Romans 9:20b-24 - The Potter and the Clay

Romans 9:20b-24 - 20b The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

Message: The Potter and the Clay

Time: Romulus founded ancient Rome about 753 BC. By 600 BC it had become a wealthy, flourishing city with a monarch. Around 500 BC, the monarch was overthrown. A republic resulted and after war, Rome became the only great power in the Mediterranean, succeeding the empire of Alexander the Great. Before and after the birth of Christ, Rome's dominion continued to expand to about two thirds the size of the continental US. At the time Paul wrote, Rome had a population of about 1,000,000. Most were slaves. It was a vast empire, but had many religions present. It is unknown how the church started in Rome, but Gentiles and Jews both were involved. Paul was writing to address a problem, but he wanted to be there and perhaps, make Rome his base for his missionary journey's

What the Lord is Saying:

Perspective
It is true that these are difficult passages to read, study and confront. But, I read them and study them because I love God and I want to know everything about Him. And yet I understand I am a finite creature and so there are some things that may appear to not make sense, but I still study them and will trust God with their outcomes. That said, I have always kind of loved this passage of scripture. There is something comforting about the clay not telling the potter what to do. There is a Christian group called "Jars of Clay" to remind us that God is at work in our lives and we are His handiwork. The idea of a clay and potter is also about perspective. It reminds me that people have different and distinct purposes. As a person, it is very hard to not grade people in this world and think that one person is somehow more important than another. We do this rather quickly by what we pay people monetarily for the work that they do. The more power a person has, the more he gets paid. I don't think it is that we are rewarding hard work, but we are rewarding certain types of hard work. Sometimes, it is just that a person has been smart about earning money and has found a niche that needs those services or goods. But, in the family of God, we all have equal worth. We can see this because God is the one that has gifted us.

In high school and college I admired and put on a pedestal musicians. But, as I was able to then associate with them and see them up close, I began to see that they are not that much different than myself or anyone else. They simply have a gift or profession that has placed them in the limelight. The same can be said of the Mayor or a head pastor.

To be sovereign means that God has the right to do whatever He wants. And yet we can be confident that what He wants to do will always have purpose. I should not think for a moment that God's ways are random. Nor should I think that God doesn't have love for all. I think the struggle I have is why is that there seems to be few people that have this love for God. But, that could just be my perspective and how I define following Him and being a believer and disciple.

Background
Starting in verse 19, Paul is answering the question that a person may be asking and that is (verse 19), "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" The issue is one of personal responsibility. If God determines who He His has mercy upon and determines whom He will harden; if these are based upon His desire, then what is my responsibility?

At first Paul wants us to be reminded of who we are dealing with here. We are dealing with God and you don't question God. In verse 20, "Who is man to answer back to God?"

God's position further clarified
So, using the analogy of a potter and a clay, Paul helps us to understand God, as the potter, is the one to determine outcomes of faith based on the fact that He is God. This can be a hard concept or truth to accept for anyone. But, I notice that those that start with the precept that 'there is no God' then it makes this concept even harder to comprehend.

Verse 20 begins with the further clarification of verse 20, "who is man to answer back to God?" "The thing molded will not say to the molder, "why did you make me like this?"" God is God and we are not God. Don't question Him. We can seek to understand Him, but we don't shake our fist toward God.

This is a concept not new to Paul. Isaiah 29:16 states, "Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?"

I think in this process of understanding there are a couple of things we know. First of all, everyone should be condemned. When we look at the holiness of God and then we look at the sinfulness of man, we are amazed that anyone is counted as worth. Second, people have been chosen and have been set free. There are people that God brings into His fold. Third, however, why does God not bring everyone? Fourth, God's power is paramount. It is said again, repeating Romans 9:17, "God will demonstrate His power and His name will be proclaimed." So God's power is to be known and seen by all. His power is great because of unbelief.

--- Personal struggle/question
I think the struggle I continue to see is that there are many faiths that acknowledge God, but don't acknowledge Jesus in the correct way. The JW, the Catholic (some), the Mormon, the Jew, the Muslim all acknowledge God, but, for the most part, do it in an odd way. They elevate other individuals to a high level to be equal spokesman for God with those individuals in the Bible. And when they do this, the focus is not the same as the entire Bible states. They all revert to the thought that the Bible is true, as long as it is translated correctly. Christianity pretty much says the same thing. The Bible is correct, as long as it is translated correctly. So, there are differences. And each group thinks they are the correct way.

In no way do I fold all faiths nor all people of the faiths I mentioned above, just as I would not bring in all Christians. Many approach their faith for selfish gain. 

And yet, each one will have similarities of the attributes of God. Each one will probably think that God's power must be revered and His name proclaimed. That is a little bit of a struggle for me. Granted, I still believe in John 14:6 that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father, but through Him.

But, it is not just these different faiths or religions. Within Christianity there are now so many different pockets and presentations of belief. Yesterday, I was speaking with someone about Osteen and Houston (of Hillsong) and whether the prosperity gospel message could be decreased to a lesser evil as long as those people believe in justification by faith alone. As fundamental Christians, we are not just bickering with the world, the other religions, but we are also bickering with those that have similar core beliefs but then very different offshoots. I guess it's puzzling to me that we spend so much time dividing that we forget about the person that is completely foreign to faith. 

The differing vessels
Looking at verse 22 and 23 now is very interesting. I want to look at verse 22 with a couple of different versions:

• NASB - 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

I looked at a John MacArthur explanation of these verses and thought it was interesting. He reminds us that Paul is clearly voicing that God is sovereign, so keep that in mind as you try to understand these verses. What he talks about is the use of passive voice and active voice. I really appreciated reading this because I've heard those terms thrown around many times and never quite understood what they meant. In active, the subject does the acting. In passive, the subject receives the action.

He states that in verse 22, the phrase, "What if God endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" God isn't destining a person here for hell. He does not create Judas to betray Jesus. What he says instead is that there are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Man turns away from God. Romans 1:21, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him or give thanks." Man is turning away from God. The verb here is passive--prepared. God here exercises patience with the sinner. He desires the sinner to exercise repentance. The vessels, however, exercise destruction. So God does not step in and doom people to hell. He provides opportunity for repentance. He loves them. He desires to see them repent.

We are all "vessels" and we are a container for things. In these 2 verses, there are contrasting contents of these containers or vessels. Verse 22 mentions "wrath prepared for destruction." Verse 23 mentions "mercy He prepared for glory." God does not create men for destruction, but men move away from God. Men embrace sin and embrace a life where God is not on center stage.

In contract, in verse 23, the verb--prepared is now active. God is the active agent. God prepares His chosen ones for glory. In verse 22, God is not the subject doing the preparing. In verse 23, God is the subject doing the preparing. 

Habakkuk 1:13 states that "You (God) can not look at wickedness." God hates sin. Psalm 11:5 is a stark reminder that "the one who loves violence His (God) soul hates." I must be so careful as to how I often dance with sin in my life.

RC Sproul states, "The elect get grace; the non-elect get justice." In the story of Pharaoh, Pharaoh first hardened his own heart and then God hardened it. As in Romans 1, the people did not give thanks to God, so God gave them over.

Reflection on how we now define sin
I really appreciate the time at our church where we stop and consider the sin in our life. And confess it, sometimes individually, sometimes corporately. It's sad that this is so refreshing in our day and age. But, in the world in which we reside, sin is constantly being redefined as acceptable behavior. People want to think that their pleasure is acceptable in God's eyes so the Word of God is twisted and reshaped and redefined and reinterpreted so that their life choices can be validated. We live in the age of tolerance. We live in a time when safety and comfort is the highest value. It is not bad that we are hyper-sensitive to this, but in doing this we elevate it as the highest good. And God's highest good of sin is thrown by the wayside. We are so engrossed in how we affect one another that we have placed by the wayside how we affect God's justice. Everything can't be important. We must make choices.

Understanding God's call on lives
In verse 24, Paul is writing and speaking of himself and those he is writing at the church in Rome. Alongside the previous thought in verse 23 where he stated that God prepared beforehand vessels of mercy, Paul brings himself into picture, as well as the church in Rome he is writing to and states that "even us, whom He also called." We are His called out ones. This is clear. He already defined this based upon the fruit that He knew of from their lives in the chapter 1, in spreading the gospel.

Our calling is not defined because we are Jews or even because we are Gentiles. We are called by God.

Promise: God, in history, calls people and designates them.