Sermon Title: God Didn’t Leave Us Powerless

Sermon Text: John 7:37-39

Sermon Date: August 28, 2005

To call it a "wilderness" is not strong enough, not descriptive enough. That land surrounding the Dead Sea is a wild part of earth, burned by the sun of day and frozen by the winds of night. The rocks of this terrible terrain between the depths of Jericho and the heights of Jerusalem are jagged and upended. It is eternally dry.

Jarib had foolishly set out from the Jordan River banks without enough water. The animal skin was only half full as he began his journey. His travel to the high Jerusalem was taking much longer than he expected. The path he followed, instead of always climbing up, was snaking through rock valleys and over rock cliffs and down into rock ravines. Some of the ravines were now dark in shadow. The sun was lowering more quickly than he had expected. His water gone, Jarib was exhausted. Yet, he dared not stop to rest. He stumbled more with each hour. His tongue was swollen, he thought. He licked the sweat from his arm, knowing that he shouldn't. The cold was beginning to blow with the night air, coming up from the dark ravines in the rock. On he walked, and stumbled. His sheepskin water container had long since been thrown aside. As had his heavy cloak.

If only he could find water. If only a spring would bubble up at his feet. If only a tracing of water could be found on the rock surfaces that surrounded his path. His thirst was overpowering now. He could hear the water just ahead. But it wasn't. Only more rock. Just a handful of water was all he wanted - all he needed. In the increasing darkness he was sure a fast flowing stream was just a few steps ahead. Jarib hurried now - only to step into a darkness that dropped 50 feet. He did not rise when he stopped falling. Nor was there any water in that dry gully miles from Jerusalem's walls.

It is terrible to thirst and not have the thirst quenched!

And, of course, our thirsting in this life is for more than water. You and I may thirst for all sorts of things and conditions and relationships. Thirst can be for money, more money. Thirst can be for power. Thirst can be for success - success in one's chosen profession, or success in family life, success in just being a well-rounded human being! We all thirst. That is not the issue. The issue is how the thirst is quenched!

We are in the midst of exploring what thirst means to us, as a church community and as individuals. As sisters and brothers in Christ. As partners on our journey to know God more deeply. That is one of our goals as Christians, you know. To know God more fully.

This Wednesday I begin the new school year at Christian Theological Seminary as my third year as a field education supervisor. I meet each Wednesday afternoon with the same four students. This year two are Disciples of Christ and two are United Methodists. I am not their mentor. My job is to help them process the issues in the ministry, to help them grow as individuals and as a group, and to push them to set goals for themselves. The last part is a Learning Covenant where each student in the program must set three goals for themselves – one personal, one spiritual and one professional. Nearly every student I have had sets a goal to be better organized so that they can balance home, children, job, school and church duties. You see, the average student today is not just out of college but in their 30s, probably already working to pay the bills, with a spouse/children and now school work and 15-20 hours of church duties on top of their already full schedule. And….their goal is to be balanced, a mostly unrealistic goal, yet an important one for their lives. The other goal most students have is to be more intentional in their devotional life and to grow closer to God during this crazy time. You see, even ministers and seminary students get thirsty for God.

It is part of life. Getting thirsty is how our mind knows what our body already knows. We need water to survive. Remember that by the time we know we are thirsty, we are already dehydrated. In order to not be thirsty, we must keep drinking, keep replenishing the body.

We are getting closer to the time when our small groups will begin – “Come Thirsty” groups begin the week of September 25. Author Max Lucado says that our scripture shows us that what Jesus did for the people in Galilee through teaching, comforting, and convicting, the Holy Spirit does in us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, teaching, comforting and convicting. Today Max wants us to focus on three things that God’s Spirit does for us:

1. God’s Spirit rages within us.

This kind of raging is not the evil, damaging kind of raging, like anger. God’s Spirit is powerful, unseen, and undeniable. It pulsates through our heart canals. It creates energy in us. But how often do we think about the Holy Spirit raging in us? John uses that kind of description in John 4:14: “A spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life.” Think about that….the spirit of God raging within you, like gushing water. And when the spirit of God rages in us, as individuals and as a community of faith, we long to discover what God wants us to do.

Acts 2:17 reminds us of the passion of the Spirit. Peter and the other disciples have been accused of being drunk in the morning, but Peter says, “No”, we are on fire with the spirit of God. He reminds the people of Joel’s words long before – “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people….In those days I will pour out my Spirit upon all my servants, men and women alike.”

One thing to remember here is that whether you feel God or not is unimportant. Whether you understand God or not is insignificant. These scriptures and others assure us that the Spirit of God is always with us in a mighty and powerful way. Rest in the knowledge that God lives in you.

2. God’s Spirit fills us. Ephesians 5:18 says “be filled with the Spirit.” This

verb tense caused the original readers to see this in capital letters. BE FILLED. Think of it in the same imperative as God instructed us to FORGIVE, PRAY, SPEAK TRUTH. God now tells us to BE FILLED. It would be easy for us to think about how to get filled, how to get more of the Spirit, but that isn’t where Max wants us to go. Instead, Max takes the approach of President Kennedy at his inauguration when he asked, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” We should be asking “how can you, Spirit, have more of me?”

It isn’t uncommon for us to think that way. We are always wanting to know what’s in it for me. How can I get more out of life? Why isn’t life fair? Why me, Lord?

My daughter-in-law has been on pins and needles for the past several months. As an electrical engineer in Indianapolis she learned before we left on vacation that lay-offs were coming. My daughter in law is a remarkable young woman. It took her seven years to put herself through school while raising a child with the help of her parents. She finally realized her dream and graduated in 2004, got a dream job and they bought a house in our old neighborhood. Then life intervened and both my son and daughter in law’s jobs were in jeopardy.

Gregg is starting down a new road and Charity just discovered that she was not laid off, at least not this time. But she feels badly for those who were. For the man who had been there ten years. For the new guy that just moved from Ohio. And she doesn’t know what lies ahead.

I’m inspired when I watch her deal with life head on. She is a lovely, caring woman, and never once says, “why me?” She gives of herself to numerous friends and family, she is involved in their church, ready to be filled to deal with what comes next. And she would be embarrassed to learn that I’ve lifted her up as a role model. But the truth is that I could take lessons from her on how to live life.

3. God’s Spirit seals us.

The Holy Spirit is God’s mark on us – God’s guarantee that we belong to God, our creator. We can look at Ephesians 1 for the proof of it.

“In Him, you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

So God’s Spirit rages within us that we might recognize the passion of God.

God’s spirit fills us that we might not just ask what is in it for me, but how can I give more of myself to God.

And finally we admit and recognize that this Spirit of God is a promise from God to us. A promise to teach us, to comfort us, to convict us. Those are the things the Spirit does for us.

And sometimes in order to discover what to do with it, we have to wait. But who has time to wait? We have places to go and people to see. But Max reminds us that waiting doesn’t mean inactivity. Waiting means watching for God. If you are waiting on a bus, you are watching for the bus. If you are waiting on God, you are watching for God, searching for God, hoping for God. Great promises come to those who do.

“But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Says Isaiah 40

“Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” Psalm 37

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. Psalm 40

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27

The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. Lamentations.

“So invite him to fill every corner of your heart. What the hand is to the glove, the Spirit is to the Christian. God gets into us. God gets his fingers into our lives, inch by inch reclaiming the territory that is rightfully his. As a glove responds to the strength of the hand, so you will respond to the leading of Christ to the point where you say, “I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

In the opening story, Jarib did not know where to find the water that he so desperately needed. Through the scriptures, Jesus Christ invites everyone to come to him - spiritually, emotionally, with commitment of mind and heart - and in that tie to discover the "living water" that we so desperately need. By his example, through trust as he lived trust, and in hope we do find our thirsts quenched.

We have not been left to quench this thirst alone. God who loves us conditionally did not come into our lives to leave us powerless. God simply wants us always remember where the power comes from.

Thanks to :

The Spirit's Tether, Leonard H. Budd, CSS Publishing Company, 1993, 1-55673-608-8

Max Lucado, “Come Thirsty”