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We are All Vessels to His Glory

by | May 7, 2023

Romans 9:14-33

Introduction

  • Have any of you ever worked with clay or ceramics before?
  • Maybe some of you worked with our dear friend Carolyn Crouse.
  • I once spent 6 weeks working in a ceramic store my grandparents owned in Ohio.
  • The ceramic process starts with a mold that has an impression or shape on the inside.
  • You use different molds to create different shapes. Much like God is shaping each of us.
  • Maybe you want to make a Christmas tree; or a smiley face; or a cup; or dishes.
  • You fill the mold with liquid clay called “slip” and let it form a coating on the inside of the mold.
  • Then you pour off the excess slip and remove the contents – very carefully!!!
  • This new creation is called “greenware” and is very, very fragile.
  • Does anybody know how we make the greenware strong so you can use it? FIRE
  • We bake it in a kiln at over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not fire really, its electric heat.
  • What comes out is very, very hard and strong and durable.
  • And so it is with each of us; we are each a custom creation that God is molding for His purposes.
  • We are weak and vulnerable and breakable like greenware.
  • It is in the kiln; when God really puts us to work, that the conversion takes place.
  • Are things always going to be easy and gentle and kind? NO
  • And that is why God is doing a mighty work here with you at Biltmore Baptist church.
  • If you are comfortable just sitting in a pew on Sundays, then I apologize, Biltmore isn’t about that.
  • Biltmore is about building-more, and building stronger, and building better.
  • There are two things I want us to take away from today’s Scripture:
  1. You are a vessel made for a purpose.
  2. You are a vessel that is breakable

1. You are a vessel made for a purpose.

  • Verse 21: “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”
  • Really, people are less like molded ceramics than we are hand-thrown clay.
  • You know, like the potter in the picture, shaping the clay by hand.
  • You can make virtually identical ceramics all day long, but no two hand-thrown objects are quite the same.
  • God puts that much thought into each of us because He knows what He wants us to do.
  • It is in His mercy, that we live and love and serve and grow into the shape He designed.
  • Each of us is an uniquely-shaped vessel with special gifts and talents.
  • I am just a vessel that God can use to send a message that He wants you to hear.
  • Sometimes, I get in the way and think that I have something to add, but that doesn’t work
  • It is not for the vessel to change the material that it holds; the vessel is made to carry.
  • The vessel is made to be a container; a device that holds something else until its needed.
  • As such, we must be very careful what we put into our vessels.
  • If we fill our vessels with impurities, than the material we are supposed to carry can be damaged, diluted, or destroyed.
  • The pure material that God puts into us has to mix with the garbage we put in.
  • God is pouring His love and His message into us continuously.
  • Sometimes we can have the very best intentions and pure thoughts in our vessel; only to mix in negativity or anger or frustration.
  • Here’s an example that is easy for you to see:
  • The clothes closet building is a vessel.
  • God pours clothing, and food, and helpers, and people with need into the vessel
  • Our job is to keep the vessel free from impurities that would get in God’s way.
  • God likes what we are doing with His vessel so He is pouring in more and more, faster and faster.
  • This church building is a vessel. This building with its many different rooms is a vessel.
  • Apparently, the Lord wants to use the church building as a vessel for yard sales.
  • I know this because He is pouring in more and more stuff, faster and faster.
  • We are not a business or a government service, we are a vessel of God.
  • Verse 16: “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”
  • We have great leadership, and devoted workers, but make no mistake – God is in charge.
  • This room we are in now, this sanctuary, is a vessel and God is filling it with precious contents.
  • He is molding and shaping us into the vessels He needs us to be.
  • God is the potter, and we are the clay.

2. You are a vessel that is breakable

  • The minute that we start to think of ourselves as more than just a vessel to contain God, we are in trouble.
  • When we get prideful and self-confident about things we have done, we are in trouble.
  • It’s in our pride and self-indulgence, that we become the most vulnerable.
  • The enemy is seeking to drive a wedge between us and God in any way he can.
  • If we think we alone our responsible for success, than why do we need God?
  • And that’s where he gets us – PRIDE.
  • We are vessels – made in the image of God – meant to hold God’s love and mercy
  • Verse 33 quotes Isaiah 8:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

  • That stumbling block is Jesus.
  • We are fragile and breakable even as we are becoming hardened in the fire of God’s work
  • The problem is the clay that God is working with – it’s HUMAN
  • There’s some rocks and sand mixed with what should have been good clay.
  • The clay has weak spots and vulnerabilities all over it.
  • How is good supposed to make a working vessel out of bad clay?
  • Worse yet, the enemy knows how to find those weak spots and vulnerabilities.
  • Weak spots form cracks and leaks in our vessels; cause us to break and chip.
  • It’s not so much what might leak OUT of our vessels as what may SEEP IN.
  • Jesus can seal those gaps and plug those holes in our vessels if we let Him.
  • What we have to learn to do is to see when stress cracks are forming on each other.
  • Then we need to seek the Holy Spirit to aid in protecting those cracks and vulnerabilities.
  • The trick is to fix the cracks before they blow out completely.
  • How do we do that? I don’t have the answers.
  • What I believe is that we start by becoming aware; but talking about it; that is starting
  • The enemy sees how favored we are before God and he is stepping up his attacks.

We will be fine as long as we remember that we are but vesels for God’s glory – He is the potter, and we are the clay.