Brokenness / Part 4

Series – July/August 2011 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Our loving Father uses the breaking process and what is broken to transform, strengthen and bless.

BROKENNESS – Part 4

Last month, we looked at how God uses brokenness to expose false security, weakness and thirsting for the wrong things. This month we’ll see how God uses brokenness to improve our communication with Him and with others.

Broken To Communicate “God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” — C.S. Lewis

“God deliberately chooses weak, suffering and unlikely candidates to get His work done, so that in the end, the glory goes to God and not to the person.” — Joni Eareckson Tada

Much is taught in Scripture through pictures and illustrations. They are useful since they add flavor, color and texture to ideas, and they are easy to remember. In the remaining parts of this study we’ll consider several situations where something breaks in order that something good may follow. But we must remember that doctrines should not be based on pictures and illustrations.

Broken Seals Let A Scroll Be Read
The use of a seal has been common practice for many years. It is used for various purposes. Haman developed wicked plans to eliminate the Jews: “These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring” (Est. 3:12). Here the seal was used to prove the communication was genuine and to discourage possible alterations. After the Lord Jesus was buried, the chief priests and Pharisees “went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard” (Mt. 27:66). In this case a seal helped make something secure. The seal is also used in figurative language to suggest unchangeableness, ownership and security. The Lord made a covenant with Israel and sealed it “with an oath” (Dt. 29:12). As Christians, the Lord has “set His seal of ownership on us” (2 Cor. 1:22), and that seal is the Holy Spirit which guarantees our eternal destiny (Eph. 1:13-14). This seal can never be broken!

But there are some seals that hinder revelation and need to be broken. As Isaiah explained: “If you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say to him, ‘read this, please,’ he will answer, ‘I can’t; it is sealed’” (Isa. 29:11). The apostle John saw a scroll with seven seals. Scrolls have a message, a revelation, but no one can benefit from their content until the seals are broken. Therefore a mighty angel proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (Rev. 5:2). The Lord Himself, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, broke the seals, one by one, and God’s revelation became public.

The apostle Paul referred to every Christian as “a letter from Christ ... written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor. 3:3). Why are we called letters from Christ? Because there is something the Lord would like to communicate through us to others. How? Through our words and actions. It is in this context that our “seals” become a hindrance to Christ working through us.

What could these seals represent? Fear is a strong seal that needs to be broken. And we can be plagued by many fears. Fear of failure can stop us from following the Lord’s lead in some new adventure. Fear of rejection can stop us from being transparent and making ourselves vulnerable; both are necessary if we are to connect with others. Fear of confrontation can stop the Lord from using us as peacemakers. Fear of poverty or bankruptcy can limit our sharing and giving. Fears are evidence of our lack of trust in the Lord and should be recognized and confessed as sin. In the name of Christ each fear must be renounced. It must be broken.

Sometimes we allow others to place seals on us. The unrealistic expectations of fellow believers (what we think they expect), the well-meaning religious rules of a Christian community, the social conventions of our culture, even long-standing family traditions can all become seals that hinder us as letters from Christ, to be opened and read by those He wishes to touch. Are we aware of some seal that is hindering our communication? Perhaps we should ask the Lord to show us what is obstructing His working through us. Broken seals allow others to “read” us, and allow Christ to speak to others through us.

Broken Jars Let Light Shine
John liked to use the word “light.” He said, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). Describing Jesus’ birth he wrote, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world” (Jn. 1:9). He quoted Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12; 9:5). Paul explained that God “made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). This shining of God’s light in our hearts changes our identity: “You are the light of the world.” And it should change the way we live: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:14,16).

This relationship between our identity and our behavior was picked up again by Paul: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” He then went on to explain what it looks like when the light shines: “The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth” (Eph. 5:8-9). The Bible never asks us to behave differently from who we are. We have been given a new nature, made children of God, made light, and are simply urged to be ourselves, to live what we now are. Sadly, sometimes things hinder our light from shining.

Gideon’s defeat of the Midianites in Judges 7 is a useful illustration. His army was reduced to three hundred men: “Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside” (7:16). At the critical moment, they all followed Gideon’s lead: “The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, ‘A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!’” (7:20). The light of the torches was not seen until the jars were broken. When the Midianites awoke, saw the lights and heard the noise, they panicked: “The LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords” (7:22). God began to work once the jars were broken. Maybe something in our behavior hinders the light from shining out. Worldliness and a desire to be popular among non-Christians can reduce our capacity to shine. On the other hand, excessive shyness or fear of contact with non-Christians may also make it difficult for others to see Christ in us. Is there something in our behavior that needs to be broken to improve our shining potential?

Jesus said, “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed” (Lk. 8:16). “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house” (Mt. 5:14). Some think that these texts suggest that too much attention to the cares of home (jar, bed, bowl) hinders us from shining. While it is true that wrong priorities diminish our shining, what is clear from the text is that He who lit our lamp, who made us light, wants us to shine for the benefit of others. Our homes and lives should be open enough to others so that family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and others “may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:16). Is our light shining where it can benefit others?

A city is a collection of lights. Jesus said that “a city on a hill cannot be hidden” (Mt. 5:14). During World War 2, cities were blacked out to avoid detection by enemy pilots. Unfortunately, local churches (collections of lights) can also be blacked out by losing contact with the lost around them. It is easy to get so involved with meetings, duties and activities that the unsaved don’t see our light. Our comfortable “jars” of traditions and exclusion have to be broken if our Christian assembly is to allow its light to shine on others.

John the Baptist lived a shamelessly radical life. Jesus said he “was a lamp that burned and gave light” (Jn. 5:35). What can Jesus say about us?

By Philip Nunn

Next month we’ll look at how God uses brokenness to bless us.