Building Life's Foundation: Simplicity Amidst Complexity

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Matthew 7:24-27** (NIV)
> "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

2. **Matthew 5-7** (Sermon on the Mount)
> This passage includes the teachings of Jesus that provide the foundation for a solid life.

#### Observation Questions
1. What are the two different foundations mentioned in Matthew 7:24-27, and what do they represent?
2. According to the sermon, what does the house symbolize in the parable of the wise and foolish builders? [39:10]
3. What are some examples of daily decisions that can be considered as "bricks" in the construction of one's life? [40:27]
4. How does the sermon describe the inevitability of life's storms, and what is their purpose? [44:09]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why does Jesus emphasize the importance of building one's life on a solid foundation, and how does this relate to His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount? [35:28]
2. How does the concept of "complexity bias" affect our decision-making, and why might we overlook simple solutions in favor of more complex ones? [30:29]
3. In what ways do the storms of life reveal the true strength of one's foundation, according to the sermon? [46:50]
4. How can habitual decisions shape the course of one's life, and what role does intentionality play in making different decisions? [40:48]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on your own life: What kind of foundation have you been building on? Are there areas where you need to strengthen your foundation by aligning more closely with Jesus' teachings? [36:55]
2. Think about a recent storm or challenge you faced. How did your foundation hold up? What did this experience reveal about the strength of your foundation? [46:50]
3. Identify a habitual decision you make daily. Is this decision contributing positively or negatively to the construction of your life? How can you make a more intentional choice in this area? [40:48]
4. Consider the complexity bias in your life. Are there areas where you tend to seek out complex solutions instead of embracing simplicity? How can you shift your focus to simpler, more effective solutions? [30:29]
5. Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are described as simple yet profound. How can you incorporate one specific teaching from Matthew 5-7 into your daily life this week? [35:28]
6. Reflect on a time when you felt overwhelmed by the complexity of modern life. How can you apply the principle of "when less is more" to simplify your life and reduce unnecessary stress? [25:11]
7. How can you prepare yourself for the inevitable storms of life by investing in a strong foundation? What practical steps can you take to build resilience and stability in your life? [44:09]

Day 1: Constructing Life with Intention
Every choice is a brick in the edifice of life, and the quality of these choices determines the resilience of the structure built. Like a house, life requires a sturdy foundation to withstand the inevitable challenges that arise. The decisions made daily, whether small or significant, contribute to the strength of this foundation. [39:09]

Luke 6:48-49 - "He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."
Reflection: What is one decision you've made today that serves as a brick in your life's foundation? How can you ensure it is built on solid ground?

Day 2: Embracing Simplicity in Teaching
The teachings of Jesus offer a clear path through life's complexities, providing accessible wisdom that stands the test of time. Simplicity in His words does not diminish their depth but rather enhances their applicability to our daily lives. By embracing this simplicity, one can navigate the modern world with clarity and purpose. [36:11]

James 3:17 - "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere."
Reflection: How can you apply the simple yet profound teachings of Jesus to a current situation in your life that seems complex?

Day 3: Preparing for Life's Inevitable Storms
Life's storms are not a question of if, but when. They test the strength of our foundations and reveal the true quality of our spiritual construction. Acknowledging the inevitability of these storms encourages preparation and resilience, helping to weather any adversity that comes our way. [44:29]

Proverbs 24:10 - "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small."
Reflection: What practical steps can you take today to strengthen your spiritual foundation in preparation for life's inevitable storms?

Day 4: Overcoming Complexity Bias
The modern world often lures us into complexity, but true wisdom lies in recognizing the power of simplicity. By being aware of the complexity bias, one can choose simpler, more effective solutions that align with core values and lead to a more purposeful life. [31:22]

Ecclesiastes 7:29 - "See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes."
Reflection: Can you identify an area of your life where complexity has overshadowed simplicity? How can you simplify your approach to this area?

Day 5: Investing in a Lasting Foundation
The true strength of a life, like a house, is not in its outward appearance but in its foundation. A life built on the solid teachings of Jesus will endure, while one built on shifting sands will falter. Investing in a strong foundation is essential for stability and resilience in the face of life's challenges. [47:09]

1 Corinthians 3:11 - "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
Reflection: Reflect on the current state of your life's foundation. What can you do to ensure it is built upon the teachings of Jesus Christ?

Good morning again. Welcome everyone. Welcome to 2024. Isn't that something? We're starting out. This is the first Sunday of the new year. I know we already kicked off New Year's Eve last Sunday, but this is actually the first Sunday of the new year. And we are excited to get started together.

Not only are we starting a brand new year this year, but we're also this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of Lakeshore Christian Church. You ready? I'm modeling the t-shirt. 50th anniversary crest on it. These are available in our bookstore. Have to do a little plug there. Little t-shirts available in the bookstore. They'll be available all year long. It's leading up to the actual anniversary of the incorporation of the church. It's November the 17th of this year, but we'll be celebrating all year long. So we're glad that you could join us for that. Welcome to those that are joining us online. Smyrna Campus, we love you guys and glad to be celebrating this all together.

When you think about the past year, 2023, I don't know what word comes to mind for you, but I want you to try to think of one word that describes your year in 2023. Try to keep it church appropriate if you can, all right? Might have been rough, but you're here, right? You made it through and you're starting a new year here with us together. If you could pick a word in your mind though for this past year, I could think of a lot of different ones, but I think one word that might describe not just this past year, but the world we live in is complex.

You would think with all the new technology, with all the new inventions, with all the new stuff, life would get more simple, but what's happened really? It's gotten more complex. Everything that we come up with to try to simplify our lives has for many of us just complicated it that much more. Just trying to keep up with everything, the new technology, the new things that are out there, the new phrases, the new styles, the new cars, the new houses. I'm just trying to keep up with all of that. It gets very complex if that's what you're building your life around.

What's interesting is you would think it would get more simple. We're going to be in this series we're starting today. The series is called "When Less is More." We're going to be learning from the simple teachings of Jesus Christ how He designed life to work and the view of life He wants us to have, the worldview He wants us to have as we live life here on this earth. Here's what I know about Jesus. He doesn't complicate things. He doesn't make them more complex than they need to be. We do that, not Jesus.

In this series, we're going to be talking about that. I want to do another little plug because I believe in it so much. My beautiful bride, Sue Ann, in fact, I think in 2011 wrote this book. It's a study called "Simplify: A Life Anchored in Purpose." Now the message series is not going to follow the book, but this book has a lot of the principles from scripture that we're going to be talking about. I would recommend if you don't already have this book, many of you went through this study with Sue Ann in the years past. You may already have the book, but if you don't, it's available at the website shineworthyt.com. You can go there and purchase it through that website. It's simply called "Simplify: A Life Anchored in Purpose." A lot of what we're going to be talking about in this series, you could go a little deeper with it as you go through that study that she wrote. I don't ever mind giving a plug for my beautiful bride. She's a very gifted follower of Jesus who does a lot of great teaching and writing, so I'm happy to promote that. Because it ties so well with the series that we're going to be doing here.

So in this series talking about when less is more, I want to say from the beginning, some of you are already cringing a little bit if you're really into grammar, because you could say "more simple" or "simpler," and I've said both of those already today. And some of you are already struggling with that because you're all about the grammar stuff. Now here's what I want to tell you. Get over it. There are a lot bigger things for you to worry about. Now I believe we ought to try to use good grammar as well, but here's what I found out. You can Google it. You don't have to right now. Wait a little while. Wait until after the sermon. You can Google it. Either one is correct, "more simple" or "simpler," or both grammatically correct. So you could say it either way. So for the rest of this series, I don't want you freaking out over which one I'm saying. And I don't want you to think that your life needs to be complicated about things like that, worrying about things like that. It doesn't need to be that complicated. We could all relax a little bit and get past that.

And here's the thing. I just took up a few minutes of my sermon talking about this thing. I've complicated a sermon on simplify. So I'm going to quit complicating it, and I want to get to it here and talk about when less is more. And what we're talking about today is the idea of simple, but not easy. Just because something's simple doesn't mean it's easy to do. It's easy to incorporate into your life. You would think so. They're synonyms, but they're not the same. Simple and easy are not the same thing.

So when I think about how the world has gotten more complex, I think about things or how things have changed, not just in the past year, but in the past several years. For example, managing or navigating dating in today's culture. Thankfully, I'm not in that world. I don't want to be in that world, but we've got people here that are in that world. I can't imagine how complicated that is, even to try to be in the dating world today with all that's going on out there. It's crazy. You would think with all the apps and everything, it might be making it more simple, but it hasn't. It's more complex than it's ever been.

And it's not just that. It's a lot of things. Some of us, I hate to even bring it up. I don't want to spoil your New Year. It's tax time, right? We've got to file our tax returns. You would think with all the time they've had to simplify the tax code, they could have made this more simple. But what's happened is more complex than it's ever been before. It's crazy having to try to file your taxes. You have to get help. I know I do. Some of you may be experts on this. I have to get help with this. It's just too complicated for me. And it's true for so many different things in our lives.

There is a term in psychology that I was reading about recently as I was preparing this series. It's called the complexity bias. I don't know if you've heard of it before, but it says we all have a tendency to be drawn to the complex and not the simple because we think it might be better. If we're dealing with a problem or a struggle, and what do we do a lot of times? We go online and we Google it. We say, what are the answers to this? What do I need to do about it? How can I solve this? How can I fix this? And once you start that, what can happen? You have all these different articles that pop up, all these different links, and you could go down this rabbit hole where you go deeper and deeper and more and more complex trying to find the answer to this problem when sometimes the answer is really simple. And we're making it harder than it needs to be.

But I think the psychologist said that one of the reasons we tend to be drawn to the complex is because it gives us the illusion that we're in control, right? If we've got this complex system to follow and steps to take and all that, we start feeling like maybe we could fix this and we're in control and we'll get it all worked out because we're going to follow all these steps and all these guidelines and it's going to get us to the conclusion that we're trying to get to. And we're drawn to that idea that we can be in control of this.

Just think about the different health resolutions people make going into the new year, right? Still at the top of the list are things like quit smoking and things like lose weight and things like get in better shape. Those are still some of the top three resolutions that people make going into the new year. But here's the thing. It's not that complicated. We really complicated ourselves. If you really want to get in better shape and better health, then it's really simple. Be more active and eat healthier. Eat healthier than you've been eating. It's that simple. You don't have to have a whole bunch. But we go to the 300-page latest new diet that came out because it gives us the illusion that we're going to be in control of this now instead of the simple answer that's been there all the time for us.

Now, I know that doesn't fix everything. I'm not trying to oversimplify it, but I'm saying it's not as complicated as we make it most of the time. But people sell a lot of books and programs and prepackaged foods to get you to buy those things to have better health along the way instead of just doing the simple things that we've always needed to do anyway. If you Google self-improvement, I did this again preparing for the sermon. If you just Google self-improvement, you're going to get 1.1 billion hits. And that's because they limit it to 1.1 billion. That's the only reason that's all you get because there's more out there. That's how complicated we've made it, right? That you got over a billion links that you could go to to talk about improving yourself.

So for these next four weeks, we're going to go back to less complicated, more simple, simpler, either one is correct, words of Jesus because he didn't complicate life. He made it clear, simple, easy to understand, but that doesn't mean easy. Those two things are not the same.

How many of you are told to do things and it sounds like it's going to be simple, but it doesn't end up being simple? Things like this. You're walking up like at the airport, and there's several different lines for security, and your spouse says, "Pick the shortest line." That sounds simple, doesn't it? I have yet to pick the shortest line. It looked the shortest going in, but it took the longest going through, right? It sounds simple, but it's not. Or things like, "Put down your phone for a while, leave it alone." For some people today, that's one of the hardest things in the world to do is to separate yourself from that device for very long. Your whole life is in that device; you can't get away from it, right? So that's a really hard thing. It's simple, right? Put your phone down, but that's not easy for a lot of people.

What about this one? Just admit that you were wrong. It's simple, but it's not easy, is it? Here's one, might be relevant to today. "It's only a football game, don't be so upset." That's a tough one for a lot of people, or a basketball game, or whatever sport it might be, right? Don't get so upset about it.

Well, I want you to turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapters five, six, and seven are where you find Jesus teaching this series of teachings that have often been called now the Sermon on the Mount. He's gone up onto this mountainside, and on that mountainside for a whole day out there, he's teaching the people lesson after lesson after lesson. And we have it recorded for us in Matthew five, six, and seven. Now, I don't want you to do it right now, but go back this week and just read through the whole Sermon on the Mount because it all connects together, okay? It's a great devotional reading time. You'll learn a lot.

But here's what you're going to find out about the Sermon on the Mount. It's simple. It's just not easy. But it is simple. In fact, some people walked away from Jesus because they thought he wasn't deep enough. Can you imagine that? They had other teachers that they liked better because they would have a long thesis on this, and Jesus would have a short story about it where he just taught it simply so that everybody could understand it. But some people, remember, are drawn to the complex. They don't see the simple as something that's deep enough for them.

Well, in Matthew seven, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, we're near the very end of it now with the words that we're going to talk about where he tells us parables. Some people say, well, it's kind of like two parables, but it's very short. It's like two in one. I think it's just one parable with a comparison of two things in that one parable, okay? Here's what he says, beginning of verse 24.

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

So in the whole Sermon on the Mount and all of these teachings, what Jesus is doing is giving people a lens through which to look at life, how life is designed to work by God, okay? He's the author of life. He's the designer of life. He knows best how life is supposed to work. And then in this series of teachings, he says, "Here's how you need to look at life. Here's how you need to live out life the way I designed it to be."

And so he's coming to the end of that teaching, and he's saying, "It's like building a house." He gives this comparison between two builders. One built his house on what? A rock. One built his house on what? Right? And he's going to contrast those two, compare those two, so you can see the difference and why it's so important to build on the right foundation. This is a really simple story. It's not hard to understand at all. We're going to talk about it, and we're going to give you three things that we need to be reminded of from this story, but don't overcomplicate this, guys. There's no reason to overcomplicate it.

And if you think Pastor Andy's not deep enough in this message series, talk to Jesus. This is how simple he made it, okay? That's one of the reasons he's my hero. I can understand what Jesus was teaching me, right? I can apply it to my life. I know how it applies to my life, and you can, too. Don't overcomplicate it.

All right, so here's the first point from this story. Everybody builds a house. Everyone builds a house. You know why? The house represents your life. The house represents your life. And all of us are building a life. You're building your life right now. You were building it in 2023. You were building it from the time you were born until this moment of your life right now. You have been building your house, your life. That's what Jesus is talking about. Keep it simple. It's not any more complicated than that. In this story, the house is a metaphor for life.

So let's think about it that way. Everyone builds a life. Whether you want to or not, you are building one. Part of living is building a life. So let's try to get a visual of this, okay? Let's just imagine, I like to visualize things when I'm studying scripture. So I want you to join me in this. Whether you usually do this or not, help me out here, okay? Let's visualize building a house. And let's say it's a big house. Let's say we've got about 5,000 to 6,000 square feet. This is a huge house, okay? And you're building it as a brick house. It consists of around 25,000 bricks, this house. Okay, it's a lot of bricks.

Now, what makes up the bricks of building the house? Well, remember, this is a metaphor for life. So think about it this way. Every decision you make is another metaphor that you make as another brick in the house that you're building. Every decision you make is another brick in the house. And when you make decisions, sometimes they're very conscious decisions. You've thought it out, you've researched it, and you make that decision. Most of our decisions, though, day to day are habitual decisions. We do about 70 to 80% of the same things every day, right? And you're not consciously even thinking about it after so long, but your brain is still programmed to think, "Do this, do this next," right? You have a routine.

Usually on a workday, if you're working a regular job and you're getting up in the morning and going to work or going to work later in the day, whatever your shift is, you have a routine that you go through where you get up and you do that routine and go to work. And you don't even have to think about it, right? It's a routine, but decisions are still being made that you've already put into your mind about what you're going to do that day. And so every day, it averages about 70 decisions.

Now, if you multiply that out, here's what you've got to find out. That's about 25,000 bricks a year that you're building this house with. About 25,000 bricks a year. About 25,500 if you want to get technical, okay? Let's get the exact number for some of you that are adding it up right now. Some of you were figuring that in your head, I could tell. 25,500 bricks, okay? So every decision is one of those bricks. Daily decisions, decisions in the moment. You decide, "I'm going to let that offend me today, so I'm going to be mad about it." That's a decision you made. I'm going to determine what your day's like that day. Or that person hurt me, and I've got to decide how I'm going to respond, so I want to get back at them and hurt them. That's a decision you just made. It's determining what your life is like. Or you determine, "I'm going to let it go. I'm going to move on. I'm going to choose to be happy today." That's a different decision, but it builds your life, whatever decision you make that day.

So everything we're responding to all day long are decisions or bricks that we're building our house with. If you do 25,500 bricks a year, if you live to be 80 years old, that's two million decisions you've made. Two million. But at any point in that lifetime, you can pinpoint your life right now at this moment, and you can know it was built by the decisions that you made leading up to this moment. That's what built your life to where it is now. So if you want life to change, what have you got to do? Make different decisions. Right? If you want life to change, you have to decide to do things differently.

Well, what are you going to base that on? Well, here's what you have to know from this story that Jesus told. He says that these houses that were built, one was built on rock and one was built on sand, but for both houses, what happened? What came? Storms. So as you're thinking about moving forward this year, you have to understand that everyone faces storms. That's the second thing you need to know today. Everyone faces storms. You are not the exception to the rule, and it's not just happening to you, and there is no problem, the Scripture says, that is not common to all people everywhere. Let's quit wallowing in self-pity as if life is picking on you. It's not. Everybody has storms in their lives. Whether you built on the rock or you built on the sand, what are you still going to have? You're still going to have problems.

Jesus said, we say it often here at Lakeshore, in this world you will have what? Trouble. It's part of living in a fallen world. We live in a world under the curse of sin, and sin has brought these problems that everybody has to deal with. Now, your life may be great right now, so just give it a little while. Storms are coming. They're coming to everybody. Some of you I know because you've talked with me and shared with me, you're in a storm right now, and it's a hard time for you right now. But don't think it's just you, and don't think God's picking on you or God's forgotten about you because God's been very honest with you and with me. He already told us we're going to have storms going through this life. That's why Jesus told this story. He wants us to know, moving forward, I want 2024 to be a great year for us. We always, you know, New Year, I pray peace and prosperity and all good things for you and your family. That's great. Pray that for me, please. I'd love to have that. But here's the thing. I know storms will still be there. They will. And that doesn't mean God isn't answering the prayer. You know what it means? He is answering the prayer because that was going to be best for me. He's going to use it for some good things, even the storms, for some good things.

So don't think God let you down because you prayed for a year of peace and health and happiness and you had some storms come into your life. You see, He's the God of the storms, too. Okay? The difference is, what did you build your life on? Rock or sand? You see, if you build the house on rock and the storms come, He's telling you, you're going to hold up well. But if you build your house on the sand when the storms come, you're not going to hold up very well. What you've been building on is going to let you down. It's going to crumble. It's not going to accomplish what you wanted it to. The difference is, not even the kind of house they built, but what they built it on because storms reveal the foundation that you've built on. That's what storms do. They expose what kind of foundation you've built your life on.

I don't know how many of you go to these home shows and stuff like that where you go to the tour of homes. You know, you go to those things. I've been to a couple because my wife wanted me to go and I didn't want to go. I've been to a couple of those and you see beautiful houses. But when you go see a house, you're looking at the decoration, you're looking at the style, you're looking at the size, you're looking at the rooms, you're looking at, you know, all this. How many of you really examine the foundation when you go look at those houses? A few people, the nerds. I'm just kidding. Please don't send me emails. I'll say this, the engineers maybe, okay, might look at the foundation. Most people, unless you've had in your past trouble with the foundation at a house, you don't even think about the foundation. If you've had trouble with a house and a bad foundation, you might look at that. But otherwise, you're really not looking at that. But when you go to buy a house and you have a good home inspector, guess what they're going to look at first? The foundation.

1) "Every decision you make is another brick in the house that you're building. Every decision you make is another brick in the house." [40:19] (Download)

2) "If you want life to change, you have to decide to do things differently. What are you going to base that on?" [43:49] (Download)

3) "Everyone faces storms. You are not the exception to the rule, and it's not just happening to you." [44:29] (Download)

4) "The complexity bias says we all have a tendency to be drawn to the complex and not the simple because we think it might be better." [30:40] (Download)

5) "The house represents your life. And all of us are building a life. You're building your life right now." [39:09] (Download)

6) "Storms reveal the foundation that you've built on. They expose what kind of foundation you've built your life on." [47:09] (Download)

7) "It's not as complicated as we make it most of the time. But people sell a lot of books and programs and prepackaged foods to get you to buy those things instead of just doing the simple things." [32:53] (Download)

8) "Jesus doesn't complicate things. He doesn't make them more complex than they need to be. We do that, not Jesus." [26:23] (Download)

9) "Don't overcomplicate it. Everybody builds a house. Everyone builds a house. The house represents your life." [39:09] (Download)

10) "We live in a world under the curse of sin, and sin has brought these problems that everybody has to deal with." [45:03] (Download)