This are the transcript notes of the devotional I gave for my church, Alliance Bible Fellowship. The video is below, and feel free to watch the other devotional videos from the amazing pastors at ABF! Find out more at ABFboone.com
Today I want to talk to you about brokenness, and to do that, I want to tell you about a tree in my front yard.
In the fall of last year, there was a big storm that stripped a lot of branches from that tree because of the high winds. I was able to cut a lot of the broken branches out, but there were a few higher up that were hard to reach. One, in particular, stands out because (1) it was hanging over my wife’s car so we were just waiting for that baby to snap and hit her Honda Pilot, but mainly because it was only hanging on by a few threads. The poor thing was just hanging limp, nearly a full 90 degrees from where it was originally.
I think that is a pretty good picture of where we are right now as we continue to shelter at home and wait out this COIVID storm.
The honeymoon stage of working from home is gone.
Working from home started off fun, but is now it’s weighty, lonely, and painful: both emotionally & financially.
What may have started off as fun is now a weight that is constantly pulling us down (unless you’re an introvert, in which you’re probably still giddy like a kid in a candy store). But for many – and I would say probably the majority – now it’s just painful. The isolation is starting to strip you bear, emotionally. Maybe you’re starting to feel the financial implications of a lost job or reduced hours at work.
These are ripe conditions for the Old Self to rear its ugly head.
We are starting to see just how fragile we really are. It’s amazing that one little virus has shut down our societies. Wall Street is struggling and so are nearly every business at every level on the planet. We see the weakness of our flesh, in how the virus can attack so harshly. And we see our own shortcomings spiritually as our resolve on many fronts crack and crumble.
Can I be real with you for a minute?
We are weak people who have lived with a false sense of strength and security for a long time, and are now discovering a very uncomfortable truth about ourselves. As much as we try to separate ourselves from the person we once were before coming to Christ, that person seems to always be there.
Sticky Table
It reminds me of a time, just a week or two ago, when I sat down at the dinner table after everyone had gone to bed so I could study. I sat down and open my book, resting my forearms on the table as I read. When I got up from the table, my body rose, but my arms didn’t until they peeled away from whatever sticky mess my kids left behind from dinner. I nearly lost all my arm hair. That is what this can feel like, isn’t it? Our old self is like a residue of a former way of living that just sticks around, no matter how much we try to scrub it away. We just aren’t as strong as we think we are. We are broken people.
Isaiah’s Woe: I think Isaiah understood this all too well. If you remember in Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
And when he saw that, what was his reaction? Do you remember? He said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”
He saw how bad his sin was in stark contrast to God’s holiness. Maybe. You are starting to see your own sin, shortcomings, and brokenness.
Paul – Lament & Jars of Clay: Paul laments this same condition in Romans 7, confessing how he does what he hates and doesn’t do what he loves. He looks on his own actions and summarizes his own condition by saying, “what a wretch I am!” He even goes so far as to compare our current state as lowly, common Jars of Clay.
2 Corinthians 4:7
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
Now, if you can relate to what I have just said about the Old Self, then I want you to pay special attention right now, because there is a great big silver lining to all this.
Did you notice that the subject has now changed? We aren’t talking about the Clay Jar any longer, but the treasure that is hidden inside of it. Paul saying there was a treasure here? What is ‘this treasure’? It is found in the previous verse:
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
What Paul is saying here is that there we aren’t going to focus on the jar, but rather, we are to recognize an unbelievable and beautiful treasure that is hidden within this broken and ordinary jar, and that treasure is the glory of God found in Jesus.
Paul’s Conclusion: What was Paul’s final conclusion after his lament in Romans 7? In the midst of realizing his own wretchedness, he declares “Who will rescue me from this? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Isaiah’s Conclusion: What happened to Isaiah after his own sinful revelation? The angel touched his mouth with a coal from the alter and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” After this, the only reaction Isaiah can have to this show of grace is ‘Here am I, send me!”
In times like this, where it is difficult to see past ourselves, it’s helpful to step back and realize that there is something much bigger than ourselves on display right now. And, if you will allow it, you can see how God can be glorified in your current, broken state.
- The brightness of this treasure can shine through the cracks in the jar.
- The recognition of your own shortcomings can be overturned by God’s grace in a way that will cause you to turn a full 180, changing your ‘woe is me’ to an enthusiastic request that says, “here I am, send me!”
- You can look in utter amazement at how you do what you hate and fail to do what you love and be so impacted by God’s grace that you cannot help but declare, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
These things can happen and will leave others wondering what’s inside, if you will only allow the truth of scripture impact the way you think about the current state of things.
Back to the Tree Branch: Do you remember that tree branch I was telling you about? Well, my procrastination paid off, because this spring, I’ve been able to see how that broken branch was still able to produce hundreds of leaves. The life-giving sap of that tree was still able to flow through those few remaining strands to produce all of those buds.
The war of the old self and the new self will always be a part of us this side of heaven. It’s a reality we live in, but that war doesn’t stop God from working in and through us, because despite the residue of the Old Self, God has made us new:
Colossians 3:8-10
… seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
When God redeemed you upon your confession of faith in Jesus, he made a New Self – a brand new creation that is made in His image and is being conformed into the likeness of Jesus.
So, if you relate to what I’m saying right now, I’ll leave you with a bit of homework for this week.
Look to God – who he is and what he has done.
Instead of approaching Bible reading and/or praying like a rule to follow or a discovery of facts about God instead of an encounter with God, try to read scripture as if it were really God speaking to you (because it is). Look at creation as God’s canvas as stand in awe of his majestic artistry, like David said in Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
Seek out God in his word and in his world, and as you spend time growing in your knowledge of the image of your creator, you will be able to look at your sin and brokenness in its proper light, which is the necessary contrast that displays God’s vast and undeserving grace, and in that, you will be able to rejoice as Paul and Isaiah did.
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