Brokenness
Brokenness
Intro
Ever known someone who is a klutz? These people come in all different forms. Some of them are really bad and just need to wear a bike helmet the whole time. They bounce off walls, they will be standing one minute and the next they are falling, because they mysteriously lost their balance. Don’t ever try to toss a solid object at them expecting them to catch it.
These are the kinds of people that you steer away from anything that is precious to you.
What if there was someone who did it on purpose? Everytime you handed them something they would smash it, rip it apart, throw it against a boulder…even things that were precious to you. What would you do if this person asked you for something?
I want to talk to you tonight about the greatest klutz of all. This guy seriously breaks everything that He is given, and He is not even sorry about it!
I am of course talking about Jesus tonight. Tonight is going to be a little deep, but I am confident that you can grasp it. Tonight you will have a greater understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.
Matthew 14:16-21 (NKJV) "But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children."
*Pray
Our Gifts
Here this young boy had offered his gift to the Lord probably thinking that it was going to be the Master’s lunch. He was honored to give his lunch to the Teacher. But here the Lord takes his gift prays over it and then breaks it!
How many of us have offered what we thought to be a precious gift to the Lord only to have it broken right in front of us?
This can be devastating for some people. Some people turn away and never recover. Rich Young Ruler offered his sacrifice of a good life to the Lord, and it was hard to live a good moral life…it’s always easier to give in to our sinful nature. But the Lord took it and broke it right in front of Him by asking him for everything. He was broken right then and there but he turned and walked away instead of trusting the Potter. HOW MANY OF US HAVE MISSED THE MIRACLE BECAUSE WE DIDN’T TRUST???
The Lord will lead you to places in your life where your support system will be stripped away from you until you are standing naked and alone before your Maker. It is only then that you can truly know Him and be used by Him. That is when true worship will spring forth from your gut. That is when you will be free from the things that keep tripping you up! When you know that it is just Jesus and you, and you are completely ok with that!
Ourselves
We all think that when something is broken you throw it away, because it has become useless. The Lord won’t use something or someone UNTIL it is broken. Someone might be really gifted and talented in something whether it is music, art work or design, leading people, whatever, but until YOU are broken He can’t and won’t use anything within you.
Isaiah 64:8 (NKJV) "But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. "
Clay in the Master’s hands. If clay is rigid and hard it is useless and has to be thrown out. If we are not pliable in His hands to be shaped and molded into the likeness of Christ, we cannot be used by the Lord.
Some people think that when they come to Jesus they will be able to use what they have right away, and if they have been sufficiently broken during their salvation experience with the Lord that may be the case. But most people need to be smashed on the Rock a little bit. We need our pride to be removed from us, and since we tend to stubbornly cling to those things it takes being smashed on the Rock a little bit.
Our Sin
He can use your own sin and stubbornness to break you by allowing you to pursue your desires until you find out or are reminded how empty they are and you break.
Peter finally broken by his own sin in denying Christ. Jesus knew it was coming and even told him, but he never tried to dissuade him, because He knew it would serve the greater good for Peter.
John 21:15-17 (NKJV) "So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep."
Have affection vs. beloved
“you know you’re my boy…” vs. I love you
“I like to hang with ya” vs. I love you
He felt like he didn’t have any right to claim true love and devotion towards the Lord because of his actions. HE WAS ASHAMED! Yet the Lord was reaching out to Him and restoring him. THREE TIMES…just like the number of times he had betrayed Him.
How many would rather run than have to face the Lord after our betrayal of Him? Yet in running it only makes things worse…unless at the end of your running you finally break and give up. Returning to the Lord after having all of your dignity, your so-called personal strength, your systems of support stripped away until it’s only you that remains. And when you turn you find the Lord still extending His hand, waiting to restore you if you would only come.