Live simply and at a slower pace

The farmer Pachom lay behind the stove and listened to two women talking about wealth and poverty and about life in the city and in the country.

“One thing is just sad, Pachom thinks: we don’t have enough land! If I had enough land, I would fear no one, not even the devil!”

After Pachom became more and more dissatisfied and fell out with more and more farmers, he sold everything he had and moved away.

Pachom came to the new country with his family and was accepted into the community of a large village. He treated the community elders to schnapps and they provided him with all the necessary papers. They accepted Pachom into the community and, since his family consisted of five people, they allotted him fifty dessyatines of land in various fields; He also received a share of the pastureland. Pachom grew crops and bought livestock. Now he owned three times more land alone than before; it was good, fertile soil. He was therefore able to live ten times as well as before.

Pachom met a merchant who told him about the Bashkirs: “There is so much land there that you cannot get around it even in a year. Everything belongs to the Bashkirs. People are stupid as hell. You can have their land almost for free.”

“Well,” thinks Pachom, “why should I buy five hundred dessyatines for my thousand rubles and incur a debt at the same time, when I can get much more there for the same money?”

When they arrived at the Bashkirs, they said to Pachom: „We only have one price: a thousand rubles for the day.“ Pachom didn’t understand.

“We sell like this: How much land you can handle in a day, that much is yours. And a day costs a thousand rubles.”

Pachom was surprised.

“In one day,” he said, “you can go around a very large piece of land.”

The elder laughed:

“Yes, and everything should be yours! But we make one more condition: If you don’t return to the place from which you left on the same day, your money is forfeited.”

Pachom was happy.

Pachom got up, woke up his servant, who was sleeping in the wagon, ordered him to harness, and went to wake up the Bashkirs.

“It is time,” he said, “to go out into the steppe to measure my land.”

The Bashkirs stood up and gathered in front of the tent: “This entire land, as far as you can see, is ours. Now choose a piece that suits your taste.”

Pachom took his money out of his pocket, put it on his cap, took off his caftan and kept only his undergarment on. He tightened his belt around his body, put a small bag of bread in his bosom, tied a gourd with water to his belt, pulled up the shafts of his boots, stretched, took the hoe from the servant’s hands and stood ready to march there.

He had gradually gained momentum and quickened his pace. He went further and further and further.

Pachom finally goes back towards the hill and it becomes increasingly difficult for him to walk: he is sweating, his bare feet are bruised and no longer want to obey him. He would like to rest a little, but is no longer allowed to, otherwise he won’t be back before sunset. The sun doesn’t wait and sinks lower and lower.

“Didn’t I make a mistake and take too much land? If only I’m not late!”

“Oh dear,” he says to himself, “I was too greedy, I spoiled the whole thing, I won’t get there before sunset.” Fear takes his breath away. He runs as hard as he can run; His shirt and pants stick to his body, his mouth seems to be dry: “I hope I don’t die from the effort!” he thinks in fear. He fears dying, but can no longer stand.

Pachom looks at the sun again: it is already touching the earth, and a piece of its edge has already been cut off. Pachom gathers his last strength and bends his whole body forward so that his legs can barely keep up. As Pachom reaches the hill, it suddenly becomes dark. Pachom catches his breath and runs up the hill. It’s still light at the top. He reaches the summit and sees the hat. The oldest sits in front of the hat, shaking with laughter and holding his stomach with his hands. Pachom groans, his legs buckle and he falls down, but his two hands barely touch his cap.

“Well done!” shouts the eldest. “You gained a lot of land.”

Pachom’s servant came running and wanted to pick him up, but Pachom lay there dead with blood running from his mouth. The Bashkirs clicked their tongues and expressed their regret.

The servant took the pickaxe, dug a grave for Pachom the same length as the piece of earth his body covered from his feet to his head – six cubits – and dug him in.

When I discovered this topic for today’s sermon, I wanted to swap the sermon. That’s not really my topic. For example, living at a slower pace – I probably don’t have the fullest schedule of all of us, but I certainly don’t have the emptyest schedule either. And can I really say something about ’simple living‘?

I noticed how both topics challenged me personally. But then I accepted the challenge and I know that I can and must learn from it first and probably the most. And I discovered that a simple and decelerated life initially depends little on our possessions, bank account and appointment calendar, but challenges us all equally. And that it’s really not about judging and condemning, but about drawing the right conclusions for your own life. And I know that some of what I’m trying to pass on today about „simple living“ doesn’t apply to people in need and poverty.

John Mark Comer writes in his book: “The End of Restlessness” about the “ Gospel of America ,” actually the “Gospel of the West.” What we get preached by the media is: “The more you have, the happier you are!”

• Buy this dress, these shoes… and you will be happier!
• Trade in your car for that new model, it has more horsepower or whatever… and you’ll be happier!
• Work your way up and earn more… and you will be happier!

This is how many Western countries work. We have now turned a culture of needs into a culture of desire . It’s no longer about what we need, but rather what we want, what we would like to have, or what we let ourselves be told we need. We are manipulated into buying and desiring things that we may not need. And our consumer economy thrives on it. Economists explain to us that our economy and economy will only improve again when we consume more again.

“Even though more and more people are spending money they don’t have on things they don’t need.” (Comer) The latest cell phone/car/house….

I worked for a long time in a team in which the boss gave the slogan: “Nobody drives a bigger car than me!” That went well for years until one day a colleague came to work with a bigger car than the boss. What did our boss do? On the same day he ordered a new, and of course a larger, car.

Here, too, it’s not about a judgment, but about the fact that the method of consumption, materialism and comparison and competition works very well and our soul can no longer keep up, as with Pachom.

All of this can quickly become a driving force for restlessness. Have more, always have more, keep up with the others or even better: overtake them. And then you have to work even harder for it. And I have the impression that we have become accustomed to this behavior, to a greater or lesser extent. This is how advertising works, both small and large! It starts with the children at school and the branded clothes. We’ve said many times how good a school uniform would be – it protects against competition and rivalry, which only costs money.

Again, it’s not about judging others, but about understanding what makes us unstable and restless. Comer writes about another example of this: “Our apartments and houses are twice as big today as they were in the 1950s, while our families are only half as big.” (p.195)

In fact, perhaps for most of us (including me) a simpler life would be a key to a less hectic, more decelerated life. Regardless of possessions and consumption, a full schedule can be something like an indicator of a person’s worth. The more appointments we have, the more we are in demand and this increases our reputation and value in society and perhaps also in ourselves. Even if our soul has not been able to keep up for a long time.

We heard in the last sermon that this is not only a fallacy, but even dangerous. God does not power through continuously and without a break (although HE could), but rather “treats himself” to the Sabbath, the day of rest. And God recommends, indeed prescribes, exactly this rhythm between work and rest with the day of rest on every 7 days of our lives.

God recently gifted us not only with a very impressive trip through Tanzania, but also with a simultaneous “deceleration treatment”. No television (although Tanzanians of course also have television), little internet (you have to be careful with your expensive data volume). Short days – because they make you tired and there is actually no real evening program. And even reading in the evenings is laborious because we were happy to finally lie under our mosquito net and hopefully sleep well. Eating and drinking was also much, much easier, even if we didn’t go hungry – there was always enough to eat. Even if, of course, in this, as in many other countries, there is hunger and, in any case, malnutrition. And so, despite the travel stress and simple life (or perhaps because of it), we weren’t that exhausted afterwards.

Another example of a simple life (it’s not entirely clear to me whether it was slowed down or even more stressful than usual):

“1 euro a day”. About 1.5 billion people worldwide have only $1 or even less a day for food and drinks. For me it was unimaginably little money and an unimaginable number of people!

One of our daughters has been doing this experiment with her family for a few years now, once a year for a week: 1 euro per person per day for food and drinks. To do this, at least in Germany, you have to specifically look for special food offers in advance and buy accordingly cheaply. There are 5 people – so 5 euros a day – that sounds better, but for 5 people!! So not better at all.

And the money saved is then donated to people in need and poverty. And they use this week to pray for people in need.

Maybe this project seems impossible and really challenging to you, at least that’s how it feels to me. But such a simple life would certainly increase our gratitude for our prosperity in the Western world. Even if many people in our country are in need and, for example, accept the food banks‘ offer – how good that something like this exists! And after the week there is a celebration, also because they don’t have to live on so little money all the time, or go hungry and thirsty and have no roof over their heads. And it is celebrated that God provides for us.

1. What we really need

In Matthew 6:25-33 , Jesus teaches about worrying and living a slower, simpler life:

When it comes to the basic needs of life, Jesus only talks about two things: food and clothing. Perhaps in our latitudes, where the weather also knows autumn, winter and spring with rain, snow and cold, HE would also add a third roof over our heads:
Paul: “ And having food (and drink) and raiment let us be therewith content. ” ( 1 Timothy 6:8 )

Jesus and Paul are not speaking against possessions and some things that we honestly have to view as luxuries. But it is part of our society’s lie and manipulation that we will be happier if we have more.

There is a study in the US that our happiness only increases to a certain extent as our possessions and income increase, but then it stays the same, and the richer we become, the more anxiety and worry increases and happiness decreases. And this is about a sum that in our country we would assign to the so-called middle class and not to millionaires.

It is a manipulation and lie of advertising and media and materialism: not fulfilling needs but desires so that we become happy!! And the resulting search for fulfillment – be careful, the word longing for more (material things, reputation, success…) also contains the word addiction! Wishes and the longing for their fulfillment can easily become an ADDICTION!

Read Matthew 6:25-30 !

This is exactly why Jesus says and warns us against going astray:

Don’t worry about your daily life!

Look at the birds! Look at the lilies!

They do not sow, reap, or gather provisions.

“ Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these .” ( 6:28-29 )… Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ( 6.30 )

“ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ( 6:31 )

“(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” ( 6:32 )

What we really need, God will take care of – even if people who trust in God so much can end up in poverty, illness and hardship. But God’s promise stands and stands. Let’s trust that God knows what we need and trust HIM with our needs!

2. Set the right priorities!

“ Make the Kingdom of God your main concern (seek God’s Kingdom first!), live in God’s righteousness, and HE will give you everything you need! “

( Matthew 6:33 ). And he asks beforehand:

“ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? ( 6:27 )

Setting the right priorities means: We have to decide how we want to live and I would even say that we no longer have to decide – we have already decided how we want to live, in trust or in worry – until today. And now we have to decide whether we want to change that, whether we want to live with more trust and less worry.

“ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. ( 6.24 )

Jesus does not speak neutrally about money and possessions, but about mammon , which is an idol. An idol is anything that we give more importance to than God.

Ulrich Wilckens writes in his commentary on the New Testament: ‚Mammon is an Aramaic word for ‚money, possessions and wealth‘, with a negative connotation: for the greedy, his possessions are like a demon that controls him.‘ It’s not about that sum and size of the property, but the system works from small things onwards and has no upper limit. It’s about the addiction to more, wanting to have more. Greed distorts the reality of earthly living conditions. She overestimates earthly treasures. It alienates you from your neighbor, causes hardship and makes you lonely. It makes you obsessed and alienated from God.

Materialism is probably a greater challenge and competition for faith, greater than atheism! Anyone who becomes obsessed with their daily worries to the point where they can no longer trust loses themselves by losing sight of God. But Jesus teaches us: We will not become poorer or lose anything really important and fulfilling if we first live for God, His Kingdom and for other people. If we do this, Jesus does not promise us wealth, but rather fulfillment and everything we need.

I admit that I have not yet finished this sentence, especially when I think of people in abject poverty and need. But then I and we can share and give away what “luxuries” we have.

3. Learn to be content!

Paul writes to the Philippians: ( Philippians 4:11-13)

“ Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. “

This is where the “Gospel of the West” is being dismantled! The key to contentment is not a lot or a little but Christ and my trust in him. It is crucial that we learn from Paul that our lives, as they are, come from God’s hand and that we live gratefully, trusting in HIM, even in the greatest catastrophes.

Possession and wealth are not wrong in themselves – what can be wrong is how we deal with them and what priority they have in our lives. And what we put our trust in can be wrong! What is crucial is to learn from Paul: to take our lives, as they are, out of God’s hands – with gratitude and trust in HIM! Yes, it is much easier when we are healthy and well. But you should and must be our supporting foundation when we are in need and perhaps even disaster.

We saw it on Friday in the great and impressive musical “Job”. Job learned to hold on to God even in the deepest trouble (and he was held by God in all situations: „I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. “ (at the end of his life in Job 42:5 )

And at the beginning of his suffering he says: “ the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.“ ( Job 1:21 )

God gives us, as Paul once did, the strength for our lives, in “prosperity”, in health, as well as in humility, poverty and illness (even if the latter is the greater challenge for me to learn). I want to learn this and I pray that I know my life is in God’s good and strong hand either way!

4. Live here and now – live at a slower pace!

How can we succeed in living at a slower pace, with less speed and rush and more content and fulfillment?

Finally, a good lesson:

A monk who was completely focused on the inner life was asked why he could always be so collected despite his many tasks:

“How do you shape your life so that you are the way you are, so calm and so calm within yourself?”
The monk said: “When I stand, then I stand; if I go, then I go; when I sit, I sit; when I sleep, I sleep; when I eat, I eat; if I drink, then I drink; if I am silent, then I am silent; when I look, I look; when I read, I read; if I work, then I work; When I pray, I pray…“

Then the man said: “I do that too.”

But the monk said to him: “No, you don’t do that: when you stand, you are already running; when you leave, you have already arrived; when you sit, you are already striving further; when you sleep, you are already awakening; when you eat, you are already finished; if you drink, you don’t taste enough; when you speak, you are already answering objections; if you are silent, then you are not collected enough; when you look, you compare everything with everything; when you hear, you start thinking about questions again; when you work, you worry anxiously; If you pray, you are far away from God…“

I hope for myself and for you that we manage to get out of this hamster wheel that is getting faster and faster!
Live now and live with trust in God who knows you and cares for you!