John 5:19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

John 5:30 I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

I chose Matthew’s call rather than some of the others because there was no assignment attached. When Jesus called the fishermen of Galilee He said “I will make you fishers of men.” They might not have understood exactly what that meant, but it sounded familiar because they were men that cast nets together. Matthew on the other hand was a tax collector, hated by his own people. Jesus did not say “and I will restore you.” Yet He did.

In many ways those of us that began following Jesus were very unsure of the path ahead. Jesus said later “I am the way”. In one sense doing it the way Jesus did it, is how we should do it.

The opening passages are how Jesus accomplished all that needed to be done. We can do nothing on our own. A close personal relationship with God allows us to hear Him, to judge that the voice we hear is truly His, have the confidence that we have heard right and the ability to choose His will over our own.

Having the ability to choose rightly does not mean we will always choose to obey. We still have free will. Love doesn’t insist. 1 Corinthians 13:5 While Jesus freed us from the power and penalty of sin, He did not remove us from its presence. 

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.

Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Paul’s advice to the Galatians here was spoken directly out of his own life experience.

Acts 26:14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Saul was under the yoke his whole life until he went against the will of the Father. Then he got the whip.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This is not the end of the quote. It continues in John 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Over the years I have met people who resent the notion that no one can come to the Father without Jesus. The majority of those people worship other gods. Then there was that class of people in front of Jesus who worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jews. He declared their worship of the One True God was missing the mark.

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

Jesus said that to the Samaritan woman at the well. The Jews of those days would have agreed that the Samaritan’s didn’t know God but now Jesus is lumping them together and to the Pharisee and Sadducee that was unacceptable. He questioned their very worship. It was fine for them to judge the Samaritans unworthy but to be told by this Nazarene that they didn’t know God the Father was unacceptable.

It seems to be easier to tell people about God if they have no knowledge of God. Challenging another person’s faith will always be met with resentment. So why is this article titled “So Simple”?

Only Jesus did things that proved God was with Him. No one could do all the miracles that He did if God’s will wasn’t being done. Then Jesus went on to fulfill all the signs and wonders that identified Him as the Messiah, He died and rose on the third day. Thirdly and most importantly, God the Father sent His Spirit to abide in the hearts of man in order that we can worship Him in spirit and truth. That only happens by faith in Jesus Christ. No other belief makes that offer.

It is simple because God did not leave it up to us. He did it Himself.

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

This life we live by faith is done together because He loves us and wants to do all things together. It is just that simple.