Isaiah 55:1 – 3 reads, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy, and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you – The sure mercies of David.”
One creative way to get people thinking about the hungry of the world is to put in a “Feast or Famine” dinner. Elizabeth Goode, a pastor from Williamsport, Maryland tells about a time she tried it: Three tables were set up. Two were quite long – a third seating only a few people. One of the long tables was set with only a bare, brown paper top. The people there received only a small cup of water and a survival biscuit.
A number of families with young children were seated at this table. The other long table had a plain white table covering and they received a cup of water and a cup of noodle broth. The third, smaller table was set with a linen table cloth, a floral arrangement, candelabras, full table settings and there were served a plate overflowing with the works. In the discussion that took place over the meals, one 5 year-old boy, seated at the table with the survival biscuits, looked around and then announced in a stage voice: “This isn’t fair. And if Jesus were here He’d do something about it!!”
Have you ever been to a really good buffet? Have you ever been to a restaurant where they had almost everything you could want – spread out in a buffet line, table after table of all kinds of good food. Now I’ve heard of Jo-Deans down in Yankton is pretty good. Some people like the Royal Fork or Valentino’s in Sioux Falls. I personally like Whippersnappers in Branson, Missouri where you can eat all the lobster and crab legs you’d like for a verrrrry reasonable price.
Personally, I really like buffets. I’ve never met a buffet I didn’t like. You can ask Michelle. She just has to say the word, “buffet,” and I’m in the car, honking the horn, waiting for us to get going. What Michelle really likes is a deal, a coupon, a freebie. If we can get that buffet for half-price or free she’s just as excited as I am.
Isaiah wrote this scripture more than 2700 years ago and he knew what good food was and what a good deal was. He invites us, the reader to come check out this spiritual buffet. He invites anyone who is thirsty or hungry to come and pig out, for free, the best that God has to offer….bread, water, wine, and milk.
(Addressing God) “Um God, is the main course still coming? I mean where’s the prime rib? Where’s the broasted chicken? Where’s the chocolate cheesecake?” “Sure you’re giving water, wine, milk, and bread for free but look at it…its water, wine, milk, and break!”
I don’t know if anyone of us here has ever faced life-threatening thirst or hunger. But I think we at least know what it is like to be hungry or thirsty for a little while. Maybe you were working outside in the hot sun or you were held up for some reason and you had a late supper. Try to remember those times that your stomach was growling or you were cotton-mouthed.
Those feelings, those pangs of thirst and hunger were not unfamiliar in Isaiah’s time. Palestine is still an area that is arid, desert-like and bare. Not too many signs of life in that area of the world. That is where our author Isaiah lived when he was writing this book. Water was crucial, even more crucial to them than it is to our farmers. Without water they would soon die.
I’m sure that you have often heard that the human can go three, four days without water. But in the desert that time is cut in half. The heat bearing down on you in an unprotected and vast desert environment makes short work of any moisture you might have in your body. Isaiah knew the importance of water for survival. But Isaiah is not talking about the water you find in a drinking fountain or the water you find in stream. Isaiah is talking about water that will quench your inner soul’s thirst. He’s talking about water, wine and milk that never run dry and always brings satisfaction.
Let’s look at that word, “satisfaction.” “Satisfaction” comes from Latin meaning “sufficient” plus the meaning, “to make.” Put these together and you have, “to make sufficient.” Let me ask you, “What makes your life sufficient?” Or rather, “How much is enough?” How much money – to compensate you for your work? How much time – to devote to your family and church? How much public press – satisfy your ego? How much opportunity for private reflection – to deepen your understanding? How much stuff is enough for you? And, no matter how much stuff you have, how do you find and define satisfaction?
But while the question, “How much is enough?” may not be new, the velocity, the intensity and the scale of the answers that people can choose from today ARE new. Choices – in work, play, and life – are coming at greater speeds and from more directions, and with consequences that are more immediate and more dramatic than ever before.
But the question that you need to ask yourself is the same question that Isaiah the prophet is asking, “Why do you spend money on things that really don’t satisfy you?” You might answer, “Of course they satisfy me. I like them. It’s fun. It’s my money, it’s my time, it’s my prerogative, isn’t it?” But you and I know that these things that we think satisfy us never really do in the long run. Why do we keep doing them? They may satisfy our bodies, our bellies and our brains but they don’t satisfy our souls.
How many trips to the casino must we make before we see that we are only chasing our tail? How much waste do we have to produce before we’re swimming in garbage? How many things must we charge and buy before we understand that it all will en dup on the curb and in the landfill? How much sewage do we have to look at on the computer and TV screen in order to see that we are becoming blind to the things of God?
We can spend so much of our time thinking that we are getting rich, we are getting satisfied, when in reality we are pathetic because we are chasing the wind. We chase the wind because we are listening to the wrong voices. We foolishly listen to the inside track that leads us to destruction. Like the rats and the Pied Piper, we often become slaves obeying the wrong master.
We hear ourselves and others laughing and being happy with the things of this world. No where do we see or hear of how people are destitute and broken because of these selfish narcissistic choices. We don’t hear about them because these desperate people aren’t advertised. These people disappear in the cracks of loneliness and depression. These people are replaced by others; it could be you, who will embrace, for a short time, the things that only satisfy the ego and belly. Ecclesiastes says, “Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
Michelle and I, and I am sure many of you today, know that people are filling up on the wrong things. People who are very close to you that have not pulled back from looking for satisfaction in what the world offers. Maybe that person is you. It makes me so sad to see people I love, ignore God and go after the world. I have witnessed this. And what happens if we do? For a time we can live it up. We can have the best, we enjoy it all. But then it bites and claws us in the back. Divorce, financial ruin, heart attacks, abandoned children, broken dreams and lives. All these and more are the effects of filling our souls with trash that has been sold to us. These are the effects of eating too much candy and not enough bread. These are the effects of drinking perfume and not water.
Jesus says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” He says, “I am the Bread of Life.” From where the pure wine flows Jesus says, “I am the true vine.” He is prophet, priest, and King. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the only one that can satisfy your soul and refresh your spirit.
Jesus is all of these things that Isaiah preaches about. But we don’t have to break our backs to earn His love. We don’t have to put His salvation on the credit card. Scripture says this morning to do two things: listen to Him carefully and come to Him. Scripture says, “Hear, and your soul shall live.” That’s all. No fancy prayers or hoops to jump through. Listen to Jesus calling you away from the empty lies the world feeds you. All He asks is for you to listen and come. Listen to His voice and come to His table.
