I learned a new word. Well, I’m not sure it’s really a word, but perhaps I can call it an allowed one as we consider what we have just celebrated this past Christmas. The word is “Simplexity” and as I type it my auto word search is underlining in red. It is a conflation of the words Simple and Complex and describes what we as Bible believing Christians need to be.
How important to dig deep in our Biblical theology! As we mature in our faith we’re able to digest the meat of the Bible’s teaching. At Christmastime we celebrate the incarnation. God Himself incarnate, made flesh for us by being born of Mary in the village of Bethlehem. I have to confess: when I took my doctrine qualifier for admission to the seminary, I got that one wrong. I knew the teaching, yet didn’t have the word in my vocabulary. With red face, though, I celebrate that God came to walk in our shoes, to do the perfection that we cannot, to die the punishment for our sins, and to rise again so that we have new life in Him. God incarnate!
This is how St. Augustine shares the complexity of the incarnation:
Maker of the sun, He is made under the sun.
In the Father he remains,
From his mother he goes forth.
Creator of heaven and earth,
He was born on earth under heaven.
Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless.
Filling the world, He lies in a manger.
Ruler of the stars,
He nurses at his mother’s bosom.
He is both great in the nature of God,
and small in the form of a servant.
Yet this Christmas, as we have praised our God for His incarnation in Jesus, He sends us into a New Year as His hands and feet and voice. Our incarnational ministry together is simple, to share Jesus, simply Jesus.
Karl Barth was a German theologian who dominated the theology of the 20th century. One night he lectured at a seminary in the U.S., and after the lecture he met with students in the coffee shop for some informal conversation. Someone asked him if there was any way he could summarize his complex theological findings. A student asked, “What in your judgment is the essence of the Christian faith?” Barth paused for a moment. No doubt the others waited for some profound insights from this theological giant. They got their pens and paper out and were poised. Then Barth answered, “Yes, I can summarize in a few words my understanding of the Christian faith. Let me put it this way: “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, for the Bible Tells Me So.”
That’s the message this Christmas and always! Jesus loves me, my family, my church, and every lost, hell bound person He places in my path in 2023! May we enter 2023, a new year that will be filled with God’s forgiveness, love and peace, on fire for Jesus — simply Jesus! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Pastor Craig
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