Brokenness

Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, please. 1 Corinthians 11, we'll read at verse 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he break it, and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. I want to notice a number of things that are broken. This is my body, which is broken for you.

This do in remembrance of me. Now, back to Gospel of Mark, please. Chapter 14, Mark chapter 14.

Mark 14, verse 3. And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman, having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious. And she break the box and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than 300 pence and given to the poor.

They had a business head, eh? And they murmured against her. Jesus said, Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me.

For you have the poor with you always. And so on. Now, back to the Old Testament, to the book of Judges.

Judges chapter 7. Judges 7, we read verse 12. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude. And their camels were without number as the sand by the seaside for multitude.

When Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream. And lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian and came into a tent and smote it. That it fell and it overturned it.

And that tent lay along. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, the man of Israel. For into his hand hath God delivered Midian and all his host.

Notice the man was of the opinion it was the sword of Gideon first. And then God delivered Midian into all the host and all the host and so on. Down to verse 18.

This is Gideon now constructing the troops. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. So Gideon and the hundred men that were with him, there were three companies of one hundred, came on to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch.

And they had but newly set the watch and they blew the trumpets and break the pitchers that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets and break the pitchers and held the lamps in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with all. And they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.

And we find the host of the enemy. They destroy themselves. Now one more reading from the Psalms, please.

Psalm 57. Psalm number 57. Sorry, 51.

Psalm 51. Psalm 51, verse 15. O Lord, open now my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. The Lord will add his blessing to the public reading from his word. We've been hearing of things that we fear.

And I guess it's only natural to fear brokenness. If you're anything like me, we would naturally fear brokenness. We've read of four things that are broken in the Bible.

But you'll notice that instead of negative results, they are very positive results. We've read of the broken body of the Lord Jesus, 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And as a result of his body broken upon the cross, there is salvation that is provided.

We've read in Mark chapter 14 about a broken box or a broken flask. And as a result of the box or flask being broken, there is an aroma that fills the house. And then we have the broken jars, pictures, in Judges 7. And the light shone out.

And the victory was accomplished. And the enemies of the Lord were defeated. And then, finally, from Psalm 51.

We have a broken heart, a broken and a contrite heart, O Lord, thou wilt not despise. I would take that in relation to a broken will. A heart that has surrendered, a broken will.

And for the believer, it will result in a life of fulfillment in Christ. And that is acceptable to the Lord. Now, things that are broken usually mean that they've lost their usefulness.

And usually, we look upon things that are broken in a very negative way. Even the Bible takes up the thought of death in that regard. In Ecclesiastes 12, it speaks about the silver cord being broken, the golden bowl being broken, the pitcher broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

And that's pretty negative. Life itself, in death, looked upon as that which is broken. But think of these broken things that result in that which is positive.

The Lord Jesus and his broken body, 1 Corinthians 11. You recall that in the Gospels, Matthew 14, in order to feed the 5,000, it required five loaves of bread and two small fish. The Lord broke the bread, gave to the disciples, 5,000 hungry men and women were filled.

That life-giving food from Christ. But in order to provide everlasting life, it wasn't natural bread that the Lord took. It was his own body.

And he himself, the bread of God from heaven. And he speaks about his body in death as that which is broken. This is my body, which is broken for you.

What love is expressed by our Savior and his willingness to allow a wicked man to take that same living body of his and nail it to that cross of wood at Calvary. He had taken that body. It was prepared for him.

He took it in order that he might suffer in it, in order that he might yield up that human life in death as the representative man to suffer the agonies of crucifixion and the agonies of soul and of spirit in his abandonment upon the cross. Reproach hath broken mine heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I look for some to take pity, but there was none. He found none, and for comforters, but he found none.

Men mocked him. They rejected him. They cried away with this man.

We will not have this to reign over us. Crucify him! Crucify him! But now, being raised from the dead, we come to this scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And the apostle records that which has been revealed directly to him from the Lord Jesus, how that he says concerning his body, This is my body which is broken for you.

This do in remembrance of me. Also in the cup, likewise, to remember him. That is his request, that is his command to us, to remember him in the breaking of the bread and in the drinking of the cup, and the disciples they met together on the first day of the week to break bread.

I wonder, am I speaking to a believer here this afternoon? And this is not yet your privilege of meeting together with the disciple on the first day of every week to break bread and remember the Lord Jesus in just the way that he has commanded to break the bread and to drink the cup. This do in remembrance of me. His body broken.

But think of the tremendous potential of that great sacrifice. Salvation provided for all men of all time. The tremendous potential of Calvary.

And not only men, mankind, but creation itself will be affected by the great redemptive work of the Savior upon the cross. So far from being negative, there is tremendous positive results from the brokenness of the Savior in his death upon the cross. Now I want to notice that that is fundamental.

That's a fundamental principle of Christianity. It's the basis of all. That in order for blessing to flow, there must be brokenness.

And that should have a very practical effect upon us. Practical effect for us in relation to fellowship with God, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, there is a requirement for the people of God to be clean, to have fellowship with him. We find that in the Old Testament, clean persons only could eat of the peace offering.

Priests and Levites must be clean to handle the sacred vessels of the Lord. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord, Isaiah 52 and 11. Priestly men who had been to the laver, who had been there and had washed and were clean, they were free to participate in divine service.

And so it is when it comes to the supper and it comes to remembering him in a very practical way, we must be clean. It is by the laver of regeneration that we have been rendered clean as to our standing before God, so that you and I as believers have been fitted in our standing to appear in the presence of God and to enjoy his promised presence when the saints are met together, when the two or three are met together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. But in 1 Corinthians 11 we read this, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

So we are to come to this in our own experience practically through the week. There is a self-examination. There is the application of the water of the word, the washing of water by the word.

You remember that in John's Gospel, the Lord Jesus, before he instituted the feast... Okay, there's no record in John's Gospel of the institution of the feast, but we don't get the supper instituted in John's Gospel, but we certainly get the atmosphere of the supper in John's Gospel. John's Gospel, the gospel of the burnt offering. No mention made of bread been broken or of his body broken.

But we get the atmosphere of it, so the disciples have their feet washed in view of it. And so you and I, as we come to the word of God, and we apply that word to our heart and to our life throughout the week, we are bringing our hearts and our lives into line with that word in view of the Lord's Supper. It will have a practical cleansing effect upon us, and in effect we're remembering him every day of the week.

Every day of the week. We're reminded of that already today. We need to be at Calvary every day of the week to have our own hearts touched in worship as we muse upon him and his body broken on the tree, thy body broken for our sake.

My bread of heaven shall be the testamental cup I take, and thus remember me. We do it on Lord's Day morning, but in effect, in a practical, spiritual way, throughout the week, to remember him. When we come to Mark 14, we have a broken box.

I take it that this is the same incident that we have in Matthew 26 and in John 12. We compare the scriptures carefully. There's nothing that contradicts, but there is that which complements.

There were at least 17 people present in that house, including Simon, including the disciples, including the three that are mentioned, and including the Lord Jesus. Lazarus was there. He was a man that was given new life, a man who had died, but now he is a phenomenon in the area.

People know all about Lazarus. When they would see him walking down the street, maybe they had been to his funeral the previous week. That was quite a remarkable thing.

Lazarus was known for his new walk, and we ought to be known for our new walk too. The resurrected life of Christ been lived out in our lives ought to mark us out as different. Do our feet carry us to the same places that we went before we were saved to find pleasure? We ought to be marked by a new walk.

Martha was there. Martha served. Martha was known for her work, wasn't she, and her activity.

Look, chapter 10, she was busy, and she was complaining because Mary wasn't helping out. Martha, Martha. She was occupied with other things, with the cares of this life.

Mary had chosen the better part. It would not be taken from her. Mary was at her feet, at his feet.

In Luke chapter 10, the Lord had her ear. But here in Mark 14 and in John chapter 12, we find her at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and she has this box of ointment, and she's going to break it and pour it upon his head and pour it upon his feet, and Mary is known for her worship. So we have Lazarus for his walk, Martha for her work, and Mary for her worship.

Interesting to note as well that in the Old Testament, in Exodus chapter 29, in the consecration of the priests, you remember that there was the blood of consecration that was taken and put upon the great toe of the right foot. That would affect their walk. And put upon the thumb of the right hand.

That would affect the priests in their work. And it was put upon the tip of the right ear, because what they would hear of the Word of God would affect them. In their very heart, it would affect them in their worship.

And so the people of God still should have the hallmarks of redemption upon them. They should be marked by blood, both in their walk day by day, in their work for the Lord, and in their worship of Him. Take a look at Mary.

What is remarkable about Mary is she was a woman, likely from humble circumstances, but somehow she had amassed great riches in the form of this alabaster box of ointment. It was very costly. Very costly to her.

And yet she was willing to take that box and to break it and to pour it out upon the Lord Jesus. Lovely that John records this, isn't it? The gospel of the burnt offering. She held nothing back in her devotion to Him.

So she pours it out upon Him. Very costly to her. But I like what Mark records here.

It was very precious. Mark is the gospel of service. And the Lord Jesus viewed this as an act of service.

It was very precious to Him, what Mary did. So I wonder today, brothers and sisters, is our devotion marked by that willingness and responsiveness of heart to His person, or are we marked by weakness and reserve? One little test of that perhaps might be, dear brother, when was the last time you were on your feet on Lord's Day morning to remember the Lord Jesus and to give thanks for His Son? Marked by weakness and reserve? Or a willing responsiveness to the savor of His person? Mary held nothing back. And as a result, we find that aroma.

It filled the house. And others were no doubt touched with that perfume, leaving the house. They would carry that perfume with them, the aroma of the ointment.

So what about our alabaster box? We've got something that's very costly to us, our time. Are we willing to break that box for Him, to give of our time to Him without reserve? What about the alabaster box of our treasure? We've been hearing about the gathering up of riches. The alabaster box of our treasure, very costly to us.

Are we willing to break that for Him and pour it upon His person? What about the alabaster box of our talents, the abilities that God has given to us? Are we willing to let Him have all that we are and have? Be costly to us. Mary was willing to give what she had in order to honor Him. And to fill that house with the aroma.

Judges chapter 7. All the Midianites, the Amalekites and the sons of the east had come in to the land and were destroying the increase of the earth. They're not all dead yet. Midian means strife.

Sad thing when strife enters in amongst the brethren, isn't it? Destroys the increase of the earth. The Amalekites, Amalek speaks of the flesh, flesh within us. That will have its effect as well on the increase of things for God.

The sons of the east, the philosophies of this world, worldliness. Humanistic philosophy. Ancient times, all of these enemies were gathered together against Israel.

They still gather themselves together against the people of God. But there was a victory wrought that day, Gideon and his 300. Verse 18, he says, When I blow the trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also in every side of all the camp and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.

And they were to smash those pitchers. They were to hold up the lamps. They were to hold up the trumpets and blow with the trumpets at the same time.

And then cry, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. You know, that's just what happened. As a result of that light shining out on the forces of darkness, they began to destroy themselves.

And God took care of the whole situation. And there was a great victory wrought that day. And incidentally, that is the same way, I take it, the battle of Armageddon is going to be fought.

Check it out in Zechariah. At any rate, you remember that it was God who commanded light to shine in creation, and thus he prepared a habitable earth for man to dwell in. And we find that there's spiritual light that's needed for men to dwell in God's heaven.

Men to be prepared for God's heaven must be brought into the light. Now, we live in a dark world. And men love darkness rather than light.

They love it. And as the world's darkness deepens and men continue to love it, it's not going to get any better. You and I are called to be luminaries in this world.

And the Lord Jesus in his teaching said, Let your light so shine amongst men. And to us is given the glorious privilege of causing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ to shine out unto men. He says, Paul, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us.

So it's our responsibility in the world around to let our light shine before men, to let those vessels, as it were, be broken, in order that the light of the gospel of Christ might shine out, both in word, in lip, and in life, in deed and in all that we'd be involved in. It says, Paul, in verse 5, we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord. Paul didn't have very big thoughts about himself.

He was a vessel that was broken. He writes to the Corinthians and says, We were amongst you in fear and in much trembling. But it was Paul's business to make known the person of Christ, not I, but Christ.

And as a result, God obviously blessed his ministry. I wonder how many hundreds of thousands were saved under the ministry of Paul. I don't know, but certainly down through the ages, there'll be a multitude that no man can number that have been brought into the light of fellowship with God through the ministry of the dear apostle.

Just before we leave it, I want to notice that though Gideon had just 300 men, that was a very small number in view of the host of the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east that were spread like grasshoppers over the ground, just 300 men. But one principle in which the victory was to be gained was this. They were all to act together.

There was a unity about the work. There was something about it that was marked by unity of purpose and action. You know, it seems anymore in gospel testimony that going around knocking doors, I hope this isn't a downer to somebody, but going around knocking doors and trying to invite people to come out, well, you might get one or two or you might get a few even that might come in over the course of a series of meetings, and if God reaches and saves them, that's great.

Tremendous, that's the point. But generally speaking, anymore it seems that those that come to hear the gospel are those that the believers have already been in contact with, have been drawing close to, have been encouraging to come along and hear the gospel or slipping a little word in here and there where it's appropriate. And so the point is this, that when we think of letting the light of the gospel shine out, it's not just for the preachers that stand on the platform.

It's not just a question of bringing them in from afar and having new voices and expecting that just because all of that is put in place, that automatically there are going to be people that will come out from the area. But when the people of God have been working at it already and there's a unity about that, and there's that oneness of purpose of constantly letting our light shine, oh, it might mean that we might have to be broken a little bit here and there in order to witness to our friends and relatives. But I notice in Gideon's day that unity in the work resulted in a great victory.

Come quickly to Psalm 51 in our thinking. Just to gather up our thoughts in all of this, we notice there is a common thread, that there is a requirement for brokenness for blessing in the things of God. And I take it that we must know something of this in our own souls to be a blessing to God and to man in one degree or another.

The psalmist says, verse 15, O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else I would give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Those are very strong words there in verse 17. The word broken means to be maimed, to be crippled, to be wrecked.

Never the same again. Contrite means to be crushed. There's many, a dear believer, has been brought into deep trial where they feel that this is just where they're at.

Crushed. Broken. Well, I read a verse like this from Psalm 147 and 3. It says that he heals the brokenhearted, and he binds up their wounds.

Brokenness is negative, yes, but brokenness is the key that unlocks the door to divine service. We find even Paul was afflicted, and he speaks of a consolation that he had enjoyed in order that others too might be comforted with the consolation that he had been comforted with. So, those that have been afflicted are fitted in that way to comfort others and to share something of the comfort that they have enjoyed from God.

Brokenness. That's where we were brought in conversion, isn't it? With the burden of our sin upon us, in conviction we are brought down, and in repentance we're brought to be broken and repented before God. And then we find the comfort of his forgiveness and his wonderful mercy extended toward us, and he opens up our understanding in that wonderful moment to understand that on the cross the Lord Jesus took my place, and he died for me, my Lord the King.

Broken at conversion. But how quickly that self-life returns. That life of self-indulgence.

And it gets in the way of serving him. It gets in the way of devotion to him. It gets in the way of being a blessing and of being victorious in the things of God.

But when we think of his body broken upon the cross, when we think of the length to which he was willing to go, is there anything that is too costly for us that we cannot give to him? That picture of self needs to be broken. That precious box, that flask of self needs to be broken. The pictures of the cares of this life, the pictures of the lust for other things, the precious riches that are amassed needs to be broken, poured out in service and in devotion to him.

It says, Paul, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. And he says that this is your reasonable service. This is your worshipful service.

So if you and I are willing to be broken, to come with a broken will, with a yielded life, with an obedient heart, says our verse, that is something that God will not despise. That is something that is acceptable to him. Our reasonable service, our worshipful service is acceptable with God.

And I take it that that's a very positive thing. So may God encourage our hearts. Brokenness, we fear it, but recognize from the scriptures, it is a principle on which blessing flows, and it extends to others as well.

May God bless this word.