Pastor Shannon's Pottery Shop - Easter 2023
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There once was a village who had a long history of only having mayors named Benny and who had magnificent beards.
Legend held that if a mayor shaved his beard off, an ancient curse would transform him into a piece of pottery.
Centuries passed and every Benny was a fair and wise mayor, and never shaved their beards. But one summer, their land was struck by a terrible heat wave.
All the men of the village shaved their beards, but Benny knew he couldn’t unless he wanted to be turned into a piece of pottery.
After days and days of higher and higher temperatures, Benny could no longer stand it. He called in the village barber and had his beard shaved right down to the skin.
The people of the village barely had time to gaze upon Benny’s face before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, transformed into a vase.
And so it was on that day, the villagers knew the curse was true:
a Benny shaved is a Benny urned!
My wife did not laugh at that joke! It’s such a good one. And it’s appropriate because we are going to talk all about pottery today. In fact, I want to pretend that you’re in my pottery shop. I have lots of different works of art here on my table. A flower vase, teacups, teapots, flower pots, tulip vase, there’s a jug, and my current favorite coffee cup.
The reason I have set up a display of pottery is because our scripture today speaks about a pottery shop. Jeremiah was a prophet who was commanded by God to bring a message to God’s people. He was instructed to go down to the pottery shop and watch the potter making pots. He was promised that the Lord would give him something to say to the people of Israel.
Today, as we read the scripture, let’s pretend we are also in that pottery shop, waiting for God to speak something to us. I believe that He is wanting to speak to you today.
My prayer in preparation to this message is that the Spirit of God would speak to your heart. It’s not an accident that you’re here today. It may be a long time since you’ve been to church, it could be your first time, or your thousandth time, but I believe that from the moment you were born, God had these next few minutes in mind. If you listen to the Spirit of God this morning, your life can be changed.
Let’s read our scripture for today written by the Prophet Jeremiah:
1 The Lord told me,
2 “Go to the pottery shop, and when you get there, I will tell you what to say to the people.”
3 I went there and saw the potter making clay pots on his pottery wheel.
4 And whenever the clay would not take the shape he wanted, he would change his mind and form it into some other shape.
5 Then the Lord told me to say:
6 People of Israel, I, the Lord, have power over you, just as a potter has power over clay.
Jeremiah was told to go check out the pottery shop. He went and watched the Potter work. He noticed how the potter placed the clay on the wheel and started to work the clay. But the clay wouldn’t take the shape he wanted, so he had to form it into something else.
God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah to say something to God’s chosen people. He told him to tell the people of Israel that He, God, was just like the Potter and they were like the clay.
As we pretend that this is my pottery shop, there are four questions I want to answer this morning. We can find the answers in the experience that Jeremiah had at the Pottery Shop 2,649 years ago. Those answers apply to us today!
Here are the questions (which are also in your bulletin):
1) Who is the Potter?
2) How can we be good enough?
3) If God is in Control, Why is my World Spinning?
4) What is the Hidden Truth about being Broken?
If we can start to find the answer to these questions then we can start to understand God and His purposes for our lives. As you consider the potter and the clay, you can see a picture of our lives and our relationship to God. Each object has a meaning.
1) Who is the Potter?
God is the potter in this scripture. Our lives are not in the hands of some invisible “force” or blind “fate”; they are in the hands of Almighty God. God is not just some far off creator of the universe; He is our Father, and He has a personal concern for our lives.
Isaiah makes it clear that God is the potter in the story of human existence.
8 You, Lord, are our Father. We are nothing but clay, but you are the potter who molded us.
For some reason, people get the idea that God is unloving, harsh, or angry with people. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God’s thoughts for people is good. He has plans for each and every person.
Think of a potter working on a lump of clay. In order to shape that clay he must keep his eye on the clay. He has to know from the beginning the plan he has for that clay.
Clay will not become a useful vessel by chance. The maker must have a purpose for the clay.
God has an interest in our lives. You need to know that God is interested in YOU!
I love how the writer of Psalm 139 tells us about God’s interest in us.
God is interested in our lives. He is interested in you.
1 [A psalm by David for the music leader.] You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me.
2 You know when I am resting or when I am working, and from heaven you discover my thoughts.
3 You notice everything I do and everywhere I go.
God knows us better than we know ourselves. And His thoughts for us are GOOD. Not evil! Good things come from God and bad things come from the consequences of sin and attacks from the devil.
Later in Psalm 139 we can read that God has so many good thoughts about us that they are more than the grains of sand on the beach! Basically, God’s good thoughts toward you are beyond what anyone could ever count!
In short, God cares about us. He isn’t trying to trip us up or trying to get us to fail. His thoughts are good towards us.
Just as the potter forms the clay, God wants to form our lives.
He wants our lives to be conformed into something He has in mind. What the clay must to is yield to the touch of the potter.
It makes sense right? The potter controls what is made from the clay.
You know where I think we get into trouble? WE try to be the potter in our lives. We have ideas that we might think are better than God’s.
The truth is that God has a plan for each person. A work that we are supposed to do. We aren’t accidents.
The problem we face is that we might not know what He is trying to do in our lives. And when we aren’t in control we have a tendency to question Him because we don’t know where or how His plans are coming together.
We question God, but we really don’t have the right.
20 But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?
21 Doesn’t a potter have the right to make a fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?”
We ask God, why have you made me like this? Why are you allowing pain in my life? Why was I born into this family? How could you ask me to endure the pain I am facing?
When we question the Potter we effectively take things into our our hands.
I need two volunteers: Take this clay and form something amazing in one minute. Ready GO!
Now, you’ve got to admit that as good as they did in one minute, their work isn’t really comparable to the other works of art on this table.
God has had all of eternity to think about you. He planned you exactly as you are right now, and He wants to develop you into a priceless work of art!
God is the potter. We must allow Him to work in our lives.
In the scripture we read that the vessel was marred. It was imperfect. This could be because the clay didn’t have the right consistency. Before the potter shapes the clay he works with it, kneading it to the right consistency.
As clay, with imperfections, we might ask:
How can I be good enough?
4 And whenever the clay would not take the shape he wanted, he would change his mind and form it into some other shape.
In this scripture, we are the clay. Here’s the problem with clay: in it’s natural state it’s basically worthless. It’s EVERYWHERE on earth. It’s just like dirt. In fact, it’s sold like dirt - by the ton! We could go outside right now and wouldn’t have to look far to find clay.
Have you ever felt worthless in life? Like you’re not good enough? Well, you’re not alone! The struggle of self-worth is real and I can promise you that people in this room right now have questioned whether or not their life has value.
Let me tell you something interesting about clay.
There is potential in clay.
If you place regular old worthless clay into the hands of a skilled potter, they will work it by kneading it, and will turn it into a priceless work of art.
If you’ve struggled to find value in your life or you’ve placed you worth in temporal things like your job, money, health, or any other thing than God then you’ll be disappointed every time.
The full potential of a life can only be found when it’s touched by God. As He shapes us, and as we YIELD to Him, our life becomes something valuable.
We aren’t good at shaping our own life. All of our of accomplishments will seem empty and unfulfilling. Why? Because clay has no power to take on a form or shape on it’s own. The shape and form come from outside influences.
No person is a “self-made” man. We are all the product of our environments. We are a product of the forces of influence allowed in our lives. The way we think, respond, and operate are motivated by the influences we allow.
What are you allowing to shape you? Negative People, Social Media, Politics, Lust, Disobedience, or Any other sort of thing not found in God?
Here’s the absolute truth: The influence of God in our lives produce something great.
It doesn’t matter what your past says about you. What matters is whether or not you are ready and willing to allow God to touch you right now and forever more! He is willing to transform your life if you are willing to be shaped by Him.
In verse four we see that the clay wasn’t taking the shape the potter had planned for it:
4 And whenever the clay would not take the shape he wanted, he would change his mind and form it into some other shape.
Another version says that the clay was marred. This could be because the clay didn’t have the right consistency. It wasn’t taking the right shape because there was still something to be worked out of the clay.
Maybe there was air or a hard lump still in the clay that was causing it to be formed incorrectly.
You and I can identify with this because none of us are perfect.
Thankfully, God is patient.
Let me tell you the truth, if you’re alive right now, God isn’t done with you. You may have committed your life to Him in the past, but you’ve held onto something that is preventing Him from transforming you into the person He has in mind for you.
The good news is that God’s grace is reaching down to rework your life. Repent and allow Him to work on you again. Today is a new day!
God doesn’t throw good clay out! Sometimes our lives have become marred because of Sin. But God continues to work to make us a pleasing vessel. If we are willing.
That’s the key. Willingness to surrender to His work in our lives.
Allow God to take control.
You might say, Yes! I’m ready to allow Him to mold me and make me according to His will, but what about the chaos in my life? I’m going through a lot right now.
Or you may have allowed the Lord to lead you for years, but you keep finding yourself in difficult circumstances.
You find yourself asking the question:
If God is in control, Why is my world Spinning?
Let’s go back to verse 3:
3 I went there and saw the potter making clay pots on his pottery wheel.
The truth is that even when things seem to be coming apart at the seams, God is in control.
Think about that clay on the wheel. The wheel is that tool used to shape the clay. It spins at the will of the potter. He is the one who controls the speed and intensity.
To the clay, it could seem unwise to spin at such great speeds. It might seem to the clay that at any moment it could go flying off the wheel.
In this scripture we are reminded that the wheel is like the circumstances of life that God allows to shape us. Circumstances, easy or difficult, are tools that are used to shape us into what we are to be.
The truth of living a life surrender to God is that He is continually transforming us to the likeness of Jesus. Jesus is the only standard of Holiness. God’s plan is to make us more and more like Jesus.
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
God is working in you to make you more and more like Jesus! That’s why this scripture tells us that He is causing EVERYTHING to work for the good of transforming us to become like His Son!
Even the difficult circumstances of life are pushing us to become more like Christ.
There is no reason to complain. If we do, we are complaining about God’s working our life.
Think about the children of Israel. They complained about their circumstances but God trying to reveal what was in there hearts.
2 Don’t forget how the Lord your God has led you through the desert for the past forty years. He wanted to find out if you were truly willing to obey him and depend on him,
God is concerned about our heart. He wants US to know what’s in our heart. Sometimes He allows us to face tests of circumstances to show us what we really believe. How we respond is important.
Difficult times reveal WHO we are.
It seems the Lord will allow us to go through things over and over to work out rough parts of our faith.
We discover the truth about who we are when the bad things of life are upon us. When we can’t see our way out is when we find out what we believe.
Why does it seem like my world is spinning out of control? Because I have the wrong perspective. From God’s view, the Potters view, He’s got us surrounded by His loving hands. From the Clay’s view it seems like everything is about to fall apart.
God is the Potter
He says we are good enough
Our circumstances are not beyond God’s influence. He’s got us in His hands.
Now, let me get to the last, and in my opinion the most important question to answer today:
What is the Hidden Truth about being Broken?
When a potter works with clay, they knead it, they mold it, and they shape it into some sort of vessel. Then they place it into the fire.
When that vessel is in the fire, unless it’s completely perfect, I mean it has no lumps, extra water, or air, it will end up cracking in the fire.
When the potter pulls it from the fire and sees it’s broken all hope is lost. It’s lost it’s value.
What about you? Are you broken today? Have you been through the fires of life only to find out that you weren’t strong enough?
When the pressures come your way, did you break?
Break the Pot
Here’s the thing: None of us are perfect. We are all cracked pots. We are all broken.
What can be done with a broken pot? It can’t be reworked by the potter. It’s completely broken.
So, we have to ask, what happens to all the broken pots?
They get tossed out by the potter because they have no usefulness.
In Jeremiahs day, next to the potters house was a field that was used as a dump heap. The potters field was full of broken pots.
Today is Easter. It’s time for us to remember that God sent His perfect Son Jesus to this broken world. Why? Because God couldn’t bear the thought that all of humanity was broken and in need of repair.
Jesus came to save the world, but the world rejected Him. In fact, Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples named Judas.
I want to read a portion of his story:
3 Judas had betrayed Jesus, but when he learned that Jesus had been sentenced to death, he was sorry for what he had done. He returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and leaders
4 and said, “I have sinned by betraying a man who has never done anything wrong.” “So what? That’s your problem,” they replied.
5 Judas threw the money into the temple and then went out and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the money and said, “This money was paid to have a man killed. We can’t put it in the temple treasury.”
7 Then they had a meeting and decided to buy a field that belonged to someone who made clay pots. They wanted to use it as a graveyard for foreigners.
8 That’s why people still call that place “Field of Blood.”
Judas betrayed Jesus for money. He regretted what he did and wanted to give the money back. He was a broken pot.
The Jewish religious leaders didn’t want the money back because it was used as “blood money”.
Judas didn’t know what else to do so he threw it at their feet and went out to take his own life.
The scripture tells us that the priests picked up the money and used it to buy a field. But not just any field. They purchased a field from a potter. It was a field of broken pots.
Jesus was betrayed by Judas for 30 silver coins. Those coins were used to buy a potters field.
If you don’t hear anything else today, please hear and understand this truth:
The field of broken pots was bought by the blood of Jesus!
This is incredibly significant because you and I are broken pots! The whole human race is broken. We need redemption.
No matter how hard we work, we will never be perfect. We are always going to have some hidden sin that is revealed in the fire of life. As clay, we are imperfect, flawed by sin!
The Bible tells us clearly:
23 All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
We are broken without hope. Useless and dead in our own sin.
But Jesus came to live a perfect life in our place. He was beaten, spit upon, and hung on a cruel cross to die.
Price of our sin is death. Jesus died for you and for me.
As He shed His blood on that cross and gave His life for the sin of all humanity, God accepted His sacrificial as a payment for our imperfections.
Three days after Jesus died, God raised Him back to life as PROOF that He was Messiah and that our sins could be forgiven.
Here’s the question you should ask yourself today: Are you going to reject Jesus or accept the free gift of Salvation today?
Even if a person feels they have gone to far and destroyed their lives, they've not really gone to far. Jesus takes the broken vessels and puts them together for the Glory of God.
Maybe sin has overcome you. Maybe you think you’re in the potters field. Remember that the blood of Jesus has purchased you!
Here’s the truth about being broken…God can put you back together. Jesus has paid the price for your brokenness.
The only question left today is simple:
Are you willing to be put back together? The only way is if you are willing to Confess Jesus as your Lord, surrender to the Potter, and allow Him to make you brand new.
God can pick up the pieces of your life if you are willing to trust Him today.
Heres’ the scripture you need to hear:
9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
9 But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.
20 I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.
Are there any broken pots in this place? Do you need to give you life to Christ today?