What Fills You Up?

[00:00:00] In the name of Jesus, Amen. [00:00:05] So we heard in our text today one of the shortest gospel lessons we've had in some time, right, These words that Jesus spoke on the last and great day of the feast. It said 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 scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. [00:00:37] And by this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. So that's a great text, isn't it, for this festival day, this Pentecost. [00:00:51] Now, if we had been there in Jerusalem when Jesus spoke these words, what we would have seen, we would have seen the priest, the designated priest, taking water from the spring of Siloam once a day. This is a week long, actually eight day celebration. Every day he would go and he would take water from the spring of Siloam and he would march with that water with an entourage of people carrying palm branches and fruit branches and waving them. And there would be processional instruments and. And there would be singing of the hallel psalms. The hallel Psalms are Psalm 113 through 118. I commend them to you today as you have some quiet time with the word, read the Hallel Psalms 113, 118. [00:01:44] Anyway, the priest would take this water with his huge entourage. Can you imagine the dust and the instruments and the noise and the people shouting? And he would take this water from the pool of Siloam and he would pour it on the altar in a basin. And in that basin there was a tube and the water could pour out and flow out to where the people were symbolically. [00:02:13] And on the last day of this feast, this celebration, on the last day, they would reenact this seven times. [00:02:28] Seven processions, seven outpourings. [00:02:35] Well, why do they do this? [00:02:39] Well, it bounces off the pages of the Old Testament, Exodus, chapter 17. [00:02:46] That's where God's people cried out somewhat in anger against God because they were out in the middle of the wilderness, having been set free from Egyptian slavery. They're marching through the wilderness on their way to the promised land, and there's no water. [00:03:06] And they're crying out to God, we need water. And they're crying out to Moses, you brought us out here to die, we need water. [00:03:21] Just like that. [00:03:25] And God instructed Moses to strike a rock. [00:03:29] And you know what happened? [00:03:31] Water poured forth. Cool, clear water. [00:03:43] Water. [00:03:45] So this is called the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles. A huge feast in the Jewish mind and the Jewish practice, it was a whole week long. And there were really two celebrations that were going on. [00:04:04] Celebration, certainly, of God preserving his people as they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. [00:04:11] And it was also a festival of thanksgiving for the season's harvest of grain and fruit and wine. [00:04:19] All the men were required to attend. And when they attended, they set up booths. They set up little branch wikiups or, I don't know, something we would call pup tents today. But I'm sure these were pretty leaky by comparison. Anyway, it was a celebration of the past, present, and future supply from God. Most importantly, of course, water. [00:04:49] Water from which all life springs. Water, the foremost symbol. So God, in his mercy, he gave them water and took the people, as you will recall, into the land that they now enjoy. And so that's why they're celebrating. They're celebrating the remembrance of what took place, and they're celebrating in thanksgiving for all that God has supplied them with over the years. So are you getting that picture? Procession, branches pouring out of water. I think a lot of dust too, personally, but noise, instruments, reciting of psalms. [00:05:33] And that's when Jesus, as it said, stood up and said in a loud voice, now this is like a street preacher, right? [00:05:48] Have you ever seen a street preacher? [00:05:51] They got to get up on a soapbox. [00:05:54] If there's a lot of people around, they got to shout. [00:05:57] And here's what Jesus shouted. He said, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. [00:06:15] Well, that's really not unlike a few chapters earlier in John 4, where Jesus encountered that woman at the well. Do you remember Jesus said to the woman, everyone who drinks of this water out of the well will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him a spring of water will well up inside of them to eternal life. And the woman said to him, give me this water so I won't be thirsty again. [00:06:50] And Jesus replied to her, whoever believes in me shall never thirst. [00:07:02] Now, we sit here in 21st century America, and we know Jesus is speaking a metaphor, right? [00:07:11] Jesus is the living water. [00:07:15] Jesus, the living water that pours out upon us by his Holy Spirit in such abundance that we can't help but believe. We can't help but fall in love over and over and over again with Jesus. And there's so much left over of his abundance that he has poured out into us that we can't help but let it overflow. Into others. [00:07:47] That river that Jesus references, it's the gift of the Holy Spirit. [00:07:53] And it pictures believers carrying living water in procession on the way to the promised land. [00:08:05] On the way as we worship and sharing it, pouring it out upon others. [00:08:13] Acts, the book of Acts, the reading that we had from Acts, well, it fulfills the very promise, doesn't it? And then our own acts, beginning in our confession of faith. I believe in God the Father and our hymns and our prayers and our intake of the word of God and our service and our testimony of faith. Are they not all the living waters by which we believe flow from the very mouth of Jesus to us and through us to others? [00:08:53] The text explains it. The people. [00:08:56] Well, in fact, I'll just say it this way. [00:08:59] As you open your scriptures later on today, read John chapter seven. We got just a little tiny portion of it, but the whole chapter is. [00:09:09] Well, it's at the same time humorous and exasperating and full of misunderstandings of the people. [00:09:20] Take a little time with it because it's. Well, it's worth the read anyway. The text in John 7 helps us understand. It explains. The people didn't get Jesus. [00:09:34] Their expectations had not been met and there was, by the way, no clear consensus. Some spoke very well of Jesus, saying, he's a good man and look, he heals and he's full of compassion. [00:09:48] And yet there were others who disagreed. [00:09:51] They called him a cunning deceiver. [00:09:53] They called him somebody who's taking advantage of gullible, mindless masses. [00:10:00] People are getting taken in, well, what was going on in Jerusalem? And really all Judea was a buzz of questions and a buzz of objections and really a buzz of expectations. [00:10:20] For example, people questioned whether or not he had the learning to be out and doing what he claimed to do. He certainly didn't go to any of our schools. [00:10:33] They pointed out, of course, Jesus learning he's God. [00:10:39] He wrote the Bible, if you look at it that way. [00:10:43] And then they question, well, where's he from now? [00:10:48] Actually, that's not a difficult one even for us to discern. [00:10:54] Anybody who spent any time in the Christmas holidays knows Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but now he's from Nazareth. [00:11:07] Nazareth. [00:11:09] It was pointed out, no prophet comes from Nazareth. Nothing good can come out of Nazareth. Well, actually, if they'd have done their homework, they'd know that Jonah, Nahum, Hosea, Elijah, Elisha and Amos all either came from Nazareth or had their headquarters in Nazareth. [00:11:30] So, well, wrong again. [00:11:34] Jesus comment was, you know, where I'm from, pushing their buttons. Of course, Then they started questioning because Jesus said, where I'm going, you cannot go. [00:11:47] And they were saying, well, where's he going to go? Is he going to sneak off to Greece or someplace where he can hide out, get away from all of us pesky Jews? No, what Jesus was talking about, where he's going was the fire of trial and his death and his burial and his resurrection and his ascension into heaven. See, what I would want to say to you today is beware of the actions of unbelief when it comes to to Jesus. [00:12:16] If somebody's professing Jesus, but their actions demonstrate unbelief, beware. [00:12:23] We struck him once, didn't we? [00:12:32] As Moses struck the rock that St. Paul points out was Christ. [00:12:38] We struck him when he was beaten and crucified. [00:12:44] And from the cross gives us living water. See, lovingly, no spite, no anger, lovingly. Jesus says, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. [00:13:05] Or in the children's message parlance, good smelling cologne will get around the world. [00:13:18] Well, some believed, they said, he's a prophet. [00:13:25] Some said, he's the Christ. [00:13:29] Others, they opposed him. [00:13:33] Look wrong Schools, earthly origins, cloudy future, seize him, silence him. [00:13:45] Here was their expectation. [00:13:48] Jesus, stop challenging the status quo or we'll stop it for you. [00:13:57] Well, those whose expectations aren't met overwhelm the scene. [00:14:10] They do read the chapter. [00:14:14] Those whose expectations aren't met overwhelm the scene. [00:14:21] So I had to ask, are we ever like them? [00:14:31] What expectations of ours aren't met? [00:14:38] I read an interesting little anecdote this week about the late columnist, Sidney Harris. [00:14:44] Maybe some of you have heard of him. He was a columnist in the newspaper. Anyway, he was accompanied by his friend George. One evening they went out for a walk and they went by the newsstand and Sidney greeted the man selling the newspapers courteously, hey, good evening to you. [00:15:09] But he got just nothing back, but just a gruff sort of service in return. Barely being acknowledged. Didn't even make eye contact with Sidney and, you know, he didn't look up. [00:15:23] Sidney wanted the night edition of the paper, so he'd asked for it. And the newspaper was shoved rudely in his direction. And Sidney politely smiled and wished the newsman a pleasant weekend, to which the newsman grunted, you know, and seemed relieved that the transaction was over. The two then walked on their way. [00:15:55] And the question came from George, does he always treat you that way? [00:16:05] The answer was yes. [00:16:09] Well, are you always so kind and Friendly to him? [00:16:14] Yes, I am. [00:16:17] Well, why are you so nice when he's so unfriendly to you? [00:16:24] And the answer came back, because I don't want him to decide how I'm going to act. [00:16:37] Did you get that? [00:16:42] If we allow someone else to decide how we act, we cut off the flow of the very Holy Spirit that God has put in us at our baptisms. [00:16:55] We become bloated with overfilling of our own interests and our own needs. [00:17:04] Ask yourself the question, who decides how you are going to act? [00:17:09] Is it your difficult circumstances or people in your life who determine your responses? [00:17:19] When we allow conflicts to control us, we behave as though getting rid of our predicament is the only priority. And it really doesn't matter how we treat someone else. [00:17:31] For example, we might say, this person is causing me distress right now. So I don't care about exercising patience or self control or loving kindness. Instead, I want. No, I need to let them know how angry I am because of their actions. [00:17:52] We forget. Our trials eventually subside, usually. But even if they don't, we. [00:18:01] Well, we so easily forget. James words. Consider it pure joy. James writes, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. [00:18:14] And then he admonishes, he says, let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. [00:18:23] See, here it is. The way we handle conflicts will influence our lives for a long time. [00:18:34] So the question comes again, what fills you up? [00:18:41] Because that is what will come out when the pressure is on. [00:18:46] Who decides how you'll act when the pressure is on another person or the spirit of Christ living in you now? It's true. And we all do it. We question God why things happen in our lives the way they do, why he let things happen the way they did. We've all done it. [00:19:13] But did you ever think that God is not so concerned with what happens to you as he is with what you do with what what happens? [00:19:23] Because he's a loving father, very concerned about you and your life and your needs. We have to believe that and just look around. Our world supplies all that we need. But don't you see? We grow best under conditions of dependence upon God, not independence from God. [00:19:46] Remember the times when you didn't know what to do and God came through for you? [00:19:53] Remember when your own springs were dried up and God stepped up and punched a hole through solid rock for you so you could drink? [00:20:03] Remember when you felt lonely and abandoned and God comforted you with the sweetness of his presence. [00:20:10] Remember when there was no hope and God gently breathed hope into your soul. [00:20:17] Remember when you felt misunderstood and God said I understand? [00:20:25] Remember when you felt that no one cared and God spoke up and said I love you. [00:20:36] Remember when he was poured out as an offering for you upon the altar of the cross dying in your place for your sins and rising victorious over it giving you life and hope and filling you up with His Holy Spirit? Remember. [00:20:54] See Jesus didn't let the people's sin or unbelief or mixed up expectations about how about him affect how he was going to react. Instead he lovingly and graciously offered to quench their thirst and to answer their objections and to give a whole new set of expectations. When he said come drink be filled with me he said. [00:21:32] And then he said this for out of you will flow rivers of living water. [00:21:37] That's a whole new expectation life giving water coming out of us to others. [00:21:53] Amen.