Finding Favor in Brokenness

So last week, we went on a fantastic trip creating a guide, if you will, to find the favorable. If you don’t know what I was getting at last week because I was being too technical or too abstract and you’re having a hard time following because you need something practical in your life, don’t worry, I’m an awesome pastor and a great artist so I drew you five circles in the shape of a mathematical equation. It goes a little like this, the favor of God in the form of “grace” and “blessing” always leads to the presence of God in your life. Moses said it like this in Exodus 33: Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. As a result of the presence of God in our lives, we receive the distinction of God’s specific favor in the form of His anointing (aka vision, and timing) plus a mark of distinction (the x factor separating you from everybody else). Now let me tell you the problem with that equation and why it’s going to take me three more weeks to augment that equation into something practical for you to use every single day of our lives. It’s because life can be fine one day and unstable the next. Sometimes the people you count on the most let you down or abandon you. Or one day you have a great job and financial security and the next day you are homeless and destitute. In fact, people can become so broken that God’s favor doesn’t “set them free” but instead further demoralizes them. We see this with Job’s friends. So today, I cover favor in the brokenness of life. There are two types of broken, we’re going to go over both. Because it is in our brokenness of life that we find it difficult to find God’s favor for our lives. When people become broken, they become immobilized and can’t act on God’s favor to experience life change. Further, when people become broken, they allow victimization to sink in and it just leads to shame about receiving favor to get out of it. And shame, like fear, is one more way we become even more psychologically broken. Characteristics of being broken the bad way: The reason I am describing these is to help you self-actualize. When you identify these things in your life, you will know how to find the favor of God when you experience it—that is the presence of God. 1. There is no hope in your heart – simply put, if wake up in the morning and you don’t know why you’re waking up in the morning and/or there is no reason for you to wake up in the morning. This is a lack of hope. Most people would say this is clinical depression, I just say, it’s a way to be broken. You know who experiences this the most, people who just lost somebody they loved, people who recently divorced or broke up with their significant others. I mean, even I had this for like half an hour the last time I was dumped. It happens and during that time it is hard to find the favor of God because all you see is the “happiness” you’ll never ever have again. I’m not minimizing the pain; I’m just rationalizing it for you. 2. Your life is unfulfilled and unhappy – What does this mean? It simply means that you are not going where you want to be going and you’re bored out of your mind. It breaks you because the mental tenacity to continue starts to die. It becomes not fun anymore. I said I wouldn’t joke about this because some people are sensitive about the issue, but you know you’re unfulfilled and unhappy when you start killing your physical body—yeah, you don’t take care of yourself. But you also know you’re unhappy and unfulfilled when you don’t feel the exhilaration of life. You may never have had felt the exhilaration of life, but it’s unfulfilling when your life looks like a broken record not going anywhere except on a circular track. A little confession here—yeah, I feel like this most days—I’m broken. 3. Fear enslaves you, driving your decisions – You know you’re broke when your decisions are driven by fear. Honestly, if you don’t get it by now, all of these are really closely related to each other because they’re all driven by the same part of the grey area in our brains. You are broken when you decide to do things based on what things give you the biggest fears. I would tell you to stop fearing, but we know you don’t fear me because I haven’t broken your legs yet. 4. Greed choke-holds your relationships – this was me a few years ago. Greed not only in the form of money, but in the form of experiences, titles, regalia, etc. This type of brokenness limits who you becomes friends with and often times the depth of those relationships. It also causes backstabbing, fleeing and inabilities to commit to people. Yes, I have all of the above. 5. Your goals are unclear – You broken if you don’t know what in the world you’re here for. ‘Nuff said. I think I said this the last 8 weeks. 6. You’re comfortable enough to just die – Here’s my favorite. You’re broken when you’re so comfortable with where you are in life, that if you die, you feel satisfied. Yeah, that’s the greatest form of brokenness and it describes most of America. If we’re so comfortable with ourselves, we will never do anything to fix a broken system and help a broken people. We are the broke and become the problem. In all of these things, there is no favor. I’ll tell you why, God is not present in any of those things. If you are spending your days in these categories, you have no marks of distinction. You look like everybody else in the world. There is no favor. The only time you should look like this is when you are sitting before the infinite chasm between mortality and eternal life. Like, if you don’t have Jesus, then this is where you are. If you have Jesus and this is where you are, you need to start taking an account of where you really are. It doesn’t make sense? Let me make it clear—I just described hell! Being broken in a bad way just means you’re living hell on earth. If you’re living hell on earth (aka the place where people gnash their teeth) then you don’t know Jesus. Or, and this is what I really hope, you’re too blinded to see or forget that you don’t have to be sitting in these areas of brokenness for your life because Jesus, in giving you salvation and miraculously and affectively changing your life, provides you with His favor to get out of this area of brokenness. However, let’s say you are here because of some unknown reason that I don’t feel like psychoanalyzing out of you right now, the question becomes, what does God do about it? Clearly God does something about it because Pastor Jonathan said there is favor in brokenness and he just described six really bad traits of being broke! Ezekiel 36. 22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. I want you to write this on the very bottom of your notes: God gives His favor to us when we’re broken the bad way for His glory. God gives you favor when you live in hell because He wants you to be in His presence. His favor in this type of brokenness is a new heart. If you weren’t sure why I made those six items part of the broke in the bad way category–they’re all forms or characteristics of idolatry. Idolatry breaks us in very bad ways. So we have to look at what happens when we’re broken the good way. The way God intended us to be broken as people. Ezekiel 37. Let’s read. 1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Here’s what I can tell you about people who are broken in a good way. Often times, these people look like people who would get stepped all over in life. In fact, these people are the very people who you judge as being too naively nice for their own good. But this type of broken, and you probably know this because a lot of you spent time here in this camp, are the very people we want to be as having godly characteristics. 1. You are filled with humility – you know your place in the world and sphere of life. 2. You are forgiving and understanding – that is you’re not controlling or have anger issues 3. Self aware of sins, faults and weaknesses – you know how you’re broken 4. You live open and honest – you are as transparent as possible 5. You give up God given rights for others – you’re self-sacrificial. 6. You are in the process of being healed – you are constantly in progress of becoming what God intended you to be. Here’s the key. When we are broken this way because often times we are trying to be this way as these are good characteristics of brokenness. We still are worthless if we don’t hear the word of the LORD. Favor is in the Word of the LORD. These things are great to be broken with, but if the Word of God is not in us, then we’re just dry bones in a valley. There is no life in this type of brokenness in the world; just the skeletons of people in shallow graves. When we are broken the good way and God breathes on us we are able to truly live in the favor of God. Our lives as Christians, in our brokenness, only come to fruition in our brokenness when God breathes on us. He breathes on us through His Word. We have favor in our brokenness. It doesn’t matter how close to death we are or even if we are dead and nothing but bones. “Favor” is given to us despite how broken we are. God pours His favor on you in your brokenness; you just need to hear it. Let’s pray.