Empty and Broken
The road of my life is pocked with “empty and broken” moments, as I’m sure many of your lives have been. Growing up in a broken family afforded me ‘the opportunity to travel.” “See the world! …traveling back and forth between mom and dad, Chicago and Tulsa on a greyhound bus.” Abusive family members, some who were abused in a variety of ways; and self-seeking adults; at times, having an ‘every man for himself,’ attitude , and the children left to fend for themselves; Experiencing great blessing and kindness at one time, and utter confusion at others that turned some days, months, and even years, into a blurry mess. but… His grace was greater still!
My upbringing wasn’t perfect. They were imperfections of life. But you’ve experienced them too. Anyone experience one or two in their lives growing up or recently in your own families? They are imperfections of life; we all have them. In fact, Andy Stanley in his little book, How good is good enough, says that the mortality rates in America are very high. Some of you are going to get what that means somewhere between Dinner and Dessert today. But it’s not our mortality that should be our priority. No. It’s our spiritual condition which is the most serious of our ailments. And, it gets worse. Even our most spiritual of activities is so tainted with ourselves that it is unbearable for God to even smell.
ROMAN’S 3:23: For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – we are not only mortal, but we are sinful.
But, you see, the greatest problem that we have isn’t that we’re sinful. No, the greatest problem is that we fail to recognize and confess our sinfulness.
So, the message of the Lord to my and your hearts today is that we are sinners! Now, this isn’t “breaking headline news,” but it’s the flaw that the enemy most uses to keep us from worshipping the Lordship of Christ and blessing us for our worship.
The recipe, then, for our Ingrown Eyeballs Disease, is to be…Empty and Broken
I. The utility of emptiness
1 Kings 17:7-16:
7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 And the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying,
9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand.
12 And she said, As Jehovah thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it forth unto me, and afterward make for thee and for thy son.
14 For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, The jar of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that Jehovah sendeth rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
16 The jar of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by Elijah.
2 Kings 4
1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear Jehovah: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two children to be bondmen.
2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me; what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil.
3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
4 And thou shalt go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons; they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out.
6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons of the rest.
In both cases, emptiness was the prerequisite for being used miraculously by the Lord’s prophet
Jim Elliot – “No man is a fool to give up that which he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.”
We see the Pharisee and the Publican in the temple at the same time, standing on opposite ends of the altar with two diametrically opposed perspectives coming from their hearts.
God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men!
God, be thou merciful to me a sinner!
And who, does the scripture say, that God heard. Not the one who was holy! Not the one who was perfect! Not the whole one for whom a physician was unneeded. (vs 14) I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Our Life in Christ is NOT about getting perfect, it’s about getting honest.
Do you hear the Lord’s heart for the empty one and his despise for the one that is full?
The first element in a successful recipe of spiritual success is Emptiness
II. Broken Ones
Passage Luke 7:41-47:
This passage begins with Jesus memorializing some of the greatest individuals in the kingdom of heaven; they are also some of the least known individuals in scripture and perhaps on earth. However, ends his monologue with a castigation of the host, Simon, in who’s feast he was participating, because of that man’s lack of genuine spiritual change of heart. Remember, this comes right after Jesus has had a word of knowledge about the thoughts of Simon. Thoughts that was very favorable to him and degrading to the woman worshipping at Jesus’ feet.
41 A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred shillings, and the other fifty.
42 When they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?
43 Simon answered and said, He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
44 And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath wetted my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.
45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but she, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but she hath anointed my feet with ointment.
47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
This encounter today is with the issue of belief and unbelief. And it is all summed up in this statement that is a big as a 747 (Luke 7:47), “Her many sins are forgiven for she loved much, but he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
How can you tell if someone has understood the greatness of their sins forgiven? They love much.
How can you tell if someone has received His grace? They are gracious!
Jim Elliott’s wife, Elizabeth, on the topic of critical people, wrote; we all know people who are critical people. Those who are the most critical are people who have not received God’s grace!
How do we know that Simon was not a true believer of Jesus as the Messiah of the world? Simply because he did not wash Jesus feet! Not only did he not wash the Lord’s feet in worship, he didn’t even do it as was the customary courtesy for guests entering your home.
The follow up question: why didn’t he wash his feet? Because he didn’t Love the Lord enough for that!
Follow up to the follow up: why didn’t he love the Lord enough to wash his feet? Because the Lord hadn’t forgiven enough of his sins to be worshipped for.
Last Question: Why hadn’t the Lord forgiven more of his sins: enough to be worshipped for? Because Simon didn’t have enough sins to forgive.
Isaiah 61:1 (Whole Chapter)
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
1. Psalm 34:18 (Whole Chapter)
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
2. Psalm 51:17 (Whole Chapter)
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
In my favorite devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes, “when the Lord’s life is created in me by his redemption (of me), I instantly recognize his absolute authority over me. It is moral domination: “THOU ART WORTHY!” It is only the ‘unworthy’ in me that refuses to bow down to the worthy!”
Chambers: “It is when we empty ourselves and, in brokenness, volunteers obedience to the Lord that he becomes our authority. Until then, He can only be our taskmaster; and He will not be that to us.”
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Broken Vessels Wanted! A Poem
(David Robb – Inspired at NF 2008)
My tears of weeping are pleasing to the Lord. My cries of emptiness are a song to His heart. He is pleased with me when I am broken, because what He desires most of me is a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
He desires that of me because, with a broken vessel, He is assured that I will always be empty enough for him to pour into, to fill over and over again. And what He pours into a broken vessel must be released to others around it. There is no avoiding that fact.
Like the vessels of the Zarephathian woman of 1 Kings, and the Prophet’s wife in 2 Kings, when there is no more need, nor emptiness, the pouring stops. As long as there is need; as long as there is room in the urn, there is oil pouring; pouring from Him. That’s why He over-joys with broken vessel. It’s why He wants you ‘imperfect,’ because that is the fount of His filling. He cannot fill perfect jars, they are not able to receive because they are already filled with His old pouring or they’ve replaced His oil with soil, to be used as a floral decoration, no longer useful for His intended purpose. It’s why He told his disciples, “the perfect do not need a physician, and it’s the broken that need me.” The perfect vessel cannot receive what I have. Worse, yet, is that if poured into, that vessel would never leak oil to those around it. It would be held in safety, to be used to its own advantage.
It wasn’t the stature of a religious man hosting Jesus in his home, but the tears of a prostitute at his feet weeping tears of worship that caused the host of heaven to shout rejoicing! It was not the merciful claim of Judas that stirred the Master’s heart most, but a broken vessel of perfume by one who had been filled up with mercy and forgiveness and who thought it a small thing to give a year’s wages in worship to Him.
He desires the broken vessel, because He is able to attend to that one over and over and over again; not as a burden to Him, but a daily communion. And as the jar stands drained, its ebb low, its then that the sweetness of heaven flows to fill it again. It is a useful vessel, marred and fractured, to dispense the oil of heaven to those who most need it;
…to be emptied
…to return again to be filled.
Broken Vessels wanted!
