LESSONS FROM THE POTTER’S HOUSE
Jer. 18:1-10
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. In Johnson City, Tennessee, a police officer and his partner pulled over an unlicensed motorist. They asked the man to follow them to the police station.
2. But while on their way there they spotted a North Carolina vehicle whose driver matched the description of a very dangerous criminal.
3. The officers took off in a high-speed chase for some 20 miles, often going over 110 mph. They finally stopped and arrested the criminal.
4. As they were loading the felon into their squad car, the unlicensed motorist drove up, white as a sheet and shaking. "If y'all will just tell me how to get to the station, I'll wait for you there," he said. "I’m having a heck of a time keeping up with you!" [John Newland]
B. TEXT
1. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
C. THESIS
1. God not only shaped Adam, but He shapes our lives too, making us who He wants us to be – if we submit to His direction.
2. We’re going to consider with Jeremiah about the nature of clay, its shaping, its problems and its remaking. The title of this message is “Lessons From the Potter’s House.”
I. THE NATURE OF THE CLAY
A. PEOPLE ARE LIKE CLAY IN THE HANDS OF GOD
1. ILLUS.: Modelling Clay Vs. Fine China
a. A blob of clay isn’t worth much, but a piece of fine china does cost a lot. Why? Because it’s become valuable because of the workmanship invested in it.
b. This piece is the final product of a long, arduous process, so instead of being worth 50 cents, it’s worth close to $1,000!
2. A basketball only costs $34, but in the hands of Stephen Curry it’s worth $34 million!
A baseball only costs $22, but in the hands of Mike Trout it’s worth $36 million!
A tennis ball only costs $3, but in the hands of Roger Federer it’s worth $77 million!
A golf ball only costs $2, but in the hands of Tiger Woods it’s worth $43 million!
3. WHAT REALLY MATTERS IS WHOSE HANDS YOU’RE IN! And it’s awesome that we’re in God’s hands!
B. WE THINK WE DETERMINE OUR OWN LIVES! THAT’S ILLUSORY!
1. YOU & I HAD NO CONTROL OVER:
a. The color of our eyes or of our skin.
b. What country/ time in history we’d be born.
c. Our economic status.
d. Our IQ.
e. Even our opportunities to improve ourselves.
2. ALL THESE WERE GIVEN US BY GOD.
3. “From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth: and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” Acts 17:26, NIV1984. “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” Deut. 8:18.
4. Beware of being arrogant, “Can I not do with you as this potter does?” Jer. 18:6.
5. God can ‘lower us down a notch’ anytime He gets ready. Don’t take God’s grace or mercy for granted. We are clay!
C. WHAT GOD SAW WHEN HE LOOKED AT YOU
1. To everyone else I looked like MUD, but the heavenly potter saw a vessel. He saw something in you and me. He chose us to be His vessels.
2. If we really become valuable, it will be because of the work He does in us. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Eph. 2:10, NIV1984.
II. THE SHAPING OF THE CLAY
A. PLIABLE CLAY WANTED
1. The Potter mixes the clay with water to make it pliable. God wants us to be malleable, flexible.
2. Eph. 5:26; “That He might sanctify and cleanse it [you, the Church] with the washing of water by the Word.”
3. Without the Word of God you become rigid and can’t be formed by the hands of the Potter.
B. THE MOLDING OF THE CLAY
1. We are all being molded, shaped by something. The question is, “Are we being molded by God or by the world?”
2. God is attempting to shape you! Are you resisting or cooperating? God’s goal is to shape you into the Image of Christ.
3. “God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity He restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in Him” Rom. 8:29, Message.
III. THE VESSEL MARRED
A. WE ARE ALL FLAWED
1. Question: Aren’t you glad the vessel was marred (messed up)? I can identify with that! I’m a marred vessel; we all are.
2. All of our lives we’ve been messed up by sin, wrong decisions, disastrous circumstances.
3. I like the old admission, “Be patient with me; God’s not finished with me yet!” We’re all a work in progress.
4. Sometimes we keep making the same mistakes. Example: We try to say something nice to a difficult person, but it ends up sounding unkind.
5. Sometimes we feel like throwing up our hands and saying, “I give up! I’m not going to try anymore!” God wants you to rely on Him and try again, in His strength.
B. THE ‘MARRING’ REPRESENTS SIN
1. Often people feel like if they just avoid the big sins, everything will be all-right. But that’s not true. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Rom. 3:23.
2. ILLUSTRATION
a. A man wanted to sell his house in Haiti for $2,000. Another man wanted to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full price.
b. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half of the original price with just one stipulation; he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.
c. After several years, the owner former wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.
d. The moral of this parable is, “If we leave the devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.
3. Don’t imagine that God condones small sins. Our attitude toward sin is important. We should grieve over it.
IV. THE VESSEL REMADE
A. GOD DOESN’T THROW US AWAY
1. When the vessel was marred in the hands of the potter, He didn’t throw it into a corner, or a trashcan; He continued to work with it!
2. We see the patience and persistence of our heavenly Father. He accepts us and loves us with all of our problems … BUT we must allow Him to change us!
B. ILLUSTRATION
1. A Pastor held up a brand new $50 bill and asked if anyone in the congregation would like to have it. Every hand went up.
2. He wadded the bill up into a crumpled mess. “Does anybody want it now?” The same number of hands went up as before.
3. He dropped the $50 bill on the floor and ground it into the dirt with the heel of his shoe. “Surely nobody wants this thing now!” But every person raised their hand because they saw the plain truth of his point.
4. THE MONEY WASN’T DEVALUED BECAUSE OF DIRT OR CONDITION! It was still worth the same as a brand new bill.
5. Likewise, just because we’ve made a mess out of our lives, to God our lives are worth just as much as if we had a perfect and unstained life. We’re valuable to God no matter what! [McHenry’s Stories #1147.]
C. HE REMADE THE VESSEL
1. Even if your life is a mess, it’s God’s will to reform your life into an honorable life – one you’ll be proud of.
2. THE KEY IS TRUE REPENTANCE (vs. 8). OUR DESTINY HINGES ON IT.
3. Will you allow God to remake your life? You must repent – be sorry for your sins.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: THE BLOT ON THE HANDKERCHIEF
1. A friend once showed John Ruskin a costly handkerchief on which a blot of India ink had been accidentally made. “Nothing can be done with it now,” said the owner. “It’s absolutely worthless!”
2. John Ruskin, a famous artist, made no reply. But he asked if he could borrow the blotted handkerchief. To which the owner said, “It makes no difference to me; it’s worthless!”
3. Later Ruskin sent it back. The owner could scarcely recognize that it was the same handkerchief.
4. In a most skillful way, Ruskin had made a beautiful picture on the handkerchief, incorporating the blot into it in such a way that it looked as if it was designed to be part of the picture.
5. Not only did Ruskin restore the handkerchief but he made it immensely more valuable since it was now a unique piece of artwork by a master!
B. THE CALL
1. That’s what God can do with your life. It all starts when you say, “God, I surrender!”
2. How many of you will allow yourself to be placed into God’s hands for molding as He seems fit?
3. How many of you would say, “My life has been messed up, but I’m willing to let the Master reshape it into the work of art that only He can see!”
4. Let’s pray and ask the Lord to forgive us for our sins and to WIPE THEM OUT. “Give me a clean start, O Lord!” “Make me a new vessel!” “Remake my life into something beautiful!”
