Jeremiah 18:6b Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my
hand, O house of Israel.

 I have been reading a book on the history of Luther lately.  What got me
into this was our confirmation class because usually for the first few
days or so we start confirmation by speaking of Luther and his times.
One of the books I have is Scwiebert's Martin Luther and His Times.  I've
had this book since my Seminary days and while I have read chapters and
portions of the book here and there, I have never read the entire thing.
I determined I would do that this fall in order to refresh my
understanding of the Reformation.
 What a joy this book has been.  First, I will tell you that you have to
like history in order to enjoy this book.  Second, you have to have the
mindset of the author to grasp what he is saying.  He is an historian but
he is a Christian historian.  He writes from the perspective that God is
calling the shots in history.  In other words, he clearly writes from the
perspective of our text, we are clay, God is the potter and God can do
whatever he wants.
 Of course, we realize that God acts and moves for the good of his
church.  So how interesting to see that the history of the Reformation
began long before Luther came on the scene.  For instance, the Papacy had
been weakened because of internal struggles and foolishness.  Before
Luther came on the scene there was actually a period when there were
three popes all at the same time.  Or take the fact that the papacy had
become increasingly godless and immoral in its living or perhaps I should
just say that the papacy became very tolerant of the immorality of its
priests.  All of this served to make people, especially those supposedly
under the Pope skeptical of the claims of the Pope.
 Add to this some other historical happenings.  Johannes Gutenberg had
discovered the movable type printing press and by the time of Luther's
birth, printing presses were pretty widespread and active in the world.
It was the printing press that served to quickly print and disseminate
Luther's sermons, writings and other documents so that the whole world
was aware of what was going on.  Without this invention most historians
speculate that Luther and his ideas would have quickly died.
 And then one other factor.  In the Holy Roman Empire a new Emperor
Charles the V came into power, but not easily.  His control of the Empire
depended heavily on the German princes.  His difficulties with Spain,
France and the invading Turks made it so that the Emperor just didn't
have time to deal with the Lutheran problem.  By the time he did turn his
attention to the Lutherans their teachings and practices were so far
embedded in the people that there was no way to eradicate the reforms
that had taken place.
 I tell you all of this just so you can grasp that the Reformation didn't
happen because of Luther.  The reformation happened because of God.  We
are the clay.  God is the potter.  God shapes history and nations and
people and events.  God does this for the sake of his Church and his
believers.  God always acts and moves for our eternal good.  Let's
explore this truth of God all the more for ourselves.  Our theme will be:
GOD OUR POTTER.  1st. He is the Potter.  2nd. He forms the clay.
 I realize that it seems such an obvious thing to you and I as God's
children in Christ Jesus that God is the potter.  We realize that this
revelation is simply an affirmation of what the rest of God's Word
declares.  God is God.  God is almighty and all knowing.  God is
everywhere and has His hand in everything.  What seems obvious to us is
simply not that obvious to those of the world.
 A case in point is the history of our text.  Jeremiah as a prophet of
God had been sent to the people of Judah.  These were supposedly the
chosen people, the people who were followers of the true and only God.
But the people, these very people who had in their midst the revelation
and truth of God, had abandoned and were ignoring that truth.  Make no
mistake.  I did not say that these people weren't religious.  They were
religious beyond our grasp.  They vigorously and purposefully worked at
being religious.  They went to Temple, followed the commands of
sacrifice, carried out the rituals and ways they found in God's Word.
They were a very religious people.  It's just that their religion forgot
about God, forgot about the true and only God, forgot about the God of
grace, mercy and love.  They were involved in the externals and forgot
what it was all to mean.  They forgot the point.  The point was the glory
and honor of God.
 So it is that God sent his servants to the people to try and wake them
up.  God had given a warning when a portion of his people, the Northern
Kingdom of Israel had disappeared.  That Northern Kingdom ignored God's
prophet's and to this day we still speak of the lost 10 tribes of Israel.
 Yet the remaining kingdom Judah took no heed.  Now God was sending his
people the prophet Jeremiah to try and lead them to escape disaster at
the hands of the Babylonians.  The message was clear and simple.  Repent.
 Repent and give to God his honor and due.  Repent of the evil and
wickedness in your midst, was his message.
 The problem they had was not really believing and following God.  The
people thought salvation was what they would do and accomplish.  The
people thought they knew better than God when it came to sin.  It doesn't
matter if you want to talk the sin of worshipping false gods or if you
want to talk about declaring evil good and good evil.  It is what was
happening.  All of this occurred because the people forgot that God is
God.  God calls the shots and God and his Word is where it all stands or
falls.
 Do we sometimes forget the same thing?  Do we forget that God is the
potter and we the clay.  I look at this world of ours and I see so many
instances of where man has usurped the power of God, taken and
symbolically thrown God off of his throne.  The sad part is that much of
this is happening in the Church.  God says, "Preach Christ and him
crucified."  The churches preach light weight morality and self
improvement techniques.  God says, "The Word is the standard for all
things."  The world and the church want to vote on what's right and
wrong.  God says "Hear and believe" but the world and often the church
says, "I want to believe but I don't want to hear" or "I want to hear but
I don't want to believe."  God says, "Serve me with your life."  The
church has gotten into saying, "Serve the world and grow bigger and
better."  Sometimes we forget that God is God, that God is the Potter and
we the clay.
 We are the clay.  God can shape and form us in whatever way he wants.
As I looked at the readings for this Sunday I realize how those readings
were just right for a Reformation celebration.  The OT text reminds us
that God is God.  The EP text spoke of the importance of the Gospel and
its proclamation.  But notice that it also reminded of the judgment day
to come.  Our Gospel lesson itself was Jesus speaking of being prepared
for that last day by keeping watch.  We keep watch as we stick to and
believe the truth of God's Word, as we put our confidence in God's Son
Jesus our Savior.
 We are the clay.  We are shaped by our God!  Shaped but because of the
horror of sin we are, on our own, vessels empty and without purpose.  God
gives us that purpose in his Son Jesus.  God calls us to be his children,
heirs of heaven and eternal life not by our efforts but because Jesus
came to die as our substitute and win redemption for us.  In Jesus our
sins are forgiven.  In Jesus is found full and complete redemption.  In
Jesus we become clay jars set to serve and to inherit eternal life and
salvation.  Vessels of clay clothed with the robes of Jesus and thus made
sons of God to life everlasting.  Vessels of clay created to serve the
Lord.
 But we forget that, don't we?  In Matthew 23 Jesus also spoke of the
coming day of judgement.  He said this, "Who then is the faithful and
wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his
household to give them their food at the proper time?  It will be good
for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.  I tell
you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.  But
suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying
away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to
eat and drink with drunkards.  The master of that servant will come on a
day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.  He
will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
 As we spoke of that passage this past Bible class I couldn't help but
think how well this fit into the message of Reformation.  We are called,
yes, we clay vessels are called the faithful and wise servants of the
Lord.  We have been put in charge of our Master's household.  This has
happened because of the grace and mercy of Jesus.  He won the victory and
then He sent his Holy Spirit to call us to faith, give us the wisdom of
God's love and lead us in works of service to his glory and honor.  As
Luther served as the vessel of God to help restore the glory of the
gospel so we still carry out that same calling as the clay the Potter
shapes.
 The Apostle's bear me out on this.  In Romans 9:20 we hear these words,
"Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay
some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?"  That's a
section speaking of God's sovereign might to do what He knows is best.
God may make some of us noble jars and some of us common jars...it does
not matter though, for both are to serve the Lord.
 In 2 Corinthians 4:7 we hear, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay
to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."
Here is a passage that tells us we are clay jars full of the treasure of
Jesus.  But we are clay jars to remind us constantly that our salvation
is not of or from us.  It is from God.  God has rescued and saved.  God
has forgiven in Jesus.  God takes us imperfect sinners with all our
faults and foibles and causes us to serve Him.  We are not perfect, we
are not flawless, we are sinners redeemed, forgiven and called to serve
the Lord.  Jars filled with Christ.
 Or we can consider 2 Timothy 2:20-21.  "In a large house there are
articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some for
noble purposes and some for ignoble.  If a man cleanses himself from the
latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to
the Master and prepared to do any good work."  That whole section is
talking about a workman approved by God.  We are approved by faith in
Jesus.  We are approved as we hear and believe the message of the
forgiveness of sins won for us.  We are approved as we are moved by the
Holy Spirit to practice what we believe and have in Jesus.  We are told
that in Jesus we all become noble instruments to serve our Master Jesus.
 There is no doubt.  God is the Potter, we are the clay.  He forms and
shapes us for his purpose and for his service.  He does these things out
of love and care for us.  May we be vessels inscribed with the name of
Jesus.  Vessels formed to serve and be filled with the love of Jesus.
Vessels whose simple goal is to bring honor and glory to our Potter.  The
Potter who has made, saved and fully redeemed us through the Gospel of
Jesus.  Amen.