Heart Agenda - Well Diggers

Jeremiah 2:11–13

One of the greatest football coaches and motivational speakers in our country is Anthony "Tony" Dungy / Both an NFL player and coach / has won a Super Bowl as both a player and coach. In 1968 he won as a defensive back with the Pittsburg Steelers / in 2006 he coached the Indianapolis Colts to win Super Bowl 41.

He has authored several books including Quiet Strength and The Mentor Leader. Both books have become best sellers. Pastor Ken Whitten was Tony's pastor the years that he coached the Tampa Bay Bucs / One of Ken's favorite little sayings to Tony is this little piece of wisdom - "What's down in the well will come up in the bucket." It's inescapable / It makes perfect sense / It's the only thing that can happen when you think about it

WHAT'S DOWN IN THE WELL WILL COME UP IN THE BUCKET

Today were going to look at time God was commissioning Jeremiah / speak to people that were leaving God to worship other gods

Jeremiah 1:16 I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.

Because they did not heed warning / God allowed them to fall into hands of Babylonians - divine judgment

Jeremiah 4:11–12 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”

In early days / COI were devoted to God / He rescued them / led them / He was their God / Yahweh / but something changed / what changed? They had forgotten all God had done / started looking for the good life somewhere else

Jeremiah 2:11–13 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. Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. “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.

God is asking / why? Why after all I have done / after caring for them / rescuing / delivering / why will you go off follow other “gods” Answer is found in these broken cisterns

I. Heart Agenda

A. OUR TEXT BEGINS WITH QUESTION / Has a nation ever changed its gods?

1. God is asking / Why? Why would a people give up on the glorious Living God / go after their own way to pursue “Worthless Idols” WHY?

a. Answer is found in image of broken cisterns

Cisterns in Israel / can be likened to wells / dams / built on farms / constructed catchments designed to gather / store precious water / Israel has little rainfall on average / Every land owner would prefer a river / creek / flowing with water on their land / having never ending supply / but often had to resort to unreliable / finite cisterns

Most cisterns were made of limestone rock / sealed with lime plaster / designed to keep life giving water from escaping / because of extreme variations in temperature / minor earth tremors / repairing the resulting cracks in cisterns was a laborious / common / repetitive task

Not a farmer in the world would change / trade opportunity to farm with continuous water (Mississippi) / spring or river / for land with cistern / (La Plata River) limited / always needing repair

IOW / who would replace Living God / who supplies eternal springs of living water / with idols / cisterns (useless things) / things that can not truly satisfy

2. God is shocked by their choice / by doing this they commit two sins

a. Forsaken God AND pursued other things that cannot provide life giving streams

So What was their hearts agenda?

B. THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE GOD COULD GIVE THEM FULFILLMENT THEY DESIRED FROM LIFE

1. They became well diggers / creating cisterns searching for a life that would satisfy

a. Life became about their own fulfillment / consumed by what would make them happy

Sound familiar? True for many today!

2. We know God flooded the earth / made Israel a nation / fulfilled prophecy after prophecy / know He’s coming again soon

a. But we see that / as promise for future / we want something for now

1. So we dig ourselves a hole / to be satisfied / who cares if it leaks / let’s get our fill now (after all everyone else is doing it)

3. Do you ever feel this way? Like actions of God in past are not satisfying now?

a. His promised return is like a mirage / to elusive / to distant to satisfy us now / we want something now!

C. WHAT HAD THEY DONE?

1. Exchanged One true God / for many false gods / replacing living water / for lifeless idols / for a mirage

a. We may not be whittling wooden images / but we do search for satisfaction apart from God / quite often

Problem is we doubt in our minds / God is enough

2. Goes back to garden / Adam / Eve / Eden / God made everything good / all was good until...

a. Serpent called God’s goodness into question / placed doubt into her mind / can God be trusted? Is God good?

God is holding out on you / trust yourself / take it into your own hands / be satisfied now

Our heart is so EASILY addicted to our need for fulfillment / immediate gratification

The desire for self gratification is expressed in many ways / it’s an addiction to self worship

Expressed in a myriad of ways / all designed to achieve some kind of relief to emptiness we are feeling

Googled how to relieve emptiness “A person might instead attempt to combat emotional emptiness and give new meaning to life by volunteering, taking up a hobby, adopting a pet, cultivating or maintaining a spiritual practice, or other activities that may prove more emotionally fulfilling.”

II. Issues of the Heart

A. Heart Fear

1. We are desperately afraid of feeling empty / not a bad thing / we were not designed to be empty

a. We are designed for fullness of relationship with God / others

But in our doubting God / we seek out a more selfish path / try to fill well with self fulfillment in a cursed world / outside of Eden

We all know / it leaves us unsatisfied / unfulfilled / empty / we hate it

We want things perfect now / no problems / no pain / no crisis / no worries / we WANT our best life now

Because heaven is delayed / we can feel abandoned / so we dig in shallow places of life

2. So if we can’t HAVE heaven yet / we can’t WAIT for heaven / what happens?

a. We live with an ache / nagging feeling of disappointment / insatiable longing for more

We build leaky cisterns in relationships / sex / success / sports / shopping / facebook / fashion / travel / pornography / alcohol / gambling / movies / food / parties / or any other leisure / or pleasure / more more more / now now now / until we have unsatiable desire to feel void / no matter how superficial

Problem / we end up living life addicted to cycle of self satisfaction / self worship / self fulfilment

3. Let’s look at addictive cycle of emptiness / see if you recognize any inside yourself

a. I long for more… I feel empty

b. I deserve to be satisfied.... to be full

c. I will seek satisfaction or relief

d. I find satisfaction or relief in....

e. I feel good when I.... but it’s always temporary

f. Now if I am honest I am empty again

What do you do when you are empty? Turn to God / or false gods? Living Water / or look to your own well?

We are all guilty here / you start to feel that empty / dry feeling / so you plan a getaway / shopping

For a time you get a buzz / but then excitement fades / novelty wears off / left with dealing with life

So what do we do then? Search for another dose! / Looking in same broken well

Or maybe you try something new / something bigger / more exciting / something that comes with a promise

But alas / that fails you too

Like woman at well / kept trying next guy / next guy / richer guy / more handsome / maybe more ugly

She kept going to the same well / but kept coming up empty

She was trying to find fulness / not in God / but in relationships / outside of Christ

Ironic / Sitting at that well / she had a bucket but was empty / Jesus had no bucket but was full

John 4:13–14 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

B. HEART DEMAND

1. Think about employment / today they are all about satisfaction / people start / stop find new one / all the time

a. People changing careers their entire life / looking for most pleasing option

We Want easy path / cool career / we want that job where we never work a day in our life!

Or maybe we just sound like the little kid / noisily demanding a popsicle from the ice cream truck

b. Our Well digging Hearts often make two childlike demands

1. Make me Feel Good & Satisfy me now

2. Let’s put it into ministry / relational context

Remember the fist band you joined / someone said you were good singer / could jam on instrument / you can still remember first live performance / people applauding / compliments after it was over / the thill / your ministry / people thanking you / Oh what a feeling… But now some time has passed / not getting same applause / people now critique instead of compliment / now ministry is now more of a chore / so we toss it aside

For others / its the next car / next extreme adventure / next dress / fantasy novel / box of chocolates

a. All the same / a search for fulfillment / satisfaction in all the wrong places

1. all produce same same result / fleeting happiness / an emptiness / need for something more!

a. Irony = Those things that seem very present / very now / very real / very fulfilling are actually not.... when compared to God who we THINK is not present / not real / not now / not fulfilling / BUT actually is!

3. If we seek what our heart demands / look for satisfaction anywhere other than relationship with God / it will dry up

“Burnout is an absence of life due to unfulfilled expectations”

C. HEART PROBLEM

1. When you are empty / what sustaining life / meaningful service can you give to others? NONE

a. Focused only on what you feel / where you are going next to fill the void

Survival not service becomes the priority

If you come to this place / don’t beat yourself up / we’ve all been there / all come to end ourselves at some point

Even Elijah came to this place after defeating 850 prophets of Baal

Took his eyes off God / the source of all power life / quickly began to sink / ready to give up

Largest problem / instead of looking to God / we can have overwhelming urge to get it from other places / so we can feel good now / We become takers not givers

III. God’s Heart Agenda

I overheard someone at conference telling another / they started life from absolutely nothing / had to beg to survive / no food / no clothes / no education / both parents died at young age / treated as a servant by those who raised him / considered less than nothing by most people / Then they said He had nothing when they found Jesus (yes I know Jesus found Him… his words) Then he said but when I found Jesus I had everything! It was absolute joy in knowing Him even in our nothingness / He said yes God has blessed us now / but it is only in the knowing God / that sustains us

The person he was talking to went on talking about why Americans struggle / they said we have so much when we get saved / all we do is add Jesus to what we already have / we already have so much to sustain us / We never experience ONLY having joy in Christ

A. PERHAPS THIS IS THE CHALLENGE

1. To not confuse the abundant life in Christ / with the blessed life with a little Jesus sprinkled in once in a while

a. Israelites did same thing / pursued good life / chasing other gods / left God back in the temple / simply giving Him a festival every now / then

They seemed satisfied with broken cisterns / empty wells / Are we?

GOD WANTS SO MUCH MORE FOR US

Like Samaritan woman / He wants us filled with living water that never runs dry

B. THINK OF JOB FOR A MINUTE

1. He had everything / bothered Satan / who thought Job only loved God because of his prosperity

a. If we are not careful / we can have same mindset as Satan / see blessing as having God’s favor / reason one would worship in return / if it goes to south / we are justified in cursing God / walking away

2. Job proves this completely wrong!

a. God allows EVERYTHING to be taken (oxen, sheep, his wife) EVERYTHING except his life

Job 1:21 ...The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

What would you have done?

b. Obvious / life for Job was not tied up in things of this world / he went even further

Job 2:10 ...Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

3. For Job / God alone was his life / his source of everything

a. Then God shows up / speaks / gives Job front row seat / as He unveils panorama of life / God reveals to Job who really has life in His hands / Job gets to see his place / our place / grand order of all things / confirming life is not about us / it is about the God of all life

It’s only in God / we find any real life / satisfaction / fulfillment

C. Question is: WILL YOU BELIEVE IT!?

1. For some / who only sprinkle God into their lives / while filling it with everything else / answer is no

a. But for those who live like Job / Sarah / James / who make God their everything...

They will have Complete / Total satisfaction / found in relationship with Christ!

2. Jeremiah knew / James knew / Samaritan woman found out

James 4:1–2 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

a. All other paths / all other wells / do not satisfy / no matter how hard you try / or dig / eventually run dry

But as James says / you do not have fulfilment / because you do not ask God

If you are empty / God wants to fill you

If you have been searching for life outside of Christ / coming up dry / God wants to refresh you

3. Whats down inside will come up / what is in your life well?

a. If you desire the fresh living water of Jesus our altars are open for you.

As we close let's sing to "COME TO THE WATER"