Simplicity as to Christ

Will you please turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, the first three verses?

Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness: yea, do bear with me.
For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.

— 2 Corinthians 11:1-3

The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 18, the first four verses.

In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And He called to Him a little child, and set him in the midst of them,
and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 18:1-4

Opening Prayer

Let us have a word of prayer.

Dear Lord, as we gather together here in Thy presence, we pray that Thou wilt remove any veil that may be upon our hearts. Lord, turn our faces towards Thyself, that we may see the beauty of Thy face and be completely delivered from ourselves.

Lord, we pray that Thou wilt speak to us. Speak to our hearts. We do desire that Thou shalt have the whole place in our lives. We commit this time into Thy hands and just trust Thy Holy Spirit to release Thy word, that Thou mayest be glorified. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Simplicity That Is Toward Christ

As I waited before the Lord, I was burdened with just one phrase that you find in 2 Corinthians 11: “the simplicity that is toward Christ.” The simplicity that is toward Christ.

The apostle Paul, in writing this second letter to the Corinthian believers, asked them to bear with him in a little foolishness. The Corinthians were famous for their intelligence and eloquence. This was not only true of the Corinthians in general, but even of the Corinthian believers.

After they had believed in the Lord Jesus, they were not delivered from these Corinthian traits. In their pursuit of spirituality, they pursued knowledge and tongues. They felt that these were the signs of true spirituality. They did not know that they were actually living in a carnal state.

Some of them even looked down upon Paul. They said, “This man Paul, his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of no account.” Because of that kind of mentality, when the apostle Paul tried to share something that was very deep in his heart, he knew that to the Corinthian believers it would sound foolish. So he asked them to bear with him in a little foolishness.

The apostle Paul was willing, for the Lord’s sake, to be considered foolish.

The Jealousy of God

He said, “I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God.” Now, we do not like to hear the word jealousy. It has a very bad connotation. And it is true, because if you read Galatians 5:19-20, you will find jealousy, wrath, contentions, disputes, factions—that is, parties or heresies. These are works of the flesh.

Where there is jealousy, anger will come; and with anger, contention will come; and with contention, disputes; and disputes end in factions—that is, in some Bibles, heresies—which are schools of opinion, divisions, and cliques. It is a work of the flesh.

But, dear brothers and sisters, jealousy itself is neutral. It simply means an intense emotional expression. It can be good.

You remember in Song of Solomon 8:6:

Love is strong as death;
Jealousy is cruel as Sheol;
The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
A very flame of the Lord.

— Song of Solomon 8:6

Here you find that Solomon combines love and jealousy together. Jealousy is just an expression of intense love. If that is the case, it shows that it is good. It is love.

The apostle Paul says, “I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God.” Now, our God is a jealous God—not in the bad sense, of course, but in a good sense. He loves us so much that He is very jealous over us.

You know, in the second commandment, God says that we shall not make any image or likeness of anything in heaven, on earth, or in the sea, and worship it. Why? Because God is a jealous God. He will not consider that as nothing. He will punish, because God is a jealous God.

In Exodus 34, He says, “Jealous is His name.” Our God is very jealous. He is jealous of His glory. He will not share His glory with anybody. He is jealous of His name, so we cannot idly mention His name. He is jealous of His covenant. He will see to it that His covenant is kept.

And He is very jealous for His people because He loves them so intensely. He is jealous for Zion. He is jealous for Jerusalem. He will do everything, for Zion’s sake, to bring His people into that which He has called them to be.

So our God is a very jealous God. Sometimes we forget that God is jealous, and I think it would be good if we were reminded. The apostle Paul says, “I am jealous with the jealousy of God.”

This is something very rare among God’s people. We are not jealous with the jealousy of God. We allow many things to continue without that holy jealousy of God concerning our lives. We allow many things in our lives to remain without the jealousy of God over these things.

We are not jealous over many things that we should be jealous over with the jealousy of God. This is a very pitiful situation.

Engagement to Christ

The apostle Paul said, “I am jealous with the jealousy of God.” Now, what is that jealousy of God of which he is speaking? He said, “I have espoused you to one husband.” Who is Christ Jesus.

You know, by the gospel, Paul has engaged those people who respond to the gospel to one Man. So, dear brothers and sisters, do remember: when you accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is something more than just receiving eternal life or going to heaven.

When you respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, an engagement happens. By the gospel, you are engaged to one Man, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Formerly, before we believed in the Lord Jesus, you know what the Bible says about people in the world: adulteresses, because they are in love with the world. But thank God, when the gospel comes to us, the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses us from all our sins, and He has delivered us out of the world.

We are no longer adulteresses. We become virgins. We are cleansed. We are pure. But God has not left us simply as virgins; we are virgins engaged, out of the world and engaged to one Man, Jesus Christ.

I think this is something that we do not often think about. Do you know that you are engaged to one Man? Whether you are man or woman, brothers and sisters, we are all engaged to one Man, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, maybe engagement in this country means nothing. But with the Jewish people, and with people in olden days, engagement was a great thing. It was sometimes even greater than the wedding. According to the Scriptures in the Old Testament, one who is engaged is considered as already married.

Engagement is a great thing, and we are engaged to Christ Jesus. Our Lord Jesus fully expects us to be chaste virgins, faithful to Him, and not to allow anything else to turn our hearts away from Him.

The Danger of Deception

So the apostle Paul says, “I have engaged you to Christ Jesus, but I have a fear, lest, as the serpent deceived Eve, you also will be deceived, and your thoughts will be drawn away from the simplicity that is toward Christ.”

Now you remember in the Old Testament, as God created man and put them in the garden of Eden, they were innocent, like children. They had not eaten the forbidden fruit yet, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In the first place, there was no evil at that time in the garden. There was only good. So they did not have the knowledge of good and evil. Their soul life was not developed yet. They were innocent.

There they had sweet communion with God, as children with their parents. They only knew God and nothing else. If they needed anything, or if they had any questions, they went to God, and it was settled. Very simple. Their life was very simple. There was a simplicity as to God.

But unfortunately, the serpent slipped in. Then you see how it happened. The serpent began to plant in the mind of Eve a seed of unbelief: “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”

Now, what does that mean? Man was put in the garden, and God gave the fruit to be their food. If God had forbidden them to eat any fruit in the garden, it would mean that God wanted them to die, not to live. There would be no love with God. God would be cruel.

Of course, in her innocence, Eve said, “Oh, no. We may eat of every tree in the garden; but of that tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it.’”

In other words, somehow Eve had already accepted something of the suggestion of the serpent. “Yes, God is rather harsh. Not only may we not eat of that tree; we may not even touch it.” God never said that.

So Satan went a step further and cast doubt upon God’s love into Eve’s mind. He said, “God does not want you to eat it, because He knows that if you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be as God. You will not need God any more.”

“God is very selfish, unkind, unloving, holding back something good from you. You may not die at all. His word is not dependable.” By that subtlety, you find that Eve’s mind was deceived from the simplicity that is toward God. That is the fall of man.

So the apostle Paul was trying to say to the Corinthian believers, “Satan is trying very hard to corrupt your minds from the simplicity that is toward Christ.”

The Period Between Engagement and Marriage

Brothers and sisters, we live in a period between engagement and marriage. Now, that is a very important period. It is a period that should be used for preparation for the marriage.

In other words, during that period, the virgin whose heart is already captured by her beloved prepares herself for that day. Just as Rebekah, even though she was still travelling, her heart was already captured by Isaac. When she was asked, “Wilt thou go?” she said, “I will go.”

A virgin who is engaged has, in her heart, no one but her beloved. All her thoughts and all her actions are preparation for that day when she will be married to the one whom she loves. That explained the whole period: Rebekah was travelling towards Isaac.

But that period is also a very dangerous period, because during that period the enemy will try every means to draw you away from Christ.

If he cannot push you into open sin, he will try to entice you with the world: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. If he cannot entice you with these things, then he will try to weigh you down with the care of this life.

Just like Pharaoh, who made the children of Israel work hard so that they had no time and no energy to think about worshipping God.

Or he will try to tell you, “It is all right to serve two masters. You can love two masters. You do not need to make a choice. You can love God and love the world at the same time. You can take the best of two worlds. That is clever.”

Brothers and sisters, your enemy is trying every means to entice you from that simplicity that is toward Christ.

And if he cannot even entice you with the world, do you know what he will do? He will push you into seeking spirituality for your own sake. You just want to be spiritual—spiritual for your own sake, not for the Lord—that you may boast of your spiritual achievement.

You may be doing great work for the Lord, and yet it is for yourself—so engaged in work that you have no time to be with the Lord. Brothers and sisters, this is a very dangerous spirit. He is trying every way to keep you away from that simplicity that is toward Christ.

The Root of Spiritual Problems

As a matter of fact, probably the problem of all problems is this matter of the simplicity that is toward Christ. If only that problem can be solved, I think all the other problems are solved.

You see, with the Corinthian believers, they were double-minded, multiple-minded. Instead of Christ, they sought for knowledge and tongues, that they might display themselves. So they remained in a carnal state, and yet they considered themselves spiritual.

They refused to accept the working of the cross in their lives. Of course, their eyes were on the world, thinking of themselves.

The same thing was true with the Galatian believers. What was their trouble? In their anxiousness to be spiritual, they were enticed by some Judaizers, saying, “It is all right to begin in the Spirit, but you have to complete it by your own works.”

“You believe in the Lord Jesus, that is good; but if you want to be complete, you need to be circumcised and do a few things, and then you are spiritual.” They fell into it. They changed the very nature of the gospel. They were led away from the simplicity that is toward Christ.

The Colossians were the same. The Colossian believers were enticed from seeing Christ as everything. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and you are complete in Him. Yet they sought completion outside of Christ, in the so-called Colossian heresy.

With the Ephesians, you find also that in the beginning they had such a first love towards the Lord. What does first love mean? It means perfect love, whole love, undivided love.

Yet they lost their first love. They loved their own achievements, their labours, their knowledge, and their understanding. They were drawn away from the simplicity that is toward Christ.

The Laodiceans were the same. They boasted of their riches, and yet they had little relationship with the Lord Himself. In other words, you find that all our problems can be traced back to one issue.

The issue of our life is that we have been engaged to Christ. How, by the grace of God, can we be kept as chaste virgins towards Him, so that in our hearts there is no one else but Christ Himself? That is the main issue.

Childlikeness and the Kingdom of Heaven

You know, in Matthew 18, the disciples came to the Lord and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” I do not know if I am correct, but so far as I know, when they first followed the Lord, they had no such question.

You do not find them striving among themselves as to who was the greatest. When they first followed the Lord, they were like children, just following. They saw the Lord. They heard the Lord. They did not see each other. They did not see themselves. Their whole being was occupied with the Lord.

Simple. There was a simplicity there. But after they had followed the Lord for some time, they had gained knowledge. They had learned and knew a lot. Strangely, we would think that they would be above striving for greatness in the kingdom of heaven.

In the beginning, they did not even know what the kingdom of heaven was. But now they knew. With that kind of knowledge, you find that they began to strive as to who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

When they asked such a question, do you know what was behind it? They had lost their simplicity that is toward Christ. They began to see themselves. They began to see each other.

So the Lord gave them an object lesson. Simply saying something was not enough. The Lord took a little child, set the little child in their midst, and said, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you cannot at all enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

“Therefore, he who humbles himself as this little child, he shall be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Brothers and sisters, we should be childlike, no matter how long we have believed in the Lord Jesus. Now, we should not be childish, of course, but we should be childlike.

Not because you have trusted the Lord for years and years, and accumulated many so-called spiritual things, should you lose your childlikeness and become great.

A child is humble. He knows nothing. He depends upon his parents. He trusts his parents. Children often think that their parents can do anything. If a toy is broken, they go to their father. If anything is needed, they go to their mother. Father and mother are almighty.

They never have the idea that their parents cannot do anything. There is complete confidence in the parents. That is a child.

Brothers and sisters, we should not be babes in Christ. We should grow, yes; but our childlikeness should always be there. To me, I think childlikeness is simplicity that is toward Christ.

We can become so complicated. Modern life is complicated, and unconsciously we do become complicated. From simplicity into multiplicity, we begin to think of many things instead of concentrating on the Lord Himself.

The Example of Count Zinzendorf

I think of Count Zinzendorf. When he was a child, perhaps four to six years of age, he loved the Lord very much. He often sat at the window of his castle and wrote love letters to the Lord—just a word or a sentence—and threw them out of the window.

Now, that, I would say, was childlike and childish. As he grew up, he was educated. After he had finished his education, in those days the nobles had to complete their education by travelling through the world.

Of course, young people at that time all liked to travel to Paris. That was the fashion of the world. But Paris had no attraction for him. Instead, in Düsseldorf, in a museum, he saw a picture painted by an artist.

That painter had been engaged by churches at that time to paint for them. He painted many pictures. One day, he wanted to paint something like an angel, so he looked around for a beautiful girl whom he could use as a model.

As he was painting her, the girl looked around and saw all the paintings. They were paintings about the Lord Jesus, because he was painting for the church. She began to ask questions. When she asked questions, of course the painter could not continue painting, so he tried his best to answer her questions.

One day, when he was painting her, the little girl asked, “What is that?” It was a painting of Christ on the cross. So he said, “All right, I will tell you, and then you will be still.” He told her the story.

After he had finished the story, the little girl said one thing: “You must love Him very much, because He loved you so much—crucified for you.” That touched the man.

Out of his love for the Lord, he painted a picture of the face of the Lord Jesus with a crown of thorns. Underneath it he wrote, “I have done this for thee; what hast thou done for Me?”

Zinzendorf, as a young man, stood before that picture and could not leave. The keeper of the museum came and tapped his shoulder, saying, “We are going to close the door.” He went to the hotel and gave his whole life to the Lord.

You know the story of how the Lord used him in the Moravian revival. It is true that, at one time, he led the people into doing many childish things. But thank God, very soon they were delivered out of it. Zinzendorf never lost his childlikeness.

He said, “I have only one passion: Christ, and Christ alone.” That is simplicity. That is childlikeness.

The Single Eye Towards Christ

Brothers and sisters, we become too complicated. We see too many things. We think of too many things. We are occupied with too many things. Our eyes are not single.

If we see no one but Jesus, there will be no problem. All problems are solved. What does it matter if Christ is glorified? Seek nothing for ourselves. Strive for nothing.

It is not a question of who is greatest. If your eyes are upon the Lord, and if you can see the Lord, your position is forgotten. Simplicity that is toward Christ.

Christ’s Simplicity Towards the Father

Our Lord Jesus’ life on earth is a demonstration of simplicity towards God. You know, our Lord had a very difficult life. When you think of the life of our Lord—those thirty-three years or so—it was not simple at all. It was very difficult.

He was tempted in all things. Whatever temptation you can think of, He was tempted, yet without sin. When He was a baby, there was a threat upon His life. At one time He was welcomed and followed by great multitudes; then He was rejected, and they said, “Away with Him! Away with Him!”

Even His own disciples betrayed Him. Those who were so close to Him fled away from Him, even denying Him. Brothers and sisters, the life of our Lord Jesus was difficult.

Yet He lived such a simple life, childlike towards God. To Him, there was only one issue: “Is it the Father’s will?” If it was the Father’s will, no matter what happened to Himself, that was to be done.

If it was not His Father’s will, even the whole world He would not accept. If it was the Father’s will, He would accept the cross. Simple.

There is a childlikeness in our Lord Jesus. Dear brothers and sisters, this life is in you and in me. We know, but somehow the old man will not allow it.

A Call to Return to Simplicity

So, dear brothers and sisters, in my heart I am really burdened with one thing: am I jealous with the jealousy of God over my whole life?

Do I allow all my experiences, all my relationships, and all that I have learned and seen and heard—do I allow all these things to crowd Christ out?

If I become complicated and multiplied, then I am lost. But if, by the grace of God, I can be kept childlike—just fixing my eyes on the Lord and nothing else—then, brothers and sisters, I am safe.

So, to the apostle Paul, this is the one issue that has to be settled. Oh, brothers and sisters, we thank God. He has called us by His gospel, and we are His. We are virgins engaged to our Lord Jesus.

But let us examine ourselves under His light, whether, and how far, we have been enticed away from the simplicity that is toward Christ. Return to simplicity. Return to childlikeness.

The Pursuit of the Beloved

I believe this is what the Lord is after. You know, if you read Song of Solomon, you see the whole issue there. It is the story of a virgin who is attracted by the beloved, and how she desires to know more of the beloved.

Because of her desire to know more of the beloved and her pursuit after Him, she is misunderstood by her brothers. They put her to work, trying to work her out of that seeking after the Lord.

She was dissatisfied and cried out, “Lord, where art Thou? Where dost Thou feed Thy flock?” Thank God, the Lord responded to her and led her into the banqueting house, knowing the riches of Christ and experiencing something of the work of the cross in her life.

She considered the Lord as a bundle of myrrh, passing the night upon her breast. But then she became occupied with these blessings of the Lord, with these spiritual experiences. She rested in these things.

Then she discovered that the Lord was outside the wall, calling her out of herself. At first she could not do it, because she thought those experiences were so good and wanted to keep them. But she lost the Lord.

Because of love, He drew her out. You find that the whole thing in Song of Solomon is that the Lord is drawing her out of herself, drawing her out of anything that is not the Lord Himself, until her whole heart is occupied only with the Lord.

“I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.” In other words, all of Christ and none of ourselves. Brothers and sisters, this is simplicity.

So may the Lord help us, that we will really go to the Lord and inquire before the Lord whether, through the years, somehow we have deviated from that simplicity that is toward Christ. I think the Lord wants us to return to it.

Closing Prayer

Let us pray.

Dear Lord, Thou art jealous. Thou art jealous over one thing, and that is whether we keep our simplicity as to Thee.

Lord, we pray that Thou wilt speak to each one of us. Examine our hearts. See if our hearts are divided. See if there is anything other than Thyself in us.

Lord, we do not know our hearts, but Thou knowest. So we just want to lie there before Thee and pray, “Lord, search us and know our hearts, and see if there is anything evil in us, and lead us in the way everlasting.”

We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.