Less is More
Simple Life

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Good morning church; Happy New Year! We are starting the year off right. It’s the first Sunday of 2024 and here we are together; I’m so happy to see you!

We’re starting a new series today called, “SIMPLE LIFE: How Simple Commitments Create Great Life Change.” As we look around us today, we see a complex world. We see a busy, hurried world. I think most of us would agree that it would sound really attractive if we could just simplify, if we could just be a little less hurried, a little less busy and have more room for life. Can I get a witness? Wouldn’t that be better? Wouldn’t that be great? You see, everything in life takes up space. Everything you say “yes” to takes up space. It takes up space in your mind, it takes up space in your house and in your life and it takes up space in your calendar. Everything you say, “yes” to, takes up space. Everything you purchase and everything you own takes up space. If there were less, then, you’d have more space for life, more space for joy and more space for relationships.

How do you make space? How do you make room, having less of what doesn’t matter and more of what does matter?

That’s the title of the sermon today, “Less is More.” Sometimes, that’s true. Less is more if you make room for that which is better. It’s the topic of a lot of books.

At the beginning of the year, a lot of people are trying to figure out, Ok, things got out of hand in 2023. How do I get back on track in 2024? There’s a lot of books, a lot of blogs and websites on this topic. I found a couple of pretty interesting websites.

One of them is called bemorewithless.com. Another one is becomingminimalist.com I saw some blog posts, some articles there. Here’s one article: 24 “24 Ways to Simplify Your Life in 2024,” or “The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life.” I grabbed a couple of these articles and put together a summation; I’ve got twenty-two items here. Let me just run these by you; these are some ideas from some of these blogs on how to simplify your life: Reduce your screen time (phone & TV). Declutter your closet. Reduce your wardrobe to a few versatile items Create a morning routine. (Meditate, read, journal) Process email only twice a day. Go to bed early. Make room in your calendar for rest. Create a weekly meal plan. Automate your finances. Set your clothes out the night before. Make your lunch for the next day the night before. Make time to catch up with an old friend. Just say no. Consolidate and pay off debt. Go for a walk outside. Do things at home as much as possible Don’t get caught up in other people’s drama. Focus on a simple, but healthy, eating plan. For every new item you buy, set two free. Focus on one thing at a time. Want what you have, not what you don’t. Take a breath and slow down! Now, maybe you’re saying as you heard those, Gary, that sounds complicated. That was a long list. Which of these should I do? They’re all good ideas, but they sound like a lot of work. I’m already feeling overwhelmed and now, you gave me another “to do” list? Well, that’s not what I’m going to be preaching on. That was just to whet our appetite. That was just to get us started, because what I want to talk to you about is a singular simple commitment. Just one commitment that I want you to consider making today for 2024. We find this commitment in the book of Matthew, when a man, named Jesus, says to His disciples, “Follow Me.”

Have you ever made that commitment to follow Jesus? If you make that singular, simple commitment to that singular person, then all of your other commitments will flow out of that. You’ll find that “less truly is more.” I pray this over my own life and I ask that you consider praying this over your life – less of me and more of you Jesus.

As it was said by John the Baptist, in John 3:30, “I must decrease and he must increase.” Less of me and more of You. That’s what we’re going to be talking about today; three simple commitments, which is really just one commitment because the next two flow out of the first one and that one is following Jesus. We are going to be talking about three simple commitments that lead to a better life.

Let’s look at Matthew 4:18-22 (ESV) 18 “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” This is God’s word, Amen.

THREE SIMPLE COMMITMENTS THAT LEAD TO A BETTER LIFE:

1. Reorder your life around being a fully devoted follower of Jesus.

Notice this call that He says, in verse 19, “Follow me…” If you’re taking notes, just underline the word “me.” He doesn’t say to follow this philosophy. He says to follow His person. He doesn’t say follow this religion. He says to follow Me and enter into this relationship with Me . He says, “Follow me.” This is one of the most amazing invitations that the son of God, the creator of all and the maker of you would say, “Come follow me.”

Underline that word, “me,” because that’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about following Jesus; it’s a commitment to His person. When we do this and we follow Jesus, it gives us a new identity.

The word, “identity,” is kind of a hot button issue in our culture today – Who am I? What’s my identity? Those that follow Jesus get a new identity from Him; we see this when He says, “Come, follow me.” In fact, that word, “follow,” in the original Greek has the implication of “to leave behind what it is you’re following now.” To come to Him and follow Him.

You’ll notice that in the text, in every issue as it involves Peter, Andrew, James and John that they immediately left what they were doing. There has to be a lessening of what you were in order to be more of what Jesus is calling you to. You have to decide – Will l I leave it? Even better, Will I leave it immediately? Will I, today, say “Less of me and more of You, Jesus. Yes, I will follow You.”

Have you made that decision today? Have you made the decision to accept the invitation from Jesus Christ? He says, “Follow me.” What an amazing invitation. Have you made the decision to follow Him? Have you decided to do this?

One of the books that we studied a lot last year was “The Renovation of the Heart” by Dallas Willard. One of the things that he talks about in that book is, and I quote, “The disciple is one who, intent on becoming Christ-like and so dwelling in his faith and practice, systematically and progressively rearranges his affairs to that end.”

Have you done that? Have you systematically and progressively said “no” to those things that don’t line up with following Jesus? Have you looked at your life and said, ‘You know, that doesn’t fit following Jesus. I need to immediately leave that behind. Less of me and more of Jesus.’ Have you made that commitment, this singular, simple commitment to follow Jesus? This is the call that He gives and when He gives this, He gives you a new identity.

Look how the Apostle Paul opens up most of his letters. I’ll just mention a couple of them: Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus… 2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus…

When Paul introduces himself to somebody, the first thing he wants to tell them is, ‘My name is Paul and I follow Jesus. My name is Paul and I’m a servant of Jesus. My name is Paul and I’m an apostle. I’m sent by Jesus.’ How long would it take you to get all of that out? How long do you have to talk to someone before they find out that you’re a follower of Jesus? The longer you wait, the harder it is to tell them. If you really are a servant of Jesus, if you really are one sent by Jesus, it would seem like something that you’d want to say in the first sentence or two. “Hello, my name is Gary and I’m a follower of Jesus.” That’s the first thing I want you to know about me; then, I’ll tell you some other things. “I am the pastor of this church. I have this beautiful wife, named Robin. I have three grown children. I’ve got ten grandchildren.” Now, see, those things are fun to talk about. Are there any grandparents here today that would automatically say your name and then talk about your grandchildren? We feel highly motivated to say things like that; nobody has to teach us.

Paul teaches us something, though. He has a new identity; he is a Christ follower. He has said “yes” to following Jesus. Less of me and more of Him. In fact, he writes it like this in Galatians 2:20 (ESV) “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Paul is actually saying that he is “gone.” His old life has died and he is risen in Christ. The life he now lives is actually the life that Christ is living in and through him.

In 2024, let’s say, ‘I’m a Christ follower. Less of me and more of You, Jesus.’ It brings everything into alignment. It sounds so simple, but it means you have to say “no” to some stuff. Less of me and more of Jesus.

Where do you find your true identity? It’s a struggle for a lot of young people today, Tim Keller gave his view of where people find their identity. Building on my reading of Tim Keller’s work on identity, I’ve come to see three different ways people try to answer the question of identity. What Keller called the traditional view was that people got their identity from their family, their village, those around them told them who they were. Today, what Keller called the modern view is that you look within yourself to discover who you are. However, the Christian view is to look to Jesus for identity. I see these three as 1) Outward, 2) Inward, and 3) Upward. Where do you look? Let’s look up to Jesus!

The traditional view for discovering your identity uh would be that the people around you would tell you who you are, your parents, your siblings, your grandparents, uh your schoolmates. That was the traditional view. This is the way it was for centuries, that people found out who they were based on the people who brought them up and who raised them up. Fathers would tell their boys, ‘You’re a man. You’re growing up to be a man.’ Mothers would say to their daughters, ‘You’re a woman.’ They would tell them who they were and that was the traditional view.

Keller goes on to say that the modern view has never been seen before in all of humanity. The modern view is that you look within. You look within yourself and you ask yourself, ‘Who am I?’ You look in the mirror and say, ‘Who am I?’ Then you decide based on how you feel. That’s the modern view of identity.

Then he says, there’s a better view, there’s the Christian worldview, which says, “I’m going to look to my creator; after all, he made me, so why not ask him who I am?” These are the three ways of discovering your identity, according to Tim Keller. Now that I’ve simplified it, I need to simplify it for myself. I have to “put the cookies on the bottom shelf” so that I can reach them and I was thinking about what Keller said. The traditional way is outward, the modern way is inward, but the better way, but the Christian way is upward.

How are you deciding who you are? Young person, I’m especially speaking to you. Anybody here, when you answer the question, ‘Who am I?’ How do you answer it?

Paul says, ‘I’m Paul. I’m a follower of Jesus.’ I say to you, ‘I’m Gary. I’m a follower of Jesus.’ What do you say? Have you made the commitment, “less of me and more of You, Jesus?

How do you work this out? Here’s the first step: If you’ve never made a commitment to Jesus, if you’ve never committed to Him, the first step is to do that; to say, ‘I’m a sinner. I need a Savior. Lord Jesus. I believe that You died on the cross for me and that You were raised from the grave. Come and save me. Adopt me into Your family. I want You as my Lord and Savior.’ That’s your first step today.

A great way to start 2024 would be by saying “yes” to the invitation of Jesus. To follow Him and say, ‘I want to be a Christ follower.’ That’s your first step. Maybe, you’re sitting here and you’ve already done that, but you ask, “How do I keep working it out? How do I keep pursuing my following of Jesus?’ Well, why not give Him the first day of every week? Check the box off; you’re here today. Why not give him the first day of every week, which is Sunday. Give Him the first part of every week, gathering with His people, worshiping Jesus, praying to Jesus, hearing God’s word about Jesus. Why not give the first fruits of your week to Jesus?

That’s an important step because we live in a culture today where people are saying “no” to church attendance in greater numbers than they ever have. People are saying things like, ‘I love Jesus, but I don’t really like church.’ That’s like saying, ‘I love you, but I don’t like your wife’ because we’re the bride of Christ.

We want to be the people that give Him the first day of the week. But now that we want to give Him the first part of every day, why not give Him the first fruits of every day? What does that look like? Get quiet with God and read the Bible.

One of the things that we’re starting right now, that we start at the beginning of every year, is reading the Bible together through the one year Bible. You can sign up for that on the Church Center app; you can register there. You can let us know. We’ll be reading together again this year. The “Bible bus” has just pulled out of the station and you can still catch a ride. We’re going on a “tour” through the Bible this year. If you’re a mom with a bunch of little kids, go to the bathroom and lock the door. I know, they’re going to be out there beating on the door anyway. Sit on the “throne” for a minute in the bathroom. Get your Bible and say, ‘Lord help me.’ You might ask, ‘Well, how much do I need to read?’ Read until God speaks. Pray, ‘Lord speak to me through Your word’ and then start reading. Sometimes it’s just one verse. Sometimes it’s one chapter. Sometimes it’s a little more, but read until He speaks.

Why not start your week and start your day by following Jesus? Get your whole day in the right alignment. Instead of coming to Jesus with a laundry list, go to Jesus and ask, ‘Where are we headed today, Lord?’ and then follow Him. Bring your life into alignment around Jesus. This is called “unhurried living.” Start your days with Jesus. Let’s go to the second commitment; it really emerges from the first commitment.

THREE SIMPLE COMMITMENTS THAT LEAD TO A BETTER LIFE:

2. Make room for healthy relationships with other followers of Jesus.

We’re going to make room for healthy relationships with other followers of Jesus. If we’re going to reorder our lives around saying “yes” to following Jesus, that means that we’re gonna have to hang out with His disciples.

Can you imagine Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, talking to the Lord this way? Lord, I want to follow You, but that guy, Judas – I don’t care for him. Do I have to go to church with him? Oh, that Simon the Zealot. He won’t shut up about politics; he’s always talking about politics. Do I have to hang out with him?

Unfortunately, you do have to hang out with other followers of Jesus. Maybe, it is fortunately, because the church should be the place on planet earth where there would be no other reason to explain why we’re all here together. It’s not about politics. It’s not about whether we are red, yellow, black or white. It’s not about being young or old. It’s about following Jesus. Following Jesus means to make a commitment to be connected to his people. You’re making a commitment to His person; you’re also making a commitment to His people. You’re making a decision, when you follow Jesus, that you have to hang out with those other disciples.

Jesus says, 19 “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” That word, “you,” in the Greek is in the plural. You. We’ve lost that in the modern English language except for those of us who live in the South who’ve retained the plural. If we were to read this as a Southern would prefer to read it, we would say, ‘Jesus said, Follow me and I’ll make y’all fishers of men.’ That’s the plural. “Y’all.” That’s right. Or, as some people from other parts of the country say, “you’uns.”

It means that if you’re going to follow Jesus, y’all have got to do it together. We need each other; He calls us to one another. He calls us, first, to Himself and then He also calls us to one another.

Notice what it says in Ephesians 4:25 (ESV) …for we are members one of another. We’re adopted into the family, we’re family members.

The book of Acts 2:44 (ESV) says this, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common.” This is the life that you’re pursuing right now. Following Jesus is not a “lone ranger” pursuit. You need to be part of the “tribe,” part of the family.

Dr. Sheehan Fisher, a psychologist, wrote an article entitled, “Five Benefits of Healthy Relationships.” This is from a secular psychologist’s point of view, but it’s good stuff. Less stress. Having healthy relationshipsrelationships is linked to less production of cortisol, a stress hormone. Better healing. A little emotional support goes a long way toward helping a person recover from a procedure or illness. Healthier behaviors. It’s a lot easier to take on healthy behaviors when you surround yourself with people who are doing the same. Greater sense of purpose. Having healthy relationships can give a person a sense of well-being and purpose. In fact, it’s possible that having a sense of purpose can actually add years to your life. Longer life . Speaking of adding years to your life, research suggests that having social ties can increase longevity. Speaking of adding years to your life, research suggests that having social ties can increase longevity. Have you heard of these geographic locations around the world called “blue zones?” Have you heard of this terminology, “Blue Zones?” There was a TV series about this recently. It’s based on the book written by Dan Butner, called, “Blue Zones Secrets For Living Longer.” Dan Butner traveled the world and identified geographic places that were unusual and had the most number demographically of people living over 100 years old, greater than any other surrounding areas. He called them “blue zones, these places where people live longer. He interviewed, researched and took teams of doctors, dieticians and fitness experts with him. They tried to discover why these people were living longer. He found nine factors for why the people in these blue zones were living longer. Of course, among the nine, diet and exercise was there, but among the nine factors, the majority of the factors had to do with being involved in your family, being involved in faith and being involved in relationships. The majority of the nine had to do with healthy relationships.

So many of us have pulled away. So many of us are living lonely, separated, isolated lives. We think social media has, somehow, taken its place. One of the biggest problems today, especially with young girls in their teens, is the negative result of what social media is doing to our teenage girls. Video games and pornography are a problem for our teenage boys. We need to be in real relationships, so that young people are with older people. We need to be together as family , parents, grandparents, children, uncles, aunts in the church of God. We need to make room for this.

Now, can I give you some practical tips on how to do this? We’re following Jesus. We’re giving Him the first day of our week, the first part of every day, we’re focused on Him, but we also want to make room in our calendar for being with God’s people.

One of the ways that I would recommend is getting in a community group at Eastgate. Community groups are small groups that meet weekly in someone’s home. What we do every week is we go back over the sermon that we just heard that Sunday and we talk about it together. We not only just talk about it, we think about how we can apply this to our lives.

I want to ask a quick question. If you’re already in a community group, lift up your hand.Now, hold it up for just for a second. If you didn’t put your hand up, look around at the people that have their hands up. Ask one of them, after today’s service, about their community group because you need to get in one.

You need healthy relationships in your life. You need to make room for that. You may be busy and need to say “no” to some things and say “yes” to make room for being in a community group.

Here’s another thing you might consider doing is checking the box on your Connection Card that says, “I’d like to be involved in Life on Life Discipleship. This is the “Jesus” way of discipleship. It’s one life pouring into one life, one person pouring into another person; it’s “life on life.” We offer a process in our church where you can have a mentor who will spend time with you over the coming months, teaching you what it means to follow Jesus and to become more like Him. We all need that. We need someone that mentors, disciples us and invests in us. I would challenge you to make room for this.

You might choose this practical tip for simplifying your life – why not clean out your closet and donate your unused clothes to Goodwill or post it on “Have a Need, Meet a Need?” Why not take a before and after photo? Some of you are thinking, There’s no way I’m taking a before photo. I don’t want anybody to see what my closet looks like. I’m just going to challenge you to take before and after pictures. Then, take some bags to Goodwill or Salvation Army. You can post your items on “Have a Need, Meet a Need,” one of our Facebook pages that the church has where you can donate your clothes. You’ll be surprised how cleaning out your closet makes room for more life; this is just a little step.

THREE SIMPLE COMMITMENTS THAT LEAD TO A BETTER LIFE:

3. Pursue the purpose that Christ has for your life.

Basically, here’s what we’ve been saying – Commit to His person, commit to His people and commit to His purpose . That’s what we’re saying. Follow Him and hang out with His people. If you follow Him, He’s going to do what He says. He will make “y’all” fishers of men; He will make you fishers of men. He has a purpose for you.

There’s a reason that He made you— He wants you to spend your life giving glory to Him and God. He wants you to live up to the purpose that He originally made you. The scripture says that He made us in His own image. He said, “Let us make man in our own image.” In Latin, it means “Imago Dei;” we were made in the image of God. Jesus wants to restore that we’re to reflect His glory to a dark world. He’s called us to a purpose. He says, “I will make you fishers of men.” The scripture says that they immediately left their boats. They immediately left their families and they followed Him.

I am glad that He says, “I will make you” because He’s the only one that can save people. I’m glad that He does the making and I get to do the fishing.

I wonder what that looks like. Maybe, we’ve got some people here and you’re a new believer. You’re a little hesitant to talk to people about Jesus. Maybe you’re an introvert; I just don’t know what to say. What if they ask me a question and I don’t know the answer?

Here’s what I would recommend to you: be like Paul. Be willing to say to people, very early on, I’m ______. I’m an apostle of Jesus. I’m a follower of Jesus. Tell them you’re a follower of Jesus and then tell them what Jesus has done for you. You’re the worldwide expert on what Jesus has done for you. If they have questions that you don’t know the answer to, what should you tell them? Tell them this: “I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know what Jesus has done for me.” Then, you’ll be in the fellowship of the blind man that Jesus gave him his sight.You’ll be able to say, ‘I don’t know the answers to your theological questions, but I do know this–I once was blind, but now I see.’ You’re the expert on what Jesus has allowed you to see, experience and know.

We become people who tell others, ‘I’m a follower of Jesus and my primary purpose in life is to give glory to Him. Everything I say and everything I do, so that others might come into a relationship with Him, too.’

What does this look like? We have some help here from John 12:32 (ESV), this is Jesus speaking, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” My job is to lift up Jesus. His job is to draw them to Himself. My job is to lift up Jesus. His job is to draw them to Himself. I can’t save anybody but Jesus can. My job is to lift up Jesus. I can do that.

I can lift up my favorite football team. I can lift up my favorite baseball team. I can lift up the fact that I have grandchildrenl; let me show you their photos.

Can I lift up Jesus? Can you lift up Jesus? Can you tell people that you’re a follower of Jesus and what He’s done for you? He says that if you lift Him up, He will draw all people to Himself. We’re the body of Christ.

In the book of Romans, Paul talks about the different ways that He’s gifted us, in order to carry out His purpose. He says, Romans 12:4-8 (ESV) 4 “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given tous , let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” This is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list. Paul is just basically saying he is gifted and all of us are uniquely gifted. We are to use our shape, use our gifting, to give glory to Jesus. We are to serve one another and lift Jesus up so that He might draw all men to Himself.

There are two important books in your life that you might examine: one is your date book and the other is your checkbook. It’s been said that you can determine a lot about what a person believes and how they’re following Jesus by looking at their calendar. Do they make room for Jesus in their life? How about their checkbook? Are they investing in the Kingdom with generosity ? Are they making room to see people come to Jesus? Are they using their time, talent and treasure for Him? Are they in alignment with following Jesus and His purpose? These are questions I would ask you today. Simple questions; a way of simplifying your life so that there’s less of you and more of Jesus.

Have you made a commitment to His person, to reorder your life around the person of Jesus? Have you made room in your life for His people, having healthy relationships, regularly, with other believers, sharpening one another as iron sharpens iron? Are you pursuing the purpose of Jesus in your life, lifting Him up so that all people are drawn to Him? Friends, He’s coming soon. Maybe it’s in 2024. Let’s commit to this: “Less of me and more of Him.”

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. I pray, first of all, for that person that has never made a commitment to You. Is it you, my friend? You can pray right now, right in your seat. Just pray with me. What matters is that you believe in your heart. Pray like this, ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I need a Savior. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. Forgive me of my sins. Make me a child of God. I want to follow You all of the days of my life as my Lord and my Savior. I give You my life.’ If you’re praying that prayer of faith, believing, He will save you, He will make you His own. That’s the first step in following Jesus. Others are here today and you’ve done that; you’re a Christ follower, but as you look back over the past season, some things have gotten out of order. There’s some priorities that we have gotten out of order. Would you just confess that to Him right now and say, ‘Lord, I’ve let my life slip. I’ve let myself get too sidetracked. I want to set my focus back on following You, Lord. Help me today. I recommit my life to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.’