Vessels of God - Part III - BEWARE OF TAKING CREDIT

“Therefore when the Lord has completed all His work [of chastisement and purification to be executed] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, it shall be that He will inflict punishment on the fruit [the thoughts, words, and deeds] of the stout and arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.  For [the Assyrian king] has said, I have done it solely by the power of my own hand and wisdom, for I have insight and understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples and have robbed their treasures; and like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones and the inhabitants.”  - Isaiah 10:12-13 AMP

God promised Israel that if they obeyed the Law they would be blessed and would prosper, but if they did not obey that he would send other nations to attack/chastise them (Deut. 28:15, 25; Is. 9:9-11).  Assyria was one such nation which God sent, even though they did not know that God had sent them (Is. 10:7).  The king of Assyria was God’s instrument of chastisement for Israel, or God’s “vessel” of chastisement, if-you-will.  But with all his attacking and conquering the neighboring nations He started to think of himself as all powerful.  He said, “I have done it…I have insight and understanding, I have removed boundaries…I have brought down…” yet with those very declarations he brought the very same form of chastisement down on himself that he administered to Israel.

“Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send leanness among [the Assyrian's] fat ones; and instead of his glory or under it He will kindle a burning like the burning of fire.  And the Light of Israel shall become a fire and His Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour [the Assyrian's] thorns and briers in one day.  - Isaiah 10:16-17 AMP

God knows that if we do not give Him the credit then it will cause us to sin.  It reminds me of another sinful act in line of taking the credit where credit was not due!

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!   For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”  - Isaiah 14:12-14 KJV

Although this part of Isaiah’s prophecy was spoken of the king of Babylon, it is well accepted by theologians that it “Lucifer” and “son of the morning” represent satan.  In this we see that satan would not only steal God’s credit by stealing His attributes and throne.  We know that God will also deal with satan with this promise:

“Then the devil who had led them astray [deceiving and seducing them] was hurled into the fiery lake of burning brimstone, where the beast and false prophet were; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (through the ages of the ages).”  - Revelation 20:10

Let us look at this in another way.  Let us say that you and your co-worker complete a special project at work.  On the day you are to present the finished project you child becomes ill and you have to stay home and care for him, trusting your co-worker to present it for both of you.  When you return to work the next day you find that not only did he present the project but also took full credit for it and has now received a promotion as well.  How would you feel?  I would feel robbed to say the least.  Consider then how God feels when we try to take credit for what He enables us to do?  When we take credit for His working through us, then we no longer are the vessels He created us to be.  How much better to be like King David and give credit to Whom credit is due!

“It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises [with musical accompaniment] to Your name, O Most High, To show forth Your loving-kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night, With an instrument of ten strings and with the lute, with a solemn sound upon the lyre.  For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works; at the deeds of Your hands I joyfully sing.”  - Psalm 92:1-4

VESSELS OF GOD, PART 2 - CONTENT

What kind of vessel are you?  If you read my last entry you will try to be a pliable vessel so that you can be formed into exactly what God wants to use for His glory.  Do you think that there are other vessels (people) more important than you?  Consider the following thoughts:

“Yet, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand.”  Isaiah 64:8 AMP

New Webster’s Dictionary states that “content” (pronounced CON-tent) means “that which is contained or capacity’.    A vessel is something that is used for two things: as a thing of beauty (as in a decorative vase) or a thing to contain something (as in a bottle of wine).  When God makes a vessel he can make it for either reason but we can be sure, He has a distinct purpose for each vessel.

We (mankind) tend to judge what we think has value by what it looks like or how old it is.  For an example let’s look at a vase.  A vase made to hold flower arrangements appears simple so as to not take away from the beauty of the flowers.  Yet consider a vase from the Ming Dynasty in China.  We place much more value on it because of how old and rare it is, yet both vases are just containers when you get down to it.

It is the same with people.  It is always the people we consider beautiful or handsome that we tend to consider as more valuable.  Models, movie and TV stars, and beauty pageant contestants are the people we admire.  Yet where would we be without the Einsteins, Carvers, and Christopher Columbus’s in the world?  If you enter a teenager’s room today you probably would not see posters of Thomas Edison, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, but without them we would not have the ease of communicating by blogs like these.  Who are we to decide that only the “beautiful” people have value? 

 “But who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God? Will what is formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?   Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same mass (lump) one vessel for beauty and distinction and honorable use, and another for menial or ignoble and dishonorable use?   What if God, although fully intending to show [the awfulness of] His wrath and to make known His power and authority, has tolerated with much patience the vessels (objects) of [His] anger which are ripe for destruction?”  Rom. 9:20-22

Back in the days before we had indoor plumbing we used out-houses.  Because it too cold at night to go outside to the out-house we used chamber pots.  These were medium size pots (usually large enough to hold a gallon of liquid) kept in a small cabinet.  We would take the pot out, use it and then return it to the cabinet.  In the morning it would be taken out, dumped into the out-house, and then cleaned and returned to the cabinet for use the next night.  I did not intend to gross-you-out but a chamber pot is an excellent example of an ignoble or menial vessel.  Just because it is not as beautiful as say a wine decanter does not mean that it is not needed.  Every vessel has a purpose and need and you can be sure that for every vessel God creates He has a purpose and plan for its use.

We tend to think that evangelists, missionaries, pastors and preachers are more important that just one person talking to another about the Lord, after all they bring thousands to accept Jesus as their Savior.  We look at Billy Graham with a bit of awe at the hundreds of thousands that he has led to the Lord, compare our little bit of sharing with others and feel he and those like him are the vessels of God with distinction and honor while we are the vessels of menial use.  I tell you one thing though, if I lived in the days before indoor plumbing I would be very grateful for that one little chamber pot that would keep me from freezing on a cold hard seat in the out-house in the middle of the night.  In the same way I am very grateful to a high school friend named Mary Snodgrass who shared Jesus with me and helped me see Him as my Savior.  She was not famous.  She was not in the popular crowd in high school.  She may have been disliked by some and ridiculed for her last name, but she was a vessel of the Lord that He used to lead me to salvation.

So there are some grand vessels of God like Billy Graham and some menial vessels of God like Mary Snodgrass.  Yet all the vessels that God creates have one thing in common; they are filled with the Holy Spirit.  They contain the very Spirit of God and He uses them to fulfill His plan and purpose for His glory.    

“Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as a Gift) from God? You are not your own.”  1 Corinthians 6:19 AMP

One more thing for us to consider regarding vessels of God.  Although it is God’s purpose to fill us with His Holy Spirit we have a tendency to try to fill ourselves with things that do not conform to the will of God.  When we do that we become vessels used for dishonor.  Paul reminds us to shun and cleanse ourselves from such things and to pursue those things that conform to the will of God (2 Tim. 2:22).

“SO WHOEVER CLEANSES HIMSELF FROM WHAT IS IGNOBLE AND UNCLEAN, WHO SEPARATES HIMSELF FROM CONTACT WITH CONTAMINATING AND CORRUPTING INFLUENCES WILL THEN HIMSELF BE A VESSEL SET APART AND USEFUL FOR HONORABLE AND NOBLE PURPOSES, CONSECRATED AND PROFITABLE TO THE MASTER, FIT AND READY FOR ANY GOOD WORK”  2 TIM. 2:21 AMP

I have chosen to separate myself from contact with anything He shows me to be contaminating and corrupting.  I have determined that I want to be FULL of God’s Spirit and be used to fulfill His plans for His glory.   I want to be the vessel He created me to be.    How about you?