Warning Labels -- FPC sermon excerpt

A New Hampshire teenager was making some moves on the basketball court, and decided to drive hard and go for a dunk. As he flew through the air, he caught two of his teeth on the basketball net.

Ouch. You know that’s got to hurt.

The kid was no LeBron James, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make money from basketball. In fact, the young man sued the company that made the basketball net, claiming they should pay for his dental work.

They settled out of court for $50,000.

You might call this lawsuit frivolous, but it is part of a disturbing trend. People are suing companies for everything these days, from defective toilet seats to hard-to-open pickle jars, and the cost of doing business is skyrocketing.

Today, companies are responding to the threat of lawsuits by slapping common-sense warnings on their products. These messages seem like no-brainers … but you can’t be too careful. You might say that frivolous lawsuits have given birth to a new cultural phenomenon: The wacky warning label.

For example:
- A label on a baby stroller warns: “Remove child before folding.”
- A cartridge for a laser printer says: “Do not eat toner.”
- A 13-inch wheel on a wheelbarrow warns: “Not intended for highway use.”
- A dishwasher carries this warning: “Do not allow children to play in the dishwasher.”
- A box of birthday candles says: “DO NOT use soft wax as ear plugs.”

Today is my son Sam’s birthday. I guess when he blows out his candles, we’ll have to warn him not to stick them in his ears.

The fifth chapter of Isaiah begins with a warning label, but there is nothing wacky about it. It is a warning in the form of a love-song, sung by the prophet Isaiah — a song that tells of God and his vineyard. “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill,” sings Isaiah. “He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines.” God built a watchtower in it, and hewed out a wine vat. God “expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes” — grapes that are best described as “rotten grapes” or “stinking grapes” (Isaiah 5:1-2). The Lord did everything he could to prepare the vineyard for a crop of good grapes, but it produced only bad fruit (NIV).

God is unhappy with this outcome, so he brings a legal case to the people of Judah. “Judge between me and my vineyard,” says God. “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” (vv. 3-4).

The Lord followed all the proper procedures, but still he got bad fruit. So he asks the people of Judah to settle the case and determine who is to blame. Are the wild grapes the fault of God, or the fault of the vineyard? Are they the fault of the manufacturer, or the fault of the customer?

- Well, if a child plays in a dishwasher, we have to blame the customer, not the dishwasher-maker.
- If a man gets a birthday candle stuck in his ear, we have to blame the man, not the candle company.
- If a woman steps on a 12-inch rack for compact disks and falls, we have to blame her for not obeying the warning label that was placed on the CD rack: “Do not use as a ladder.”

In the case of the bad fruit in Isaiah, the same is true: The fault lies with the vineyard.

God is fed up with the wild grapes that have taken over his vineyard, so he issues this warning: “I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge … break down its wall …. make it a waste … [and] also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it” (vv. 5-6).

This warning label couldn’t be any clearer: Producing bad fruit can result in injury, dismemberment or death. Wild grapes will be trampled down, returned to dust. God is issuing a caution that is as obvious as the sticker that has been placed on a popular manufactured fireplace log: “Caution — Risk of Fire.”

By now, you’ve probably figured out that this passage has nothing to do with vineyards, and everything to do with the behavior of the people of Israel. “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,” concludes Isaiah, “and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!” (v. 7). Although the people of Israel and Judah were planted and watered properly, they turned into bad fruit. Instead of practicing justice and righteousness, they fell into violence and dishonesty. Instead of growing into the good people God intended them to be, they turned into wild and unruly creatures.

Something Fishy's Going On -- FPC sermon excerpt

The writer Mark Twain loved to boast about his hunting and fishing exploits. One year he went on a three-week fishing trip deep in the heart of Maine — a fishing trip that took place long after the state’s fishing season had closed.

On the train home from the trip, Mark Twain found a stranger in the lounge car, and he began to tell him all about his fishing adventures. Unfortunately, Twain’s boasting about his catch did not impress the stranger. Instead, the man looked very, very grim.

Finally, Twain asked the stranger, “By the way, who are you, sir?”

“I’m the state game warden,” the stranger growled. “Who are you?”

Mark Twain nearly swallowed his cigar. Thinking about all the fish that he had on ice in the baggage car, Twain answered, “Well, to be perfectly truthful, warden … I’m the biggest [darn] liar in the whole United States!”

Something fishy’s going on!

In the Gospel of Luke, people are gathering beside the Lake of Gennesaret, and they are anxious “to hear the word of God” (Luke 5:1). They have discovered that Jesus is not “the biggest darn liar” in the country, but instead he is a man of “gracious words” (4:22). He speaks “with authority” (v. 32), “he commands the unclean spirits and they come out” (v. 36), and he proclaims “the good news of the kingdom of God” (v. 43).

These are the kinds of words we need to hear today, in a world so full of lies and sarcasm and bad news. I suspect that many of you are here today for the same reason that the people gathered at the lake — “to hear the word of God.” You need a word of guidance, a word of acceptance, and a word of challenge. I know I do, and for all of these reasons I am really happy that we are hearing this story together.

This is the word of God, coming to us today. And although there are some fish in the story, there’s really nothing fishy about it!

First, it contains a word of guidance. Jesus gets into a boat belonging to Simon Peter, pushes away from the shore, and teaches the crowd from the boat. This way, he is not mobbed by the crowd, and his voice can be heard clearly across the surface of the water. When he is finished, he says to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch” (5:4).

These words of guidance come as a surprise to Simon. After all, he is an experienced fisherman, and he has just fished all night without a bite. Deep water, shallow water — what difference does it make? The fish are either biting or they’re not.

There is something very fishy about this instruction from Jesus.

But Simon, to his credit, agrees to follow these words of guidance. “If you say so,” says Simon, “I will let down the nets” (v. 5). When he and his fellow fishermen do this, they catch so many fish that their nets are beginning to break. They call for help, summon another boat, and they fill both boats so full that the boats begin to sink.

They end up with an incredibly abundant catch, far more than they ever dreamed possible.

The key to their success was to follow the guidance of Jesus. So often, when we trust our own instincts, our own practices, our own habits, and our own common sense, we end up with empty nets — and even emptier lives. But when we follow the guidance of Jesus, we end up receiving more than we dreamed possible. Imagine what might happen if you step out in faith and actually follow the guidance of Jesus when he says, “Follow me … love your enemies … do not judge … feed the hungry … clothe the naked.”

When the Midlife Men on a Mission and I went to Honduras last fall, we didn’t know exactly what we would accomplish. But we traveled to this foreign land with open hearts and minds, and we reflected on these words from Jesus, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

We set aside our North American instincts, practices, and habits, and trusted Jesus to provide a catch for us. What we received was truly abundant: The smiling faces of children enjoying improvements to Camp Rancho Vida, the boldness of nurse Lisa Armstrong doing God’s work under difficult conditions, the perpetually sunny outlook of our friend Henry the Welder.

Not Henry the Pastor. That’s me, and my outlook is not always sunny. The one who gave us such inspiration was our Honduran friend Henry the Welder. As much as we might do on a mission trip, we always come back feeling that we have received much more than we have given.

There’s nothing fishy about it.

Rich Fools -- FPC sermon excerpt

This year, Americans will spend nearly 10 hours a day watching television, surfing the Internet, reading, and listening to music. Yes, that’s right: 10 hours a day.

This number comes from the Census Bureau’s “Statistical Abstract of the United States” for 2007. It also says that we drink about a gallon of soda a week, along with a half gallon each of milk, coffee, and beer.

All of which may help explain another figure in the book: About two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and one-third are obese.

So we’re sedentary and well-fed. We’re also quite rich.

The Census Bureau reports that:

- A little more than half of our households owned stocks and mutual funds in 2005.
- Americans had 278 million debit cards in 2004, and used them to spend more than 1 trillion dollars.
- In that same year, we bought 2.1 billion pairs of imported shoes.

I know that some of you like shoes, but 2.1 billion pairs?

We may not feel rich — I know I don’t, especially when I pay my mortgage on the 5th of each month. But according to the Census Bureau, we are rich. So the question for us today, in light of our Scripture passage from Luke, is this: Are we rich fools?

Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool because he wants us to “be on guard against all kinds of greed.” (Luke 12:15). He reminds us that our life does not consist in the abundance of possessions, in “ample goods laid up for many years” (v. 19). Jesus knows that our well-fed, sedentary, affluent lifestyle can cause real problems for us — it can lead us away from being “rich toward God” (v. 21).

So, what are we doing with the treasures we have? Are we pulling down our existing barns and building larger ones? Are we filling up the rental cubicles that have popped up all around? Are we storing up treasures for ourselves?

Or, are we being rich toward God?

To be rich toward God is realize that we are blessed — blessed so that we might be a blessing. God gives to us, so that we might give to others. We are loved, so that we might love. We are forgiven, so that we might forgive.

God gives us many wonderful gifts, some material and some purely spiritual. But these gifts are not supposed to remain with us — they are supposed to pass through us.