Houston began with a bold idea. In the 1830s,
two brothers, Augustus Checkman Allen and John
Kirby Allen, decided to create a city along Buffalo
Bayou. They promoted it as the perfect location
for commerce and growth. People came, homes were
built, businesses opened, a city was born. But
there was one small problem. It was a swamp.
A literal swamp and crumbs and flooding. From
the very beginning, Houston has wrestled with
how to live with the land underneath it. And
over time, developers have tended to react in
two very different ways. One reaction says, just
accept it. This is a land we have, floods happen,
that is simply life here, and we should hold
off on building new homes in too many places.
But now there is a lack of housing that is needed.
The other reaction says, no, we can control it.
Build more, pave more, cover it with concrete.
Force the land to cooperate with what we want,
even as the flooding gets worse and worse. Both
responses have brought their own difficulties.
Ignore the land and the people remind you of
what they need. Try to overpower it, and the
consequences come back in unexpected and expected
ways. The challenge has always been learning
how to live wisely with the reality that we are
given. And in a strange way, that struggle mirrors
something deeper about the human heart. When
we face the world around us, people often choose
between two similar responses. Some simply accept
whatever the culture around them says. Others
try to force the world to bend to their will.
But the word of God points to a third path. We
hear that invitation today in the words of the
prophet Isaiah. When these words were first spoken,
God's people were living far from home in Babylon.
Jerusalem had fallen. The temple was gone. The
people had been carried away into exile. And
yet, by the time Isaiah's words were heard, something
interesting has happened. Life in Babylon has
become normal. After decades, Babylon has become
their new home. The people have houses. jobs,
routines. They know how the system works. They
know how the culture operates. But they are also
surrounded by Babylon's gods, Babylon's values,
Babylon's way of seeing the world. And into that
situation, God speaks a question that cuts straight
to the heart. Why do you spend your money for
that which is not bread, and your labor for that
which does not satisfy? In other words, why are
you trying to satisfy your soul with things that
you never should be feeling? And when we look
at life in Babylon, we begin to see three different
responses that people can have. The first response
is simply to blend into Babylon. When you live
in a place long enough, it begins to shake you.
The culture, the customs around you start to
feel normal. The values around you begin to seem
obvious. So the temptation is simple there. Eat
and drink whatever is handed to you. Accept the
culture. Adopt the assumptions. Go along with
the flow of things. But the prophet asks, does
that truly satisfy? Just because something is
common does not mean it gives life. Just because
everyone is drinking from the same cup does not
mean the water is good. Even as Daniel showed
us to step away even at the risk that it may
carry and to refuse what is given is often what
it is that we wonder the most. In a world where
gender doesn't appear to mean anything to people,
sexuality is whatever people think feels good
at the moment, and all religions are treated
as equally valid ways to find a way to God, it
is easy for many to just go along with what the
world reasons and think that that makes sense.
But you see, there's also a second response that
we need to ask about that goes in the opposite
direction. Instead of blending in, some people
try to dominate that mindset. They think the
answer is control. If we just had enough power,
enough authority, enough influence, then we could
force the world to follow God's ways. In that
mindset, the question becomes, who should pay
the price for our suffering as Christians? And
the answer becomes, well, the world should. The
unbelievers should suffer. Those outside our
circle should pay the price to create a world
that follows after Christ. Make them deal with
what we've dealt with before. But that was never
the way of Jesus Christ. The apostles never seized
power in the Roman Empire. They never tried to
conquer the culture around them. Instead, they
preached the gospel of forgiveness and restoration.
They served their neighbors, all of them. They
endured hardships. whenever they came along,
without wondering who should suffer for revenge.
And through that witness, the Word of God spread
like fire. The Kingdom of God does not advance
by domination. Which brings us to the third path.
Faithful living before God in the middle of battle.
That was the path of people like Daniel and his
friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They
worked in the Babylonian government. They served
faithfully in their roles. They never gave in
to the false gods, even when the king commanded
them to worship. They refused, even risking their
own lives. They did not surrender their faith
to any leader, and they did not stage a rebellion
against them either. They simply remained faithful
to the Lord each and every day. Asking each day,
how best to serve God, not mocking the world
around them, but confessing the truth of who
God is. They lived in Babylon without letting
Babylon live inside of them. And that kind of
faithfulness requires something deeper than slogans.
It requires asking again and again, Lord, what
does faithfulness look like right now? And this
is where Isaiah returns to the image of the center
of the passage, water. God says come everyone
who thirsts come to the waters Because the truth
is that human beings are always thirsty We are
always looking for something that will satisfy
the deeper hunger of the soul And we see that
even in something as ordinary as what we drink
Think about the different ways that people approach
beverages even today Some people drink whatever
is available sodas energy drinks wishing that
the unsweetened tea had sugar in it, anything
that is there. But the sweetness fades, the caffeine
wears off, and the thirst comes back again. Other
people try to improve the situation by creating
something that is healthy, but also controllable.
Premium water, sold in the bottles, special brand
of purity and perfection. But it's so interesting
that time and time again the ordinary tap water
is either just as safe or even safer because
it's much more regulated than anything bought
on a bottle, far cheaper and doesn't have all
the microplastics sitting inside of it. All the
chemicals leaching from the packaging. But what
looks better is not always better. Sometimes
the simplest water is the purest water and is
what is free. Providing something that claims
to be pure and healthy is not always what is
best, but Isaiah's question suddenly sounds very
important to me. Why do you spend your money
for that which is not great, and your labor for
that which does not satisfy? Human beings have
always chased substitutes. Approval, success,
comfort, control, sometimes within the hands
of the world, sometimes within the hands. of
ourselves. Things that promise life believe us
thirsty again. But then comes the most satisfying
part of the invitation. God says, come buy and
eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and
without price. What? Come and buy? Come and eat?
After all of that? But without money? Without
price? What is this? Food, what is this drink?
Which raises an obvious question. If we are not
paying for it, who is? The answer comes when
Jesus Christ stands and declares, if anyone thirsts,
let him come to me and drink. Because the living
water that satisfies the soul flows from the
cross. Because it's Christ who bears the cost.
It is Christ who bears the cost. It is Christ
who bears the price, as Christ pours out forgiveness,
mercy, and new life for a thirsty world. And
so the invitation still stands, not just for
the people in battle water, for us. Come to the
waters. Come without money. Come and live. Because
the living water of God is not something that
we may be sanctioned. It is not something we
force the world to accept either. It is a free
spirit. free for us, free for the world. A gift
poured out through Christ for sinners, a gift
for the thirsty. And that means the doorway into
the kingdom of God is not strength, it is thirst
that is willing to be honest. The one who knows
their need, the one who comes empty handed, the
one who hears the voice of Christ and comes to
drink what he alone provides. In the name of
Jesus. Thank you.