Keep It Simple

This past year I began to do the posters and advertisements for our Men's ministry. We put these posters in bathrooms and around the church to advertise upcoming programming that we are offering. In the beginning of this process, I failed epically in the realm of design. I plastered logos, pictures, and backgrounds together on one page and the result looked like someone opened up 6 different puzzle boxes and started to build one puzzle out of all the various pieces. It was a mess and an eyesore. As a result, I learned about minimalism in design. Minimalism can be defined like this:

"In its most stripped-down definition, minimalism is about designers expressing only the most essential and necessary elements of a product or subject by getting rid of any excessive and, therefore, unnecessary components and features." - Marc Schenker

The goal of minimalism in design is to shrink something down to it's "true form." This occurs by removing anything that is excessive to the design. In other words, "less is more," and "keep it simple."

The Apostle Paul often took a minimalist approach to the gospel. As a former Pharisee and then Apostle, Paul was as deeply rooted in the Scriptures as a person could be, and he could debate theology with the best thinkers who have ever walked this earth. There is a time and space for heavy and deep theological thinking and discussion. However, Paul always led with the most essential, necessary elements of the gospel. Paul loved the simple basics of the gospel, because in the simplicity we see the beauty of the gospel clearly defined. Paul loved to keep the gospel in it's true form, and with the simple gospel, less is often more.

So, let's look at the three easy steps to the Paul's Simple Gospel. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul begins by saying:

"3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Galatians 1:3-5)

Step 1 "Christ gave himself for our sins"

The first step in Paul's gospel is that Jesus gave himself up for our sins. This is the bad news part of the gospel. In fact, its the grossest part of humanity, and ironically one of the things we have the hardest time admitting and accepting. We have sins. We aren't perfect. We miss the mark. We are flawed and fallen human beings. 

Even further, our sins don't exist in a vacuum. We aren't allowed to just be as horrible of people as we want to be, without fear of justice or punishment. Our sins leave us liable to the holy and just God who has created us. We are doomed to pay the penalty those sins demand. Our sins are against God, and actually prove Him to be good, just, holy, and different from us. In Psalm 51:4, David laments:

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

Our sins prove God righteous and justified for His judgment of us. Our sins demand a price. Paul's simple gospel begins by recognizing our debt, and recognizing the one who has paid our debt. Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins. 

Here's an illustration of the gospel from a doctor on Facebook:

This beautiful story echoes the reality of the gospel. Jesus stepped in our place, on the cross absorbing the punishment we deserve. Jesus knew he was giving his life for ours, and he willing gave his blood for us sinners, that we may have life in his name. Jesus gave his life for ours.

Step 2 "to rescue us from the present evil age"

The second step of Paul's simple gospel explains the reason why Jesus gave himself for our sins. Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue us. Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age. Matthew Henry comments, "(Jesus gave himself) not only to redeem us from the wrath of God, and the curse of the law, but also to recover us from the corruption that is in the world through lust, and to rescue us from the vicious practices and customs of it, unto which we are naturally enslaved." The Bible repeatedly contrasts this current world with the future age to come, with this present age being evil, and evil being eradicated in the next age.

When we scroll through the news, we can see that things are failing in this world. Things aren't the way they are supposed to be. The world is full death, violence, evil, tragedy, natural disaster, heartache, pain, murder, strife, and way too much suffering. Paul argues that the cross of Christ and his resurrection life are the beginning of the new age. John Piper says of Christ's work in this passage, "The new age, with new powers and new ways, has broken into this evil age to deliver us from the present evil age."

This world is corrupted and fading, and Christ's cosmic work on the cross is the hand reaching out to rescue us from it all. Christ's mission is rescue sinners from this age of evil, sin, and death and bring us into the age of glorious, full, everlasting life. 

Step 3 "according to the will of our God and Father"

This third step of Paul's simple gospel forever dispels the notion that God is not loving. God's Son went to the cross, to reconcile and rescue sinners, according to God's will. God gave his Son to bring beauty and life out of death.

People will often argue that the Cross of Christ is "divine child abuse." "How could God do that to His own Son and still be good?" However, we see right off the bat that Jesus gave himself willingly. We mustn't steal the glory and beauty of Christ's sacrificial love by slandering the Father's love.

But look further at the beauty of this. God gave His precious, beloved Son, for the rebels and evildoers who rejected Him. God overflows with mercy and grace. He lavishes favor on the undeserving. The true demonstration of love is by what one gives. Romans 5:8 says, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

We struggle when we walk past a homeless person with a sign asking for some change. We judge them, assuming they have made a mess of their own lives, which we would never do. We determine that they would probably use our money to buy more booze, so we pass right on by them. Imagine if you walked by a homeless person, and instead of giving them your change, gave them the keys to your car. This illustration is but a ripple in the ocean of God's overwhelming love for sinners. God gave his Son for us, willingly. Jesus went to the cross, for us, willingly. And because of the cross and the radical, willful, sacrificial, forgiving, merciful love of God we can be rescued from our life of sin, our just penalty of death, and this evil age.

These foundational truths, simple, beautiful, minimal, are the starting and ending point of Paul's gospel. They are his cornerstone of theology, and his cornerstone of identity. He illustrates this by saying in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Do you have Christ? Have you repented of sin and trusted this simple, life-giving message?

Are you keeping it simple, by living in the rescue he offers?