Potter & Clay2

(Note: This speech was originally presented to the Shanghai International Church)

This Treasure

The Potter and the Clay-- Part 2 (click here for part 1)

(by Michael Krigline, September 9, 2001)

This is the second part of a message on the concept of God as potter and us as His clay. The primary text we used in part one, 2 Cor 4:7, left one question unanswered, so I thought we should return for a further look. But first let me begin by summarizing part one of this message.

I said that although the image of God as Potter only appears in scripture a few times, we readily embrace this image because we can identify with both the PROCESS and the PROPERTIES of pottery.

First, we can relate to the beginning of the Pottery PROCESS. Earthen vessels begin when common clay is extracted from the earth and cleaned. Likewise humans were created from the dust of the earth. In our redemption, we are extracted from the “miry clay,” cleansed of impurity, and then brought into the Master Potter’s workshop.

Our second similarity to pottery relates to the PROCESS of being molded. The potter’s spinning wheel may sometimes terrify us. Few of us enjoy being “changed.” But God loves us too much to leave us as He finds us!

Next, like clay sealed by a potter, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. I said that a potter stamps a special seal into each vessel, and then the porcelain is sealed with a glaze to enhance its beauty and usefulness. The Holy Spirit’s seal is like both of these. He seals us with a coating of godliness that makes us better able to weather the storms of life, and He seals us with the very Name of God.

The final PROCESS of pottery that we can relate to is the fiery kiln. Without these 1000 degree ovens, pottery is just dry dirt. Likewise, our Master also brings us through the fire as a part of the process of making us durable and useful.

Next, we looked at the PROPERTIES of pottery, and again found many useful analogies. For example, pottery dishes are not simply washed once, and we too must pray for daily cleansing.

Secondly, handmade pottery is both unique and beautiful. Likewise the Lord made each of us unique, and to Him we are all beautiful. Pottery’s uniqueness also extends to its usefulness and value. We, too, have each been fashioned for a unique purpose, and we have been counted as worth enough for God the Father to redeem us with the precious blood of Jesus!

Pottery is also durable. Museums are filled with pottery that proclaims the glory of past dynasties, long after the potter’s wheel is still. In the same way, although our Potter’s molding and firing will only last a lifetime, we will abide forever as a testimony to His grace and as “containers” of His glory.

And finally, pottery is fragile. I considered bringing in a clay pot and dropping it here like Jeremiah did, but I didn’t want to clean up the mess! To me, this is the property of pottery that we can identify with most! We all feel fragile, especially when it comes to living up to the task of being an Ambassador for the Kingdom of God! But what we see as a weakness or limitation, may be seen by God as a great strength. After all, what gives fine China such an enduring value if it is not the fact that it is equally fragile?

I said that I believe this tension between our being fragile AND yet very valuable is at the heart of the often-quoted passage that’s up here next to the picture of my son. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” (2 Cor 4:7)

It is also this passage that brings us to the unanswered question I mentioned above. Paul says we have THIS treasure in earthen vessels, and so the obvious questions is: “WHAT treasure?”

To find an answer one might think that we should simply be able to look back a verse or two, but such an observation does not come from one who is very familiar with Paul’s writings! Paul had an amazing ability to construct thoughts that took pages to express! In this case, as I searched for a description of “this treasure,” I found that one “answer” seemed to point backward to another, and then another, until I ended up all the way back to 2 Cor chapter 2! Now, perhaps Paul was only thinking of my final point or two when he penned chapter 4, verse 7, but either way, these insights from 2 Corinthians are all a part of “this treasure” that God places in us—His earthen vessels.

Now, I don’t have time to read the entire, complicated passage, but if you will follow along I think you can see the half dozen or so facets of this remarkable treasure that I will list up on the screen.

First, the treasure is a divine fragrance. Look at 2 Cor. 2:14-16. Fragrances were even more important to the ancient world than they are today. The magi chose to bring fragrances to the Christ child as a token of their utmost esteem. (Matt 2:11) Judas complained about the fragrance that Mary lavished on Christ because it was worth almost a year’s wages! (John 12:5) But even this is nothing in comparison to the treasure in us of the fragrance of Christ, because Paul says THIS aroma confronts humanity with the eternal choice between LIFE and DEATH. So, this treasure includes a Divine fragrance.

Secondly, this treasure is likened unto Love Letters from God to a lost world. Look down to 2 Cor 3:2. Paul tells the reader that we are “epistles of Christ,” written on tablets of flesh by the Spirit of the living God, “known and read by all men.” To put this another way, YOU are the only Bible that many people will ever read, particularly people in China. Think of it! Our lives are supposed to be like a treasured love letter proclaiming God’s love to the people around us!

Thirdly, this treasure is the gift of sufficiency as a minister of the New Covenant. This is in 3:5-9, and you will find that the New Covenant is given several names. But verse 6 says that God has made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. Now don’t forget that to Paul a “minister” was above all one who serves and represents the interests of someone greater than himself—we still use the term this way referring to government positions. Paul develops this thought at length in chapters three and four. But in a nutshell, God considers us “sufficient” for ministry because He places in these earthen vessels a “manifestation of truth.” (2 Cor 4:2). Then, all He has to do is take away the veil that blinds sinners, and point them to us! So, part of the treasure in us is sufficiency as ministers of the New Covenant.

Next, we see the treasure described in terms like “hope” and “liberty.” Hope” (2 Cor 3:12) is a priceless commodity! Ask a doctor, or ask someone undergoing life’s trials! Hope can literally mean the difference between life and death! And “liberty” (3:17) is a great treasure—greater perhaps than I would have given mankind, because it is also our liberty that so often distracts us from serving our Potter, and leads us to complain when we don’t like the way He is shaping the clay!

The “earthen” side of our liberty makes the next facet of this treasure even more remarkable. Look at 3:18 and you will see that the treasure placed in us includes a reflection of God’s glory. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image…” A mirror (or “glass” in King James English) can only reflect what is really there, so if we see God’s glory “as in a mirror” then this reflection is coming from the image of God (or “manifestation of truth”) that God has placed inside us! What a treasure!

And finally, in the verses immediately before the text that started our search, we see that God gifts us with the treasure of the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor 4:4). That is, we are a light bulb or torch fueled by Christ’s glory to show the perishing a way out of the darkness.

This brings us back to 4:7. It is HERE that Paul calls us earthen vessels—fragile, durable, valuable, unique containers of a remarkable treasure. It is a treasure too rich and too remarkable to state in a few words. The treasure is a Divine perfume, a love letter signed by God Himself, a sufficiency to serve as His ministers. The treasure is hope and liberty; it is a reflection of God’s glory and truth, and a torch that shines with the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

Now I don’t know about you, but when I look at myself I do not see “this treasure”— I just see an earthen vessel. I know my faults too well, and as King David put it: “my sin is ever before me.” (Ps 51:3)

So when I read Paul’s description of this treasure God has placed in me, I can’t help but wonder WHY? Why would God chose “earthen vessel” people like me and you to contain such an incredible treasure? Use angels, Lord; or use saints or pastors; but why use me?

Of course, Paul supplies the answer in the same verse (4:7): “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

Paul goes on to say that he and his fellow ministers (i.e., those “earthen vessels” who carry this treasure) are hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. But their lives show the “dying of the Lord Jesus” so that (v4.11) “the life of Jesus also may be manifested.” He concludes the passage by saying: ¹⁵“For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.” or as CEV puts it: (v4.15) God chooses to place His treasure in earthen vessels “…so that more and more people will know how kind God is and will praise and honor him.” (CEV)

God places His treasure in earthen vessels. And it is obvious that this has very little to do with how worthy we are—and EVERYTHING to do with how worthy God is. For the Kingdom of God is not made up of perfect people. It is made up of fragile, unique, artistically molded and divinely filled earthen vessels, on display before equally fragile and imperfect vessels, who need to be filled by a perfect God.

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Scriptures quoted are primarily from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.

For more information about Christianity, check out www.ccci.org/whoisjesus/interactive-journey