The Broken Heart Of God Series

Father heart of God sermon 4

The broken heart of God.

The Broken Heart of God.

Reflections on human brokeness.

Floyd McClung – Aircraft ride.

GE 6:5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

God’s heart was filled with pain when I read these words I came to reaqlise that what I feel - God feels.

What I suffer God sufferrred.

It blew away the image of a distant God.

Even parents have feelings

In the current series of sermons we have been considering the Father heart of God.

If you haven’t been following this series then I want to give you a brief outline.

In the first sermon we considered

The two words from the beginning of the Lord’s prayer – Our father

We considered what it meant to be able to call God as our Father.

In the second week we considered areas of parenting, that because of the fall, can be lacking in our lives but god can make up.

Here are some of those areas.

Parental authority etc,

Last week you may have heard me discus with you – the concept of the waiting Father. As revealed in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

This week I want to continue in the subject as Floyd McClung has opened it up and discus what he calls The Broken Heart of God.

We might think of God as a lot of things but if you are like me you may have some difficulty in understanding of what it is like for God to have a broken heart.

It is impossible to have a broken heart over something that doesn’t matter to you.

Someone ignores you who doesn’t figure on your top 100 list and it simply doesn’t impact on your life.

But if number 9 on your list does something bad to you it may well break your heart.

Lets face it we are important to God

F. How much does God love you? Max Lucado says, "If God

had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart... Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you."

Why is it important to understand that God has a broken heart.

Because without understanding that we will hav e a cold heart ourselves towards God.

Floyd McClung tells this story.

He was on an aircraft when a dishevelled man came up the aisle and greeted hjm boisterously. “Hi! You an American?”

Yes – yes I am I said with some lack of enthusiasm as I continued to sit down. As I was tired I chose to sit on the aisle seat thinking it would be harder for anyone to sit by me since he would have to stretch over my long legs!

The man sat behind me but I paid no attention to him.

After a few minutes his head came around the corner. “Whatcha reading? He asked as he peered over my shoulder. “My Bible” I replied impatioentlyu. Couldn’t he seee that I wanted to be alone? I settled back in my seat but a few minutes later the same pair of eyes were again looking over the top of my seat. “What kind of work do you do?” He asked.

Not wanting to get involved in a long conersation, I decided to make my answer brief. “A kind of social work” I said, hoping he wouldn’t be too interested.

“Mind if I sit by you?” he asked as he stepped ovber my crossed legs he seemd to be oblivious to my efforts to avoid talking to him. He turned to face to me and he reeked of alcohol. He spat as he spoke, sending a fine spray all over my face.

I was deeply moved by this man’s obnoxiousness. Couldn’t he see I wanted to be alone? All my plans for a quiet morning were destroyed by his insensitivity. ‘ Oh God’ I groaned inwardly, ‘please help me.’ The conversation moved slowly at first. I answered a few questions about our work in Amsterdam and began to wonder why this man so desparately wanted to talk to someone. As the conversation unfolded it daqwned on me that perhaps I was the one who was being insensitive.,’My wife was like you,’ he said after a while, ‘She prayed with our children, sang to them and took them to church. In fact, ‘He said slowly, his eyes misting over, ‘she was the only real friend I ever had.’