WEBVTT 00:00:01.579 --> 00:00:04.759 Woe to the clay! You're arguing with your maker? 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:08.820 The pot doesn't question the hands that formed 00:00:08.820 --> 00:00:17.839 it. Before there was a sermon, there was a summons. 00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:21.260 Arise, the Lord said, and go down to the potter's 00:00:21.260 --> 00:00:24.489 house. not up to the palace, not over to the 00:00:24.489 --> 00:00:27.609 temple courts, down into the low place where 00:00:27.609 --> 00:00:30.850 clay stays wet, wheels keep turning and hands 00:00:30.850 --> 00:00:33.929 don't flinch when something collapses mid -spin. 00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:37.570 Jeremiah stands there watching a vessel lose 00:00:37.570 --> 00:00:41.250 its shape, watching failure happen in real time 00:00:41.250 --> 00:00:45.009 and waiting to hear what God might say about 00:00:45.009 --> 00:00:47.049 a life that didn't hold together the way it was 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:51.509 supposed to. No moral lesson, just motion, pressure, 00:00:52.260 --> 00:00:54.399 hands that didn't let go. And now here we are. 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:57.259 You're tuning into a small town church on a Sunday 00:00:57.259 --> 00:01:00.899 morning. Candlelights flickering, coffee that's 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:03.380 been on too long, people carrying weeks that 00:01:03.380 --> 00:01:06.500 didn't go as planned. No spectacle, no polish, 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:10.140 just a word spoken slow enough to matter. If 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:12.900 you've ever wondered whether collapse disqualifies 00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:15.900 you, stay with us and I'll see you on the other 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:26.709 side. So let me begin this morning by saying 00:01:26.709 --> 00:01:31.109 today's sermon is by request. And I take requests. 00:01:31.189 --> 00:01:35.209 So if you've got a sermon request, I'd love to 00:01:35.209 --> 00:01:39.269 hear it. The person wanted to do the wheel, the 00:01:39.269 --> 00:01:42.909 potter's wheel and the clay. And tell me which 00:01:42.909 --> 00:01:45.590 part of the Bible, because it's talked about 00:01:45.590 --> 00:01:48.150 once, which part of the Bible they wanted me 00:01:48.150 --> 00:01:50.450 to preach on. So I decided I'll just preach on 00:01:50.450 --> 00:01:54.030 all three of them. But the good thing is I know 00:01:54.030 --> 00:01:57.010 what I'm doing. So we're not doing three sermons. 00:01:57.030 --> 00:01:59.450 We're just doing one, and you'll be out in time 00:01:59.450 --> 00:02:01.849 for lunch. But you're going to get all three 00:02:01.849 --> 00:02:06.269 today. And this morning, I want to start off 00:02:06.269 --> 00:02:12.509 by picturing what really is a holy place. But 00:02:12.509 --> 00:02:16.129 this place doesn't smell like incense. There's 00:02:16.129 --> 00:02:20.469 no choir practicing down the hall. No polished 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:24.430 wood, no gold trim, no air conditioning humming 00:02:24.430 --> 00:02:30.889 in the ceiling tiles. Picture a low building 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:38.409 near a water source. Because potters need water. 00:02:39.030 --> 00:02:44.370 And lots of it. The Hymnon Valley, maybe, south 00:02:44.370 --> 00:02:47.870 side of Jerusalem. It's where the trash fires 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:53.210 burn and the craftsmen work. Mud on the floor, 00:02:53.430 --> 00:02:58.729 clay dust hanging in the air like a fog never 00:02:58.729 --> 00:03:04.770 seems to quite settle. The steady, patient groan 00:03:04.770 --> 00:03:09.710 of a wheel turning, not the electric kind, the 00:03:09.710 --> 00:03:12.050 kind you have to kick with your foot while your 00:03:12.050 --> 00:03:17.469 hands stay wet and your back stays bent. A man 00:03:17.469 --> 00:03:22.349 leans forward, his sleeves rolled up, his hands 00:03:22.349 --> 00:03:27.310 already dirty before the work ever begins. This 00:03:27.310 --> 00:03:33.050 is where God sends Jeremiah. Not to a throne 00:03:33.050 --> 00:03:37.939 room where a king makes policy. to a temple where 00:03:37.939 --> 00:03:41.460 priests are making the sacrifices, not to the 00:03:41.460 --> 00:03:44.539 seminary where the scribes are making arguments. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:50.240 Arise, the Lord says, and go down to the potter's 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:58.620 house. Down. God doesn't say go over or go visit. 00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:03.379 He says go down because the potter's house sits 00:04:03.379 --> 00:04:07.759 low near the water. Near the place where the 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:13.620 city throws what it doesn't want anymore. Formation 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:17.680 doesn't happen on a pedestal. It happens in the 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:23.199 dirt. And Jeremiah walks in, educated, prophetic, 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:29.180 temple credentialed man. And he sees something 00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:32.639 that would never make it onto the brochure of 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:38.300 the Jerusalem travel board. He sees a pot fail. 00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:43.899 Mid -spin, the wall starts to wobble. The center 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:47.439 loses its hold. The whole thing slumps sideways 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:51.620 and caves in on itself. It becomes a sad lump 00:04:51.620 --> 00:04:58.759 of what it almost was. And nobody panics. Potter 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:02.540 doesn't curse the clay, doesn't throw it across 00:05:02.540 --> 00:05:06.180 the room, doesn't blame the wheel or the weather 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:09.779 or the prior owner of the clay pit. He simply 00:05:09.779 --> 00:05:15.500 presses it back together, leans in, and starts 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:21.259 over. That is the sermon God preaches before 00:05:21.259 --> 00:05:25.540 Jeremiah ever opens his mouth. The whole theology 00:05:25.540 --> 00:05:30.620 in one motion. Collapse, gather, build again. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:36.300 There's a reason God doesn't send Jeremiah to 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:40.779 watch a carpenter or a blacksmith. Wood, once 00:05:40.779 --> 00:05:47.540 cut, stays cut. Iron, once cooled, holds its 00:05:47.540 --> 00:05:54.019 shape and breaks trying. But clay... Clay is 00:05:54.019 --> 00:05:57.399 the only material that gets second chances built 00:05:57.399 --> 00:06:03.860 into its nature. Before the fire, clay can always 00:06:03.860 --> 00:06:09.040 go back to the beginning, can always be made 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:15.000 again. That's not a flaw in the medium. That's 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:21.279 the point. So my dear friends, Tune your ears 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:24.480 to the reading of Holy Scripture. A scripture 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:26.759 this morning comes from the prophecy of Jeremiah, 00:06:27.220 --> 00:06:32.800 the 18th chapter of his prophecy. The word which 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:37.040 came to Jerusalem from Yahweh saying, Arise and 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:41.019 go down to the potter's house, and there I will 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:45.399 cause you to hear my words. Then I went down 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:48.860 to the potter's house, and behold, he was making 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:52.100 a work on the wheels. When the vessel that he 00:06:52.100 --> 00:06:54.740 made of the clay was marred in the hand of the 00:06:54.740 --> 00:07:00.279 potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:05.100 good to the potter to make it. Then Yahweh's 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:09.000 word came to me, saying, House of Israel, can't 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:15.810 I do with you just as this potter? Behold, as 00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:19.490 the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in 00:07:19.490 --> 00:07:24.610 my hand, house of Israel. This is the word of 00:07:24.610 --> 00:07:31.949 the Lord. Notice what isn't said. Text never 00:07:31.949 --> 00:07:34.529 tells us that the clay was rebellious. It never 00:07:34.529 --> 00:07:38.670 says the clay was sinful. It doesn't even say 00:07:38.670 --> 00:07:42.680 the clay had done something wrong. The Hebrew 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:48.040 word there is shakat. It means marred or spoiled 00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:53.040 or ruined. But here's the thing, shakat doesn't 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:58.600 carry moral weight in the passage. It's not judgment, 00:07:58.819 --> 00:08:04.540 it's description. The vessel was marred. In the 00:08:04.540 --> 00:08:08.180 hand of the potter, not on the shelf, not in 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:11.339 the firing, not because someone had dropped it. 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:16.779 It failed whilst being made. And I just want 00:08:16.779 --> 00:08:19.860 to pause here from a Bible nerd standpoint. We 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:22.860 have just talked about the word Shekat. I don't 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:25.339 know if you guys were with us, but if you remember 00:08:25.339 --> 00:08:28.339 the time not too long ago when we talked about 00:08:28.339 --> 00:08:31.730 Noah and the ark not. being built with a rudder 00:08:31.730 --> 00:08:34.169 or a steering wheel or sails. Does anybody remember 00:08:34.169 --> 00:08:37.769 that one? We talked in that one about why God 00:08:37.769 --> 00:08:40.730 sent the flood. It's because he saw the world 00:08:40.730 --> 00:08:45.190 and it was Shekat. It was ruined from the inside 00:08:45.190 --> 00:08:49.370 out. It had to start over again. Same Hebrew 00:08:49.370 --> 00:08:53.389 word here. Sometimes though, failure isn't a 00:08:53.389 --> 00:08:57.669 moral one. Sometimes it's pressure. Sometimes 00:08:57.669 --> 00:09:01.870 it's timing. Sometimes it's an air bubble trapped 00:09:01.870 --> 00:09:06.590 inside that nobody can see. Sometimes it's life 00:09:06.590 --> 00:09:09.450 leaning too hard in one direction for too long. 00:09:09.669 --> 00:09:16.009 And still, still, Potter doesn't quit. He made 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:20.049 it again, another vessel, as seemed good to the 00:09:20.049 --> 00:09:25.129 Potter to make it. Not as it seemed fair to the 00:09:25.129 --> 00:09:31.600 clay. Not as seemed logical to the vessel. Not 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:39.759 as seemed good by anybody but the potter. And 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:43.379 let me ask you a question here early on, and 00:09:43.379 --> 00:09:46.179 I want you to sit with it before you answer yourself. 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:51.960 When is the last time you might have felt yourself 00:09:51.960 --> 00:10:01.419 losing shape? Not sinning. Not rebelling. Just 00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:08.919 sagging. The walls that used to hold started 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:15.059 wobbling. The center you thought was set started 00:10:15.059 --> 00:10:19.960 to drift. And you didn't have a dramatic reason 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:23.389 for it. You just... Looked down one day and thought, 00:10:23.450 --> 00:10:29.649 I don't know what I'm becoming anymore. Maybe 00:10:29.649 --> 00:10:32.289 it was a diagnosis. Maybe it was a kid who stopped 00:10:32.289 --> 00:10:35.610 calling you. Maybe it was a job. Used to mean 00:10:35.610 --> 00:10:39.950 something and now it just means a paycheck. Maybe, 00:10:39.990 --> 00:10:44.169 maybe it was a faith that felt like fire 20 years 00:10:44.169 --> 00:10:48.169 ago, but now feels just like maintenance at 50. 00:10:50.090 --> 00:10:53.750 You're not alone in that room. Jeremiah is standing 00:10:53.750 --> 00:10:56.870 right there with you, watching a pot collapse. 00:10:57.350 --> 00:11:03.549 And then God says, watch what happens next. And 00:11:03.549 --> 00:11:10.090 here is where we usually flinch. Because we want 00:11:10.090 --> 00:11:14.649 Jeremiah 18 to be comforting without confrontational. 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:19.250 We want it embroidered on a pillow, not preached 00:11:19.250 --> 00:11:24.289 to us as a warning. We want the Hallmark version. 00:11:24.970 --> 00:11:28.370 You're clay, God's the potter, right? Isn't that 00:11:28.370 --> 00:11:33.669 sweet? But hear me carefully. Jeremiah 18 is 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:38.210 not primarily about personal self -esteem. It's 00:11:38.210 --> 00:11:41.899 about national repentance. It's about a people 00:11:41.899 --> 00:11:45.980 so convinced that they were already finished 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:49.500 products that they had stopped letting God do 00:11:49.500 --> 00:11:54.120 God's work. God is speaking to the nation of 00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:57.179 Israel at a moment when they think the shape 00:11:57.179 --> 00:12:03.179 is set, temple standing, rituals intact, identities 00:12:03.179 --> 00:12:07.720 secured. They've got the right ancestors, the 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:10.200 right address, the right credentials. And God 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:15.299 says, you're still on the wheel. That's the offense. 00:12:16.580 --> 00:12:20.759 We like a God who saves us. We get nervous about 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:25.919 a God who keeps shaping us. Jeremiah's audience 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:30.080 doesn't object to God being powerful. They object 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:35.429 to God being hands -on. They want blessing without 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:39.429 pressure, promise without reshaping, election 00:12:39.429 --> 00:12:43.830 without alteration. And God says clay doesn't 00:12:43.830 --> 00:12:49.730 get to lock in its own design. Isaiah, another 00:12:49.730 --> 00:12:53.759 Old Testament prophet. Heard this argument long 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:57.799 before Jeremiah ever walked downhill. Listen 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:01.559 to what he says in chapter 9, verse 45 of his 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:06.559 prophecy. Woe to him who strives with his maker. 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:10.899 A clay pot among the clay pots of the earth. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:16.179 Shall the clay ask him who fashioned it, what 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:21.899 are you making? A clay pot amongst... Clay pots. 00:13:23.580 --> 00:13:29.639 Hear what Isaiah is doing here. He says, you 00:13:29.639 --> 00:13:33.360 are going to stand in a field of broken pottery, 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:37.059 shards and fragments, things that used to be 00:13:37.059 --> 00:13:41.059 vessels and are now just evidence that vessels 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:44.460 once existed. And you're going to argue from 00:13:44.460 --> 00:13:48.399 that position. You're going to demand an explanation 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:54.539 from the one who created you. That's not God 00:13:54.539 --> 00:13:59.440 being thin -skinned. That's God naming the absurdity 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:03.840 of that reversal. Creation trying to interrogate 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:08.500 the creator. The formed object critiquing the 00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:13.200 former. And here's the thing. Isaiah doesn't 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:17.840 condemn the questions. The Psalms are full of 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:21.840 questions. Job is one long question mark towards 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:29.950 heaven. What Isaiah exposes is pretension. The 00:14:29.950 --> 00:14:36.330 clay pretending it offered itself. The pot acting 00:14:36.330 --> 00:14:42.269 like it chose the curves. And that's where this 00:14:42.269 --> 00:14:46.970 sermon starts to sting a little. Because religious 00:14:46.970 --> 00:14:51.990 people are especially good. at thinking we've 00:14:51.990 --> 00:14:55.490 graduated from the wheel. We say things like, 00:14:55.610 --> 00:15:01.049 that's just how I am, or God knows my heart, 00:15:01.210 --> 00:15:06.529 or I've already been through enough. All true. 00:15:07.789 --> 00:15:14.629 None of them, though, veto the potter. Stay in 00:15:14.629 --> 00:15:20.200 the room with Jeremiah for just a moment. Watch 00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:26.500 the wheel. Potter's foot keeps a steady rhythm. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:31.279 Push, release, push, release. The clay rises 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.899 between his hands. Doesn't choose its height. 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:38.659 It doesn't negotiate its walls. The potter presses 00:15:38.659 --> 00:15:42.980 in and the clay yields. And that's the whole 00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:46.440 relationship. There's no bargaining with the 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:51.259 wheel. And here is what Jeremiah sees that we 00:15:51.259 --> 00:15:55.860 keep trying to unsee. The clay cannot shape itself. 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:00.759 It can't decide what it's becoming. It can't 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:04.220 say, I'd rather be a wine jar than a lamp stand. 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:08.799 It can't say, I'm almost finished, don't you 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:13.960 dare start over. It sits on the wheel and the 00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:19.460 hands do what hands do. It's not cruelty. That's 00:16:19.460 --> 00:16:24.000 the nature of the material. And here is the key 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:28.820 phrase. Don't miss this. As seemed good to the 00:16:28.820 --> 00:16:33.120 potter to make it. Not as seemed fair to the 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.840 clay. Not as logical to the vessel. As seemed 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:42.980 good to the potter. Goodness precedes explanation. 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:50.919 And that is where often modern faith stumbles. 00:16:52.820 --> 00:16:58.220 So often we demand clarity before our surrender. 00:16:59.940 --> 00:17:03.259 We want to see the blueprints before we sit on 00:17:03.259 --> 00:17:07.779 the wheel. We want to know what we're becoming 00:17:07.779 --> 00:17:13.349 before we consent to the pressure. But God offers 00:17:13.349 --> 00:17:18.910 surrender before clarity. And the wheel turns 00:17:18.910 --> 00:17:24.529 either way. The question is whether you stay 00:17:24.529 --> 00:17:31.650 centered or you try to fight the spin. And now 00:17:31.650 --> 00:17:36.549 the New Testament, Paul shows up. And this is 00:17:36.549 --> 00:17:38.569 where folks have been sweating through their 00:17:38.569 --> 00:17:42.809 Sunday clothes for a long time. because Romans 00:17:42.809 --> 00:17:47.529 chapter nine doesn't soften the image, sharpens 00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:53.970 until it cuts. But indeed, oh man, who are you 00:17:53.970 --> 00:17:58.309 to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask 00:17:58.309 --> 00:18:01.130 him who formed it, why did you make me like this? 00:18:02.029 --> 00:18:06.650 Or hasn't the potter a right over the clay? From 00:18:06.650 --> 00:18:10.150 the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor 00:18:10.150 --> 00:18:15.990 and another dishonor. And people have read that 00:18:15.990 --> 00:18:20.230 and they hear tyranny. They hear a God who's 00:18:20.230 --> 00:18:23.869 drunk on control playing favorites with the clay. 00:18:25.269 --> 00:18:29.029 But Paul here is actually talking about mercy. 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:34.440 And here's how I can show you. Romans 9 sits 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:37.480 right in the middle of an argument Paul has been 00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:41.000 having with these people who are furious about 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:45.500 whom are now getting into heaven. The Gentiles, 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:49.079 the pagans, the outsiders, people who didn't 00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:52.400 know the Torah from a takeout menu are being 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:57.660 welcomed at the table now. And Paul's opponents 00:18:57.660 --> 00:19:03.130 are livid. They've got the credentials. They've 00:19:03.130 --> 00:19:05.690 got the bloodlines. They've kept the commands, 00:19:06.049 --> 00:19:09.130 observed the feasts, maintained the traditions 00:19:09.130 --> 00:19:16.130 for generations. They did everything right. And 00:19:16.130 --> 00:19:20.109 now the potter is making room for people who 00:19:20.109 --> 00:19:26.430 showed up late with nothing but open hands? And 00:19:26.430 --> 00:19:31.650 that's the scandal. Not that God has power. Everybody 00:19:31.650 --> 00:19:37.309 already knew that. Scandal is that God uses that 00:19:37.309 --> 00:19:40.890 power to include people we'd rather exclude. 00:19:43.569 --> 00:19:47.069 Paul reaches for the potter because he needs 00:19:47.069 --> 00:19:51.470 a metaphor big enough to say God's mercy doesn't 00:19:51.470 --> 00:19:56.190 answer to your scorekeeping. And again, when 00:19:56.190 --> 00:19:58.430 we press, here is where it gets uncomfortable 00:19:58.430 --> 00:20:02.609 because there might be someone in this room playing 00:20:02.609 --> 00:20:06.410 the role of a scandalized Israelite and you don't 00:20:06.410 --> 00:20:11.630 even know it. You've been faithful. You've been 00:20:11.630 --> 00:20:14.769 here. You've stayed when others left. You've 00:20:14.769 --> 00:20:17.769 tithed when it hurt. You've held your tongue 00:20:17.769 --> 00:20:20.690 when you've wanted to scream. You've done the 00:20:20.690 --> 00:20:27.519 work. And then you walk, someone waltz in, someone 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:31.420 who's wandered, someone who has wasted years 00:20:31.420 --> 00:20:34.519 of their life, someone who didn't pay the dues 00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:39.259 you've paid. And they got the same grace, same 00:20:39.259 --> 00:20:43.440 welcome, same seat at the table. And something 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:49.740 in you went cold. Something in you whispered, 00:20:49.740 --> 00:20:57.000 not fair. That whisper? That's the clay telling 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:01.779 the potter the categories are wrong. God's mercy 00:21:01.779 --> 00:21:07.559 is bigger and freer than your categories. And 00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:12.200 that means this. The person you have secretly 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:15.319 decided doesn't deserve a second chance, God 00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:18.460 might be reworking them on the wheel right now. 00:21:19.950 --> 00:21:24.970 The one you wrote off, still on the wheel. And 00:21:24.970 --> 00:21:29.009 if that offends you, you might have more in common 00:21:29.009 --> 00:21:31.170 with Paul's opponents than you want to admit. 00:21:32.549 --> 00:21:35.230 Potter doesn't consult your list as to who's 00:21:35.230 --> 00:21:41.130 worthy. He just keeps making vessels. Jeremiah 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:46.549 says you can be reshaped. Isaiah reminds us you 00:21:46.549 --> 00:21:49.269 are not self -made, and Paul says God's mercy 00:21:49.269 --> 00:21:52.549 is freer and bigger than your categories. Same 00:21:52.549 --> 00:21:57.190 wheel, same hands, different generations discovering 00:21:57.190 --> 00:22:01.990 the same uncomfortable truth. We are not finished 00:22:01.990 --> 00:22:07.710 until God says so. Here's the pastoral turn in 00:22:07.710 --> 00:22:14.390 the sermon, and I want to say this plainly. Because 00:22:14.390 --> 00:22:16.710 some of you are mad at God because the shape 00:22:16.710 --> 00:22:22.990 didn't hold. The marriage sagged under its own 00:22:22.990 --> 00:22:27.730 weight. The calling you were so sure about when 00:22:27.730 --> 00:22:30.690 you were 30 collapsed somewhere about the age 00:22:30.690 --> 00:22:35.170 47. And you have been staring into the rubble 00:22:35.170 --> 00:22:40.230 ever since. The faith you thought was fired and 00:22:40.230 --> 00:22:44.359 finished, sealed and solid. Started wobbling 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:47.380 under pressure you didn't expect nor ask for. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:53.579 And you assumed that meant failure. You assumed 00:22:53.579 --> 00:22:58.160 God had walked away. You assumed silence in your 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:04.980 chest was the sound of abandonment. Jeremiah 00:23:04.980 --> 00:23:11.279 18 says it might be reworking. But reworking. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.559 It's not painless. Let's not pretend that it 00:23:15.559 --> 00:23:21.059 is. Clay has to be pressed back together. Air 00:23:21.059 --> 00:23:24.299 bubbles have to be exposed. That means pressure 00:23:24.299 --> 00:23:29.380 in places that already hurt. Edges have to be 00:23:29.380 --> 00:23:33.119 softened. The center has to be found again. And 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:38.880 none of that happens gently. Potter's hands aren't 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.549 gentle the way we want them. them to be gentle, 00:23:41.730 --> 00:23:46.809 they're present. There's pressure in every motion, 00:23:47.009 --> 00:23:52.650 resistance and yield and pressure again. Nobody 00:23:52.650 --> 00:23:57.529 volunteers for that. But listen, this is crucial. 00:23:58.829 --> 00:24:02.269 Potter never once takes his hands off the clay. 00:24:03.410 --> 00:24:09.210 Even when it collapses, it collapses in his hands. 00:24:10.390 --> 00:24:13.789 That's proximity. That's a God who would rather 00:24:13.789 --> 00:24:16.970 hold you through the failure than watch you succeed 00:24:16.970 --> 00:24:21.769 from a distance. But here's what we haven't talked 00:24:21.769 --> 00:24:28.109 about yet. The kiln. Because everything that 00:24:28.109 --> 00:24:31.029 I have said so far, the collapsing, the reworking, 00:24:31.150 --> 00:24:34.130 the pressure of hands, the centering on the wheel, 00:24:34.250 --> 00:24:37.369 all of that happens to clay when it is still 00:24:37.369 --> 00:24:41.529 soft. Clay that can still be reshaped. Clay that 00:24:41.529 --> 00:24:46.390 hasn't been through the fire yet. Fire is different. 00:24:48.150 --> 00:24:52.349 Fire is what makes the shape permanent. For the 00:24:52.349 --> 00:24:56.109 kiln, a pot can be smashed back down and started 00:24:56.109 --> 00:25:00.529 over a hundred times. After the kiln, what you 00:25:00.529 --> 00:25:05.329 are, is what you are. Vessel that comes out of 00:25:05.329 --> 00:25:08.880 the fire holds its form. It doesn't yield to 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.799 pressure anymore. It carries water without being 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:17.559 dissolved. It is useful now. Some of you are 00:25:17.559 --> 00:25:21.400 in that fire right now. You're not on the wheel 00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:23.380 wondering what shape you're becoming. You're 00:25:23.380 --> 00:25:25.960 in the heat and it's not letting up. And you're 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:30.619 wondering if this is punishment. You're wondering 00:25:30.619 --> 00:25:33.200 if you've done something wrong. You're wondering 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:37.039 if you're being destroyed. Hear me, fire is not 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:40.299 punishment. Fire is what makes you permanent. 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:45.539 And let me also be careful here because not every 00:25:45.539 --> 00:25:50.660 fire is God's kiln. Some fires are lit by hell. 00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:55.140 Some fires are lit by life. Some by our own choices. 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.839 Some by people who should have protected us and 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:02.059 didn't. Not here to baptize your suffering as 00:26:02.059 --> 00:26:06.680 God's plan. But I am here to tell you this. Potter 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:09.779 doesn't abandon the clay in the heat. Whatever 00:26:09.779 --> 00:26:12.720 fire you're in, whether it is God lit or not, 00:26:12.920 --> 00:26:16.579 he came and can meet you there. He can use it. 00:26:16.619 --> 00:26:20.220 He can bring you out holding a shape you didn't 00:26:20.220 --> 00:26:23.859 even know you had in you. There's a difference, 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:27.460 friends, between a vessel holding its shape and 00:26:27.460 --> 00:26:32.279 that. which it is its shape. Before the fire, 00:26:32.599 --> 00:26:36.200 you had potential. After the fire, you're now 00:26:36.200 --> 00:26:40.740 usable. Kiln doesn't destroy the work, it finishes 00:26:40.740 --> 00:26:46.140 it. I know it doesn't feel like finishing. No, 00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:52.180 it feels like burning. Potter shaped you, didn't 00:26:52.180 --> 00:26:55.680 put you into the fire to watch you crack. Put 00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:58.019 you in the fire because he believes the shape 00:26:58.019 --> 00:27:01.400 will hold. Because he's decided you're ready. 00:27:02.940 --> 00:27:06.799 Fire's coming for all of us, friends, as it should. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:12.740 Jeremiah 18 also doesn't end with comfort. If 00:27:12.740 --> 00:27:15.500 you read the rest of the chapter sometime, God 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:18.700 goes on to say that a nation can resist a shaping. 00:27:19.789 --> 00:27:23.470 Can't refuse the pressure. Harden too soon. And 00:27:23.470 --> 00:27:27.029 that's the real danger. Not being marred, but 00:27:27.029 --> 00:27:35.690 becoming unmoldable. The danger isn't collapsing 00:27:35.690 --> 00:27:42.109 on the wheel. The danger is hearing turn and 00:27:42.109 --> 00:27:50.410 say no. Hard clay doesn't bend, it cracks. Fired 00:27:50.410 --> 00:27:54.190 too early, it shatters under stress. And church, 00:27:54.329 --> 00:27:57.990 the saddest thing in the world is not brokenness. 00:27:58.829 --> 00:28:03.569 It's brittleness. It's the person who decided 00:28:03.569 --> 00:28:07.289 20 years ago that that's just the way they were 00:28:07.289 --> 00:28:10.890 and it was sealed shut. It's the faith that stopped 00:28:10.890 --> 00:28:13.990 asking questions because questions feel somehow 00:28:13.990 --> 00:28:17.490 like doubt. It's the heart that said, I have 00:28:17.490 --> 00:28:24.519 been hurt enough. and turned to stone. Soft clay 00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:32.920 fails and tries again. Hard clay breaks. So this 00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:37.380 morning, if your life feels like it might have 00:28:37.380 --> 00:28:42.200 lost its shape, if what you thought you had was 00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:47.410 solid has turned soft, if you're scared, Because 00:28:47.410 --> 00:28:49.950 the pressure hasn't let up and you don't know 00:28:49.950 --> 00:28:55.230 what you're becoming. Hear the good news. Potter 00:28:55.230 --> 00:28:59.009 didn't walk away. The hands are still wet and 00:28:59.009 --> 00:29:02.569 the wheel is still turning. You're not a finished 00:29:02.569 --> 00:29:06.269 product. You're not a discarded failure. And 00:29:06.269 --> 00:29:10.210 you're not a pot shard swept into a corner. You're 00:29:10.210 --> 00:29:15.019 clay on the wheel. The God who watched you collapse 00:29:15.019 --> 00:29:18.920 is the same God leaning in right now, pressing 00:29:18.920 --> 00:29:23.039 you back together and starting over. Grace first, 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:27.380 then transformation. Presence first, then shape. 00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:30.980 Wheel's going to turn whether you fight it or 00:29:30.980 --> 00:29:34.559 not. But you don't have to fight it. You can 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:38.319 stay soft. You can stay low. You let those hands 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:41.039 do what they're supposed to do. And when you're 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:44.670 finally ready, Not when you're fixed, but when 00:29:44.670 --> 00:29:49.170 you've yielded. Find out what you've become all 00:29:49.170 --> 00:29:53.589 along. So as we depart from here, go in peace. 00:29:53.849 --> 00:29:59.210 But know, you're still being made. Amen. Amen. 00:30:05.410 --> 00:30:07.650 Something in you softened today. Don't rush past 00:30:07.650 --> 00:30:10.650 that. If you felt pressure instead of punishment, 00:30:10.730 --> 00:30:13.529 stay with it. A potter doesn't press to harm 00:30:13.529 --> 00:30:15.789 the clay. He presses because he's still working. 00:30:16.309 --> 00:30:19.950 Collapse is not the end of the story, and uncertainty 00:30:19.950 --> 00:30:24.069 is not the same thing as abandonment. But hear 00:30:24.069 --> 00:30:27.150 this clearly. Staying on the wheel means staying 00:30:27.150 --> 00:30:30.730 willing. God can rework what's yielded, but hardened 00:30:30.730 --> 00:30:35.069 clay doesn't reshape. It only cracks. Comfort 00:30:35.069 --> 00:30:37.789 comes from knowing you're held. Conviction comes 00:30:37.789 --> 00:30:40.980 from realizing you can still resist. Grace meets 00:30:40.980 --> 00:30:43.480 you where you are, but it loves you too much 00:30:43.480 --> 00:30:47.500 to leave you untouched. Now, if you heard something 00:30:47.500 --> 00:30:49.819 today that made sense to you, if you heard something 00:30:49.819 --> 00:30:52.440 new, if you heard something that made you feel 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:55.559 seen instead of sized up, go ahead and throw 00:30:55.559 --> 00:30:57.980 that old like in the offering plate, not as payment, 00:30:58.099 --> 00:31:01.240 just as a small witness that you were here. The 00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:04.460 word met you somewhere real. And if you want 00:31:04.460 --> 00:31:06.839 to keep joining us through the new year, tithe 00:31:06.839 --> 00:31:10.259 your subscribe. That way, you'll know when we're 00:31:10.259 --> 00:31:13.279 meeting for church again. And until we do, friend, 00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:14.500 be blessed.