THE MIND OF THE LORD: THE POTTER & THE CLAY
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. The Mind Of The Lord
a) There are many people who want to tell God how he should think. As the mind of society changes on some issue or other, people think that the word of God should be edited to reflect this shift in human thought. How often do we hear the church being called upon to move with the times and reflect current community thinking? This assumes that God thinks as human beings think, or even that God exists by human thought.
b) God has been dealing with arrogance in human beings from antiquity. We look in Isaiah and references by Paul when he compares the mind of the Lord to the mind of man.
c) God makes comparison of his mind with ours, when he is assuring us of his compassion toward any unrighteous person who forsakes sin and returns to God. He says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways... for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).
2. The Potter And The Clay
Isaiah 29:16
16 You turn things around!
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”?
a) Paul quotes from the same passage in Isaiah when he discusses the basis on which God shows mercy and compassion. Paul uses the analogy in Isaiah of the potter and the clay (Isaiah 29:16, Romans 9:20-21). The potter (God) is greater than the clay (mankind). The potter can do what he wishes with the clay, and the clay must yield to the will of the potter. Imagine a pot saying to the potter who made it, "You did not make me!" or even, "Why did you make me like this?" The wisdom of God compared to the wisdom of man is like the wisdom of a potter compared to the wisdom of a lump of clay.
b) It is God who has determined who shall be saved and who shall not. He did not do this in consultation with man, and he has given man no opportunity to debate or negotiate. God has determined that man shall be saved by faith in his Son. The mind of man has but one part to play, and that is to hear, believe, repent, and obey in response to the revealed will of God. God’s will is the same for the rich man and the poor, the strong man and the weak, the president and the postman, the Jew and the Gentile, the freeman and the slave. All men must yield to God’s covenant and will. The king and queen must yield as must the manservant and maid. The wise man and scholar must yield as must the ignorant and unlearned. God will show mercy on those who yield, and harden those who follow their own wisdom.
c) Paul issues this warning... "Not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God" (Romans 10:3).
The End ...
1. The Mind Of The Lord a) There are many people who want to tell God how he should think. As the mind of society changes on some issue or other, people think that the word of God should be edited to reflect this shift in human thought. How often do we hear the church being called upon to move with the times and reflect current community thinking? This assumes that God thinks as human beings think, or even that God exists by human thought.
b) God has been dealing with arrogance in human beings from antiquity. We look in Isaiah and references by Paul when he compares the mind of the Lord to the mind of man.
c) God makes comparison of his mind with ours, when he is assuring us of his compassion toward any unrighteous person who forsakes sin and returns to God. He says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways... for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).
2. The Potter And The Clay
Isaiah 29:16
16 You turn things around!
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”?
a) Paul quotes from the same passage in Isaiah when he discusses the basis on which God shows mercy and compassion. Paul uses the analogy in Isaiah of the potter and the clay (Isaiah 29:16, Romans 9:20-21). The potter (God) is greater than the clay (mankind). The potter can do what he wishes with the clay, and the clay must yield to the will of the potter. Imagine a pot saying to the potter who made it, "You did not make me!" or even, "Why did you make me like this?" The wisdom of God compared to the wisdom of man is like the wisdom of a potter compared to the wisdom of a lump of clay.
b) It is God who has determined who shall be saved and who shall not. He did not do this in consultation with man, and he has given man no opportunity to debate or negotiate. God has determined that man shall be saved by faith in his Son. The mind of man has but one part to play, and that is to hear, believe, repent, and obey in response to the revealed will of God. God’s will is the same for the rich man and the poor, the strong man and the weak, the president and the postman, the Jew and the Gentile, the freeman and the slave. All men must yield to God’s covenant and will. The king and queen must yield as must the manservant and maid. The wise man and scholar must yield as must the ignorant and unlearned. God will show mercy on those who yield, and harden those who follow their own wisdom.
c) Paul issues this warning... "Not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God" (Romans 10:3).
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