Sermon: Drink from the WELL of the Energy of God’s Spirit – the Real Energy Drink!
June 2nd, 2019 Rev. Betsy Perkins
First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
Scripture passage: Acts 2:1-21; Galatians 3:1-14, John 7:38
“Is anyone thirsty?”
(Switching up the image of the Spirit from wind to water – from pinwheel to water wheel)
One day, in the place of worship, Jesus hollered out: Is anyone thirsty? (lacking energy?) Come to me and drink (be powered). The water I give you is Living Water. We are in the middle of a series focusing on the Living Water that Jesus offers to us. We are invited to drink deeply from that WELL of the Waters of Life: to drink from the WELL of Christ’s Work, to drink from the WELL of the Energy of God’s Spirit, of Christ’s Lordship in your life, and from God’s WELL of unending, unfailing Love.
Last Sunday we thought about the “W”, the Living Water of the Work that Jesus Christ did for us. The world offers us swamp water; it makes us sick, it doesn’t satisfy. But when we drink in the things that Jesus gives to us as gifts of mercy and grace – washing away sin, the fresh freedom of forgiveness, love poured over us that we don’t have to work for, that we don’t have to try to be good enough to deserve – glorious, gracious gifts! We simply receive it.
This morning we turn our attention to the E – to drink deeply from the Energy of the God’s Spirit. Let me share with you a story Max Lucado tells about a place called Tuckered Town (Come Thirsty, ch.6).
Hope for Tuckered Town
Turn north at Stress Village, drive a few miles east of Worryville, bear right at the fork leading through Worn-Out Valley, and you’ll find yourself entering the weary streets of Tuckered Town. Her residents live up to the name. They lumber like pack mules on a Pike’s Peak climb. Eyes down. Faces long. Shoulders slumped. Ask them to explain their sluggish ways, and they point to their cars. “You’d be tired too if you had to push one of these.”
To your amazement that’s what they do! Shoulders pressing, feet digging, lungs puffing, they muscle automobiles up and down the street. Rather than sit behind the wheel, they lean in the [rear bumper]. The sight puzzles you. The sound stuns you. Do you hear what you think you hear? Running engines. Citizens of Tuckered Town turn the key, start the car, slip it into neutral, and shove!
You have to ask someone why. A young mother rolls her minivan into the grocery store parking lot. “Ever thought of pressing the gas?” you question.
“I do,” she replies, brushing sweat away. “I press the gas to start the car; then I take over.”
A bizarre answer. But no more bizarre than the out-of-breath fellow leaning against his 18-wheeler, wheezing like an overweight marathoner. “Did you push this truck?” you ask.
“I did,” he gasps, covering his mouth with an oxygen mask.
“Why not use the accelerator?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “Because I’m a Tucker trucker, and we’re strong enough to do our own work.”
He doesn’t look strong to you. But you say nothing. Just walk away wondering, ‘What kind of people are these? A pedal push away from power, yet they ignore it. Who would live in such a way?’
Spiritually Dry or Spiritually Vibrant?
The Christians in Galatia made Paul ask the same kind of question. In his letter to them, Paul wrote, “You crazy Galatians! Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. Are you so foolish? After beginning your life in Christ by the Spirit, now are you trying to complete it by your own power?”(Gal.3:1-4)
God’s Spirit is intended to be so much more than just a jumper cable to give us start-up strength. God’s Spirit is to be the fuel, the wind/water, the energy that continues to move us each and every mile of each and every day.
I wonder if some of us are trying to live like Galatians or like Tuckered Towners. Do you feel worn out? Weary from pushing yourself through life? The issue isn’t whether you are saved or not – Jesus’ Work on the cross has saved you, we believe that, you trust that. But having turned over the engine, have you been trying to live the Christian life by your own power? Striving to be spiritual?
The Barna research group did a study last year to try to understand the difference between those Christians who are spiritually dry and those who are spiritually vibrant. They discovered that only 25% of practicing Christians showed signs of spiritual vibrancy (by their own self reporting!). The rest had varying degrees of dryness. 28% of practicing Christians were so dry that the researchers ended up using the label of ‘Dormant’ in the study report! ‘Dormant’ brings to my mind the image of a lawn at the end of a long, dry summer, when the grass has gone dormant. It looks brown and brittle and very thirsty.
Spiritually dry Christians have thirsty hearts. They struggle to find joy. Little pressures leave them crushed, unable to spring back. Church attendance, mission and ministry activities just feel like a whole lot of hard work. They’re tired. In the Galatians church, Paul saw the spiritual dryness causing jealousy, hypocrisy, discord and conflict. Paul even had to give them this warning, “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”(Gal.5:15) Nothing repels non-Christians more than gloomy and irritable Christians.
Drink from the WELL of the Energy of God’s Spirit – Be Filled!
But a dormant lawn is not a dead lawn. There is still life there, for if a good rain comes, the grass can come out of the dormant state to become green and growing again. As Christ-followers we need to allow the Living Water drench us, to soak in, to rain over us like a sprinkler that someone forgot to turn off (or like our spring rains that just won’t stop!)
The Barna study identified three main characteristics and practices of spiritually vibrant believers/households. First, was a devotional life – reading the bible individually and together as a household each week, praying alone and together at least every day or two. Next was the practice of having spiritual conversations – talking about God and about faith with others at least a couple times a week, discussing questions of faith and the meaning in life, spiritual coaching. Third, was the practice of hospitality, and not necessarily for overtly Christian reasons – welcoming any non-family guests into your home, doing fun things with people, interacting with others, especially children, on a regular basis. These were the things that brought life to people’s faith and to brought life to those around them.
Maybe this sounds like more doing, striving, more work, more time. Yet as Jesus left his disciples with a whole lot of work to be done as he returned to be with His Father after the resurrection, Jesus’ primary instruction for them as they worried and wondered, was to wait. To wait! In the first chapter of the book of Acts, before the account of Pentecost pouring out of the Spirit, Jesus said to them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about… You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will then be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”(Acts 1:4,8)
Luke (who wrote the book of Acts) tells us that the disciples went back to the city, to a house where they all stayed in Jerusalem. There they waited. They didn’t just tap their toes and twiddle their fingers; it says “they all joined together constantly in prayer, the women included, along with Jesus’ mother, Mary and his brothers. There were about 120 of them in the house. So we can assume there was still a lot of work to be done as they continued to feed and care for one another. They took time to pray, and they took time to take care of the business of replacing Judas, selecting Matthias.
Waiting didn’t mean inactivity, it meant In-Him-activity. For us I believe we too must find a combination of prayer, as a focused activity, and prayer as simply a constant awareness of God as we go about our daily lives. In that constant awareness we whisper little prayers: What should I do now, Father? Forgive that unkind thought, Jesus. A little help here, please, God – what should I say now? Protect my child today. Like taking small sips of water all day long. Police chief, Jim Hansen, is going to be talking to us in a few minutes about things we can do, ways to be vigilant, perhaps ways we can help our neighbors and community. Rather than groan and think, oh no, more to do! Instead, as we listen, we wait and pray and the Lord will renew our strength and will allow the life giving water that keeps us vibrant flow out to water those around us.
The Fly
I’ve got one more little story from Max Lucado, about a flight he took (Come Thirsty, ch.8). Max writes, “Don’t make the mistake of the fly I encountered in the airplane. That’s right, on a recent flight a fly buzzed about in the cabin. How odd. A fly flying inside a flying plane. Why would a fly fly during a flight? Was he helping the plane? Doing his part to keep the aircraft airborne? Why did the fly in the plane fly in the plane?
I asked him. Catching his attention, I inquired, “Mr. Fly, why do you fly? Why don’t you sit down and enjoy the journey?”
His reply smacked of smugness. “And let the plane crash? Why, this craft needs me. My wings are essential to our safety.” And with a puff of the chest he flew toward the front of the plane. As he returned some moments later, he didn’t look so confident. Fear flickered in his tiny eyes. “I don’t think I can keep it up!”
“Keep what up?” I asked.
“The plane! I don’t think I can keep the plane up. I’m flying as furiously as I can. But my wings are weary. I don’t know how long I can do this.”
I opted for frankness. “Don’t you know it’s not up to you? You are surrounded by strength, held aloft by power that is not yours. Stop flying! It’s not up to you to get this plane home.”
He looked at me as if I were crazy and told me to buzz off.
Come; come to the WELL of God’s energy for your life, the energy of the Holy Spirit flowing through you to make you vibrant and strong.
Pray the words of hymn # 299, O Breath of Life:
O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us, revive your church with life and power;
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us, and fit your church to meet this hour.
O Wind of God, come bend us, break us, till humbly we confess our need;
Then in your tenderness remake us, revive, restore – for this we plead.
O Breath of Love, come breath within us, renewing thought and will and heart;
Come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us, revive your church in every part! Amen!
Closing Song: “Spirit of the Living God” # 297, verse 1 only
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