Isaiah 55:1-13 Sermon Audio
Back in March, my home
diocese wanted to meet with me and a few of my fellow seminarians at
Trinity School for Ministry. They wanted us come down during our
Spring break and meet with them in Thomasville, Georgia. There were
four of us making the trip. We all packed up some clothes and piled
into my friend's minivan, and drove fifteen hours from Ambridge,
Pennsylvania. A local couple from the church in Thomasville offered
to room us for the few days we would be in town. When we got in at
around nine o'clock in the evening, we were very hungry because we
hadn't eaten very much along the way. We decided it would be good to
check in with the couple who was housing us before going out to get
something quick to eat. When they learned of our plan, the husband
pulled out his wallet and gave us his credit card. He told us there
was a nice restaurant down the way and that we should eat there. When
we got to this restaurant, the owner opened the door and greeted us,
saying the man had called ahead and told him we were coming. He had
already prepared a table for us before we got there. We went inside
and realized this was anything but the fast food restaurant we had
planned on going to. The tables were covered in white linens and as
soon as we sat down we had nice glasses of iced water set in front of
us. Looking through the menu, my friends and I very quickly realized
that this was a high-end steakhouse we had been sent to. I ended up
getting a ribeye, which was very good. During the dinner, my friends
and I were able to relax and be truly satisfied after fifteen hours
stuffed in a minivan. While we had originally thought we'd end up
spending our own money on some fast food, we were able to enjoy a
full, substantial meal without paying a cent.
Our passage in Isaiah
opens with the call of the Lord, “Everyone who thirsts, come to the
waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! … Why do you
spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that
which does not satisfy?” My friends and I were prepared to spend
our money on that which is not bread. Namely, McDonald's. Over and
over, we all spend our labor on that which does not satisfy. We put
our efforts into things that won't last. But God wants us to find
real satisfaction and wholeness. He says, “Listen carefully to me,
and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline
your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.”
For me, the main reason I
don't typically “eat what is good” is because I just can't afford
it. I'm living on a student's income and don't have the money for
healthy, substantial eating. And typically, I want to eat something
that doesn't take a lot of effort to make. I don't have an hour to
set aside just for cooking. But this is exactly the wrong kind of
thinking. God says, don't waste your time and money on stuff that
won't help you. And in many cases, the things we put money and time
in to actually hurt us.
Instead of investing
ourselves, our time and money, in empty things that will never
satisfy, God invites us to be satisfied by him free of charge. It's
like he is offering to give us his spiritual credit card, and
pointing us to the right place to go in order to find a real meal. He
knows ahead of time that we will be there. And has set aside a place
for us. He will give us the living water of his Spirit which springs
up to eternal life. He brings us to his Table, where the price was
paid 2000 years ago so that we can come and eat and be satisfied. Are
we going to keep striving for satisfaction in this world, or will we
come to him and receive the eternal hope of salvation by faith?
God's promise isn't a one
time offer. Once you receive his gift, it is an eternal gift.
Whatever we gain in the world, however hard we work to achieve it, it
will be lost. Even if we put all of our efforts into our own gain, it
will only take us so far. We can only work so long until our bodies
give out. Michael Jordan was considered the best basketball player in
the world. Even now, he is considered to have been the greatest
player of all time. But if we set up a game between him and and a
player in the NBA right now, he'd most likely lose the match. Now, we
aren't basketball players, but I think the example still stands. Even
as the best to play the game, and working tirelessly his entire life,
day and night, to achieve that goal, it came to a very real end.
Instead of relying on our
own abilities, we can turn to God's promise and receive what he has
to offer, which is far greater than anything we can ever hope to
achieve on our own. And unlike the things we gain through our
efforts, what God has to offer will never pass away. He doesn't just
give us a room for the night and one good meal. His eternal gift
includes adoption into his family, to live with him as children of
God. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, “you are not in the
flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you,”
and, “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
His gift of satisfaction comes by his Spirit. He takes us into his
house, to carry his name, and feeds us from his own Table, as his
children. We are God's people by promise if only we receive him. And
we can't pay him back for this gift. In fact, there is no way we can
ever deserve what he gives us.
The grace of God acts
contrary to the way things are done in the world. In the world, if I
am offered a job, I have to go in and work to earn the my wages. An
employer won't walk up to me and just offer me a full salary with
benefits before I even show that I can do the job. But this is
exactly the way God works. Before you can ever prove your worth, he
has already invited you to come into his family. You don't need to
prove your worth to God before he gives you the full benefits of
being his child. You have been glorified
if you receive his Spirit. It has nothing to do with how you meet up
to his standard. If you say yes to God in Christ, he will give you
the full benefits as an heir to his eternal kingdom.
If he didn't act this
way, nobody would be saved. The free grace of God is the only way
anyone can enter into salvation. Nobody can earn God's love because
we are all broken by sin. But his free grace is the very thing that
draws people to himself. Psalm 65 cries to God, “to you that hear
prayer shall all flesh come, because of their transgressions. Our
sins are stronger than we are, but you will blot them out.” It will
always be God's grace that saves us, and only by relying on his free
giving of that grace can we be satisfied. “Happy are they whom you
choose and draw to your courts to dwell there,” the psalmist
writes, “they will be satisfied by the beauty of your house, by the
holiness of your temple.” God will satisfy us if we come into his
house. He will forgive our sins and give us the strength in his
Spirit to overcome our weakness.
Isaiah calls us to “seek
the Lord while he may be found, call upon him when he is near; let
the wicked forsake their ways, and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to
our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” God is calling us into his
adoption. He will care for us and feed us. He will satisfy us with
his glory. His Spirit will dwell within us, and lead us, as children
of God. By his Spirit, we can cry out to him as our Father in our
distress. This is the witness that we are children of God, that the
God who hears prayer has heard our cry and has offered this gift of
grace and continues to give us his grace. It is a covenant that he
has made with us. He is faithful and he will not break the covenant
that he has made with his people.
In Isaiah, he elaborates
on this covenant. He uses David as an example of the type of covenant
he will make with his people. He says, “I will make with you an
everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made
him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the
peoples.”
Being made God's own
means also joining him in his mission to the world. By his grace, his
children are bringers of his grace to the world. “You shall call
nations that you do not know,” he says, “and nations that do not
know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy one
of Israel, for he has glorified you.” God is glorious. By being
filled with his Spirit, his glory has come upon his children. We are
glorified because we are one with him. His glory draws people to him.
By being filled with his glory, we also draw others to him. As
children of God by the free gift of grace, we invite others to join
us in his grace of adoption. This is his will for those he brings in
to his kingdom: that they glorify him. God's glory is shown in his
grace, so to glorify God is to share his grace with others.
Back in 2011 there was a
news story on CBS about a local business man in Reading,
Pennsylvania. This man went out every year around Christmas time,
giving people 100 dollar bills from his own pocket. Some years, he
gave out more than 100,000 dollars doing this. The CBS reporter
mentioned to the man, “you don't know what these people are going
to do with this money,” and asked him, “do you care?” The man
simply replied, “No, because one of the things that I do is I do
not judge.”
When Jesus shares the
parable of the sower, he gives the different scenarios that happen
when the seeds fall to the ground. One group of seeds lands on rocky
soil and sprouts up quickly, then dies from the sun. Another batch
lands among weeds and are choked out. But some of the seeds he
scatters land in good soil, and they bring forth grain. Sometimes, we
can't know what sort of soil the seeds are going to land in. As Paul
notes in 1 Corinthians, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave
the growth.” We cannot judge who will or will not receive the grace
of God, we can only offer it freely to those we encounter.
The business man in
Reading walked up to a man sitting alone on a bench. This man's name
was Thomas, and Thomas was a heroine addict who had even sold his
young son's toys for drug money. But the night before this incident,
Thomas, an atheist, was encouraged by his girlfriend to pray to God
for a sign. When he was given the money, Thomas' first reply was “I
didn't earn that.” He was very emotional, seeing that somebody
would give so much to someone like him who had only ever acted
selfishly in feeding his own addiction. Thomas had spent his money
and his labor on that which does not satisfy. Only by receiving this
free gift, an answer to this atheist's prayer, could he be
transformed. He not only checked himself into a rehabilitation
center, but came to faith in the God who provides.
This is the power of
grace. If God only gave to those who deserved it, nobody would
receive his grace. And without his grace, there is no chance for
transformation. True, lasting transformation only comes through
grace. We know we can trust God if we turn to him because he has
already paid the price for salvation. He didn't wait for us to say
yes, but because he loves us, he sent Jesus his Son to die for us.
Because he loves us, he offers redemption and new life through his
completed work in the resurrection. Because he loves us, he offers
his Spirit of adoption to be his children, “and if children, then
heirs,” as Paul writes, “heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be
glorified with him.” Remember the words Isaiah writes, that
“nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD
your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.”
Instead of wasting our
time and effort on things that do not satisfy, trying to find
fulfillment in the world, let's turn together to the one who does
satisfy. It has no cost and requires nothing of you to deserve it. It
is the transforming grace of God's invitation to eat and be
satisfied. Come to the waters of his Spirit and drink and be
glorified. Come and gain the eternal reward of life in him, which
will never fade away. Be part of God's work in the world because, as
the psalmist writes, when you are led by the Spirit, “you shall go
out in joy, and be led back in peace.”
I invite you now to
accept God's invitation. If it is for the first time or the
thousandth time, or the thousand-thousandth time, come and be
satisfied in his unending love at his Table. He has paid the price
for you to be satisfied in him. There is nothing you need to do to
deserve this gift, but to come and receive it. Come, and be
satisfied.
