Text: Revelation 21:1-6
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea no longer existed. 2 And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And from the throne I heard a loud voice that said, “Look! God’s dwelling is with people. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things have passed away.”
5 The one who was seated on the throne said to me, “Look, I am making everything new!” He also said, “Write, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me: It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To anyone who is thirsty, I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
Sermon
A small boy was sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later … “Da-ad …” “What?” “I’m thirsty. Can you bring drink of water?” “No. You had your chance. Lights out.” Five minutes later … “Da-aaaad …” “WHAT?” “I’m THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water?” “I told you NO! If you ask again, I’ll have to spank you!” Five minutes later … “Daaaa-aaaad …” “WHAT!” “When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?”
Now there was a little guy who was really thirsty!
We all thirst for something. We long to feel loved. We crave happiness and joy. We are desperately searching for meaning and significance. Depending on our age we want to be done with school or we want our marriage to last or we want the economy to improve or we want our health to be better or the right politician in office.
Without Christ, we go through life parched, dehydrated, thirsting, but never having that thirst quenched. We realize that something is wrong – our marriage is failing, we’re not happy at work, our children lock themselves in their room, we feel an emptiness inside … so we try to fill it up with shopping, hunting, carting our kids all over, or just plain busyness.
The problem is our sin. Our sin sucks the life out of our souls, so we become dehydrated. It isn’t healthy to drink only occasionally. It isn’t smart to go for long periods of time between water breaks. Every year there are cases of people dying because of dehydration. They exert themselves, do not re-hydrate, and collapse. Their bodies shut down and they die. If that can happen physically from not drinking enough water, what do you think happens to our souls when we do not re-hydrate regularly, weekly, daily with the water of life of God’s Word and Sacraments? Our souls shrivel up and die. Then, we will end up begging for someone to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool our tongue, because we will be in agony in the fire of hell (Luke 16:24).
A phrase is often used when there are hurricanes. “The water always wins.” Meteorologists and rescue personnel use it to sound a warning. When it comes to catastrophic weather events like hurricanes, don’t imagine you can challenge the weather and win. Water always seeks its own level and will rise as high as it wants to go. It can force its way through a hairline crack and wash everything away.
Water can kill you. Most people who die in hurricanes lose their lives in the surge of water. With Hurricane Ian, on my newsfeed, I watched three guys try swimming under the piers in Ft. Myers, FL as the storm surged. They survived … but just barely. They were tossed around like dishrags in a washing machine. It was extremely dumb and dangerous.
And yet, how often don’t we play around with things in our world that we think can quench our spiritual thirst, but only threaten to drown us in their deluge. The music we listen to that glorifies self over God. The politicians and experts we support who promote feelings over biological facts. The entertainment we enjoy that corrodes our Christian values.
Much of this filth comes to us through our screens. Yet, we don’t limit our screen time. We don’t limit or look at or filter what our children view on their screens. No wonder we and they are so down and depressed. The devil’s deceptive lies flow freely into the eyes, ears, minds, and hearts of us, our children, and our grandchildren.
Honestly, this is spiritually dumb and dangerous.
At our WELS Youth Night last week, our keynote speaker shared a scary statistic. He asked the teens – and I’ll ask you – “What percentage of Christian students give up their faith while in college? What do you think? 40%? 50%? 60%? It’s a staggering 70%! Only 3 out of 10 students retain their Christian faith during college.
That’s why you need to keep on your college students and young adults to stay connected to Jesus through their church and campus ministry. While your children are away from home, the devil will work through any hairline cracks to wash away everything you’ve built into your children for the past two decades.
I remind our grade school and high school students that the Holy Spirit needs time to work on them. He needs his Word and Sacraments to be in their eyes, ears, hearts, and minds. At WLS, at Shoreland, at home, in Sunday School, and in church with their family.
We and our children are constantly being deluged by the devil’s flood of deceptive lies. We and our children need to be made strong enough to withstand this deluge by drinking deeply, freely, and regularly from the water of life Jesus provides.
That’s why God invites you to drink deeply, freely, regularly from his water of life. It is the only thing that will quench our thirst by forgiving our sins. This water of life is found in God’s Word, Baptism, and Lord’s Supper. It is life in Christ’s living for us, dying in our place, and rising from the grave. In the Old Testament God invites, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!” (Isaiah 55:1) In the Gospels Jesus invites, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) And now in heaven Jesus again invites, “To anyone who is thirsty, I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.”
Jesus says he is the water that completely and eternally satisfies. And what is the spiritual thirst that only Jesus can satisfy? It is every person’s heartfelt desire to have their sins removed; it is a hope to find peace; it is a longing to know that when this life is over, there will be hope and heaven awaiting them – not despair and damnation.
Jesus doesn’t want us to quench our thirst with the pleasures, knowledge, or gods of this world. He offers us the refreshing water of life – free of charge. It doesn't make much difference how much you have or what you own, without Jesus, life is an unending, unmet thirst. With him, with his living water, there is spiritual satisfaction and salvation for the soul.
So that we might have our spiritual thirst quenched, Jesus entered this world. He lived a perfect life, resisted all temptations, and carried our sins with him to the cross. Then, through his resurrection from the grave, he showed that not even death could rob us of the living water – that the Holy Spirit provides through the gift of faith.
These waters of life that come from Jesus and flow around Jerusalem the Golden in heaven are effective for everyone, of every age, in every situation. For the convict in prison, the water of life means that though he has done horrific things to himself and others, his sins have been washed away and the river of God’s grace flows out of his heart. For the grandmother suffering from depression, the prescribed medication and visits to the counselor can be helpful and necessary, but it is the water of life that will quench her thirst to be the kind of wife, mother, grandmother that her family needs her to be. For the adult child of God saying good-bye to a dear, dying father, he can say with confidence, “I will see you again” for together they will enjoy the new Holy City of Jerusalem, surrounded by the River of Life. When a friend loses her job in this economy but isn’t worried because she knows Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, is in control, she has been refreshed with Christ’s living water.
We are really thirsty. We need these living waters that only Jesus provides. It is the water of life that we need to use regularly to re-hydrate our sin-parched souls. Drink deeply today and every day, so we may drink for an eternity from the waters of eternal life flowing from the springs of heaven. You are thirsty, my friends. So, drink deeply from the water of life. Amen.
Your reward is great in heaven! Amen. (Luke 6:23)