Series – Right Attitudes needed for Ministry

Part 3 "The Attitude of a Teachable Spirit”

Introduction:

The teaching in God’s Word about the potter and the clay instructs us about 5 great truths in regard to a proper teachable attitude needed for ministry

1. God is the Potter – we are the clay

Isaiah 64:8

8 But now, O LORD, You [are] our Father; We [are] the clay, and You our potter; And all we [are] the work of Your hand. 

Job 10:8

8 'Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me. 

2. The Potter molds the clay as He wills

The Potter is absolutely sovereign over the clay and does what pleases Him

Romans 9:21

21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? 

3. The clay is not to question the Potter’s plan

It’s the Potter’s plan based on His infinite wisdom


Isaiah 45:9

9 " Woe to him who strives with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [strive] with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or shall your handiwork [say,] 'He has no hands'? 

Romans 9:20

20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed [it,] "Why have you made me like this?" 

4. The Potter remolds the clay

Jeremiah 18:4

4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. 

5. The clay is breakable when it hardens

A vessel that is dropped or falls, as long as it is pliable/teachable, it can be restored

Isaiah 30:14

14 And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter's vessel, Which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments A shard to take fire from the hearth, Or to take water from the cistern." 

Jeremiah 19:11

11 "and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Even so I will break this people and this city, as [one] breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury [them] in Tophet till [there is] no place to bury. 

I Corinthians 9:27

27 But I discipline my body and bring [it] into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. 

Conclusion:

To be used of God, we must remain in the Potter’s hand with the right attitude necessary for ministry
-