The Sum of All Brokenness

Introduction

This year marks the celebration of the 33rd Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France.

One of the interesting things about the Olympics Games is that nobody who competes, it there just for the fun of it!

I mean you, you see the Opening Ceremony where all the athletes march inside the stadium, representing their country.

China

United States

😂And all 12 of us, Dominicans.

You see them smiling and happy to be there and I can’t help it but feel a little bit of envy!

“How cool would it be to represent your country in the Olympics!”

To have the whole world watching you!

To see your flag 🇩🇴 in the stands when you are competing!

But then I remember all the sacrifice these athletes endure only to qualify for this competition:

Long hours training.

Strict diets.

Waking up at 5am to train.

🫤 “Nah, Im good. I’ll order a Pizza and watch the games instead…”

What makes the Olympic Games so special is that “you don’t simply compete into the olympics games”.

“Olympian athletes, are not simply born, they are made.

The are not just the effect of an cause, rather, they caused the effect.”

Likewise, God is calling you and me not to be bystanders in this world.

“To be everything God wants you to be, you need to do everything God ask you to do.”

“The theme verse for our camp this weekend is Acts 17.6.”

Acts 17:6 (NIV)

6 […] “These men who have caused trouble all over the world […]”

Here are the questions I want to answer during our weekend together.

Who were these men and women who turned the world upside down?

What will it take for you to turn your world, the world around you, upside down?

Why would anyone one want to turn the world upside down, anyways?

We would try to answer the first two (2) questions this weekend, but tonight…

… I would like to start by trying to answer the last question: Why?

Why would I ever want to turn my world upside down?

Because you and I know the world is not as it ought be.

As a matter of fact, is not even turning the world upside down, but actually turning it downside up!

Like the Netflix series Stranger Things, sometimes it feel likes we are actually living in the “Upside world”.

We Live in a Broken World

Acts 3:2–8 (NIV)

2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

😅 [I can tell you from experience, I know that look! My kids give me that look every time they ask for something. Likewise, I quote them the words of Peter…]

6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

What an awesome story! What a powerful testimony.

Here is a man in need, whose the system has failed him.

Every day he needs to come to the temple and be at the mercy of the bystanders.

The one place where he is supposed to find help, and yet he keep getting overlook.

But at last! Someone finally did something meaningful for this man!

Peter and John healed him for good! Everybody got emotional and they all went back home singing “Kumbaya.” 😅

⏸️ Only, that’s not what happened...

It Was Broken Then

Pick me up in Acts 4…

Peter, John and the healed lame man walk into the temple and Peter begin to preach on the name of Jesus. Then…

Acts 4:1–2 (NIV)

1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees [Think of them as the government officials of the Temple] came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Here is something you need to understand about the Sadducees, one of the parties mentioned here:

They controlled all the affairs in the Temple.

They didn’t believe in the resurrection.

⚠️ Thus, the fact that Peter and John are teaching Jesus’ resurrection of the dead, inside the temple, was a big “no no” for them!

Why?

⬇️ 💣 Because it challenged their status quo!

Their authority over the people was threaten.

The liked the way things were, because the way things were benefited them in particular.

“So what did they do? Verse 3…”

Acts 4:3 NIV

3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.

⏸️

In the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, the Temple was the place where Heaven and Earth met.

Not only was it the place where the people of God came to worship God.

It was also the place where God demonstrated His justice and compassion towards His people.

⚠️ “Everything about the temple cried out justice and compassion! As such, the people who served at the Temple, needed to represent these attributes of God.”

⏸️ And yet, injustice and cruelty is the only thing they represented. ⏸️

❤️‍🩹 There is an underlying theme in the verses we just read: brokenness is everywhere.

The people who came to the temple were broken (ex. The lame man).

The people who ran the temple were broken (ex. Sadducees).

The temple itself was broken. (ex. Unable to deliver justice and compassion)

🔥“Every page of the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20 is stained with brokenness.”

⏸️ ⬇️ And so is the world around you…

It Is Broken Now

“This is a point I don’t need to elaborate too much, because you know it’s true.”

❤️‍🩹 You have seen it. You probably have lived it.

You’ve seen the footages of cities decimated to the ground by wildfire.

You’ve heard the cries of parents carrying their children bodies because a bomb felt on their roof.

You’ve felt the fear in your hear when you read about another school shooting, wondering if next time it could be yours.

⏸️

❤️‍🩹 “For some of you, this brokenness hits even closer to home.”

Why did my friend or loved one had to get cancer?

Why can’t my parents work through their issues instead of filling for divorce?

Why is it so hard for me to make friends?

“It doesn’t matter how good and fun life looks on social media; deep down, you know everybody is simply trying to compensate for the brokenness in their lives.”

The Million Dollar Question

“Here is the question you are probably asking yourself right now…”

“I understand my world is broken. I understand my life is broken…

“But here is what I need to know: Can it be fixed?!

🔥 And the answer is YES!

⚠️ But if you want to cure the symptom, you need to treat the disease.

In other words, if you want to change the effect, you need to cause the effect.

⏸️ “So, what caused our world to be broken?”

The simple answer to that question is: SIN.

Romans 5:12 NIV

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

I also like how the New Living Translation explains it.

Romans 5:12 NLT

12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

In the beginning, God made everything perfect.

But sin came into the world, and corrupted everything.

It broke God’s perfect design for you and me.

“… and this brokenness has passed to all people, because all people have sinned.

🔥🐢 Including you and including me.

This is why no matter how much Fortnite you play, it’s never enough. You are never satisfied. 🐢 Instad, you are always left wanting for more.

This is why you can’t help but exploit other people for your own benefit.

Like bullying others to make you feel better about yourself.

Or selfishly being on a relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend simply because you want to feel loved.

Sin is also why, deep inside your heart, you also have broken desires. Desires that would make you ashamed if people found out.

“Here is what I am trying to say…”

“For all the brokenness around us, there is also brokenness inside us.”

❤️‍🩹 “Our world is broke, because you and I are broken too!”

“And as much as I hate to see how sin damages your relationship with your parents, or with your friends, you have to understand that sin has also damage your most important relationship in this world:”

⚠️ Your relationship with your Maker.

Romans 3:23 (NIV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory [relationship] of God,

No matter how much you try to mend your relationship with God, the cracks in your life run too deep and too wide.

🔥 “Sin has severed your relationship with God beyond repair, ⏸️ 🥲 at least from your end.”

⏸️

“The name Leonard Cohen probably doesn’t ring a bell to you.”

Leonard wrote the famous song “Hallelujah” which is often played around Christmas.

In one his song he has this astounding line. He writes, and I quote:

“Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in”

“Even though sin has caused brokenness your in and around your life, the light of the Gospel can also break in and bring healing into your life. Which leads me to my second point…”

[But] Jesus Came to Heal

“Meet me again in Acts 4:5…”

Acts 4:5–12 (NIV)

5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 […]7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is

“ ‘the stone you builders rejected,

which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

💡You have to understand something about this group of rulers and elders. They have a history with Peter and John.

This is the same group of men that just a couple of months ago passed down the sentence to crucify Jesus.

You may also remember that same night, Peter “freaked out” and denied Jesus three (3) times (Lk 22:54-62).

This time, however, when Peter was asked to give a defense, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, went “beast mode” on them and mounted a full-on offense!

💣

Acts 4:10 (NIV)

10 […] It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified […], that this man stands before you healed.

Peter’s Offensive Move

Peter does something cleaver here:

💡 In the Greek (the original language in which the New Testament was written), the word for “saved” is the sometimes translated “healed”.

So when Peter makes the following statement in Acts 4.12…

Acts 4:12 NIV

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

… This is how it sounded like to them:

Acts 4:12 (NIV)

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be healed.”

Here is what Peter is trying to say:

🔥 The healing of this lame man, is nothing but a teaser, a trial version of the ultimate healing you can have in Jesus.

Just as Jesus healed the broken ankles and feet of the man who was lame…

…Jesus too can (and wants!) to heal your broken soul.

Your Move?

This evening, Jesus is telling you there is no other name under heaven by which you can be healed of your brokenness.

No video game.

No party.

No girlfriend or boyfriend.

No academic achievement.

No amount of like or followers in social media.

No award.

No good works.

No religion.

… That can save you.

“Only Jesus can save you, only Jesus can truly heal you.”

Somebody may say, “Eddy, you don’t understand. I don’t think Jesus can heal me. I am too broken, too damaged.”

🔥🐢 Let me tell you sometime,Jesus will never see your brokenness and cast you to the side. No! That is not who He is!

To the contrary, He understand you more than you understand yourself.

⚠️ Doesn’t Peter calls him, “the stone […] builders rejected” (Ac 4:11)?

Jesus, more than anybody, knows what is feels like…

To be rejected.

To be abandoned.

To be told “you are not good enough”.

To be mocked and humiliated.

To be broken.

Here is one of the most profound truths of the Gospel.

🔥 On the cross, Jesus, the perfect Son of God, took your brokenness, and He let it break Him.

He took every sin you’ve ever committed, and every sin you’d ever commit.

He took all your flaws, all your hurt, all your sorrow, and made it His!

So that in Jesus, you can regarded by God as

Perfect

Whole

Without blemish!

❤️‍🩹🔥 The cross of Jesus proves He loves you no matter how broken you are! And the empty tomb proves that He is powerful enough to heal you and to save you…

Even though sin caused brokenness,

The cross and empty tomb caused ultimate healing.

Conclusion

⏸🐢 You may ask, “Eddy, how can Jesus do that? How can He save me?”

The same way the lame man was healed.

Call out to God.

Have faith that Jesus can save you.

“I want to invite my friend Kyle to come up and explain us how we can do that tonight…”