Now what does it mean to be simple? What is the definition of being simple?
Well when you and I think of someone who is simple or something that is simple,
it's something that's easy to be understood. It's not complex. It's not elaborate.
It's something that's made easy, right? And the Bible uses that definition as well because the
Bible talks about the simplicity which is in Christ, right? And we often think about salvation
for example. Salvation is very easy. Getting saved is something that is very easy. It's very simple.
It's not complex at all. All it requires for you to do is believe on Jesus Christ
plus nothing minus nothing. That's very simple, right? That formula for salvation is extremely
easy to be understood. All you have to do is place your faith in Christ plus nothing minus nothing.
And so that is definitely a definition that we see in the Bible but it can also refer to someone
who is without knowledge, okay? They're ignorant. They're absent of the complexities of knowledge.
In our modern vernacular, people would often say this, they're stupid, okay? And I know people get
offended really easy just when you use that word but that's basically what it means. You're just
without knowledge. You're ignorant. You don't really understand. There are people who are
without discernment and simplicity is simply a void, okay? So here's the thing with this matter
of being simple-minded is that it's not always good and it's not always bad because the Bible
commands us to be simple concerning evil. In other words, not necessarily know the complexities of
that which is evil and wicked, not know all the details of all the wicked things of this world
or the things that the devil puts forth. But it also means that you can be simple concerning that
which is good. In other words, you don't really know what the Bible says about cause and effect
of sin, about righteousness. So it could either be good or bad. It's simply having a deficit of
knowledge, you understand, of good or bad. But here's the thing, you know, we want to be simple
concerning evil, okay? But we don't want to be simple concerning the things of God, you understand?
We don't want to be children because often the Bible relates simplicity to children. You know,
children are very simple-minded. They don't really understand a whole lot. We as adults,
especially as Christians, we definitely don't want to be simple concerning the things concerning God
because of the fact that if we are, we're going to suffer the consequences of it,
okay? And the goal of the simple is to be wise, alright? So we want to exercise ourselves into
godliness. We want to learn righteousness. We want to pursue these things. We want to pursue charity
and holiness and these things that will please the Lord. But equally, we also want to learn wisdom.