I. THE INTRO
Once upon a time there were two clay jars. The lady who owned those jars always took both of them with her to get some water for her household. One of the jars was an old jar who has seen life and after so many years of usage developed a tiny crack on one of its sides. The other one was a new one, really nice and beautiful, made out of the finest clay. “He doesn’t have any cracks,” thought the old jar bitterly once in a while. He felt ashamed that he could only get half of water home because the rest was leaking out. “If only I could be like that new jar, I would be the happiest jar around because I would be able to help my lady better. I am useless. I cannot do anything well.”
One day, the jar was too upset about his defect that he finally got enough courage to speak to the owner on their way back from the well.
“Uh, excuse me for speaking up, but I cannot watch anymore how you go to the well which is located so far away from your home and feeling that I am not doing what I was designed to do. You see, I’ve got this crack in my side. I can only bring half of the water home. The rest just trickles outs.”
The lady just smiled at the jar.
“I guess you would have to buy a new jar. Then you would be able to go to the well once in two days instead of walking there each day.”
“Dear jar, do you think that during all those years I owned you I haven’t noticed that little crack of yours? But look behind you; see those beautiful flowers along this side of the road? I knew about this defect of yours for a long time, but I figured that I can use it for a good reason. I planted the seeds along the road so that when we are going home from the well the water from you would nourish the seeds. You can see now that what you thought was a bad thing, I used for the good purpose.”
SCRIPTURE READING:
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (May the God of peace Himself sanctify you, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who called you, who also will do it), 1 Peter 1:16 (Because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy.)
II. IMPOSSIBLE?
“Be ye holy; for I am holy.” It sounds like a little too much to do, doesn’t it? Me? Holy? You’ve got the wrong person, Lord. I am just an average human. I am no Mother Teresa. I am just your everyday sinner. It is rather hard to proclaim “I am holy!” since everyone around you knows you and your mistakes. You know your mistakes. So when we read this passage in 1st Peter, we rarely think that it is actually possible to be holy in this life and that everyone who really wants it can be holy.
But, do we believe that Bible is true? Do we believe that it is the Word of God? Yes. Therefore, this God’s command (which is often given in Old Testament) should have validity. If God says that we should be holy, then there is a way to be holy.
III. GOD’S WORK IN US AND THROUGH US
God created man and woman in His own image. Back in the garden, there was nothing that separated man and God. Everything was as perfect as it can get. Love, birds singing their sweet songs, lions playing hide-and-seek with sheep, God walked in the garden along with the man.
Then everything changed. The lions that once were peaceful became aggressive, love turned to lust, and ugly black sin placed itself between Holy God and people. The Imago Dei was shattered to pieces. You could still see the bits and pieces of God reflected in those shards, but one could not see the clean and perfect reflection.
For ages afterwards people tried to fill the gap they felt inside of them. There was this empty place that no matter what they did stayed empty. The place that was created by God specifically for God cannot be filled with anything except God. People still try to fill that void with various activities. Some think that if they would drink enough, that would take the pain of life’s difficulties away. Some work till they are totally exhausted and cannot do anything else except sleep. But sleep can prove to be elusive as well. Yet some try to fill that with Church activities, thinking that if they would do just one more ministry, that would help them feel better. The result? Nada, it just does not work! And when we finally give up and cry out to God, “Why on earth everything I do doesn’t help?” He patiently opens His arms and gently says, “Because you are trying to do my job. I am the One who can fill that emptiness of your heart. I am the One who gives you a FREE gift of salvation. All you have to do is simply to accept it!”
“But I have been saved already!” we counter.
“Yes, but do I have all of you or there are parts missing? I cannot put the whole puzzle together if you keep clutching the pieces in your hand. Just give up the control and you will see what I have planned for you. The plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future.”
“But,” another question makes us stumble, just like the cracked clay jar. “What if I am not good enough? How can you use me when I am not perfect?”
And once again tenderly He reaches out to us and points at what He already did through us, “I can use your weaknesses. My power is made perfect in your weakness. If you would just let me continue to work through you, you would see the proof.”
IV. ONE STEP REQUIRED
The song that we sang earlier today, “I Surrender All.” That is all that is required of us. If the Fall separated us from God with a distance of, say, 1,000 steps, He already took 999 toward us, coming down to this Earth. All we need to do is just make that one last step toward Him. And our life would be changed. Maybe for some it would be a gradual change. Yet some may know the exact moment when it happened. We are all different (even though all created in God’s image) and everyone’s life is different.
Giving up the power to be in charge of our lives is probably the hardest thing for us to do. And it gets only harder with age, when we get used to the fact that we have to deal with a cruel world that surrounds us. And yet, it is one of the easiest things as well because when we give up our lives’ management to the One who is much smarter than we are, we can indeed sleep without worries. Just like a baby who knows that whenever she or he needs something mom is a cry away, we can be assured that God is always there for us .
The thing about entire sanctification is that it is both a moment and a process. I mentioned the moment already. But rather than an end of our Christian journey, it is only the beginning of a true life, the abundant life Jesus mentioned. “May your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who called you, who also will do it” Notice a few things that Paul mentions in this verse.
“Whole spirit and soul and body…” That is what a person consists of. The spiritual, the emotional, and the physical aspects of our lives are to be sanctified by God. Wholly sanctified. Nothing left behind. “I Surrender ALL.”
“…Preserved blameless…” Nothing will ever take away our ability to sin; that is the right of choice itself. But yet, being sanctified gives us the ability NOT to sin, i.e. God provides the strength to resist the temptation of giving in to sin.
“Faithful is He…” God will always keep His promises to us. Always.
“…who called you…” He calls us, He looks for us, just like a shepherd looking for one lost sheep.
“…who will also do it.” Not just He’d found us and called us, He is the one who does all the work!
V. CONCLUSION
Whenever we think that the task in front of us is too big to complete, remember three things:
1. God would never give us a task that we would not be able to complete. If He asks us to do something, He will provide all the necessary “equipment.”
2. The power of sin is not greater than the power of grace, because He promised that His Grace is sufficient for us.
3. No matter what happened in your life, no matter what mistakes you made, God still can and wants to use you. You are never too good to stay out of God’s reach, but you are never too bad not to be welcomed in His embrace.
~ Zena
June 2007
