Joyce Meyer - Blessed, Broken and Given (08/21/2019)
In the sermon "Blessed, Broken, and Given," based on Matthew 26:26 where Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it, the preacher shows that God blesses us to make us a blessing to others—but real usefulness comes only through brokenness, crucifying our flesh so Christ's love flows through us as stewards, not owners, being shaped into His image like clay in the Potter's hands.
A Powerful Story of Walking in Love
I'm going to start by reading you a story. The title of the message today might sound a little odd to you. It's called Blessed, Broken, and Given. I'm going to explain that in just a minute. But let me start with this story. It's one of my favorite stories about walking in love.
A little boy about 10 years old was standing in front of a shoe store, and he was barefoot. He was peering through the window and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, Little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in the window? And he said, Well, ma'am, I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes.
The lady took the little boy by the hand, went into the store, asked the clerk to get her half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked for a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store, removed her gloves, knelt down, and washed his feet and dried them with a towel.
By the time the clerk had returned with the socks, she placed a pair on his feet and then brought him also a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head, and as she turned to go, she said, No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now.
Now, the astonished lad caught the lady by the hand, and looking up in her face with tears in his eyes, he asked her this question, Ma'am, are you God's wife? He assumed if she was showing him that kind of love that she must at least be related to God. And so I think we get the point.
The Communion Scripture That Reveals the Pattern
Now, Matthew 26:26 is a scripture that we're familiar with because of its teaching on communion. And it simply says that Jesus took the bread, he blessed it, he broke it, and he gave it to them. He blessed it, he broke it, and he gave it to them.
And from this, God has put a teaching in my heart that he wants to bless us. We know that. The Bible tells us over and over that God wants to bless us. I know that he wants to give us as a blessing to the world because he told Abraham, I will bless you, and I will make you a blessing.
But that can't happen without the brokenness that the Bible teaches us about. Now, this is a word that can be frightening to people because we don't want to think about any breaking in our life or even the thought that God would work in our lives to bring brokenness to us.
So let me explain to you what I mean. It's not a bad thing at all. We all have good things in us if we're born again. I've been saying that all weekend because I want you to know that you have what it takes to walk in love.
Love Is Already in You – But It Needs to Flow
You don't even really have to pray for love. If you have Christ, you have love living on the inside of you. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. You don't have to pray for love. We need to pray to walk in love.
And we need to pray, if you're bold enough, for God to do whatever He needs to do in our lives, whatever is in my flesh that's standing in His way, any disobedience, any stubbornness, any pride, anything that's standing in my way, that God will deal with that in such a way that it no longer hinders me or Him, and He can do what He wants to in my life.
Don't just pray for God to bless you. Pray for God to use you. I'm going to go talk to these people over here. You're not very excited. Maybe I'll just talk to the people up in the balcony so they don't feel ignored.
Don't just pray for God to bless you and fix all your problems. Pray for God to use you. I even pray this sometimes. God, I don't care if you have to tie me to the altar. Do not let me get away until you accomplish in me what you want to accomplish. Amen?
The Process: Blessed → Broken → Given
Being used by God sounds like a lot of fun, but there is a work that has to take place in us in order for that to happen. Let me explain. You are a spirit. You have a soul. You live in a body. We're a tripart being.
When we're born again, the Holy Spirit comes and lives in our spirit, brings the fruit of the spirit, the love of God is in there. You're going to see in a little bit that the whole nature of God comes to live in us in seed form when we're born again.
Well, God wants what's in us to mature and grow up and work through us so other people can see Christ through us. That's our goal, for people to see Jesus through us. Okay?
But we have something that the Bible calls the flesh, which is our soul and our body. It's a combination of your soul and your body. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions.
Crucifying the Flesh So Christ Can Shine Through
So just to keep this as simple as I can, in order for the good stuff in me to get out here where people can enjoy it and use it and I can be a witness to other people, there has to come a crucifixion of the flesh or a brokenness in my life where my life is no longer all about me but I have become pliable and moldable in the hands of God.
That no matter what direction I'm going in, if God touches me to do something else, I'm willing to lay aside my plan and do what He wants. Where I know that everything I have has been given to me by God and I don't cling to my possessions, but if there's something that I have that somebody else needs, then I'm willing to let go of that and use it in God's service.
We're not owners, we're stewards. Did you hear me? We are not owners. The Bible never tells us we're owners. We are stewards of God. He's trusting us with His possessions, with His power, with His name. We're His witnesses and we have to get it through our heads that although God wants us to enjoy our life and He arranges us for that, we are not here on this planet just for us. Amen?
And especially in the times that we're living in now, my goodness, the world needs help. And it's fine for us to pray for God to do something and for revival to come, but we all have to do our part. God works in partnership with His people.
Being Molded Into Christ's Image
And more than ever, we need to let the light shine. And the only way that I know how to do that is to put on the armor of light, which is love. That's what the Bible calls love, the armor of light. We need to be a light in dark places.
In Romans chapter 8, verse 29, the Bible talks about this being molded into the image of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:29. For those whom He foreknew, of whom He was aware and loved beforehand, He also destined from the beginning for ordaining them to be molded into the image of His Son and to share inwardly His likeness.
Now, you know, people have all kinds of ideas and thoughts about predestination and, you know, preordination and things like that. And, you know, I'll just tell you what I feel like it means. When you see a scripture that says we are preordained or God is predestined, I think that what that means is that's what God's decided. He's made arrangements for that for anybody who will walk in it.
But when we have a promise from God, it's never something that is a for certain going to happen without somebody on the other end doing their part. You know, God has promised us many wonderful things, but I do have to believe them. I have to put my faith in Him. And until I put my faith in Him, then those things are not released in my life.
Cooperating With God's Shaping Process
Now, we know that God is sovereign and He can go beyond all the normal regulations of how things work. But I'm just telling you that when God says that we are foreordained or He has predestined or predetermined that we should be molded into the image of His Son, that doesn't mean that I'm just going to grow up and be spiritually immature while I sit around and do nothing. Amen?
That means I'm going to have to cooperate. I'm going to have to be willing to say no to self. I'm going to have to be willing to let the things go in my life that are hindering the work of God or hindering my witness. I'm going to have to say, God, You do whatever You want to do in my life.
Now, let me give you a little example. The Bible teaches us that He's the potter and we're the clay. I want us to look at two scriptures, Isaiah 64:8. Yet, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You are our potter, and we are the work of Your hands. Everybody say, I'm clay. I'm clay. And God is the potter. God is the potter.
The Potter Remakes the Spoiled Vessel
Now, Jeremiah, chapter 18, the first four verses. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words. He was about to give him an object lesson, just like I'm about to give you.
So then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was working at the wheel. And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hands of the potter, so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make.
So we might say that God had an original plan for his people. When he put Adam and Eve in that garden, he had a plan for blessing and fruitfulness and no pain and no sickness, no disease, no sin, but as usual, man messed it up. Has anybody noticed that we are experts at messing things up? Thank God for his redeeming power. Amen.
And so you might say that the original intention that the potter had got spoiled. But now he takes it and through Christ, the Bible says, we are recreated in Christ. So we get a whole new second chance, a fresh start to start all over, and God will take that spoiled vessel, that one that did not turn out to be what he wanted it to be, and he will refashion it, reform it into what he wants it to be if we won't let that happen.
Letting Go So We Can Look Like Jesus
So, let's just say that we are this clay right here. Just, here we are right here. Blob. Okay. Now, pitiful example, but we're going to use this to say, and we're going to say this is Jesus, which of course we know it's not, but just, it's the best thing I could come up with here in Grand Rapids this morning. We sent somebody shopping for this, thank you.
So, here's me. Here's Jesus. He said, I want you to be molded into my image. So that means that what I am is going to have to be pressed into Jesus. Now, here's the problem. There's more of me than fits in there. Uh-oh. Guess that's going to have to go. Oh, now I guess this has to go. Oh, now there's more. I don't want to give that up. Can I just keep that? That has to go.
And then pretty soon we end up looking like Jesus. Amen. Amen. Molded into His image. Everybody starts out stubborn. No matter how saved you are, day one you're stubborn. Prideful, haughty, we think we know more than what we do, we want to tell everybody else how to live their life. We're judgmental, we're critical.
Depending on what your background has been, you may be manipulative, controlling, you may even try to control God. I had a lot of suggestions for God in the beginning. I would ask Him to meet my need and then give Him three options on how He could do it. Come on, how many of you know what I'm talking about?
From Demanding to Surrendered
And let's just say that however long it takes us to get it through our thick heads, that does not work. God is not like a little spiritual Santa Claus that sits up in heaven just waiting for our demands to show up. God wants to do things for us. You can ask God for anything that you want to ask Him for and trust Him that if it's right He'll give it to you but that's not all He wants to hear.
We want to go deeper. We want to come to a place where we say, God, I want to be what You want me to be. I want You to use me. I want to represent You well. Do, I dare you to pray this, do what You have to do in my life to get me to the place where You want me to be so I can be a benefit to You and to Your kingdom while I'm here in the earth. I double dare you to pray that. And then you better buckle your seatbelt and watch out.
Brokenness Is Beautiful When You Understand It
Let me give you an example of how brokenness works. And I personally love the word. I think it's an amazing word because I understand it. It doesn't frighten me. It's just, it's beautiful. It's wonderful.
Remember, if you want to share His glory, you have to be willing to share His suffering according to Romans 8. So, if you want to be everything God wants you to be, don't be foolish enough to think that that can just happen because somebody waves their holy little hand over you and prays a blessing. You're going to need to go through some stuff.
So, we're changed through the word of God. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that as you study the word and look into the word of God, you are changed into His image from glory to glory to glory. But it's also very clear in the word of God that God also uses circumstances to change us and to do a work in us.
The Hardest Times Often Bring the Greatest Growth
Most of you would testify this morning that some of the most, the hardest things that you have ever gone through in your life, if you look back now, those were some of the greatest blessings to you really because that's when you grew up in God, that's when you got to know God better, that's when His character was formed in you.
And I'm sure that God would love to be able to change us without all of that, but we just don't seem to get it any other way. You know, I would have loved to have raised my four children and had them just do everything that I told them to do with my words. I always gave them my word before I touched their circumstances.
But you also know if you are a loving parent and your children are not listening to your words, you will touch their circumstances. Amen? And you don't do it out of being mean or trying to hurt them. Matter of fact, when I had to punish my kids or take something away from them that they wanted, it hurt me worse than it hurt them.
God doesn't like watching us go through things. But I'll just give you one example and you'll understand this. I'm not going to spend a long time on this.
Personal Testimony: When I Realized I Was the Problem
I had a pretty... I was pretty hard to get along with and harsh. There's just a lot of things I just didn't understand. You know, I had just been mistreated and so I just thought, well, just be hard-nosed and don't let anybody get in and don't let anybody push you around. Don't let anybody run all over you.
And I didn't even really know I had a problem. That's the thing that's scary. We can be so ultimately messed up and not even know it. We always think it's somebody else. And I was sure if Dave would change, I'd be happy. I mean, I just was convinced if Dave would just change. And I prayed diligently for Dave to change.
And then one day when I was praying, God spoke to me so strongly, He said, Dave is not the problem. And I thought, well, who is? There's only me and him. You know. What do you mean Dave is not the problem? Of course Dave is the problem. How many of you ladies know what I'm talking about?
And it was devastating to me, to my pride, when I found out I was the problem. Three days. But we cannot change and grow and be molded in the image of God until we start taking responsibility for us and stop blaming everything, all of our bad behavior on somebody else or some circumstance in our life from the past.
No More Excuses – Jesus Can Remold Any Vessel
I behaved badly because I was abused. I behaved badly because of this, because, because, because. And some of those things were reasons, but we can't use them as an excuse to stay that way.
No matter how deep of a pit you've been in in your life, Jesus will reach down in it and get you out and set your feet on solid ground. No matter how much your vessel has been marred by the world, the potter will take you in his hands and he will remold you, refashion you, and turn you into a vessel fit for his use.
So one of the things that happened to me, and there was more than one, but I worked for somebody for a number of years who was very hard to get along with, rather manipulative and controlling, harsh, not appreciative, had issues with pride, and I got hurt so bad in that situation that through that, I learned how my behavior was affecting other people.
And you know, a lot of times, we just don't know how we're affecting other people unless we get some of what we're dishing out. Hmm, you're not as happy about that as I'd like you to be. Well, bless God, they're just not treating me right.
Stay Where God Has Placed You Until He Moves You
Don't run away from places where God has you just because you're uncomfortable. You only go when God says go because sometimes the staying there, and by the way, the word humility means to stay under. When the Bible says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, if you look up the word humility, it means to stay under something.
You humble yourself to stay where God has put you until God releases you. We don't go when we want to go. We stay until God says go. Amen?
Oh yeah, this may take a while, but that's alright. Well, bless God, if you think I'm going to be treated that way, you've got another thing coming, I'm out of here. Who needs you? You know, people change churches today like they change their socks and underwear. It's like...
And why? Because, man, if anybody says anything that they don't like, I'm out of here, I'll just go to another church. Well, yeah, and you'll take the same you with you to the next place.
There was a man who was marooned on an island for a number of years. And when they finally found him, he had built three huts. And they said, well, what are these? And he said, well, this one's my home, this one's my church, and this is a church I used to go to.
He left the church because he couldn't even get along with himself, and he was the only one there. And that's usually the problem, you know?
Look, can I tell you something honestly and truly, and I know this. Our unhappiness comes from within us. And our happiness comes from within us. You can be in a very difficult circumstance, and if you have a good relationship with God, and you're happy with you, and you know you're loved, and you know you're right with God, the strength and the grace will come to you and be there for you to go through that situation and go through it with joy.