INTRODUCTION
William Booth founded the Salvation
Army, not to minister to “nice” people but to bring salvation to the poor, the
homeless, the drunks, the prostitutes, and the criminals.
Just like in the time of Jesus, many
of the people in the bottom layer of society responded to the love of God and
their lives were transformed.
Many of the leaders of the
Salvation Army movement had tragic pasts. Some of the most prominent early
leaders had been hopeless drunks.
For example, “Fiery Elijah Cadman”
had been a chimney sweep, the proprietor of a boxing saloon, and a hopeless
drunk, when he found Christ. He was billed as “The Saved Sweep from Rugby.” His
posters read: “WAR! THE HALLELUHJAH ARMY, FIGHTING FOR GOD!”
Cadman couldn’t read, but he
memorized great portions of the Bible and was an effective preacher. He called
his Bible “Cadman’s Sword,” and sometimes held it upside down as he repeated
its words.
“Joe the Turk,” a huge
Armenian-American—a converted drunkard—wore a fez, red bloomer-like pants, and
a matching jacket trimmed with gold braid. Arriving in Chicago, with his
baggage labeled with gold letters, “Salvation or Damnation,” he was arrested
for holding an open-air meeting and invited to leave the city. Instead he
demanded a trial. By the time the trial was over 10 cops had been suspended for
two months and fined $60 each for molesting the Salvation Army. Orders went
out, “Handle Salvationists like egg-shells.”
Joe the Turk was arrested 57 times
for Jesus. Wherever he learned that Army members had been arrested, he would
get there as fast as he could, demanding a trial. If convicted, he would
appeal, and keep on appealing till he won. Whenever he won, the Salvationists
were free to preach as they liked in that city. Joe was the first to solicit
funds dressed as Santa Claus and the first to play Salvation songs on a
saxophone.
One of the converted drunkards who
was prominent in the early days of the Salvation Army was a woman known as
“Mother Moore.” Someone, trying to tempt Mother Moore, offered her a pint of
booze.
Her reply became famous. She said, “I can drink from the wells of salvation,
and so can you!”
She
was quoting Isaiah 12:2-3 where Isaiah promises the suffering Israelites: “With joy you will draw water from the
wells of salvation.”
The Bible has a lot to say about
water. Water is a powerful symbol of salvation in the Bible.
Water cleanses and water quenches
thirst. Water sustains life. According
to Psalm 1, the believer who meditates on God’s words is like a tree planted by
streams of living water that bears its fruit in its season.
I. The symbolism of water was especially
prominent in the Feast of Tabernacles—the greatest and holiest of the three
great Feasts of the Jews. Observant Jews still celebrate this festival. It is
called Sukkot.
A. The Feast of Tabernacles—or
Sukkot—or the Feast of Booths—is held in the fall, when the grapes and olives
had been harvested and pressed into juice and oil. This year Sukkot will be
celebrated October 4 to 11.
The people eat and drink together.
They give thanks and praise God. They sing and they dance. They are happy.
In Jesus’s day, people came from
great distances, walking, and carrying their baggage. When they got to
Jerusalem, they didn’t stay in inns but made huts of leafy branches to stay in.
We find the rules for these huts or
booths in Leviticus 23:42: “You shall
live in booths for seven days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in
booths, so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live
in booths when I brought them out of Egypt.”
B. In Jesus’s day, each morning, to
the sound of music, a priest led a procession of worshipers down from the
Temple, everyone carrying branches of palm, myrtle, and willow leaves, down to
the fountain of Gihon, the fountain that supplied the Pool of Siloam.
At the Pool of Siloam the priest
filled a golden pitcher, as the choir sang the song from Isaiah 12, that
included these words: “With joy, you
will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
(This reminded the people of the
water that flowed from the rock that Moses struck in the story in the book of
Exodus.)
Then the procession returned to the
Temple, just as the morning sacrifice was being completed, and the priest
poured the water into a silver funnel that led to the base of the altar. Then
the People would sing psalms and shake their branches of palm, myrtle, and willow
leaves. (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. 1, pp156f)
II. In John 7 we read of a time
when Jesus went to the Feast of Tabernacles. We read about what happened then
in John 7.
A. John 7:37-38: On the last day of the festival, the great
day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty
come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink, As the scripture has
said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’” Now he
said this about the spirit, which believers in him were to receive…
Imagine the scene. It is the last
day of the great feast.
People have had their fill of
excitement.
They have eaten and drunk together.
They have danced and sung.
They have satisfied their souls
with praise and worship.
But they are still thirsty—they are
thirsty for more of God in their lives. (The closer we come to God—the more we
experience of his goodness—the more we thirst for him.)
This was the perfect time for Jesus
to tell them about the living water.
B. Because Palestine is such a hot,
dry country, water is a powerful symbol of salvation in scripture.
Do you remember that Jesus told the
woman at the well: “Whoever drinks of
this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give
him will never thirst. For the water that I will give him will become in him a
spring of water, welling up unto eternal life”?
Thirst is the most intense
craving—the most intense longing—the greatest sense of need that we humans can
experience.
People thirst for meaning in life.
People thirst for hope for the future.
People thirst for the assurance that their lives have blessed
others.
People thirst for the assurance of eternal life.
Believers thirst for righteousness, which is the same as
thirsting for God.
A beautiful psalm begins this way:
“As
the deer longs for flowing streams,
so
longs my soul for you, O God.
My
soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When
shall I come and behold the face of God?” (Psalm 42.1-2).
III. But here Jesus adds something
else to the picture. And this is the most important part.
A. Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me…out of
his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”
I take this to mean that the
blessing of God flows out from our hearts into the lives of other people.
God is not just for my spiritual
enjoyment.
Jesus is not just for my salvation.
God fills up my cup so that it will
overflow and bless others.
Jesus gives me the living water so
that it will flow out of my life—out of my innermost being—into the world and
into the lives of other thirsty people.
B. That doesn’t mean that we have
to be always talking about God.
It doesn’t say, “Out of his mouth
shall flow rivers of living water.” It says, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers
of living water.”
God’s living water flows out of the
whole being of the true disciple of Jesus—
In a kind compliment.
In a hug or an expression of
concern.
In prayers for those in need.
In a pat on the shoulder.
And also in a costly act of loving service,
that living water flows out into the world. Whenever we serve another in the
name of Jesus, those living waters of blessing flow out into another life.
When we really love people, they
will know it. And it may draw them to God.
C. These rivers of living water
that flow from the life of the believer in Jesus come from the Spirit of God,
as we read in the next verse:
“Now
this he spoke about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to
receive…”
When we believe in Jesus—when we
drink the living water that Jesus offers—we become filled with the Spirit of
God, and it is the Spirit of God who makes us a blessing to others.
CONCLUSION
Several years ago I volunteered for
Aging Services. I drove people to appointments. On Thursday, January 4, 1996, I drove
an elderly African-American lady named Dorothy to Iowa City for a dental appointment.
Dorothy was a tall, dignified lady who dressed with flair. That day she was
wearing a purple hat. It was apparent that she was intelligent, but also that
she hadn’t had much formal education.
Dorothy
told me that she was taking courses in basic skills at the community college
hoping to become a teacher’s helper. She mentioned jobs in her past: factory
work, nurse aide, and caring for invalids. She told me that she sang in her
church choir and in another singing group that sang in nursing homes. She took
piano lessons. She told me of volunteering several places besides her church.
She evidently took satisfaction in her various acts of service.
Dorothy
was cheerful although she had experienced tragedy. She told me that her
husband, two children and a grandchild had—as she told me—“been killed.” But
she expressed no self-pity. She said, “The Lord knows what he’s doing.”
Although she had little money, she told me that the Lord has always taken care
of her, and she expects him to keep taking care of her.
Dorothy
didn’t know what a blessing she was to me that day. And I suspect that she is a
blessing to everyone who knows her, or who she meets. She is my example today of
one out of whose heart flows the living water of God’s goodness—refreshing and
bringing the life of the Spirit into this sad old weary world.
Let me leave you with this thought—
When we bless others, we bless
ourselves, because the greatest joy that any of us can have is to know that we
have blessed someone else by some act of kindness or helpfulness.
Sing Hymn
505: “Out in the Highways and Byways of Life” (“Make Me a Blessing…”)
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