Broken

Text: Luke 19:28-40
Title: Broken 3/28/10 Palm Sunday, Clarksville

Video-clip of people getting knocked off horses. You will be surprised to know who that was - show picture of Pastor Rachelle in a cowboy hat.

I’ll tell you some things you don’t know about Pastor Rachelle. She spent part of her childhood on a farm. They had a lot of different animals but mostly they had horses. Her dad loved horses and had great expectations that Rachelle would become a wonderful equestrian. But for some reason while horses liked her when she gave them sugar or brushed them, they really did not like her to be on their backs. The same horses that would take sugar from her hand would throw her from their backs. In case you were wondering, yes, she has been knocked in the head a few times ?. Wanting to see her succeed, her dad bought her a beautiful Chestnut Arabian mare. Much to the delight of father and daughter, Rachelle developed an immediate connection with this horse named Sarah. Eventually the time came to have her broken. It was awful. This beautiful animal was completely out of control. No matter what they tried she refused to be ridden
At one point they even brought in a specialist to try to help her. They put a "dummy" on her to try to get her broken and when she felt it on her back, she went crazy. They could not break her - no matter how many times or techniques they tried. She was beautiful, but she was never broken.
Not wanting to give up, Rachelle tried riding several other horses that her dad thought she would be able to show in competition but it never worked out. She finally ended up riding a 16 year old gelding named Sewell. Sarah was beautiful but not broken. Sewell wasn’t nearly as pretty, but she was broken and that made her useful. Sarah and Sewell. One beautiful but not broken, the other not as pretty, but a lot more useful.

I don’t think Jesus was wearing a cowboy hat or spurs when he entered Jerusalem for his final week, but we do know from how Mark and Luke tell the story that he was on an animal that had never been ridden.

Never ridden. This detail intrigues me because it doesn’t just bring up images of Pastor Rachelle’s horse or the Palm Sunday pack animal. It intrigues me because I think it also says something that is true about us. It doesn’t matter how beautiful we are - we’ll never really able to be useful until we’ve been broken.

Brokenness is a given when we live in a broken world. The details of our stories and the depth of our brokenness might differ but somewhere along the way we’ve all experienced it, or will experience it. Even today some of us will hear this message looking back at experiences of brokenness that all come back to us again. Others of us are in the midst of brokenness right now trying to figure out how in the world God could ever redeem or use it. He can, and He will. Others have had a relatively easy road in life so far and our brokenness is yet to come, but it will come. A broken heart, broken relationship, broken dream (especailly for all you Kentucky basketball fans :). But not all of us have had a broken will because some of us are Sewell’s and others of us are Sarah’s. Some of us have allowed the roughness of life to soften us, while others have become more determined to remain unbroken no matter what life has thrown at us. The problem with that reaction to life is that usefulness in the Kingdom seems to be directly related to brokenness. It was certainly that way for King David. This was a powerful truth driven home for me in the book “A Tale of Three Kings.” We have several copies here this morning we’d like to give away. All we ask is that after you read it, pass it on to someone else. It’s a powerful book and the subtitle is “A Study in Brokenness.” It’s one of the most influential books I’ve ever read.

Most of you have heard of Chuck Swindoll. Last October (2009) he said at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta: “When God has an impossible task he takes an impossible person and crushes 'em. Leave room in your life for the crushing.”

I think the key is to see that brokenness isn’t punishment - it’s preparation -preparation for usefulness in the Kingdom. While God does not necessarily cause our brokenness, He does use it. In fact, I believe that is true of everyone who is used by God. Somewhere along the way, they were broken.

For some it started in the 7th grade. I have a friend who was blesssed to born into a strong Christian family. To see him today you'd never imagine him having this kind of experience, but as a 7th grader he was overweight, lacked self-confidence and was frequently made fun of at school. It was so bad he hated going because he knew what he was going to face every day. He got depressed and retreated into a shell. It got so bad that he even tried to kill himself. But in that condition of emotional brokenness God was there. He not only put the boy back together, He built something into his spirit that was the direct result of the brokenness he had experienced. God built into this young man a great measure of humility and sensitivity to other people, while at the same time building him into an over-achiever who went on to become a great athlete and captain of his football team. He now serves as an officer and is this very day being used to make a major impact on his family and his soldiers. He was blessed. He was broken. He is being used. The same thing happened to people in the Bible. Elijah was depressed, Jeremiah was alone or at least felt like he was, and Job’s friends were no help at all either. They all had one thing in common. They were broken, and then they were used. The breaking wasn’t punishment. It was preparation.

For others it was a tragedy. I don’t for one second believe God caused it, but I do believe God used it. Today there is a couple in Michigan pouring out their life in ministry to teenagers. They aren’t paid to do it for a living, but it is definitely how they are making a life. A few years ago they were blessed to have a teenager themselves. A son named Kevin who was a great kid. Their worst nightmare became a reality when he was killed in an accident. Only those who have buried a child can understand the kind of brokenness they experienced. People in the Bible experienced that too. David buried a child. So did Job. David, Job, parents in Michigan - they all had one thing in common. They were broken, and then they were used. The breaking wasn’t punishment. It was preparation.

Broken and used. The examples are everywhere and none is greater than Jesus. There is a powerful scene in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus struggles in prayer so intense he sweats blood. He came to the ultimate breaking point. “Nevertheless, not my will by yours.” What was broken? His will. Painful? You tell me - He sweat blood. Used? To save the whole world. He was blessed. He was broken. Then He was given away for our sakes. The breaking wasn’t punishment. It was preparation. The result was life for us all.

Communion - Luke 22:19-20 I think that’s what the One who was broken for our sake wants to do with us. Bless us. Break us (or use our brokenness) so we can be given away.

I Peter 5:10-11 “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”