Fresh vs. Stale Water - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Jeremiah 2:4-13 

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.

As an elected official, I have learned more about water in the past few months than I ever thought. I am learning about treatment plants, flood planes, floodways, dredging, drainage, ditch grades, and a whole bunch of other water-related topics. I had the opportunity to visit a cistern on a field trip recently. A massive structure that could hold 15 million gallons of water when filled, they decommissioned it in 2007. The city found a better way to store and process water, so they moved on to that. I think we all think about water; we need it to survive, prepare food, clean ourselves, and clean our places; water is essential to us. Water is vital to the people of the Bible as well. 

In By Water and By Spirit

"Water provides the central symbolism for baptism. The richness of its meaning for the Christian community is suggested in the baptismal liturgy, which speaks of the waters of creation and the flood, the liberation of God's people by passage through the sea, the gift of water in the wilderness, and the passage through the Jordan River to the promised land. In baptism, we identify ourselves with this people of God and join the community's journey toward God. The use of water in baptism also symbolizes cleansing from sin, death to old life, and rising to begin new life in Christ. In United Methodist tradition, the water of baptism may be administered by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. However it is administered, water should be utilized with enough generosity to enhance our appreciation of its symbolic meanings."

We see a passage about water here in Jeremiah. 

Jeremiah the prophet spoke on behalf of God for an incredibly long and anguished number of years, from the time of King Josiah (640 to 609 B.C.) through the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon (586 B.C.) and beyond. Despite tremendous opposition, including plots against him, he persisted in speaking this divine word, which compelled him from within to speak (20:9). Prophets don't always say what you want to hear; they will tell you what you need to hear.

Jeremiah 2-3 reads like a lawsuit, and God has summoned the House of Jacob. The people of God got used to success and left while the getting was good. God led the people through all kinds of disasters, and they still left God. 

The chosen people of God have chosen other gods; they shunned God's purposes, even if it meant shunning God's provision. Now whatever provision they have made for themselves ran out. Jeremiah called out everybody, priests, prophets, politicians, and everyday people. There were people in all camps that had turned away. God wants to know, "what did I do wrong that made you all turn away?"

The people went looking for something other than the Almighty, and that, Jeremiah says, is precisely what they have: gods who are no gods. Gods who cannot hear or answer prayer, who cannot save them, now that calamity is upon them, and trouble has come their way. Change and chance can happen to us all, and everything we thought was worth something could be worthless in the blink of an eye.

At the time of the writing, Babylon is either just about to take Israel over or has already done so. When the opposing army tries to take over a city, they cut off communication to other places, they cut off supplies, and they cut off water. The town has no more connection to running water, but that is ok because they still have cisterns with water they saved.

Cisterns were a big part of daily life in the ancient Middle East, this was a desert climate, and there was no such thing as indoor plumbing. A cistern is an underground storage tank that collects runoff from the roof in the rainy season. In the height of summer, the cisterns offered their accumulated supply through many thirsty days. Cistern water didn't taste the best; water from a stream or brook was far preferable—but it could still sustain life.

One attraction of the self-devised cisterns we construct to sustain our lives is that we feel we can control them. We like to control what is around us; even if we aren't in control, we want to feel like we are in control. The people lost their access to moving water, so they depended on the cisterns; the cisterns are going empty and are cracked, and now you need fresh water again. 

What is truly an abomination to the Lord? What in our behaviors is an abomination to the Lord? We tend to look for "abomination" in our neighbor's behaviors or foreign behavior. The speck in our neighbor's eye keeps us from seeing the beam in our own. The people thought they could survive and thrive without God and look where it got them.

Remember God's track record

God brought them out of Egypt, God had them cross the sea on dry land, God kept them in the wilderness, made sure they had something to eat, and God brought them into the promised land. God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore and the God that did all of that is the God that is with them in their troubles. God has a track record and proof of performance; if you stick with him, he will provide for your needs. 

Return to God

It is never too late to return to God. Call on his name, confess your sins, turn it all over to God, and he will take you back. The text says what God wants us to say, look at what God has done for you. He has done it before and will do it again. You are in the family, God loves you, and there is nothing you can do about it. 

Run to the Living Water

Living in an active relationship with the life-giving God of the Scriptures brings obligations: the patient work of worship and prayer, acting compassionately and working for justice. It is when we participate in the redemptive work of God—keeping promises, welcoming strangers, forgiving debts—that we drink from the fountain of the living God and discover a quality of life both sustaining and sustainable. 

Jesus at the well with the woman of Samaria

John 4:13-14

13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but 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."

Be not dismayed whate'er betide,

God will take care of you;

Beneath his wings of love abide,

God will take care of you.

God will take care of you

Through everyday o'er all the way

He will care for you

God will take care of you

Through days of toil when heart doth fail

God will take care of you

When dangers fierce your path assail

God will take care of you

God will take care of you

Through everyday o'er all the way

He will care for you

God will take care of you

The Original Cloud - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

July 1976 felt like a momentous time for the people of the United States. That month, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and its inspired American Revolution. During that same time, another event happened. This event didn't make the newspapers, and most Americans had no idea it was happening. But it would change their lives forever.

At a meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club of Palo Alto, California, a 25-year-old electronic engineer named Steve Wozniak unveiled a new computer. He and his business partner, Steve Jobs, had just invented it. Its plastic keyboard poked up through an opening in a wooden case. They called it the Apple I. It was the first commercially successful personal computer. In 2021 an Apple I computer sold at an auction for $400,000. The collector who bought it wanted an Apple I because it was a piece of history.

It's hard to imagine our lives without personal computers, including desktops, laptops, tablets, or those powerful smartphones we carry in our pockets or purses. When computers first came out, the computer room would be as big as this sanctuary, and now you can fit some inside a breath mint box. When computers first came out, storage was a problem; hard drives and disk space took up a lot of space; now, we can save our data to the cloud. The internet and the World Wide Web arrived and connected us in ways we couldn't have imagined just a few years before. Everything syncs to the cloud automatically. You don't have to worry about losing your family photos or documents. They're out there, safely stored away in the cloud!

But cloud computing, on which so many depend, is not the original cloud. That distinction belongs to another cloud — one that's equally invisible, more mysterious, and harder to wrap our minds around. We read about it in Hebrews 12:1: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses …."

A great cloud of witnesses surrounds us, says this anonymous apostle. And who are these witnesses, this vast cloud of people who surround us on every side? The preceding verses lay it all out for us.

The author writes to us about the faith held by Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Joseph, Moses and the whole company of wandering Israelites, and even Rahab.

There's a list of other, unnamed faithful ones as well: people who suffered mightily to keep the faith. Some "suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death; they were sawn in two, killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented — of whom the world was not worthy" (11:36-38).

Many of us see our nation as the home of rugged individualists: the lone cowboy, strong and self-sufficient. Our homes are our castles. Our idea is to make our way in the world, to rely on others for nothing. Far too many distrust yearning for the community as a sign of weakness.

Sociologist Robert D. Putnam has spent much of his life studying this hyper-individualistic national trait of ours. In a recent book, The Upswing, he mentions the research of social psychologist James Pennebaker on how our preferred pronouns reveal our deepest values as we talk with others.

Pennebaker has analyzed how often people use "I" instead of "we." He has found that people in the strongest marriages use "we" more often than those with strained relationships. He has also found that the most deeply self-confident people are generous in their use of "we"; it's insecure who favor "I." Moreover, frequent use of "I" is correlated with the risk of depression or suicide, and it's a more reliable marker for depression than words like "sad."

We must understand that we are in this together, and our faith connects us. The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We exercise faith all the time, even outside of our religious habits. We go to bed and wake up in a house we didn't build, eat food many of us didn't grow, drive cars we didn't engineer, on roads we didn't make, with other drivers we didn't train. We go to doctors and take medicine we didn't make and trust other professionals when provided with little to no information. 

Faith allowed the people of Israel to walk on dry land when Pharaoh's army chased them. Faith allowed the people to walk around the walls of Jericho until they fell. Faith is why Rahab helped the people of God take the promised land. Faith helped Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. Over and over again, the Bible gives us stories of people who won because they had faith, faith to conquer kingdoms, received promises, and survive in a lion's den. Faith helped heal the sick, raise the dead, put out fires, and scare armies into running away. Faith gave the people victory. Some had names; some did not. These were not perfect people, but they had a heart for God and faith. Faith can lead to some amazing results, and faith can lead to courage in rough situations.

The text lets us know that faith isn't only for the good times, but faith also held the people together during the bad times. Faith held people while they suffered mocking, flogging, and prison. Faith kept the people while they were wandering in the desert, and faith kept the people while they were destitute, persecuted, and tormented. Faith is not just for bright days and fun nights; faith is what we hold on to when the doctor tells us they have bad news, faith is what we hold on to when money is low and bills are due; faith is all we have when it seems like everyone around us is gone. When you have fake friends, you still have faith; when you have real enemies, you still have faith. 

Faith has a long memory and profits from the experiences of those who came before us. Faith can be understood within the bigger picture. Trusting God is the best approach for everyday people, every time and every place. 

The same God that was with the people who succeeded and was with the people who were suffering is with you during your trials and tribulations. 

We can do it because we can look to Christ. After all, Christ was willing to endure for greater glory. Jesus was a pioneer and perfecter of our faith, and Jesus gives us what we need to run the race with perseverance. 

When running a race, joy isn't found in something other than the race; instead, it's located at the end of the race for those who complete it. In chapter 10, the author says Christ came to do the will of God (10:9), which included perfection through suffering, even the suffering of death (2:10; 5:9). Consequently, he endured the cross knowing that joy lay beyond the act of completing the will of his Father.

Having completed this race, Jesus now sits on the right hand of God, referring to Psalm 110:1, which is evoked throughout the letter (1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12). Jesus, then, is the prime example of faithfulness. He endured a horrible death and attained an unparalleled position of honor. The author turns to Christ as the climax of all his examples of faith to encourage the audience to stay steadfast until they complete their race. 

He is enduringly strong; He is immortally graceful.

He supplies strength to the weak. He's available for the tempted and 

the tried. He sympathizes, and He saves. He is our guard, and He guides. He heals the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers the captives. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent, and He beautifies the meek. 

Jesus is Mary's baby. 

He was born in someone else's cradle, rode to town on someone else's donkey, gave himself up for someone else's sins, and was placed in someone else's tomb, but got up on the third day with all power in his hand. 

The Need for Clean - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

11 “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.

17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;

20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

I have noticed cleaning technology has changed. I remember growing up and washing dishes by hand; now, I enjoy the benefits of a dishwasher and a washer machine that I don't have to run and add fabric softener in at the right time. In dealing with the pandemic, I have seen all kinds of new devices that keep people and things clean to prevent us from spreading germs. 

Today you have washing machines you can program and connect to the internet and robotic vacuum cleaners that sweep floors without you even getting off the couch. Some computers and applications will tell you the status of the cleaning device and if any parts need repair. We have come a long way from scrubbing clothes on washboards and running them through a wringer. No matter how much cleaning technology has changed, we still need to clean things. 

Speaking through Isaiah, God has opinions about his people and how they need cleaning.  Isaiah's name means Yahweh is deliverance, Yahweh will save, or Yahweh has saved. Isaiah is considered a major prophet and the first book of the major prophets because Isaiah lived around 150 years before Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Isaiah had a vision from God. Isaiah wrote to a people around a political expansion, the cities became more urban, and the gap between the wealthy and the poor increased. 

People turned from God, things got bad, then things got worse, and Isaiah is begging the people to turn back toward God, truly turn back toward him and not for play. Israel was conquered and oppressed during this time, and even though people were oppressed, they still found a way to oppress others. When I say they turned from God, it did not look like they turned away to an outsider. These people still gathered for worship and did all the ceremonial tasks of a believer; they just didn't live a life for God outside of the church. They came to church, could recite all the liturgy in the hymnal, and sing the songs without cracking open the book. They could recite scripture at the drop of a dime and go as long as you wanted them to. The people had the right actions, just not the right intention. If you take those same people out of the church, you would not even know they were saved. 

The people had empty worship, and God hated it. God said they were like Sodom and Gomorrah; this phrase was synonymous with destruction back then. Mentioning those cities by name became another word for disaster. For example, if someone were to say a town got Hurricane Harvey'd, now most of us in the Gulf Coast of Texas wouldn't need further explanation. 

People like to think that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for a specific sin and that sin was around sexuality; however (Ezekiel 16:49) tells us that the cities were not destroyed because of sexuality; they were destroyed for greed and injustice. 

49 "'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

When these sacrifices were made, the person making the sacrifice was supposed to do the action with faith, believing that through their obedience, the wrath of God against sin would be mitigated. One of the problems was that people got more focused on the ritual and the patterns than the relationship with God. God is tired of the emptiness of rituals, sacrifices, and burnt offerings. God told the people don't act like you genuinely love or obey me; you just go through the motions. I hate it and don't want it anymore. We have to do more than talk about it. Isaiah is telling us to take action. We cannot just sit around and talk about what needs to be cleaned; we have to clean it. 

STOP doing evil

Isaiah tells the people to wash, make themselves clean, remove the evil doings, and stop doing evil. What does it mean to stop doing evil? I think it starts with caring about more than yourself. I would learn in history classes about the evil things people would do to others, enslave people, pillage, and take whatever and whoever they wanted. One common thread with all that behavior was that the oppressors didn't see the people they oppressed as human. They only cared about themselves and nothing else. We are all created in God's image, and if we want to stop treating people horribly, we first have to think about more than ourselves and see the other side as someone created in God's image.

LEARN to do good

It is never too late to learn to do good. No matter your age or academic aptitude, there is always time to learn to do good things. The adage says the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is now. We can always find time to do something new. You learn new things by getting exposure to new things and new people. If we hang around the same people, doing the same thing, we will get the same results. God wants us to learn how to do the good stuff, not just do the same things. 

SEEK justice, DEFEND others

Theologian James Cone said that God is on the side of the oppressed. We cannot be Christians outside of community, and we cannot take social justice out of the Bible. The Bible is full of instructions to defend the widow and the orphan, to welcome the stranger, and to take care of people who need help taking care of themselves. If you can't see that in the Bible, it might be because you have lived your life as pharaoh instead of the people calling for freedom, you have been the Babylonians instead of the people in captivity, or the Roman empire instead of the people following the way. God has been there with the people at their lowest, helping them to get out, and that is what we are called to do as believers. 

The good news is that even though we are dirty now, Isaiah tells us how to get clean; it's not too late to get clean. The text says that they will be like the snow. The people have been handling bloody things, and God wants to make them like the snow. They shall be like wool. We get wool from sheep and young sheep, lambs. 

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.