Sermon Title: Begins with our heart
Scripture: Luke 12:22-31

We feel the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. But we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed and fearful we shall be shallow. We have hints that there is a way of life vastly deeper and richer than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that center. We have seen and known some people who seem to have found this deep center of living, where the fretful calls of life are integrated, where “no” as well as “yes” can be said with confidence. “A testament of devotion” - Thomas Kelly.

“Within all of us is a whole conglomerate of selves…and all of these selves are rugged individualists. Each one screams to protect his or her vested interests. If a decision is made to spend a relaxed evening listening to Chopin, the business self and civic self rise up on protest at the loss of precious time. The energetic self paces back and forth, impatient and frustrated, and the religious self reminds us of the lost opportunities for study or evangelistic contact … no wonder we overcommit our schedules and live lives of frantic faithfulness.” “Simplicity” - Richard Foster

Simplicity is …an inward reality of single-hearted focus upon God and his kingdom, which results in an outward lifestyle of modesty, openness, and unpretentiousness which disciplines our hunger for status, glamor and luxury. “Simplicity” - Richard Foster

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

Seeking First the kingdom of God means:

1. Seek his presence

Help me Lord to remember that religion is not to be confined to the church or closet…but that everywhere I am in your presence. Susannah Wesley

2. Seek his pleasure (will)

“I always do what pleases the father.” John 8:29
“We make it our aim to please God.” 2 Corinthians 5:9

Why should we pursue simplicity?

1. Too much stuff is a distraction to your mind

“Clutter is a visual sign of procrastination and carries with it just as much anxiety. We are all perceptive enough to catch what many people miss; that physical clutter in our home or office is often a kind of mental clutter as well that sabotages our capacity to focus on what really matters” “The Power of Less” - Leo Babauta

2. Too much stuff is a drain on your time. 

“I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if i could not learn what it had to teach and not when i came to die, discover that I had not lived. I wanted to live deep and suck all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life…simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be two or three and not a hundred or a thousand. Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?” “Walden; or Life in the Woods - Henry D. Thoreau

3. Too much stuff is a deception to our heart. 

“The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.” Luke 8:14

In the western world, materialism has become the new dominant system of meaning. Atheism hasn’t replaced christianity; shopping has. Jean Baudrillard

This Week’s Practice:

Before you can get very far in your journey towards simplifying, you have to figure out what your vision and values for life are. The goal is to identify what you really want to make space for, so that you can decide what to clear out; what to say “no” to.

Luke 12:22-31
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest. “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Fatherknows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.