 Rev. Matthew J. Hook |
Pottery
101
Sermon:
Scripture: |
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Biographers
have written that Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light
bulb, made over 900 light bulbs that didn’t work before he
finally made one that did. Nine hundred times he went to all
the trouble of making a light bulb, plugging it in, flipping
the switch, and watching while nothing happened. People must
have thought he was crazy, but he kept on trying. According to
Edison, every time he made a light bulb that didn’t work, he
merely found “one more way not to make a light bulb.”
Eventually, by the process of elimination, he made a light
bulb that produced light. As a result, he is known as one of
the greatest inventors of all time. Most
of us don’t realize how many failures successful people
endure before they achieve their purposes. We only hear about
the one time they succeed. What made Edison great was his
commitment to making a light bulb. He didn’t let his
failures discourage him. He hung in there and kept trying,
even though he kept failing. So
it is with the Christian life. Most Christians we admire
failed many times before arriving where they are today. The
apostle Paul, perhaps the most influential Christian in
history, admitted to it himself in Romans 7. “I mess up all
the time!” he groaned. “The things I want to do, I don’t
do, and vice versa.” But Paul kept running the race,
striving to reach his goal, the finish line, which for Paul
was “the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.” (Philippians
3:14) Like Paul and Thomas Edison, invariably, every
day I learn another way of how not
to live the Christian life. Sometimes it has been very
discouraging, but for me something has changed. I’m
learning now, more than ever, to be moldable. I’m seeking
now more than ever to stay in the master’s hand. If anything
is going to come of me, it had better be God that makes it
happen. Now before you go reading into that statement and
thinking, “He’s needing a self-esteem readjustment,”
please hear me out. I believe that God is the source of all
goodness. The best way for me to experience God’s good life
is to so closely hang on to God that I am “in his hand.”
If it sounds like a strange blending of God’s control of my
life and my control of my life, it is. But I’m in good
company. Jeremiah
was a prophet, sometimes called “the weeping prophet”
(Jeremiah 9:1, 13:17) because he had to proclaim God’s
judgment on the nation of Judah, around 600 BC. He lived in
Jerusalem. The Babylonians had already captured Jerusalem
once, and would do so again in 587 BC. Throughout the book,
Jeremiah announced judgment on nations, salvation, and other
speeches calling for obedience to the Law or repentance. The
message of the potter is one of Jeremiah’s most familiar
prophecies. (While some people who read it think it has to do
with God changing his mind, it has more to do with God’s
amazing grace in keeping with his spiritual laws.
For example, people who turn away from sin experience
God’s blessing.) The
command came to Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house.
This would likely have been in the south part of Jerusalem,
where water and clay were most available. Pottery was one of
the earliest of all trades, and when Jeremiah got there he saw
what was already familiar to him. The potter was making a
vessel on the wheels, the upper and lower discs made of stone
or wood. The lower one was worked by the foot of the potter
and was attached by an axle to the upper one, on which the
clay was worked. As
often happened in the daily life of a potter, the clay did not
turn out right. Often, in throwing the clay, some defect would
show up. The potter then rolled the clay into a lump to begin
his task again to make something more suitable.
Jeremiah
was pronouncing God’s view of the nation of Judah. No matter
how badly Judah turned from God, the Lord would never be
defeated even if Judah turned from his way. He offered a way
out for Judah, however: repentance. Repentance means doing a
“one-eighty,” turning aside from your own path to follow
God’s path. Judah was ignoring God’s laws for living and
worship, and was sustaining a God-forsaken attitude. The
parallel for you and me as individuals is contained there, as
well. Let me ask: What are you allowing God to make you into? As
Christians, we are called to be God’s servants. Jesus was
described as God’s servant. He came as a servant to
accomplish God’s will in bringing humanity back to God’s
original design and purpose. Jesus himself said: “Whoever
wants to become great among you must be your servant, and
whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the
Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28) In
today’s society, servants are viewed somewhat differently
than they were when the Bible was written. We view a servant
as someone who finds out what the master wants him or her to
do, and then does it. We tend to view a servant as someone who
asks: “Master, what do you want me to do?” Then the master
tells him, and the servant goes off by
himself and does it. That is not the biblical view of a
servant. Just as Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing by
himself” (John 5:19) and “Apart from me you can do
nothing” (John 15:5), we can do nothing good for God’s
Kingdom by ourselves. But with God working through a servant,
he or she can do anything God can do. We control how much we
are willing to submit to God’s control. Here
is where the potter comes into play. The potter has ultimate
control over his craft. The clay may have a defect in it that
causes it to be reworked, but the potter’s hand is perfect. 1.
The potter has complete control over the clay. God has
complete control over us and over the universe. 2.
The clay has to be molded. The clay has to be
responsive to the potter, so the potter can make any
instrument of his choosing. 3.
The clay has to remain in the potter’s hand. When the
potter finishes making the instrument of his choosing, that
instrument has no ability to do anything whatsoever. It now
has to remain in the potter’s hand. Suppose the potter molds
the clay into a cup. The cup has to remain in the potter’s
hands, so the potter can use that cup in any way he chooses. 4.
Sometimes it’s easier to stay a lump of clay than to
become something beautiful, practical, or breakable. I believe
that is the reason sloth is such a deadly sin. By remaining a
lump of hard clay we become unbreakable, unmoving, unmovable.
But the entire time God sees more in us that we refuse to see.
God might see a treasure, an artifact, a priceless work of
art. Hebrews
3:13 states: “Encourage one another daily, while it is still
called today, lest your hearts be hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin.” Do not let your hearts be hardened.
God desires to love you and allow you to be a part of his plan
of salvation for the world. Yet if we become like the hardened
clay, we preclude God using us for his divine purposes. For
the light to go on in your life, for the significance of doing
something for God, for the joy of being “in God’s hand,”
for the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness and gentleness that awaits you, I pray that you
will let God’s hand be with you. Read God’s Word, the
Bible. Join a Bible study. Get plugged into a Kingdom-building
ministry. Hand your life to God and ask for God to work you
over! It will make all the difference. The
Touch Of The Master’s Hand Well it was battered and scarred and the auctioneer felt it
was hardly worth his while And he cried, “One, give me one dollar.
Who’ll make it two? Only two dollars? Well the air was hot and the people stood around as the sun
was setting low. And when the music stopped, the auctioneer, with a voice that
was quiet and low, And the people cried out, “What made the change?
We don’t understand? You know there’s many a man with his life out of tune,
battered and scarred with sin.
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