"When Satisfied: Praise or Pride?"
Thanksgiving Oct.13/02 Deut.8:10-18
When You Have Eaten and are Satisfied...
What comes to mind when someone mentions the word "Thanksgiving"? Maybe you have warm fuzzy associations like memories of family get-togethers; far-flung relatives catching up on developments in each other's lives; pumpkins brought in from the garden to be cut up for mouth-watering pies; autumn leaves turning burnished gold and blazing red; tables loaded to the edges and groaning under a feast of turkey, ham, potatoes, a variety of vegetables, and more and more... Often the turkey's not the only one that gets "stuffed" at Thanksgiving! "Ah," we sigh as we lever ourselves away from the table and crane our distended body into a comfortable chair, "now that's really living!"
But is it really? Is Thanksgiving nothing more than an excuse for a big feast? Is this the climax of our existence, are we most alive when we are sated and drowsied into digestive oblivion by gorging goodies? Aren't we forgetting something? What happened to the activity the holiday is named for - "thanks-giving"? Moses cautioned the Israelites (Deut.18:10), "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord...be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God...Otherwise [v.12] when you eat and are satisfied...[v.14] then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord..."
There's much more to life than eating and consuming, more even than getting together and enjoying other people's company. Even then you haven't begun to "really live". The Matrix is a futuristic science fiction/action movie set a couple hundred years from now after machines equipped with Artificial Intelligence have taken over the earth. Humans are kept in individual vats and hooked up with tubes and cables so their whole experience is one of virtual reality, controlled by the machines. But a few people have escaped the so-called matrix and are fighting secretly to rescue people from their artificial world and free them into reality. Neo, the main character, is awakened from his ever-so-lifelike dream by Trinity and Morpheus; the latter has to educate Neo to realize that what seems so real in the virtual world of the computers is only an arrangement of neural-electrical impulses interpreted by the mind as reality. What's apparently real isn't, just made up by the computers, the "matrix". One of the characters, sort of a Judas-figure, yields to the temptation to live in the illusion and betray those fighting for reality. He prefers the pleasantness of the made-up world and sells out on the less-pleasing true world.
There are many parallels between the movie The Matrix and the Christian worldview. What we take for granted to be "solid" scientists explain to be mostly empty space, for example the chair you're sitting on isn't really "solid" at all. Our Thanksgiving dinner that is so big a part of our experience today will be totally gone and forgotten by Wednesday - we'll be hungry again before that. And Christians believe that this "world" we perceive around us will someday disappear, burned up into apocalyptic ashes before God's final judgment. So in many ways our calling is like that of Trinity, Morpheus and Neo, wakening others from the illusion of what's called "real" into the truth that's found in knowing Jesus Christ, and will outlast this existence.
God has given us a good, beautiful world. Moses' description of the Promised Land [vv.7-9] sounds much like our own province. "For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land— a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;" (here we are plunk amongst the Great Lakes, including the largest body of freshwater in the world) "a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing;" (think of Southern Ontario, from the pastures of Eastern Ontario through to the "breadbasket" of midwestern Ontario and the fruitlands of what we call the "banana belt") "a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills" (sounds like Northern Ontario and the Canadian Shield). Yet the temptation is to be focused so much on enjoying this good land that we forget there's a bigger purpose. We sing, "This land is your land, this land is my land...This land was made for you and me," forgetting [v.10] to "praise the Lord your God for the good land HE has given you."
Forgetful Pride -- a Bottomless Pit
Scripture cautions us [14] lest when our herds grow large and our riches increase, "then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (ie being nobodies, belonging to someone else, not even having freedom). Nothing satisfies - and makes us selfish - like success. When things go well, our fallen tendency is to take credit for it ourselves, pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves as if it's all our hard work that made the difference. V.17 warns, "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.'" Business celebrates the so-called "self-made man", the rags-to-riches stories of entrepreneurs who supposedly "pulled themselves up by their bootstraps". Hard work is usually a big factor, but let's not ignore the role of team helpers and fortuitous circumstances. Pride produces a very selective memory and shortsightedness - all we can see is me.
Powerful dictators in world history have fallen victim to brief bursts of pride -- only to see their dominions topple within decades. In Isaiah 10(8-14) the Lord says, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.For he says: "‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as men gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.’" The Lord in turn scoffs: "Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?"
The Assyrian empire was succeeded by that of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar (Saddam Hussein's predecessor) also became very vain. Daniel reports [4:30] that one day as the king was strolling about the roof of his palace he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" Immediately a period of insanity was sent upon the king, and he was driven away to live among wild animals until he repented and acknowledged God's role.
In Hosea 13(6) God summarizes the gradual process of Israel's falling away: "When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me." Material success can lead to spiritual indifference. Jesus described the end of the degenerate society of Sodom this way: "People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all."(Luke 17:28f) Jesus warned us that our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions; the rich fool who was going to build extra barns sought to store up things for himself but was not "rich toward God" (Luke 12:21).
In a secular, consumer-oriented society, we can get brainwashed into forgetting God, thinking everything depends on us. By pride we fall into a "black hole" kind of mentality - sucking everything in, supposing the whole universe exists for our enjoyment. That may work for a few individuals, but on a community level it's a recipe for disaster. Our relief & development materials report that the western world has just one-fifth of the global population but consumes 4/5 of the resources. What state would earth be in if everyone lived like that?
At a crucial point in the movie The Matrix, Agent Smith attempts to crack captured Morpheus' resistance by mind games, barraging him with insults about the human race. Smith contends people are less like other mammals than like a virus: most organisms seek to develop a balance with their environment, but a virus ends up destroying its host, consuming it, then having to move on and find another host for resources. Isn't that consumerism in a nutshell?
At an earlier point in history humans had tried to outsmart the Artificial Intelligence machines by scorching the skies in hopes of destroying the possibility of the computers surviving on solar power. But the plan which the humans might have been proud of backfired: that's when the machines decided to use the humans as living batteries for their energy supply.
Forgetting God and choosing to live for ourselves is the proud choice of a fool. Then we refuse to give thanks; we consider only how much we can accumulate during our short lifespan, becoming walking black holes. Dr Karl Menninger once asked a very wealthy patient, "What on earth are you going to do with all of that money?" The patient replied, a bit reluctantly, "Just worry about it, I suppose." Menninger went on, "Do you get much pleasure out of worrying about it?" The patient answered, "No, but I get such terror when I think of giving some of it to somebody else."
Praise God and Pass It On
So what can you do if the idea of becoming a black hole, a virus, consumed by worry, doesn't appeal to you? When we're satisfied, instead of forgetting God and becoming proud, we can praise and appreciate the Lord for all the good He's showered upon us. As v.10 puts it, "Praise the Lord for the good land He has given you."
To praise someone else requires a certain amount of humility, as opposed to pride. Earlier in this chapter (8:2f) Moses recalled how God led the people 40 years in the desert to humble them. He let them get hungry and then fed them with manna to humble them, teaching them dependence, the necessity of looking to God for provision of all our needs. As v.3 says, this was "to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." Jesus reminded Satan of that spiritual truth when in the wilderness Jesus was tempted to bend His own powers to satisfy His physical cravings. Think how cosmically important that principle is: "There are more important and essential things in life than just filling our stomach." We need what God says to survive even more than material success. Jesus chose to humbly await God's timing; he was focused on a higher, lasting plane, not the kingdoms of this passing world.
Jesus told His disciples that those who humble themselves will be exalted (Lk.18:14); that's backwards to the theory of "survival of the fittest". James wrote in chapter 4(6,10), "He gives us more grace.That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." Pride puts me in the driver's seat; humility puts us at God's disposal, so we can by used by Him in ways that would be impossible on our own. God's goal is not our luxury but so we might "share His holiness" (Heb.12:10). Jesus calls us to seek His Kingdom, hook up to His activity in our lives, instead of setting our heart on what to eat or drink. (Lk.12:29,31)
When satisfied, then, instead of becoming proud, by humility we remember to praise God, give credit to Whom credit is due. Moses points out in v.18: "it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today." If God doesn't bless us in order to be black holes, then why? What was this "covenant which He swore" to the Jewish ancestors?
When you look back in Genesis 12(2f), God promised to give Abraham land and descendants. He says, "I will bless you, I will make your name great," but then adds, "and you will BE a blessing...All peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Hmmm - sounds like God's expecting Abraham to pass on the blessing to others. What about Isaac, His son? In Gen.26(4) God again promises land and descendants then adds, "And through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed." How 'bout Jacob, 3rd in the chain? In Gen.28(14) again there's mention of land and descendants, then, "All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring." God's not up to just blessing Abraham's tribe, the so-called "Chosen People": the Lord wants to go much further than that, blessing all people on earth through them. He's giving good things so we can praise God - and pass it on!
In The Matrix, a lady prophetess called the Oracle predicts that a time will come when Neo has to choose between saving his own life or that of Morpheus. This comes true when Morpheus is captured and Neo decides to attempt the impossible and rescue him. Morpheus is saved, but then Neo is trapped in a fight to the death. Only thus does he become more than he was before, a real source of hope for humanity (thus a strong parallel to Christ). But he had to be willing to lay down his own life for someone else.
Jesus calls His followers to pass on His blessing to others. Perhaps the simplest way He puts it is this: "Freely you have received, freely give." (Mt.10:8) The early church understood that real love for God had to be accompanied by expressions of love to those in need around us; John wrote in his first letter (1Jn.3:16f), "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" See the connection? Pass it on!
The denominational "Relief & Development" Sunday provides many opportunities so we don't become septic in our satedness, but can share God's mercy with many around the globe, through Foodgrains Bank relief; homes for needy orphans; shelter for victims of hurricanes and earthquakes; start-up financing for small businesses, so communities can become self-sufficient. It's a real smorgasbord of opportunities for giving -- the choice is ours, in cooperation with the Spirit's leading through prayer. We can become God's partners or "co-workers" in taking His blessing to the suffering. We become spiritually richer as we do so.
Schindler: "I Could Have Done More"
Another story, this time historically true, reminds us that the current conditions in which we find ourselves will not last. Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist who saved over a thousand Jews from the trains that ran to Auschwitz. When Schindler found out what the Nazis were doing to the Jews, he systematically began buying Jews to work in his factory which was supposed to be a part of the military machine of Germany. Buying as many Jews as he could, at the same time he deliberately sabotaged the ammunition produced in his factory. He entered the war as a wealthy industrialist; by the end, he was basically bankrupt. He had passed on his wealth to others, redeeming Jewish lives.
When the Germans surrendered, Schindler met with his workers and declared that at midnight they were all free to go. In the movie, an emotional scene occurs when Schindler says good-bye to the plant's financial manager, a Jew and his good and trusted friend. As he embraced his friend, Schindler sobbed and said, "I could have done more." He looked at his automobile and asked, "Why did I save this? I could have bought 10 Jews with this." Taking another small possession he cried, "This would have saved another one. Why didn't I do more?"
Our current order is passing away, just as surely as the Nazi regime crashed to an end. In eternity it won't matter whether we had that second helping of turkey, how much we saved in a mutual fund, or how many bedrooms we had in our homes. God will be testing and examining our heart, reviewing our deeds, to see whether we humbly allied ourselves with His cause, and promoted Jesus' reign in our sphere of contacts. He blesses us, not just for our own enjoyment, but so we can pass on His kindness and be an influence for eternity on others' souls. Jesus is still seeking to save humanity from the illusion and deception of an evil mastermind. He's recruiting us to plug in to His wonderful plan, and do more with what He's given us to save others. Now that's really living! Let's pray.