7 Sermon Illustrations on Brokenness

God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to produce rain, broken grain to give bread and broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is the broken Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever. His Last Prayer Nicolaus Copernicus was a famed astronomer born in Poland on February 19, 1473. He was a mathematician whose accomplishments changed men's ideas of the universe. Also he was a well-known writer. Although highly educated in astronomical science, he was much more-he was a child of God who had learned to know and trust his Savior, Jesus Christ. When he was critically ill with his final illness, his book, On Resolutions of the Celestial Bodies, just off the press, was laid in his arms. At the close of his life, he did not think of himself as an astronomer or scientist, but as a sinner who needed the forgiveness of his Savior. He asked that the following epitaph be written on his gravestone: "Lord, I do not ask the kindness Thou didst show to Peter. I do not dare ask the grace Thou didst grant to Paul; but, Lord, the mercy Thou didst show to the dying robber, that mercy show to me. That earnestly I pray."

A bruised reed is an expressive emblem of the soul, broken and contrite on account of sin, weeping and mourning for transgression. Christ will not break it; that is, he will not be haughty, unforgiving, and cruel; he will heal it, pardon it, and give it strength. A. Barnes.

It is the broken rock that sends forth streams of living water through the wilderness. It is the broken ground that opens its bosom for the reception of the incorruptible seed which springs up, and which brings forth fruit abundantly. It is the broken cloud that discharges itself in showers that usher in the spring, and cheer the thirsty ground. It is the broken alabaster wherewith the poor penitent anoints the feet of the Saviour, and which fills the whole house with the odor of the precious spikenard. It is the broken body, which the nails of the cross, and the spear of a mortal enemy, have pierced, that furnishes the blood that cleanses the soul from all sin. It is the broken veil that opens into the holiest of all, and gives to the believing soul bright glimpses into the glory that is yet to be revealed. It is the broken grave that announces the reality of the resurrection, and proclaims to the unbelieving disciple that the Saviour is risen indeed. It is the broken corn that is separated from the chaff, and laid up in the garner of the husbandman, or changed into the bread of life. And it is the broken berries which the millstones of the olive-press have crushed, that give forth the precious oil which fills the dark tabernacle with the radiance of a clear and tranquillizing light. Dr. J. Hamilton.

At a certain town meeting, the question came up whether any person should be licensed to sell rum. The clergyman, the deacon, and physician, strange as it may now appear, all favored. One man spoke against, because of the mischief it did. The question was about to be put, when all at once there arose from one corner of the room, a miserable female. She was thinly clad, and her appearance indicated the utmost wretchedness, and that her mortal career was almost closed. After a moment of silence, and all eyes being fixed upon her, she stretched her attenuated body to its utmost height, and then her long arms to their greatest length, and raising her voice to a shrill pitch, she called upon all to look upon her. "Yes!" she said, "look upon me, and then hear me. All that the last speaker has said relative to temperate drinking, as being the father of drunkenness, is true. All practice, all experience, declares its truth. All drinking of alcoholic poison, as a beverage in health, is excess. Look upon me. You all know me, or once did. You all know I was once the mistress of the best farm in the town. You all know, too, I had one of the best—the most devoted of husbands. You all know I had fine, noble-hearted, industrious boys. Where are they now? Doctor, where are they now?—You all know. You all know they lie in a row, side by side in yonder church-yard; all—every one of them filling the drunkard's grave! They were all taught to believe that temperate drinking was safe,—excess alone ought to be avoided; and they never acknowledged excess. They quoted you, and you, and you," pointing with her shred of a finger to the priest, deacon and doctor, as authority. "They thought themselves safe under such tender teachers. But I saw the gradual change coming over my family and prospects, with dismay and horror; I felt we were all to be overwhelmed in one common ruin; I tried to ward off the blow; I tried to break the spell, the delusive spell—in which the idea of the benefits of temperate drinking had involved my husband and sons; I begged, I prayed; but the odds were greatly against me.

"The priest said the poison that was destroying my husband and boys was a good creature of God; the deacon (who sits under the pulpit there, and took our farm to pay his rum bills,) sold them the poison; the physician said that a little was good, and excess ought to be avoided. My poor husband and my dear boys fell into the snare, and they could not escape, (there were no Washingtonians then,) and one after another was conveyed to the dishonored grave of the drunkard. Now look at me again, you probably see me for the last time—my sand has almost run. I have dragged my exhausted frame from my present abode—your poor-house—to warn you all—to warn you, deacon!—to warn you, false teacher of God's word;" and with her arms high flung, and her tall form stretched to its utmost, and her voice raised to an unearthly pitch, she exclaimed—"I shall soon stand before the judgment seat of God—I shall meet you there, you false guides, and be a witness against you all." The miserable female vanished—a dead silence pervaded the assembly—the priest, deacon and physician hung their heads—the President of the meeting put the question—Shall we have any more licenses to sell alcoholic poisons, to be sold as beverage? The response was unanimous, No!