04.05. Elements Of Brokenness
Elements Of Brokenness But that brings us to the basic question, “What is meant by true brokenness? How does it manifest itself in a believer’s life? What are some of its basic elements?”
1. Repentance, Confession, Apology
Perhaps one of the first things we think of is a readiness to confess sin to God and to those we have wronged. The broken man is quick to repent. He does not try to sweep sin under the carpet. He does not try to forget it with the excuse, “Time heals all things.” He rushes into the presence of God and cries, “I have sinned.” Then he goes to whoever has been hurt by his actions and says, “I was wrong. I am sorry. I want you to forgive me.” If on the one hand he knows the scalding shame of having to apologize, on the other he knows the great release of having a clear conscience and of walking in the light.
True confession does not gloss over sin or blunt its reality. It is not like the unbroken matron who said with hauteur, “If I have done anything wrong, I am willing to be forgiven.” Genuine repentance says, “I have done wrong and I’m here to say that I’m sorry.”
David’s life was clouded by sin and failure, but the thing that endeared him to God’s heart was his deep penitence. In Psalms 32:1-11; Psalms 51:1-19 we retrace with him his transgressions, sin and iniquity. We watch him during the time when he refused to repent; life then was physical, mental and spiritual misery. Nothing went right. It seemed that everything was out of joint. Finally he broke. He confessed and God forgave. Then the bells began to ring again and David recovered his song. In the New Testament, Paul gives us an illustration of brokenness. It was at the time he appeared before the chief priests and Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. When he prefaced his remarks with a statement that he had always lived in good conscience, the high priest was infuriated and ordered that the prisoner be slapped on the mouth. The apostle snapped back, “God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” (Acts 23:3). The attendants were shocked by Paul’s scathing rebuke. Didn’t he know that he was speaking to the high priest? Actually the apostle did not know. Maybe Ananias was not wearing his official robes or occupying his usual seat. Or perhaps it was Paul’s weak eyesight again. Whatever the reason, he had not intentionally spoken evil of the duly constituted ruler. So he quickly apologized for his words, quoting Exodus 22:28, “You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.” The apostle had a low breaking point. He demonstrated his spiritual maturity by his readiness to say, “I was wrong. I am sorry.”
2. Restitution
Closely connected with this first aspect of brokenness is prompt restitution, wherever it is called for. If I have stolen, damaged or injured something, or if someone else has suffered loss because of my misbehavior, it is not enough to apologize. Justice demands that the loss be repaid. This applies to what happened before my conversion as well as to what happens afterwards.
After Zacchaeus had received the Lord Jesus, he remembered some of the crooked deals he had pulled as a tax-collector. It was a divine instinct that taught him immediately that these wrongs must be made right. So he said to the Lord, “…if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” Here the “if” does not express any doubt or indecision. The idea is “in every case where I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” His determination to make restitution was a fruit of his conversion. The “fourfold” was a gauge of the vitality of his new life.
There are cases where it is impossible to make restitution. Perhaps records have been destroyed, or exacts amounts have been forgotten with the passing of time. God knows all about this. All He wants is that we pay back what we owe in every case where we can. And this should always be done in the Name of the Lord Jesus. There is no glory for God in it if I just say, “I stole this. I am sorry. Now I want to pay you back.” The action should be linked with a testimony for Christ, such as, “I have recently become a Christian through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has been speaking to me about some tools I stole from you five years ago. I have come to apologize and to return the tools.” Every act of righteousness or kindness which a Christian does should be combined with a witness for the Savior so that He and not self gets the glory.
3. A Forgiving Spirit A third element of brokenness is the willingness to forgive when we have been wronged. In many cases this takes as much grace as apologizing or making restitution.
Actually the New Testament is surprisingly explicit in laying down instructions for us in this manner of forgiving others.
First of all, whenever we have been wronged, we should immediately forgive the person in our hearts (Ephesians 4:32). We do not go to him yet and tell him he is forgiven, but in our hearts we have actually forgiven him. The moment a man wrongs me, I must forgive him. Then my soul is free. If I hold the wrong against him, I sin against God, and against him and jeopardize my forgiveness with God. Whether the man repents, makes amends, asks my pardon or not, makes no difference. I have instantly forgiven him. He must face God with the wrong he has done, but that is his affair and God’s and not mine, save that I should help him according to Matthew 18:15, etc. But whether this succeeds or not and before this even begins, I must forgive him (Lenski).
There are multitudes of little wrongs that can be forgiven and forgotten immediately. It is real victory when we can do it. “Love…does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people” (1 Corinthians 13:7, J. B. Phillips). A Christian lady was once asked, “Don’t you remember the mean thing that that catty woman said to you?” Her reply was, “I not only don’t remember; I distinctly remember forgetting.”
If the wrong is of a more serious nature and you do not feel it would be righteous to let it pass, then the next step is to go to the offender and speak to him about it (Matthew 18:15). If he repents, then you must forgive him. “And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times, and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him” (Luke 17:4). It is only right that we should be willing to forgive indefinitely. After all, we have been and are forgiven times without number.
Notice that you are not to go and tell everyone else about the offender’s fault (that is what we almost invariably do). “Go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” The obvious strategy is to keep these differences as confined as possible. As soon as the offending brother confesses his sin, you tell him that he is forgiven. You have already forgiven him in your heart, but now you can administer forgiveness to him. But suppose he refuses to repent. Then in accordance with Matthew 18:16, you “take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”
If he refuses to listen to the two or three witnesses, then the matter should be taken to the local fellowship of Christians. The purpose in all this is not vindictiveness or punishment, but the restoration of the offending brother.
If this final effort fails, he is to be looked upon as a Gentile and a tax-collector. In other words, you no longer treat him as one who is in fellowship in the local church. Since he is not acting like a Christian, you accept him on his own ground. You count him as an unbeliever. But as soon as he repents, then you forgive him and full fellowship is restored.
God hates an unforgiving spirit, the determination to carry grudges to the grave, the unwillingness to let bygones be bygones. This is brought out forcefully in the parable of the debtor servant (Matthew 18:23-25). When he himself was bankrupt, he had been forgiven by the king a million dollars. But then he was unwilling to forgive a fellow servant a few dollars. The lesson is clear. Since God forgave us when we were in debt over our heads, we should be willing to forgive others who owe us trifles.
4. Enduring Wrong Without Retaliating But there are other aspects of brokenness. One is the humble spirit that suffers for doing right and does not retaliate. Here, of course, our Lord is the prime Example. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23).We have all been called to this type of life. For one is approved, if mindful of God, he endures pain while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it, if when you do wrong and are beaten for it you take it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, you have God’s approval (1 Peter 2:19-20). In his book, From Grace to Glory,1 Murdoch Campbell reminds us that John Wesley had a wife who made his life a trial of fire. For hours she would literally drag him around the room by his hair. And the founder of Methodism never uttered a harsh word to her.
Campbell also tells of “a godly Highland minister who was married to a similar woman. He sat one day in his room reading his Bible. The door opened and his wife entered. Her hand snatched the Book from him and threw it into the fire. He looked into her face and quietly made the remark, ‘I never sat at a warmer fire.’ It was an answer that turned away her wrath and marked the beginning of a new and gracious life. His Jezebel became a Lydia. The thorn became a lily.” A great saint of God has said, “It is the mark of deepest and truest humility to see ourselves condemned without cause and to be silent under it. To be silent under insult and wrong is a very noble imitation of our Lord. ‘Oh, my Lord, when I remember in how many ways Thou didst suffer, who in no way deserved it, I know not where my senses are when I am in such haste to defend and excuse myself. Is it possible I should desire anyone to speak any good of me or to think it, when so many ill things were thought and spoken of Thee?’” ( Living Patiently, J. Allen Blair, pp. 353, 4).
5. Repaying Evil With Good An additional advance in the life of brokenness is not only to bear wrong patiently but to reward every wrong with a kindness.
Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. “…if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:17; Romans 12:20-21).
Here I am always reminded of the elephant that was being driven down an Indian street by its owner. The man was carrying a sharp-pointed steel goad to keep the lumbering beast moving along. Then the owner lost his grip on the goad and it fell to the ground with a resounding clang. The long-suffering elephant turned around, picked up the goad with its trunk, and held it out to the master. If elephants could be Christians, that elephant certainly was one.
6. Honoring Others Above Self And then there is the brand of brokenness that esteems others better than one’s self (Php 2:3). We see it illustrated in an incident from Abram’s life (Genesis 13:1-13). He and Lot had come up from Egypt to the Negeb and then to Bethel with their families and possessions. Both men had extensive flocks and herds, and soon a quarrel developed between their hired hands over pasture land. It was at this point that Abram stepped in and said, in effect, “Look, Lot, we are not going to part company over a few bales of hay. You take whatever pasturage you want, and I’ll take my animals somewhere else.” So Lot chose the lush pasture lands in the valley of the Jordan—ominously close to Sodom. Big-hearted Abram moved farther into Canaan. And so an Old Testament saint, living on the other side of Pentecost, gave us a practical demonstration of what Paul meant when he said:
Love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10).
7. Prompt Obedience But this is not all. God wants us to be broken in accepting and obeying His will. The psalmist puts it concisely: Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not keep with you (Psalms 32:9). The tendency for a spirited horse is to jump the gun, whereas the mule symbolizes stubbornness and intransigence. So we have the two dangers in connection with the will of God. It is possible to move on without clear direction, to run without being sent. And then again it is possible to willfully resist the clear guidance of the Lord.
Jonah, for example. There was no question as to what God wanted him to do. He was called to go and preach repentance to Nineveh. But he was not broken as yet. So he boarded a ship going in the opposite direction. Only after his nightmarish experience in the whale’s belly was his will bent to obey. Then he went forth to prove that God’s will is, after all, good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).We get a surprising picture of brokenness in the colt which Jesus rode into Jerusalem (Luke 19:29-35). Up to that time no man had ever ridden on that animal, and it could have been expected to vigorously resist any attempt to mount it. But when the Savior approached, it experienced a miracle of instant brokenness. The will of the colt became completely submissive to the will of its Creator.
It might be mixing metaphors to introduce clay in a discussion on brokenness, but the clay in the hands of a potter is an apt description of what a broken person is in the Lord’s hands—pliable and responsive to the pressure of His fingers. And so the daily prayer of the submissive saint is: Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter; I am the clay.
Mould me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still. Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, As in Thy presence humbly I bow. Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power—all power—surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine! Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me!
8. Death To Public Opinion
There are many other aspects of brokenness. For instance, we need to be brought to the place where we are dead to the world’s applause or frowns. After W. P. Nicholson was saved, he came under the tutelage of a Salvation Army officer. One day the officer said to him, “If you mean business for God, wear this sign-board for a few hours in the center of town.” On the board were lettered the words “DEAD TO PUBLIC OPINION.” This experience had a profound effect on all Nicholson’s life of fearless service for Christ.
9. Confessing Others’ Sins As Our Own
We need to be so broken that we will confess the sins of God’s people as our own. This is what Daniel did (Daniel 9:3-19). He was not personally guilty of most of the sins he catalogued. But he identified himself so closely with the nation of Israel that their sins became his sin. In this he reminds us, of course, of the One who “took our sins and our sorrows and made them His very own.” And the lesson for us is that instead of criticizing other believers and pointing the accusing finger, we should confess their sins as if they were our own.
10. Keeping One’s Cool In The Crises A final aspect of brokenness involves poise and equanimity in the crises of life. When an unavoidable delay occurs, the natural reaction is to fuss and fume. Interruptions to the regular routine often provoke annoyance and fretfulness. Mechanical breakdowns and accidents—how easily they upset us and even cause tempers to flare. Schedule changes and disappointments have a way of bringing out the worst that is in us. The frenzy, the ruffled feathers, the anger and the hysteria that all these things arouse are ruinous to the Christian testimony, to say the least. The way of brokenness is to keep one’s cool during these crises, knowing that God is overruling all the circumstances of life for His purposes. The flat tire may be a blessing in disguise, saving you from a crash farther down the expressway. The unexpected visitor who interrupts your service for the Lord may actually present a more important ministry that what you are doing. The accident, with all its suffering, inconvenience and expense, may bring you in touch with people who have been prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive the gospel. In all these circumstances, the Lord desires to see us react instantly with calmness instead of impatience, with brokenness instead of rebellion.
These then are a few examples of what is meant by brokenness. The list is suggestive but certainly not exhaustive. As we walk in fellowship with the Lord, He will show us areas in our individual lives where we need to be broken at the foot of the Cross. And with each such revelation He will give the needed grace. For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Php 2:13).