Brokenness; walking with God
Brokenness RBD • Sermon • Submitted
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44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Broken or ground?
KEY POINTS:
Brokenness is about being submitted and having a contrite spirit (contrite = sincere remorse or to be filled with guilt and a desire for atonement; penitent)
If the outer man is not broken, the inner man will not grow
There are many examples in the Bible of brokenness changing a situation for the better
According to Mark Buchanan, in his book “Your God is Too Safe,” there is one soil that usually withers pride. It is brokenness. He explains that brokenness “molds our character closer to the character of God than anything else. To experience defeat, disappointment, loss—the raw ingredients of brokenness—moves us closer to being like God than victory and gain and fulfillment ever can.”
Questions on brokenness?
Have you been broken?
Could you be broken even more?
Do you even want to be more broken?
It’s a test you are scared to take, a blessing you are nervous to have, and a request you don’t want to make.
Brokenness has nothing to do with material possessions.
Some people think because they lack material possessions that God has broken them.
These same people often think that the rich man is not broken due to his wealth.
Being broken is about being submitted and having a contrite spirit.
18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
In this verse, “contrite” is often interpreted by people as “being soft and able to change.”
The real meaning is “to be worn down, remorseful, repentant and showing a desire for atonement”.
15 For thus saith the high and lofty One That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
4. God’s inability to use us is not because of Him, it’s because of us; this is why the Bible shows man as two pieces.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
We have a constant struggle between the guy inside who wants to serve God and the guy outside who does not.
The Holy Ghost dwells in our spirit, which is the inward man.
The outside of this inward man is the soul, where our emotions, will, and thoughts reside.
5. The lesson of the SEED
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Jesus was talking about nature; for seeds to become plants, the shell of the seed must break to allow water to start the growing process.
Examples in nature include:
Allowing the water inside the seed to freeze, then it expands, which breaks the shell.
Some seeds use the abuse of being pulled down a rocky river to have the wall of the shell compromised enough to allow water in.
Some have an outer shell that animals find tasty and they eat the outer shell but leave the actual seed.
The most common example is an animal that will eat the seed, and through the digestive process, it will break down the shell wall.
If we aren’t broken, the inner man will never grow. Often the breaking process in nature is a violent one, but it produces beauty, food, and productivity when it’s completed.
6. The seed wall is not precious, but it serves a purpose.
Vessels in the Bible often weren’t precious; it was what was inside them that was precious.
Many love the alabaster box too much to ever reach the ointment.
Jesus could have ascended directly to heaven but chose to be broken and die. The process of brokenness is being able to say, “. . . not my will, but thine be done.”
That is why we have the cross as a reminder that Jesus had to allow the breaking of the outer man, and at some point, we must all take up our cross and allow ourselves to be broken.
7. How many times have you been crucified by other people that have wounded you?
Do you realize that God uses people to help Him break us from just being the outer man?
He uses people in leadership, and sometimes sinners, to convict us.
Samuel rebuked Saul (1 Samuel 15:19-21) for disobedience, and Saul refused to be broken
David was confronted (2 Samuel 12:9-13), and repented, and was broken.
We need to change our attitude when we feel like someone has attacked us; our attitude shouldn’t be one of retaliation, but one of humility and asking God what He is trying to teach us.
Allow every situation to break away at the seed covering that is the outer man.
8. Genesis 7:11, “...the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”
Genesis 7:11b (KJV 1900)
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Before the flood (rain), the depths had to be broken to release revival.
Brokenness precedes revival!
9. How brokenness changes situations.
God had to break Jacob’s natural strength, so that He could clothe him with power.
Moses struck the rock with his rod and it broke, and the cool water flowed out.
When Gideon and his little army broke their pitchers, the hidden light was visible.
The poor widow broke the seal on the pot of oil and poured it out, so God was able to use it to pay all her debts.
Jesus broke the five loaves, and once they were broken, they fed 5,000 men.
Only when Mary broke the alabaster box did the perfume fill the room.
Jesus allowed His body to be broken at the cross and salvation flowed from His precious body.
Do you see the pattern?
We must die to self before we are useful to Him.
Without brokenness there is no authority, there is no provision, there is no witness, there are no blessings, there is no true worship, and there is no salvation.
10. Jesus uses the broken.
He does not want you to be abused and beaten down; He wants you to be useable.
Brokenness is the place where God can be God.
Don’t pray to be broken, pray to be built.
Revival By Design
WALKING WITH GOD
Lesson 01: “Brokenness”
Missionary Mark Shutes
