Click here to get a copy of RealAudio

SM1169: On-Line

WE ARE THE CLAY

ISAIAH 64:8-9

Tim Hansel, in his book Holy Sweat, describes an incident in his life that truly impacted him. He said:

"A close friend of mine was asked back to his forty-year High School reunion. For months he saved to take his wife back to the place and the people he’d left four decades before. The closer the time came for the reunion, the more excited he became, thinking of all the wonderful stories he would hear about the changes and the accomplishments these old friends would tell him. One night before he left he even pulled out his old yearbooks, read the silly statements and the good wishes for the future that students write to each other. He wondered if any others had encountered Christ who had changed him so profoundly. He even tried to guess what some of his friends would look like, and what kind of jobs and families some of these special friends had. The day came to leave and I drove them to the airport. Their energy was almost contagious. ‘I’ll pick you up on Sunday evening, and you can tell me all about it,’ I said. ‘Have a great time.’"

"Sunday evening arrived. As I watched them get off the plane, my friend seemed almost despondent. I almost didn’t want to ask, but finally I said, ‘Well, how was the reunion?’ ‘Tim,’ the man said, ‘it was one of the saddest experiences of my life.’ ‘It wasn’t what happened but what didn’t happen. It had been forty years, forty years - - and they haven’t really changed. They had simply gained weight, changed clothes, gotten jobs...but they haven’t really changed. And what I experienced was maybe one of the most tragic things I could ever imagine about life. For reasons I can’t fully understand, it seems as though some people choose not to change.’"

"There was a long silence as we walked back to the car. On the drive home, he turned to me and said, ‘I never, never want that to be said of me, Tim. Life is too precious, too sacred, too important. If you ever see me go stagnant like that, I hope you give me a quick, swift kick where I need it - - for Christ’s sake. I hope you’ll love me enough to challenge me to keep growing.’"

That indeed is a tragic story and yet, few, very few Christians, who truly claim the name of Christ clearly understand the noble, the lofty objectives God has for them. Many seldom know or desire to know what it really means to be completely submissive to God’s will, no matter what that cost may be. And in doing that, they are actually resisting God’s purposes in their life. Many are just plain strong-willed who carve out their own life’s decisions, moving in the direction they have set for themselves, instead of being brought into harmony, into the will of the Most High God!

In our study this morning, Isaiah puts things in proper perspective regarding our relationship with God, who He is and who we are. And so if you would, lets begin reading in Isaiah chapter 64, beginning in verse 8.

ISAIAH 64:8-9

"But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O LORD, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look-- we all are Your people!"

The Southern Kingdom of Judah was moving farther away from God, and Isaiah is interceding for himself and his people before God. He is asking Father God to forgive them, not to give up on them. To continue to work in their lives, molding and shaping them into vessels of honor for His glory.

The same is true in our lives. God is working in us, molding and shaping us into a masterpiece for His use, for His glory. Paul, in Ephesians 2:10 said "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." The word "workmanship" in the Greek is POIEMA (poy-ay-mah), which speaks of a masterpiece, a work of art. And the Lord is telling us that He has our lives planned out, all we need to do is walk with Him and allow the Master Potter to complete His work.

I thought it would be beneficial for all of us if we looked at what a potter does with clay, and see what lessons we can glean from them to apply to our own lives, our own walk with the Lord.

1. THE CLAY

There is a story told of a master potter being watched how he worked his craft by someone who knew nothing about this art. And as the master potter went to the shed to obtain the clay he needed for his project, as he opened the doors to this shed, the most vile, the most repulsive, the most overpowering stench of decay came streaming forth from the ground, where the clay was at.

And as the master potter went in, he kneeled down and reached into this miry pit to search out and grasp hold of the clay he needed to complete his task. After he found it, he stood up, walked out of the shed, and closed the door, saying "That’s all for today!"

I find that very interesting, for in Genesis chapter 2 we are told that God has formed us from the dust of the earth or the clay of the earth. (Also we see this in Job 33:6). And when God created Adam he was a perfect masterpiece, until sin enter his life, and he rebelled against God. And thus, Adam and all the future generations that would come from him, including all of us, would be born with a sin nature. Thus, we, in a sense, are drowning in the miry pit with no way out.

But don’t lose heart, for Psalm 40:1-3 tells us "I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth-- praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD." Yes, our lives were vile, they were repulsive, there is the overpowering stench of decay because of sin. And yet, in God’s time, He reached down into that horrible pit and pulled us out with His loving care and tender mercy. He took something that was smelly and just a blob of clay, and is going to make something of beauty, something of honor for Himself.

And just as the master potter went searching for the clay he needed for his work, knowing full well what he was going to make, so too does God. His soft, gentle hands upon our lives, molding us, shaping us into a round ball to be placed upon the potter’s wheel.

2. THE POTTER’S WHEEL

I am sure today that there are many styles, shapes, material that is used for the potter’s wheel. But long ago they used a stone to place the clay upon, and the clay would be placed in the center of the wheel so the potter could have a good handle on the clay. With his feet he could turn the wheel slow or fast and even stop it as he needed to.

Again, if you remember from Psalm 40, David said he "...set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps." Psalm 40:2. It was the Lord who lifted us out of that vile pit and placed us upon the Rock, Jesus Christ. Now Christ was to be the center of our lives and as the Master Potter turns us, which ever way, we would go. It is as Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:17, regarding the changes that take place in our lives. We read "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

3. WHAT THE POTTER SEES

When you think about it, clay is not to impressive. It is not that beautiful, and it doesn’t really do a whole lot. And yet, as the master potter looks at this piece of clay sitting upon his wheel, he doesn’t see it for what it is, but what it will be!

I like that, because that is the way God looks at each of us. He doesn’t see us as we are, but what we will be. There is a story of a sculptor who had ruined a huge piece of beautiful Carrara marble. And this piece of marble was left in the courtyard of the cathedral in Florence, Italy, for almost a hundred years. Artisans thought it was beyond repair.

But in 1505, a young sculptor by the name of Michelangelo was asked if he thought anything could be done with "The Giant." He measured the block and carefully noted the imperfections caused by the bungling workman of an earlier day. And to his mind came the image of the young shepherd boy David.

So he carefully made a sketch of that biblical character as he envisioned him. And for 3 years he worked steadily, his chisel skillfully shaping the marble. Finally, when one of his students was allowed to view the towering figure, 18 feet high and weighing 9 tons, he exclaimed "Master, it lacks only one thing, and that is speech!"

What no one else was able to see in this broken, disfigured ruined piece of marble, Michelangelo saw. He saw the potential of what it could be, just as God sees in each of us. The world looks at us and laughs. They can’t imagine how uneducated and unlearned men and women can be doing the things we are doing. Even some in the church mock what is happening. But the key is never us, but Him. God works in us, and as we spend time with Him, He flows through us.

As you look at the lives of Gideon, hiding in the winepress threshing his wheat because he feared the Midianites would come and steal his crops. And yet, as God looks at him He says, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!" Not because of what He was doing, but his potential, what he was going to do. The same is true of David, a little shepherd boy who Samuel did not see as a king, but God saw him as the king of Israel and had Samuel anoint him. Moses couldn’t speak, he complained to God that he wasn’t capable of doing those things, and yet God chose Moses to lead the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. He saw the potential of Moses, what he would be like. And we can go on, but the point is this, God knows our weaknesses, our frailties, and He also knows what our potential is, what we shall do, He sees us as we shall be, not as we are!

4. SOFTENING WITH WATER

Clay can get hard, it can become difficult to work with, so the master potter will use water to soften the clay. And as he moistens his fingers, and places them gently on the clay, it will be molded and shaped into a vessel he desires. It is his will that he is impressing upon the clay, softening it with the water to make it more pliable, easier to shape with.

God does the same with each of us. He uses the refreshing waters of the Holy Spirit to soften us, make us more pliable, so that as God leads us through His Word, we will be molded into the image He desires. As we surrender our will to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to guide us and direct us, then as we are being molded and shaped by Him, it is God’s will that is coming through and not our own. As Paul said in Galatians 5:16, "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

Now if you refuse to allow God’s Spirit to flow into your life, if you resist what the Holy Spirit is doing, if you are quenching the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, then what will be manifested in your life is hardness, inflexibility, dryness. In other words, the works of the flesh will come flowing from you. The only way to change that is to let the Master Potter, God, touch you with the refreshing waters of His Spirit, and thus, He will continue to mold you into that vessel of honor.

5. MARRED CLAY

At times, as the master potter is working, spinning the clay on the wheel, he just stops. And you may wonder why in the world did he stop, nothing looks wrong. But with his gentle, sensitive hands the master potter can feel a small grain of grit or stone that is in the clay, and if it is not removed, it will leave the vessel marred. So he picks up a fine piece of straw, and gently, with the utmost care, he removes that small piece of grit or stone from the clay.

God once again does that in our own lives. Areas we may not even be aware of, hidden deep down in our hearts, and as He exposes them to us, His desire is that we would release them or give them to Him so this vessel, our lives, will not be marred.

There are also times when these objects are very obvious in our lives. By our actions, by our behavior, we are showing everyone an ugly piece of grit or stone in our lives. It is hard, it scars our lives, but God won’t forcibly remove it. He will wait until we release it to Him. His desire is for us to get rid of those ugly, fleshly works, so that we would be more like Him.

The problem comes when we decide what we are doing is right, that God is wrong, or what God has said doesn’t apply to me. And because of your actions, you are leaving an ugly scar in your life for all to see and be affected by.

King Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, had this same kind of philosophy. Yes God has spoken against these things, but they don’t apply to him, they apply to everyone else. Before the children of Israel entered the promised land and long before they had a king, God warned them in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, "When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel."

And everything that God said not to do, Solomon did. He multiplied horses, even trading with the Egyptians. He multiplied silver and gold in the land to such a degree that things made of silver were thought of as common. And he multiplied wives to himself, marrying foreign women. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. And we read of the result of this in I Kings 11:4-8, "For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods." And the consequences of his actions is found beginning in verse 9 of I Kings chapter 11. We read "So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, ‘Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.’" I Kings 11:9-11.

Don’t ever think you know better than God, for you are only fooling yourself and you will suffer the consequences of your rebellion. And when you really think about it, if God is the potter and we are the clay, if He is molding us, why in the world do we want to fight against Him? He knows what is best for us. In Isaiah 29:16 God shows us the foolishness of our rebellion. We read "Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me’? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?" And again, in Isaiah 45:9-10 we read "Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’? Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’"

In saying that, listen to the words that Paul said to Timothy. We read in II Timothy 2:20-21 "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work." Paul is encouraging Timothy to stay on track, to keep himself useful, not to be marred, so that he may be used by God as a vessel of honor and not dishonor. We will deal with this a little more in a few moments.

6. PREPARED IN THE FIRE

As the master potter completes his work, he takes a wet thread in his hands an pulls it taut. Then, with a swift, sure motion he cuts across the base of the vase, separating the fresh piece from the lump of mud from which it had been shaped.

In our own lives, there comes a time when we must be cut off from the old ways, the old life, those former habits, those previous actions and attitudes. There is a detachment that is needed as we are set aside for a special purpose, a special service.

But the work is not done yet. Before they can glow with beauty, they must endure the fire so that the final glaze is placed on and it becomes a masterpiece. As on person said, "Most people do not know that fine china comes from fierce fires!" "You cannot get beauty without some severe suffering!"

As our lives are placed in the refiners fire, as we go through difficult times, times we may not understand why, and they may be very intense, don’t lose hope. Yes it may seem that the intentions of God are hard towards us, severe towards us, but God is working in us to produce vessels of honor that will serve Him well.

In I Peter 1:6-7 we read "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." God is purging out the garbage in our lives, putting on the glaze, not to bring us honor, but Him!

7. THE MASTERPIECE

As the master potter completes his work, he places his name upon the vessel. Thus, he does he work completely, down to the smallest detail. Why? Because his name, his reputation, his honor is at stake. He wants his work to be beautiful, truly a masterpiece.

The same is true in our own lives. As God places His name upon us, His name, His reputation, His honor is at stake in us. Does our life, does our conduct reflect God in a positive light?

Don’t become discouraged, for we all have much room to grow and God is not finished with us. His work is not completed in an hour, a day, a month, a year, but it takes a lifetime. And there are times we have to be taken back to the fires of affliction to make us more like Him. Again, as Paul said in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." God will complete the work He has started in us. The only person or the only thing that can get in His way, is us. Many times it is pride, stubbornness, rebellion, refusal to submit to Him, that hinders the work that God is trying to do in our lives. Don’t ever be comfortable where you are at, but keep striving forward, allowing the Master Potter to mold and shape your life into a vessel of honor.

As I bring this study to a close, let me leave you with this thought about a Christian who was comfortable in the way he lived, with no desire to change, no desire to allow the Master Potter to transform His life.

There was an old farmer who frequently described his Christian experience by saying, "Well, I’m not making much progress, but I’m established!" One spring when he was hauling some logs, his wagon wheels sank down to the axles in the mud. Try as he would, he couldn’t get the wagon out. Defeated, he sat atop the logs, viewing the dismal situation. Soon a neighbor who had always felt uncomfortable with the farmer’s worn out testimony came along and greeted him, "Well, brother Jones, I see you’re not making much progress, but you must be content because you’re well established!" Don’t become a lump on a log, placed on the shelf, of no use!

As Phillip Keller rightly said: "It is this glorious enterprise in which He is engaged in the earth. He invites us as His people to share in His sufferings. He has been here, He has lived where we live, He has endured our sorrows as we do. He understands us fully."

"It is He, the master craftsman, who is creating in us His own sublime workmanship. He is perfecting beautiful people. He is setting us apart for a special service to all His earth children."

"His name, His honor, His reputation are at stake in us. To Him be the glory, forever!"