Eat and Drink what Is Free and Good that Your Soul May Live Isaiah 55:1-5
Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our sermon is from our Old Testament: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.
We’re going to talk about drinking and eating what is good to revive the soul.
The amazing thing is, what’s good for the soul is free from God, yet we fallen, misguided creatures can spend so much on what’s bad for the soul.
Our Old Testament begins with an invitation to drink freely and deeply: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
But how can we buy good food and drink if we have no money?
The only way is if someone buys it for us, kind of like a “pay it forward” gift, or, even more, a gift to the destitute.
We come to the Lord in the waters of Baptism, spiritually destitute, to receive the free gifts that refresh and enrich our souls.
The gifts given in the waters of our Baptism can’t be earned or bought… we can’t afford them, they’re too valuable, priceless!
Baptism does far too much, has far too great an impact, for us to be able to purchase it with money, or even with good deeds.
To become a child of God is something that can’t be earned or bought.
We can’t buy our way into God’s family -- we can only be adopted into it by grace through faith.
We can’t purchase nor afford the golden inheritance given in Baptism, only God can afford and gift it.
The price of Heaven isn’t material wealth of any kind, the price is perfect love and holy deeds.
But sin is mixed in with any good deeds we could offer to try to win a place in Heaven.
Thanks be to God, the One who has no sin, has purchased a place for us.
The sacrifice He made, and the price He paid, is the greatest ever, the highest price ever paid for anything.
People talk about record prices for things, memorabilia or paintings or whatever…
The most expensive painting ever sold is called, Salvator Mundi. That’s Italian. In English, Savior of the World. It’s a picture of Jesus painted by Leonardo da Vinci. In 2017, it was bought for 450 million dollars.
Worth far more than that picture of Christ, is the blood He shed for us on the cross.
A record price was paid for your heavenly home… God’s own Son, gave His innocent life, and shed His holy blood, that you might have a place to rejoice forever.
We’re given ownership of that glorious, eternal home, title to it, when we’re baptized and believe.
What a priceless gift won for us and given to us!
With God’s help, let us strive to live a life worthy of the holy, happy place that waits for us.
We can’t do it perfectly, but when our souls are fed with good things… with God’s Word… and with the body and blood of His Son…
… and our souls washed clean in Baptism… and uplifted by the Fellowship…
… then, on earth, we become more and more as we will be in Heaven.
The most excellent gift God gives us freely in Baptism is Himself, the Holy Spirit in us.
God doesn’t give us His heavenly gifts from afar, He brings them to us personally, hand delivered.
On the history channel last Sunday evening, I saw a show about how UPS and Fed Ex got their start delivering packages to people across the country and eventually across the globe.
Our Fed Ex from Heaven, if you will, is the Holy Spirit. In Baptism we receive the gift of God Himself, come close to us, to live and abide in us…
… and to personally bless us with His exceptional gifts, gifts that cleanse our minds with truth, and set our hearts on fire with love for God, and our neighbor.
The waters of Baptism set our hearts on fire with godly love and truth to share in this dry and thirsty world.
The southwestern part of our country has been going through quite a heat wave. 31 days straight over 110 degrees in Phoenix...
They say that the extreme heat and drought is even killing the cactus.
How priceless water becomes in the hot desert, when it’s in short supply… when your very life depends on your next drink of water.
How priceless is the living water of the Gospel, that the soul depends on entirely for life and salvation and every spiritual blessing.
Sadly, many children in the world get sick or even die from dirty, polluted water. There are missions that provide clean water and dig new wells.
Thanks be to God who gives good, clean water for the body, and gives the pure water of His Word for the soul.
Our text says, Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.
Listen and receive the pure water of the Gospel, that your soul might truly live…
Receive and feast on nutritious food for the mind, God’s true and holy Word, that your mind would expand in wisdom, and your heart increase in love.
Why is it that we sinners sometimes feed our souls and minds with the equivalent of junk food, with worldly deceit and nonsense… instead of with holy and wise words from God?
The cost of feasting on worldly lies is the gumming up of our souls.
As junk food gums up our arteries… worldly lies and ways gum up our hearts to restrict the flow of God’s love and Spirit in us.
We need the cleansing of our souls in holy Baptism, and in the Absolution of our sins, to repair our selfish hearts, and revive our thirsty souls.
Instead of gobbling up worldly vices, and becoming bloated with sin and greed, instead let us gobble up the saving truth God gives us in His Word…
… the mercy He gives us in His Sacraments…
… and the love and support He gives us in His Fellowship.
God has such good food for our souls, and so much of it. May it never go to waste among us.
May we eat and drink, freely and deeply, of God’s good Word and gifts to us, so that we become more on earth, as we will be in Heaven.
May God help us to refuse and resist everything that would poison our minds and harm our souls.
May the Holy Spirit in us, decrease our appetite for worldliness and sin, and increase our appetite for godliness and love.
Lord God, give us a hunger and thirst for Your Word and gifts from Heaven, that our souls may live…
… that our hearts may love, and our hands may serve,
… that our minds may know, our lips proclaim, and our deeds bear witness to this truth that makes us truly alive, free and alive forever.
And as God freely feeds and enriches our souls with His Word, His peace, which passes understanding, will guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our Lord… and as in the painting, our Salvator Mundi, the Savior of the World. Amen.