Outline of message, Better Brokenness, from Sunday, January 13, 2013, at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Ajax, Ontario
(Audio of the full message will be posted by St Andrew’s at standrewsajax.ca.)
Scripture: Luke 3:15-22; Acts 8:14-17
Why “Better Brokenness?”
There are many powerful stories that are told of people coming back from being at the lowest of circumstance0es and coming to new life and faith. It troubles me, however, that for every story about the recovered addict who becomes a wonderful family man, or the runaway teen who finally comes home after descending into prostitution, for every gang member who turns out to be a youth counselor, for every one of thise stories there may be many other stories that do not turn out so well.
At the same time, we are all going to have down times, crises, heartbreak, such things are part of life and it seems to be necessary for us to go through such things to grow. My question is how can we have better brokenness.
To acknowledge our brokenness is simply to say we know we are flawed creatures. But we need to be able to keep specific aspects of that flawed nature from overwhelming us.
The Scripture
Our Scripture passages this morning point to two realities that can point to a better experience with this. When all the people were baptized, Luke says, Jesus himself was baptized. He did not need to be baptized. He showed his identification with us in our brokenness, so that we can rise, whole and complete in him. This is the ultimate answer to our brokenness. Meanwhile we have the gift of the Spirit along with coming into faith in Christ. The Spirit regenerates and gives us power for living in the here and now. We will want to bear these things in mind while observing some things about our brokenness.
Other People
We might feel that there are other people who are responsible for our brokenness. We have to learn not to blame them, or we are just allowing them to continue to hurt us. We need to remember thst those people are broken too, and Jesus baptism, pointing to his death and resurrection, indicated his identification with them, too, and his desire for all to be made whole.
I’m a People.
Besides, I have hurt others and contributed to their brokenness. This reminds me of my need for the Holy Spirit in the present, since he gives me discernment, and directs me to the community of faith for accountability and support, especially when some aspect of human brokenness threatens to take over my life.
People I Care For
The Father had words of praise for the Son when he accepted baptism. How can we not seek to build one another up, and be unstinting in our honest praise of one another? This will point to God’s own love and his desire we be made whole.