Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
September 29, 2002
Exodus 17:1-7; Matthew 21:23-32

INTRODUCTION

There’s an old Woody Allen move called Bananas. It’s the story of a young man from New York City named Fielding Mellish who, through a bizarre series of events, winds up as the president of the small Latin American country of San Marcos. At the beginning of the film when we meet Fielding, he is a product tester for a large corporation. Now, the products he tests are bizarre: an exercise desk for the busy executive on the go who cannot afford the time to workout at the gym, a coffin with stereo headphones, and so on.

While Woody’s spin on it is bizarre–like everything else in the movie–but there really is a whole industry out there doing testing–testing of products and consumer goods.

There are firms like Underwriters Laboratories who test electrical equipment (look at your lamps in your dorm rooms and you’ll see the UL label certifying its satisfactory status). There is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety–you often see them on Dateline crashing cars full of test dummies into barriers to determine how safe they are.

And then there’s the market testing. Once we know the product works, we want to know if anyone wants it. They do this at shopping malls. I don’t know if you’ve ever been asked to go and sample some new product–I did with orange juice once–and they take notes on your reaction. And if no one wants it, then we test ways to convince each other that we want some product.

We test ideas and political positions. We test each other. On dates, in our work, in our education. We test knowledge all the time. Those of you studying for midterms don’t have to be convinced of that. We test everything. We test God.

THE TEXT

That’s what the Israelites are doing in the passage from Exodus. We read that the whole congregation of the Israelites “journeyed by stages” in the wilderness. At one of their stops there was no water–and so they quarreled and complained to Moses. Moses responds basically, “Don’t blame me!” but also “Don’t test God.” But they continue to complain and Moses, fearful for his safety, asks God for help, whereupon God instructs him to strike the rock with his staff and water issues forth.

Israel was testing the reliability of God.

WE’VE GOT A PRODUCT FOR YOU

That’s something we’re familiar with isn’t it? We test everything else, so why not?

Every time we turn on the TV we are presented with a simple formula (1) a problem is presented: headaches, allergies, diarrhea, heartburn, depression, bad teeth, addiction to cigarettes, problems with weight, you name it. (2)The solution is provided–this is usually some kind of pill with a long list of disclaimers attached. (3) Problem is gone–happiness ensues.

So accustomed are we to this formula that we fill in the blanks: “If only there were a pill that did X.” “Some day we’ll have a pill that cures cancer.” Or if not a pill, then some other product. No matter what the problem, someone will have the product that will solve it and make us happy.

UTILITARIANISM

This is after all the utilitarian principle: the greatest good for the greatest number, where “good” is that which brings happiness or pleasure. [Insert more] You may not realize just how deeply engrained these ideas are with us. John Stuart Mill would be proud.

So then comes God. The solution to all our problems. The source of all goodness and blessing, of happiness and joy. Why not test God? If God is who God claims to be, then isn’t that something that bears testing?

GOD AS A PRODUCT

How often are we transactional with God? How often do we treat God as a machine: if we put in the appropriate input we will get the desired output?

There is a book that is popular these days called The Prayer of Jabez. I don’t know if you’ve seen it. It’s become very popular as a self-help text, in a way. It is all based on a verse in 1 Chronicles 4:

1Chr. 4:10 Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm!” And God granted what he asked.

The whole premise is that modeling oneself after this prayer one reaps a whole host of rewards from God. I just visited the website of the author of that book. His follow up book is entitled: A Life God Rewards. Among the statements one the website is the following:

[The author] leads you to some astonishing and entirely biblical answers about the hereafter. He gives a fresh view of the eternal existence you’re investing in right now–showing why it’s worth it (at a thousand percent return on investment) to serve God with all your heart for all your life!”

“The eternal existence you’re investing in right now…” “A thousand percent return on investment…”

Actually, how often do we treat God as a mutual fund? As an investment? We often speak about ‘putting in our time at church’ as though it were our monthly IRA contribution. The news these past years has been very focused on the stock market–the greatest example of legalized gambling the world has ever seen. We have become a nation of investors–day trading our stocks. Putting our retirement hopes in the market. Keeping our eye on the ticker hoping to take advantage of some gain in share price. Why not add God to that portfolio?

There’s just one problem with that: God is not a product. God does not exist for our happiness. God is not an investment strategy that is more lucrative than others.

In the Book of Job, we encounter a man who is upright in every way–yet he suffers. When God finally speaks to Job out of the whirlwind, he declares “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” I have always tended to look at this in one of two ways: (1) God was pulling rank and declaring executive privilege, or (2) God was being sarcastic: “Oh, thank you Job for your input–I wish you had been there when I was creating the world!” But a third, more profound possibility is there: God existed when we did not. God laid the foundations of the earth long before we arrived on the scene. God’s reality–the existence and presence of God–are not dependent on whether we are happy or not.

The Israelites gripe in the desert “Is the Lord among us or not?” The Israelites were unhappy and in need of water and concluded that God must not be with them–for if God were, then they would not be in this state. But, as Job’s struggle and suffering point out: the reality of God is not dependent on our prosperity. God causes water to issue forth from the rock, perhaps as a reminder that God is the source of all things, not simply the provider of them.

God is God whether we are happy or not. God is not a product. God is not an investment.

You wanna know why I wear this collar, rather than a suit and tie as most of my colleagues do? Because I want to remind myself (and this campus) that I am a clergyman–I am not a business man. The church adopted the dress of Wall Street a long time ago. It is no wonder that so many in the church have adopted its language, too.

CONCLUSION

What differentiated the God if Israel from pagan gods was that the other gods of the ancient world had to be appeased. There was a certain mechanical nature of the relationship: sacrifice and get rain. Worship and achieve success. Ignore the gods and you did so at your own peril.

But Israel’s God is not so bound. It was not on account of any merit that Abram was told to go to the promised land. It was not on account of their worthiness that Israel was taken out of Egypt. Prior to the Exodus, they had not even known God’s name. God’s election of Abraham and Israel’s deliverance were acts of God’s grace.

Israel misunderstood in the wilderness and tested God. They had forgotten God’s act of grace in their deliverance from Egypt. Perhaps they had been too convinced that they had asked for it or had deserved it. Perhaps it is a fundamental element of human nature that we seek our own pleasure and satisfaction and expect God to provide it for us. We are untrusting by nature and so we want guarantees. Warrantees. We want to lock God in to a multi-year service contract.

Many times do we do this. We seek God to prove God’s self when God has already done so in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

We live in a culture that is cynical and untrusting. We seek to test everything. In our commercial lives and in our academic lives we are prone toward testing. It is not easy to remember that we are already recipients of Grace, serving the God who has already been gracious to us. Sometimes we need reminders. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in things of the world that we lose sight of the reality of God apart from the things of the world.

We need reminders.

And so we come to the Table of the Lord, and remind ourselves of the tremendous gifts that God has already given us: the gift of life at our birth, and through our new birth in the Resurrection, the gift of eternal life. As we partake of this meal, we remember that Christ gave of himself for us, long before any of us was even here to ask for it. We remember that God raised Christ into new life, and in so doing promised new life to all creation. We have received already a blessing without merit. And that’s a promise we need not test.