Sacrifices Part 6 Conclusion: You Are A Vessel Of Honor
Scriptures: Romans 12:1; 2 Timothy 2:1-21; Jeremiah 2:13
Introduction
As I sat working on this message, my mind kept reflecting on my first cousin who died on Friday. My first cousin was younger than me and the last time that I saw him was when we buried my father. My heart is heavy because I am unsure of his salvation as he seldom went to Church and his lifestyle was not that of a Christian. Throughout his life, the vessel that God gave him was abused and the life he lived was not one focused on living for Christ. I want to be able to know that he was saved, but only God knows now. Our lives are special to God and should not be wasted with our living any way we choose. When we understand that we are vessels of honor and that our bodies should be treated as a living sacrifice, how we view our actions will change. His life is over, but there is still time for us.
This message will be the conclusion of this series on sacrifices. This morning I want to share with you that as a Christian we are called to be both a living sacrifice and a vessel of honor. The whole purpose of this series was to bring us to the point of deciding if we are truly making sacrifices for God in our daily lives and if we are taking the vessel that He has honored and bringing dishonor upon it. This morning we are going to talk about being a living sacrifice and a vessel of honor versus one of dishonor.
Romans 12:1 records the following: “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” In the Old Testament, whenever someone presented a sacrifice, it had to meet God’s specifications. For example, one requirement was that the animal had to be without blemish. It was the responsibility of the presenter to ensure that the sacrifice met God’s standards. In the verse we just read, Paul states that we should present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice. This means that we must choose to sacrifice our bodies to God and that this sacrifice must conform to God’s “requirement.” This sacrificial offering of ourselves becomes our spiritual service of worship. The two things I want you to take away from this verse is this – our bodies (physical, mental and spiritual) belongs to us and therefore it is up to us to present it to God. The second thing is that we cannot present just anything to Him; we must find out what His requirements are and make the decision to get the sacrifice in order (spiritually and mentally) and then present it. The allowances (shortcuts to fully serving God) that we make in this life as it pertains to our Christianity demonstrate our level of sacrifice. I believe that when we understand the difference between a vessel of honor and one of dishonor we can begin to see just how special we are. When we understand just how special we are, we find the strength through the Holy Spirit to make the changes we need to make. So let’s begin with the vessel of honor.
I. The Vessel
For the purposes of this message, I will use the following definition for vessel: “a utensil (instrument or container) for holding something.” A vessel is something that is used to hold something else. It could be a fork, spoon, cup, glass or any other piece of equipment or apparatus. A boat or ship is sometimes referred to as a vessel which holds or carries people or merchandise. We are vessels and what we carry as Christians is the Spirit of God and God’s word. We are vessels for God’s Spirit and we can carry Him into the world. We also carry the word of God that has been delivered to us into the world and through this word the world around us is changed. I will speak more to that shortly.
I told you that we were created to be vessels of honor and that we have value. But how is that value determined? There are six things I want to cover with you that determine the value of something. First is the purpose for which it was made. A car is made to carry a few people in it on land while a large plane is made to carry many people in it in the air. The most expensive car will not be more expensive that a 50 passenger airplane. So the purpose for which something is built impacts its value. The second thing that impacts value is the design. Take two cars for example. Both are made to carry people on land, but both may not be designed the same. If you compare a C Class Mercedes to any Ford product, most would choose the Mercedes if they could afford it. But, the McLaren F1 is about 20 times more expensive that the most expensive Mercedes. It is a sports car with a price tag ranging between $1.5 and $4 million dollars. So the design of something also impacts its value. The third thing that impacts value is the material from which something is made. A ceramic cup will be a lot cheaper than a crystal or gold cup. The value of the raw materials going into an object will increase or decrease the object’s value. The fourth thing that impacts the value of something is how it is used. When Nikki and I got married, we received as most couples do, china for our wedding presents. Our “good” china is used on special occasions. Because the china is more expensive and thus more valuable than our regular ceramic plates, we do not use them everyday. Also, our regular plates are not used when we can get away with using paper plates. Paper plates are especially useful for outings like picnics. So depending on the function (i.e. banquet vs. picnic) you would choose the plates accordingly. The fifth thing that impacts the value of something is who uses it. A good friend of mine told me a story about someone he knew who was out playing a round of golf in Texas. While he was on the course, he got behind former President Bush. At one point former President Bush hit his ball near the other guy’s ball. As they approached their balls, the guy told former President Bush that he was about to hit the wrong ball, that he was getting ready to hit his ball. Former President Bush asked him if his ball also had the presidential seal on it and that ended the discussion. A golf ball used by the president is more expensive than my golf ball – not because they are made of different materials, but because who is actually playing with it. If Tiger Woods and I brought two boxes of the exact same golf balls and played a round of golf with them, at the end he could sell his balls for a lot more than I could because he used them? As a matter of fact, I could not sell mine for anything. So who uses something has an impact on its value. The final thing that impacts the value of something is who owns it. My wedding band has a lot of value to me, not based on its cost, but what it represents to me. If you were to take it, you could view it as just another ring. When someone purchases or is given something they place a value on the object that will likely be different from the value that others would place on the same object. This is why we can look at each other despite our short comings because God owns each of us and He places the value on us for He loves us. How God values us is different from how we value each other. His criteria is different and it would be wise for us to understand how we can increase our value to Him. But back to my point: God made us to be vessels of honor but it is our choice to become them. Everything about us was made to be a reflection of the one we serve so if we are not reflecting God in our image, manner or actions, it is not because He is not within us, but because we are choosing not to do it. So let’s go to the heart of this.
II. Vessels of Honor
One of the things that I hear most often is that we should be able to live and have fun. God does not mind if I go to the clubs to dance and hang with friends. God does not mind if I gamble every now and then. God does not mind if I never pick up my bible as long as I come to Church. God does not mind ____________. You fill in the blank from your life experiences. Those things that we struggle most with giving up as a sacrifice in our service to God are the same things that we justify hanging on to. But I want to direct your attention to something Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy. Turn to the second chapter and look at verses one through four. “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”
Paul was encouraging Timothy. He told him to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He was reminding Timothy that he was not alone nor what he to rely on his own strength. Timothy as a young pastor quickly became aware of what he was facing, both from his congregation and from within. When Paul encouraged him to be strong in the grace that lies in Christ, he was reminding Timothy that surely we can do things through Christ that we could not do without Him. He was also reminding Timothy that while some look upon us and may focus on our failures and weaknesses, through the grace that lies within Christ, we are able to move beyond them. Now jump down to verse four. Here is an analogy that Paul wanted cemented in the mind of Timothy. When a soldier enlists into the armed forces the armed forces become primary in his life and everyday life becomes secondary. I remember when I was on active duty in the Air Force you did not complain about “family responsibilities” because to quote the military: “We did not tell you to get married!” You knew once you signed on the solid line that the call to duty comes before family, friends and everything else in your life. This is the point that Paul was making to Timothy – that a soldier does not focus on everyday life when he becomes a soldier, but what is important to the person he is serving. The spiritual implication is that once you sign on in service to Christ, that out weighs everyday living. The choices you would make on a normal basis as someone not in service to Christ is different from the choices you make when you enter into His service. The everyday world and those things of the world, become secondary to your service to Christ. Now let’s look at verses five and six. “Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.” In these two examples, the point Paul is making is that the dedicated efforts are what is rewarded. You cannot half do something and expect to be rewarded for it. You cannot live with one foot in the world and the other with Christ and expect to be rewarded. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
There are three other verses that I want you to focus on from this chapter. The first is the fifteenth verse. It says “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” When we come into God’s presence, we should come knowing that we have done what we were supposed to do. We have nothing to be ashamed of. Yes we have sinned – but those sins were covered in the blood of Jesus. Our failures were also covered. When we made the decision to follow Christ, we also must decide to bring our hearts into line with Him. What Paul is speaking to now is what happens after we made the decision. After the decision we begin to study, to prepare ourselves for service. We find out what the rules are (Word of truth) and we begin to digest them for understanding. Remember the example of the athlete? You cannot win unless you know the how to compete within the rules. Paul was encouraging Timothy to understand the rules so that He would not be ashamed. For us it means that yes we should be studying God’s Word. Yes, we should be making decisions based on the leading of the Holy Spirit versus the acceptance of the world. If we diligently study God’s word as an athlete who trains for an event, we will win the prize. Now look down at verse twenty and twenty-one.
I told you that you were made as vessels of honor. You have been given a high place in God’s eyes. You are worth something. You are valuable. But the decision to become a living sacrifice is totally up to us. God desires it, but He leaves the decision to us. So let’s read verses twenty and twenty-one about the two vessels. “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” Here we see an example of the different types of vessels. What is the difference between “gold and silver” and “wood and earthenware”? The difference is the material itself and the value we place upon it. Gold and silver are precious and valuable. Wood and earthenware are cheap and thus less precious or valuable. They both exist within the same house, but they do not carry the same value. They both have the same owner, but they do not carry the same honor. This tells us that within God’s Kingdom, there will be those who will make the decisions to become vessels of honor and there will be those who will barely make it into the Kingdom. Those who become vessels of honor are able to be used by God for every good work. Remember, the purpose of any vessel is to carry or hold something. A gold cup and a wood cup may both hold the same amount of water, but the gold cup is more valuable because of the material it is made of and what it took to make it. God resides within us, but we do not all carry Him the same way. Some hold Him close and dear to our hearts while others keep Him at a distance so that He does not impede our having a worldly good time. A vessel of honor and a vessel of dishonor. Both are vessels, both can carry something, but both cannot be used the same way or in the same circumstances. The type of vessel we choose to become will dictate how, when and more important if God can use us. Look closely at verse twenty-one.
Verse twenty-one states that we must cleanse ourselves from certain things in order to present ourselves as living sacrifices. All of these things are associated with a life that cares about this world. Some of the things listed that we should be cleansed or purged from include: the affairs of this life (v. 4); unbelief (v. 13); false doctrines (v. 14); profane and vain babblings (v. 16); false teachers (v.17); iniquity and dishonor (vv. 19-20). These are in addition to all of the things we walked away from because we were saved. These things that Paul is discussing with Timothy are things that are not necessarily viewed as being “sinful” by the world’s standards. These are not things like telling lies, committing adultery, or stealing. These are more complicated because we must be sensitive to the Spirit of God in order to recognize them. We will not be able to recognize false doctrines, profane and vain babblings, or a false teacher unless you do what is stated in verse fifteen, “study to show yourself approved……..rightly dividing the word of truth.” You cannot know the truth unless you are studying. You will not be able to overcome unbelief unless you trust what is stated in verse seven, that the Lord “will give you understanding in everything.” Again, you will only understand what you have researched and studied for yourself thus giving Jesus something to work with. Remember, when Paul wrote this to Timothy he was not writing to someone who was in the world – he was writing to a new, young Pastor who was dealing with issues within his congregation. So everything we read here is for someone who has already established some sort of a relationship with Christ. We are created to be vessels of honor and by becoming a vessel of honor, we becoming living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God in our service.
II. Vessels of Dishonor
Let me discuss briefly the vessel of dishonor. Remember earlier in this series I shared with you that through how we live our lives we negate the word of God. We place our traditions and practices above God’s word to the point that His word does not mean to us what it should. Today I have shared with you that we were created to be vessels of honor, yet for some this is not being fulfilled because some of us are not willing to make the sacrifices to become them. As vessels of God, we carry His Spirit and His word. This is what we are supposed to be sharing with the world. However, if we have become vessels of dishonor, as if to say broken vessels, we are not able to fulfill what we have been created and called to do. I want you to consider this example from Jeremiah 2:13. This is what God told Jeremiah: “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Think about this for a moment. When the Israelites turned their backs on God, God said that they walked away from the living water – Him. But they did not walk away as you would think. They walked with Him with their bodies (going to worship and carrying out the traditions of worship) but their hearts were turned somewhere else. They tried to be vessels of honor to God according to their standard, not God’s. Look closely at what God said. He said that they “hew for themselves cisterns….” meaning that they decided how they would come before God. God said they made their own vessels, but the vessels they made were broken and could hold no water. Are you seeing the image here? God is the living water that is deposited within us – His vessels. If we are vessels of honor, we are solid and can hold the living water that is poured within us. However, if through our life we “choose” to become vessels of dishonor the living water that is poured within us cannot stay and flows right out of us. This happens because our vessels are broken. Let me further explain this example.
You see two cups sitting on a table. From just looking at them, they both look identical so it does not matter which cup you choose. But, when you pick up one cup and you place water in it, the water slowly leaks out because the cup has holes in it – holes that you could not see at first. The cup you chose is broken, so you throw it away and pick up another cup that can hold what you want to put into it. If the vessel becomes a vessel of dishonor, it is cast to the side. We throw away broken dishes all the time. Any cup that is broken or has holes in it so that it cannot hold what we put into it is thrown away. So when you consider what God told Jeremiah, the people, when they chose to live by the world’s standards with idol worship, they themselves became vessels of dishonor that could not hold the living water that God was trying to pour within them. Remember what we talked about earlier in this series about us being the salt of the earth? Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under the foot of men.” Matthew 5:13 Jesus said that when the salt has lost it saltiness it is good for nothing but to be thrown out. When a vessel is no longer useful, we throw it out. When food turns bad, we throw it out. When the box becomes empty we throw it out. When we have drunk all of the water from the water bottle, we throw the bottle out. When our clothes are worn out, we throw them out. When our car gets old and worn out, we throw it out. We throw away or cast out everything around us that is no longer useful for us. When something has lost its purpose, we throw it away. This is a natural part of our daily lives. Now consider this question closely: “If we are so quick to throw away something when it becomes broken and no longer useful, why do we expect God to keep us and glorify us when we choose to become vessels of dishonor?” Before you get the wrong impression, let me explain. I am not talking about the sins we did before we were saved. I am not talking about the sins we do “sometimes” when we are trying to live righteously for God. I am not talking about God throwing us away when we fail him; lose our faith in troubled times or when we are worried. What I am talking about is when we choose to live any way we want while calling ourselves a Christian and expecting God to accept it. I am talking about when I choose sin over God. I am talking about when I change God’s word to meet my needs. I am talking about when I make allowances for myself “by the grace of God” so that I can do what I want to do believing that God will forgive me. I am talking about living in such a way that most of my thoughts are no where close to being on God and I only think about Him when I have to. Hopefully you can see the difference between these two lifestyles.
Conclusion
I started this message six weeks ago with the question we ask God concerning the prosperity of the wicked. During these last few weeks, we have also examined how we respond when evil is returned to us when we have done good to others. We asked the question about the allowances we make in our lives which negate or voids the word of God. I asked you the question whether your life can be defined as a multiple choice question or a true or false question and then gave you examples of how our lives demonstrate each. This morning I have shared with you that God has created us to be vessels of honor. Vessels that are not ashamed to come before Him and receive Him and His word. Vessels that are worthy to be called His children. This is a choice that we must make. If we are going to present ourselves as living sacrifices acceptable to God, we must learn what it mean. We must learn what our lifestyle is supposed to be and after we learn that, make the decision to meet that standard. All of us are created equal, but after that come the decisions we make as to what we present to God. I will close with this last question.
Before you are two cups (vessels). On the outside they look identical, but you now know that one of the cups is “broken”, it has holes in it. When you pour water into it, the water leaks out so the cup is good for nothing. The other cup is hole and thus referred to as a vessel of honor. It can be used for what it was created for. It was created to hold liquids and it is able to do that. So as you look at these two cups, here is my question. When you think of Who created you and the purpose He has for your life, which cup represents you? Are you the cup that is able to be used for what it was created for or are you the cup with holes and thus what God pours into you does not stay? Which cup are you?
Today if the first day of the rest of your life. Are you willing to become a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is our spiritual service of worship to Him? I hope you are! May God bless and keep you.
