The Potter

The Potter

(Jeremiah 18:1-12)

Yearly Theme:  “Kindness is… Amended”

Series Title:  “Kindness through Discipline”

June 4^th, 2023

Something to think about:

As we begin a new series today, we will be taking a look at the Old Testament prophecies of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah prophesied during the final years of Judah’s existence as a nation.  Judah was comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the two remaining tribes of Israel. 

It was in Jeremiah’s day that the Babylonian Empire was inching ever closer to Jerusalem (the capital of Judah and the center of Jewish worship) to lay siege and overtake the city.  In judgment over the nation, GOD would allow King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire to overtake the remaining Israelite nation (the southern kingdom), and send them into exile throughout the farthest reaches of the Empire.  However, prior to this, GOD was still willing to forego judgment on them if they would just repent and turn to Him again.

In today’s message, we turn to Jeremiah 18 and witness one of those times when GOD was expressing to His people His willingness to show them mercy rather than judgment.  This is the story of the Potter and the Clay…

Jeremiah 18:1-12 (NLT),

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah.  He said, ² “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”  ³ So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.  ⁴ But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

⁵ Then the Lord gave me this message:  ⁶ “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay?  As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.  ⁷ If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, ⁸ but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.  ⁹ And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, ¹⁰ but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.

¹¹ “Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem.  Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:  I am planning disaster for you instead of good.  So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’ ”

¹² But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath.  We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”^[1]

Here’s the takeaway:

Key Point:  “God is always willing to shape and remold us if we’re willing to submit.”

In order to understand this further, we need to look at two main characters in the story, and what it means to actually “start over.”

• The  .

Jeremiah 18:1-3, 5 (NLT),  The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah.  He said, ² “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”  ³ So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. …

⁵ Then the Lord gave me this message:  ⁶ “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay?  As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.

• The  .

Jeremiah 18:4, 7-10 (NLT),  But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. …

⁷ If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, ⁸ but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.  ⁹ And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, ¹⁰ but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.

• Starting  .

Jeremiah 18:4, 11 (NLT),  But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. …

¹¹ “Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem.  Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:  I am planning disaster for you instead of good.  So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’ ”

Something to take home:

So, what do we do?  As the clay must submit to the Potter’s forming, so we too must submit to being molded by GOD into what He created us for.  And what has He created us for?  To seek Him first in all things, to be submitted to His will and His ways through obedience to His commands and teachings as written in His Word, to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourself. 

We cannot and must not try and dictate to GOD who we are, but rather allow Him to show us our true identity; for truly our true identity cannot be found apart from Him.  It’s only when the clay is fully submitted to the Potter that it is able to be formed and shaped into something amazing.  Are you fully submitted to the Father to be formed and shaped into something amazing?

^[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Je 18:1–12.