Jeremiah 18:1-6

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 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD.  "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.




I.    The Potter
  
I went to the potter’s house again this past week, and watched him work at the wheel.  He took a clod of hard, dry clay and soaked it in water.  The water changed the clod into a moldable ball of clay.  The “water of life,” that “washing with water through the word” changes us, too.


 25 . . . Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
 
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Eph. 5:25b-27

   
The clay said, “I’m clean!  I’ve arrived!”  but the clay was useless.
   
The potter threw the clay onto the wheel.  The moldable clay spun round and round.  The clay has no eyes, so he cannot see the potter, but he can feel him.  The potter added pressure from the outside, which centered the clay.
  
As the wheel turned, the potter added more pressure in just the right spot, and formed a vase, but it wasn’t hollow.  It was full of itself -- like some people are full of themselves.  It was no good as a vase.  The potter pushed his hand inside, slowly hollowing out the inside.  It looked like a vase; it was hollow like a vase, not full of itself anymore, but this wasn’t the plan which the potter had for this lump of clay.
   
As the wheel spun, the potter cut the top off the vase (Ever have your dreams and hopes cut off?), then reshaped it.  The clay thought, “Maybe I’ll be a jug!”, but that wasn’t the potter’s plan either.  The potter cut him off at the top again.  It hurt!
   
The clay thought, “I’ll be a pitcher!  Pitchers are useful.  The potter can use me to serve others, to fill others with the water of life!  The clay was proud of everything he did for other people, so the potter changed his plan.  The potter cut off another section, a bigger section.  It hurt.  The clay grumbled and complained.
   
The clay thought, “Well.  I’ll just be a flower pot.  Everyone loves flowers, b ut I’m the one who holds up the flower.  I’m the one who makes the flower look good.  Everything would fall apart without me.”
  
The potter saw his pride, and cut him off again.  It hurt.
   
Clay said, “Everything I try is a failure.  I’ll just be a bowl.”  It’s kind of like going to college and then getting a job as a dishwasher.
  
The potter reached down and cut him off again.  It hurt.
   
Clay finally said, “Okay.  I’ll be anything you want, just not a mug!”
   
The potter molded him into what he wanted -- a mug.


    Clay had more lessons to learn:
  
    1.    patience:    Clay sat on a shelf to dry, just waiting for the unknown.
       
2.    trust:    The potter finally took Clay off the shelf.  Clay thought he was finally going to do something important.  The potter took him to a new place.  Clay was crowded into a small room with many other mugs.  There was no elbow room (or handle room?).  The potter shut the door.  It was dark.  He couldn’t see the potter.  He couldn’t feel him.  Then the potter lit the fire.
   
All of the mugs became hot, glowing hot, past red hot, past orange hot, past yellow hot, to 2300 degrees.
   
Clay thought, “I’m going to die.  I can’t do this.  This is too much!”
  
The potter knew hot hot to go.  Any less and the mug would be useless.  Any more and the mug will melt.


I Peter 1:7
 
7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.


    The potter turned off the oven.  The next day, he opened the door.  Clay looked at himself.  He was different.  He was firm with a glossy finish.  He has become a vessel of honor.


II Tim. 2:20-21
 
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
 
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
(KJV)




II.    Lessons from the clay
   
A.    We need the “washing of the water through the word.”
   
Time spent in the Word, reading and meditating upon scripture, will cleanse us from sin.


Psalm 119:9-11
 
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?  By living according to your word.

10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
 
11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.


    The Bible is not like other writings.  It is alive.


Hebrews 4:12
 
12* For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.


    Writings of other religions and of the occult are dry, lifeless, and boring.  I’ve attempted to read both the Koran and the Book of Mormon.  Each was confusing and contradicted itself.  The Bible is alive and powerful.


    B.    Pressures and stress are used by God to create something good in us.


Heb. 5:8
 
8* Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered


Romans 8:28

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

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