Illustration: In the latter part of the 20th century, my wife Maureena and I would covertly minister to a group of young ladies in the jabels of the Arabian Peninsula who displayed immense boldness to live out Christ through their lives daily. Some of them were nurses and a few were teachers serving the Arab communities in the Middle East. They experienced some of the harshest brokenness in their lives. Having been separated from their families for years to make ends meet, they would cry their lives out and pray that God would protect their families and bring their loved ones to them miraculously.
Facing natural threats like desert scorpions and snakes was a daily ordeal. Their prayers never went unheard. God was their refuge in times like these. Encountering prejudice from local Arabs and unfairness in salaries was their cup of tea every day. Experiences like introducing Christ to a Muslim girl and her accepting Him not only excited them but could have easily become a threat to their lives. They held on to the hope they had in Jesus Christ.
The worship they brought to God whenever we visited them was evidence of the broken spirits they possessed. Their relentless cries of adoration to their Creator said it all. Their persistent weeping and fasting before God made our trip more meaningful and revived our souls. It forced us to see ourselves from within. The external did not matter at all. Their example drew us to pursue a broken spirit in our own lives. This is what God looks out for in His children.
Introduction: “God is less interested in external behavior than He is about internal attitude.” Almost a hard thought to swallow. All our lives we are told to live according to the external: “Do this!” “Don’t do that!” “Follow these rules!” “Behave this way!” “Quit acting like so-and-so!” But I have come to the conclusion that God is more interested in what is going on internally in my life than what is coming out of it. Am I saying the externals don’t matter? No. But the externals are not the focus. If the internal is right, the external will follow suit; but if the internal is polluted and corrupt, no amount of external behavior or “righteousness” will hide the reality of the heart from God.
God was greatly displeased with David’s double sin – adultery and murder. After Nathan confronted him, he had a sense of repentance, guilt and hatred for his own sin. A sense of godly sorrow prevailed over him. Though he was restored, David describes his rebellion and a spirit of defiant disobedience to God, blotting out of sin. Was his external sin wrong? YES! Was the physical activity horrid? Absolutely. But that is not the issue. Sure, the external sin must be dealt with, but the issue really is the heart. God can deal with the external sin (forgiveness), but without an internal change of nature, David will keep on sinning. David experienced personal revival when He got right with God and so can we.
David sees God’s reality and writes: “The [true] sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.” In essence, a broken spirit and contrite heart is all about dependence. It is realizing that you are weak and the only hope of victory you have lies in Jesus.
What is the process of brokenness that makes us whole?
1. Praising God and Declaring His Righteousness (vs. 14-15)
Speaking of God's lovingkindness the psalmist does not ignore His righteousness. For God has no lovingkindness, no mercy, and no grace, apart from His righteousness. It is all based on His righteousness. The temple in Jerusalem declared that in its altar and bloody sacrifices. And Christ, Who is at God's right hand in heaven, manifests that righteousness.
The guilt of killing Uriah the husband of Bathsheba and his blood being on his hands brought David to repentance. It was the time when David became involved in the double sin of adultery and murder while he was king. He had walked with God for many years. He was widely known as the Sweet Singer of Israel; he had gained a reputation as a prophet, a man who understood the deep things of God; and he had established himself as the long time spiritual leader of his people. Then suddenly, toward the end of his reign, he was plunged into this terrible double sin.
In a most dramatic moment the prophet Nathan pointed a long bony finger at the king and said, "You are the man!" (2 Samuel 12:7). David knew then that his sin was uncovered. He fell on his face before God and out of that experience of confession comes this beautiful fifty-first Psalm, which traces for us the proper way to handle a bad conscience. David desired to be delivered from this guilt conscious and knew that God alone could save. He proclaims praises of God’s righteousness for his deliverance. A temporary atonement could be possible by the shedding of the blood of animals but Christ alone could permanently eliminate that sacrifice.
Then David, as king, realizes that he has affected his whole kingdom by his sin, and so he concludes with these words: “Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem” (v. 18). As the king he has caused his whole nation to be in jeopardy because of his sin. The very walls of the city (a symbol of its security) are under attack because of the evil that he has done. So now he says, "Lord, in your greatness … and by your forgiving grace, build it all up again. Heal the hurt to my people and to my kingdom." (v. 19)
Then worship will be realistic. It will not be a mere form; it will be real. Every song sung, every psalm read, every prayer uttered will not be a mechanical perfunctory repetition of words but the healthy articulation of a heart that has been cleansed and set free.
Surely our society is suffering as perhaps it has never suffered in the past history of America from the sins of adultery and sexual immorality which have destroyed the fabric of our society. God's righteousness demands full payment of the debt which we owe Him. The everlasting punishment for our sins must be suffered fully; and all the work of love which we did not bring to Him must still be brought in full measure. Until and unless that is done, there is no lovingkindness that God can show us. He is the righteous God. All this Christ did for us. He is that right hand of God that saves us and because of which God's love, mercy, and grace come down upon us. He made us to be righteous.
2. Bring a sacrifice of a broken spirit (v. 17a)
People assume that their unpleasant circumstances may create a broken spirit from within but this does not necessarily transpire because of one’s external surroundings. A broken spirit has more to do with our spirit in relationship to God our Creator. It has more to do with our repentant and remorseful attitude for what God has done for us despite the many times we have been unfaithful to Him.
It is not something a pastor can conjure to manipulatively impart upon his congregation. It comes from the Spirit of God. Today there is no brokenness over sin in our day and culture. They are comfortable in their sin. Their sin is way too acceptable to them. There is no grieving, no mourning and no sorrow over sin. We have become cold and callous of our own sin. If sin doesn’t bother us, then there is something seriously wrong with us. We can go to God alone for repentance. When we sin, it should break us. It broke David’s heart when he sinned against God. When we sin, we deserve to die but God in His grace has saved us through the blood of Christ that flowed at Calvary.
Let us not try to make God something different of who He really is. Don’t try to change His character. God is not a sin hater in the OT and a sin accepter in the NT. It is disgusting. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the same God in the Genesis as much as He is in Revelation. He hates sin! There is still the payment of our sin – Christ had to go to the cross for you and for me. He came to call all sinners to repentance. God is holy and He has not compromised one bit of His holiness to save man. If you have been faking it and trying to live out in the likeness of a Christian, it won’t last long. Till brokenness doesn’t set into our lives, there can be no genuine transformation or personal revival.
You and I will never meet God in revival, until we first meet Him in brokenness. At first hearing “brokenness” does not sound like something to be sought after. After all, it seems so negative! We may even be afraid of the concept. Perhaps that is because we have a misconception about the meaning of brokenness. Our idea of brokenness may be quite different from God’s idea.
This is the means through which God performs His deepest work within our hearts. A. W. Tozer once said, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt himself deeply.” Likewise Alan Redpath wrote once, “When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible individual – and crushes him.”
Anything that is broken is considered of no use and is usually thrown away. However, in the Scripture, God only uses things or individuals that are broken. For example, the alabaster box and the Holy Communion bread. The Hebrew meaning for “break,” means to shatter, smash or crush. In fact the Chambers 20th century dictionary states that brokenness appears as being bankrupt, fragmentary or humbled. God’s people are ready for revival only when they are broken. That which God bruises, He uses.
Out of a broken vessel, God knows that He can fill us with whatever He so desires. All glory will go to Him as we shine brightly for His purposes. Only through our brokenness will the mighty rivers of revival flow continuously out of us to touch our families, friends, church, nation and the world for God! Our broken spirit sets the stage for humility to flow in and through their lives which is unequivocally contagious.
3. Bring a sacrifice of a contrite heart (v. 17b)
The little known phrase ‘contrite heart’ is practically never used in our daily lives and uncommonly heard from the pulpits. It indicates ‘expression of godly sorrow for past sin and resolved to avoid future sin.’ This carries an immense significance in triggering revival of the church with the intention of it spilling out in the marketplace.
Prayer is being broken-hearted and contrite before God. The more we become aware of our shortcomings and character flaws, the more our hearts open in empathy and sorrow for those we have hurt. The more we see our pride, our greed, our self-serving and our defensiveness, the more we live in prayerful broken heartedness.
This text from Psalm 51 is part of a larger prayer of repentance by this psalmist. He has sinned. And he has been confronted with his sin. He sees how he has turned his back on God and gone his own way, causing pain and destruction to others. He sees all of this. He longs to make it right. He knows that an increase in religious activity is not what is needed. What is needed is a broken and contrite heart.
The dynamic at work here is not one of self-deprecation or self-punishment. It does not help us, or heal us, or change us when we beat ourselves up. A broken and contrite heart is not a heart full of self-hatred. Self-hatred and shame only keep us locked in our self-focus. Self-hatred and shame only lead to more of the same.
The dynamic at work when we are broken and contrite before God is the dynamic that is referred to in Scripture as “godly sorrow” (2 Corinthians 7:10). According to this text, it is “godly sorrow that leads to repentance.” Godly sorrow opens us to the transforming work that God’s Spirit desires to do in our lives.
The good news is that God does not despise our broken, contrite hearts. God welcomes us in this state. God sees our prayerful brokenness as an act of worship. This is because we are receptive to God’s healing grace when we are in this state. When we come to God with a broken and contrite heart, God’s grace flows into this place of brokenness. This grace begins to free us and to flow through us and out to others. Our broken, contrite hearts become the fertile soil in which the love of God takes root.
Illustration: The Christians in Uganda suffered tremendous persecution during Idi Amin’s reign of terror (1971-1979). Revival is now sweeping that nation because the persecution helped bring believers to a point of brokenness. After the Christians lost virtually everything, they had no other hope than to desperately seek God’s face. They longed for the Lord to rend the heavens and pour mercy upon a demonically battered nation. F. Kefa Sempangi pastored in Kampala during this time. He wrote, “We must be ‘broken,’ even as Jesus was broken for the world. To be broken is to have no pride, for where there is pride there is no confession and no forgiveness. The broken one is he who is broken to heal a broken relationship. He is the one willing to ‘give in,’ who doesn’t find his identity in always being right” (Sempangi, 39).
Idi Amin was the 1970’s African equivalent of Hitler. The cruel bloodbath that he inaugurated was horrifying. The atrocities this Muslim leader inflicted upon his people, and uniquely upon Christians, created a true brokenness in the believers that allowed them to forgive the vilest of offenses. Brokenness heals relationships, pride and un-forgiveness destroy them. The splintered American church with her astronomical divorce rate will find healing and anointing when brokenness defines her character. Until that time, our unbroken lives will rob us of revival and continue to destroy our marriages, children, churches and nation. (Meldrum, G. (2002-2014) THE BEAUTY OF BROKENNESS in SERMON INDEX)
Application: Are we truly a broken people with a contrite heart? We just can’t move forward in revival till we come to that place of brokenness in our lives. The simple equation is no brokenness, no revival.
