Break Me (Risky Prayers) - Mark 14:3, 22

Back in 2000 / Bruce Wilkerson wrote a book called The Prayer of Jabez / It focused on a few verses / Jabez prayed Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory / 1 Chron 4 We see God did just that / It struck me / Such a simple prayer / Top seller / no wonder why / Easy to pray God Bless my life / have your hand upon me / keep me harm so I can be free from pain / Protect me / Keep me away from things I don’t like / These types of words / many times fills our prayers

Although it’s not wrong to pray this way / I think we can miss out on something greater / these prayers are always focused on what we want / not necessarily what God wants

But I wonder / as long as those are our prayers / if we might be saying / God don’t let me grow / Don’t let me get stronger / Don’t allow me to trust you more!

i know / hardships are no fun / not easy / But God can use them for His purposes

James 1:2–4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds....

Why? Protection from all trials hinders growth / It’s fine to pray for safety / blessings.... but tonight / What if you want MORE !?

What if you desire power from HS / strength from heaven / unshakable faith / genuine intimacy with the Father!?

Then instead of asking God for safety / blessing / give me more more more / you may have to ask God to break you!

Mark 14:3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She BROKE the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Mark 14:22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he BROKE it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

I. Bursting The Bubble

At the age of 33 I was being sent out Utah / I knew we were called / Liz was on board / we were filled with hope / excitement / thinking about church we were going to have / crowds of people / lives changed / we were going to live happily ever after / As I was busy mapping out my life / I remember talking with someone who said Daniel / if God is going to use your life in any great way (here I was on edge of my seat waiting for that nugget / key to revival) … he went on / God is going to have to break you first

Talk about buzz kill / Not exactly what you want to hear / Matter a fact / Why would God allow that to happen?

A. As believers / if we are to do anything great / this is the path

A.W. Tozer “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply”

1. I remember having to wrestle this through / Isn’t there an easier way?

a. I began to study / realized / its true / God does have my best interest in mind...

b. BUT for me to be fully useful to Him / I would have to be empty of myself

i. He was going to have to break my pride / self-confidence / self-sufficiency

ii. Along with other things I was not even aware I needed fixed yet

iii. But I wanted to do something for God / be used for His glory / which meant / no way around it

Iv. Yes to surrender / Yes to allowing God to break me

2. Hard thing to pray / we sing the song / Brokenness… Brokenness is what I long for / what I need

I remember talking with a lady who said I can’t pray that / I am single mother / 4 kids / I love my kids too much to ask God to break me / I am barely holding on as it is

a. Let’s be honest / we are probably ALL a little fearful to really pray that prayer

i. Way easier to pray God keep up comfortable / warm / cozy / don’t break us / just keep things going smoothly!

3. Question is / what are we losing by clinging to our comfort ?

a. What are we missing out on / because we are committed to avoiding pain / discomfort

i. Could there be something on the other side / makes it all worth while?

Similar to baby bird cracking away shell around it / or / Butterfly struggling to escape the cocoon

ii. Could being broken / release us for more than we ever imagine?

II. Broken Things

Playing it safe in KOG / means we risk missing something far more precious / than security / comfort / We will fail to realize what blessings might be right on other side of God’s breaking

Let’s examine two stories where we see this take place / both in Mark 14 / back to back / where something is broken so something can be released / although they may seem unrelated / I think otherwise

A. Mark 14 / Begins with dramatic scene with unwanted visitor / prostitute

1. How we see prostitutes has not changed over time / women hold them in contempt / men see them as objects or judge them

a. Let’s not forget / no woman grows up thinking of becoming one

b. Usually desperate beyond measure / feeling powerless / trapped without any other options drives them to this profession

i. Maybe she was a single mom / fearing her children starving to death / or worse being sold into slavery

ii. Maybe she had been abused / no self-worth / just use her body to survive

c. We don’t know much about her / but we know how she made a living

i. We also know somewhere / somehow she encountered the love of Christ

ii. He treated her with dignity / respect / honored her / showed her same love he offered to every sinner

2. She wanted to do something / show gratitude

Mark 14:3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She BROKE the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

a. Big deal / bottle of Chanel / but it had to be significant / because of all the reactions

i. Some saw value of the perfume (years wages)

b. Think about that / how much do YOU make in a year / in one single display of worship giving entire amount to Christ

i. It’s what SHE did / broke bottle / gave it ALL

a. That’s a year of shame / year of humiliation / year of sin / horrible encounters

Scholars say in those times / perfume was rare / every day women never bought / wore it / Cost too much / women of the streets would though / the fragrance would fill a street / sending message “I am available for a price”

c. She wasn’t just parting with perfume / but parting from her past /what it was used for

i. But what it could be used for / future income / Business

a. She broke bottle / burned her bridges / no going back /

b. Poured it all out / symbolizing she would give Jesus All of her life

d. She broke it / released it / surrendered herself / more than words… here is my life / it’s all yours

i. Saying I am holding nothing back / Lord you can have it all

Mark 14 shifts from breaking bottles to breaking something else

B. Last Supper / Jesus with closest / trusted friends prior to His death

Mark 14:22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he BROKE it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

1. Notice / He broke it / then explained it / how His body would be broken / bruised / crushed

a. His back would bear stripes of brutal scourging / His face bloodied by fists / head pierced with crown of thorns

i. He would be spit upon / cursed at / mocked / hung by thieves / give His life for us

2. Just like bread / body would be broken

a. Looking in the eyes of the men / knowing Peter would deny him / Judas would betray him

i. He continued / saying He must offer up His life / He would be broken / spilled out

Luke catches something Mark doesn’t /

Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

3. Most people read this / think about Communion / think about what Jesus did for us / so we can be forgiven

But some scholars believe / I am going to agree / Jesus’ instructions “do this” means something far more than just a one time simple act / ritual / Is it possible / He is referring to how we are supposed to live?

a. Because He as broken / poured out / for us / should we not do the same / daily

i. Now I agree / doesn’t sound pleasant at first glance / sounds painful / “Broken” “Poured Out”

a. Can I share something I have learned / IT’S IN GIVING OF OUR LIVES… WE FIND REAL JOY

b. It’s when we decide to empty our lives / to make difference / in lives of others

Me / Liz / our family know what it’s like to be poured out / pioneering / fostering / pouring ourselves into children / families / I can’t count the sleepless nights / disappointments / as at times you can give until it hurts

But it’s in the selfless giving / where true joy is found

Funny to think about / I fought against fostering / I was selfish / (fought against pain/stretching) / Looking back… There’s no way I would go back and undo any of it !

C. Back at the Table

1. I’m willing to bet disciples didn’t want Jesus to die / but I bet it began to make sense / previous words of Jesus

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

a. We too are to die to self / be poured out daily / Like when Jesus said

Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

2. Jesus invites us / not to a life of ease / but a life of surrender / sacrifice

a. Our highest desire should not be for our will to be done / but His

i. It’s about leaving comfort of our own lives / to be broken for sake of others

3. WHAT IF.... when he said “Do This” it’s exactly what He meant

a. What if we begin to pray / God do something deeper in my life!

i. What if we changed our thinking / realizing burdens can become blessings / problems can make us stronger / trials can strengthen our faith / hurting can give us compassion toward others / suffering can draw us closer to Christ

a. Do you have the courage to pray “God Break Me”?

4. Not sure what moment you will find yourself broken / but you will know it

a. At times / its from being poured out / other times from what you are going through / you feel like a wreck

i. No matter how hard you try to keep it together / you know you are not enough

a. Its moments where you need love / grace / more of God / than you did in the past

b. It’s where we often / finally turn / ask others for help / where people come together / to pray / believe God together

“It’s easy to impress people with our strengths, but real connections are forged through our shared weaknesses”

b. Sure we can impress others with our talents / but we connect in common struggles

i. This is one of the blessings of brokenness

a. Just as persecution bonds the church together / so can brokenness

1. Next time you are going through something / why not open up / invite someone into your life

2. Next time you see someone hurting / rather than avoiding / why not make yourself vulnerable / jump right in

III. Blessed By Brokenness

I remember reading of a guy named John suffering with Tinitus / ringing of the ears / (something I know all to well) / His case was severe / one of the worst / Tinitus is like a train driving through your head 24 hours a day / there is no cure / After seeing a specialist / he was in a waiting room / where another person with same condition began talking with him / said these words / “The noise will never go away… the only way to cure it is to get closer to God then you’ve ever been and pour out your life serving people.”

A. SOUNDS CRAZY RIGHT!?

1. Like saying suck it up / put on a smile / act like everything is okay

a. With nothing to lose / he tried it / he pressed into God like never before / Reading WOG / praying / fasting / Worshipping

Him and his wife “adopted” a single mom with kids in their church / began pouring their life into them / serving selflessly

His words John said “the ringing never went away, never God better, but somehow I got better. The pain didn’t lessen, but my joy increased” He went on to say “in his brokenness, he found joy!”

2. In the midst of what ever you are going through / if you simply choose to pour out your life / you too can have joy / find hope!

a. I understand why many people never pray for brokenness

It’s on other side of fully trusting God / where there is blessing / can not be found in comfort / ease

B. REMEMBER PAUL & Peter

1. Paul desperately cried out for deliverance from some unknown trial

a. In 3 different seasons / he cried out / begged / pleaded / petitioned God to take it away

i. In this / he discovered something / he would have otherwise missed

b. GOD’S GRACE IS ENOUGH!

2. Peter / right after Last Supper / denies Jesus

Luke 22:60–61 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter....

a. Jesus saw the denial / their eyes met / imagine shame / sorrow / brokenness Peter must have felt

i. Yet he experienced grace of God after resurrection / none other was more equipped to preach on day of Pentecost

a. God chose Peter to be foundation of the church!

b. Who better to tell people to turn from their sins / then the one who had to turn from his

b. Years later Peter was again asked to deny his faith

i. Tradition tells us / he too was hung on cross / most believe upside down (unwilling to die as Jesus did)

ii. Same man who coward in fear / now stood boldly in faith!

a. He was a different man / because he was poured out

3. We may not be broken like Peter / or even like each other / but there will be moments / when we have choice to make

a. True brokenness is not a one time event / it’s a daily decision / Like Paul said / I die daily....

1 Corinthians 15:31 I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

i. We are to become dependent on God’s spirit / rely on Him for our comfort / guidance / power

Being broken / not moment in time event born out of a painful event

Daily choice to die to pride / destroy selfishness / to live a life / not of ease / but of faith

4. If you don’t want to pray this prayer / then don’t / I wont fault you

a. But if you do have courage to pray it / then get ready

i. Ready to know God / be known by God / in ways like never before

C. What To Do

1. When things get difficult / many run FROM God / Don’t do that / Run TO Him

a. Don’t fight the breaking / forget trying to appear strong / its okay to be weak / vulnerable

i. It’s in your weakness / you will discover His strength

ii. In your brokenness / you find His blessings

2. Brokenness is not just for pastors / people in ministry / it’s basic Christianity / 101

a. Begins with dying to sin / dying to past / dying to flesh / fears

i. It’s not a comfortable / half hearted / part time commitment to Christ

3. You can play it safe / But my guy tells me you are here because you really do want more!

a. When sinful woman met Jesus / she opened her valuable bottle / poured out ALL the perfume

b. When Jesus looked out at humanity / He made a choice / He choose brokenness

i. Body broken / blood poured out for your sins

a. Do you want more? Do you want to glorify God? Then go for it / pray it / step into it

b. Live broken / poured out

c. It’s not a safe prayer / it’s dangerous / but God’s most intimate blessings await you on the other side

i. Lord Break me!

Break my heart for what breaks yours....

a sobriety of the desperate needs around us / maybe what you are no throuh right now