Streams of Water for the Thirsty

June 8, 2003, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 AM

Typed from audio transcript

Rev. Steve Felton

The text for today's meditation is taken from the 7th Chapter of St. John

On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the scriptures have said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this, He meant the spirit whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.

How can someone who is thirsty become a source of refreshment for others? How does that work? It happens through the living waters of Pentecost. Through these living waters, it is that streams of living water flow out to others so that, first, your own thirst is quenched and then others, too, may know about the same thing that you know of. That's what this day of Pentecost is all about.

Yesterday, I pedaled my bike up to Ames and ate at the Hickory Park. When I got up there, the very first thing I did was refill my water bag and it took a whole pitcher of water. And after I filled up my water bag, the first thing I did after that was drink two great big glasses of water. I was thirsty. And then I turned around and rode my bike back to Des Moines; and, when I got back home, my water bag was empty again. And the first thing I did when I got home was fill up a great big ol' water glass and headed off to the shower. I was still thirsty. And last night, before I went to bed, I was still drinking water. I was still thirsty.

In the gospel lesson for today from John, Jesus begins by saying, "If anyone is thirsty, then let him come to me and drink." Thirsty, huh? Well, I'll tell you who the thirsty person is. That thirsty person is you. Oh, it's not that everybody senses what that thirst is. There are an awfully lot of people in this world, people walking around who are just dying from that lack of spiritual water who don't even realize what they need. You might ask them, and they say, "Well, I don't need God. I don't need saving, whatever saving is. I thought that's where you put your money in the bank. I don't need that stuff and, if by some chance then I feel the need to get into some kind of spirituality, well then I'm going to do it on my terms and I'm going to have my own opinions of what that all means." That's the view of many people in this world that we live. That's the view of just so many, but Jesus calls attention to our need by offering us a drink that will quench our thirst. He offers us the water of life. He offers us that, and that awakens in us the realization that we need it, that we are the ones who are dying in this world. We need what Jesus has to give. "If anyone's thirsty, come to me and drink."

Well, here is the nature of that thirst we have. You and I discover that we're sinners. We're walking around in a dry, dusty desert of own making. Oh, yes, once it was set up so that we'd be in a garden that had abundant water, but we thought we knew better than God and marched off into the spiritual wilderness, the wilderness of sin. Sin became like sand in our mouths, dry and gritty and ruining our life for everything else. Our throats became parched, and we were unable to quench that burning thirst inside of us. But Jesus has something to give to people who are dying of thirst. "If anyone's thirsty, let him come to me and drink." Jesus calls us. He invites us to come, to come to Him, come to the only place, in fact, where your thirst can be quenched. Come to that place. Come to Jesus. He's the only one who can give you what you need. Come to Jesus. Only Jesus has the forgiveness that washes away your spiritual thirst. He's the only one who can give you what you need. Only He can satisfy you. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," Jesus says, "for they shall be filled up. Only Jesus has this water of life. Just come to Him and drink. And so you come, and you drink. That is, you believe in Him, you cling to Him by faith because He is your very life. Jesus satisfies that thirst that you have for a connection and a contact with your creator. Jesus gives you His life, His new life, His eternal life, His life-renewing life.

Think of what Jesus told the woman at the well. He said, "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I shall give him will well up in him and become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." That's what faith is. It's clinging to Jesus because He's your very life. Faith is that simple trust in the Savior, relying only on Him for your salvation, not relying on yourself. You won't find it there. Faith is just being at the receiving end of all God's gifts. Faith is the hand that just reaches out and receives what God has to offer and holding onto all that work that God does for us to give us life. "Come to me and drink." And faith then is responding and saying, "Okay, Lord, here I come, here I come. Thank you for giving me the water of life."

Today, on this day of Pentecost, we're reminded that even this coming to Jesus, even this, even faith itself is a gift from God. We don't get that gift on our own. We don't appropriate it for ourselves all alone. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings us to Jesus. What did you all learn in your catechism? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to Him. That's to say I believe that I just can't even believe without God's help. I can't even believe. By myself, I didn't want to come to Christ. Indeed, I could not come to Him by myself unless the Holy Spirit had come to me and preached Christ to me and worked in my heart the faith that comes to Him. Thank God the Holy Spirit does this faith-creating work. The Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel and enlightened me with His gifts and sanctified me and kept me in the true faith.

And so now you believe because of the work of the Holy Spirit. You have come to Jesus. You've had your thirst quenched by the living water, water where you don't need another glass, the water that fills you up and takes care of that burning thirst. You trust in the one who rose from the dead to prove that the sacrifice He made on the cross paid for all your sins. You trusted in that one who ascended into heaven, not so that He could get away from you, not so that He could abandon you, but so that He could come to you and even a better way than before, a greater way too. This same Jesus promises to pour out from heaven the Holy Spirit to empower His church to bear witness to Christ to all the nations of the world. That's what Gloria Dei Lutheran Church is doing even now through Pastor Burcham as he's off in Japan. You're bearing witness to the nations of the world but the ones who aren't just on this little continent. You're already welling up to bring eternal life to those in other places. That's what Jesus refers to when He says, "Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow out from him." You see, not only has your thirst been quenched but now you've become a source of refreshment for others. Or maybe source isn't exactly the right word. Maybe it's more like a channel or a conduit or the vessel for others. You become a channel for God's blessings to flow to others. You become a conduit for the water of life, to flow out to others. You become a vessel for bringing the life of Jesus to others, the living water which you yourself receive, that drink of life comes welling up within you and now streams of living water flow out from you to bless those around you.

That's what happened to Peter on the day of Pentecost, what we read about in our first lesson. He himself had come to know Jesus. Peter knew Jesus. Peter had experienced Jesus' forgiveness very personally by that time and then, at Pentecost, Jesus bestows on Peter and the other disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit so that they go out and they proclaim the good news to the rest of the world.

Now maybe you're not going to travel to Japan to proclaim that good news with Pastor Burcham, and maybe you're not going to stand up in front of 3,000 people and tell about the good news of Jesus Christ, and maybe you're not going to preach in front of a church and tell about the good news of Christ that way. There are not just a whole lot of people who are called to do that, but you are called to do some proclaiming of Jesus Christ to those around you. You parents talk about Jesus to your children, don't you? You're a channel of the Holy Spirit bringing the good news of Jesus to those of your children, and you have neighbors who live in your neighborhood who, when they're sick and they need help, you manage to tell them that there is help for more than just this life in Jesus Christ. And you're able to do good deeds so that other people can see how Christ works in your life and what it means to you to be a Christian and how that involves helping your brother who's already lying by the side of the road dying without your help. Yeah, there are streams of living water flowing out from you, and you can just watch it happen. In fact, as Christ is in your heart, you can't resist the flow that goes out from you. The life of Jesus that you've received is just going to overflow from you. That's the way it works. The waters flow in your words and in your deeds, in the love and the forgiveness that you show to others, that same love and forgiveness that you have received. "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, streams of living water will flow from within you." See the wonder of those living waters of Pentecost. Now not only is your own thirst quenched, but the streams of life flow from out you to others. Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus in the power of the Spirit. Come and drink and live. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit poured out on you. Amen.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.

Copyright 2003 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church