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| July 15, 2001 I can’t believe it’s not . . . (wait for response) I can’t believe it’s not . . . butter! Now how do we know that line? TV commercials! Advertising! There’s a guy named Neil Postman who was a professor of media ecology at NYU, who 20 years ago made some quite significant statements about commercials. (Keep in mind the difference in technology that 20 years makes) He said – TV Commercials Commercials are very interesting. We have been about to calculate that the average kid will see about 750,000 of them between the ages of six and 18, which makes them about the most important source of instruction of our children in America today. There are 30 second teaching modules, and the messages they teach are really quite striking. First, the teach that all problems are resolvable fast through the means of technology "produce". Television commercials do not stress that problems have origins or roots. Problems just seem to strike, which is, of course, very well suited to TV because TV always communicates a since of the now, of the immediate. So, if you have a TV, magazine, newspaper or computer in your home – you know that. .
Whew! All this promise in one issue of a popular magazine that I picked up off the grocery checkout stands – before ever turning on the T.V.! The people that design commercials and ads appeal to our psyche and emotions trying to answer the question, "What is it that people want?" or better yet, "What is it that people think they need?" or even better, "How can we make them think that they need it?" Let me say that ga-zillion dollar question again. "What is it that people think they need?" Today, most particularly in Western Society, we have an incredible level of product selection – it is mind-boggling! With aisles of different kinds of cereals, breads, soaps, makes of automobiles, colors of carpet, and so on, and so on – How do we know we’ve gotten the real thing? How do we know we’ve gotten what we paid for? What sold us on this product? The marketing companies play on our innate ability to make a choice, matching what we thing we need with what they have to offer by a clever use of persuasion. Even the political arena takes advantage of this position. We are required to be able to decipher what is actual vs. what is a strategic smoke screen that a candidate may use to gain an advantage over an opponent in order to secure our vote. All of these systems use our core beliefs to prod us closer to making a choice for "their product". We are, at times, a very persuasive people. And, at times, we are easily pushed to making a selection. This also makes us a very vulnerable people. A very vulnerable people, in deed. Do you remember the last movie episode of Indiana Jones? "The Last Crusade" It was the search for the Holy Grail. The cup that was supposed to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper. And the climax of the film – the bad guys and Indiana’s Clan get to the cave that supposedly houses the Grail at the same time. And they find that there is an old mythical knight in full armor guarding the precious artifact. To their surprise, the room is full of challises of every kind, shape, and make imaginable. The knight cautions them that the wrong choice comes with a price – the loss of their life if their choice is incorrect. So – the greedy bad guys choose first. They choose a golden jeweled goblet saying that "This is the cup of a king!" And upon lifting the chalice from the table – the bad guy bursts into agonizing flames and disappears into dust. And the old knight says – "He choose poorly". The Indiana Jones chooses a plain, common chalice and says, "This is the cup of a carpenter." And the knight confirms it by saying "You have chosen wisely". My friends, imagine with me that the scripture of Isaiah 55 read today is a commercial for a product. An advertisement for the promise of the Kingdom of God. A promise of a redemptive life with God made to a chosen people. It has everything that a good solid ad should have:
A savior for our pardon and salvation. A savior for our pardon and salvation. So what does it lack? (If anything) It lacks what the human realm of advertising uses prolifically. You see, you’ll find that there are no gimmicks – there are no smoke and mirrors in Isaiah 55. For us – there’s just thousands of years of proven use of God’s promise. That’s a fantastic promise with a fantastic endorsement! But, how do we know this? How do we know that something (in our case this morning the choice of God’s promise of a life of joy and peace)? How do we know this is the real thing? We’ve got to experience it, we’ve got to test it, we got to us it, and we’ve got to be in relation with it so that the promise can be fulfilled! We’ve go to choose wisely. Let me give you an example of a test of this product – At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year they have wheat is called "Baptist Day." It is a day when all the Baptists in the area are invited to the school because want the Baptist dollars to keep coming in. On this day each one is to bring a sack lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every "Baptist Day" the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center. One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich, Dr. Tillich spoke for two and one-half hours proving that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any questions. After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, wooly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. "Docta Tillich, I got one question," he said as all eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. "Docta Tillich. . . ." CRUNCH, MUNCH . . . "My question is a simple question, "CRUNCH, CUNCH . . . "Now I ain’t never read them books you read . . . "CRUNCH, MUNCH "and I can’t recite the Scriptures in the original Greek . . . "CRUNCH, MUNCH. He finished the apple. "All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate – was it bitter or sweet?" Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholar fashion: "I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven’t tasted your apple." The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich and said calmly, "Neither have you tasted my Jesus." The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanks his audience and promptly left the platform.
By choosing the "product" of promise in Isaiah 55, we are accepting a duty a Christians to serve God by serving, leading and confirming each other in the faith. We are endorsers of the product of Christ! And we can do that best by using the Apostle Paul’s slogan line that he sent to the Church in Corinth. "Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ." The ultimate product is before us should we chose wisely to consume it. There is no imitation. Its victory is like the sweetest apple. There is nothing superior to it. I think I’ll give my business to God’s company because only he knows what we need in this life. Because he’s the Real Thing – you can believe He is! Amen |
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07/15/01 - Evening Service
