In The Potter's Hands
Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NKJV)
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
The book of Jeremiah is one of the most erratic books in the entire Bible. It contains beautiful poetic oracles of impending judgment and lament, and poems where the trauma experienced by the prophet and his community is revealed. It is also filled with narrative accounts of the events of the prophet's life. Then there are sermons that sound like the speeches of Moses in Deuteronomy and the prophet Samuel. All of these are mixed together to form the book that the Spirit inspired Jeremiah to dictate, his friend and scribe Baruch to write down, and the covenant community to compile and preserve.
Then there is the text of Jeremiah. The Hebrew Bible of today is about 1/8th longer than the older Greek scrolls found among the Dead Sea Scrolls translated from an older Hebrew version whose order is different as well. We know that all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction...
So, why would God allow so many different versions of this ancient book in so many forms to be preserved?
Perhaps, it is because of the nature of Jeremiah's message. Jeremiah was a person who had experienced trauma in his life. His journal entries are often undated and the story of his life runs together. He was living in a time in the history of ancient Israel that was messy and yet God was at work in his life and in the life of his nation.
Yesterday as I prayed this text came to my mind and I believe my assignment today is to remind you that God is always at work, even in the middle of the mess that the world has made of itself and the trauma that it has offered to you. There is a message in the mess of your life.
Jeremiah started out his life living in a town called Anathoth. It was one of the priestly towns. He was not a member of the priestly elite at Jerusalem, but someone who may have been despised because of where he was from and his heritage. Yet, it was he who God chose. Isn't that like God? The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
1 Corinthians 1:16-29 (NKJV)
"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
When God called Jeremiah, he was like those others who argued that he had picked the wrong person. It was only when God touched his mouth and placed his word in the prophet's mouth that he was convinced. Yet, his calling did not shield him from all the realities of life.
Jeremiah began his ministry during the reign of Judah's last good king, Josiah. Jeremiah's message was not popular because he warned the people that their surface religion was not what God was looking for. He was looking for their hearts. After this Jeremiah ministered in a time of political messiness. The world around him seemed to be spinning out of control and he was dizzy along with them.
Because we live in the world we are often affected by the same things that those around us are. Sometimes hurricanes rip our roofs off and floodwaters fill our homes making a mess of our things. Life happens to all of us. Jeremiah's message of judgment upon the nation affected his life as well, and so he wept. He is known as the weeping prophet. The book of Lamentations, which is a funeral song for Jerusalem, is attributed to him. Trauma, messiness, life...
It happens to us all, even prophets, even children of God.
It is against this backdrop that I want to speak to you about our text this morning.
1.
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
In Jeremiah 18, the word of the LORD came to the prophet. It is uncertain what he was doing at the time. He may have been cleaning the house, or walking in the market. He may have been headed to a religious service at the temple. We don't know. All we know is that God had something to say to him and so he called out to him. God is always talking.
He is speaking in the ordinary everyday things of life, but often we are too distracted to hear. God in His great Mercy and Grace sometimes calls us to slow down and listen. He sends Jeremiah on an errand in order to speak to him.
How many times had Jeremiah been down to the potter's house? Had he gone there to buy a new pot or some dishes through the years? He had been there many times, but this time was different. Sometimes the things we see around us just hit us differently. As he walked into the potter's house, he walked in with different eyes. Perhaps his eyes had been so clouded by the trauma around him and the thought of the impending judgment that his anxiety kept him from seeing what was plainly there.
This time was different. This time God spoke to him through what he saw.
It was something ordinary. Just a potter sitting at his wheel. The wheel was spinning as he moved his foot up and down in rhythm and his hands firmly shaped the clay into a vessel.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.
He saw the ordinary messiness of the wet clay staining the potter's hands. He saw the water dripping from the wheel. At any other time, it would have been so ordinary, but this time his eyes were opened.
If the clay were conscious imagine how traumatic it might feel. How dizzy it might become. Maybe the prophet saw this and thought about the way life seemed to be spinning around in dizzying circles. We live on a planet that is spinning 1670 kilometers per hour. And this is all while our galaxy is speeding through space as it continues to expand out from the moment when the Creator said, "Let there be light!"
Life seems to go around in circles sometimes. The preacher of Ecclesiastes wrote,
Ecclesiastes 1:3-11 (NKJV)
3 What profit has a man from all his laborIn which he toils under the sun? 4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. 5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. 6 The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. 7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. 8 All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which it may be said,“ See, this is new”?It has already been in ancient times before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.
He seems to be asking what the point is of all the dizzying messiness of life! But, the LORD was saying to Jeremiah, and to us today, that He is still the Creator God. We often think of creation as a finished event that was completed on the sixth day recorded in Genesis, but the Bible tells a different story. It tells us that God is actively involved in the creation and upholding of the world at every moment of every day.
Like a potter, he keeps the universe, the galaxy, and our solar system spinning just right so that he can create what he wants to see in the world He has made and is making. Like a potter, leaning over the vessel he is making breathing softly into the vessel he is making so that it does not collapse, the Creator breathes fresh life into the creation every single moment of every day.
Psalm 104 (NKJV) says, "You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth."
He upholds all things by the mighty word of His Power! The earth is not spinning out of control. He is working all things together for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His Purpose (Rom 8:28).
Jeremiah, do you see that potter working at the wheel? That is what I am doing all day every day. Why haven't you noticed before? Even in the middle of all the messiness of life where you wonder what is going on, I am at work!
I came to tell everyone in this place that the Potter is at work in your life. In the good and the bad. In the highs and the lows. In the victories and defeats. When you win and when you lose, He is there working.
We often read and quote Romans 8:28 as I did a few moments ago, but we do not quote the next verse along with it. Quoted all together it says,
Romans 8:28-30 (NKJV)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
In the first creation, God did not say He was finished until He saw His image in the creation, in humanity! The same is true in what God continues to create today. He is working on you and me and He doesn't intend to stop until Christ is formed in us!
He has factored all your mistakes into the process. He has not been caught by surprise at the messy state the world is in!
3.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
It is all in His Hands. The old children's chorus says, "He's got the whole world in His Hands. He's got the whole world in His Hands. He's got the whole world in His Hands. He's got you and me brother in His Hands. He's got you and me brother in His Hands. He's got you and me brother in His Hands... He's got the whole world in His Hands... sister... itty bitty baby..."
The vessel that the potter was making was marred in the hands of the potter. It was messed up. What he had been making did not look like what he intended. The clay was not cooperating as it should have. How often in our lives has this been true? God's image that He is creating in us doesn't look just right because we are not cooperating. We are tired of spinning on the wheel, we are tired of the pressure of life, we are frustrated and traumatized, and we just want to quit. The past few years have been hard for us all! Added to the normal difficulties of life have been things like the pandemic and government upheavals. It's enough to leave the stories as erratic as Jeremiah's book of prophecies.
But, look at what the potter does next. He just starts over and makes something new. No matter what it is that you're going through in your life today realize that you're in the Hands of the Potter! He can make you over again. You have all kinds of ideas about how you think it should work out, but His thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways His Ways! He has something better!
He doesn't want to make you a second-rate vessel because of your marred places. God don't make no junk!
What if I told you that God factors your mistakes into the equation of your life and if you will just stay on the wheel and in the Potter's Hands, He will finish what He began and it will turn out more glorious than what you thought!
It seemed good! God's original creation was very good. When God does things, He does them right. He is the Master Potter! He knows just the right amount of pressure to apply and where to apply it. He knows when to Breathe His Life-Giving Spirit into you. He is using all of life's circumstances to mold and shape you. He is working all things together for good!
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
He calls the messed up nation that is acting more like Jacob than Israel by the name He gave their ancestor. He doesn't call them what they are acting like, He calls them by what He sees that they can be! You are not a Jacob. Even though the messy world has put that label on you. You are Israel, a Prince of God!
In Christ God came into the world to remake the world. God is not a God Who creates from afar. He creates from within. When the fullness of time was come God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal 4:4).
In the first creation, God began from the outside and worked His way in. The last thing He did was breathe into Adam's nostrils the breath of life and he became a living being. In the new creation, God is working from the inside out. In Christ, the Fullness of God came in a helpless Babe. The Eternal Deity fused Himself with frail Humanity in the Mystery of Godliness. And God worked from the inside of the clay. He worked from the inside of a Genuine Human life that was all His own.
He lived a sinless life. He died. He was buried. And after three days He rose from the grave! He ascended into the Heavens and He has sent His Spirit to work from the inside out of all who will believe in His Name, to those who will follow Him in the death of repentance, burial of Baptism in water in His Name, He promises the gift of the Holy Spirit.
He wants to work in and through you, to shape you and your world. Be encouraged child of God!
Altar Call:
If you have never been baptized in Jesus's Name, today is your day.
If you have never received the baptism of the Spirit, today is your day.
If you need to rededicate your life to Him and acknowledge that He is the Potter, today is your day.
Today can be the day things begin to look different, and the erratic journal entries begin to make sense.
The book of Matthew gives us the genealogy of Jesus. It looks messy. His family line is filled with some difficult characters and difficult stories. Yet, the Messiah enters the mess to give us the message that if we will turn it all over to Him, He will make it right.
Would you come to the altar this morning to talk to Him?
