Exodus 15:27-16:21
Matthew 20:1-16  
 I Corinthians 10:1-13

 From Whine to Wine  

            I’m sure the folk here at St. Paul ’s are the exception to the rule, though I must warn you, and my wife will attest to its truth, Ian Shaw is not an exception to the rule – but after today I may become one.  It’s the rule, or better the tendency, described in all our scripture lessons this morning.  What is the rule?  Sadly it is this – we as humans beings like to grumble, gripe, complain, whine.  This reality is evidenced by the large number of words we have for such behaviour.  Over a dozen of various stripes and hues, all the way from whimper to growl.

            As I said, I’m sure that St. Paul ’s folk are the exception; but I’m almost positive, if I gathered any random group of 5 people from Simcoe, and I offered

$100.00 to anyone who hadn’t complained once in the last 7days, my bank balance wouldn’t go down.  I suspect I could reduce the time frame to the last 24 hours and still not suffer any financial loss.  I might even be able to say to this random group, ‘Who hasn’t complained since you got up this morning?’ and be financially safe.

            No show of hands, you can impoverish me later, but how much do you think it would cost me if I made that last offer here this morning?  Everybody has been content with the choice of hymns, the availability of parking, the length of time you waited to get into the bathroom, the weather, … ?

            However you want to evaluate those possible causes for complaint our readings this morning, at least the Old Testament and the Gospel appear to provide some legitimate causes for complaint or grumbling.  Let’s look at the challenging Gospel story first.   

            [At the start of the day/ 8 a.m. a man goes down to the local employment office to hire some unskilled day workers for his construction firm.  They agreed to work for the minimum hourly wage.  He took them out and left them with his foreman.  Later he received a call from the foreman saying more were needed.  So at ten he went back and picked up another group and told them he would pay them fairly at the end of the day.  He repeated this at noon and 3 in the afternoon.  At 5 o’clock, one hour before quitting time he found a handful of workers lingering in front of a pool hall and loaded them up and took them out to job site.  At six o’clock he has the foreman bring them by the paymaster in the reverse order.  Following the owner’s instructions the paymaster pays everyone for 10 hours work at minimum hourly rate.  Those who had been there the whole day and who had we suspect briefly expected more when the Johnny-come latelies had been paid a full day’s wage began to murmur and grumble.]

            And don’t you join up with them?  Especially if you imagine yourself as one of those full day workers.  Their complaint about a perceived injustice does have a ring of legitimacy to it doesn’t it?  Especially with our labour laws about equal pay for work of equal value.  How long would it take for this matter to end up before the Labour Relations Board!?

            Or if it isn’t a matter of economic injustice, there is the hint of social favouritism pervading the story.  A bit like Tom Smother’s perpetual complaint to his brother Dick, ‘Mom always liked you best!’.  But once we go by the feelings and perceptions, do we find any real basis for grumbling in the story?  Has anybody been cheated? Abused? Deprived of the basics of life?  Not according the owner of the construction firm; nor if one extrapolates the story – not according to Jesus either.

            There is no doubt that in this story it was not particularly pleasant to be one of the whole day workers standing there tired, hot and hopeful of a bonus and observe the one hour workers receiving as much as you.  But everyone received exactly what they had been promised!  No one had an additional claim, either legal or moral on more of the owner’s property or wealth.  He kept his word to each of them.  It may not be pleasant watching someone else hit the jackpot while you don’t; but it doesn’t provide grounds for whining or job action!  Surely the response of those in the Kingdom is to rejoice in the abundance given to others.

            The Old Testament story raises the matter of complaining in the throes of hardship.  Something that again would seem to be at least a reasonable even an acceptable response.  And this case, hardship that seems all the harder because of the past experience of abundance.  The children of Israel have just moved from a large oasis into a tough and harsh wilderness.  And the scarcity of food and water have evoked fear –‘we’re going to die out here!’.  Given those circumstances a little whining sounds legitimate.  But only for as long as it takes to move a step or two back for a wider perspective.   These are the very people who have experienced more deliverance from desperate situations than most of us could imagine in a lifetime.  When the Pharaoh would not release them and increased their burden, God afflicted Egypt with plague after plague until finally Pharoah let them go.  When the Pharaoh’s chariots cornered them at the Red Sea , God destroyed the Egyptian army with a flood.  When they came to the springs of Marah and found the water bitter, God made it drinkable.  In every hardship their response was grumbling and complaint.  In every hardship God met their needs.  And yet here we are again in trouble and what is the response?  Prayer?  Confidence? Recalling God’s past acts of power?  No! Petulant whining!

            Behind this pattern of complaint we can find at least three major character flaws, flaws not representative of living life in the Kingdom of God .  The first of these flaws is as old as the Fall of Eve and Adam.  One of the major roots of grumbling arises from comparing oneself to others.  The Serpent tempted Eve with the lie, “You will be like God!”  Eve had compared herself to God and became dissatisfied with life as it was.  How much of the upset that lies behind many complaints has its basis in a comparison with others.  If those all day workers in Jesus’ story had been paid first and sent home, I fully expect they would have gone to bed content.  But once they saw what happened to someone else, the basis for whining was established.

            I know a Father who used to keep track of what was spent on each child at Christmas so all them received within a dollar the same amount of money in gifts.  One thing love, divine love especially understands is that equal does not mean the same.  We were blessed with three children in 3 minutes.  I honestly believe I love and have loved each one of them equally; but I have often treated them quite differently.  Using what happens to others or who others are as a basis for contentment is an open invitation to a grumbling spirit.

            The second major flaw exposed in these stories that produces a grumbling spirit is a lack of trust in God.  The ancient Israelites had more powerful personal evidence of God’s commitment and ability to keep his promises than almost any group of people in history.  Yet virtually every time life took a downturn and they needed to walk by faith and not by sight, they resorted to whining and complaining not confident trust.  A heart that is confident in the trustworthiness of God is not a heart that quickly develops a murmur, at least the kind of murmur that spills out of the mouth.

            Now to be fair few people faced greater challenges to trust in God than these ancient Israelites.  I have had some hard times but nothing compares to seeing the dust of the Egyptian chariots fast approaching with escape cut off by the waters of the Red Sea .  Knowing that many of those soldiers had recently been bereaved of their eldest son would only make the situation more desperate.  Only a heart schooled in the miraculous deliverance from the angel of death and the other nine plagues that preceded, could respond with trust.  The same with the shortage of food and water in the wilderness.  Only heart disciplined in the miraculous provision of water at Marah and the seemingly  more natural supply of water at Elim and trained in the ways of Jehovah-Jireh the God who provides could with confidence move on trusting that God would give sustenance for the journey.  Complaining is a sign that one has not learned to rest in God’s reliability in all times and situations.

            The third major flaw exposed by the whining voice is a deep lack of gratitude.  One could turn the parable quickly in such a direction.  By focusing on others those first workers lost sight of what they had been given – a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.  The owner was under no compulsion to hire them.  They had been given the opportunity to provide for their family, yet we detect no sense of gratitude in their hearts.  Ditto for the ancient Israelites.  Delivered from slavery.  Delivered from death.  On their way to a place of bounty.  Are they so full of thankfulness that these setbacks bounce off them like water off a duck’s back? No!  I can assure you, if either group had a thankful heart, no grumbling would have emerged from their lips.

            It is therefore crucial for us to note that murmuring is not a little unpleasant human foible but a deeply spiritual issue.  It is all about what is in the center of our being.  Are our hearts ruled by gratitude to and trust in God or by focussing on what others have or are?  It is crucial because as Paul points out in Corinthians, none of those complainers made it to the Promised Land.  They all perished in the wilderness.  Murmuring is not only a deeply spiritual issue it has devastating consequences.

            But that was then, 2 and 4 thousand years ago.  Let’s ponder these passages for our situation – now.  We’re not quite cornered by the shores of the Red Sea but we are at a crossroads.  Should we decide to journey together let’s agree, covenant is the fancy term, to four things.  I’m sure we will add others clauses over time.  But from today’s lessons let’s commit to four.

            First, and from I have gathered this not a common experience at St Paul ’s, nonetheless let us agree we will not be overly patient with nit pickers.  My friends a whining spirit does not exemplify Kingdom living.  Sometimes we think bending over backwards for such folk is showing love.  That’s rarely true.  The most loving act is to invite the chronic complainer to leave and return only when they have repented of such an attitude.  That’s not harsh my friends.  The spirit of complaint destroys unity, depletes energy, deflects mission and puts the eternal destiny of the complainer at risk.  The more we tolerate and permit that behaviour, the less we will be about the essentials of extending God’s kingdom.

            Let me acknowledge there is a difference between whining and evaluating though both may have a negative lilt.  Evaluating may sound negative but it comes from confidence in God’s Big picture, a vision that God has more in store for us than we can imagine.  Whining reveals belief in a small God, a deity confined and limited.  It is seldom difficult to see the size of a complainer’s God.  Let’s never let such a minimal view of God hold sway among us.

            Second, let us agree that our measure of success isn’t another congregation, isn’t another individual, isn’t another denomination.  Doubtless there are many excellent examples of all of those here in Simcoe or near by.  Let us agree that our measure of success will be faithfulness to the ministry God has given us!  Whatever shapes and forms that may take over time, let that and that alone be the standard by which we evaluate ourselves and hold ourselves accountable.

            Third, let us agree that in the hard times, the difficult seasons – and they will come, let us agree that when we find ourselves challenged, we will  remember and proclaim ‘God is Faithful’.  And rooted in that affirmation we will come before God to seek strength, guidance, correction and encouragement.  My sisters and brothers we have enough evidence in the Scriptures, in our own denomination’s history, in our own individual faith journeys, to know beyond a shadow a doubt that God is eminently trustworthy.  Let us commit today to holding that truth before each other when walking together with God seems like a journey in the dry, barren wilderness.  I don’t know much about the future but I can almost guarantee you, that if we are faithful to the ministry God gives us we will have times of struggle.  That is also a lesson of the Scriptures and church history and personal experience.

            And fourth, and I know one of the hallmarks of St. Paul’s is the commitment to mutual support and care, however let us agree to making St. Paul’s a place in which the spirit of thankfulness is so much in evidence that it is almost the first thing a visitor notices when she or he walks through the door or even meets us downtown or at a community club meeting.  What a testimony we would have if we became known by this description – ‘Those Presbyterians are such a grateful bunch!’.  As individuals, let us begin the day giving God thanks for at least one thing.  When we chat over coffee, let’s tell each something that has evoked gratitude in our lives recently.  When the choir gathers or a committee meets or the Strollers and Striders arrive, if we went around and invited each person to voice one item for which he or she was thankful, don’t you think what follows would be different?  

            At the very least I can almost guarantee, that when we got home, there would less likelihood that we would be complaining about what did or didn’t happen at the church.  And spiritually speaking that would be a very wonderful thing indeed.  It would be like returning from a celebration filled with the new wine of the Spirit.

 Amen

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