Cracked Cisterns (Prophet Margins – Part IX)

Sermon Title: Cracked Cisterns

Good News Statement: God puts us back together again

Preached: Sunday, September 11, 2022 at Dogwood Prairie UMC & Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NIV): Jeremiah 2:4-13 Today’s scripture reading comes from the Prophet Jeremiah who finds himself dealing with crack cisterns of the people. We will be reading from Jeremiah chapter two verses four thru thirteen. Listen to what Jeremiah has to say about falling apart…

 

Israel Forsakes God

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
all you clans of Israel.

⁵ This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. ⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,  who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ ⁷ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. ⁸ The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.

⁹ “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. ¹⁰ Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: ¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. ¹² Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. ¹³ “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

Introduction:

So instead of a joke this morning, I need your help with something. I need your help reciting a children’s poem. I know all of you know it: the title of this particular children’s poem is “Humpty Dumpty sat on a Wall.” We are going to recite it , together, twice. Are you ready?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again. Again!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Last week, I reminded you that you are great, that God has called you, that God has created you, to do something great in your life. Although you may feel like you are being tested every day, your patience is running thin, you fall into temptations, you experience tribulations, nothing seems to be going your way, you say or do the wrong thing, or you don’t feel great, God is still calling upon you to do something great because you are great. God is working in your life. God knew you before you were born, and He is going to be by your side as you live into the great things that He has in store for you. Jeremiah from our text last week was uncertain about answering God’s call, but through reassurance, grace, and faith, Jeremiah accepted the call and found a way to bring good news to many lost and hurting people. God calls us to do great things. God is calling you, today, to do extraordinary things; you just have to being willing to let God lead you. You have to be willing to answer God’s call. Remember, you don’t have to be great to do something great.

Today, we experience the other side of greatness: we experience falling off a great wall (experiencing a bike crash), of being cracked, fractured, and feeling like we can’t be put back together, like Humpty Dumpty. At the end of our text, Jeremiah writes, “My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Jeremiah, writing during a time period that was broken because of torture, deportation, and the exile of many Judeans by the Babylonians, is both witnessing and experiencing a broken people: people that are cracked, fractured, and faithless.

How many of you have ever felt fractured before? How many of you have ever felt broken to the point where being put back together seemed impossible? How many of you have every felt like Humpty Dumpty, falling off a great way, lying in pieces on the ground, not knowing what to do? It’s okay to feel broken, it’s okay to feel cracked, or even fractured at times because God, unlike the king’s horses and men, will be able to put you back together again. God is here to make your cisterns hold His living water of faith and love. God can put you back together again.

Opening Prayer:

            Let us pray… Infinite God, You have brought us into abundance. You have given us physical and spiritual nourishment. You have led us to flowing waters of grace. We come to worship today, seeking these things for our souls. May we accept what you offer us today in its entirety, that we might share with others. May my words fall to the ground as your words settle in the hearts of all those before me. In Your name we pray, Amen.

 

Body:

In 1870, an individual by the name of James William Elliott included “Humpty Dumpty” in a book titled Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs Set to Music. This specific book was a collection of old English nursery rhymes and songs set to music. Before “Humpty Dumpty” was published in Elliot’s book, the rhyme can be traced back to the 18^th century, and variations in lyrics have been recorded over time. Humpty Dumpty is the protagonist—the lead character—in this nursery rhyme, and more often than not Humpty Dumpty is portrayed to look like an egg. So it’s no wonder why Humpty Dumpty cracked when he fell off the wall.

Over the years, people have tried to decipher the story of Humpty Dumpty. Some suggest that Humpty Dumpty was simply a device for a riddle around breakable things. Others have suggested that Humpty Dumpty was King Richard III of England, who was supposed to have been humpbacked and who was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, leaving him broken and cracked. Another theory is that Humpty Dumpty is actually a cannon. During the English Civil War, history says, a one-eyed gunner named Thompson managed to get a cannon, named Humpty Dumpty, to the top of the tower of St. Mary at the Walls Church and wreaked havoc and destruction before Thompson and “Humpty Dumpty” were thrown off the tower; hence, “had a great fall.” Whatever theory you decide to believe, the outcome is the same: Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and nobody could put Humpty Dumpty back together again at all.

From our text, we can make the correlation that the people of Israel are similar to Humpty Dumpty. The people of Israel are sitting high on the wall, sitting on all their accomplishments and expectations, and taking the view of success in. They are on top of the world! But then something happens. The people begin to drift away from God. They’ve wandered off. Worse, they think all that they have done and received is due to their own efforts rather than a gift from God. They’ve forgotten to be grateful. Their faith was beginning to crack, and all their gratitude was leaking out. They were becoming, as the text reminds us, broken or cracked cisterns that could no longer hold water—the living water of God.

According to Biblical scholars, a cistern is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. That’s the image that Jeremiah offers us. We are cisterns not so much of water—even though our bodies are composed of 60% water—but of God’s word and grace. We leak. When things don’t go to plan, a little bit of God’s grace leaks out. When we do or say the wrong thing, a little bit of grace leaks out. When we choose to not treat others the way we want to be treated, a little more grace leaks out. And the more we choose to get farther and farther away from God, more and more grace leaks through the cracks in our faith. We can’t hold the grace of God, the water of life if we keep committing things that cause us to crack. We receive God’s grace, we fill up, week by week, but it leaks out. And if we don’t return to be refilled, we’re going to go dry. We’re going to be running on empty faith. We need to return to the source. No one, Jeremiah reminds us in this text, thought to ask about the author of all the goodness the people enjoy. No one thought to wonder where God is in the business of their lives because they got tied up giving praise for their own accomplishments instead of giving God the thanks He deserved. When something good happened in your life, did you stop to give God praise and thanksgiving or did you simply move on to the next task?

God noticed this lack of appreciation and gratitude in the people. Jeremiah writes, after God lists the multiple blessings that He has given the people—brought the people out of Egypt, through the barren, deserted, and dark wilderness, to a fertile land growing with fruit and rich produce (Jeremiah 2:6-7)—“Therefore, I bring charges against you again….And I will bring charges against your children’s children….My people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols” (Jeremiah 2:9-12). The people have abandoned God. Even though God went above and beyond to keep the people—the very people He called “Children of the living God” in Hosea 1:10—safe as they marched to the Promised Land, they still chose to leave God behind. And because of that they committed two sins: the people forsake God and dug their own cisterns.

Jeremiah writes the words of God, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Frist, “They have forsaken me, the spring of living water.” Consider these words, “They have forsaken me.” That is the theme all through the second chapter of Jeremiah and really the entire book. We can be sure with the loud testimony of Scripture and history that there are always consequences for forsaking God—just read the Old Testament if you don’t believe me! But God does not forsake you though. He’s always with yo.

Living water is a wonderful descriptive phrase concerning the spiritual life God wants to impart to His people. This is what the people had forsaken. In this prophetic declaration Jeremiah is speaking spiritually using a natural example all can identify with. Yet then, as now, so many have forsaken the Lord and this source of living water, the only source of truly abundant life, is beginning to leak through the cracks. Consider the words of Jesus: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). If we don’t take time to notice the cracks in our faith, the faults in our actions and hurtfulness in our words, our source of living water will slowly run dry. And no amount of crazy glue, gorilla glue, or duct tape will be able to bring us back together. Only the love and grace of God will fill our cracks…but are you ready to have God help you? To have God fill the cracks in your life so that you will always have the “living water” of Christ in your life?

Second, “And [the people] have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” A cistern, again, is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. God desires to supply living water but sometimes people seek their own flawed substitutes, exchanging the spiritual living water with efforts to build their own cisterns, “broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” The Full Life Study Bible comments, “They seek life and pleasure in the idolatrous things of the world, things that have no real or lasting value,” therefore causing cracks in their cistern.

Today we note so many ways the vast majority are digging their own cisterns, determined to live their own way rather than God’s way. Those who dig their own cisterns, assuming that they will never crack or leak, are people who think of themselves and ignore others, who strive to accept the glory but don’t give the proper thanks, who choose to neglect the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, the blind, the captive, and the hurting as they continue walking passed them, who believe they can fix every situation without leaning on God for help, and who let their faith leak through crack after crack after crack without realizing it until it is too late. Those who dig their own cisterns, aren’t filling their cisterns with the “spring of living water” or even the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), but are filling it with the Spirit of the Flesh—uncleanness, hatred, jealousies, selfish ambitions, envy, and worldly pleasures (Galatians 5:19-21). Their cistern will crack under all the pressure of disgrace.

Jesus said in John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within [them].” Perhaps our Lord is referring to the passage in Jeremiah when He made this statement, where God identified Himself as “the spring of living water.” Twenty-one years ago, our nation began digging its own cisterns: our faith began to crack, the source of living water was beginning to run dry, and hope seemed last in the rubble. Twenty-one years ago, we watched the hearts of many people lose faith as news reports echoed through the silent chaos that devastation has struck this nation. Twenty-one years ago, September 11, 2001 went from a normal day to a day of infamy and darkness. Do you remember where you were when we all began to crack? I was in kindergarten.

On this day 21 years ago, our nation experienced something that will never be erased. What happened has become part of our DNA, our identity, our way of living. On this day 21 years ago, we all found out about a horrendous and terrible act that put this very nation and ourselves in a state of unrest and fear. On this day 21 years ago, the lives of thousands stop breathing; families, loved ones, and friends experienced heartbreak and sorrow; this nation entered into an eternal act of grief and suffering; and God became a victim instead of being someone to lean on. On this day 21 years ago, the very ground that rested below the World Trade Center shook the core of our nation. Do you remember?

Twenty-one years later, the feelings, the fear, and the visions still exist. But together, we must remember that God has never left our side. As a matter of fact we are reminded, several times throughout Scripture, that God is with us. And that God gives us the strength to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9) in moments of fear and hopeless despair; and that we must “stand firm in our faith” (Philippians 1:6) as we step together towards a nation of equality, acceptance, and remembrance. We must remember that God has the power and will to fill the cracks of this nation so that one day, one day, the source of Jesus’ “living water” will soothe our souls and give us the strength to keep pressing forward. Do you remember where you were 21 years ago?

September 11, 2001 was another day in history that caused this nation to take a great fall; September 11, 2021, is a day when we realize that the time has come to help put things back together again. Even in chaos and uncertainty, there is peace. Even in fear and hate, there is love. And even in grief and sorrow, pain and unrest, suffering and unknowing, the redemptive hope of God’s presence is eternal and everlasting. We must stand firm for all those who need someone to lean on, who need to be put back together after such a great fall. There are many cracks in our nation and in our lives that need to be filled with the love and grace of God before time runs out. Do you have any cracks in your cistern that need to be fixed by God? Is your faith leaking? If so, know that God is here for you, to help you, to strengthen you, and to uphold you. God doesn’t want you to lose the “living water” of His son, Jesus Christ. God wants the living water of His son to be overflowing in your life so that others will be able to experience the same love and grace that God has given you. All God wants is your repentance and faithfulness.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, God knows the people’s faith is cracked. He knows they are having trouble. He knows they are slowly walking away from Him. God is not in a position to be undervalued, forgotten, or victimized by infidelity. He knows that there are cracks in your faith, and He is willing to help you fix those cracks and fill you once again with “living water.”

So, we’ve gathered today to worship and do that very thing, to fill up on God’s presence and to ask where God is in the rest of our lives. And to be reminded that God has always been present. We’re the ones who wandered off at times. We’re the ones who said that we could handle it all on our own. So, now we’re back to ask again for God to be present, for God to make God’s self known to us. And we need to do it again and again because we leak. We are cracked cisterns, letting the presence of God leak away from us day by day until we return to be reminded. Today is the today to ask God that you may be refilled by and with the “living water,” to have the cracks in your faith fixed, and to lean on God when something doesn’t seem right.

Do you have any cracks in your cistern that need to be fixed by God? Is your faith leaking? If so, know that God is here for you, to help you, to strengthen you, and to uphold you. We all have cracks in our life, but we also have God waiting to help us. Through God’s presence in our life, unlike Humpty Dumpty, He will put us back together after we fall…we just have to have faith!

 

Closing Prayer:

Let us Prayer… Father, we know that drinking fresh water is essential to our health, and without it we battle bodily disease. Father, we also know that at times the cisterns that hold our faith, will become cracked because of sin, pride, jealousy, rage, bitterness, lust, lying and so many other things. But Father, help us to fix those cracks so that your love and grace will no longer leak out but live eternally in our heart as we replenish our life with your Son’s “living water.” In your name we pray, Amen.

 

Benediction:

As you take time to look at your own faith this week, notice where there are cracks, notice where Jesus’ living water is leaking out, and pay attention to what may be causing those cracks. I pray that God bless you this week as you ask Him to be in your life: helping, strengthening, and upholding you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit go transforming lives as you live well and wisely in God’s world. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.