-----------------
The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you,
and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"
(Matt. 28:19,20).
--------------------
April 19, 2015
--------------------
Contents:
1) The Potter and the Clay (Tom Edwards)
2) News & Notes
--------------------
-1-
The Potter and the Clay
by Tom Edwards
A familiar, figurative phrase found in the Bible, as well as in some
spiritual songs, likens God to a Potter and His people to the clay
that He fashions according to His desire.
One of the particular hymns, which uses this metaphor, is entitled,
"Have Thine Own Way, Lord." The first stanza declares, "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."
In this song, we are probably not thinking on the same as the
Psalmist in Psalm 139:13,14, who acknowledges unto God, "For You
formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give
thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful
are Your works, And my soul knows it very well."
So, though, we certainly can think of God as being the One who
formed our physical bodies, yet that is probably not what is in our
minds when singing this song. Rather, we are more likely to be
focusing on that spiritual part of us, our souls, and realizing the
need for God's help in developing more of the nature of Christ in
our own lives. It, therefore, is a "molding" and "making" of our
spiritual, inner man that we are reflecting on when blending our
voices in this particular song. For we are to abide in the vine;
bear the fruit of the Spirit and increase in that fruit; to grow
spiritually; to become more like Jesus, our perfect example.
It is to His likeness we are to be "molded."
Also in this figure of God being the Potter and His people being the
clay, what else does it imply? Do we not see the greatness of
the Potter over the clay? Isaiah rhetorically asks, "Shall the
potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made
should say to its maker, 'He did not make me'; Or what is formed say
to him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?" (Isa.
29:16). And elsewhere, "Woe to the one who quarrels with his
Maker -- An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the
clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are
making say, 'He has no hands'" (Isa. 45:9).
In view of Isaiah's confession that "...all of us have become like
one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy
garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like
the wind, take us away" (Isa. 64:6), he then looks to God and says,
"...You are our Father, We are the clay, and You are the potter; And
all of us are the work of Your hand" (v. 8). Yes, it is to God
whom Isaiah looks for help. But was it God who made them unclean?
Paul also likens God to a potter in Romans 9:20,21: "On the
contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The
thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like
this,' will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay,
to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another
for common use?"
But, again, is it God who simply makes some people good and some
people bad by merely His own discretion or arbitrary choice -- and
apart from anything pertaining to the individual?
In the comparative use of God being the Potter and His people the
clay, we must be careful not to infer more than what the Lord
intended. For is it God who makes people to be liars, thieves,
murderers, gossipers, drunkards, immoral persons, and any other
specific kind of sinner that you can imagine? How could God,
who commands us not to sin and doesn't even tempt anyone to
transgress (1 Jn. 2:1, Jms. 1:13), be charged with causing every
sinner to unchangeably do whatever wickedness that person will
do? And if man sins because God fashioned him to, then how
could a sinner ever be accountable for his own actions?
The same can also be said about those whom God wants to live
righteous lives. Isn't that what He really wants all to
do? Yet, similarly, that, too, requires the individual to make
up his own mind to live that way. For we are each responsible
for determining the course of our lives, whether it be for good or
for evil; and we do that with the free will that God has given to
each one of us.
Though God's greatness, if illustrated with the dimensions of space
would be infinite, while ours would hardly be the size of a grain of
sand, yet man has the ability to stubbornly, foolishly, or for
whatever reason, keep the power of God out of his life. And
that is because the Lord will not intrude. He does not force
His will against another. Rather, His word is to be lovingly and
willingly obeyed through humble submission.
But though God does not coerce His way into the heart of others, He
sometimes will use events or circumstances in His divine providence
to help the hardhearted and erring come to their senses and turn
from their wicked ways and return to Him. We saw recently that
this was the case of the Psalmist who points out that "Before I was
afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word" (Psa.
119:67). He saw "good" in being afflicted, for it led him to
the study of God's word (v. 71).
For another example, Hosea's wife Gomer had left him. She had
the spirit of harlotry and was going after her lovers and looked to
them for her bread, water, wool, flax, oil, and drink (Hos.
2:5). But consider what God was going to do: "Therefore,
behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, And I will build a wall
against her so that she cannot find her paths. She will pursue her
lovers, but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but
will not find them..." (vv. 6,7). God was going to make her
wrongful way more difficult for her. As a result, "...she will
say, 'I will go back to my first husband, For it was better for me
then than now'" (v. 7).
Gomer was just one person, but the Lord has also dealt with many in
similar fashion. For instance, God says, "I have surely heard
Ephraim grieving, 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like
an untrained calf; Bring me back that I may be restored, For You are
the LORD my God'" (Jer. 31:18).
Of course, the affliction that God would bring, whether directly
during the Old Testament Period or providentially in our time, has
not always caused the wayward to repent. Various factors can
hold one back; but it can all be summed up as putting ourselves
above God, wanting to have our own way, rather than His. In
rebuking Judah for a time they went into idolatry and had as many
false gods as their cities, God says, "'Why do you contend with Me?
You have all transgressed Me,' declares the Lord. 'In vain I have
struck your sons; They accepted no chastening. Your sword has
devoured your prophets like a destroying lion" (Jer. 2:29,30).
They cannot say that God did not reach out to help them. They
simply rejected His help.
While God's word will sometimes cause folks to be "pierced to the
heart" and want to respond to the gospel plan of salvation like
those 3,000 on the day the church was established (Acts 2:36-38), in
other cases, individuals were "cut to the heart" with that message
and reacted by gnashing their teeth at the messenger and stoning him
to death (Acts 7:54-60). It wasn't the message, it was the
condition of the hearts of the people that made that difference in
their reactions. In 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, for example, Paul
figuratively speaks of the knowledge of God as being "a sweet
aroma"; and, therefore, also says that "...we are a fragrance of
Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who
are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other
an aroma from life to life..." So, again, what made the
difference wasn't the message; but, rather, the hearts of those who
heard it.
As pointed out earlier, God doesn't cause anyone to be evil. Many
simply choose to be that way. For we are born into this world in an
innocent state (cf. Matt. 18:3; 1 Cor. 14:20; Luke 12:16) and do not
become sinners until we reach an age of accountability and violate
God's law. For "...sin is the transgression of the law" (1 Jn.
3:4). As Solomon wisely declares in Ecclesiastes 7:29, "...God made
men upright, but they have sought out many devices." These
"devices" have been referred to as "an immense number of inventions,
in order to find happiness in the world, without God, which have
only proved so many variations of impiety and iniquity" (Treasury of
Scripture Knowledge). For instance, in the days of Adam and
Eve, it was the forbidden fruit. In the time of Noah, "...the
wickedness of man was great on the earth" and "every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).
In our time, the world abounds with sin that keeps people in a lost
condition.
Metaphors can illustrate a point, but we must be careful not to
deduce more from them than is intended. In God being the
potter and His people being the clay, does this mean that they are
just a mindless, will-less, irresponsible entity in the Potter's
hands, like an actual lump of clay? Surely not.
For one thing, in order for clay to be molded, it must be
malleable. For if it hardens, it cannot be shaped. So we
can think of this malleability as representing man's willingness and
determination to yield to God, and faith and obedience to His word
as what it takes to put ourselves in the Potter's hands. And
when one does so, then the Lord can truly work in that individual.
Compare, for instance, Philippians 2:12,13 that shows the need for
man to cooperate with God. Preceding the thought that "it is
God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good
pleasure," is the instruction for the Christian to "work out your
salvation with fear and trembling." So to have God working in
us, we need to also be cooperating with Him.
The idea of God being like a potter is also seen in Jeremiah
18. God told Jeremiah to "Arise and go down to the potter's
house, and there I will announce My words to you" (v. 2). Jeremiah
obeyed. He saw the potter making something on the wheel. But
Jeremiah also noticed that the object was spoiled, so the potter
reworked it into another vessel to his liking. God then said,
"'Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?'
declares the LORD. 'Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so
are you in My hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I might speak
concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down,
or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns
from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to
bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation
or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil
in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the
good with which I had promised to bless it'" (vv. 6-10).
So what do we see in this? God's course of action was based on
the direction that His people had chosen to go. It would either lead
to blessings or wrath, depending on whether they would choose the
way of the Lord or not.
This same principle is also seen in the New Testament: "Now in a
large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also
vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to
dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things,
he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master,
prepared for every good work" (2 Tim. 2:20,21).
How does one become an honorable vessel? By cleansing himself from
"these things," which refers back to the "wickedness" in verse 19,
which requires being "sanctified" in Christ, thus also becoming
"useful to the Master" and "prepared for every good work" (v.
21).
So we are the work of God's hands as we submit to His word to work
in us -- and we certainly can put the emphasis on God's part in all
of this. For without Him, our own achievements would be
nothing. For as Jesus informs, "...he who abides in Me and I
in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing"
(cf. Jn. 15:5).
May we each, therefore, always look to God through His word and
yield to that message so that the Lord can fashion us into the
people He wants us to be!
--------------------
-2-
News & News
Our Gospel Meeting with Phillip Owens will begin
next Sunday (April 26) and continue through Wednesday. The
following shows the times and lessons:
Sunday 9 AM: Phillip will be teaching the adult Bible class.
Sunday 10 AM: "True Greatness"
Sunday 5 PM: "Lessons from a Recent Conversion"
Monday 7:30 PM: "Lessons from Acts 8"
Tuesday 7:30 PM: "Misconceptions About the Lord's Church"
Wednesday 7:30 PM: "What Should be Built Here"
Let those of us who are Christians be praying for the following:
Mary Vandevander was recently hospitalized due to pain in her
chest. She has now been released, but has been given some
nitroglycerin medicine for any recurrence of of the pain and
continues to take a baby aspirin.
Danielle Howard received some great news recently from the
Mayo Clinic. She is now at the top of the list for a kidney
transplant and was also told that she is an excellent candidate for
that. But first there is one more test, which if she rates
good on (like she has for the previous years of that test), she will
then be active on that list.
Doyle Rittenhouse is again having some trouble with his back
and was not able to be with us at church because of that.
Mary Cribbs has also had to miss some services, due to not
feeling well.
Marie Pennock has also developed some continual back pain
recently, which she is seeing a chiropractor for.
Jean Beach (Jim Lively's sister) had been in the hospital
recently due to illness caused by some type of viral bug. She
was released, but later had some adverse reactions from a particular
medicine she was being treated with. She is now doing somewhat
better from that, but is not yet completely healed from her initial
illness.
Sunny Nichols (Ginger Ann Montero's sister) has been
diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease about 3 months ago, which she has
had for about 1.5 years.
Others to also continue to remember in our prayers for good health:
Myrna Jordan, Melotine Davis, Penny and Deborah
Medlock, Jim Lively, Shirley Davis, Jewell Wilson, Dexter
Roberts, Betty Miles, Steve Vista, Buddy Gornto, Dolly Downs
Moody, Rex and Frankie Hadley, Jesse Bailey, Sue Wooten, and
Colleen Henson.
--------------------
The Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation
1) Hear the gospel, for that is how faith comes (Rom.
10:17; John 20:30,31).
2) Believe in the deity of Christ (John 8:24; John
3:18).
3) Repent of sins (Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in Christ (Rom. 10:9,10; Acts
8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water for the remission of sins
(Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet.
3:21)
6) Continue in the faith; for, if not, salvation can
be lost (Heb. 10:36-39; Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet. 2:20-22).
--------------------
Tebeau Street
CHURCH OF CHRIST
1402 Tebeau Street, Waycross, GA 31501
Sunday services: 9:00 AM (Bible class); 10 AM & 5 PM (worship)
Wednesday: 7 PM (Bible class)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (912) 614-8593
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/go
(Gospel Observer website)
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/audioser.html
(audio sermons)