No. 2 - BROKENNESS—THE PATTERN

John 12:23-26

Everybody wants a blessed life, but nobody wants a broken life. But before God can thoroughly bless a person He must thoroughly break that person.

· The understanding of the necessity of brokenness before blessedness was seen in our Savior’s purchase of redemption through brokenness, as is in regeneration and restoration.

In this study we want to look at the “Pattern of Brokenness.” Throughout the Bible, there are various illustration and demonstrations given to help us visualized the necessity of brokenness. And in each of those cases, there is usually the up-side, the blessing that follows.

God wants us to see and understand and accept this truth because all of our usefulness and effectiveness and happiness is directly connected to a proper response to our brokenness.

1. The Illustrations of Brokenness.

The Planting of a Seed, John 12:24-25. If you take a grain of wheat, a seed, and hold it in your hand, put in on a shelf, display it under glass, it will remain only one seed. And if kept long enough it will eventually rot and turn into dust.

But when you take that single seed, and drop it into the earth, cover it over with some good soil, water it and wait...you will have an altogether outcome. When you give that single seed up to die, you also give it up to live. Because in that soil, with the heat of the sun, and the moisture of the morning dew and the seasonal rains, that seed will begin to come alive. Before long, the outer shell will break open, and a little green sprout will push its way up through the soil making it way toward the sunshine. A root will grow downward, preparing to provide an anchor for the new plant it will produce. Eventually, the seed itself completely disappears and there is a stalk will grow to several feet tall, with heads of corn or wheat with hundreds of seeds.

The single grain that is not planted cannot bear fruit.

Who was Jesus talking about? Himself. What was Jesus talking about? His death. As long as Jesus remained alive, only a few would be helped and healed and taught, but that was not His purpose. He came to die. And He came to die to bring forth a harvest through His death. We live because He was willing to die.

The Plowing of the Soil, Isaiah 28:23-29. “Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?” To back up, before a seed is planted, the soil must be plowed. This was a common sight, a man following a couple of animals pulling a piece of equipment. What is he doing? Breaking up the ground. And to what purpose? The framer plows because he is preparing for a crop, a harvest. There can be no harvest without plowing. The soil must be broken up. We have a Heavenly Husbandman who knows how to plow. But He purposes a crop. Hosea 10:12 says, “Break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord.”

The Potter and the clay, Jeremiah 18:1-6. Have you ever seen a potter at work on a potter’s wheel? A vessel takes shape as the potter’s skillful hands mold and guides the upward flow of the clay. But if the vessel has a flaw or is too hard or is not in the right shape—the clay is smashed down by the hand of the potter onto the wheel—and the process starts all over again. But in the end the Potter perfects His work, sharpening and fashioning us to reflect the beauty of our Maker. God is our Potter, working in and on our lives, not to destroy us, but to perfect us.

The Pruning of a Vine, John 15:1-5. When does a vine looks its worst? After it is pruned. It looks as though the vine is killed because it is so radically cut back. But pruning is not the death of the vine, it is the life of the vine. Its all about fruit. Maximum fruitfulness demands radical and regular pruning.

When a vine is pruned it is thinned, made smaller, things are cut off. For the vinedresser—less is more. Here is what happens. Grapevines can become so dense by overgrowth that the sun cannot reach into the areas where grapes form.

The Pressing of the Grapes, Joel 3:13. We can have the juice of grapes only because somebody has crushed them. Not to destroy them, but to refine them.

2. The Demonstrations of Brokenness.

Gideon and the Broken Pitchers, Judges 7:15-20. They were in a heep of trouble. 135,000 Midianites. The army started out with 22,000, down to 10,000, finally only 300. And the 300 were divided into three 100 men units. That made the number 450 to 1 in favor of the Midianites. They blew the trumpet, blow the pitches that held the light and God gave the victory.

Jesus and the Broken Bread and Fishes, John 6:1-15. The huge problem of 5,000 men, plus their wives and children was met when Jesus broke the bread and fishes.

Mary and the Broken Box of Perfume, Mark 14:1-9. Valuable perfume contained in a valuable box. She could have given the box to Jesus, but, instead, she broken the container open and poured out all the contains on our Lord. “Broken and spilled out,” the song says.

3. The Explanation of Brokenness.

How does God go about to break us? What does He want in the process?

1 Thessalonians 5:23 informs us man is a three-part being—body, soul, and spirit. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

· Body—with it man relates to his environments (5 senses).

· Soul—with it man relates to others (smile, laugh, cry, feel).

· Spirit—with it man relates to God.

It is only the believer who has been made alive in his spirit and, thus, becomes a complete person. An unbeliever is only 2/3’s of a person, because that person is dead in his spirit

BODY - Controlled by his 5 senses - (outward controlling the inward)

SOUL - Controlled by his mind, will, emotions -

SPIRIT - Controlled by the Holy Spirit - (inward controlling the outward)

· Romans 7:22 “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man…”

· Ephesians 4:16 “Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man…”

· 2 Corinthians 4:16 “Though our outward man (body) perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day…”

· Ephesians 4:22-24 “...put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. And be renews in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, whcih after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

The Target of God’s Breaking. What does God break? Our body with its five senses are a part of who we are. Our soul, with its mind, will and emotion is who we are. But our body or our soul are not meant to control us. And that is the struggle. God’s purpose is to break the outward man so the inward man may come through. His design is to break through our soulish part of our life—our dependence on our mind, will and emotion. The Lord targets our outer man in order that the inner man may have a way out.

Among those who possess the life of Christ there are found two distinct conditions.

(1) In some the life of Christ is confined, restricted, imprisoned and unable able to come forth.

(2) In others the Lord has forged a way through brokenness and life is released.

You are the target! Anyone who will be absolutely honest will confess sooner or later: the greatest hindrance to living the Christian life is not his family or his friends or his job, but himself! Sir, the man you shave every morning is your problem to spiritual maturity and usefulness. Madam, the lady’s hair you fix every day is your problem.

God either plans or permits things to come into our lives to break our self-sufficiency.

· Salvation, is it God’s work or our work?

· Security (glorification), is it God’s work or our work?

· Sanctification, is it God’s work or our work? When we come to the place in our Christian life that we throw up our hands and say, “I can’t do this,” then we have had a break through.

God’s target is also at times our talents and abilities. Those who are gifted are often determined to succeed in life by their talents and abilities, instead of by depending on God. So God may target our self-confidence. If all we do is trust our God-given talents and abilities to get us through life, then we are living as though God in the moment doesn’t really matter. If you hold so tightly to your talents, they may have their life squeezed out of them, then what do you have?

God also targets our wealth. The old saying is the “fastest way to a man’s heart is through his mouth.” Well, one of the fastest ways for God to get our attention and to break us is to hit us in the pocketbook!

God may target your health. On your back, the only way to look is up!

The Timing of God’s Breaking. God’s sovereign purpose in all of the affairs of life is to break us of ourselves.

(1) We cannot avoid God’s breaking.

(2) We can add to God’s breaking if we choose to rebel against His loving discipline.

You may learn ten years lessons in one year or you may take twenty or thirty years to learn one year’s lessons. Any delay in brokenness means to delay God’s blessing. Think about Israel. They could have been in the Promised Land in about 10 days, but because of disobedience and unbelief, God postponed it for 40 years. What does that tell you? God is not in a hurry. He is not bound by time.

The Technique of God’s Breaking. God uses external things in dealing with the outward man. He knows our special makeup, and so by His Spirit and His Word He orders our circumstances in such a way as to bring about the breaking of the outward man. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,” and so are a man’s breaking.