks about the new man and the old man, we like to talk about the shortcomings of others. When Paul talks about how he is all in for the Gospel no matter what the cost, we like to talk about the plans we have for next week that make it impossible for us to serve.

OK, maybe you’re right; maybe I’m painting with a broad brush. Yes, fine, maybe I’m being a little too direct… but you aren’t going to tell me that you have no idea what I’m talking about are you? You did notice that I used the word “we” didn’t you?

Yep, you’re absolutely right: Paul was an apostle, and they are kind of special. None of us are apostles, so maybe we don’t have any reason to have that kind of mindset…

But we are leaders, aren’t we?

Here’s a scary thought: This short paragraph is the set up for what he is about to say to the leaders from Ephesus… I’ll bet you can’t wait to see what he said next!

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Meditation, part 2

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Don Merritt

Last time we introduced Christian meditation and set forth the ways in which it differs from other types of meditation. We even read the definition of the word to see that it can mean more than one thing and saw several verses from Scripture (there are many more too) in which meditation is specifically mentioned. In this post I’d like to give you an idea of what meditation can look like in Christian practice.

First of all, it is important that we realize that meditation, prayer and study are very closely related as spiritual practices. Prayer overlaps with study when we study His Word whenever we ask our Lord to reveal the Word to us. Study and meditation overlap when we think deeply about a verse or a passage from the Word, and prayer, study and meditation all come together when we pray His Word, as mentioned in “Study, part 4”.

People who know a lot about meditation usually say that the first step in meditation is to relax and clear away the thoughts and distractions of the day. It is hard to mediate when you’re stressed out about bills and bosses and family issues. Many recommend that we use a mantra to replace those distracting thoughts, which may sound to many to be both foreign and dangerous. Yet all a mantra is, is something we repeat to ourselves to replace those distractions and to help us focus. A mantra doesn’t need to be something weird or “Eastern”, it can be an inspiring verse such as, “I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me.” It can be an idea like, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior”, or “I am saved by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ”, or “Jesus is the Lord of my life”.  This is both simple and safe. If none of these are comfortable, we might consider listening to and/or singing our favorite hymn as a way to clear out the day-to-day and focus on God.

For others, this may not be what helps to relax and clear our minds of distractions, instead it might just start with a simple prayer, and then move on to the Word. For me, it is best to pray, and then to pray the Word. Whatever method you may prefer to begin with, the keys to remember are that we are not inviting strange spirits into our minds, we are opening our hearts and minds to God through the Holy Spirit to guide us, and it doesn’t get any more “Christian” than that. Next, we must remember that the point of the exercise is to focus our full attention on the Living Person of the Word so that He can reveal Himself fully through the Word in us.

I will admit that meditation takes some patience and practice, and because of this, it is probably more useful to mature Christians who are already adept in prayer and study, than it is to young Christians who struggle to focus in prayer and study.

Perhaps you have another idea about what Christian meditation should look like that you’d like to share…

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Paul Reflects on His Ministry

Posted on March 1, 2025 by Don Merritt

 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Acts 20:17-21

Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders is remarkable for several reasons, one of which is the relevance of his remarks for those of us who are leaders in the church of our own day.  For some of you who read these remarks and follow along with me here, you know that you are a leader in some way or fashion; some of you are paid ministers, other teachers or ministry leaders in your home congregations− some are Christian bloggers whose writings of instruction or encouragement are available to a worldwide audience. So you too might want to reflect upon Paul’s message to these elders.

As Paul began his farewell remarks to the elders of Ephesus, he does so by reminding them of his approach to ministry and of the style of ministry that he exhibited in their midst for an extended period of time. He reminds them that his ministry was a ministry of humility, of service and not of haughtiness, pride or exalted position or high status, which of course is quite a contrast to that of the Pharisees, or even to some leaders in today’s church. He also mentions something that might strike us as strange here, for he mentions the “severe testing” brought about by his “Jewish opponents”. I say this is odd because while in Ephesus, Luke really didn’t mention much about opposition from Jewish sources, other than the fact that after three months of teaching in the synagogue, some spoke openly against him; his last recorded close call from Jewish opposition was in Corinth.

Of course, it is possible that there was behind the scenes opposition that Luke did not describe in his narrative.

Paul goes on to remind them of how he was always available, either in public or private to teach, instruct and encourage anyone who needed his help, with the implication that he didn’t consider his own needs when called upon: He demonstrated selflessness in his ministry. His ministry and teaching were always available to all peoples, and in everything he did, he brought his listeners face-to-face with the Lord Jesus Christ, whose servant he always was.

There is a great deal here to reflect upon, so we’ll pick up next time with the next “chunk” of his remarks; I am sure that all us might want to consider how our own efforts reflect Paul’s approach, for surely Paul’s approach to service mirrored that of Jesus Himself.

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