Simplicity

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

As people who live in this present contemporary, Western culture, era, and time, we crave practical instructions for how to do things, how to improve the quality of our lives, and how to be productive. What’s more, we want these instructions to be short, clear, concise, easy-to-understand, and easy to do – with as little cost and effort as possible.

But what we fail to understand is this – that we are not animals, robots, or programmable machines. We are human beings who are made in the image of God, who – more than anything else – can only make sense of life, our purpose, and our problems not by merely knowing what to do in some easy, practical way but by understanding God first and most of all.

Yet, even for those who follow Christ, it is God himself most of all of which we seem to know the least. Why is this so? Perhaps because the idea of God seems generic and boring. Or perhaps because God is invisible and we are more interested by things we can see and experience in a sensory, material way. Or perhaps because we are too scared to get to know God better. Or perhaps because we think we know God well enough already.

Whatever the reason, I am convinced that we need to know God far better than we do. Listen to what God himself says about this challenge (Jer 9:23-24):

Thus says the Lord, “Let not Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me…”

As we make progress through our current preaching series called “Incomparable,” looking closely at the incomparable, personal attributes and qualities of our great God, let me encourage you to focus and listen closely. Much of what we hear may seem abstract, difficult, philosophical, and though-provoking. It may seem less practical or concrete than you may desire. But if and when such feelings and thoughts rise within you, may you then ask yourself, “[Self], could this be the reason why you struggle as you do? Could it be that you are not fascinated by and understanding God as well as you could and should?”

As with any personal relationship, only much more so in our relationship with God, the more interested you are in the other person and the more accurately and deeply you know them, the better your relationship with that person will be. In fact, knowing who they are will actually better prepare you to know what to do, not the other way around.

So, with that said, I pray that this preaching series – this sermon included – will stir within you a greater curiosity and fascination with God himself, even more than with your own self and the world around you. And may this preaching series help you to know and understand God better than ever before, making it possible for you to live and worship better as a result. To that end, today we will consider what we call “the simplicity” of God.

Simplicity means that God is not made up of parts.

Of all the possible attributes and qualities of God which we may discuss, this is probably one of the most unfamiliar. How often have you considered the simplicity of God and what does it even mean to say that God is simple? In fact, that doesn’t even sound right. Isn’t God too vast and complex to be called simple?

As we use the word today, to be “simple” can mean a variety of things. It can mean that someone is “foolish or unintelligent,” as when we say, “She is such a simple person.” Or it can also mean that something is “easy to understand or figure out,” as when we say, “That was a simple math problem,” such as 1 + 1 = 2, and so on. But God is neither of these things. He is neither foolish and unintelligent, nor is he easy to understand or figure out. He is actually the least foolish (or most wise and intelligent) being that exists, and he is also the most difficult being to understand or figure out. So, since this is the case, why do we call God simple?

What does this tell us about God?

That God is simple means that God is not made up of parts. And knowing this reveals to us at least two important facts about him.

God is not complex.

This may sound strange and even surprising to you. After all, isn’t God far more difficult to comprehend than anyone or anything else that exists? Isn’t he more amazing and incredible than our limited, finite human minds are able to comprehend? While all of this is true, in what way is God not “complex?”

By “complex,” we mean “composed of many parts.” Consider some of our common forms of transportation, for instance: a bicycle, a gasoline-powered car, and an airplane. Which is more complex? According to NAPA (National Auto Parts Association), bicycles have approx. 900 parts, cars approx. 30,000 parts, and airplanes approx. 6 million parts. So, the bicycle is the simpler form of communication. But if you want a form of transportation that is even simple, then choose a skateboard, because that has only abt. 30 parts.

Then there’s the human body. Though ways of counting vary, our bodies consist of about 200 bones, 650 muscles, 79 organs, and a vast network of blood arteries. Some claim that there are as many as 7,500 named parts in the human body. Just look around you and you will see all sorts of things, all of which consist of parts, some more than others.

But God is not this way. He is not composed of parts. He is not made up of many parts or many things. He is – instead – one, perfectly and completely one in every way. In other words, he is only one thing – God. And while we may – and even must – use many words to describe him accurately and well, this is not because he consists of many things or is made up of many parts; it is because our human, limited minds are unable to comprehend him completely, so we must describe him in smaller thoughts which we are able to talk and think about little by little.

As we examine the various attributes and qualities of God together, we may ironically develop a wrong perspective about him if we are not careful to avoid doing so. And that’s why I’m preaching this message now, at the start of our series. We can develop the perspective that God is somehow a collection or combination of various attributes and qualities. We may view him as having some love, some holiness, some justice, some mercy, some goodness, some power, some wisdom, etc. But this is not how God is. He is not someone who is made up of a collection or combination of a lot of things.

We speak about God’s qualities individually (and Scripture only speaks to us about these qualities individually) because our minds are only able to consider them individually. But in reality, God is not made up of many individual attributes and qualities, he is one great attribute and quality which – in reality – is all the attributes and qualities which Scripture reveals to us about him all at once. So, when Scripture says that God is “one,” this not only means that there is one God, but that God is only one thing – God.

God is not created.

That God is simple in this sense – not made up of parts or qualities – means not only that God is singularly and completely God, but it also means that God is not created. You see, anything (or everything) else that exists is created and is also not simple. Choose anything you want and think of it, point to it, mention it. Whatever you choose, it will be something that is not simple but complex. Even the smallest, microscopic cells of the universe are complex, consisting of parts.

What do we know about complex things – which consist of parts? There are two important things that we know about complex things. One, they rely upon the parts of which they are made and, two, they rely upon who- or what-ever made them or put them together.

First, we know that they are entirely reliant upon all their parts working together properly. They do not exist of themselves by their own effort and determination. They exist and function in reliance upon their parts. Consider your bicycle or car, for example. Start removing parts from them and they will no longer be or function as they are supposed to. And then there’s your body, of course. Start taking away or damaging the parts of your body and you no longer exist or function as you are supposed to.

For God to be simple means that God is not reliant upon anything to be who he is and to do what he does. He does not need love, or justice, or holiness, or knowledge, or wisdom, or grace to be God. Those qualities do not make him God. Those qualities only exist because He is God and because he IS God, and all those things come from him – he does not come from them.

This also means, then, that every other form or instance of love, justice, holiness, knowledge, wisdom, or grace, etc. exists only because of God. That is why we can say that God is love, but we can never say that any other person is love. A person can have love, or have wisdom, or have knowledge, but he only has those things (or parts) because of God endowing him with those things in some limited way. This is why Scripture can say that while God is the giver of all good things, know one can give back to him anything which he does not already have.

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. (Rom 11:36)

Ultimately, this is why God revealed himself to us in his most personal way not by describing himself but by identifying himself. And how did he identify himself? As “I am” (Exo 3:14). He exists as God – simply and completely God, nothing else. He was not created, he just exists.

This leads to the second thing we know about complex things – they are assembled, created, and put together by someone or something else. Not only do they rely upon all their parts functioning correctly, but they also rely upon the intent and involvement of whomever or whatever put them together or made them. Parts do not come together by themselves. Cars and planes are assembled either by hand, by machines and robots, or by some combination of both. This is always the case.

Said another way, God could not have assembled himself or put himself together or created himself, for to do so he would need to exist before he created or put himself together, and to do so would not only be illogical, impossible, and nonsensical, but it would be redundant. How could someone who already exists bring themselves into existence? And how could someone who doesn’t exist bring themselves into existence?

That God is “one” and does not consist of parts means both that he does not rely on various attributes, qualities, or parts to be who he is, nor does he rely on some other external force or being for his existence. He simply exists as the one, true God who is himself perfectly one. He is who he is all at once completely and everything else that exists, then, depends on him. Consider how Paul explains this (Col 1:16-17):

By Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

The key phrase here is “in him all things consist” (1:17). Other translations translate this as “in him all things hold together.” Bible teacher Richard Melick says this about the phrase:

The second statement is, “In him all things hold together.” The work of creation included the continual sustaining of what was created. Looking to the present, ongoing routine of creation, therefore, Paul stated that Jesus keeps things in order. The Creator has not forgotten the creation. He daily maintains a balance in the universe.

So, it is God the Creator who not only made everything else that exists but upon whom all things that are made rely for their continued existence, functioning, and operation. Even you depend upon God for each breath that you take. Yet because God is simple and has no parts, he is the only being who does not rely on anything or anyone else for anything, for he is composed of nothing and has always existed as one complete, perfect, simple being who is plainly and simply one.

What does this mean for us as people?

Having talked this through together, let me acknowledge how carefully and deeply doing so requires us to think. It’s not easy to work hard at comprehending God! Ironically, it seems complicated to understand that God is simple. But that’s because we are such complicated and limited beings – the challenge is on us, not God.

Listen to what Irenaeus, a disciple of the Apostle John, said about the nature of God in the century after Christ:

“[Men] are compound by nature, and consist of a body and a soul...[but] God is not as men are...He is a simple, uncompounded Being, without diverse members, altogether like and equal to Himself, since He is wholly understanding, wholly spirit, wholly thought, wholly intelligence, wholly reason, wholly hearing, wholly seeing, wholly light, and the whole source of all that is good.”

So how should we respond to this reality that God is a simple being – the ONLY simple being – who is not made up of parts? Is this merely something to make us feel more mentally stimulated and more philosophically astute? No. To begin with, it should give us a more profound humility before God and appreciation of God. But more specifically, I will offer you four points of personal response. One is a logical, obvious response, and the other three are given to us right here in our primary passage, Deut 6:1-9.

We should accept all of God’s attributes equally and completely.

Said another way, we should not emphasize some qualities but diminish others. We should not prefer some of his attributes over others or view some as better than others.

We fail at this quite quickly, it seems, when we say things like, “The most important attribute of God is …” How would you complete this statement? Some people believe that God’s most important attribute is love, because John says that God IS love (1 Jn 4:8). But what of other statements like “God is spirit” or “God is faithful” or “God is light,” etc.? These are all true observations about God and one is no more important than the other. In fact, he is all of these things and so much more, perfectly and at once in one complete unity, not as a collection of various elements.

Other people answer the statement by saying that God’s most important attribute is holiness, because in multiple places the Bible says that God is “holy, holy, holy,” emphasized three times in succession (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8). But other emphatic statements about God’s qualities are made elsewhere in Scripture, as well.

Nothing in Scripture teaches us that God has a dominant, most important attribute, feature, or quality. This is why the best, most fundamental description of God is his own name, which is “I am.” He does not ultimately identify himself by something about himself other than the fact that he just simply, completely exists. All of his attributes are merely the various ways that we must describe him using multiple words because of our limited ability to see, understand, think about, and explain God. But he is, in fact, all of these things at once. He himself is his one, true great attribute.

For this reason, we must resist the urge to prefer one attribute over the other. We must never diminish his holiness and what that means for our lives at the expense of his love, or diminish his love and what that means for our lives at the expense of his holiness. He is both holy and loving all at once in an inseparable, indistinguishable way. There is no competition between these qualities, but rather both exist to their fullest possible extent at all times as one indistinguishable quality – God himself. And this is true of any and all other possible attributes and qualities of God which we may observe and study, whether that be his goodness, justice, mercy, power, wisdom, and so on.

And by learning to think about and view God this way, we should allow this to shape how we live our lives and treat other people. We should seek to be influenced and shaped by all the attributes and qualities of God which we can observe, not just some of them. This is how we become more complete, mature, and Christlike people as we rely upon God.

We should devote our whole self to God completely.

Though we, unlike God, are made up of parts (including body, soul, and spirit), we should love God with all our parts – or rather, our whole self. We should not serve God partially but completely. That’s why Deut 6:4 says that we should “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” I especially find helpful how David prays about this to God (Psa 86:11):

Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.

In this prayer, David is desiring to bring all of the parts of his inner desires, feelings, and thoughts into one unified desire to devote himself to God completely. Because God is not made up of parts, whatever he thinks, feels, or does, he does completely. He is never half-hearted or partial or divided. He is always fully united, focused, and devoted to what he does. Because of this, David desired to return such a fully devoted life to God.

When we begin to comprehend the simplicity of God by his very nature as God, and to understand that we are made in his image, then though we realize we are not simple but complex (made up of many parts), the right response is to turn to God and rely upon God with all our heart, with the goal of uniting all of our inner competing parts, feelings, desires, and thoughts into one laser-focused love for and devotion to God.

We should internalize God’s Word deeply within ourselves.

As Deut 6 goes on to say, if we understand that God is simple and completely one, we should become very familiar with all that God tells us about himself and about his intentions for our lives within his Word. We cannot possibly comprehend, know, or understand God as well as we can or should unless we understand all that he has revealed to us from himself. Because God is not made up of parts, we are at a serious disadvantage when we are only familiar with some of what we know about him and not the rest.

If all we know about God are a few basic concepts, a view brief Bible verses, and so on, then we will tend to view God as somewhat complicated and limited rather than simple and mind-blowing in his awesomeness. The best way to know God is to know all that he has said about himself, and for that you must do whatever you can to know him better. This includes personal study of the Bible as well as study of Scripture together with other believers in your church family along with the teaching ministry of the pastors and teachers in your church. This is the pattern the Bible gives to us from God (Eph 4:12-16).

According to Deut 6, we should make every effort to put what God’s Word says “in your heart” (6:6). This requires regular reading, reflection, study, and memorization.

We should emphasize God’s Word widely throughout our lives.

Finally, Deut 6 goes on to tell us that we should surround ourselves with reminders of God’s Word and think about, talk about, and teach others about God as much as we can in all phases of our everyday lives and schedules. Not only should we remind ourselves of the truth of God from his Word, but we should teach others around us, too – esp. those within our own family. When should we do this? In our leisure time when we’re not busy (“when you sit in your house”), in our busy time (“when you walk by the way”), in our evening routines (“when you lie down”), and in our morning routines (“when you rise up”). This covers every possible time of day, doesn’t it?

But when we understand that God himself by nature is not made up of parts, then to know him better and respond to him better, we must ask him to unite our own hearts to be devoted to him in a singular, united, undivided way. And we should take it upon ourselves to unite our whole self, our whole life, and even those around us to do serve and worship God in a completely devoted way. Does this describe your mindset and approach to God and life today?

So today, as we reflect on the profound truth of God’s simplicity—that He is one, complete, and uncomposed of parts—let us respond with complete and undivided awe and devotion to him. May this knowledge about him humble us, compelling us to embrace all of God’s attributes equally and fully, without favoring one over another, and to love Him with our whole being, as Deuteronomy 6 urges.

Let us immerse ourselves in his Word, internalizing it deeply and weaving it into every facet of our lives—morning, evening, at home, or on the way. By doing so, may we more closely and deeply align our complex, fragmented selves with the single, perfect nature of our incomparable God. May this sermon series ignite a relentless curiosity to know him more, transforming our worship and our lives to reflect his incomparable glory.