The movie “Daddy Day Camp” tells of two dads named Charlie and Phil who take over a summer day-camp for young children. Armed with no knowledge of the outdoors and a dilapidated day-camp facility, the dads soon realize they’ve taken on more than they can handle. Just the beginning moments of camp are chaotic:
Has life ever felt like that—out of control, chaotic, messy, overwhelming, and enough to make you want to quit?
John Ortberg writes about a chaotic time in his life:[i] Not long after moving to Chicago, I called a wise friend to ask for some spiritual direction. I described the pace of life in my current ministry. The church where I serve tends to move at a fast clip. I also told him about our rhythms of family life: we are in the van-driving, soccer-league, piano-lesson, school-orientation-night years. I told him about the present condition of my heart, as best I could discern it. What did I need to do, I asked him, to be spiritually healthy? Long pause. “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life,” he said at last. Another long pause. “Okay, I’ve written that one down,” I told him, a little impatiently. “That’s a good one. Now, what else is there?” I had many things to do, and this was a long-distance call, so I was anxious to cram as many units of spiritual wisdom into the least amount of time possible. Another long pause. “There is nothing else,” he said. “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” I’ve concluded that my life and the well-being of the people I serve depends on following his prescription, for hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry destroys souls.
Does your life feel hurried? Raise your hand if one of the best things you could do is ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.
Last Sunday I mentioned a recent study that touched on this issue of hurried and chaotic lives.[ii] Father and son Thom and Art Rainer asked more than one thousand Americans about their pace of life. They found that a vast majority of us long for simplicity. We long for less insanity and more serenity. Specifically the Rainers found that we long for simplicity in four areas:
- Schedules. We want a better balance of our schedules so that we have time for things that really matter.
- Relationships. We long for better and closer relationships with others.
- Finances. We long for a life free from past-due bills, limited income, and increasing debt.
- Spirituality. We are too busy for God.
We long for less hurry and less chaos in our in our schedules, relationships, finances, and spirituality.
To explore this need, we are meditating upon a unique time in the life of Jesus. The Holy Spirit nudges Jesus away from the crowds and the towns into a barren and deserted wilderness. There, three scenes play out. First, there is an encounter between Jesus and the devil on the sand in the wilderness. Second, there is an encounter between Jesus and the devil on the equivalent of a steeple, at the pinnacle of the temple. Finally, there is an encounter between Jesus and the devil at a summit, on the top of a very high mountain.
Last Sunday morning we spent time with Jesus in the sand. This morning we spend time with Jesus on the steeple: 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'” (Matt. 4:5-7 ESV)
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the hot sand. Now he’s taken by the devil into the “holy city”—that is, Jerusalem. Jerusalem was considered the political, social, and religious center of Israel. In Jewish traditions, it was also considered to be the center of the world.[iii] There was no more important city to the Jews than Jerusalem. And there was no more important place in Jerusalem than the temple. If Jerusalem was the center of the world, the temple was the center of Jerusalem.
The devil takes Jesus to the “pinnacle” of this temple. The word “pinnacle” means something that juts out.[iv] This may have been a place in the temple where the structure jutted out over the ground. Some scholars believe this scene takes place on the southeast corner of the temple which overlooked the Kidron Valley.[v] There the wall stepped right off into the valley. Thus the devil may have been urging Jesus not simply to jump off a high place, but to jump off a spot where the fall would send Jesus flying into a deep gorge.
And to persuade Jesus to take this leap of faith, the devil quotes Scripture. The devil brings Jesus to the holy temple in the holy city. And now he quotes Holy Scripture. The devil quotes from Psalm 91. Here is the Psalm in its entirety: 1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. 4He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. 5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. 7A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. 9Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 13You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 14″Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 15When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 16With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Ps. 91 ESV)
The devil urges Jesus to put these words to the test. He urges Jesus to demand a Psalm 91-Life. In so doing, he tempts Jesus with two myths. The first myth is this: God wants my life to be easy. The devil is saying to Jesus, “You’re the Son of God. You deserve a Psalm 91-Life of ease. Protection from pestilence. Nothing to fear at night. No arrows that can cut into your flesh. No plagues near your tent. Not even a stone on the path to strike your foot against. Jesus, you deserve a Psalm 91-Life of ease.”
This myth, I believe, lies behind some of the chaos of our lives. It is a myth that directly affects our wallets. Sometimes we act as if we believe that God wants our lives to be easy. God does not expect us to put up with any kind of poverty in our lives. God does not expect us to experience discomfort. We should have Psalm 91-Lives of ease.
And thus we busy ourselves, using our wallets to bring about that life of ease. We devote our resources to eliminating poverty and discomfort in our lives.
PBS produced a documentary about the harmful effects of this pursuit. It’s called “Affluenza.”[vi] In one scene, the narrator is visiting Virginia’s Potomac Mills Mall, one of the largest shopping centers in America. He states, “Potomac Mills attracts more visitors than any other site in Virginia.” More scenes are shown. The narrator says, “Seventy percent of us visit malls each week—more than attend churches or synagogues. On average we shop 6 hours a week and spend only 40 minutes playing with our children.” The narrator shows a Potomac Mills TV commercial, and an announcer says, “Shopping is therapy. Listen to that little voice in your head. Shop. Shop. Shop. Shop. You can buy happiness. Just don’t pay retail for it.” A 1950’s car commercial is briefly shown as the narrator continues: “In fact, the percentage of Americans calling themselves ‘very happy’ reached its highest point back in 1957.” New York psychologist Paul Wachtel comments: “[People’s] entire orientation to how [they] are doing is based on comparison. That’s why as an entire society grows, people don’t feel any better, because they’re still in the same relative position. There’s a sense of being on an endless treadmill and of never getting to where you thought you were going to get.” The point is that a Psalm 91-Life of ease is impossible. What is easy and comfortable constantly changes as new products and goods are released promising more ease and more comfort. And like running on a treadmill, the pursuit of a Psalm-91 Life of ease gets us nowhere.
But here on the steeple with Jesus we learn that simplicity comes when we give up the myth that God wants my life to be easy. Jesus, in essence, says, “I will not demand this Psalm 91-Life for myself. I will not require God to grant me this Ps. 91-Life. If God graciously gives it to me, that’s his choice. But I will not demand it. To do so would be to test God.” True simplicity comes when we give up this myth and stop busying ourselves with eliminating poverty and discomfort from our lives.
In the book All Is Calm, Donna Schaper writes:[vii] There we were, two twenty-eight-year-olds in love, on the rim of the Grand Canyon on New Year’s Eve. As we watched the sun go down, we remembered the hotel was full and we needed a place to stay. My husband had a brainstorm. “I’ll bet the ranger in the bottom of the canyon is lonely, especially tonight. Let’s call him and see how he would feel about having some guests.” The ranger’s telephone number was in the book. We dialed, explained our situation, and offered to bring groceries down. Gary, the ranger, said he and his wife, Gina, would love company. A half hour after dusk we were on our way down. After an uneventful passage down the curving canyon, we arrived at the bottom. We were invited into their large cabin and they served us a nice dinner. Then they showed us their “sports room.” It was full of abandoned sports equipment—high-class hiking boots, expensive back packs, fancy hats, and even fancier walking sticks. “People can walk in easily enough with all of this stuff,” he said, “they just can’t walk out.”
Sometimes we’re just like those hikers. We want and expect a life of ease. So we accumulate the kinds of thing designed to make our journey comfortable—high-class hiking boots, expensive backpacks, fancy hats, walking sticks, newer cars, larger homes, better wardrobes, faster computers, more advanced telephones, and bigger televisions. And for awhile, we experience just what we had hoped: ease and comfort. But the longer life’s trail gets, the less ease and comfort those things bring. In fact, they eventually make the hike harder. And the only way back to the top is through simplicity. The only way forward is to abandon the idea that God wants our lives to be easy and to abandon that stuff that so clutters our lives.
I believe this is also what makes it so difficult for many of us to be as generous as we’d like to be when it comes to giving to charity or to Highland’s weekly contribution. In the name of trying to have as comfortable a life possible, we spend what we have on all kinds of things. But that leaves us little or nothing to give in the plate on Sunday or to the plea from a charity. The more we abandon this myth of an easy life, the less we’ll spend on making our life comfortable, and the more we’ll have to bring comfort to others.
But there is more from the steeple. The devil also raises the myth that God wants my life to be exceptional. The devil suggests that Psalm 91 is not merely about an easy life. It’s also about an exceptional life. Scholar Frederick Dale Bruner calls this the temptation of “spectacularism.”[viii] The devil is telling Jesus, “You deserve a spectacular Psalm 91-Life. You deserve an exceptional Psalm 91-Life. You should demand the kind of life where, anytime you want, you could walk off this ledge and you’d never hit the ground because God’s angels would protect you. You should expect the kind of life where you could face an army and that army would fall before you. You should request the kind of life where you could walk among lions and never be scratched or bit. You deserve the exceptional Psalm 91-Life.”
This is another myth which fuels the chaos of our lives. It is the myth that directly affects our schedules. We believe we can and should have it all. We don’t want an ordinary life. We want an extraordinary life. And thus we fill our schedules with attempts to do it all, experience it all, and have it all.
A few years ago a friend of mine sort of fell apart as the result of this myth. He is a popular teacher at his school, a much read author, and a well-loved speaker around the world. He was constantly receiving invitations to teach at other schools, write additional books, and speak in churches, universities, and other locations. But the more he filled his schedule with these very good things, the more hectic and chaotic his life became. Eventually, his train fell off the tracks. He had to take an entire year off to recover emotionally. And now he has a very tight control on his schedule so that this never happens again. We want to have an exceptional life. And we fill our schedules full to overflowing in order to achieve it. But in the end it burns us out.
Richard Foster in his book Freedom of Simplicity writes that while many of us try to live beyond our financial means, many of us also try to live beyond our emotional means.[ix] We work too hard, say yes too often, and fill our schedule too full. We want the exceptional life. But it comes at too high a cost.
Thus, Jesus rejects this lifestyle. He will not demand a spectacular Psalm 91-Life. If God grants it, he will accept it. But he will not demand it. Jesus shows that simplicity comes when we give up the myth that God wants my life to be exceptional. The text Jesus quotes to the devil comes from Deuteronomy. There Moses is remembering the time the Israelites were in the wilderness and they were fed up with the way God and Moses were providing for the people. They demanded more than Moses and God had given. But Jesus tells the devil that he will not do this. God is certainly capable of providing a life of more. But Jesus will not demand it.
For many of us, the road back to sanity is to abandon this myth. We do not have to do it all. It’s only by leaving space in our budgets and our schedules that we have room to move as God bids.
It was, in fact, simplicity, that led to the most exceptional lives ever recorded. Richard Foster surveys Christian history. He finds that it was those who lived simply, leaving space in their wallets and schedules, who ended up living the most remarkable lives. Simplicity, Foster writes, made possible “exuberant caring and sharing.”[x] By A. D. 250 Christians in Rome were caring for some 1,500 needy people. Tertullian catalogued groups being cared for by Christian believers: they supported and buried the poor, supplied the needs of the boys and girls destitute of means, cared for the elderly that were confined to the house, provided for those who had suffered shipwreck, and gave to those who had been banished to islands or mines for their fidelity to Christ’s cause. Christians provided for those who lost their jobs because of their faith in Christ. Chrysostom wrote, “Every day the Church here feeds 3,000 people. Besides this, the church daily helps provide food and clothes for prisoners, the hospitalized, pilgrims, cripples, church-men, and others.”
Simplicity is what makes possible the truly exceptional life. If we spend all our resources creating an easy life for ourselves and all our time forming an exceptional life for ourselves, we lose the freedom to truly make a difference in this world. Simplicity comes as we abandon these myths.
How does all this play out in practical ways? I’ve spent the last few weeks scouring through several resources about simplifying life. I’ve compiled a list of the practical steps these authors recommend you take to simplify your life. There are several ways you can receive these and pray about them: 1) follow me on Twitter or befriend me on Facebook and I’ll tweet and post several of these tips each day for the next three weeks; 2) visit the church website for the entire list; 3) I’ll provide a paper copy of all of these tips on the final Sunday of this series.
[i] John Ortberg, “Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry,” LeadershipJournal.net (7-4-02)
[ii] Thom S. Rainer & Art Rainer, Simple Life (B & H Publishing, 2009).
[iii] Warren Carter Matthew and the Margins (Orbis 2000), 109.
[iv] Ben Witherington III Matthew Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Smyth & Helwys 2006), 92.
[v] Craig S. Keener A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Eerdmans, 1999), 141.
[vi] Affluenza (Bullfrog Films, 1997), produced by John de Graaf and Vivia Boe.
[vii] Donna Schaper, All Is Calm (St. Mary’s Press, 1999).
[viii] Frederick Dale Bruner Matthew Volume 1 The Christbook Matthew 1-12 (Word, 1987), 108.
[ix] Richard Foster Freedom of Simplicity Revised and Updated (HarperOne, 2005), 108-109.
[x] Ibid., 62-64.
