Sermon snippet – “Holy Pot, Batman!”
INTRODUCTION – Yes, the silly title is an attempt to garner your attention. However, it is based on Zechariah 14:20-21. This unusual conclusion has its ultimate fulfillment at the Second Coming of Jesus (see verses 1-4) and His inauguration of a 1,000 year reign on earth. Still, there is powerful application for us right now, since “holy” means set apart – set apart for service to our Holy God.
- HOW CAN THIS POT BE HOLY NOW?
First, let us think of a worker, grateful for a decent job, fashioning this simple, useful implement. Colossians 3:23 commands, “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” With that approach, the laborer makes a holy pot.
Second, let us consider a young couple. They would like to buy a fancy sports car and eat out every night, but they know better. Instead, they shop carefully to set up housekeeping, knowing that each one of us must “give an account of thy stewardship” (Luke 16:2). Thus, they buy this pot, and it becomes a holy thing.
Third, let us imagine a gift giver, knowing that the recipient really needs cookware. The giver knows something else: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The pot is thus given as a gift, and it becomes doubly holy as it blesses both the giver and the receiver.
Fourth, let us picture a cook, choosing ingredients carefully to create good, healthy food and preparing it just the way the family likes it. Galatians 5:13 enjoins, “By love serve one another.” As the meal is prepared, the pot thus becomes holy.
Fifth, let us also picture the hungry family. Together they pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). Food from this pot is an answer to that prayer of faith, and both are thus holy.
Sixth, let us remember the dishwasher. Now I am going too far! Who wants to wash dishes? I do, for I enjoy mundane, routine work. I Corinthians 14:40 says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” This verse pertains to worship, but it is an abiding principle. God is creative (like the worker and the cook); He is also the God of order. A washed pot is therefore holy. Remember that “every pot” is to be holy, even just a regular pot like this one. What about just a regular person like me?
- HOW CAN I BE HOLY NOW?
We have already answered that question, but let me add a bit. First, holiness always starts with God, Who is absolutely holy. The return of God the Son, Jesus Christ (verses 1-4, 9) points us to the immediate, powerful presence of Jesus, “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). He is inherently holy (unlike us), and He sets us apart to Himself, one by one, personally, as we trust in Him. Second, this holiness works out into our lives regularly. Worship and workplace, faith and family, prayer and private routine – Jesus is empowering us with His holiness in all of these areas.
CONCLUSION – All of these things matter to Jesus; they must also matter to us. We must desire to be “a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (II Timothy 2:21). Jesus will make “every pot” holy; certainly, He can do the same with you and me, created in His image and redeemed by His blood. Through faith in Jesus, Who is eternally holy and Who set Himself apart at the Cross, each one of us can be sure that we are “HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.”