Water from the Living Well

 

Rev. Elmer Manzo
Kipling Ave. Baptist Church
Etobicoke, Ontario

Stewardship has to do with what God has given us and how well we manage them. To understand this topic simpler, we must establish that most of the water we drink from its point of origin comes from a well. Those born in the countryside or on a farm know this fact very well. On a farm, you had to find a source of water before you build a house. Land has no value if it does not have water. Well water is always located below the surface. The farmer has to select a good site, dig a deep cistern, & tap the well springs of underground water. The farmer enlarged the hole, built walls around it, and placed a bucket at the top, so that he could draw water from the bottom. He called this completed system a well.

Most of us no longer live on farms, but we still drink water from a well. We build bigger wells. We call them reservoirs, & we place them on the outskirts of the city. But instead of buckets, we take pipes & connect them on one end to our homes, & on the other end to the well of water in the reservoir. In this well water system, there is always a problem if the well ran dry. If the well was not deep enough, then sometimes, the well would run dry. If the walls of the well were not built firmly enough, then sometimes the walls of the well would collapse, and the well would run dry. If it did not rain hard enough, or long enough, or often enough, then the water in the ground would dry up. In Canada, we have some dry water systems in our society.

We have let down our buckets into the mainstreams of our society, and when we lift them up, we find that there is no more water in the well. Our well has run dry. Our people are not healthy. We have a nation with the most advanced scientific technology developing the greatest medical discoveries. But some of our people have to wait months for a critical medical procedure that can mean death or life. In the midst of this medical dilemma, politicians are planning major changes in the health care across Canada because the present system can no longer be financed by the government. The present system is in place, but every time we let down our buckets, the well is running dry. Our children are not being educated. We have more public schools, more colleges and universities compared to other nations in the world. But we have high dropout rates. Many of our children who attend school are unable to pass the mathematics & English proficiency tests. “Is bureaucracy strangling our schools? Many parents believe so, in light of the costs, complexity & rigidity of Canada’s educational system. The system needs more rigorous supervision by parents, an approach the Charter School can deliver. A Charter School is one in which groups of parents sign a contract directly with the individuals responsible for teaching their children. Think about our economy. We are losing our sources of employment, and our people are losing their jobs. Factory shutdowns have turned steel industries into rust belts. Factory relocations have split families, and isolated friends. Canadian workers, once industrial workers with top pay and good benefits, are now service workers with longer hours, less pay, and no benefits. The system is in place, but when we let down our buckets, the well is running dry.

In the midst of this breakdown of systems, there is one system meant to remain. When all other systems run dry, the church has a deep well, a reservoir of living water that all other systems can turn to. The church is a system that can never run dry. But when the sick come, and the poor come, and the uneducated come to the church, and put down their buckets into the wellsprings of the church, they are coming up with empty buckets. The form is there, but often it is form without content. The building looks good. The people dress good. The service sounds good. But when you dig beneath the surface, and reach down into that well where good character should produce good works, there is no water in the well, and the well has run dry. The fashion is there, but its fashion without substance. The choir is singing, but they are not listening to the words of their song. The ushers are serving, but they are not feeling the sacredness of their service. The preacher is preaching to the people, but the people are not listening to his words. There is a well, but there is no water. The well has run dry. In Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, he addressed the mistakes of religious people, living in a religious society. He tells them they have deserted the God that they were devoted to, they have turned away the 1st fruits of their offerings, and their well has run dry. “Two sins my people have committed,” says Jeremiah. “They have forsaken the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns (they have dug their own wells), broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” We know about the broken cisterns; broken cisterns are wells that cannot hold water. We have created our own cisterns. We believed that money was all we needed, but when the money ran out, we found out that was a broken cistern, which cannot hold water. We believed that the government would take care of us, but when government betrays us,
we found out that sometimes government is a broken cistern. We believed in friends, and friends betrayed us; we believed in family, and family deserted us; we believed in ourselves, but we could not deliver ourselves. And we discovered that we have these broken cisterns which cannot hold water.

In John 4:13-14, Jesus was at a well and he gave an answer about the water to the woman of Samaria. Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” One day, on Calvary, when the well of the world was dry, Jesus made a new source of well water for the world. They pierced him in the side, & out of the wound came blood mixed w/ water. The songwriter had this to say about it: “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s vein, and sinners, plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stain.”
This is the water. This is the wellspring of eternal life. This is the water that supplies the life to our church, so that the church can provide the spirit of life to the community. How do we find the water when the well runs dry? We know where the water is; how do we find it?
First, we must develop DISCIPLESHIP. Jeremiah 2:1 talks about discipleship. In discipleship we must be devoted. We must read the word, do the work, and change the world. We must show much love to everybody, both the likeable and unlikable. We must follow the Lord. Don’t just worship the Lord; follow the Lord. Don’t just love the Lord; follow the Lord. That is what discipleship means, followers. And when we follow Him, we can locate the water when the well runs dry.

Second, we must strive for STEWARDSHIP. Jeremiah 2:3 talks about STEWARDSHIP. In STEWARDSHIP, we must learn to give our first-fruits. We give to the church because we love the Lord. How can we love somebody that we don’t support? Husbands, how can you love your wives & not support them? Parents, how can you love your children & not support them? Christians, how can you love the Lord, & not support the Church? When we strive for STEWARDSHIP, we can build the walls of the well, so the well won’t run dry. Third, we must have FELLOWSHIP in the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah 2:1 & 2:4 says, “The word of the Lord came to me, and told me to proclaim to you.” Finally, it says, “Hear the word of the Lord.” Fellowship means God speaks to me, and I speak to you. Fellowship means I give you God’s word, and you take God’s word and give it to somebody else, who takes it and gives it to somebody else. Fellowship means we hear the word of God and we obey. When we are in fellowship in the Holy Spirit, we have located the water, we have dug the well. When it’s time to dip the bucket down into the deep, deep down into the spirit, deep down below the surface & when your bucket comes up, there will be water in the bucket; your well is not dry. And then you will know how to find water when your well runs dry.