Call to Worship: Clay Pots

The following is our call to worship for Sunday, April 18, 2010.

Paul said, “I am what I am by the grace of God” (1 Cor 15:10). The Bible says that we are all clay pots that hold a very precious substance. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7). What is special about us is not us. We are just clay pots—earthen vessels. We are special because we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

It has been said that the Roman Empire ran on olive oil. It was used in cooking, bathing, medicine, ceremonies, lamps, and cosmetics. For decades, olive oil from southern Spain was shipped to Rome in large clay jugs. Those jugs, not worth sending back, were discarded in a growing heap of broken shards known as Monte Testaccio. The fragments of an estimated 25 million clay pots created that man-made hill, which stands today on the bank of the Tiber River in Rome. In the ancient world, the value of those pots was not their beauty but their contents.

Because of this, the first-century followers of Christ would have clearly understood Paul’s illustration of the life of Jesus in every believer. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7).

Our bodies, like those clay pots, are temporary, fragile, and expendable. In our modern world that highly values outward beauty; we would be wise to remember that our greatest treasure is the life of Jesus within us. By God’s grace and power, may we live so that others can see Christ in us.

We are just the clay pots. Jesus is the true treasure within us.[1]

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[1] Portions of this devotional are from David C. McCasland

Call to Worship: Robes of Righteousness

The following is our call to worship on Sunday, April 11, 2010. Sometimes we put a lot of emphasis on what we wear to church. But more important than your physical clothes are your spiritual clothes. We gather to worship Christ in our Robes of Righteousness.

We read in Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”

If you are saved, you are the Bride of Christ. You are robed in His righteousness! God says to all those who come to Christ in faith, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet” (Luke 15:22). Paul says that we are to “put…on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14).

Let us worship together with our white robes saints of God. There’s coming a day John says when all saints will all be gathered together in heaven. He says, “I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes” (Revelation 7:9).

We are clean today because of Jesus blood. We have His righteousness. We are holy because He is holy. Let us worship and adore Him who has cleansed our hearts and souls today.