What’s In Your Clay? (September 4, 2022)

WHAT’S IN YOUR CLAY?

Text: Jeremiah 18:1 -11

Jeremiah 18:1-11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: (2) "Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." (3) So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. (4) The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. (5) Then the word of the LORD came to me: (6) Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. (7) At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, (8) but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. (9) And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, (10) but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. (11) Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings (NRSV).

Ask anyone who works with pottery as hobby or a lifestyle and they will likely tell you that there are three parts to pottery. Those three parts are the clay, the potter’s wheel and the design of the potter. They will also tell that unless it is a piece designed from a mold that every piece of pottery is unique---one of a kind. So are we as people and so is every nation---unique. God has a plan for our lives that include both a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). When we yield to God, He can mold us for His purposes so much easier.

How many times have you seen a Capitol One commercial where you always hear the question, “What’s in your wallet?” As we hear today’s text a better question to ask is “What’s in your clay?” What’s in our clay that makes us resistant to how God is trying to mold us and shape us?

In Jeremiah 18:1-11, we have a parable that came about through what God revealed to Jeremiah when he went down to the potter’s house. God helped Jeremiah to associate the clay with the house of Israel and the potter with God. The point was obvious. God was saying to the house of Israel through this prophetic parable, “Why will you not let me mold you to be a vessel for my purposes?”

Today we will explore the danger of independence, the danger of spiritual adolescence and the need for spiritual conformity.

THE DANGER OF INDEPENDENCE

Don’t we like our independence?

1) Autonomy: We like to be able to plan our own way. Surely, we all like our independence. We like to be autonomous, but we cannot preserve ourselves. How often have you known sinners that enjoyed being told that they are sinners and that they need to change? Naturally, they were not happy with Jeremiah when he shared with them that they were like “spoiled clay” that a potter had to remold. They even got so mad at Jeremiah that they wanted to kill him (Jeremiah 18:23).

2) Pilot or co-pilot: As someone has said, “We tend to reduce His greatness and majesty down to a few lines in a chorus. Our thinking of God as our buddy or our co-pilot or our friend on the seashore is way below the dignity of God who spoke, and the world came to be.” (Ken Hemphill. ed. Nelson’s Annual Preacher’s Sourcebook: 2016. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2015, p. 6).

Why is it important to allow God to be our pilot instead of our co-pilot? Proverbs 16:9 says “The human mind plans the way, but the LORD directs the steps” (NRV). Proverbs says 20:24 “A person's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?”(NIV). How can anyone successfully do anything that will last without God’s input? What’s in your clay?

What had their independence gotten them into?

1) Trouble: Their autonomous spirit got them to believing that they did not need God. They were deserving of destruction, but they were told that they could amend their ways and avoid destruction by changing their ways so that God could mold them into the nation He wanted them to be like a potter molds the clay on a potter’s wheel. What’s in your clay?