Iliff and Saltillo UM Churches
March 14, 2004
Third Sunday of Lent
“What Does it Mean to be Thirsty?”
Isaiah 55:1-9
INTRODUCTION: Have you ever received an invitation to go somewhere or do something, and you didn’t respond to it? Maybe you got a phone call and you said, “I’ll have to check my calendar and get back with you later. But you never did. Maybe you got the invitation in the mail, and it ended up being buried in a stack of mail. You didn’t pay any attention to it. It wasn’t important. Sometimes friends will invite you over for an evening and you say, “Yes, I’d like to do that.” But you don’t. We often receive invitations that we never respond to and later regret it. Sometimes the invitation is given just ONE time; other times you might be reminded SEVERAL TIMES. What do you do with invitations when they come your way? Do you write it on your calendar? Do you make plans? Or do you say, “Ho, hum, that’s not very important to me. No big deal. Skip it.”
In today’s scripture the prophet Isaiah begins with an important invitation. He shouts out, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth come ye to the waters.” It is like, “Listen Up everyone. I’ve got an important announcement to make and it applies to all of you. I want you to take notice of this. Don’t shrug it off.”
On this third Sunday of Lent what is this Old Testament scripture saying and how does it apply to us today? Let’s see.
1. What Does it Mean to be Thirsty?: What does he mean by saying to them, “Come to the waters?” Isaiah often uses word pictures to describe some spiritual truth and water is one that is used over and over both in the Old and New Testament.
In Psalm 42:1, David points this out when he says, “as the deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”
In another scripture David speaks of spiritual thirst when he says, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,...in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).
Jesus speaks of thirst and water in the New Testament as well. He said, “if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37).
To the woman at the well he said, “everyone who drinks this [natural] water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst” (John 4:14).
In the natural, we become very thirsty for water on a hot summer day when we are working outside in the yard. The sweat pours down our faces and we say, “I need a big glass of cold water” to quench my thirst. H. G. Wells said every person has a “God-shaped vacuum in his heart--a void that only God can fill.” St. Augustine put it this way, “My soul is restless ‘till it rests in Thee.” They are talking about our spiritual thirst.
Isaiah is giving us an invitation to fill this void, but the requirement for receiving this water is that we have to be thirsty. Are you really thirsty or just a little dry? If you are not thirsty you will pass up the invitation because you won’t sense your need. Isaiah says the invitation includes more than water which we need to survive but also wine and milk which symbolizes nourishment and abundant life. He asks a question to people of that day, “Why do you spend money on that which is not bread?” He is saying, “why are you spending your money on junk food? Things that don’t satisfy you or nourish you or give you abundant life.”
The Lenten season gives us an opportunity to examine our lives. Think about this past week. Where did you spend your money and energy. Was it on what truly satisfies? What things have you spent your money and time on that proved to be unfulfilling?
Are you satisfied to some degree by the world and things around you to the point that you are never very thirsty for the things of God? Sometimes we are spiritually bankrupt, but we don’t realize it. We think that the merit of our works is all that matters and we don’t see the need for Christ in our lives. We get sidetracked and forget all about God.
STORY: A cowboy was riding his horse across the west non stop for California. He and his horse had gone days without sleep. As he rode into one of the few towns on the trip he decided to stop at the local saloon and get a shot of whisky to satisfy his thirst. He realized that since his horse had not slept in a few days it might fall asleep and it might take a few hours to wake him up.
He asked a young Indian who happened to be walking by if he could run back and forth in front of his horse to keep it awake while he was in the bar quenching his thirst. The Indian agreed.
After a few drinks the cowboy forgot all about the trip as he was talking to his new friends. Hours passed by and another cowboy came in the front door and asked who owned the brown and white horse out front. The owner of the horse said, “I do, so what about it?”
“Well,” replied the cowboy, “You left your Ingin’ Running.”
Isaiah brings his listeners back to what is important and is saying, “there is so much more for you. WATERS--in the plural indicates there is MORE THAN ENOUGH for all. ENOUGH for YOU.
Matthew Henry says, “God excludes none that do not exclude themselves.” Do you ever exclude yourself from the abundant life that Jesus came to earth to bring because you are simply not thirsty? You just don’t feel your need? Don’t need God in my life because I can manage things myself. Don’t need church. Don’t need anything. I can make it on my own.
Once again Isaiah gives the invitation, “Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live” (vs. 2,3). The Lenten Season is a time to free ourselves from the idols we have collected during the year. From things that have become priorities but do not satisfy.
When we feel that our plans and our possessions are sustaining us, we find that we lose touch with our spiritual thirst.
2. We Are Doing Ourselves a Favor When We Accept the Invitation: How often do we think that if we come to Christ we are never going to be happy again. That he will subtract all of the good things from our life, and we will never enjoy life again? This is the lie of the devil that we buy into. There are difficulties on our way to Christ. Fear gets in the way. We hold back. What if he requires something of me that I am not willing to give up? What if I lose control of my plans? What is it that he requires of me once I accept the invitation? We don’t realize that we are doing ourselves a favor by going Christ’s way.
In his book, I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception “that we can ADD Christ to our lives, but not SUBTRACT sin. It is a change in belief without a change of behavior.”
Isaiah goes on to tell us. “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will freely pardon” (Vs 6, 7).
STORY: A painter was wanting to make a penny wherever he could so he often would thin down the paint with water to make it go a bit further.
He got away with this for quite awhile but eventually the Baptist church decided to do a big restoration job on the church. Jack put in a bid, and because his price was so low, he got the job. He set up the scaffolding and bought the paint. Then he proceeded to thin it down with water. Later when the project was almost finished a huge storm came up. There was a horrendous clap of thunder. The sky opened up and the rain poured down in torrents. Jack fell off the scaffolding landing among the gravestones. The thinned paint washed right off the church. All of Jack’s work was in vain. He knew he had done wrong. He knew that this was the judgment from God on his work. He immediately got on his knees and cried out, “Oh God, Forgive me! What should I do?
From the thunder a mighty voice spoke, “Repaint! Repaint! and thin no more!”(source unknown)
Sometimes we are more like Jack than we realize. We try to cut corners in our repentance. We just do enough to get by.
In a different sense we are to “buy” salvation by letting go of everything that comes between us and Christ. Can you give up that which keeps you from receiving His abundant life? You might have to think about that before you make your decision. Count the cost. Weigh the pros and cons in the scales. Does Christ have anything better to offer me than I already have?
The gifts he offers us are invaluable and such as no price can be set. They are things that are already bought and paid for. I Peter 1:19 says, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life...but with the precious blood of Christ...”
We are welcome to the benefits of the promise.
3. Finding Our Way to the Waters--Christ is the Way: “Listen, and come to my terms,” he says. Answer his demands as very fit and reasonable. How do you do this?
1. Make a decision to follow Christ. Say, “Lord, I’m making a decision to live a different life. I have decided to quit doing what displeases you. I am making a deliberate decision to stop--to turn around--and to go in a different direction. I receive your invitation to come to the waters of life because my soul thirsts for the living God. Whatever is standing in my way, I give up. I let go of my sin and selfish ways.”
2. Asking for his forgiveness. “Forgive me when I am tempted to shape my lifestyle by the ways of the world rather than by the ways of Christ. Forgive me when I use the stress of daily “busy ness” as an excuse to turn away from You.”
3. Follow up by responding with action. What is Christ telling you to do today? In what ways can you show Him that you mean business? In what ways do you need to repent and turn from your sinful ways and thoughts? Each of us must seek the Lord for ourself to find this out. To listen to what He is telling us to do and then do it.
Shall we Pray:
O God,
In a dry and desolate land
I thirst.
I come to the waters
of Your presence,
O God,
I seek Your face.
Amen (Paul Grout)
