11/20/2022 - The Potter and the Clay

(Opening Prayer)

Heavenly Father, be glorified this morning as we open your Word.

Open our ears to hear it. Open our minds to understand it. Open our hearts to believe it. Open our mouths to confess it.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You today.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.

(Welcome)

Welcome to Central. If this is your first time, I want to say, “Welcome Home!”

As an expository church, we prioritize preaching and teaching that focuses on a Christ-centered, holistic, and sequential approach to Scripture.

We enjoy preaching through books of the Bible and tackling each passage with a high view of Jesus Christ and an intent to be led into worship and transformation by what we find therein.

(Series Introduction)

Today we continue our Colossians series.

(Opening Context)

Paul is writing to a church he has never visited. He doesn’t know these people.

Paul wrote Colossians between 60-62 AD during his first imprisonment in Rome (Acts 28).

Paul also wrote Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon during this time.

Pastor Epaphras planted the Colossian church and came to Paul because they had problems that needed to be addressed.

Paul writes this letter in the midst of their many heresies with one solution in mind - Correct Christology.

A low view of Christ was the problem, Paul gave us a high view of Christ.

We have learned that the root of the dysfunction in Colossae, Hieropolis, and Laodicea was because of an incorrect view of Jesus Christ.

Paul reminds the people that Jesus is everything and understanding Who He is, is vital to living the Christian life in the way that He intends us to live.

Today I want to do something a little different. I want to begin with an Old Testament passage that has bearing on today’s Colossians text. So put your finger in Colossians 3:5-10 and turn to Jeremiah 18.

Jeremiah was a prophet to the nation of Judah (the southern kingdom of Israel). Before they were led into exile and captivity by the Babylonians, the Lord warned the people of Judah to repent and be changed by Him.

One of the words of the Lord to the people of Judah has to do with God’s desire to deal with them in a certain way.

Listen to the words of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 18:1–6 (ESV)

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 “Arise, and 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 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me:

6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

God directed Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house and watch him molding clay into pots on his wheel.

As Jeremiah watched, the potter discovered a flaw in the pot he was shaping … in his hands.

The potter pressed the clay into a lump and formed it into another pot.

1. We Are Not the Potter, We Are the Clay

God announced that the potter and the clay illustrated His relationship to His people.

They were like clay in His hand.

Faithlife Study Bible (Chapter 18)

The Hebrew word used here for “potter” means “shaper” and is related to one of the terms used to describe Yahweh’s creative activity.

In Genesis 2:7, Yahweh shapes Adam from the dust; this act is likely the basis for the potter metaphor for God.

Pottery was an important industry since clay vessels were the most common containers for serving, cooking, and storage.

A ceramic pot could hold more weight than a woven basket and could also hold liquids.

Pieces of pottery, which was cheap, are possibly the most common artifact unearthed in archaeological excavations.

Archaeologists use pottery to help date their discoveries by tracking the characteristic changes over time in the form, type of clay, decorative style, and handle design of the ceramics combined with the stratigraphy of the ancient city or tell.

Pottery was essential for developing an accurate chronology of ancient Palestine.

2. The Potter Has the Right to the Clay

God has the right to tear down or build up a nation as He pleases.

He had promised the nation blessing; but since she continued to do evil, He would reconsider the good He had intended and bring about judgment.

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible (Chapter 18)

God has authority, and power, to form and fashion kingdoms and nations as he pleases. He may dispose of us as he thinks fit; and it would be as absurd for us to dispute this, as for the clay to quarrel with the potter. But he always goes by fixed rules of justice and goodness.

3. How We Respond to the Potter Matters

If Judah would turn from their evil ways God would also revoke the disaster He promised to send.

But they didn’t and in 586 BC they were taken into captivity by Babylon (they would return 70 years later—516 BC).

God’s heart and a huge part of the gospel is the the power of the Potter to reform the clay into His likeness.

We have said this a lot around here, “God loves you right where you are, but He loves you too much to leave you there.”

Recognizing that God is the Potter and we are not, that He has a right to the clay, and that how we respond to Him matters, leads us to this place.

We must ask the question: What does He desire to do in us, the clay?

Listen to what the Lord says through the Apostle Paul to the church of Colossae.

Colossians 3:5–10 (ESV)

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Chapter 3)

“To put to death” is the word, “Mortify”—Greek, “make a corpse of”; “make dead”; “put to death.”’

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible (Chapter 3)

It is our duty to mortify our members which incline to the things of the world.

Mortify them, kill them, suppress them, as weeds or vermin which spread and destroy all about them.

Continual opposition must be made to all corrupt workings, and no provision made for carnal indulgences.

Occasions of sin must be avoided: the lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world; and covetousness, which is idolatry; love of present good, and of outward enjoyments.

It is necessary to mortify sins, because if we do not kill them, they will kill us.

The gospel changes the higher as well as the lower powers of the soul, and supports the rule of right reason and conscience, over appetite and passion.

Verses 1–4 have emphasized a fundamental spiritual change that has taken place in the life of a Christian because of their union with Christ.

Having established this vital theological foundation, Paul now addresses imperatives to the Colossian Christians.

And the link between the indicative (what has already taken place) and the imperative (what must now be done) could hardly be clearer or more paradoxical: “you have died” (v. 3); therefore, “put to death” (v. 5)!

We might well ask why it is necessary to put something to death if it has already died.

But this manner of speaking captures beautifully the paradox of living in the experience often described as the “already” and the “not yet.”

Something definitive has already been accomplished by God in Christ, but the full realization of it still awaits.

Ephesians–Philemon (Commentary)

However darkly Paul presents these sinful acts, he does not regard them as placing a person beyond hope.

Indeed, he expressly indicates that the Colossians also “once walked” in such sins.

However, everything has changed because of the events described in verses 1–4.

Paul draws a sharp contrast between “once” (pote; v. 7) and “but now” (nyni de; v. 8).

As Paul proceeds to describe the things the Colossians must “put away,” he shifts toward sinful patterns of speech.

This verse illustrates well the complex relationship between the indicative (what has been done) and the imperative (what must be done) in Paul’s theology and ethics.

The imperative, “do not lie to one another,” is explained by a statement of what has taken place (the indicative, so to speak, although the form is actually an aorist participle).

Here the metaphor for change shifts from death and life (v. 5) to putting clothes off (v. 9) and on (v. 10).

Significantly, Paul says that this has already been done, and yet the “new self” experiences ongoing renewal into “the image of its creator.”

The reference to “image” recalls Colossians 1:15, which states that the Son is the image of the invisible God and is the one who has created all things.

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott (From Sola Scriptura to Sola Cultura)

Os Guinness (1941-) in Prophetic Untimeliness (Baker, 2003) warns that our passion for relevance too easily degenerates into a surrender to contemporary culture.

Much of the evangelical community, he writes, “has transferred authority from sola scriptura to sola cultura” (p. 65).

We’re in danger of becoming “kissing Judases” (Kierkegaard), pretending to embrace Jesus even while we destroy him (p. 67).

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans (Cherishing Secret Sins like a Dog Bone)

Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680)

As dogs … have bones they hide, and secretly steal forth to gnaw upon, so men have sins they hide under their tongues as sweet bits.

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans (“Be Killing Sin or It Will Be Killing You”)

John Owen (1616-1683)

Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.

4. The Potter Forms the Willing

The people of Judah would respond by saying that they were helpless to change (it’s no use).

They would stubbornly continue to follow the plans of their sinful hearts.

The nation refused to turn from their idolatry to follow the LORD.

They were unwilling.

(Response)

(Invite Worship Team)

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott (We Can Prevent Birds from Nesting in Our Hair)

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Temptations of course cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.

300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon (The Burden of Sin like a Heavy Bucket)

Did you ever try to pull a bucket up a well?

You know that, when it is full of water, you can pull it easily so long as the bucket remains in the water.

But when it gets above the water, you know how heavy it is.

It is just so with you.

While you are in sin, you do not feel it to be a burden.

It does not seem to be evil.

But if the Lord once draws you out of sin, you will find it to be an intolerable, a heinous evil.

We are called by the Lord to resist the enemy.

We are called by Him to acknowledge the state of our soul and the sin that desires to have us.

He is calling us to submit to the Potter’s Wheel and His hands that He may work out our salvation for His glory and purpose.

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation (People Will Not Yield to God until They See They Owe Him Everything)

John Calvin (1509-1564)

Until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that nothing is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience.

(Closing Tension)

We Are Not the Potter, We Are the Clay

The Potter Has the Right to the Clay

How We Respond to the Potter Matters

The Potter Forms the Willing

(Response Card)

1. Would you like to become a believer in Jesus Christ? (Yes/No/Already Am)

2. In what ways have you resisted God’s work in your life? (Blank Lines)

3. How are you responding to God today? (Blank Lines)

4. How willing are you for God to work in your life? (Blank Lines)

6. How do you need to respond to the preached Word today? (Blank Lines)

7. Do you have any prayer needs today? (Blank Lines)

(Closing)

(Give Response Card instructions, etc.)