Honorable Vessel
Pastor: Walt Beiser Series: Guest Speaker Topic: Guest Speakers Passage: 2 Timothy 1:1
Honorable Vessel
Walt Bieser
2 Timothy 2:19-21 19 But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this
seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names
the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but
also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for
dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is
dishonorable,[d] he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy,
useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
What is God using you for-is he using you, can he use you- are you his for
him to use?
Were you his for him to use but….what’s the but-
You sinned, you failed you messed up, you quit, you couldn’t do
it-it was to hard, some one said-you failed or you messed up, are too much
of a sinner God can’t use you. Are you really his?
Let’s talk about a few people God couldn’t use…or so it would seem
We are going to start out with Peter
Let’s read Luke 5:1-11
Luke 5:1-11 5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him
to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and
he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and
were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was
Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down
and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking,
he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a
catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and tooknothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had
done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were
breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and
help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to
sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees,
saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who
were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had
taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were
partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now
on you will be catching men.”[a] 11 And when they had brought their boats to
land, they left everything and followed him.
Matthew 4 says “they left immediately and followed him”
See Peter acknowledges Christ right from the start……
in verse 8 he fell down at Jesus’s knees, and said Depart from me, for I am
a sinful man, O Lord. He knows he is a sinful man but what does he do…
without hesitation he follows Jesus.
Peter follows Jesus and is taught by him and witnesses miracles and all
that Jesus does. And remember in Matthew 14 Peter walks on water
Matthew 14:28-29 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command
me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the
boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
Peter is a firm follower of Christ. But what happens in
Matthew 16:21-23 let’s read
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to
Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took
him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord!
[e] This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Getbehind me, Satan! You are a hindrance[f] to me. For you are not setting
your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Now Peter wasn’t satan…he wasn’t possessed but what he was doing was
trying to hinder God’s plan…Jesus had to walk through this so God’s plan of
redemption could be fulfilled. But Peter didn’t understand he was thinking
worldy.
He was thinking the thoughts of an ordinary man not of the divine-
incarnate Jesus. Peter was threatening to obstruct the divine will of God.
Jesus had to rebuke him/wake him up, get him thinking correctly. Peter
needed a wake up call to get his priorities straight…we don’t ever need a
wake up call-do we??
We can also be an adversary to the will of God can’t we?
How many times have we acted against the word of God-How many times
have we cheated-stretched the truth-gossiped-wanted something
someone else had- lusted and so on
Peter had gotten off track-but God put him back on track with Jesus’s
rebuke
Peter wasn’t cast aside because of his failure because in
Matthew 17:1-7 17 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and
James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by
themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone
like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold, there
appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 And Peter said to
Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents
here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 He was still
speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice
from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son,[a] with whom I am well
pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on theirfaces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them,
saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”
See 6 days later after being called satan…. Peter was with Jesus and
witnessed the transfiguration…and when they were terrified Jesus
comforted them…he was showing Peter and the others love and
compassion just 6 days after rebuking him for trying to be a hindrance to
the divine plan.
Then in Matthew 26:69-75 we read about how Peter denies knowing
Jesus 3 times as Jesus said he would. (if need more read matt 26:69-75)
3 times Peter says “I do not know him-I don’t this man-I am not with HIM”
So we have Peter a disciple who walked with Jesus, who prayed with
Jesus, who broke bread with Jesus, who witnessed many miracles…he left
everything behind for Jesus…
He had many conversations with Jesus-----they didn’t just jump in
backseat, put on earbuds and ride, they walked miles and talked
He was a follower of Jesus…Remember In Matthew 16 Peter answers
Jesus’s question by responding in verse 16 Simon Peter replied, “You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter is a true believer in who Jesus is
continuing in
Matthew 16 chapters 18-19 8 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this
rock[b] I will build my church, and the gates of hell[c] shall not prevail
against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth shall be loosed[d] in heaven.Jesus is telling him Peter…I will build my church on you and Jesus is giving
him the keys to the Kingdom…wow think about that…we have all seen in
movies or on the news about some”great” person getting the “keys” to a
city but Peter he is told by Jesus I am giving you the keys to the
kingdom….Here is Peter being told this…the rock…-then he is called “satan”
and told get out of my way…then he said 3 times he didn’t know Jesus…So
that’s the end of Peter right…you can’t come back from that?—But it is not
the end…No not even close…Peter is forgiven for all that and what does he
do- he is used by God…he does exactly what Jesus said he would do…he
becomes the builder…He preaches on the day of Pentecost and 3000 were
added to the kingdom…
Peter was used mightily by God to advance the gospel and to proclaim
Christ even after his Failures
Remember
2 Timothy 2:21 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is
dishonorable,[d] he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy,
useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
When we think about a dishonorable vessel how could we not think about
Saul- - Saul was a Roman soldier who was given the task of persecuting
Christians …wiping out this sect, this movement. He was killing and
imprisoning followers of Christ…not a very honorable vessel,right?
But what happens- In Acts 9:1-22 We are told how Saul … becomes a
vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy…How he becomes Paul…useful
and ready for every good work.
See Saul had asked for authority to go to Damascus to capture Christ’s
followers and bind them and bring them back to Jerusalem…but on his way
he was knocked to the ground…and loses his sight and hears a voicesaying Saul why are you persecuting me? And its revealed to him that it is
Jesus and He commands Saul to enter the city and wait….Ananias comes
and visits Saul and lays hands on him and prays for him. Saul regains his
sight and is filled with the Holy Spirit. Then he was baptized and started
proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues saying that Jesus is the Son of God.
So Paul’s story: he does evil things for a living then is saved by God’s
grace and mercy and is used in countless meaningful ways. I say
countless because we don’t know how many people have heard his story
and found a similar saving grace in Jesus.
I mean think of the missionary journey that Paul went on. We read about
Paul and Barnabas and their journey in Acts.
So when I spoke with Pastor Kevin about what I was going to share today I
told him I was going to share on John Mark…So why then so much about
Peter-Paul and now mentioning Barnabas…Because they all play major
roles in John Marks life and like us they all were not perfect.
So who was John Mark (side not John was most common Hebrew name,
Mark most common Roman name). Actually there is not a lot of details in
the bible on John Mark.
In Acts12:12 we are introduced to John Mark. 12 When he(Peter) realized
this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name
was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
Remember this is when Peter was imprisoned, and the Lord helped him
escape. Peter went straight to Mary’s house-John Mark’s mother. We
know they had met there many times because when Peter went to the gate
the servant girl who answered when he knocked recognized his voice.Mary’s house was a safe house if you will. Peter went straight there
because he knew others would be there.
So with all this activity in his mother’s house John Mark is exposed to the
most influential Christian leaders right in his own home.
and Mary his mother is related to Barnabas as we are told in Colossians
4:10 “Mark the cousin of Barnabas”
Mark would have heard them praying and teaching and we are told in Acts
13:5 when Paul and Barnabas went on their missionary journey they “had
John to assist them”
John Mark traveled with them hearing them proclaim and teach the
gospel. Then they came to Perga in Pamphylia.
Acts 13:13-14 13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and
came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to
Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia.
For some reason John Mark left and returned to Jerusalem. Why? Well,
let’s asks the scholars….they don’t know…There are many possible
explanations of why…he was afraid for his life, everything was getting
difficult and he wasn’t use to “roughing it”. He just quit and went home to
his mom.
The bible does not give a reason…we don’t know, all we know for sure is
that he left…he quit, he gave up…and Paul and Barnabas continued to
preach and proclaim without him.
let’s go to Acts 15:36-40 let’s readActs 15:36-40 6 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return
and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the
Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with
them John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them
one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with
them to the work. 39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they
separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to
Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended
by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
So Paul and Barnabas have a sharp dispute about John Mark…let’s just
think about that for a moment.
Paul and Barnabas did some great things together proclaiming Christ and
remember when Paul was converted who was it that spent time with him,
mentoring him and defended his conversion? It was Barnabas…so they
had history together, they had been through a lot. And if anyone should
give someone a second chance it was Paul. But he didn’t. Barnabas did.
Some say it was because John Mark was his relative
but from what we learn in scripture about Barnabas’s character is that he
was an encourager, and he trusted his discernment of people. We aren’t
told the why, but Barnabas wanted to take John Mark.
But for Paul to take such a hard stance…What did John Mark do? Like I
said we don’t know for sure, there are many theories, but we just don’t
know.
I would like to throw a theory out there while reading about the theories
many missionary studies use John Mark as an example to be sure you are
called because in Acts it says set apart Saul and Barnabas for the work towhich I have called them…then it says and they had John Mark to assist
them. Does this mean it was their calling and not his…We don’t know…
What ties all the people that I have discussed together? They
proclaimed Christ but fell short, sinned, failed, messed up. And we know
that they believed, because we are told
Peter we are told in
Matthew 16:15-1615 He said (that is Jesus said)to them, “But who do you
say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.”
And we talked about his failures…Peter does what he was cleaned up and
set aside to do. Remember right from the start Peter said “I am a dirty
unhonorable vessel-Did Jesus listen-nope he told him follow me even
though he didn’t have his life together…an unhonorable vessel that would
be made honorable by Christ.
And Paul who was unhonorable made honorable…Paul is saved and
proclaims then I would say failed again when he judged and didn’t forgive
John Mark and let it cause a strife between himself and Barnabas. But
God still used him…he was cleaned up and set aside for good works…
There are many others who failed and God still used them. Here are some
examples from an Unknown Author.Do you feel like God couldn’t possibly use you? Remember:
~ Noah was a drunk
~ Abraham was too old
~ Isaac was a daydreamer
~ Jacob was a liar
~ Joseph was abused
~ Moses had a stuttering problem
~ Gideon was afraid
~ Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
~ Rahab was a prostitute
~ Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
~ David was an adulterer and a murderer
~ Elijah was suicidal
~ Isaiah preached naked
~ Jonah ran from God
~ Naomi was a widow
~ Job went bankrupt
~ John the Baptist ate bugs
~ Peter denied Christ
~ The disciples fell asleep while praying
~ Martha worried about everything
~ The Samaritan woman was divorced (more than once)
~ Zacchaeus was too small
~ Paul was too religious
~ Timothy had an ulcer~ Lazarus was dead!
***Unknown Author***
Where do you fit in the list.
Expand…where would you be…are you running from God, are you too old-
too young-afraid…….wherever you are on the list…what does God have to
say about us…he tells us in Matthew 5:14-16 lets read
Matthew 5;14-16 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill
cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket,
but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let
your light shine before others, so that[b] they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
These examples did not hide their light because they were not perfect, or
because they failed…they were cleansed and set apart as holy ready for
every good work. They let their light shine, we need to let our lights shine…
Now back to John Mark…there is another reason not on the list. And that’s
the reason some say is why John Mark went home.
We learned that John Mark came from an influential Christian home.
Hearing and seeing, being around many followers of Christ. Whether he
met Jesus face to face is unknown and debated.
Give other details about John Mark : explain when referring to
Mark………….he is given credit with writing the gospel of Mark from Peter’s
account, and in that gospel was he the young man that on the night Jesuswas taken into custody was grabbed by a guard but escaped by running
out of his garment (only mentioned in his gospel) possibly the last supper
was in his house, his mother owned or looked after the garden of
gethsemane.
But we know He was raised, emersed in Christianity. His mother was surly
a follower, he knew the stories- the answers and what he was supposed to
do. BUT was it real to him? Did he truly believe? Did he make Jesus his
own? Going on the missionary journey with Barnabas and Paul was what
he should have done/would have been expected to do. But did he truly
believe at this point? Again, we don’t know for sure, we were told others
were believers but at this point we were not told that he was.
See we can be brought up learning all the scriptures, know all the answers
to all the questions even walk the walk and do what we should be doing.
But if we don’t make the decision for ourselves it is meaningless. So could
it have been that now that he was seeing peoples lives changed when they
excepted Christ that he realized he hadn’t truly done that for himself and
was embarrassed/ashamed/afraid of what others would say… How they
would judge him. Could it have been to much to face…so he went home?
Now this is speculation because scripture does not say why he left. But is
this your story is this the reason you don’t think your name is on the list of
people who will be used?
There are a lot of reasons on this list that one would think would count us
out…..How’s that saying go “too heavenly minded to be any earthly
good….or is it or should it be also…..to earthly minded to be any heavenly
good. Let’s turn to Ephesians 2:1-10
Ephesians 2:1-10 2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which
you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of
the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our
flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c] God, being richin mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we
were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace
you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might
show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not
your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one
may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
If you haven’t excepted him as your Lord and savior, it is a free gift, God is
rich in mercy, he loves us even when we are a dirty dishonorable vessels.
By his grace we are saved through faith in him. It is the gift of God.
And once you do, once you accept his free gift he will use you.
See John Mark…we don’t know when he got saved but he definitely did, he
was definitely a follower of Christ. We know because Paul tells us in 2
Timothy 4:11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for
he is very useful to me for ministry.
And In 1 Peter 5:13 Peter sends greetings from those who are with him
including Mark my son. Meaning my son in the faith.
So John Mark failed, he quit, he went home…but he became useful to Paul
in his ministry he studied under Peter. He is credited with writing the
Gospel of Mark based on Peter’s account.
My original question? What is God using you for-is he using you, can he
use you- are you his for him to use?
Were you his for him to use but….what was the but-
Whatever the reason…whatever the but is you can be cleaned Remember2 Timothy 2:21 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is
dishonorable,[d] he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy,
useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
And how do we cleanse ourselves?
1 John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We ask him for forgiveness and he will…he will clean us make us
honorable, useful for every good work. He is waiting , wanting and
excepting,
No place does it say we have to have everything in order before he will
except us…look back at Peter…not me Lord I am a sinner….no it says while
we were sinners Christ died for us.
He is how we become a clean vessel, he is how we or cleansed…He is how
we become more like him…it is in relationship with Him that we confess
and he is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us…..
No matter what season we are in…haven’t made him yours yet-just ask-just
how you are-just ask
You are his but now you can’t get past one of those reasons, those buts-
just ask-just how you are-just ask for forgiveness-repent….He will make you a vessel for honorable use
He will set you apart as Holy
You will be useful and ready for every good work
He will cleanse us/forgive us if we just ask
He will forgive you
He wants to use you
He can use you
He will use you
[Pray]
other sermons in this series
Mar 3
2024
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Pastor: Walt Bieser Passage: Mark 9:21–24 Series: Guest Speaker
Feb 25
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Nov 26
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Pastor: Ron Head Series: Guest Speaker