Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Potter’s Hand*

Romans 9:14-24

 

Gordon MacDonald writes, Gail and I were in an airplane, seated almost at the back.

As the plane loaded up, a woman with two small children came down the aisle to take the seat right in front of us.

And behind her, another woman.

The two women took the A and C seats, one of the children sat in the middle seat, and the second child was on the lap of one of the women.

I figured these were two mothers traveling together with their kids, and I hoped the kids wouldn’t be noisy.

The flight started, and my prayer wasn’t answered.

The air was turbulent, the children cried a lot—their ears hurt—and it was a miserable flight.

I watched as these two women kept trying to comfort these children.

The woman at the window played with the child in the middle seat, trying to make her feel good and paying lots of attention.

I thought, Boy, these women get a medal for what they are doing.

But things went downhill from there.

Toward the last part of the flight, the child in the middle seat got sick.

The next thing I knew she was losing everything from every part of her body.

The diaper wasn’t on tight, and before long a stench began to rise through the cabin.

It was unbearable!

I could see over the top of the seat that stuff you don’t want me to describe was all over everything.

It was on this woman’s clothes.

It was all over the seat.

It was on the floor.

It was one of the most repugnant things I had seen in a long time.

The woman next to the window patiently comforted the child and tried her best to clean up the mess and make something out of a bad situation.

The plane landed, and when we pulled up to the gate all of us were ready to exit that plane as fast as we could.

The flight attendant came up with paper towels, handed them to the woman in the window seat, and said, “Here ma’am, these are for your little girl.”

The woman said, “This isn’t my little girl.”

“Aren’t you traveling together?”

“No, I’ve never met this woman and these children before in my life.”

Suddenly, I realized I had just seen mercy lived out.

A lot of us would have just died in this circumstance.

This woman found the opportunity to give mercy

 

·        What comes to your mind when you hear the word mercy?

What does this word mean?

·        What is the meaning of the word grace?

How is it different than mercy?

·        For Paul the word ‘grace’ generally when referred to God has the idea that He gives people his undeserved favor.

·        The meaning of ‘mercy’ for Paul is related to God’s judgment and that everyone is a sinner unable to achieve salvation on their own.

Mercy is choosing to save us even though we do not deserve it.

·        The connection between grace and mercy is close.

Mercy is what God gives each one of us because of his grace or his unmerited favor.

·        It is important for us to understand what mercy is all about for it is because of his mercy-his choice to save us that we have any eternal hope.

·        His mercy has some lessons to teach us that I hope will come out in our study

Ø        God’s mercy should draw us to worship Him

Ø        God’s mercy tells us some things about who he is.

Ø        God’s mercy tells us what should be the focus of the Christian life.

·        We live in a world where we have become accustomed to thinking we deserve things or have particular rights.

·        We sometimes feel that the world owes us a favor and we transfer that perspective over to our relationship with God.

·        What would our Christian lives be like, if we for a moment stopped, reflected carefully about our lives and who we believe God to be?  How could it change our lives if we understood better what God’s mercy really was?

\\ God’s Mercy is Discretionary (14-18)

 

*9:14* What shall we say then?

Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! *9:15* For he says to Moses: “*/I will have mercy on whom I have mercy/*/, *and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion*/.”

*9:16* So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.

*9:17* For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “*/For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you/*/, *and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth*/.”

*9:18* So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.

·        The basis for understanding this passage is taken from the previous verses in chapter nine.

Ø        Paul is taking about the nation of Israel and God’s mercy that is upon them.

Ø        He clarifies that God’s favor is not upon them just because they are Israelites but because they have been children of the promise-living by faith.

Ø        He cites the example of Jacob and Esau-both Israelites but rejecting one and accepting the other.

Ø        The context for Paul is one that is trying to clarify the mercy of God not only in the lives of the Israelites but  for the rest of the world

 

·        Verse 14 opens with a question on the minds of Paul’s readers which questions God’s fairness in his calling of both Jews and Gentiles.

·        Paul uses the example of Moses just before he receives the Ten Commandments in Exodus 33:17.

where by God states that his mercy will be given to whom he wishes.

·        Paul provides clarification in verse 16 in the context already mentioned that God’s mercy to people is based on his discretion.

If God desires to be good to people even if we have trouble with it, it is God’s right to do so.

If He wants to bless a person who is the greatest of sinners or leave in despair the person of great faith it is his discretion to do so.

Ø        Our desire for God’s compassion and mercy does not obligate him to provide it.

Ø        Also our good works or efforts do not earn God’s mercy.

Ø        God’s mercy is dependant purely upon him and his care.

·        Paul then in verse 17 refers to Pharaoh from Exodus 9:16 that Pharaoh was placed in his position and given mercy in his reign.

Ø        So that God may demonstrate his power.

Ø        So that God may be glorified in the earth.

·        The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and his destruction (God’s lack of Mercy) was for these two reasons.

·        It is important to note the motivation God has for his mercy upon us.

It is not because we desire it.

It is not because we have done anything to earn it.

It is not even particularly because of his love for love is not even mentioned by Paul.

·        God wishes that his power may be shown and that he may be glorified in the entire world.

The existence of people is not merely because God wants someone to love but because he wants to be glorified.

·        When he shows mercy it is so he will be praised and when he decides to take away mercy it can be so he may show his power.

·        God’s decision to include us in salvation was not about us and what we needed but rather it was about his glory and the praise he would receive because of his mercy on us.

·        We need to come to an understanding that the Christian life (the life God has given to us by his merciful inclusion) is not about us and our wants and desires but entirely about God’s glory and what honors him.

When Billy Graham was driving through a small southern town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding.

Graham admitted his quilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.

The judge asked, “Guilty, or not guilty?

”When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, “That’ll be ten dollars—a dollar for every mile you went over the limit.”

Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister.

“You have violated the law,” he said.

“The fine must be paid—but I am going to pay it for you.”

He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner!

“That,” said Billy Graham, “is how God treats repentant sinners!”

·        God’s decision to give mercy is completely upon his choice.

He can give it to some and not others, when and where he chooses.

God’s Mercy is independent (19-21)

 

*9:19* You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault?

For who has ever resisted his will?” *9:20* But who indeed are you – a mere human being – to talk back to God? */Does what is molded say to the molder/*/, /“*/Why have you made me like this?/*”/ /*9:21* Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?

 

·        Paul has just explained God’s sovereignty and control over everything and this brings him to pose another question that his readers may be thinking.

·        If God is in control and we are subject to his mercy then what room is left for human responsibility?

·        This rhetorical question is posed in light of his earlier statement regarding Pharaoh and the inclusion of the gentiles in his redemptive plan.

·        If the nation of Israel is compared to Pharaoh and used in the salvation of those outside Israel why were they held to account?

The answer in part to this question is given by Paul later in verse 22.