Poised For Greatness

05/18/08

Poised for Greatness…

Jer 18:1 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 thee to hear my words.

3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

(prayer)

I want to talk to you today about being “poised for greatness”!

"poised [poyzd]adj

ready to act: fully prepared or in position and about to do something"

-encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861738299/poised.html

In our opening text this morning we have a simple illustration.

God was trying to make a point to the prophet Jeremiah, so that he would go and teach to the Children of Israel. He gave Jeremiah an illustration, or example.

We have a potter. And, we have some clay. The potter begins working that clay on his wheel as it begins to spin.

The potter works, molds, and shapes that clay into a vessel.

The potter has plans for his creation. He has plans for the vessel he is molding, and making.

But, there is a problem. The vessel becomes marred. There is a defect. (small defect cause problems when it is fired/kiln)

The potter will have to start over. Now, we live in a throw away, plastic society don’t we? If it’s broke, get rid of it! Throw it away, it’s of no use!

That is not the case for our potter. He doesn’t discard the marred clay. But, he works the marred clay into something new…something to be used.

Jer. 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

This is a beautiful example, or illustration that God gave to us in scripture about a person’s life.

Just as that potter takes the clay from the earth, and is going to make something out of it…

God made man from the dust (clay) of the ground, and wants to mold us to be used by Him!

But, the clay was marred.

Man sinned. Man is marred with sin.

The potter begins anew…yet, with the same clay. He takes what is unusable…what man would throw away…and makes it usable!

That is what God does for the sinner. He saves man from sin. He takes those that were not usable by Him because of sin. He takes them, He molds them, He cleanses them from their marred state, their sin…and He makes them usable!

Some observations…

-The clay must be moldable.

-The clay must remain in the potter’s hands.

-The clay becomes what the potter makes it.

-The vessel the potter makes, he makes to use.

So, the ultimate purpose of the vessel is to be used according to the will of the potter.

Moldable Clay…

How much would you spend on clay?

Well, you can buy a can of play-doh for $1 or $2. (That’s not really clay…I’m not sure what it is. It’s made from wheat. I know it smells good! I’m weird!)

(There is a lot of clay where I’m from. It’s that red clay. I wouldn’t give a nickel for it.)

It seems to be of little use. However in the hand of the potter it becomes of great value once it has been molded, formed, shaped, and fired.

That clay that was a lump of nothing…not worth anything…now becomes a vessel that is precious, and valuable.

What did the clay do? It was moldable.

Clay is just clay. It’s dirt. It has no mind of it’s own. It has no will of it’s own.

It’s completely powerless in the hands of the potter. It can’t fight against the will of the potter!

(Maybe man should have remained dirt! He may have been smarter!)

Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Just like clay, we need to be moldable.

Don’t fight the Lord and His will…be moldable into His will!

Remain in the Potter’s Hand’s…

The clay must remain in the potter’s hands.

Can you imagine a potter working with a lump of clay? The wheel begins to spin, the potter begins his work…and, then all of a sudden…the clay jumps off the wheel!