Vessels of Honor
Many years ago I decided to explore the attic of our 120-year-old house. It was our family house, so the things in the attic had been there for more than a century. We called our antique collector friend, and he bought a lot of the “junk” that was up there. An old quilting frame. A broken antique radio. Old books. In fact, he came back several times and somehow each time he found more.
It was a hundred years of accumulation, and just when I thought I had explored every corner I would come upon another stash. Some things you could understand keeping. The old books and old letters might be nostalgic, and for those who lived through the Depression you kept things because you never knew when you might need them.
But how do you explain keeping a broken toilet seat?
I suppose you could argue that there might come a time when you would need it . . . .
It didn’t stop there. I was up there one time with my mom and picked up a white 12-quart soup pot. With a lid.
My mom informed me that it was NOT a soup pot.
Any old-timers out there who know what it really was?
Yep, it was a chamber pot.
I added it to my “Why??” list.
I understood the purpose of a chamber pot. I knew two families who didn’t have indoor plumbing. For most of my life they used an outhouse during the day and the chamber pot at night. And no, that wasn’t in the dark ages. It was the 60s - 80s. In fact, my neighbor never did get indoor plumbing. (How do I know? I may or may not have made use of their chamber pot when on an overnight stay.)
Here’s the thing: It’s not a good idea to give a writer and teacher an old chamber pot.
The wheels immediately began to turn for an object lesson. I taught teens, and you can imagine the expressions when I took that pot in with me on a Wednesday night and explained its purpose.
Not that I explained its purpose at the beginning of class. No. First I had to ask them if they were willing to come to my house and eat soup out of that pot. After all, the original label had somehow survived the years, and it was clear it was a soup pot.
Yes, they thought they might be willing to eat out of it.
Our text for the evening was 2 Timothy 2:20-21: “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” (NIV)
The image of our lives as vessels has been a favorite of mine for many years, but Paul’s words in 2 Timothy don’t seem pertinent in our society. We’ll grab any old bowl out of the cupboard, use it to eat cereal, rinse it out and then pour soup into it. The Jews who read Paul’s words, however, would have understood. Even today in an Orthodox Jewish home you will find one set of pots, pans, utensils and dishes to use in preparing and eating meat and another complete set for dairy foods. If the two sets were accidentally switched, they would become unclean and either have to be purified or destroyed.
Our society doesn't make the same distinction. We don't consider some vessels clean and others unclean.
Or so I thought. After taking the teens through the Scripture lesson I told them the real story of the pot.
Groans and exclamations of “Ooh!” “Yuck!” and “Gross!” echoed around my classroom.
Now that my students knew how the pot had been used, I again invited them to my home for soup. My class erupted in a host of answers that were all some form of, “No way!”
t was the same pot I showed them when I walked into the room. What had changed?
Paul compares us to the vessels in a rich man’s house. The honorable vessels are useful. The dishonorable vessels (chamber pots) are not. That old pot perfectly illustrated Paul’s point. It originally had an honorable purpose. It may even have been used to cook a number of meals. Then its purpose changed, and it became a vessel of dishonor. The proof is in my teens’ reactions to my invitation.
Can that pot ever be of use to anyone again (other than as an object lesson)? Even if it were bleached and boiled and sanitized, would you really want to eat out of it? The knowledge of what it was can’t be boiled away.
As Christians we have been set apart for a holy purpose, and it's our responsibility to keep ourselves pure. If we allow our vessels to be contaminated, we are of no more use to God than a chamber pot is to a cook.
There’s a happy difference for us, however. There’s no amount of bleach or lye or boiling that could make me willing to use that pot to cook a meal. God is more merciful with us. We have His promise to forgive. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9 NIV).
From that point on we should determine to submit to the Holy Spirit in our lives and be a vessel useful for the Lord’s service. God calls us to be holy as He is holy. Our purpose is to be a holy vessel sanctified for the Master’s use – the exact opposite of a chamber pot!
I guess this is the reason they stored that chamber pot in the attic: to provide me with an object lesson. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
What kind of vessel are you?
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