No Waste
Jeremiah 18:1-11 - 8/22/2004

Recycling. We do it with newspapers, bottles and cans. Sometimes with old batteries and computer printer cartridges. But how about rotary-dial telephones? Do any of you still have one of those? (If so, have you recycled it, by chance?)

Well, it’s not likely. Junk like that gets thrown in the trash.

If we lived in Cuba, however, the story would be different. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the economic crisis deepened. Poverty became rampant, and Cubans were forced to engage in some truly inventive recycling. Since they had nothing new to work with, they found creative ways to make something out of nothing.

One person took an old rotary-dial telephone and turned it into an electric fan. Another took an empty plastic bottle, one that used to hold antifreeze, and transformed it into a sign for his taxicab. Still another person took a little plastic bear, a child’s old squeeze toy, and attached it upside down to a set of bicycle handlebars so that it would become a bike horn.

Now that’s what you call real recycling. Not simply putting old newspapers in bundles. This is the kind of reinvention that stands as a true tribute to creativity. And there’s no waste.

We continue today looking at the life of the prophet Jeremiah that we began last week. It’s this kind of appreciation for the recycling potential of the old, the tired, the tried and true, for which Jeremiah gained a new appreciation when God suggested he take a look at what was happening in the potter’s house in Jerusalem.

The people of Israel were on a perilous path of perversity and injustice and idolatry, and Jeremiah could see that they were likewise on a collision course with judgment and exile. But then he saw what the potter was doing, and he listened to the word of the Lord. Jeremiah began to see that divine creativity might allow for a very different outcome.

“I went down to the potter’s house,” says Jeremiah, “and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him” (Jeremiah 18:3-4). The potter did not give up when the first vessel was spoiled, but he reworked it into something that was good and useful, like a Cuban recycler turning a phone into a fan, or a plastic bottle into a taxi sign.

The fashioning of pottery is one of the oldest achievements of human culture. (GET OUT THE LUMP OF CLAY) The potter is one who takes the most common, seemingly worthless element of the earth, the clay itself—a blob-- and transforms it into something functional, valuable, even beautiful. The image of the potter, then, is one who not only can make a functional vessel, but also is creative and artistic in doing it. Perhaps for this reason, the image of God the Creator portrayed as a potter is one of the oldest (Genesis 2:7-8, 19) and most enduring in ancient biblical references, beginning with the second chapter of the first Book of the Bible, where we read that God “formed man from the…ground,” (Gen 2:7), the trees, “every animal…and every bird…every living creature” (Gen 2:19)

This image of the potter is a very intimate image of God creating work in the world. It tells us that God is thinking, planning, and devising what he wants to create. It says that God’s own hand is making the creation, as the potter’s own hand shapes the clay. And it reminds us that God’s work is as near and personal and intimate as the unseen force that shapes human tissue into a human child.

The potter whom Jeremiah visits, then, is not just a craftsman forming a clay jar. His every thought, his every physical action can be interpreted as an earthly re-enactment of how God labors over his creative work in us to transform us from “lumps” into valued and beautiful examples of his creative power.

So, it stands to reason that God the Master Potter would say to Jeremiah: “Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? ... Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation…turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster I intended to bring on it” (Jeremiah 18:6-8). God makes it very clear that he can smash a spoiled pot and throw it in the trash, or he can recycle it into something that is good and useful and pleasing to him.

The key, says the Lord, is repentance. The fate of the vessel depends on its willingness to change — or to be changed.

As Jeremiah watches the potter at his work, he notes that if a vessel becomes spoiled as the potter is working it, he can make it into another vessel as he sees fit. Jeremiah sees that God does not want to trash us — he wants to recycle us. Although God describes himself as a potter who is bringing judgment against Israel, he also stresses that there is a recycling option that is always open. “Turn now, all of you from your evil way,” says the Lord, “and amend your ways and your doings” (v. 11). Repentance is the key — turning ourselves around, and beginning to walk in the way of the Lord. If we make a move away from sin and toward our Savior, we’ll find that God is willing to rework us into something that is remarkably fresh and creative and new. Our Lord wants to use us, not discard us. He wants there to be no waste.

Granted, sometimes we feel like old antifreeze bottles, empty and dirty and cracked, but we don’t have to end up in the trash. God is not the Lord of the Landfill, anxious to get rid of anything that is ruined, spoiled, damaged goods. Instead, God wants to rework us, recycle us, and turn us into something that is pleasing and useful and good. But we have to make the first move, and turn ourselves around. Actually, it’s the second move. God makes the first one, inviting us to return, reminding us that his love is constant, begging us to amend our ways. That’s his move.

So we need to make the second move: turn around to face the One who is eager for a reconciliation. So why is this “turning-around” move such a tough one? Part of the problem is that any kind of change is a huge challenge for us. Even when we know — when we know — that a change, a move, a journey to a new moral and ethical climate would be good for us, we resist this course of action.

Resistance: It’s part of the psychology of change. A French writer wrote: “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy, for what we leave behind is part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another.”

That’s why we prefer to stay in whatever mode we’re in—we don’t want to change. How many of you have had the same hair style for, say, 10 years? Ladies: carried the same purse? Men: kept keys on your key chain that you don’t have a clue what they open? And it’s hard to repent of gossip, because it feeds our ego to be in a position of superiority, with control over a tidbit of scandalous information. It is hard to repent of gambling, because we get such an adrenaline rush from buying a lottery ticket and dreaming of what you’ll do with all that money when you win. It is hard to repent of smoking, or pornography, or alcohol, because of their addictive nature and its appeal to making us feel good, if only for a moment.

As much as we may want to make changes in these areas, we know that our repentance will leave us feeling somewhat deflated. When we turn away from such sensual delights, we leave behind a part of ourselves. In short, we don’t repent, because, well — we don’t want to, really. That’s it. We don’t want to, we don’t feel like it. Let’s admit it. Sin, rebellion, control, can be fun. We don’t want to give it up. So we don’t.

Another barrier to repentance is fear of the unknown. To do an about-face and head in a whole new direction — which is, at heart, the core meaning of repentance — is a truly scary proposition. It’s normal to wonder: Am I really going to enjoy living a life of simplicity after years of maxing out my credit card? Am I ever going to feel any heart-pounding excitement if I focus on service projects instead of watching things my eyes should not see on TV or in the movies? Am I ever going to handle my stress and feel calm at least once in awhile without nicotine or an after-dinner drink?

Repentance is the first step in becoming a whole new creation, like a squeeze toy changing into a bicycle horn, and it’s not clear from the beginning that any of us is going to enjoy the transformation. Yet, when we finally come to the point where we’re tired of the despair and the uselessness. Tired of hearing the complaints of our children for our unhealthy addictions. Tired of living in a spider hole of depression and meaninglessness, tired of our weakness. We long for something more, and that something is a new and fresh start.

Malachi 3:3 says: "(The Lord) is like a refiner’s fire…he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse goes on to say that God will purify the descendants of Levi (that would be us) and refine us “like gold and silver, until (we) present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.”

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study I was leading once and we wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at our next Bible Study. That week, Beverly called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work at the Old Bag Factory in Goshen. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

Bev told us that as she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

She said she thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

Bev told us she thought about that for a moment, and then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you. If you are overwhelmed when you think about the changes you need to make in your life to be truly repentant, truly useful to God, remember that, fortunately for us, God is ready and eager to take:

• what is broken and fix it,
• what is wounded and heal it,
• what is defiled and cleanse it,
• what is bitter and sweeten it,
• what is impure and purify it,
• what is incomplete and make it whole.
• what is ugly and turn it into something that is beautiful.

Songwriter Gloria Gaither puts it this way: (Alice, would you help me out, here?)

Something beautiful, something good!
All my confusion He understood!
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life!

With God, there is no waste. Anyone and anything can be transformed by the power of God, changed as dramatically as a telephone turning into an electric fan. As we come to see ourselves as lumps of clay in the hand of our potter God, we realize we are the creations that God has chosen to advance his work on earth, we see the clear signs of God’s desire to invent new solutions to the problems that arise in our lives, up close and personal.

It really doesn’t make sense for us to resist the changes that God is making as he recycles us for his purposes, because there is nothing more satisfying than being formed into a new and marvelous creation, an all-important part of our Lord’s world-changing movement of love and peace and justice.

When God recycles, there’s never any waste. Only forgiven and reinvented people who are good and useful and pleasing both to God and to others. Before we were born, we existed in the mind of God. He pictured what he wanted us to look like. We are not just the product of genetic codes and DNA. We are not a mistake, a mutation. We are a masterpiece. Everything about our bodies — the shape of our head, the length of our nose, the size of our ears — is the work of an artist. We might wish we looked different — bigger or smaller, shorter or taller. We would like to make some places rounder and others flatter. We think we have physical flaws, because the advertising media says that we should look perfect. But that is nonsense. We were created by an artist. We are beautiful to God.

And we are being shaped and molded spiritually, too. God, the master craftsman, is shaping our character. He has a vision of what he wants us to become, a purpose for our lives that is unique and significant for each of us. He has designed us to be his holy people. We are vessels that house something very special — the Spirit of God. Paul wrote, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” We may be ordinary clay pots, but God is molding and shaping us for his use — and he uses everything in our lives to accomplish his purposes. God is the potter, we are the clay. (Italicized paragraphs by John Hanneman, “Shaped by an artist,” June 10, 2001, Peninsula Bible Church Cupertino Web Site, Pbcc.org.) Let’s sing those wonderful words of the Gaithers again. They are printed at the top of the second page of your bulletins.

Something beautiful, something good! All my confusion He understood! All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful out of my life!

Please pray with me the prayer printed in your bulletin: O Lord, you have searched me and known me. Even before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Amen. (Psalm 139:1,4,14,23,24)

BENEDICTION
The next time you feel bad or useless and are too far from God to do any good, just remember ...

No more excuses now. God can use you to your full potential! Amen.

Children's Sermon
Open a can of clay in front of the children, take out the clay, and begin to work it in your hands. Ask the children if they like to play with clay, and find out what they like to make. Take a few seconds to mold the clay into a dog. Show them your creation, and ask them if it looks like a dog. Admit that it is not a very good dog, and then ask the children if it makes sense to throw the clay away if you fail to make a good figure on your first try. No! Stress that the great thing about clay is that you can try and try again, working and reworking the clay until you get it just right. Point out that God is doing the very same thing with us — he says to the prophet Jeremiah, “Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand” (Jeremiah 18:6). Let the children know that God does not give up on us when we make mistakes, but instead God accepts our apologies and works to make us better all the time. Stress that the important thing for us is to turn away from bad things and turn toward good things, because when we do this, God takes us in his hands and molds us into the very best people we can be. Close by holding up the clay dog and saying that God wants to reshape us, not reject us.

Return to Weekly Message Page