Life in the Potter’s Hands
“Discovering the Life Truths of the Parable of the Potter and the Clay”
If you are truly born of God, you will have a desire to be used of the Lord:
"To be used of God
To sing, to speak, to pray.
To be used of God
To show someone the way.
I long so much to feel
The touch of His consuming fire,
To be used of God is my desire.
But do we really know what we are asking for when we ask the Lord to use us?
- READ Jeremiah 18:1-4 (There are some places in the book of Jeremiah where a glimmer of hope shines in the gloom of judgment.)
- Watching the potter turn the wheel and work the clay enables Jeremiah to grasp several important truths.
KEY FEATURES:
-Potter = God the Father
-Wheel = The revolving circumstances in life
-Clay = you and me as Christians
o Clay is significant because it is pliable. (It is amazing what a Potter can do with Clay that is yielded to Him.)
o Gen. 2: God formed man out of the “terra cotta” of the ground.
o It is amazing what God did! (300 trillion cells in the human body!)
o Clay is simply dust and water
o The same elements that are in clay are the same elements that are in us…the only difference is, we have the breath of life that has been breathed into us by God Himself!
o Clay cannot mold itself…only God has the power to mold and shape our lives.
o Clay was used to make pottery and pottery is also referred to as vessels (a term that God uses repeatedly in Scripture)
o LOOK AROUND: Each of you is a vessel in the hands of God.
I love this parable because it answers the questions:
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Where am I going?
How are we formed in the Christian life…what is God up to?
The Attributes of God
I.Eyes of the Potter = Represent the omniscience of God
a.He envisions that clay and designs that clay for it to become what He has intended for it to be.
b. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a future and a hope.”
II. Hands of the Potter = Represent the omnipotence of God
a. Romans 9:20, “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to its molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?”
b. God can do anything!
c. His Power is expressed through the pressure of His hands and fingers.
d. The same word that God used in Gen. 2 when he said he “formed” man…is the same word that is used here in Jeremiah for “Forming” the clay!
III. Feet of the Potter = Represent the omnipresence of God
a. God is everywhere
b. When you get to where you’re going, God is already there!
The Activity of God
IV. The Parable is a Picture of God’s Act of Salvation
a. Israel has some of the best clay pits.
i. At the bottom of the pit is the most valuable and desirable clay.
ii. BUT if you were to fall into one of those clay pits it would be impossible for you to climb out!
1. Because the walls of that clay pit are extremely slick.
iii. Your only hope would be to look towards the light above you and to call out to Someone and ask them to pull you out.
iv. P/T: Reminds me of how I cried out to my Savior 10 years ago and to deliver me out of the pit of sin.
v. Have you done that?
vi. Psalm 40:1-3 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. And he put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.”
vii. Before we were saved we were in a miry pit (with no hope). We must Look up and Call out to Jesus for salvation!
What I hope to do as we examine how God’s Word applies to our hearts today is to take a tour of the Potter’s House, much like Jeremiah did:
b. Jeremiah watched as the Potter lifted up some clay out of the pit
i. It was slimy mud…not only unattractive, but it was helpless
ii. But the Potter saw that clay not for what it was; but for what it could become.
iii. That which appeared to be useless, could be turned into an object of beauty.
iv. God said to Jeremiah (in 18:6), “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hands, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”
v. God sees so much potential out of you! He sees you not for what you are but for what you can become!
c. The Potter then lifts that clay onto a revolving stone wheel.
i. That clay is off center so it wobbles…back and forth, to and fro
ii. Until the Potter begins to kick that large stone underneath that is attached to the wheel (400-500 lbs.) and he makes that wheel spin faster and faster.
iii. But then the Potter brings his hands around that lump of clay and makes it steady and centered.
1. We sometimes feel off-centered and wobbling ourselves! What are we to do?
2. Wheel = revolving circumstances of life
a. On the wheel…I am NEVER out of contact with the Master’s hands
3. Psalms, “Be still and know that I am God!”
4. That lump of clay is still because it never goes outside the circumference of the Potter’s hands!
d. Now the Potter begins to form the clay (forms the heart)
i. As that lump of clay is still and centered and revolving as it should in between the Potter’s hands…
ii. The Potter then takes his fingers and then pierces the top of that lump (Making a crevice or a bowl-like shape) This is called the heart.
1. The Bible says that the Word of God pierces directly through our heart.
2. It is imperative that we have the Word of God in our hearts.
3. 2 Corinthians 4:7, " But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may
be of God and not of us."
e. The Potter doesn’t just stop there (although He could since it is technically now a vessel)
i. But the clay still has so much more potential
ii. It has a heart…but it’s small and shallow…and the Potter wants to grow that heart (He wants to “edify” it)
1. We should never get content with where we are in the Christian life.
iii. As that clay continues to abide in the Potter’s Hands…the heart gets larger and larger
1. Likewise in the Christian life…the larger heart we have, the more good things we are able to contain inside.
f. The Potter continues to build up the clay (edify) and he must give it discipline…molding and shaping it as He sees fit.
i. When we feel the hands of God come upon our life, we must also be submissive to those hands and allow the Potter to mold us and shape us as He sees fit.
ii. How can we tell if the Potter is trying to mold us?
1. An Inward Conviction: the sense that God is pointing out something in your life that needs to be changed.
a. Psalm 32:4, “For day and night, Thy hand was heavy upon me.”
2. An Outward Circumstance: God uses circumstances to mold us.
a. Ps. 31:15, “My times are in Thy hand.”
g. NOW, if you were watching the Potter (as Jeremiah did) you would only see the outside of that pottery (the size, shape, color)
i. BUT from the Potter’s perspective, He is able to look down into the heart of it.
ii. I Samuel 16:7, “For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
iii. I may not look like nothing but a pile of MUD but to the Lord, I am a masterpiece in the works!
h. Next step: The Potter would cut away the excess clay that was worthless or counter productive.
i. God wants to cut away the sin, the attitudes, and the characteristics that are obstacles from Him molding you into what He desires for you to be.
i. NOW: the clay has been molded, shaped, and cut…but it is still not a vessel.
i. If you were to pick it up, it would collapse under its own weight.
ii. Any outward pressure would cause it to collapse.
iii. The clay has to be dried out and then it is placed into a kiln (a furnace) blazing at 2400 degrees F.
iv. So hot that at the height of that temperature, the pottery almost melts down and collapses.
1. Sometimes the clay thinks it can’t take any more heat.
2. Job 10:9 Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again?
v. If the clay heats up too fast, it will crack and fall apart… The Potter knows just how much heat that clay can take
1. God will never put more on you than he hasn’t already put in you the strength to bear it up!
vi. The temperature has to be so hot so that the impurities will be burned out of the clay and it creates a new bonded surface.
vii. But during that fiery process…those tiny molecules of that vessel fuse together to become as solid as a rock!
1. You never know how strong you are until you’ve gone through the fires.
j. Before a vessel was put on display it had to be glazed.
i. If a vessel was not glazed…it could only be used once because bacteria would begin to build up in its pours.
ii. In the bible, the words for painted or glazed are synonymous with the word “anointed”
1. God wants to put His anointing on you.
2. He wants to enable you to function with unction.
The first truth that Jeremiah recognizes is that…
Life Lesson #1 – God Shapes with a Purpose in Mind
- Before a potter ever begins to work with a lump of clay; He has a vision for what he wants that clay to become.
- He has a picture in His mind as to what He wants you to look like (and that picture is the Lord Jesus Christ).
- Clay has no value in itself…but it can become something beautiful if it is placed in the right hands with the right purpose!
- With every move of his hands…with every touch or release; the purpose of the potter begins to form and shape the clay.
- What exists in the mind of the Potter begins to form in the shape of the clay.
- I must endure the PROCESS in order to become the PRODUCT
- That is how God shapes people and how He shapes churches.
- God looks at you and me (and this church) with a vision in mind for what He wants it to become!
- God’s actions towards us are not random, arbitrary, aimless (Rom. 8:28)
Life Lesson #2 - If the Work of the Potter is to be completed, the Clay must be pliable.
- Judah had been living in rebellion against God.
- God was telling Jeremiah that the people of Judah were free to
decide what kind of clay they would be in the potter’s hand.
- God told him that He would shape them according to how He found
them.
- If God found them humble, contrite, obedient…then He would form
them into a vessel of blessing.
- BUT if God found them hard-hearted, stubborn, prideful, and resistant in His hands…they would become vessels of destruction.
- How many blessings from God have we missed simply because we were not pliable clay in the hands of God.
- God is always continually at work…the kind of vessel that you will become is up to you!
o You have as much of God in your life as you want (God is at work in your life as much as you want Him to be.)
o Don’t underestimate what God can do in your life if you completely surrender to Him!
- We must ask ourselves 2 Questions:
o “Lord, have I gotten to the point where I am no longer pliable in your hands.”
o “Lord, what is it in my life that is hindering your molding and shaping process within me?”
Life Lesson #3 – Our God is a God of second chances.
- Have you ever wished you could just go back and start over?
- READ vs. 18:4, “He made it again into another vessel…”
- The Potter could have thrown away that unyielding clay…but that would have been an admission of defeat.
o He had spent too much time on that marred vessel…it could not be abandoned…He still had hope that that clay would be able to be reshaped.
- But if you come to Christ today and plead with Him to mold and reshape your life…He will do it!
- The Master Potter has the ability to heal a broken life, if only you will give Him all the broken pieces.
Life Lesson #4 – God is working in your life to someday put you on display
- There is a purpose and a design for all the vessels (Laundry room, living room, dining room)
o God is not going to use you in a big place unless you are doing your work in the small place.
- The work is finished…and now it is time to put the vessel on display.
- In eternity, there will be a day when all the vessels will stand before their Potter, our Heavenly Father..
- And the Potter will say to all of them…see that little vessel over there…he is beautiful because he was willing to allow Me to mold him and use him.
- YOU must make the decision to be dumped or displayed!
GOSPEL:
- Once upon a time, the Potter became a vessel
- He was always compliant to the Father, “Not My will but yours be done.”
- 2000 years ago the Potter became pottery
- Everywhere He went he was making vessels again.
- All you have to do is simply ask the Master Potter to wrap His hands around you and create a new life in Him.
Perhaps the One who has spoken to Jeremiah, has spoken to your heart today!
- Will you allow yourself to be shaped in a new way?
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The wheel is spinning… Will you put your life in the hands of the Master Potter.
“Have Thine own way Lord, have Thine own way, Mold me and make me after thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still.”
