"Easy Like Sunday Morning"

Gilbert A.M.E. Church
Kansas City, Missouri
(Rev. Brenda J. Smith, Pastor)

“EASY LIKE SUNDAY MORNING”
Sermon by Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Delivered on Sunday, June 13, 2010

Lionel Richie, the great singer/arranger/composer, etc. has popularized the song, “Easy”:

Know it sounds funny but I just can’t stand the pain.
Girl, I’m leaving you tomorrow.
Seems to me girl you know I’ve done all I can
You know I beg stole and I borrowed. Yeah.
Oooh, that’s why I’m easy,
Easy like Sunday Morning.
That’s why I’m easy,
Easy like Sunday Morning.

Well, long before Lionel Richie and/or the Commodores—“Aww, she’s a Brick House, she’s mighty mighty, just let’n it all hang out!”--

Jesus had already said: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30.

That’s today subject: “Easy like Sunday Morning.”

There is a popular saying known as the KISS Principle. Kiss stands for “Keep it simple stupid!” “Keep it simple stupid!”
The KISS principle states that simplicity should be a key goal in design, and that unnecessary complexity should be avoided.

The acronym was first coined by Kelly Johnson, lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works (creators of the Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes, among many others).

The principle is best exemplified by the story of Johnson handing a team of design engineers a handful of tools, with the challenge that the jet aircraft they were designing must be repairable by an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions with only these tools. Hence, the 'stupid' refers to the relationship between the way things break and the sophistication available to fix them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

Sometimes, things break down in our lives. But, if we remember the KISS principle, we’ll be able to fix them. The tools in our hands are the words and life of Jesus.

He said in Matthew 11:28-30:

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

We are the ordinary, every day mechanics. Life is our jet aircraft, which regardless of its level of sophistication, breaks down.
Then, is when we need to apply the tools of Jesus to fix our problems and fix our lives.

Romans 9:15-18 says:

15For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Too, often, in this Christian walk, man has imposed his rules, his tastes, his predilections, upon us and misrepresented them God's.
For example, when I was a little boy, it was considered a sin to:
Go to a baseball game
Dance
Wear Lip stick or skirts at or –Lord help us--above the knee
Drink any kind of alcohol
Listen to blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll
In fact, just about everything was a sin, especially if it was fun, except going to church 24-7.

But now, there’s no more sin in baseball. Folks now dance in church. Lip stick is common. Dresses are now at or above the knee. Blues and rhythm and blues are played in the church—“Easy like Sunday Morning.”

We’re coming out from under a cloud. The storm is almost gone. The cloud was a cloud of hypocrisy.

Take alcohol. Jesus’ first miracle was changing water to wine at a wedding. Notice it was at a wedding. Not in the work place. Not on a street corner, hello. Not in a school or church. Hello.

At weddings people drank wine and champagne, too. In fact, Jesus drank wine.

Earlier, in Matthew 11, he said:

16But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
17And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
19The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

At the last supper, Matthew 26:29, Jesus said: "But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."

The pericope reads:

26And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
27And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
29But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

Applying the KISS principle in our day to day lives, we can overcome the world, church! Overcome the world!

1 John 5: 1-5 shows how to overcome the world:

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Our faith is the victory. Our faith in Jesus Christ. We show that we love him by keeping his commandments.

In fact, Jesus even simplified the commandments. There used to be ten. He reduced them, simplified them, to two. They are now called "the summary of the Decalogue":

Mark 12:30-31

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

The background context for this simplification is found also in Mark 12:

28And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, ¬Hear oh Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord:
30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Gilbert A.M.E.! Keep it simple. Take it easy. Hear. Love the Lord. Love your neighor. Love yourself.

May God bless you, and God keep you. Amen! “Easy Like Sunday Morning.”
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