Sermon Synopsis for April 13, 2008

“A Worthy Vessel” Jeremiah 18:1-6

This is the first part of a three part series about stewardship.

STEWARDSHIP
(Miriam-Webster definition): 1. The duties and obligations of a steward (employed to manage the affairs and concerns of another). 2. The careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.

A steward is more a position of responsibility, not a position of pride and social standing.

IRS – donations to churches are deductible on federal taxes.
Maybe you’ve heard the story about a man who claimed a deduction for a $10K donation to his church. The IRS Calls the church to verify the deduction, “Did he make this donation.” The Church Treasurer tells him – “I’m sure (after I check) he will have made the donation.”

Our scripture passage is from Jeremiah. He’s known as “the sad prophet.” He had a lot to be sad about.

Jeremiah’s world was a mess. War and violence were all around. There were two super powers in the area: Babylonia (Nebuchadnezzar) and Egypt (Neco II); everyone else had a relative peace while these two big ones were fighting. You just had to be careful whose side you took. In 605 BC, at the Battle of Carchemish, Babylonia defeated Egypt and became the sole super power. Babylonia looked to take control of all the smaller kingdoms. Judah, unfortunately, thought Egypt was going to win, and sided with them.

Judah was a mess. Despite reforms from Young King Josiah, his children and grandchildren went against God. They made alliances with other kingdoms instead of trusting God.

Ultimately, according to Jeremiah, Judah was a spiritual mess. They accepted the gods of the other kingdoms, made graven images, had lax morality (no sin stardards), and sacrifices became cultural traditions.

Before they could become what God wanted them to be, they had to go through a transformation – they couldn’t be useful people to God in the condition they were in. They didn’t have a good value system in place, especially a system for self-worth.

WHAT ARE THINGS WORTH?
Three boys are in the schoolyard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give him $50."

The second boy says, "That's nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him $100."

The third boy says, "I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon and it takes four people to collect all the money!"

It is tax time.
Maybe you heard about a little boy, who wanted $100.00 very badly, prayed for two weeks but nothing happened. Then he decided to write GOD a letter requesting $100.00. When the postal authorities received the letter to GOD, U.S.A., they decided to send it to the President. The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the boy $5.00. Mr. President thought that this would appear to be a lot of money to the little boy. The little boy was delighted with the $5.00 and immediately sat down to write a thank you note to GOD that read: "Dear God, Thank you very much for sending me the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington, D.C., and, as usual, those devils deducted $95.00.

If a financial counselor asked you, “what’s your net worth?”
Most think of bank accounts, annual income, investments.
If the IRS asked you, “what’s your net worth?”
You might have a different answer.
If God asked you, “what’s your net worth?”
How would you respond?

Martin Luther, the protestant reformer, is quoted as saying, “People go through 3 conversions: their head, their heart and their pocketbook. Unfortunately, not all at the same time.”

WHAT IS OUR HUMAN LIFE WORTH?
There are different aspects of our lives to take into account.

Physical worth:
- Chemical components of human body = 3 to 4 dollars, depending on the market (but you have to lose your life to redeem this amount).
- We could sell our organs at a better price (same result, lose our life).
- Use our bodies to work (value per hour or per monthly salary)
- Sell our bodies (prostitution)

Social worth:
- Position in society.
- Riches, power
- Friends, colleagues, family
- Education

Spiritual worth:
- Religion, ecclesiastical structure, belief system.
- Ethics, moral
- Concept of god

What part of our lives does God want? (Rhetorical question)

I showed the children an old roughly made clay bowl and asked them what they thought it was worth. They didn’t appreciate it very much. When they learned that the bowl was from the formative period of pre-Columbian history in central South America, that changed everything. The fact that someone took some clay and formed this bowl as much as 2400 years ago made a big difference.

Isaiah wrote (64:8), “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

Our value comes from being formed by God!

Jeremiah went to the potter’s house.

In Israel (as in much of the world) pottery is the common stuff of everyday life.
The archaeological periods are (in some part) defined by the pottery style and form.

Pottery was a vital part of the economic structure in Old Testament times. It was a major industry. If you had gone down to the potter's house in those days you would have seen one or more men making this pottery using what we would call crude machinery. He would probably be sitting on a wooden seat with a small table in front of him. Under that table and fastened to it would be a large round rock about the size of a large automobile tire. He would turn the table by placing his feet on top of the large round stone and turning it by using his feet.

What did Jeremiah see? (Verses 3-4) He saw a potter making a vessel, decide it wasn’t very good, and use the same clay to make a new pot. (A Makeover) This was nothing out of the ordinary.

Jeremiah had a gift. He could see spiritual things in everyday objects and events. This ability is truly a gift from God.

God says to Jeremiah, “that’s a lot like you and me.” (v.6) An analogy.
God = potter
Clay = us, humans

Most of us would rather see ourselves in the role of the potter of our own lives (our destinies). That’s not the way God wants us to see it.

The clay is the work of the potter.
God has the authority (and ownership)
God has the power and ability

What can the clay do? Not much.
Can the clay reject what the potter has made?
Can the clay make itself?

Romans 9:20-21 “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the clay what he wants?

God wants to form us – according to Genesis 2:26-27 – in His image.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over “the things I made, that are mine.”

God made us – God made us good – God made us to take care of his stuff.

The psalmist wrote “The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” (Psalm 24:1)

Jeremiah talks about a makeover:
God doesn’t want any “self-made men;” God wants men (and women) who submit to God’s forming in t heir lives.

Check out Jonathan Edwards’s 1741 sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html). Those hands can form you, or destroy you. It’s best to be forgiven when those hands are forming you!

Psalm 119:73 “Your hands made me and formed me …”

A Study was made (you can do a scientific investigation of anything these days) relating the mood of the potter to the work that is produced. This is not a production line with quality control, but an artist working with the clay. By looking at the pot (or whatever is being made) they could tell what mood the potter was in when it was made.
Can we push the analogy here? What mood was God in when you were made?

Why does the potter bother to make the pot?
- He likes to do it.
- He receives something for doing it.
- He’s good at it.

What about the pot?
- it must be useful
- it should be appealing to look at.
- It reflects the nature, person, and ability of the potter.
- Its value depends on these things.

Christian Stewardship doesn’t begin by talking about our relationship with money or things … it begins by talking about our relationship with God, our creator.

Searching for the true value of material possessions and for the value of people depends on the relationship with God

God wants to change our lives, a makeover, re-create us, so that we can be stewards, in God’s world.

Colossians 2:13 “When you were dead in your sins … and your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.”

What are you worth? Did you ever watch Antiques Roadshow?
If I took you to the heavenly Antiques Roadshow, what would God say you are worth?

Our worth comes from being molded and shaped by God’s hands. It is God who gives us true worth. – Priceless.
Put your lives into God’s hands!

We closed with the hymn, HAVE THINE OWN WAY, LORD
Adelaide Pollard, who wrote "Have Thine Own Way Lord" knew something about the relationship between God and humanity, and the potter and the clay.

She didn’t like her life: changed her name (from Sarah), moved from Iowa to Boston, to Chicago, back to New England, etc. At a church meeting (1902) she heard a woman pray. The woman didn’t ask God for material blessings or things or liberation from problems; instead she prayed “It doesn’t matter what you bring into our lives, Lord. Just have your own way with us.” She decided to let God lead. That night Pollard wrote the words to this hymn.

"Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the potter, I am the clay! Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still." (First verse of "Have Thine Own Way")