Simplicity Zack Morgan

There is a desire in all of us to do great things. Becoming like a child is the great thing.

The title of my message today is "Simplicity." In this complicated world, Jesus came with a simple message. We humans tend to complicate things, which is not a new problem. When Jesus came into this world, the religious rulers of his day had created complex systems, constructed systems and processes for how every Jew should live. There is a protocol for every situation. Jesus reset that. Instead of a list of do's and don'ts, Jesus tells us who he wants us to be. He wants us to be children, children of our Heavenly Father.

And if we do not become as little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. As I was studying for this message, I thought it'd be wise to get some tips from a young child on how to enter the kingdom of heaven.

So I asked Wyatt, I said, "If I would like to become like a little child, what would I need to do?" He looked up at me from what he was doing, which was, quote, "painting the deck," and he simply said, "You wouldn't." I said, "What's that?" He said, "You wouldn't."

So apparently this message is not for me. When I was living in Guatemala, at one point there were two men that came to church. They both were in their late twenties. The one was tall, broad-shouldered, with a deep voice, and he was handsome. He had a godly Christian wife and a cute little son, but his attendance at church was sporadic. He lived and worked away from home. The other man was shorter, thinner, and quiet. His wife was not a Christian, so he would come to church alone many times with his young son. He was unassuming, but he was at church every single time. He worked hard to provide for his family, but they were still very poor.

There were better-paying jobs out of town, but this man valued his family and the church more than money. One day, a youth group from the States came to visit our church. One of the chaperones of the youth group was very impressed with the tall, handsome man. This chaperone couldn't speak Spanish, so of course he couldn't communicate with this man, but he kept telling me, he kept saying, "That guy has so much potential." What I found interesting was that he didn't say anything about the faithful Christian brother.

I don't think he noticed him. It was an insightful experience for me because it gave me the vantage point that God has. This visitor was judging by the outward appearance. I knew these two men, and I knew their lives. Unfortunately, when my family and I visited the church in 2024, we found that the tall, handsome man had divorced his wife. That's how unfaithful he was.

Of course, the faithful one, Brother Cesar, is still at church, the church services, still bringing his children. The word faithfulness doesn't always refer to marriage. I once heard a man from a non-Anabaptist background, and he may have been non-Christian background as well. He was sharing his story of joining the Anabaptist church. The first time he was at a men's prayer meeting, each man was going around the circle, and each man was praying that they would be faithful. This man thought that they were begging God that they would not, to help them not to cheat on their wives, their wife.

He thought, "What type of group of nasty men am I with?" Of course, these men in the end were not referring to faithfulness to their wife, but faithfulness to God. Faithfulness is staying the course, keeping the promise that we have made from the beginning, whether that's in marriage of keeping yourself only to your spouse or the Christian life to maintain the promise that you made at baptism to live and walk a new life. So to go along with simplicity today, I do not have slideshows or PowerPoints, so you can open your Bible to Matthew 18, and we're going to read verses 1 through 6. Matthew 18:1 through 6.

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Then Jesus called a little child to him and set him in the midst of them and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea." So what does it mean to be a child? The passage into the kingdom is by birth. We are baptized, we are born again. We enter through humility and childlike faith. We know that little children are not always obedient.

But if a child has a good father, they are learning obedience. And that's where we need to be. We need to be learning how to become more obedient. But what I want to focus on today is on verse 6.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. It appears to me that Jesus is tying faithfulness with childlikeness. He says that if you lead one of these little ones astray, woe to you. It's such a horrible thing.

A child that has a good father will choose his father over a stranger. But if someone leads a child away from their father, it's such a horrible thing because that's the opposite of what a child would naturally do, go to a stranger. Jesus is tying childlikeness with faithfulness. So now I want to talk a little bit about becoming great.

My greatest desire since I became a Christian was that I would become successful. I have wanted to do big things for the kingdom. I have had many different dreams of what it would mean to be a successful Christian. My ideas of success always led me to dream of doing something where I would end up at the top of the, quote, "Christian totem pole." I know that's an oxymoron. And those ideas were becoming a missionary pilot or converting an unreached tribe in Brazil to Christianity or something. It really didn't matter, but something that no one else could do, but I somehow had the unique skill set for. But all these dreams are difficult to attain when you're just an average guy.

But this desire to be great in the kingdom is not wrong. Throughout scripture, it is clear that there are different levels of greatness in the kingdom. Jesus says that if you want to be great, if you want to be successful, then you need to become like a little child. In Matthew 20:20 through 28, this is a story of Zebedee's wife bringing her two sons to Jesus. And she asked Jesus a favor. And she said, "Grant that these, my two sons, will be able to sit one on your left and on your right in your kingdom." And I really love Jesus's response. I always smile when I read this. And Jesus said, "Well, are you willing to be baptized with a baptism that I'm to be baptized with and drink the cup that I will drink?

Are you willing to suffer?" They said, "Yes." Jesus says, "Well, you will indeed suffer, but I can't guarantee that you can sit on my left hand and on my right hand." Probably the worst deal ever struck by James and John in their life. But what I find interesting is that even dying, the martyr's death does not guarantee greatness. But Jesus goes on and he shares what guarantees greatness. So we know the rest of the disciples were starting to grumble about these other two. In Matthew 20:25 through 28, Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their high officials exercised authority over them.

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus died the martyr's death, but he died in humility and as a servant. He lowered himself. Jesus did not rebuke them for their desire for greatness.

He did not say, "Oh, you want to be great? Well, there's no such thing as greatness in my kingdom." So in order to combat that bad desire, you should really humble yourself and put yourself down. Jesus said, "If you want to be great, then the way by being great is being a humble servant."

Jesus said, "Becoming great is not doing great things, but being great." You cannot put others first. You cannot serve others without having something change in here. Greatness is not doing. Greatness is being. When I came back from Guatemala, what I wanted to do was learn how to live a simple Christian life.

My thought was that the pinnacle of Christianity was being a full-time missionary. But I wanted to prove to myself that I could, for a season, live a faithful Christian life. But the idea still was that the greatest success will be in full-time missionary service. Over the last several years, the Lord has been dismantling this hierarchy of service that I constructed.

Being part of the body means that we all have different roles to play. We have different gifts, but we all need to work together in harmony. And we need all of us to function properly. The most successful Christians don't individually make an impact, but by working with others, the rest of the body are able to bring glory to God. And I don't want to get on a rabbit trail of speaking of gifts. Gifts are important, but what determines our importance in the kingdom is who we are. And I will admit, I tend to judge others by their outward achievements. When people visit our church who are smart, educated, or there's something novel about them, I'm excited to meet them.

I hope this person will join with us. This person has gifts that could be put to use. But so often those types of people move on to the next big thing, or their theological preferences don't match up perfectly with ours. So the people that I end up really caring about is the mom who takes time out of her busy day to make a meal for us when Aubrey fractures her leg. It's the brother who pats me on the back and thanks me for my work. It's the person who sends books and cards in the mail to my family, even though we don't reciprocate. The brothers who share their life with me at discipleship, Saturday mornings.

The young sisters that teach why at Sunday school. It's the family who is sitting in the same spot every Sunday morning for communion. It's the people I can depend on, the faithful ones. I've heard people looking on from the outside at our church say that they have nothing they could contribute to our church.

They have no special gifts. They are not outstanding people. But what Jesus is looking to grow his church with is with simple but faithful people. My wife's younger brothers say that each person is like a cake. When you first meet someone, all you see is the frosting. Your gifts, your special abilities, your good looks, that's the frosting.

That's the first thing that people will see when they meet you. And they may be initially impressed. Your character and who you are as a person, that's the cake. When you first meet someone, all you see is the frosting. But what you're really interested in, what you really want to get to know is the chocolate cake. You can eat a little bit of the frosting, but if you eat too much of the frosting, you'll get sick. God is interested in who we are.

He was the one who gave us our gifts. He was the one who decorated us. What he really wants is to see who we become. One thing that concerns me is when I hear people feel intimidated to come to our church. One person described us as the Navy SEALs of the Kingdom Christian world. So what would make someone say that?

Is it because they observe our love and good works toward others? Or is it because of our well-prepared messages, stimulating Sunday school discussions, or our aggressive approach to online ministries? Now, these things are not bad, but we cannot gauge our spiritual success based on how others view us. We are often judged by others by what they first see. We are judged many times by our frosting.

But God will judge us by the simple things. Turn with me to Matthew 7:21 through 23. "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Then turn to Matthew 25:31 through 40. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.

Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. As our church continues to grow in numbers, as well as experience success in other ministries, I want to remind us that we cannot gauge our spiritual success based on these exciting things that are happening.

Many will say at the judgment, Lord, Lord, we did so much amazing things. But Jesus says he will judge us on how we treat the poor, the naked, and those in prison. It's really how low we are willing to go.

How humble are we willing to be in service? Jesus said that unless you become as a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom. Unless you become as someone who simply does what Jesus says without explaining it away. Someone who just wants to walk alongside their Father. At the end of our lives, nothing else will matter if we don't hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Enter into the joy of your Lord. There is a desire in all of us to do great things. Becoming like a child is the great thing.