The History of Broken Vessels

Today we begin an approximately six-month long series of teachings on the Old Testament called “Broken Vessels.” Today I want to introduce the series, talking about the Old Testament in general, and talking about the purpose of the series.

Six months may seem like a long time to focus on the Old Testament. Will we really not look at the New Testament for six months? No, of course not! We will tie things forward into the New Testament whenever we can, and we will continue to have our monthly communion and sharing times at the end of each month, times that really focus on Christ. But perhaps some of you still have some reservations, so I would like to speak to you regarding this idea.

Now some people say that the Old Testament doesn’t really apply to us, and therefore, we should focus our attention primarily in the New Testament, if not solely so. I believe, and I believe Scripture clearly teaches, that this is a terrible mistake. Now these ideas are nothing new; in fact, they share a number of common features with Gnosticism, and mistakes along these lines are some of the earliest known false teachings. I think it is valuable to spend a little time talking about these heresies, so please indulge me as I give a short history lesson regarding a few of the problems faced by the early church.

I want to start with one of the earliest known teachers of these false ideas, a man named Marcion. Marcion (of Sinope) lived from about 85-160 AD. He rejected the entire Old Testament, along with all of the New Testament letters not attributed to Paul. He kept only 10 of Paul’s letters (two of which are not in our Bible and were probably not actually written by Paul) plus one gospel, a modified version of Luke he eventually called the gospel of Marcion. Early church fathers vigorously rejected his teaching, and he was basically excommunicated for his false teachings around 144 AD. This did not stop him, however, and he went on to form a large quasi-Christian community in Rome and other cities.

Marcion’s teachings emphasized the rejection of Judaism, the Law, prophecies, and pretty much anything that spoke of the continuity of God’s story through both Testaments. His teachings became more and more distorted over time until they came to the point that Yahweh, the creator of heaven and earth, was a separate god from God the Father. Yahweh was seen as a lesser god, or demigod, focused on legalism and coming to hate mankind because of its sin. Yahweh was seen as tribal, focused on the Jews, and cruel and angry and jealous. In contrast, God the Father was seen as loving everyone, eager to show mercy and kindness. Marcion’s teachings came to say that Jesus was sent by God the Father to pay back the debt mankind owed to the grudge-holding, vindictive, Yahweh.

Marcionism grew along with the many forms of Gnosticism to be a major force in the first centuries of the early church. Some of these teachings went so far as to say that Yahweh was actually Satan. The essence of Gnosticism, by the way, is that people are basically good beings trapped in a bad world by its creator, a bad god. These teachings came from both “outside” forces (other existing religions) and “inside” forces (false teachings within the church) – Marcionism being a prime example of the latter. With regards to these “inside” forces, it wasn’t that big a step to go from Marcion’s views of Yahweh to saying that Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t really all that necessary and perhaps was misunderstood as well. After all, it is not our fault that Yahweh is bad, people reasoned.

By the way, I find it interesting to think that although, in Marcionism, the Apostle Paul’s teachings are elevated above everything else (except Marcion, of course), that Paul himself would have most strongly denounced these teachings. The message of the gospel is not that Jesus saved us from Yahweh, but that Jesus saved us from us. Yahweh isn’t the problem; He sent the solution in Jesus. We are the problem!

I think about the passage in the beginning of I Corinthians, where Paul rejects those who say “I follow Apollos” or “I follow Paul” or others like this. He goes on to say, after expressing relief that he didn’t personally baptize many people (so that they cannot say that because of this they follow him),

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. – I Cor. 1:17

I cannot think of a better way to describe the fruit of Marcion’s teachings than this. They are words “of human wisdom,” which of course, means that they are utterly without wisdom, because humans are not wise, but foolish. And the fruit of Marcionism is that the cross of Christ has been emptied of its power, because if it even retains Christ at all, it teaches that Christ died to appease the evil tyrant Yahweh. In reality, though, Yahweh is no tyrant, and Christ died for you. And for me.

Now I share all this so that you can see where these ideas lead. What ideas, again? The idea that the Old and New Testaments are separate, or that the Old is no longer important, or that it only pertained to the Jews. Or the idea that God seems different in the Old Testament, harder, meaner. Or the idea that God seems to only care about the Jews. And as Marcion figured out, to really come to such a point you not only have to throw out the Old Testament, but much of the New as well.

The New Testament is filled with quotes and references and allusions to the Old Testament. Despite being written by many authors, the Bible is a seamless account of the history of God, of man, and of their relationship.

I want to consider a few verses that just drive this home. The first is from I Corinthians, chapter 10.

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. – I Cor. 10:11

What things? The immediately preceding verses describe the Exodus. They describe the many ways God (that’s God the Father, Yahweh, one and the same) cared for and provided for the Israelites, yet they continued to rebel, and so God ultimately punished them. But what I want to point out is the wording of I Cor. 10:11. These very things – Old Testament things - were written down not just for the Jews – in fact, it doesn’t mention them at all. They were written down for us. Who is “us”? The beginning of I Corinthians says it was written for all believers – “all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So they were written down for us. Do we hear this? Do we get it? We would be foolish not to read the Old Testament – there is stuff in there for us!

Now the verse seems to say something even stronger – something that can make your head spin if you think too much about it. It doesn’t just say that they were written down for us, but that they happened for us. I don’t think they happened solely for us – they certainly happened for those Israelites trapped to slavery in Egypt – but they also happened for us. For God it is not a big deal to “kill two birds with one stone” – or a million birds, for that matter – and in essence that is what God has done here.

I believe this applies not just to the Exodus, but to the entire Old Testament. These things happened for us. They were written down for us. For you and me, Christians, in the 21st Century. To not study the Old Testament along with the New is kind of like just reading the last 20% of a great work of literature. I may get some fire for this, but I believe this is a fine thing to do when watching basketball games, but it doesn’t work with literature, and it certainly doesn’t work with the Bible.

Now you have probably heard the following verse many times, but let’s look at it closely and think about the implications:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. – 2 Tim. 3:16-17

What “all Scripture” are we talking about? Well, I don’t think it really means the New Testament, because much of it wasn’t yet written! It is referring to the Old Testament. Now what is the context of this verse? Paul, earlier in the chapter, is again talking about those who distort the gospel. And look at the verses immediately before the ones we have read:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. – 2 Tim. 3:14-15

The phrase “from infancy” means that Paul could only be directly talking about the Old Testament. And Paul makes another strong statement: these Old Testament scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. And not only this, but as the very next says, it is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. – 2 Tim. 3:16-17

That word “God-breathed” in Greek is theopneustos, which is a kind of compound word. Theo refers to God, and pneustos is related to pneuma which is spirit, or breath. Our word pneumonia comes from this word. It is likely that Paul made up this word – it appears nowhere else in scripture, and nowhere else in Greek literature (except when referring to this verse). Paul seems to have made up a number of words, generally compound words like this, where it seems he could not find an existing word that could convey what he desired to say. This term does not mean that God inspired the writers of Scripture to say what He wanted it to say – although I would say that this is a true statement, if you have the right perspective on it.

For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:21

But what theopneustos means is truly God breathed, or more precisely, breathed out by God. Paul had available to him other words that mean something weaker, like that they are on a “higher plane” than normal writing, but Paul did not use these words. He specifically said theopneustos because it is such an extreme idea.

Some of us went to a piano recital this weekend. The music was wonderful. We might say something like “The way John interpreted that piece was inspired,” or we might say the same thing of acting, or giving a speech or even a sermon. But the Bible, and in particular, the Old Testament, is not just “inspired”; it says exactly what God wants it to say. And as we have seen, he wrote it to us. How can we not spend time exploring what it says?

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. – Rom. 15:4

This passage in Romans comes right after Paul quotes a passage of Old Testament scripture. Again, it says that it was written for us, specifically, to teach us. And this passage also talks about endurance and encouragement. The encouragement, or comfort, (in the KJV) is specifically tied to the Old Testament. Studying the Old Testament should bring us comfort. It should encourage us!

And the fruit of it will be hope. I believe I have talked about this some in the past. “Hope” is one of these words, like “inspired,” that has multiple meanings, and the most common meaning is not what is meant here. We say things like “I hope it rains today, so I don’t have to water the plants.” Or “I hope I did well enough to get a 3 on that AP exam.” Is that the kind of hope that is being talked about here? No. That kind of hope is often just wishful thinking. Studying the Old Testament does not bring us wishful thinking; it brings us hope, a solid confidence that cannot be shaken. By reading and studying the Old Testament we can see how God was faithful to His promises, and we can then have that same confidence in God’s promises for us – that if we are Christians then He will deliver us and give us eternal life. Part of this hope rests on the fact that our future, once we have turned our lives over to Christ, is not really in our hands anymore – it is in God’s! This is good, because we know that we will continue to sin, to fall short of God’s standard, for as long as we walk on this earth.

Now I don’t plan to say any more about the value of studying the Old Testament. I think most of us know this to be true, but we tend to subconsciously place it on a lower pedestal than the New. I hope this helps to remind all of us that it should be placed on the same pedestal, because it is the same book. There really is only one Testament, one writing that is theopneustos. There are multiple covenants within it, but it is one Testament, the one true account of God.

Now, our series is entitled “Broken Vessels.” What do I mean by this? First of all, by vessel, I am referring to the idea of a pot, specifically, a clay pot. So a broken vessel refers to a clay pot that has been broken. Now, follow this chain of reasoning.

1. Broken vessels are good for absolutely nothing. This is pretty clear, right? If you want to drink a bowl of soup, you are not going to put it in a clay soup bowl that has been smashed to pieces, because you can’t! In fact, there isn’t even a secondary use for bunch of pieces of smashed pottery. You can’t even sell them at yard sales, which says a lot! What do you do with broken vessels? You throw them away.

2. Vessels are broken when they are tainted by sin. This ensures that they are never used again. They are to be broken and thrown away. You can find this principle again and again in the Mosaic Law. Consider these examples:

These are the regulations for the sin offering… the clay pot the meat is cooked in must be broken… - Lev. 6:25, 28

Here we see this principle shown symbolically with the meat of the sin offering. Do you think this was actually a health issue? Of course not! The meat for the sin offering was simply meat. And it was cooked. But the Law here was meant to point out a principle. Being touched by sin is enough to make something useless for God. Simply being touched by sin was enough – break the vessel! Throw it away!

Of the animals that move about on the ground, these are unclean for you… if one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. – Lev. 11:29, 33

Again I want to ask – do you think there was a genuine health issue here? If a lizard or some other animal falls into a pot, does that make it so unsafe that the pot cannot be cleaned? Of course not! This again was a symbolic illustration of the same truth that uncleanness – unclean hearts, unclean minds, unclean actions – any uncleanness at all, was enough to require that the vessel be broken, never to be used again.

This next verse regards a person who has a disease that causes an oozing sore:

A clay pot that the man touches must be broken… - Lev. 15:12

Again, we see symbolic uncleanness. The response is the same: break the pot. Again, these pictures show the deeper truth – God’s standard is perfect holiness, because He is perfectly holy. And now we come to the point:

3. People can be broken vessels. The Old Testament makes this comparison in several places. There are two ways people are referred to as broken vessels: as people tainted by sin, (God in multiple places warns sinners he will destroy them like smashed pottery) and as people who are suffering. With regards to the latter, I want to look at Psalm 31.

Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends—those who see me on the street flee from me. I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. – Psalm 31:9-12

So here we see someone who is oppressed and afflicted comparing himself to a broken vessel, broken pottery. Now the interesting thing about this Psalm is that, like several others, it is messianic; that is, it points to Christ. In fact, verse 5 says, “Into your hands I commit my spirit,” which is the last thing Jesus says in Luke’s gospel right before His death by crucifixion. (Luke 23:46).

Jesus, a broken vessel? Yes! And yet, as we know, Jesus rose from the dead. He, as God and Man, was the instrument God used to bring salvation to all who trust in Him. And so this brings us to the fourth point:

4. God uses broken vessels. Now, you may say, “Yeah, sure, God used Jesus – even though He was some kind of broken vessel – but He was without sin! True. But what about the Apostle Paul, the man who was used to reach the Gentile world with the gospel, the man who wrote more of the New Testament than any other person?

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. – I Timothy 1:12-14

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life. – I Timothy 1:15-16

What about Peter? The man who denied the Lord three times, tenderly restored by Jesus to lead the early church! What about the other disciples? Mostly uneducated fishermen, used by God to change the world – not just this world but the eternal world to come!

Now, what does this have to do with the Old Testament? We are going to see that even before Christ came into the world, people – broken people, broken vessels – were used by God again and again. We are going to do a kind of human survey of the Old Testament, going from sinner to sinner, seeing what God did through them despite themselves, and in the process learning more about God, more about ourselves, and more about how to live by faith.

Do not think me clever to think of this approach to the Old Testament. I didn’t think of it; I read it. It comes straight out of Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 includes a long list of Old Testament characters and describes what they did by faith. I am going to read the parts between the descriptions of these people. Listen carefully.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. – Hebr. 11:1-3

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. – Hebr. 11:6

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. – Hebr. 11:13-16

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. – Hebr. 11:39-40

How many of you are broken vessels? All of you? I’m glad to see you know that. How many of you believe God desires to use you even though you are a broken vessel? How many of you believe God desires to make an example of you using you despite your brokenness, even using your very brokenness to bring glory to Him? This is what God desires to do!

I think most of us tend to do two things… First, we find the pieces of our brokenness and try to glue or tape them back together. Second, rather embarrassed by the results of our efforts, we try to hide out somewhere, convinced that we’ll just be called hypocrites and might do more harm than good. This is not how God uses broken vessels. As to the first issue, Paul and Peter didn’t fix their eyes on themselves. They left the pieces on the ground and fixed their eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of their faith! (Hebrews 12:1-2, the next verses.) And as to the second, look at their lives! They gave their all for Christ, every day. They were bold in Christ, sharing their faith, caring not even for their lives, not to mention their possessions. Countless people came to Christ and were strengthened in Christ because looked at them and said, “Look; these guys are broken vessels, a bunch of clay pieces, and yet look at what God is doing in them and through them!”

The bottom line is, do you want to look like this [the first picture] or this [the second]? Useless because we get in God’s way, or useful because we yield to the Master’s hand? I love this picture, by the way, because the broken pottery used to make this countertop doesn’t come from just one pot but many, mixed together in a special way. This to me is a great picture of the church – God’s people, broken vessels, together allowing the Master to assemble them as He sees best.