The Village Church
Fix Me, Jesus - Audio
Okay, I bring you greetings from New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga is the scenic city of the south, but maybe I shouldn't say that because I haven't seen a whole lot of Huntsville yet. I've been here about four or five times, I haven't seen a lot of it, so I'll say the alleged scenic city of the south. Amen. Alex, thank you for the invite. It's an honor and pleasure to be here. I'm just great too. The last time I was here, I think it was at Alex's - what was it? Ordination. Ordination, that's right. Okay, so, so I'm kind of in familiar territory. This morning I would like to call your attention to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was an interesting character in the Old Testament, often referred to as the weeping prophet. Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18 is starting with verse 1. Jeremiah 18 starting with verse 1. Oh yeah, by the way, while you turn in there, I brought my mom with me. You know, that's her over there. Raise your hand, ma. Okay, she's 83 and she has a bad case of wonderlust, you know. Every time I go someplace in the world, she wants to go with me. She makes it most of the time too, you know. Took her on a cruise, beginning of the year. Thought that would satisfy her appetite. Two days later, she says, "When are we going to go on the next one?" But I hope when I get to be 83, I'll have one to lust too. Jeremiah 18, verse 1, "This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message. So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as best as seen best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me, "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does," declares the Lord, "like clay in the hand of the potter. So are you in my hand, O house of Israel." If at any time I announce that a nation is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, and if that nation I warn repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict upon it the disaster that I have planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or a kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good that I intended for it. Now therefore say to the people of Judah, "Those living in Jerusalem, this is what the Lord says, "Look, I am preparing a disaster for you and a devastating plan against you, so turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions." But they will reply, "It's no use. We will continue with our own plans. Each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart." I want you to pay close attention to two verses here, verses four and six, "But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hand, so the pot are formed into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." And verse six, "Can I not do with you as this potter does to clear the Lord like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand." In the tradition of the traditional African-American church, I will just say, "I stopped by this morning to share with you some thoughts around the subject. Fix me. Fix me." Of all the analyses in the Old Testament, or in the scripture in general, the potter is probably most widely used. And in this passage, God shows us how two great mysteries come together, one God's sovereignty and the other human responsibility. And here God is using a potter to show us how he deals with humanity. And so as we look at the passage, a couple of things I need to kind of dispel. First of all, too many have gotten the impression that this passage reveals God to be an arbitrary ruler, just haphazard. That's not the way God is. Now, if you know offense, but if you read the Quran that the Muslims use, Allah is arbitrary and capricious, okay? You can do everything right in his sight. And at the end, at the last day, he can change his mind and say, "What was right is wrong, what was wrong is right, and you go to hell anyway." But the God will be served is not like that, is he? While God is speaking of the coming judgment and disaster he is preparing for the people of Judah, and you remember the whole history of Israel. There was Israel remember, and there was a split, remember? He had the confederated tribes up north and the Union down south. And then the little tribe of Benjamin was caught up in that thing, right? And then you had the War of Southern Aggression, which recaptured Benjamin back into the Union. All right, so you had Israel up north to ten tribes and Judah down south, the two tribes, right? And Israel, you know, they went off the deep end, right? So what we have left of Israel is the people of Judah. And it seemed like the people of Judah would have learned the lesson. Israel went down the tubes, but a hundred years later, what happens? Judah goes down the tubes, too. But here, God is speaking of a coming judgment and disaster. He's preparing for the people of Judah, and he clearly reveals his grace that lies behind his dealings, not only with Judah, but with all other nations, too. Sometimes it is hard for us to see how God can always be faithful to his spiritual laws, and yet how God always acts in grace in the applications of these laws. Because we are unable to understand the deep things of God. God, then, breaks things down to us in terms that we can understand, in terms of a potter, shaping or throwing a pot. You know, I never understand why they call it throwing a pot. You know, I was thinking of shaping a pot, but not throwing. But anyway, the people who work in clay, they call it throwing a pot. All right, so I'm going to show them, you know, so sophistication, throwing a pot. Now Jeremiah was in the temple when the Lord commanded him to go down to the pottery shop. Not to preach a message that, as most of us would assume, but to receive a message. The pottery shop was not just across town from the temple, but it was actually south of Jerusalem on the slopes of the Hinnom Valley. This is where clay and water were abundant. This is where this is like the capital of pottery in the whole area. And in this ordinary place, God would teach us an extraordinary principle of divine government. And this should teach us a lesson. One of the problems of today's church is our assumption that God is only present within the four walls of the church, so that God only speaks within the confines of church culture. You know, that's not true. God can show us stuff from any place. The scene in the pottery shop was very familiar with Jeremiah. He had seen this thing many times before. But the thing about Jeremiah, he did not assume that the scene had the same meaning as before. He was open for God to give him a fresh understanding this time. And actually, this is how we should approach the Scripture. Have you ever read the Scripture? You know, you read in the Bible, you see, you come to a certain part that you're familiar with and you skip it. Oh, I know God's a love the world. He gave us only begone something. I'll skip that. Oh, we get to the begats. Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. Well, we must approach the Scripture the way Jeremiah approached the potter's shop. Every time we come to the Scripture, we must be open for God to give us a fresh understanding. And without this openness, then the Scriptures will seem to lose their fizz. And we will end up in critical condition, do it to a lack of faith. So let's walk with Jeremiah this morning. What did he see? Well, he saw a potter working at the potter's wheel. Now, now the potter's wheel was really two wheels. Mounted horizontally. You've seen this before. It was like a wheel like, like, like on this level. And then there was another wheel. There was actually two wheels, another wheel down below. And the two wheels were connected by a shaft. Can you picture that? Okay. And it was mounted on this, this stand. And what the potter would do with the, you know, he would turn the pot, I mean, turn the wheel with his foot, which would cause the upper one to move. And then on top of that, that's when he would start shaping a pot. Okay? You got it? You got the picture? That's what he saw. He would know it's a, he would start throwing it pot. There you go. And often something would go wrong. A defect would be found on the clay. Sometimes a defect would be hard like a rock. You know, if you've ever tried to shape a pot, I took a class in this once and you get in this thing and all of a sudden you hit this rock and it messes up. Or sometimes the defect would be soft like an air bubble. Get the thing right, you hit the air bubble and you try to, it gets all, you know, the wheel is turning and it starts doing this, you know? All right. So what would the potter do when he found the defect? He would stop the wheel, right? Remove the defect, smash the clay, back into a lump and, and what? Start all over again, right? Okay. And that's what he would do. That's what he saw. That's what he saw. Can you picture that? All right. Now what did Jeremiah come to understand as he watched this potter at work? Well first, the potter had power over the clay, not the other way around. Second, the defects were in the clay itself, not in the hands of the potter. Okay. Third, the potter never gave up on the clay. See, he finds the defect, oh, I'm going to throw it. No, he didn't. What, you know, what did he do? He fixed the defects and then threw a better pot or a more beautiful pot. That's what he saw. That's what he understood. He said, Oh, as R.C. knew a hall, we used to say, hmm. Okay. All right. Verses five through ten, we see how God then gave Jeremiah the meaning for what he saw. This is what the Lord showed to Jeremiah. First, as the potter had absolute power over the clay, so the Lord has infinite power over nations, groups and individuals. Second, as the potter is not devastated by the defect he discovered in the clay, so the Lord is not devastated by the defects he sees in us. Third, as the potter is not defeated by the clay, which did not conform to his hands. So the Lord is not defeated by people who do not conform to his ways. Fourth, as the potter was able to remold the clay to conform to his plan, so the Lord is able to remake us to conform to his image. Now, what is God teaching us by this potter? First, God deals with nations according to his purpose. With incontestible authority and irresistible ability, listen to Job in Job chapter 12, verses 23. He, the Lord, makes nations great and destroys them. He enlarges nations and disperses them. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 15, surely the nations are like a drop in the bucket. They are regarded as dust on the scales. He weighs items as if they are a fine dust. The second thing that God is teaching us here is that when God deals with people, there was a conditional element. For example, when God decrees judgment upon a nation, it is always because of their sin. The people's repentance, on the other hand, will always change this decree to a decree of mercy. Or, looking at it from the other side, when God decrees mercy on a nation, it is always because of his grace. The people sin, on the other hand, can change this decree to judgment. But remember, even God's judgment contains a revelation of his grace. Now, if God can do this for whole nations, then how much more can He do for you and your family? Or even how much more can He do for you as an individual? The third thing that God is teaching us, I believe here, is this, that as the potter handles the clay, so God handles us. Well, how does the potter handle the clay? He slams it onto the wheel. He pounds it with his fist. He squeezes it. He stretches it. How does the potter do this to this poor clay? Why does he do it? He does it to reveal the defects. How does God handle us? Oh, my goodness. He slams, pounds, squeezes, and stretches us. Am I right about that? Why does he do it? To reveal our defects, to apply his mercy, to bring on our potential, and to prepare us for his glory. I can't tell you how many times I've been slammed by God, you know, think I got my little program together, you know, forget it, disaster. I'm so glad God does that, aren't you? If He didn't do that, He wouldn't love us, would He? Well, what are the implications of all of this? Well, first of all, without the potter's special skill, the clay can never transform itself into a vessel of beauty. Without God's special grace, we can never transform ourselves into vessels of honor. Without the potter's special skill, the clay just sits there in a dead and heavy and wet lump. Without God's special grace, we just exist, hopeless and subject to the whims of our circumstances. As the potter has a special purpose for every lump of clay, so God has a unique purpose for every human life. When the potter completes shaping and glazing the pot as He pleases, it's finally over, isn't it? No, no, that's the easy part. When He finishes shaping and glazing in the pot as He pleases, then what does He do? He places it into an oven and turns up the heat. Well, when God finishes, completes shaping and molding us as He pleases, what does He do? He places us into testing and turns up the pressure. The heat of the oven brings out the beautiful luster of the glazing on the pot. The pressure of testing brings out the beautiful glory of God's work of grace in us. And this work is a great treasure, the Apostle Paul tells us, listen to him in 2 Corinthians 4 verses 7 through 9, but we hold this treasure in pots of clay to show that the all surpassing power is from God and not from us. Now, a lot of times we miss the subtle thing on that, just pots of clay. Now, back in the first century, you know, just a plain old pot of clay. It was almost disposable. You know, treasure that that much. It's just a plain old pot. Now, He had a vessel of beauty with all the glazing on it. That's something to be treasure. So, if I was translating that today, I would say, we hold this treasure in a paper cup to show that the all surpassing power comes from God and not from us. What do we do with paper cups? Okay, we finish drinking coffee from it. Then what do you do with it? Do you put it in your China cabinet? Do you put it in the dishwasher? Now, there are some mothers that I know. I won't mention any names, but she puts those solo cups, you know, the plastic ones in the dishwasher. Okay, all right. And if you don't anchor those things down right, you know, you know, how they tip over and have all that dirty water inside. Okay, but what do we do with the paper cup when we finish with it? Well, sometimes we like to play with it. Sometimes I like to unroll it, you know, over the styrofoam cup, I mark in it and I bite and I put bite marks on it. You know how you do. But at the end, what do you do? Because it's not all that valuable, okay? But why do we hold the paper cup in the first place? Because of what it contains. That's what makes it valuable. And so we hold this treasure of God's beautiful work in a paper cup. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not abandoned, knocked down, but never knocked out because we hold this treasure. It's God's treasure. But unlike earthly clay, human clay is not passive. God is not some impersonal force of fatalism. If he was, then human freedom would be a total illusion with it. But on the other hand, God does not depend on human permission to act and I'm so glad that he doesn't. If he waited for me to give him permission to save me, I'd never get saved. If God waits for human permission to act, then he would not be the sovereign of strength, but he'd be the wimp of weakness. Our freedom is an expression of God's sovereignty. And we have the necessity to repent. That is, we have the necessity to face our defects and sins, to forsake our defects and sins, and to rest in God's all self-sufficiency to make things right. In other words, God will always answer when we cry, fix me. No matter how many defects and sins you have, God is not surprised because he's always known this about you. You can't hide nothing from him. No matter how deep your defects and sins may be, God is not surprised because he has always known this about you. No matter how messed up you are by your defects and sins, God is not surprised because what? He has always known this about you. And God's constant promise is this, if we repent from our mess-ups, God will remake us into beautiful vessels of honor. God is still in the people fixing business, and Jesus is the only fully qualified people fixing. For he, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us so that we, being sinners, might become the righteousness of God in him. Therefore, if you cry, fix me, Jesus, like the powder fix the clay, you can be absolutely certain that God is already fixing to fix you. I've been in Chattanooga long enough to learn some of this language, okay? Remember, God rules over nations by his grace. God is not arbitrary in his rule by grace. God is not haphazard in his rule of grace. Now, if you are unsaved today, you know, that is, if you never have come into a right relationship with God, if you're unsaved today and messed up, then God has given you an opportunity to be remade to conform to his image. All you have to do is cry, fix me, Jesus, like the powder fix the clay. Alright, so I got that little evangelist piece out of the way, right? Now, if you are saved today and messed up, hello, I think there's nobody can escape that one. God has given you an opportunity to be remade to conform to his purpose. All you got to do is cry, fix me, Jesus, like the powder fix the clay. Because judgment, oh, let me put it this way, because repentance always changes God's decree of judgment into mercy, it does not mean that God changes his nature, though. According to God's unchanging nature, he never fails to respond to our change of heart. Therefore, if you cry, fix me, Jesus, like the powder fix the clay, then you can be absolutely sure that he's already fixing to fix you. Now, I don't know about you, but nobody in here's a her right mind would turn down such an incredible, tremendous opportunity. But in our passage, we see that the people of Judah were definitely not in their right minds. They claim that they, it was hopeless to call them to repent. They believe that they were too messed up for God to remold them. They gave up on themselves by their stubborn refusal to believe that God was greater than their defects and sins. They condemned themselves to their idle worshiping codependency. Let me tell you something about idols. Idols may seem harmless at first, but after a while, they get mean, and they abuse you. And Judah's idols were using and abusing them. Now, if you want to get kind of an idea of kind of what was happening, listen to some real, down, funky blues sometimes, and listen to the blues from a female point of view. You know, my man don't love me. He treats me all so mean. Listen to blues from a female point of view, okay? And that's how idols treat people. Listen to the blues from a male point of view, then you find out how we treat God. Oh, that's deep. Some of y'all think I'm way off the deep end, right? Read Josea sometime. Josea, and I would re-tidal that Josea sings the blues. Oh, you know, he marries this young lady. You know, remember, you know the story, right? And she turned out to be a, what's an appropriate word I can say, a working girl. You know, you ought to read that story sometimes, you know, and Josea loved her, you know, and she ended up in slavery and lost track of her and all that. I mean, remember, in the first part of the story, they started having kids, you know, the name of their second child was, I think it was not my child or something like that, you know. Listen to Ray Charles the other day, talking about he's going to move the outskirts of town. You don't want anybody hanging around. And then he says, if we have it, it may seem funny, funny as it may be, if we have a dozen children, you know they all better look like me. Okay, all right, so you ought to read that story sometimes. And I love the way it says it in the Hebrew. I think the English translation is kind of missing. The English translation says this at the end of the story, it says, I will take you into the desert. I will make love to you and you will be mine again. And he buys her back, remember from slavery. And it says, you will look into my eyes. The English Bible says, you will look into my eyes and no longer say my Lord, but you'll say my husband. But in the Hebrew, it says, you will look into my eyes and you will no longer say my husband, you will say, my man. Yeah, that's the essence of it, you know. Okay, so anyway, I get off of these rabbit chills every now and then. But if you want to know how idols treat people, listen to funky or low down blues from a female point of view, they said the people of Judah said, we will have our evil way no matter what it cost us. Or as Billy Holiday paraphrased that. Whatever my idol is, I'm his forever. They called this freedom to do their own thing. But in reality, it was slavery to do their idols thing. Now in conclusion, I got to ask you this question now. What about you today? What about you today? Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming that all of you here are at least in your right minds. Is that a good assumption? Okay, all right, all right, because if you weren't, I don't think you'd be here. Okay, so I'm going to make that assumption. Now, no matter who you are, you can always use some divine fixum. You are never hopeless on this side of the grave. You are never too messed up for God to remold you. Whatever you do, don't give up on yourself the way the people of Judah did. God is always greater than your defects and sins. Don't condemn yourself to mess up codependency the way Judah did, because we serve a God who abounds in compassion and understanding. Remember Psalms 103? Listen to this. Verses 3 through 6. Who forgives all your sins and heals your diseases, all your diseases? Who redeems you from your life, from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion? Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth may be renewed like the eagles? The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. What's God asking us here? He's a series of questions. What's he really asking us? I'll tell you what he's asking us? He's saying, who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. This is verse 8, verse 9. He will not always accuse nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. What's he asking us? Who's your daddy? Listen to verse 14. If this doesn't convince you, I don't know what will. For he knows how we are formed and he remembers that we are best. Nothing but clay, y'all. Nothing but clay. We serve a God who was incontestable and irresistible. Remember Jeremiah 32 verses 26 through 27? Listen to this. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Listen to what the Lord says. I am the Lord. The God of all mankind is anything too hard for me. And remember our passage here, verse 6. Can I not do with you as this potter does, declares the Lord, like clay in the hands of the potter. So are you in my hand. What else can we say? But fix me, Jesus, like the potter, fix the clay. Let's all shout that prayer together. Come on. Fix me, Jesus, like the potter, fix the clay. And you can be absolutely, positively 100% sure that God is already fixing to fix you. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, so much, for your compassion and your grace. It is just so incredible. Thank you that you are not like an idol, that you use and abuse your worshipers. You don't do that. Thank you that you are a daddy and you have compassion on us. Lord, we are messed up. We are just messed up. We can't fix ourselves. We are not as big as our defects and faults, but you are much infinitely times bigger than that. And so Lord, we ask that you will fix us and keep us mindful of the fact that you are a people fixer or you ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I got a couple announcements before we leave today. All the women should have received question there about.