William Barclay once wrote that it’s interesting to go through the gospels and count the one syllable words that Jesus used. For example, consider this verse from Mark 5:34, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace.” Every word in that great sentence is a word of a single syllable.
We live today in a post-Christian culture, as the experts call it, where the majority of the population is now unchurched or outside the Christian faith. That’s why it’s so important that we learn to make the message of faith simple enough to be understood.
I once read a review of the great theologian Paul Tillich. The author said, “I can understand every word Paul Tillich said, but not a single sentence.” But how marvelous it is that Jesus spoke in words and sentences so simple that even a child could understand them.
Back when I was in college, Billy Graham conducted a crusade in the old Charlotte Coliseum which is now the Bojangles Arena. I attended one of the nights, and I still remember it. Dr. Graham preached about Jesus healing the blind man, in the beautiful simplicity of the gospel account. I remember the number of children and youth who came forward that night at the close of the service while everyone sang “Just As I Am.” They could understand. Their interest could not have been more genuine. The story Dr. Graham used that night from the gospel of Luke ends with the words, “Immediately the man followed Jesus.” So did all those children and those young people that night in the old Charlotte Coliseum.
People’s lives are forever different when they learn of God’s love for them through our words and through the way we live. In both instances, the cause of Christ is served when we learn to keep it simple.
In the name of the One who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
Bruce Jones, Pastor and Co-Creator,
Imagine Church of the Carolinas
