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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (16-3-1997 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
In previous verses, Paul described two ways of working for God – as a good workman, or as a bad workman. Now he compares the two ways to two kinds of vessel in a great house. He makes immediate reference to teachers and leaders, but ultimately he refers to all because we are all meant to be God’s workmen. We all have service to render and work to do.
In the imagination we are taken to a great mansion which
contains, among other things, vessels and utensils of all kinds, different
shapes, sizes and uses. There are vessels of gold and silver on the dining table
where the master has his meals, and on display to the guests. Then there are
lowlier pots and pans, made of earthenware, metal or wood, not used by the
master, not on public display, but in the kitchen or scullery, for the servants
use, for menial tasks.
So it is with the professing
church, or visible church, in any locality – it contains different kinds of
people. The primary reference is to teachers. There are true teachers, and there
are false teachers. There are the Timothy’s and Paul's, and there are the
Hymenaeus’s and Philetus’s. This is a particular problem in large churches.
It is also possible that among the membership there are both the possessors and
the professors, the wheat and the tares. All churches, with all the care and
scrutiny that can be taken, are not necessarily 100% pure. There may be goats
among the sheep, dross in with the gold, dead flies in the ointment, gold and
silver vessels and earthenware vessels.
To whom do the earthenware or
wooden vessels refers? There are two possibilities. It could be true believers,
but ones who are careless and cold in heart. Or it could be the ones who have
not really had a change of heart, who still need God’s grace to change them
from wooden into silver vessels. Most likely, it is the latter, because the true
child of God is not a “vessel of dishonour”. There are those in the church
who are real and those who are not, ones who are right with God and ones who
know the jargon, those in a vital relationship with God and those just going
through the motions. The earthenware vessels are unworthy persons, serving
inferior and temporary purposes. They are not the genuine article, and have
temporary value. Earthenware vessels may be useful to the Lord’s servants, but
of no personal use to the master till grace changes them. One minister once
remarked “some members help my sanctification”, i.e. they were a “means of
grace” because they taught him to be more patient, loving and prayerful.
Who are the gold and silver vessels? They are the people in the church who are 100% genuine, valuable and precious, made and fashioned by the Lord Himself, prepared for glory, anxious to depart from iniquity, free from the open sin of the world and pure within. They have the form of godliness, and know its power. They have not only a fair appearance, but are solid throughout, purified as far as possible, and fit for the highest purpose.
If a man cleanses himself
from the latter (ignoble purposes), he will be an instrument for noble
purposes (2 Timothy 2:21). Earlier Paul spoke of false teaching,
unprofitable talk which leads to godlessness, lives and conversation which ruins
others. The Christian must be cleansed from sin and cleansed from error. His
doctrine and life has to be pure, else he cannot be of service to Christ.
There is a negative and a
positive side to this cleansing. The negative - Flee the evil desires of
youth (2 Timothy 2:22). Detached from evil. This is not meant to be defined
too closely, to any one specific desire. It is any sinful yearning to which a
young person is exposed. The Greek word is found elsewhere connected with
covetousness, drunkenness, self-assertiveness, immorality, money grabbing, envy
and arrogance.
Paul summarizes this under 3
‘P’s in Galatians 5:16,24 – Pleasure, Power and Possessions. Pleasure –
living to satisfy physical appetites, animal desires. Power – desire to please
oneself, to dominate, to assert self, to be intolerant of others, full of
self-confidence. Possessions – yearning after material possessions and the
kudos and glory that goes with them, vanity and pride associated with them.
The Christian must flee from
such things.
The positive aspect - Pursue
righteousness, faith, love and peace (righteousness pleases God, faith
trusts God, love reflects God, and peace characterizes God), along with those
who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (cultivating Christian
friendships). In Christian fellowship we are best able to grow in Christ.
Worldly company contaminates; Christian fellowship builds up. How important that
the Christian should be in warm understanding Christian fellowship, especially
young people. This stabilizes.
So the secret of growth involves
shunning and avoiding evil (negative) and aiming at and pursuing good
(positive). Shunning sin, or fleeing from sin, is an active process. It is more
than just putting up with, coming to terms with, negotiating with, or living in
the presence. We are commanded to get as far away from it as possible (c.f.
Joseph fleeing from Potiphar’s wife). Pursuing is also an active process.
“To conquer we must replace” (Napoleon). We must actively run after what is
spiritually good, and follow Christ is every aspect of life. This is what it
means to put off the old life and put on the new life, to put to death earthly
things and set our minds on heavenly things, to crucify the flesh and walk in
the Spirit.
There is no room for half-heartedness in this. We must mean business. We must be clean cut, direct and decisive. We will not make progress in Christ if we are hanging on to something questionable in our lives. Our ministry will have no power if we are not 100% His.
He will be an instrument for
noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work
(2 Timothy 2:21). The Christian knows Christ and knows His cleansing and power.
He is walking in fellowship with God, sanctified, wholly set apart for God. As
an instrument of righteousness he is wholly the Lord’s, empowered by the Holy
Spirit, useful to the Master, prepared for any good work.
It is such a privilege to be useful to Christ. Here is the end and purpose of our being. It gives the highest satisfaction, to which nothing else can be prepared. There is no higher honour than to be an instrument in the hand of God, at His disposal for furthering His purpose, available whenever we are wanted for His service. What a tragedy when we might be useful to God, but our life is spoiled by pride, selfishness or secret sin. The indispensable condition is that we flee from evil and run after Christ, His will and His purpose. We have all of Him when He has all of us. He is at my disposal when I am at His. When he is master of our life and in command of our life, then He can use us.
A well-known preacher, who was once a university
missioner, was talking to an undergraduate who had only been at Oxford for a few
days, and had recently become a Christian. He stood at the top of the steps
overlooking the great quadrangle of the College, and said to the preacher, “I
do want to be useful. Can you give me some help? I do want to be useful to the
Lord Jesus.”
We would all do well to echo
those words, “I do want to be useful to the Lord Jesus.” First we must be
cleansed – and that is something no one can do for us, we must each of us,
personally, seek to be cleansed. The Lord made us to be useful; He did not
intend for us to live a miserable and frustrated life. He wants us to be useful
to Him day by day – but it is up to us to make ourselves available for Him, by
facing up to our sins, departing from them, and consecrating ourselves to Him.
What is crippling your usefulness to the Lord? By the grace of God, let us go free to walk in His way.
