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Long before the days of psychology and
psychiatry, long before the days of describing the inner
workings of the mind (projection, identification,
self-defeating behavior, poor self-image, low self-esteem,
and the understanding of self), the people of Israel knew
that how we see ourselves often shapes the way others see
us.
“We seemed to ourselves like
grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
The New Life translation puts it this
way: “Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers; and so they
looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.”
I could preach a whole sermon on the
theme of personal self-worth, feeling good about who we are,
the fact that if we can’t love ourselves we have a hard time
loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, or
loving our neighbors as ourselves. But beyond the personal
psychological issues, it can apply to the church as well.
Against all the giants of our day, when we seem to ourselves
like grasshoppers, that’s how we will seem to them.
Call it
Grasshopper Religion.
1. Grasshopper Religion is a religion without vision.
The great irony is that they were right
on the verge of seeing their vision fulfilled. This was the
moment they had been hoping for, journeying for, yearning
for. God had called them for this very time and place. God
had brought them out of bondage in Egypt with the promise of
a land flowing with milk and honey. God had fed them with
manna in the wilderness, disciplined them with judgment and
the law, formed them as a people after his own heart, and
then, when they were just on the cusp of the seeing that
vision fulfilled, they lost sight of it. Lost sight of the
promise. Lost sight of the hope. Lost the vision.
Oh, they could see that it was a good
land. They sampled the grapes, tasted the milk and honey.
But instead of focusing on the vision, they became focused
on the giants. And when the majority report came back, they
had the people shaking in their boots. There was even a
“Back to Egypt” group: “We’d be better off back in the
security of the slave pens of Egypt than to try to live out
there on the scary edge of the unknown.”
See, they had been slaves for so long
that they actually began to believe it, to see themselves as
slaves. They were still thinking of themselves as slaves,
like nothing more than grasshoppers, and they forgot they
were called to be the children of God! They forgot that God
had led them through the wilderness for this very moment.
Dr. Jamison Jones once said that every
church has a “Back to Egypt” committee somewhere in the
woodwork. The “Back to Egypt” committee is always convinced
that things were better the way they used to be, better off
in the past, better off to pull back, draw back, all the way
back. But God is not to be found in the past. God is to be
found out there in the scary future, calling us, drawing us,
wooing us to follow into the place where his promises can be
fulfilled. God is to be found in the vision and the
willingness to pursue it.
One of the things I love about this
church is the ability of its people to catch sight of a
vision for mission or ministry and do what needs to be done
to fulfill it—be it a ministry here or a vision for the
world, caring about our neighbors, tutoring children,
collecting pennies, or building a house. When this church
catches a vision, we are willing to follow. This year, do
you realize that we have already raised $175,067 for service
projects beyond our regular budget? Willing and ready to
follow the vision.
By
contrast, Grasshopper Religion is a religion without vision
and…
2. Grasshopper Religion is a religion without courage.
The team of scouts toured the land and
sampled its fruits. I would suggest maybe they even caught a
glimpse of the vision fulfilled. But along with the vision,
they saw something else. They said, “There are Hittites,
Jebusites, Amorites, Canaanites in the land, and they are
huge. They look like giants!” And they brought back an evil
report.
There are giants? Well, of course there
are! Anytime the church is called to a new task, anytime we
are striving to be more than we are, anytime we dare to
follow God’s leading through the wilderness and toward a
promised land, there are going to be giants. But the days of
giants are also days which call for courage, days which call
for doing the best we can.
There is a small church in
Leicestershire, England which dates back to the 17th
century, the days of Oliver Cromwell. It was a terrible time
for those who cherished the traditions of the church, when
it became a criminal offense to participate in the practices
of the Anglican Church. In the midst of those trying times,
a layman, Sr. Richard Shirley, did an extraordinary thing.
He built a church. Ultimately he was summoned to Cromwell’s
court, he was confined in the Tower of London, and he died
there. But over three hundred years later, his church still
stands. And to this day, the inscription on the entrance
reads:
In the year 1653, when all things holy
throughout the nation were either demolished or profaned,
Sr. Richard Shirley founded this church, whose singular
praise it is to have done the best of things in the worst of
times, and hoped them in the calamitous.
It takes courage to build a church in the
face of despair, to do the best of things in the worst of
times, to be the people of God in the face of giants.
And in days such as these,
Grasshopper Religion simply won’t do. It is religion
without vision, a religion without courage…
3. And it is a religion without faith.
The worst part about Grasshopper Religion
is not what it says about the grasshoppers, it’s what it
says about God! It was God who had called them and God who
led them. At this point, their loss of vision and courage
was nothing less than a denial of God’s ability to carry
them through. To live like grasshoppers is to live as if God
is unable to keep God’s promises, to deny the possibility
that the God who brought them out of bondage would be able
to carry them into the promised land.
Even though they had seen God provide for
them in the past, even though God had parted the Red Sea and
delivered them onto dry land, brought forth water from the
rock and streams in the desert, sent down his word on
tablets of stone and fed them for forty years on manna, they
couldn’t trust God for their future. At this critical
moment, they were ready to give up, not only on themselves,
not only on the vision, but on God.
Sure, there are giants in the land! But
what about God? What about the God who delivered Noah in the
flood? What about the God who had been faithful to their
ancestors? What about the God who saved Joseph and turned
his story of sibling treachery and compound tragedy into a
story of deliverance and hope?
Grasshopper Religion is a religion which
denies the power of God to work, as St. Paul says, “In all
things for good with those who love him and are called
according to his purpose.” In the face of giants, it denies
faith in a God who is “…able to do exceeding abundantly
above all we can ask or think.”
Now, I realize we face giants in Michigan.
I realize we are confronted with a major
upheaval of our economy and our society. But this is no time
to give up on the faith in a God who has led us this far, a
God who has been able to do amazing things through the life
of his church, a God who is able to do the best of things in
the worst of times, a God who is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all we can ask or think.
Grasshopper Religion is a religion
without vision, a religion without courage, and a religion
without faith in God.
Well,
the scouting expedition came back with a report, and the
majority report was: “It’s a good land all right, but there
are giants there. We felt like grasshoppers, and so we
looked to them.”
4. But, thank God, there was a minority report, as well!
Joshua and Caleb said, “Yes it’s a good
land. And yes, there are giants ahead of us. But the Lord is
with us. He will bring us into the land. Don’t be afraid!”
When everyone else felt like grass-hoppers, Joshua and Caleb
carried the vision. When the people were ready to throw in
the towel, two men had courage. When the majority was ready
to give up on the promises of God, Joshua and Caleb held
firm in their faith. Just two men. But that’s all it took.
Joshua
and Caleb. Don Hackney and Harold Aeschliman.
I will be returning to Dexter this
afternoon to celebrate their 175th anniversary.
Two of the people I will honor are Don Hackney and Harold
Aeschliman. When I went there in 1979, the church was housed
in a lovely little white frame clapboard building,
land-locked in the middle of the village of Dexter. It was a
lovely, historic space, but we were desperately in need of
room to grow. So we started working on a plan for an
addition on the current land-locked site. Don Hackney was
one of the older, long-time members and owner of the
hardware store which still bears his name. He came into my
office one day and said, “What are you doing, trying to
build around here? That’s crazy. We ought to be going out on
the edge of town and buying up some land, building someplace
else.” At that time, he was the only person who believed
that.
Well, we worked on a plan and spent money
on architects, but simply could not find a workable
solution. We were at a point of real frustration when we
learned that the Boy Scouts were planning to sell their
small camp on the Huron River, Camp Newkirk, just on the
edge of town. We bought the land and started the planning.
It took us three years to work toward a plan for the site,
and another three to accomplish the first phase. More than
once, even I questioned whether this was the best direction.
But one person, Harold Aeschliman, was convinced of the
vision and convinced of God’s ability to carry it through.
Harold never gave up, and today, Matt Hook pastors a growing
congregation on a wonderful new site with a beautiful new
building and room for growth. All because of two men, Don
and Harold, Joshua and Caleb.
Faced with the times in which we live, Grasshopper Religion
simply will not do.
These are days which call for the church
to hold on to a vision, to live boldly and with courage, and
to trust in God, the God who is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all we can ask or think. |
