Starting Over

September 08, 2013

Jeremiah 18:1-11 Philemon 1-21 Luke 14:25-33

At some point in our lives, every one of us has faced some kind of failure. Football players get tackled, runners stumble, inventions dont always work, and even the best baseball players strike out. There should be no particular surprise that we encounter failure from time to time. The key, however, is how we react when we fail. General George Custer (1839-1876) once said: It's not how many times you get knocked down that count, it's how many times you get back up. Thomas Edison, the famous American inventor, experimented for years to find a filament that would allow him to manufacture a practical electric light bulb. He failed literally thousands of times, and yet, when a reporter asked him about it, Edison refused to even admit that his experiments had been a failure saying: I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Thomas Edison An old Japanese proverb says a similar thing, Fall down seven times, get up eight. But in China the proverb reflects a slightly different way of thinking: Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up. The key to understanding failure and pushing ahead afterward is all in how we react to failure. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the assumption of many Japanese military strategists was that such a devastating attack would cause the United States to cut its losses, retreat to defend its own borders and leave the Japanese free to continue their expansion across the Pacific unopposed. But instead of going home with our tails between our legs, the American reaction to such a devastating defeat was to bounce back and go on the offensive. A similar story is told surrounding the events of September 11th, 2001. It is thought that many of those who planned the attacks believed that such a significant attack in the heart of Americas financial center and in such a place of importance in American culture, that our nation would be utterly demoralized and that there would be widespread calls from the American people for our politicians to get us out of any and all military and political presence in the Arab world. But that isnt how we roll. When we get knocked down, we dont stay down. The thing is, both after December 7, 1941 and after September 11, 2001 the direction of our nation changed. How we saw ourselves as a nation changed. How the world looked at us changed. Our

understanding of world events and our role in them changed. It is said that a part of our innocence was taken from us and after those dark days we became more cynical, less forgiving, darker but we did not lose hope. Regardless of how you might describe it, we changed. But we pressed forward. In Jeremiah 18:1-11, God calls to his prophet and instructs him to go to the potters house and watch the potter make clay cups and pots on his wheel. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Go down to the potters house, and there I will give you my message. 3 So I went down to the potters house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
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Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does? declares the Lord. Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
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Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions. If you have ever watched a potter at the wheel, they start with plain, even ugly, lump of clay and gradually, as the table spins, work that ugly lump into a new shape. And once in a while, while the clay shape spins, a small imperfection, a pebble or a hard lump, rises to the surface and cruelly gouges the surface of the shape being created. Sometimes the shape shifts and becomes slightly off-center or tilts off its axis and then the whole thing must be crushed back down into an ugly lump again and the potter starts over creating a new shape. God tells Jeremiah that we are like that ugly lump of clay in the hands of a skilled potter. God is shaping us into something beautiful, but from time to time we become damaged, or imperfections within us rise to the surface, and our potter, God, must start over and reshape us into something different. Consider Pauls letter to Philemon (1-21). Here Paul writes to a man who has been under Pauls authority, and who, it seems, has come to faith in Jesus Christ through Pauls teaching. In this letter, Paul asks Philemon to make a big change Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldierand to the church that meets in your home:
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love

has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lords people.
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Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paulan old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
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I am sending himwho is my very heartback to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.
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So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it backnot to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
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And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.
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Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.
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The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Paul tells Philemon that he probably has the authority to demand that Philemon set Onesimus free, but he doesnt want to do that. Instead, Paul asks Philemon to do what he knows is right. Onesimus was a slave that belonged to Philemon and was, apparently, useless and then ran away. At some point, Onesimus joined Paul and has become helpful, even indispensable to him, so beloved that Paul calls him his son. Paul suggests to Philemon that perhaps God has been at work in this process. Despite the fact that running away could be punishable by death, Paul says that now, by taking Onesimus back and setting him free, he might be more useful now than he has ever been. This is a huge change. This is a huge change for both Onesimus and for Philemon. All of them are asked to take a risk. Onesimus is safe with Paul but returns willingly to face whatever consequences that Philemon chooses. Philemon risks that by setting Onesimus free, he might never see him again or might encourage other slaves to run away, or might start a trend where Christians treat their slaves as equals (which might, after all, be the point). And Paul is sending his right hand man, a man whom he loves as his own son, into the hands of a man who has every right to kill him. In any case, none of their lives will ever be the same. All of this brings us to Jesus who, in Luke 14:25-33, tells his followers, then as well as now, that following him comes at a price

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sistersyes, even their own lifesuch a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
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Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Wont you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, This person began to build and wasnt able to finish.
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Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Wont he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Jesus says that if we want to follow him, we will have to do things differently than we used to do them and differently than the world around us. Jesus says that following him will come at a cost and none of us should choose to follow him if we are unwilling to pay the price. Some of us will be asked to walk away from family and friends and hearth and home, and some of us will be asked to give up our lives. All of us will be asked to give up something, to give up what we want in favor of what God wants. There are times in every one of our lives that we feel as if our lives are in a complete state of upheaval, that we are out of control and times when we feel as if everything we knew has been crushed. It is in these times when we trust in the potters hands. We know that no matter how painful the loss or the circumstance, the eyes of the potter have not left us, his hands have not let go of us, but are slowly shaping us into something better. Our circumstances may have reduced us to an ugly lump, but the masters hands are already beginning to shape us into something new. Failure isnt always the end. Thomas Edison found 10,000 things that didnt work before he found the one that did. Falling down doesnt mean anything unless we fail to get back up. We know that change is painful, but the clear message of scripture is that, in our personal lives or in the life of the church, through the pain, and even through the fire, God is shaping us into something new, something useful, and something beautiful.

You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry heights in Massillon, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at http://www.scribd.com/Pastor John Partridge. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.