The Potter’s House
Jeremiah 18:1-6
Introduction
If you have your Bibles I’m going to ask that you take them out and turn with me to the book of Jeremiah chapter 18. If you don’t know where Jeremiah is at, open up to the middle of your Bibles, Jeremiah follows Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, then Jeremiah. After Isaiah, before Lamentations and Ezekiel.
Read Passage
“The Game is Only Half Over”
On New Year’s Day, 1919, Georgia Tech was playing California. Late in the second quarter, Roy Regals recovered a fumble for California, and in his excitement he became confused and began running in the wrong direction. After racing sixty-five yards he was finally tackled by his own player at the Georgia Tech two-yard line. California attempted to punt from deep in their own end zone, but the kick was blocked and Georgia Tech scored a safety. In the locker room at halftime, Roy Regals sat in the corner with his hands buried in his face, crying. Everyone else was silent. The coach didn’t make his usual halftime speech, but shortly before the team was to take the field for the second half, he said, "The starting team is going back onto the field to begin the second half." The whole team left the locker room except for Regals, who remained in the corner, face in hands. "I can’t do it, Coach," he said. "I can’t play. I’ve ruined the team." The coach said, "Get up Regals. The game is only half over. You belong on the field."
Jeremiah was a prophet whom God had called to confront God’s people of their sins. The people of Judah had fallen far away from God’s intended purpose for their lives. Not only had they forsaken His law, but they had given themselves over to false idolatry and worship by bowing down before man made idols. God called men like Jeremiah to warn His people for their sins and to compel to repent from their wickedness before His judgment would fall upon them. Unfortunately, instead of heading the Word of God and turning from their wicked ways, the people mocked the prophets and continued in their wrong ways. Jeremiah was a man of great sorrow. He is sometimes referred to as the weeping prophet for not only did he experience persecution from his fellow country men, but he lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jewish people by the hand of the Babylonians.
This illustrative message that Jeremiah received at the Potter’s house was originally intended for the Jewish people and was another call for them to heed the message of God. And yet, though the message was originally penned for them, this great illustrative message has a call to each of us as individuals.
Listen to the words of another prophet, Isaiah, in Isaiah 64.
Isaiah 64:6-8 “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs up to take hold of You; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.”
The Bible tells us that we are the creations, and God is the Sovereign Creator. As such He is the potter, and we are the clay. As the potter, God is actively working in our lives to mold us and shape our lives as He wills. As the clay, we are in need of a touch to form us into the designer’s great plan. As clay we are far from perfect, in fact our lives are often filled with disappoints in failures, but just as Roy Regals needed to be reminded in the locker room so many years ago, the game is only half over, and the story has not yet been told.
As we look at Jeremiah 18:1-6 this morning, I want us to first the role of the Potter in our lives.
The Potter
1. Has something for us to learn (18:2)
-As as a prophet, Jeremiah was reliant upon the Word God for his messages. A prophet’s primary role was to proclaim God’s message for His people. He was God’s spokesman. As such, it was of absolute importance that Jeremiah be available to hear the Lord’s voice when He called. This is exactly what we find in verse 1, “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:”
-The Lord had something to show Jeremiah, he was about to reveal His word to him by way of an illustration. You see, God is always interested in teaching us that which is true.
Psalms 25:4-5 “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.”
Here in Psalm 25 we see David asking the Lord to reveal His ways to Him. David had an intimate relationship with the Lord. One of the reasons that people relate to David so well is that he was the every man. He was the runt of his family. He was a shepherd boy who tended the flock during his early days. He came from a poor family and was the least of them. And yet God took notice of his heart and had a great plan for his life. God called David to be a slayer of giants, to be a leader of leaders, to be the greatest king Israel would ever know. And yet as great as David was, he was also a man of great failures. Though he loved the Lord, he also knew what it meant to fall short in obeying God’s word. Because David knew what it meant to sin, he needed the Lord to continuously guide and direct him in his paths. You see, though he loved the Lord with all of His heart, he still struggled with a heart of flesh. And because he had a sinful heart, he needed the constant leadership of the Lord in his life to teach and guide him in the ways that were right.
Psalm 119:97, 104
“Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. 104 Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.”
Psalm 119 is known as the longest chapter in the entire Bible. It is also known as David’s expression for his love for God’s Word. David understood that if He were to be a man of God then He had to have a teachable spirit. And because David loved the Lord he also loved His Word for it was in His word that He was able to learn what the Master would have him to know.
(And so God the Potter has something for us learn. He said to Jeremiah, “GO DOWN TO THE POTTER’S HOUSE FOR IT IS THERE THAT I WILL TEACH SOMETHING THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW)
2. Is patiently working (18:3)
As Jeremiah went down to the Potter’s house, a place that he had passed many many times in his life, he saw a familiar sight. The potter was patiently working with the clay to make it into something that only he could envision..
“He did not get his flash of insight while he was praying but while he was watching a potter engaged in his daily work,” wrote Charles E. Jefferson. “God reveals Himself in strange places and at unexpected seasons. For instance, He once revealed Himself in a stable.”
When you follow the Lord in your life you never know what will happen next to you
“The potter sat before two parallel stone wheels that were joined by a shaft. He turned the bottom wheel with his feet and worked the clay on the top wheel as the wheel turned. As Jeremiah watched, he saw that the clay resisted the potter’s hand so that the vessel was ruined but the potter patiently kneaded the clay and made another vessel.” (Warren Wiesbe, Jeremiah, pg 105)
In order for a potter to be good at His craft, he must be patient. The clay is not easy to work with. For the clay to become something of value, the potter must show patience and exert much energy to create something magnificent.
Psalm 139:1-3 “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.”
Just as the potter must know his clay, so too does God completely know us. He has searched us and he knows us fully. Surprisingly, I don’t even know myself, but God knows me intimately.
Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Isaiah tells not to fear, not to be anxious in our lives. If the potter is working on our behalf, what do we as mere lumps of clay have to worry about? The potter is in control, He is patiently working His plan out in our lives.
3. Labors with tender hands
I want you to notice something else about the potter. Not only is He patient with the lump of clay, but He also has to work with it in a very gentle way. To work with clay demands the use of tender hands.
Psalm 139:7-10 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”
There is no place that we ever turn to escape God’s notice. Some people believe that their mistakes lead them to a place where God simply will not care for them anymore. And yet the Bible tells us that we have God’s attention. We are on His mind. The Potter’s hand is leading us. The Potter’s hand is holding us!
Psalm 139: 13-14 “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.”
Not only are you on God’s mind this morning, but you have been on God’s mind for all of eternity. That is how much God cares for you. You have been fearfully and wonderfully made. The Potter has invested much time into your creation. Marvelous are the works that He has in store for you.
Transition: And so the Potter’s plan and the potter’s works are marvelous, but what about the clay? What are we to know about our lives as the clay in the Potter’s hand?
The Clay
1. Is Marred (18:4)
Notice with me that the first thing about the clay is that it is marred. Look at the picture with me on the screen for a moment and notice how useless the clay is of its own. Of its own the clay is without form and void of character. The clay is flawed and difficult to work with. Notice with me that even as the Potter uses His tender hands to shape the clay into a something special, continuous flaws present themselves. You see, we as human beings are nothing more than cracked pots. Do to its natural characteristics; the clay is naturally very hard to work with. At every turn the clay attempts to resist the Potter’s touch. And yet even as the clay reveals its defects, the Potter continues the roll and shapes it into a more suitable product. For you see as marred as the clay is, the potter always wields his control over it.
Psalm 53:2-3 “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Every one of them has turned aside. They have together become corrupt, there is none who does good, No, not one.”
The truth is we are all pieces of marred clay. The Bible tells us that God created man from the dust of the earth. He is the one who breathed His life into us. And yet, because of sin, because of our choices of disobedience, we are all marred. We have all gone astray.
Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (KJV)
We are obstinate and difficult to work with. We tend to resist His tender hands at every point. Through our willful sinful decisions we have in fact set ourselves in direct opposition to His Holiness. Through sin, we became His enemies. And yet, the patient, loving Potter refuses to give up. He is willing to continue to knead, continue to roll, continues to shape and continue to mold us according to His purposes.
2. Must fully trust the touch of the Master.
If the clay is ever to become a master piece, he must allow the Master to accomplish His perfect plan. This does not mean that the clay will always understand or even always agree. And yet, how can the thing formed ever complain to the one forming it?
Romans 9:21-22 “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the day, from the same lamp to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?”
The Potter desire is to make our lives into master pieces. However, for that to be accomplished the marred clay must be willing to allow His hands to work, and that will include the Potter allowing the clay to go through the fire. After the Potter has used his tools to form and shape the clay into His desired image, the clay must be hardened before it is completed. If the clay were to protest that the fire were too difficult to bear, the Potter would not be able to complete the beautiful transition.
If we are to ever become priceless treasures then we must recognize that our faith will be tested. God is a loving God and He has a perfect plan for our lives. But just as the clay can never become a useable object without going through the finishing stages of the fires, so to is it true about our lives. You see it is in the difficult times that we find out who really has control of our lives. It is through the fires of life that we come to discover who holds the reigns. The Master has a plan and it is a wonderful plan, but we must fully trust to realize it.
3. Has limitless potential
2 Timothy 2:20-21 “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”
When the Potter is allowed to exercise His plan in a lump of clay’s life, the results are always beautiful. Oh the process might not always be what we would desire. But the end result is far better than anything we could dream of for our own lives. When we allow God to make us into vessels of honor, not only do we bring glory to Him, but as we do so, we come to understand what the true meaning of life is all about. God is the master architect and He will accomplish His purposes in this world and in our lives. God’s desire is to make us into vessels of gold and silver, vessels of great honor for His name sake and for His Kingdom. He will accomplish good works in our lives and conform to His image if we give Him the room to work. There is nothing more fulfilling in life than to allow the Potter to take your marred life and make it into something far more valuable then you could ever imagine.
And yet there is one last truth about this story that we need to understand. In this passage, God warned His people that as the Potter He was in complete control of the fate of the clay. His desire and heartbeat was that the clay vessels submit to His Sovereign plan for their lives. He wanted them to repent of their sinful ways and obey His commands. But His people were not forced to do what He said. He laid the options out for them. He gave them a choice, a choice that came with two completely different results.
Jeremiah 18:11-12 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.”
Application
1. Have you submitted to touch of the Master in your life? God loves you, Jesus died for you, and He wants to be the Lord of your life today. Have you given the control of your life to Him?
2. Christians, we are all works in progress. You have accepted Christ as your Savior but perhaps as clay you’re not being very easy to work with.
