Every now and then I receive, or send, a package labeled "Fragile: Handle With Care." It might be a very expensive crystal vase inside, or maybe it is just a small toy, but the purpose of the label is to warn the friendly UPS, or Postal Service, employee that if they are not careful how they handle the package, they will damage what's inside. Friends, I tend to think that I sometimes should wear the same label: "Fragile: Handle With Care." No, I'm not worried that someone is going to squeeze me too hard or drop me on the ground, but I know on the inside I am sometimes fragile. I'm not constantly on the verge of tears and I don't feel devastated if someone in the grocery store just says "Hello" and doesn't stop and talk with me. But, I have taken rides on an emotional roller coaster. Oh, because I'm a man, I usually don't let anyone know that, but it has happened. Maybe I'm having a great day, feeling just super, and then someone says something critical of me and I plunge into an emotional valley. Do you know what I mean? This reminds me that the tongue can be a dangerous weapon, and a careless word on my part can make it a lousy day for someone else. It might be nice if people had a label saying "Fragile: Handle With Care" stamped on their foreheads to remind us how easily we can hurt one another.
Being emotionally fragile is not our only problem, however. Most Christians, at least the ones I know, are kind of spiritually fragile. It is not that we might give up the faith tomorrow and become atheists, but we find it is a struggle to consistently follow the Lord, and too often we end up on a spiritual roller coaster. At least that has happened to me, and I know it has happened to great Christian saints like Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Spurgeon and Billy Graham, and when I read Romans 7, I learn it happened to the apostle Paul.
Oh, some Christians may pretend they are always on top of things, but if we are really honest, my guess is that every one of us knows we are not batting a thousand. Maybe we do OK most of the time, but there are occasions when we strike out big. Like Christian in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, we too have to deal with things like the Slough of Despondency, Doubting Castle and the Giant of Discouragement as we seek to follow the Lord. Oh, some of us are stronger than others. Maybe we have been a Christian for many years and have learned to avoid some of the valleys. But, I'm afraid that every one of us who is a believer in Jesus Christ still has a somewhat fragile soul. Yes, our eternal salvation is secure because of Christ, but when it comes to the daily routine of following the Lord, we desperately need God's grace each day. When we start to think we don't, that we are going to do fine on our own, we are then even more vulnerable to attacks from the world, the flesh and the devil. As I have frequently said before: Being a Christian and following Jesus is not easy.
That is why I find real encouragement in our text today. Our journey through Matthew brings us to Chapter 12:15-21. This paragraph contains what I think is one of the most comforting verses in the Bible. Matthew 12:20 "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory." Let's pray that the Lord will help us understand what this verse means, and that we would find great encouragement in His Word today.
Our text introduces us to Jesus, the servant Messiah. The previous episode in Matthew 12 was the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath. After Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, Verse 14 says, 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Jesus' response to the Pharisees is in 12:15,16 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was. Rather than fight the Pharisees on their turf, Jesus continued in the servant ministry to which God had called Him. Even though it was becoming clear to many that He was not an ordinary man, He did not want that news released prematurely. Then Matthew says, 12:17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: Jesus' actions continue to demonstrate that He is the Messiah God had promised to Israel hundreds of years earlier. Then Matthew gives us a quote from Isaiah 42:1-4. These verses describe the servant Messiah that God would one day send to His people. They are marvelous verses: 12:18-21 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope."
Matthew says it is now clear, Jesus is the Messiah God promised. The promise that God would one day send His chosen and annointed representative to deliver His people, is one of the great themes of the Old Testament. In Jesus' day many of the people were hoping this Messiah would come and get rid of the Roman government that had been oppressing them for years. These people focused on the Old Testament passages which talked about the Messiah being a Savior and deliverer. I'm sure they had those verses underlined in their Bibles. But, they often ignored passages like Isaiah 42 which described the Messiah as a servant, or Isaiah 53 which portrayed Him as the suffering servant. Matthew shows that Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies far more clearly than most folks realized. His passion for justice, combined with gentleness and humility, is exactly what Isaiah said the servant Messiah would be like. If we take an honest look at all the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, compare them with Jesus' life and ministry which is recorded for us in the Gospels, the inescapable conclusion is that Jesus is the One whom God has chosen and annointed as Savior and Lord.
But, contained in those words which Matthew quotes from Isaiah, is some great news for those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ. It lets us know that Jesus will handle us with care. This passage gives a vivid description of the character of the Messiah. Because, as Hebrews says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This is also a description of the Lord Jesus today. For those of us with fragile souls, for those of us who sometimes struggle with living the Christian life and doing the right thing, there are few words as comforting as 12:20a "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,..." A bruised reed is a little stick, maybe one with a crack in it. Jesus is very careful that He does not break it. The smoldering wick is either poorly made or low on oil, but Jesus is very careful that He does not snuff out the fire. But neither Isaiah nor Matthew were talking about sticks or lamps. They were talking about people. Weak people. Fragile people. It included the many physically sick upon whom Jesus had great compassion and healed. But it also included those with perfectly healthy bodies, but with troubled souls who are described as "harassed and helpless" in Matthew 9:36 and the "weary and burdened" in Matthew 11:28. Jesus has compassion on these types of people. He treats them with great gentleness. It is almost as if they have the words "Fragile: Handle With Care" stamped on their souls, because that is what Jesus does. He is very careful not to break the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick.
As we go through the Gospel of Matthew, we see that there are many dimensions to the person of Jesus Christ. He doesn't fit easily into our categories. He is not afraid to challenge the religious and political establishment. He confronts hypocrisy and wickedness wherever He finds it. He gives very blunt warnings about God's wrath and eternal hell to those who reject Him. His teaching is full of authority, and His power over both the physical and spiritual realm is amazing. Yet, underlying all this is a great compassion, a great love, which is beyond what we as human beings can ever comprehend. People today need to be reminded that Jesus Christ is the King of kings who will one day judge and rule the world. We need to realize that He is the Lord of lords who will tolerate no competitors. But, we must also never forget that He is the One who will not break the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick.
Friends, if you are here today and are not a Christian, not a believer in Jesus Christ, I hope you are starting to realize what a wonderful person Jesus is. If by God's grace you will stop trusting in yourself, turn to Him and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, you will experience that grace and compassion in your life. If you have not done that, please do that today. If you have questions, please talk to me later.
I want to focus today, however, on a couple of practical lessons this text has for those who are Christians. #1) It teaches us that struggling Christians should not give up. As I said before, many Christians struggle and are on a spiritual roller coaster. Some struggle more than others, but not one of us is immune from the traps the evil one has set for us and often we are just inches away from plunging into a spiritual pit. Even mature Christians sometimes ride spiritual roller coasters, where one moment they are totally committed to following the Lord, and the next moment God is far away from their thoughts. For example, maybe on Sunday morning our heart is just overflowing with adoration to the Lord as we sing a song of praise, but on the way home from church, the kids are fighting in the back seat and before we know it, we lose our temper and all the joy is gone. Or we decide, "I'm going to start reading a chapter of the Bible every day." But, the next morning, instead of picking up our Bible, we grab the sports page to read about yesterday's football games and soon the day is over, and we have not opened God's Word. Or maybe we hear a message on the radio about the importance of keeping our thoughts pure. We feel convicted about that, so we pray and ask God to help us. Things are fine for a few days, but one night we are surfing through the TV channels and we come across a show featuring seductively clad women and, all of a sudden, instead of moving to another channel, we put the remote down and let the trash fill our mind. Or we sit in church, listening to the sermon, hungry to hear God's Word. But then, the pastor mentions some different sins that people fall into and, all of a sudden, we start thinking, "Boy, I don't do those things. I guess I'm a pretty strong Christian. It is too bad other folks are not like me." And the pride seeps in and starts to eat away at our soul and we become a very weak Christian. Sometimes we go up and down on that spiritual roller coaster.
Yet, the Lord doesn't give up on us. Now, let me be clear. He is not pleased with the sin He sees. As Christians, it should be our goal, with God's help, to get off the roller coaster and be more consistent in our Christian life. We have talked before, and will talk many times again, about how we can do that. The point today, however, is simply that if you are a Christian on the roller coaster, Jesus sees the words "Fragile: Handle With Care" stamped on your soul. Your inconsistency comes as no surprise to Him. He knows we are weak. He knows the temptations and struggles with which we go through each day. Yet, He expects us to obey Him. He knows how foolish our excuses are. He loves us too much to be content with our spiritual mediocrity, but He is patient. Even after we have failed repeatedly, the Lord continues to love us and offers His help. We will sometimes experience very real pain as the Lord reshapes our souls and helps us become the people He desires us to be, but He will always be gentle enough so that a bruised soul will not be broken and a smoldering soul will not be snuffed out. This is part of God's amazing grace, which we celebrate today.
So, Christian friend, if you are finding it hard to follow the Lord and do the right thing, do not be discouraged. It is important that we don't become complacent about sin in our lives. We must not be content with the lack of holiness that we sometimes see when we look in the mirror, but we also must not give up. If you didn't read your Bible or prayed at all last week, by God's grace, you need to do so this week. If you have been too embarrassed in recent months to tell your friends about your faith in Christ, with God's help, you need to start opening your mouth in November. If you have been struggling with a sinful addiction of some type for the past few years....alcohol, pornography, gambling, etc.....you need to resolve that with God's help you will find victory in the year ahead. I want you to get this truth ingrained in your mind so that you remember it, not just at church, but also the next time you do something really wrong. Don't forget, the Lord is patient and gentle. If you fall flat on your face as you are following the Lord, you need to get up, confess your sin, ask for the Lord's help, and keep going. The Lord will not give up on us. As 2 Timothy 2:13 says, ...if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. Even if we are struggling to follow Christ, we should not be discouraged.
#2) We need to be patient with other Christians who are struggling in their walk with the Lord. That means, we need to follow Jesus' model. All around us there are believers who are spiritually bruised and smoldering. If He treats those who are weak with compassion and care, we need to treat each other that way as well. In Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, the Lord, through Paul, tells us we must be concerned for fellow Christians who are weaker than us. He says we sometimes need to refrain from doing things which are perfectly OK, if doing them is going to offend someone else. His message is clear that we need to be concerned not only about our own spiritual welfare, but also about the spiritual health of our fellow believers in Christ, especially those who are struggling. You see, like Jesus, we need to recognize that our fellow Christians often have souls which are somewhat fragile. We need to handle them with care.
This means we should provide gentle correction when we see another Christian going astray, either in his lifestyle or beliefs. We must not just sit back and watch. Remember what James says in James 5:19,20 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. But, when we "turn a sinner from the error of his ways," when we bring someone back to the truth, we need to do so gently. Oh, we may need to be very firm, but we need to be gentle. Listen to Paul's instruction in 2 Timothy 2:24-26 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. Maybe you have a family member or a friend who claims to be a Christian, but is not following the Lord. Please remember what both James and 2 Timothy say. You must not stand by and just watch someone you care about sink into a spiritual pit, but as you seek to help them, you need to remember their soul is fragile, and you need to treat them with love and care.
So, when we have a Christian friend who starts having doubts about whether or not the Bible is really God's Word, rather than yell at him for being so stupid, we need to try to help answer some of the questions he has. When someone in our family ends up getting divorced, rather than pointing our finger and telling everyone what a terrible person she is, we need to comfort her and encourage her to look to the Lord for strength. When someone in church gets caught in some sin, and everyone knows about it, rather than trying to embarrass or shame that individual, we need to offer our support and remind them of the free and full forgiveness that comes when we truly confess our sins to the Lord.
Friends, I am now 41 years old. I think my faith has grown in the past ten years, but I am more aware of my spiritual weakness, my fragileness, than I was ten years ago. I also understand the depth of God's strength better than I did then. I am weak, but He is strong. Knowing that to be the case, I need to frequently ask myself this question: Am I relying on my strength, which is very inadequate, or am I relying on Christ's strength which is far greater than I could ever need? That is the question I have for you as well: Are you relying on your strength, or are you relying on Christ's?
Horatius Bonar was a Presbyterian pastor in Scotland in the 1800s. He understood very much this important truth that we are weak, but Christ is strong. He wrote a marvelous song that celebrates this truth. We are going to sing it this morning. It is called, "I Hear the Words of Love."
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