“Thirsting For Refreshment and Refreshing the World”

Introduction: Many years ago, my wife and only child at the time, took a vacation in Michigan. We went to the Traverse City area and camped. While we were there we took a short excursion to the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Maybe you have heard of them. They are immense hills of sand that line the coast of Lake Michigan. Upon arrival at the dunes we checked into the visitor center. We found out that there was a two-mile trail through the dunes that led to the shoreline of Lake Michigan. We all thought that that would be fun so off we went. At the beginning of the trail we saw a sign that said, “We recommend that you bring water as you hike this trail.” My wife and I read the sign and decided to ignore its advice. We had just had a refreshing drink so we weren’t that thirsty. We thought, “It’s only a two mile hike, how long could that take?” “Surely there would be a water fountain somewhere along the way.” Besides to get water would mean being inconvenienced with going back to get the water, and that would take much to much time. So off we went through the sand dunes, my wife, our five-year-old daughter and myself.

Up one dune then down another we walked one step at a time. At first, it was pretty neat seeing all that sand and the scrub brush growing out of it. It wasn’t long though before we began to sweat, trudging up and down the dunes with the hot sun beating down on us. We began to thirst. It seemed like we hiked for hours. There was no sign of water and no sign of the shoreline. But we didn’t turn back. We kept on going. It wasn’t long and we were parched and desperate for water to quench our thirst. To make matters worse we met people, returning from our goal, jogging past us as they drank from their water bottles. We wanted to take their water from them. We were so thirsty. Our daughter began to cry. We thought, “If we can only make it to the lake we can at least refresh ourselves by jumping in the lake. Then we saw it, with it’s wide expanse of blue water, Lake Michigan. It looked so inviting but there was no way we could get to it. Tall insurmountable cliffs separated us from it. The only water we would find was back where we started.

I. We Need to be Refreshed. Brothers and sisters in Christ, (Drink from glass.) when was the last time you were thirsty? (Drink.) I mean, really thirsty? (Drink.) Thirsty down to your soul? (Drink.) What about the kind of thirst that Jesus spoke about? Do you thirst for more out of life? Millions of people today seek to quench their thirst with drink and with drugs. They are thirsty. Both married and unmarried, people long for companionship and relief from loneliness. Young people, looking for satisfaction, turn to sex. Married people, looking for love turn to adulterous affairs. They’re all thirsty. Millions, bet millions that more money will buy them more of the good life. They’re thirsty. Many, compete with their neighbors, keeping up with the Jones’s, or is that the Christian’s and the Steinbach’s, because whatever they have that we don’t have must be making them happy. All these people thirst for better a better life and better living. They would soak up any thirst-quencher, anything to dampen the dry, withered soul inside. What may even be worse is the kind of people that you and I can be - People that take church seriously - People trying to be as good as we can be – People, who have become satisfied, who no-longer thirst for more. Do you see the danger? After 150 years we can become pretty satisfied with who and what we are. Where is our thirst? Where is our thirst to make our budget each week? Where is our thirst to give of our time, talent and money so that we give in at least a respectable way, a Christian way? Unless you’re a kid, unemployed or on a fixed income, if your planning on putting a dollar in the collection plate, don’t bother. Where is the thirst? Where is the thirst to save the lost, those people around us that are going to hell? We’ve been around for 150 years and were just now starting and evangelism committee. Where’s our thirst and are you thirsty?

In today’s Old Testament Reading, God showed Ezekiel a valley full of dried bones. These were not the bones of some foreign nation. These were the bones of Israel. God’s own people. They had given up. They believed God could do no more. Are we like them? Bone-dry? Parched? Hopeless? Fearful God can do no more for us?

May the Lord break our hearts! Break our hearts of those things that break His heart! May He quench our parched spirits with forgiveness and satisfy our lives with His goodness and love. May He irrigate our bone-dry souls with His gifts and let His Spirit saturate every area of our lives so that we will be satisfied with nothing less than Jesus! May He make us to be like him and deliver us from becoming self-righteous skeletons. Lord, let us be spiritually thirsty! Let us gulp down the living water that is Christ! Nothing can quench our soul’s thirst except God’s Good News; that’s why Jesus, standing in the temple courtyard long ago, shouted aloud (Shout!), “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!”

In the fertile valley of California numerous highway billboards announce: water is life! God has always given water, even miraculously. In the Exodus, when God’s people grumbled, “Why, Moses, did you free us from Egypt? There we were slaves. But here, we with our children, will die of thirst!” God commanded Moses, “Take your shepherd’s staff. Strike that rock” and out of a rock gushed water! Life-saving water (Exodus 17)! With his shepherd’s staff, Moses split a rock. Out gushed water, life-giving water. On a rock outside Jerusalem God’s enemies raised a cross that held God’s Son. From it flowed life-giving water! From the wounds of Jesus, flows out new life!

We have been called into the body of Christ. You have been called to undertake a journey. When you first started I imagine that you had a joyful enthusiasm like a confirmand on the day of confirmation. I imagine there was a degree of naiveté about what it means to be a Christian, living the Christian life, in a world plagued with the drought of sin. In the process, as you have journeyed, you may not have found it as easy as you had hoped. The demands of life can be overwhelming. At times it may seem like you are faltering in both life and faith. In the process you begin to thirst for some semblance of satisfaction. Some days it may feel like you are walking up and down an endless sand dune without a drink of water.

II. We are Refreshed in the Lord. In the Temple of God, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, “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 then gives us incite into what this meant. He goes on to say, “By this He meant the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were later to receive” on the day of Pentecost. We can also recall the words of our Lord Jesus to the woman at the well, “If you knew who it is who says to you Give me a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” Who ever drinks of this well water will thirst again, but who ever drinks of the water I shall give him will never thirst. The water I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” Today we celebrate Pentecost, remembering that God poured out His Holy Spirit on His Church. What began that day continues today as the Lord continues to pour His Spirit out. It is said that every day, in a way, is a celebration of Easter, as we remember the hope that we have in Christ’s resurrection. It can also be said that every day is a celebration of Pentecost as we remember that God poured out His Spirit on you when you were baptized and He continues to pour His Spirit out on you every day. The result is that you cling by faith to Your Savior. You believe in His Word and through it you have drunk the waters of life. The gift of faith has been given to you. You have been reborn and refreshed in the waters of baptism. Your new life in Christ, born of the Spirit has been sustained by the Word of God and the sacrament of the alter.

III. Refreshed to Refresh. There are days when you and I may feel like dead, dry bones – lifeless, loveless and hopeless. It’s God’s way of making us thirsty for more! In our Baptism, Jesus promised us, “Whoever is thirsty . . . come to me and drink.” He provides streams of life-giving water that flood us with life. In him we are alive. His life and his love flow in us out from us to our world! The Lord works in us, with His Spirit, more and more, to come alive with His love, His care. Like living waters His Spirit flows out from us to the people of the world through our confession of faith and ministry of love. As He does He quenches the thirst of the world like a river flowing through the desert, flowing over its banks and drenching the parched earth.

Conclusion: Your thirst has been quenched and you are able to refresh and encourage the people around you, living as Christians, on this parched earth. This is possible because of what our Lord Jesus did on the cross. When He was on the cross our Lord spoke these words, “I thirst”. He became parched with our sins. He took our thirst and gave us life. From His cross the waters of forgiveness flow freely. He invites us to drink from His well. He has made a promise, “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them nor scorching heat.” (Rev 7:16) “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Rev. 22:17). Come to the Lord’s Table all you who are thirsty, come and be refreshed. Amen.

John 7 37-39

“Thirsting For Refreshment and Refreshing the World”