Discussion Questions

Cliff contrasts “simple life” as canning, homemade clothes, and campfires with Paul’s “simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3); what do you think Paul is warning about when he says minds can be “corrupted” from that simplicity, and where do you see that corruption happening in Christian culture today? JumpstartAnother way to ask: When Paul warns that our minds can be “pulled away” from the simple life found in Christ, what danger do you think he means? Where do you see that happening in Christian culture today?

The speaker defines simplicity from *haplothes* as “singleness or sincerity, the opposite of hypocrisy”; what kinds of hypocrisy can hide inside outwardly “simple” Mennonite or conservative Christian lifestyles, and how would a single focus expose it? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What kinds of hypocrisy can hide behind an outwardly “simple” Mennonite or conservative Christian lifestyle? How would a more honest, single focus bring that hypocrisy to light?

The episode ties simplicity to “an audience of one” and to Jesus’ “single eye” (Matthew 5); what would it look like for your decisions (money, media, clothing, career, reputation) to be made as if God is the only audience that matters—and what fears would that confront? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What would change if you made choices about money, media, clothes, career, and reputation as if God were the only audience that mattered? What fears would that bring up?

Cliff says we “almost complicate it by adding a lot of things that we do” and turning it into “do this, do that”; where have you seen discipleship reduced to box-checking in your church world, and how does that reduction subtly change what you believe God wants? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where have you seen following Jesus turned into “check the boxes” religion? How does that quietly change what you think God really wants?

The speaker frames the simple life as discipleship: “learning to talk like, think like, be like, live like the Master” and “taking on the mind of Christ”; which areas of your thinking (not just behavior) most resist becoming like Christ, and what do you think that reveals about your real “single focus”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What parts of your thinking resist becoming like Christ the most, not just your behavior? What does that show about what you’re really focused on?

“What if Jesus meant every word he says?” is presented as a practical pivot; which specific teachings of Jesus do you find easiest to treat as ideals rather than commands, and what would have to die in you for those words to become “shoe leather”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Which teachings of Jesus do you most often treat like nice ideals instead of real commands? What would need to die in you for you to actually live them out?

Cliff describes Jesus as having conflicting desires yet a “single determinative will…to do the will of the Father,” especially seen in Gethsemane; how does that picture of Jesus reshape modern assumptions that following God should feel internally effortless or always aligned with our desires? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Jesus had real inner conflict but still chose the Father’s will, like in Gethsemane—how does that challenge the idea that following God should always feel easy or match what we want? What does it teach you about obedience when your desires pull another way?

The teacher says following God can be “liberating” but “actually much more difficult” than keeping a list; why do lists feel safer, and what does our craving for concrete rules suggest about our trust in Christ’s leadership and the Spirit’s guidance? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Why do rule lists feel safer than following Jesus day by day? What might that say about how much we trust Christ to lead us and the Spirit to guide us?

He uses examples of different callings—Tibet, Lancaster County, a student’s vow of poverty—and says “it’s not every man for himself…it’s every man for Christ”; how should a church community discern and test “what God calls us to” without sliding into either rigid uniformity or isolated individualism? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How can a church figure out what God is calling people to do without forcing everyone to live the same way, and without everyone just doing their own thing? What helps a community test callings wisely?

Cliff connects the simple life to salvation as both a point-in-time new birth (“complete in him”) and a lifetime of transformation; how does this challenge common evangelical ideas of assurance that minimize obedience, and what daily practices would actually train “yieldedness/gelassenheit” instead of mere religious performance? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does the idea of salvation as both new birth and lifelong change challenge the view that you can be sure you’re saved while ignoring obedience? What daily habits would train real surrender (gelassenheit) instead of just looking religious?