Living in a broken world
Good Morning everyone, so glad that your here and online this morning.
We are in the fourth week of our series on “Relationships”.
We will wrap it up today and then work toward preparing ourselves for lent and the Easter season.
In our series, we have looked at three major areas of relationships.
The foundation of all relationships has to be based with us having a proper relationship with the Lord.
If our relationship with Him is wrong, it will affect how we interact with others.
We looked at shaping our families and what it takes to raise our kids on the principals of the Lord.
Discipline
Being consistent so our kids know what to expect from us and towards us.
Not trying to live our lives through our kids
Good listener instead of just talking.
Most important that we shape our kids by admitting when we blow it and ask for forgiveness so that all can move forward.
Last week we looked at Marriage, Divorce, and remarriage.
We saw that in a perfect world before the fall of man that we didn’t have need of divorce papers because there was no sin.
No prenuptials, no mine, theirs and ours.
Scripture tells us that Moses gave them a certificate of divorce because of their “hardening of heart.”
Society today has made it possible that almost anything is “acceptable” grounds to leave a marriage or a family.
I got some feedback on my stance of sipping saints and social drinking. Statistics don’t lie …alcohol destroys marriages and does not enhance or bless a marriage.
I go back to a statement I made the first week of the series- If you have a problem with something I said we can talk about it, if it is something the Lord said, than you have to take it up with Him.
Today I have titled the message “living in a broken world” Believers looking at the challenges of raising a godly family today and making sure our relationships line up with God’s word.
Most everyone has skeletons in their families and in their lives.
How do we navigate through the journey we call life and do it as a child of God and bring honor and glory onto the Lord?
John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me, you will have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Numbers 6:24-26
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
This world is broken but you can as a child of God have peace and assurance that even in chaos the Lord is working in your life.
Life on this earth is many things, but “easy” isn’t one of them.
We’ve got to admit that life sometimes gets deep with trials and sorrow. These things have plaque us since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.
I don’t think I’m giving you any rocket science here; life is hard. It continues to break each of us in different ways the longer we live.
One writer says
An empty crib in a nursery that’s used for storage instead of dreams.
An elderly man sitting alone at a coffee shop.
A middle-aged single woman, who never planned to end up alone.
A grandmother’s silent phone.
A high school senior, scanning the crowds at his football game for a father he knows he won’t find.
This broken world is all we got- right now!
Broken world shares a lot of the same pain as believers-
Broken world is a tough place for believers-
Broken world is a great place to do ministry for the kingdom
Illustration
Do any of you collect antiques?
You have found value in old things that most would not want.
You have taken the time to search to see the value of these items.
You are willing to go to yard sales and basements and estate sales looking for things that have value but you don’t want everyone else to know that it has value so that you get a real good deal.
You would not spot a gem and go tell the owner what they have and then want to buy it.
You pretend to be semi interested and want that person to feel like they got you to buy instead of eagerly showing your hand and wanting to buy at a higher cost.
Even broken things have value to you- you get where I am going.
You know how to fix it, you know someone that can fix it, or you hire someone to fix it because you know it will add value if the item is fixed by someone back to what it was originally and back to doing what it was intended to do or be.
To someone that doesn’t know its value, it is in a box and broken, but to the right person, it is a gem waiting to be fixed.
Scratched or rusty or missing a part, you can see it for what it is intended to be , not only what it is right now.
If you never get to it or you cannot see its value, it is wasted in a box or stuck in a basement.
T o most of us, broken things get purged from our lives. Thrown in the garbage.
This morning I say I know a guy! Who can fix broken things and make them new!
Our identity can be recovered and restored- We can become who we were made to be for the glory of God!
Some broken spiritually
Some broken physically
Some broken emotionally
Some fear runs our lives
Some are broken because we have failed in some areas of our life and we feel that we cannot move past these things.
We have come up short one too many times and we have given up on ourselves.
Scripture tells us that the world groans because this world is broken and needing to be fixed.
What can Jesus do with our brokenness?
Jesus takes the brokenness of the world and gives us hope. Whether the brokenness is from our frailty, our failure, or the fallenness of the world, we are still God’s and this is still God’s world—the world that He created, the world that He blessed.
Illustration-
There is an old Japanese art of mending broken pottery. (kint su kee) Kintsugi means “golden joinery.” It’s the art of joining broken pieces of pottery with a liquid resin that resembles gold. The result is a bowl or vase that is more beautiful, more valuable than the original piece. The new piece with golden seams became so popular among Japanese art collectors in the fifteenth century that some were even accused of purposely breaking pottery in order to repair it with gold.
That sounds like grace. Grace that takes what is broken and puts it back together in such a way that it is more beautiful and more valuable than it was before.
Do you really want God’s best for your life?”
“Do you truly want to become who God designed you to become before you were born?”
“Are you willing for God to do anything necessary to bring you to total surrender so that He is free to accomplish all that he wants to do for you and all he wants to make out of you?”
To have God’s very best; we must be willing to submit our all to him.
G.K. Chesterton
"The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
We are going to look at how God, our Potter, works on us, His clay.
Jeremiah 18:1-11
God Our Potter
The image of God as a potter is a powerful one.
An image that speaks to His role as our Creator, our Shaper, and our Guide.
It's an image that tells us about His patience, His care, and His love for us.
It's an image that tells us about His creative process, His attention to detail, and His desire to make us into His masterpiece.
Think about a potter at work. He takes a lump of clay and begins to shape it.
Now, think about God at work. He takes us, His clay, and begins to shape us.
He doesn't rush the process.
He takes His time.
He knows that each event in our lives, each challenge we face, each victory we celebrate, matters.
He knows that the final product, His masterpiece, depends on His patience, His care, and His attention to detail.
The image of God as a potter also speaks to His sovereignty.
The potter has complete control over the clay. He decides what shape it will take,
What purpose it will serve, and what beauty it will display.
The clay doesn't question the potter.
The clay doesn't resist the potter.
The clay submits to the potter, trusting in his skill, his wisdom, and his plan.
Similarly, God has complete control over us. He decides what shape we will take, what purpose we will serve, and what beauty we will display.
We don't question God. We don't resist God. We submit to God, trusting in His skill, His wisdom, and His plan.
The Process of Molding
In the heart of the Scripture, we find a vivid image of God as a potter and us as the clay.
This image is not just a metaphor, but a divine truth that reveals the intricate process of our spiritual formation.
The potter's wheel, the potter's hands, and the clay - each element of this image carries profound significance.
The potter's wheel is a place of transformation.
It's where a lump of clay is transformed into a beautiful vessel.
The wheel spins, the potter's hands shape and mold, and the clay yields to the potter's touch.
The wheel is not just a physical object, but a symbol of the divine process that takes place in our lives.
It's where we are transformed, where we are made new, where we are shaped into the image of Christ.
The potter's hands are instruments of divine craftsmanship.
They are strong, yet gentle. They are firm, yet loving.
They know exactly what they are doing.
They know exactly how to shape the clay, how to smooth out the rough edges, how to bring out the beauty that lies within.
The potter's hands are not just human hands, but divine hands.
They are the hands of God, working in our lives, shaping us, molding us, making us into His image.
The clay is us. We are the clay in the potter's hands.
We are the raw material that the potter uses to create His masterpiece.
We are pliable, moldable, shapeable.
We are receptive to the potter's touch.
We are willing to be shaped, willing to be molded, willing to be made into His image.
The image of God as a potter also speaks to His purpose.
The potter doesn't shape the clay for no reason.
He has a purpose in mind.
He has a vision for what the clay will become.
He has a plan for how the clay will be used.
Being the Masterpiece in His Kingdom
A masterpiece, by definition, is an artist's best work, the piece that embodies their skill, their passion, their vision.
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."
This verse tells us that we are not just any piece of clay. We are the clay that the Potter has chosen.
We have flaws …we make mistakes. It means that despite our imperfections, despite our shortcomings, the Potter sees us as His best work.
He sees us as His masterpiece because He sees our potential, He sees what we can become.
Our value comes from the Potter, from His love for us, from His decision to choose us, to work on us, to shape us and mold us into His masterpiece.
The final aspect of being the masterpiece is our transformation.
This transformation is not a process that we have to initiate or control.
Change my heart of God song….
Change my heart Oh God, make it ever true.
Change my heart Oh God, may I be like you.
You are the potter, I am the clay,
Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.
Change my heart Oh God, make it ever true.
Change my heart Oh God, may I be like you.
Prayer
