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It is truly a joy for me to be here with you this morning and to share with you the joy and encouragement in the Lord that I received as I attended the National LWML Convention in Pittsburg with my wife Sherri this past June. Now I had attended LWML conventions on the District level before and I enjoyed them immensely, but I must admit I was a bit dazzled by the 3,100+ members that attended. It was a virtual sea of purple and not only in the convention center. Wherever Sherri and I went in Pittsburg, we would see ladies who were in town for the convention. We’d know them by their purple shirts and they knew no strangers. The Christian comradery was simply amazing! But best of all was the Christian encouragement and edification that the attendees received from the guest speakers, from President Harrison, from Rev. Dr. John Nunes, from the Rev. Dr. Victor Belton and especially from the Rev. Dr. Dien Ashly Taylor, all speaking on the convention theme, “Quenched by the Water.”
That was a truly insightful theme, “Quenched by the Water” since that’s exactly what every man, woman and child living on the face of the earth needs, now, more than ever – to be “Quenched by the Water.”
Our lives are so inescapably tied to water. Did you know that a human can go months without food but only a few days without water? Our lives are forever linked with water. Did you know that our bodies are about 60% water? Without it our bodies would crumble into dust. That’s how God made us – from the dust of the ground. Doctors say we need to drink at least 8 eight ounce glasses of water a day in order to maintain good health, more if you’re exerting yourself. Did you ever stop to wonder why God made us so dependent upon water? He is God after all and He could have made us so that we didn’t need anything to sustain us – no water or food. But God in His wisdom made us this way for a reason.
As Lutherans, we are keenly aware that without God’s intervention, the human soul is spiritually dead; indeed without God, no one can even approach God. And that’s where water comes in. God has also tied water to our spiritual health and He has done this in a couple of ways. Without the waters of baptism our souls are forever dead concerning the things of God. Without His life-giving baptismal waters that wash away the sins of our disobedience, we would have been doomed to live a life separated from God both now and after death for an eternity!
But in His great love for us He sent us this spiritual life giving water through the teaching of His one and only Son, Jesus. By His command, we have all been baptized in the name of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And when that happened, when God applied that water to our dead and sin-parched flesh, our soul sprang to life again and immediately we began thirsting for God!
Just as our physical well-being is closely tied to physical water, our spiritual well-being is also tied to our need for the spiritual water that comes only from the Christ Himself! If we cut ourselves off from the source of this life-giving water, our souls will again wither and die an eternal death. But if we continue to go to Jesus often to replenish our spiritual water, then our souls will flourish! Even better, through God’s spirit alive in us, God will provide “streams of living water [that will] will flow from within [us]" (Jn 7:38). Streams of living water that will pour out on those around us to water them so that they too might not die eternally but live forever!
What a glorious message! What an awesome task! To share the message of God’s saving grace in Christ with everyone who’s still wandering around in this desert of sin! And we are well equipped to carry out this task because we have all been “Quenched by the Water” and the Word.
That’s an important truth as well. God didn’t quench us with that life-giving water only to allow us to sit and await His coming. St. Paul spoke of how his fellow Christians would often lift him up in prayer and encourage him in his service to God because that service is not always easy. Christian brothers and sisters need to encourage of one another so that our work in the Lord can be carried out with joy! Doing God’s work with a joyful heart, especially in times of adversity, speaks a clear message to the un-churched about the love Christ has for them and prepares them for the gospel!
In our text today, Jesus is looking ahead to the Day of Judgment when every man, woman and child will stand before Him, the King of all Creation, as He sits on His throne. And He will separate the people into two groups as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats on His right and left hand, respectively. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’” (34-40).
Sisters, after attending that LWML convention, I felt like my spiritual battery was recharged and I was ready to go again. Along with the fantastic Scriptural messages that are so encouraging, you’re able to actually see and hear all the things that God has been accomplishing around the world through your efforts in the Lord. I want to read to you just a few of the things that the LWML has accomplished through one area of your ministry – the mite collection. Over the last biennium, that is from 2011-13, the LWML National Mite Collection totaled $2,700,402.53. All of it collected by you and by societies like yours around the world and it’s now being put to work for the glory of God in the following ministry areas:
$53,837.32 for the 2013-15 Mission Goal; $28,513.94 divided equally between the Pittsburg Luth. Center for the Blind and Camp Bethesda; $30,879.55 to Luth. World Relief – Hurricane Sandy Relief fund; and $25,865.53 to the LWML Heart to Heart Sisters Program.
These wonderful works of love that you and your sisters carry out in the name of our Lord Jesus are mighty testimonies to the faith and are a joy to witness. But this is only one small part of the things you do for the Lord. This truly is faith in action – God’s love made manifest through the body of Christ, as your own pledge clearly states: “In fervent gratitude for the Savior’s dying love and His blood-bought gift of redemption, we dedicate ourselves to Him with all that we are and have; and in obedience to His call for workers in the harvest fields, we pledge Him our willing service wherever and whenever He has need of us. We consecrate to our Savior our hands to work for Him, our feet to go on His errands, our voice to sing His praises, our lips to proclaim His redeeming love, our silver and our gold to extend His Kingdom, and our will to do His will, and every power of our life to the great task of bringing the lost and the erring into eternal fellowship with Him.”
This pledge reflects the intent of the words Jesus speaks in our text. It is a summary of Christian witness and service. It embodies the spirit of the LWML and of the body of Christ that we are always to be about our Lord’s work until the day that He calls us home to glory.
I will close this message with a quote from your National President, Kay Kreklau, as she turns her focus on the next biennium and encourages women to “focus on missions, not meetings.” And I quote, “God has brought you to this convention, and when you go home you have a responsibility to plant seeds and to share the joy. You have the responsibility to encourage mite offerings and share mission stories so that God’s Word will continue to be proclaimed,” end quote. She reminded women of the 2013–2015 primary targets: nurturing faith in Christ, making our mission meaningful, and sharing encouragement. She added, “By God’s grace we will continue to thrive because we are quenched by the water and the Word.” Praise God! Hallelujah and Amen!