Cracked Pots
Content
Cracked Pots? A 747 was halfway across the Atlantic when the captain got on the loudspeaker: "Attention, passengers. We have lost one of our engines, but we can certainly reach London with the three we have left. Unfortunately, we will arrive an hour late as a result." An hour later the captain made another announcement: "Sorry, but we lost another engine. Still, we can travel on with two. I'm afraid we will now arrive two hours late." Shortly thereafter, the passengers heard the captain's voice again: "Guess what, folks. We just lost our third engine, but please be assured we can fly with only one. We will now arrive in London three hours late." At this point, one passenger became furious. "For Pete's sake," he shouted. "If we lose another engine, we'll be up here all night!" -Nathaniel Scott Miller -- Reader's Digest, June 1989 At the funeral services, the pastor got carried away and his sermon far exceeded the time limit. Finally his assistant whispered, "It's getting late sir!" "I know," the pastor said, "but this doctrine of resurrection is extremely important." "Yes, sir, " the minister said, "But we've got to get the body over to the cemetery in time for it." -- In Forbes Magazine, June 5, 1995, p. 198. Scripture text: 2Cor 4:1 (KJS) Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. The purpose of this message is to show our value in Christ in keeping and dispensing God’s Greatest treasure, the gospel.
1.. You are one of God’s Pots. You were created by God and for God. He took the dust of the earth and created a man He named Adam. Adam means red clay. Adam is the result of God’s handiwork, and so are you. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and gave to Adam a living soul. He created Adam and Eve in his image, but just a little lower than the angels. A Flemish sculptor was extremely poor. He frequently went without food and worked in a clammy studio. It was bitter cold the night he finished his masterpiece. The thoughtful and meticulous artist was concerned lest the firm, fresh clay of his creation should freeze and crack. He had too much of himself in the design to run the risk of its being ruined, so he wrapped it in his warmest coat. The sculptor died from exposure during the night. His cherished statuette was found unharmed. The warmth of sacrifice had saved it. In some such thoughtful way, beyond our ability to conceive or comprehend, the cross is God's voluntary cloak of sacrifice draped in mercy over His creation. - G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations For Preaching & Teaching (Broadman, 1986), p. 92.
2. You are cracked, but God chooses Cracked pots for his vessels. The original crack in the human clay was the mar of sin. It happened when Adam and Eve chose to give up their freedom to know and experience God as they walked with him in the garden. Today, the choosing continues as we decide to not go with the Lord and walk by our selves in sin and disobedience to the Lord. Because of the pressure of sin we will crack to allow the pressure to escape. Paul’s life was cracked by the whips of his persecutors. He lived the life and suffered because of it. But God doesn’t throw the clay away. He chooses you to be his vessel/cracked pot. It was one of the worst days of my life: the washing machine broke down, the telephone kept ringing, my head ached, and the mail carrier brought a bill I had no money to pay. Almost to the breaking point, I lifted my one-year-old into his highchair, leaned my head against the tray, and began to cry. Without a word, my son took his pacifier out of his mouth and stuck it in mine. -- Clara Null of Oklahoma City, OK, Christian Reader, Sept/Oct 1995, p. 85. 3. You can hold an excellent treasurer. The treasure gives the cracked pots value/worth. We are valuable to hold the treasure. Do you hold the treasure? Why would God choose you? But I am a cracked pot, and sometimes I think I am a crackpot, too. He chooses you because you are his creation. Although now marred by sin you are still his and he wants to put the himself within you. You will/have become his temple or dwelling place. He will live within you. From within you he will work in the world to bring others to him. That is who Paul is and that is who God wants to make you. He wants you with all of your imperfections to come to the point were you will allow him to come into your life to be your God. Paul had come to his point, so that the power within him was of God and not him. In the third century, Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, wrote to his friend Donatus: "It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and good people who
have learned the great secret of life. They have found a joy and wisdom, which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians... and I am one of them." When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. -- Henry Ford But, couldn’t God keep all of these things from happening to us? A visitor to the shop of a famous potter was puzzled by one operation which seemed to have little purpose. The workman was beating a lump of clay with a large mallet. It looked as if nothing was happening, and so the one who was taking the tour finally asked, "Sir, why are you doing that?" "Just wait and watch the results; then you'll understand," was the reply. He heeded the advice and soon noted that the top of the mass began to quiver and swell as little bumps formed on its surface. "Now you can see the need for the pounding," said the man. "I could never shape the clay into a worthwhile vessel if these bubbles remained in it, so I must gradually work them out." The one watching was a Christian and immediately recalled the 18th chapter of Jeremiah. He saw more clearly than ever before why the great Potter must work upon our souls. The discipline of chastening and the trials God sends are necessary to eliminate pride and self-will. This is the only way the Master can form us into beautiful vessels capable of holding the treasures of His grace. 4. The Treasure is to be given and shared. Have you given of your wealth to others? Have you hidden your treasure? Don’t quit! “We faint not.” Paul said, Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” We hold this treasure in a clay jar but we will not stop giving out the light of the gospel. Even though we are battered and cracked by the pressures of this life we will not hide this
treasured good news. He is alive within us and he can become alive within you. We will allow the light to shine in the darkness to all those who have not seen. We will focus on him and give him to all we see. John Henry Jowett told about a small village where an elderly woman died. She died penniless, uneducated, unsophisticated, but during her lifetime her selfless service had made a tremendous impact for Christ. On her tombstone they chiseled the words, "She did what she couldn't." That can be the epitaph for every Christian who will allow Christ to live through us: HE can do through us what we can never do ourselves. Keith Miller, in his book, A Second Touch, tells of a business man who one night turned his life over to Jesus Christ. After struggling along on his own strength, the next morning he was late for his train. In his hurry, he bumped into a small boy with a puzzle in his hand, scattering the puzzle pieces across the sidewalk. Instead of rushing on, he stopped, stooped down and helped pick up the puzzle while the train moved out of the station. After he had finished, the little lad looked up into his face and asked, "Mister, are you Jesus?" Then said the man, "I realized that at least in some small way, Christ truly was in my heart." What witness of Christ shows through your life?
image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. The purpose of this message is to show our value in Christ in keeping and dispensing God’s Greatest treasure, the gospel.
1.. You are one of God’s Pots. You were created by God and for God. He took the dust of the earth and created a man He named Adam. Adam means red clay. Adam is the result of God’s handiwork, and so are you. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and gave to Adam a living soul. He created Adam and Eve in his image, but just a little lower than the angels. A Flemish sculptor was extremely poor. He frequently went without food and worked in a clammy studio. It was bitter cold the night he finished his masterpiece. The thoughtful and meticulous artist was concerned lest the firm, fresh clay of his creation should freeze and crack. He had too much of himself in the design to run the risk of its being ruined, so he wrapped it in his warmest coat. The sculptor died from exposure during the night. His cherished statuette was found unharmed. The warmth of sacrifice had saved it. In some such thoughtful way, beyond our ability to conceive or comprehend, the cross is God's voluntary cloak of sacrifice draped in mercy over His creation. - G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations For Preaching & Teaching (Broadman, 1986), p. 92.
2. You are cracked, but God chooses Cracked pots for his vessels. The original crack in the human clay was the mar of sin. It happened when Adam and Eve chose to give up their freedom to know and experience God as they walked with him in the garden. Today, the choosing continues as we decide to not go with the Lord and walk by our selves in sin and disobedience to the Lord. Because of the pressure of sin we will crack to allow the pressure to escape. Paul’s life was cracked by the whips of his persecutors. He lived the life and suffered because of it. But God doesn’t throw the clay away. He chooses you to be his vessel/cracked pot. It was one of the worst days of my life: the washing machine broke down, the telephone kept ringing, my head ached, and the mail carrier brought a bill I had no money to pay. Almost to the breaking point, I lifted my one-year-old into his highchair, leaned my head against the tray, and began to cry. Without a word, my son took his pacifier out of his mouth and stuck it in mine. -- Clara Null of Oklahoma City, OK, Christian Reader, Sept/Oct 1995, p. 85. 3. You can hold an excellent treasurer. The treasure gives the cracked pots value/worth. We are valuable to hold the treasure. Do you hold the treasure? Why would God choose you? But I am a cracked pot, and sometimes I think I am a crackpot, too. He chooses you because you are his creation. Although now marred by sin you are still his and he wants to put the himself within you. You will/have become his temple or dwelling place. He will live within you. From within you he will work in the world to bring others to him. That is who Paul is and that is who God wants to make you. He wants you with all of your imperfections to come to the point were you will allow him to come into your life to be your God. Paul had come to his point, so that the power within him was of God and not him. In the third century, Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, wrote to his friend Donatus: "It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and good people who
have learned the great secret of life. They have found a joy and wisdom, which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians... and I am one of them." When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. -- Henry Ford But, couldn’t God keep all of these things from happening to us? A visitor to the shop of a famous potter was puzzled by one operation which seemed to have little purpose. The workman was beating a lump of clay with a large mallet. It looked as if nothing was happening, and so the one who was taking the tour finally asked, "Sir, why are you doing that?" "Just wait and watch the results; then you'll understand," was the reply. He heeded the advice and soon noted that the top of the mass began to quiver and swell as little bumps formed on its surface. "Now you can see the need for the pounding," said the man. "I could never shape the clay into a worthwhile vessel if these bubbles remained in it, so I must gradually work them out." The one watching was a Christian and immediately recalled the 18th chapter of Jeremiah. He saw more clearly than ever before why the great Potter must work upon our souls. The discipline of chastening and the trials God sends are necessary to eliminate pride and self-will. This is the only way the Master can form us into beautiful vessels capable of holding the treasures of His grace. 4. The Treasure is to be given and shared. Have you given of your wealth to others? Have you hidden your treasure? Don’t quit! “We faint not.” Paul said, Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” We hold this treasure in a clay jar but we will not stop giving out the light of the gospel. Even though we are battered and cracked by the pressures of this life we will not hide this
treasured good news. He is alive within us and he can become alive within you. We will allow the light to shine in the darkness to all those who have not seen. We will focus on him and give him to all we see. John Henry Jowett told about a small village where an elderly woman died. She died penniless, uneducated, unsophisticated, but during her lifetime her selfless service had made a tremendous impact for Christ. On her tombstone they chiseled the words, "She did what she couldn't." That can be the epitaph for every Christian who will allow Christ to live through us: HE can do through us what we can never do ourselves. Keith Miller, in his book, A Second Touch, tells of a business man who one night turned his life over to Jesus Christ. After struggling along on his own strength, the next morning he was late for his train. In his hurry, he bumped into a small boy with a puzzle in his hand, scattering the puzzle pieces across the sidewalk. Instead of rushing on, he stopped, stooped down and helped pick up the puzzle while the train moved out of the station. After he had finished, the little lad looked up into his face and asked, "Mister, are you Jesus?" Then said the man, "I realized that at least in some small way, Christ truly was in my heart." What witness of Christ shows through your life?
