I recently came across a Chinese parable that eludes to our thoughts for today’s text. It’s a tale about a water-bearer and his two pots of clay.
An elderly peasant had two large clay pots. One of the pots had a crack down its side to a point about half way. The other pot, perfect! Each had been securely attached on opposite ends of a pole made up of several thick pieces of bamboo that had been bound together. In the middle of this pole he wrapped numerous layers of muslin and wool to create an area of padding. He then laboriously carried this apparatus across the back of his neck.
At the end of the lengthy hike from a mountain, freshwater spring to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half filled. The intact pot delivered its contents of fresh water chocked-full in volume. For several years this went on day after day; the water-bearer only delivering one and a half pots of the precious fluid to his home.
Of course, the perfect pot was swollen with pride in achieving its fullest potential. But, the poor cracked pot was outright embarrassed of its imperfection, feeling miserable that it was only able to accomplish one half of its intended task.
After these years of despondence, it finally speaks to the water-bearer one day as they nearing the mountain spring. “I am ashamed of myself! This horrendous crack in my side allows me to leak a portion of my contents all the way back to your house.”
The water-bearer responded, “But haven’t you noticed all the beautiful flowers on your side of the path? And were you not aware that on the opposite side of the path there is nothing but wild grass, briars, and weeds? That’s because I have always been aware of your so called ‘flaw.’ For this reason, I took time to plant and cultivate those lovely flowers as to allow the water that leaked from you to water them each day. This makes our trip so pleasant and charming. And for all these years I have been able to return to the path time and time again to gather a bouquet of vibrant, aromatic flowers to brighten up and fragrance the gloominess and foulness of our home.”
So, what’s the moral of this little Chinese parable? The main point is that each of us here this morning has our own fractures and flaws. They often make our lives interesting as we work side by side. Yet, there are those times that we also discover, by the grace of God, some unique rewards as well.
All we need to do is start to be aware of each other’s imperfections and through God’s empowerment learn ways to encourage one another spite our weaknesses to find our true strengths. With this we then must begin to notice, just like the water-bearer in this little story, that many times our so called “flaws” are actually blessings in disguise. Or, better yet, turn our imperfections into mighty works for the good of others and God’s glory.
PRAYER
Actually, as far as I am concerned, the story I just shared with you and its meaning is a sermon within itself. But I know that you are expecting much more from me this morning than that short anecdote; so, on to the rest of the message.
Today being Father’s Day I must also attempt to allocate some of my thoughts for you toward that subject matter as well. So, to get that covered, here is that attempt: Even as fathers, men in particular, we are great idealist when it comes to our own limitations. We do all we are enabled to do to cover up our imperfections and sense of helplessness. We cannot see ourselves, as the male species, being vulnerable and fragile. We tend to think that we are invincible and unshakable. Our indelible thought of being able to handle every situation thrown before us keeps us impulsive and often calloused. In all matters of the heart, such as romance and interpersonal relationships, keep us abbey from demonstrating our genuine lovable character. Why do we feel this way? We believe we are unable to embody any type of weakness and are to macho to admit we are no different than the opposite gender that we, too, have our weaknesses.
When will we finally learn that all of humanity is weak, fragile, vulnerable and imperfect? Gender rolls has nothing to do with such thoughts. Male and female alike are susceptible to all of these so called “flaws.” Somewhere along the line each one of our lives has been or will be fractured and broken. So ladies, don’t get too puffed up about my previous thoughts about we of the male gender, for you, too, are not much different than most of us. We all have our times of inadequacies and feebleness.
So, what is it that breaks a person? And, can God really use shattered and broken vessels? Does God care when life’s burdens have damaged you and me? Are we really that ruined, beyond repair and restoration? Is God able to mend our brokenness and reconstruct our lives to assure us that we are useful once again? What is the value of a broken earthen vessel? Is His grace sufficient?
Again, I have to take time and reflect once more about how we as human beings act and react to life’s many pressures. Life is filled with various times of brokenness. Our defects and flaws detract us from life’s possibilities and often hinder our effectiveness in the world about us. Remember, we all are nothing more than fractured, blemished clay pots.
Even though that is true, we have to come to the realization that life is much more than brokenness. According to God’s word, we are vessels of honor which contain the power and glory of the Christ. I, too, have had a problem with such thinking throughout the years. How can I, a vessel of honor for God, be fractured and imperfect?
But then I recall biblical characters such as King David. Truly he was a vessel of honor. He was a man after God’s own heart. He embodied the tenacity and fortitude to lift honorable praise and adoration to his fortress and shelter, God. But yet I can also recall that even David had his failures and his times of disgrace. He, too, was known for his immorality in the forms of adultery, conspiracy, murder and concealment of the facts. Even so, God still used David for his glory and honor by allowing him to pen such beautiful words as the Psalms. Beyond that, after seeking forgiveness and repenting openly, God permitted him to continue as Israel’s greatest leader of all times.
Then there was Moses, a mighty man of valor. A man that took great thought towards his leadership capabilities and the responsibility he had as a caretaker. So overwhelmed with his job that he, too, overstep his bounds and crossed the line. Through a moment of anger he slew the life of a fellow human being and then ran to hide from his crime. Yet, God saw fit, after years of softening his heart in the fields of shepherding, to call him forth as a powerful deliverer of his own people, Israel.
Even during that journey from Egypt to Canaan, along with those he was leading, was disobedient to a gracious God and still had to suffer a few consequences for those choices. Yet, God never left them helpless and alone.
There is also the Saul who thought that he was confident he was doing God justice by persecuting the early church and its leadership; sometimes even leading to stoning to the death those who called themselves “Christians,” followers of the Christ. He felt warranted to do such inhumane mistreatment by God’s mandate to sustain his cases of harassment against these so called “perverters of the Law of God.”
But once blinded by the light of the Christ on the road to Damascus and a definite change of heart, Saul became Paul, one of the greatest apostles of all times. He was encouraged to found numerous churches throughout Asia Minor and credited for such, even in Spain. He also was granted the right to author several letters that made their way into the canon of writings that now make up the New Testament.
And we certainly can’t overlook the ladies either. Mary Magdalene, even though her life apparently started out on the wrong foot and she most likely had chosen a questionable livelihood, she still became one of the most prominent disciples of Jesus. She was so thankful for his life-giving and life-changing teachings, that she relinquished her past and became a new person in and through him. And then she finally was privileged to be one of the first evangelists that early Easter morning after speaking to her Lord in the garden.
Listen carefully again to a portion of our text for today: “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; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen.”
Yes God has always used worn, broken clay vessels for his honor and glory and still does. God has not changed, he still takes what we given him, our imperfections and flaws and remakes us into useful earthen pots that contain the precious gospel on the Christ. He then grants you and me the tenacity and fortitude to lift honorable praise and adoration to his fortress and shelter, God. He has given to us the call to be deliverers of those bound in the chains of sinfulness through the use of the message of salvation entrusted to us. In His fullest of intentions, God also wants you and me to be great messengers of the faith, telling all those about us of the justifying acts of God through his own Son, Jesus, the Christ. He has privileged us with the ability to become evangelists beginning in our own homes, families and neighborhoods, sharing the Good News that Jesus is alive and well and that he still wants to be their and our friend, no matter where we may have come from or what kind of life we have lived.
Remember, God is still using our foolish lives to discredit those who are pretentious and haughty. He has selected those who think of themselves ineffectual and inadequate to amaze those who believe they are immovable and invincible. He elects to use those the world often classifies as infamous and unlovable.
Can you recall the moral behind the opening Chinese parable I shared in the very beginning of this message? First of all; each of us has our own fractures and flaws. They frequently bring about astonishing things in our lives as we work side by side. Yet, there are opportunities granted that we discover, by the grace of God, some amazing rewards as well.
All we need to do is start to be conscious of of each other’s limitations and through God given confidence discover techniques that will inspire others despite their shortcomings to find their strong suits. With this we then have to begin to discern, just like the water-bearer in the parable, that many times our “flaws” are essentially little miracles in disguise. And above all, we have to learn how to transform our imperfections into mighty works for the good of others and God’s glory.
Amen and amen!
