"Shop Til Ya Drop... For Free!”
Text: Isaiah 55:1-5
8-2-2026
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I have to confess that like a lot of men, I really dislike shopping. Especially for clothes. And especially at a mall. Well, unless of course you turn me loose at Scheels or the tool section at Lowe’s. On the other hand, my youngest daughter used to be the exact opposite. Shopping was one of life’s greatest pleasures for her. It didn’t seem to matter if she had the money to buy the various things she looked at or tried on. Nor did it matter if she already had 5 purses, she’d still shop for more. If shopping was an organized sport in high school, she would’ve had a letter jacket in it.
But to be honest, I have dreamed about the perfect shopping experience. Now and then, a local store sends out a flyer for a special sale. On a certain date, you can fill a 5-gallon bucket up and get 20% off those items (except, of course, the ones listed in the fine print.) You know, I bet they have video recordings of the people shopping on those days. Not for shoplifters or thieves. No. Rather, for the comedy value. Have you ever seen a grown man try to fit a miter saw into a plastic bucket? Or how about a 40-pound bag of dog food? Ah, but what if they gave you a huge shopping cart and said that you could fill it up with whatever you could fit into it and walk out the store with it for free?!? Better yet, what if a rich friend gave you his charge card and told you to go shopping for one whole hour and he’d pay the bill? Now that’s a shopping trip I’d actually enjoy rather than dread.
Well, believe it or not, that’s the kind of a sweet deal that God offers in our text for today. Listen again to that magnificent invitation in verse 1: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” The best part of this offer is that He doesn’t place any restrictions on this “shopping spree.” No time limit, no dinky plastic bucket to fill, no 20% off the price. He just opens the door of His storehouse and says, "Shop Til Ya Drop... For Free!”
Sounds like a great deal, doesn’t it? But maybe you’ve already anticipated a very important question. Where’s this storehouse at? I mean, it doesn’t do us much good to know about a free shopping spree if we don’t know where to find it. Well, the “store” is God’s storehouse of grace. The shelves of this store are packed with the things that feed our souls and fill us with happiness and contentment. That’s what God says there in verses 2- 3, “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me…”
But we still haven’t answered where this storehouse of God’s is at. Well, it’s as close to you as His Word and Sacraments. It’s like one of those huge chain stores and Zion Lutheran Church is one of God’s “outlet stores” for His grace. God opens the doors wide and says, “Come on in and get filled up with good things for your soul. Come on in and be fed spiritually. And it’s all free!” He offers that to you as you read and hear His Word in the Bible, both at home and here in worship. He also invites you to a free spiritual meal in the Lord’s Supper. That name reminds us that God is the One who is supplying us this banquet for our souls. And all this spiritual food is absolutely free of charge. Did you hear those words in our text “without money and without price?” God has paid the bill for all this spiritual food through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Son.
God’s spiritual food and drink is the only kind that will satisfy our souls. And yet, our sinful world bombards us with temptations to go shopping elsewhere. But that other kind of spiritual food will leave you empty and malnourished. My grandkids like to play with the plastic food that’s in with their other toys. Sometimes they’d invite me to their pretend restaurant where they serve me a meal of this fake food. Mind you, some of it looks pretty close to real. But you know as well as I do that if I tried to eat that for my actual supper, I’d be sorry. And I’d still be hungry. If I didn’t eventually eat real food, I’d also be malnourished.
Isn’t that exactly what happens to us spiritually? Our souls need to be fed by God’s rich Word. So, how often do you sit down with your Bible and feast on God’s food for your soul? Once a day? Once a week here in church? Do you read God’s Word as much as you read books, magazines or stuff online? Do spend as much time feeding on God’s Word as you do on TV or movies? Don’t misunderstand me; there’s nothing wrong with reading or watching the things these other sources offer. Well, okay, I take that back. Some of that stuff is absolute garbage. I grant you, there isn’t anything inherently evil about the decent ones. But neither the good stuff, and definitely not the bad stuff, can feed your soul. It’s like chewing on that plastic food. It leaves your soul starving for the real food of God’s Word. In verses 2 & 3 of our text God says, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live…”
Over 20 years ago there was a mining disaster near Somerset, Pennsylvania where 9 men were trapped underground. A news anchor interviewed the survivors after they were rescued. He asked them what was the first thing they hoped would be sent down once the drill broke through to them. Well, they had been talking and joking about the comforts they missed while trapped in that mine. One of them said, “We hoped they’d send us some beer and chewing tobacco!” I’m confident that was said tongue in cheek, because these men had been without food, clean water, and dry warmth for nearly 77 hours. You can be sure they actually wanted a warm meal, clean water to drink, and a hot shower. Chewing tobacco and beer couldn’t meet the needs of their aching and deprived bodies.
Interestingly enough, one of the young men was asked about his fears while trapped. He said, “Well, I had always believed in God, but I also knew that the Bible said I should be Baptized. I had never been Baptized so I was worried if God would take me into heaven.” Folks, that man’s soul was starving for the assurance of God’s love and forgiveness. He was begging to be fed with some real food from the Lord. That’s good, but it was disturbing when he went on to explain what one of the other men told him. This older guy evidently was a professing Christian so this young man turned to him with his concern about not being Baptized. He told this young man not to worry, because God is a good God. So far so good. But then he went on to say that God would welcome him into heaven because he was a good person. Wrong answer! I don’t think you realize how pervasive this false belief is in our world. Not just among unbelievers, but also among Christians. And even some Lutherans. This young man was crying out to be fed with the assurance of God’s love and mercy. He wanted real food for his soul. What he got instead was the fake food of works-righteousness. You can chew on that false hope of being good and doing the best you can, but it will leave you empty and with more questions than you had before you started. Look, if our salvation is based upon anything that us sinful humans must do, then we’re all still trapped in a pit of despair and we can’t do a thing to help ourselves out. We have no hope of heaven, unless it’s firmly grounded in the free gift of God’s grace through Jesus, and on that alone.
I know it’s easy to be a Monday-morning-quarterback but wouldn’t it have been great if that older man would have offered that young man the assurance that Baptism gives? It doesn’t matter if it’s clean water out of the tap or water dripping inside a mineshaft. That thirsty soul could have heard the beautiful invitation of God in Isaiah 55:1, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters...” In Baptism, that young man could have been assured that faith in Jesus Christ is all that’s “required” for entrance into God’s heaven. Not his good deeds or his good intentions. Just faith in Jesus Christ alone. I sincerely pray that the young man has now gone and been Baptized so that he can live in the assurance of the forgiveness of his sins. I also hope that he is being immersed in the assurances of God’s love and promises found in the Bible. And that his soul is being fed the richness of God’s grace and that he’s receiving it as the free gift God intended it to be.
God’s invitation rings through all the centuries. It wasn’t just for the nation of Israel. It isn’t just for a man trapped in a mine below the earth’s surface. It’s also valid for you and me today. God invites us all to come to Him and be fed with His heavenly food from His storehouse of grace. He offers us the real food of forgiveness for our souls, not the fake food of our sinful world. He offers us His faithful love that our souls crave, not the empty fluff that the world calls love. God offers us His eternal peace for our souls, not the shaky and temporary peace that the world offers. In verse 2 He says: “eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” In other words, God is inviting us to come and be filled with His very best. He invites us to fill up our hearts with His everlasting promises. And best of all, it’s free! It’s all been paid for by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ our Savior. So come; come shopping at His storehouse of grace. Come and "Shop Til Ya Drop... For Free!” Now that’s a shopping spree that all of us can enjoy! Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!