Walking with God: Lessons from a Pastor's Heart - Chapter 2: Broken | Pastor Pablo Morales

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. When I prepare this series

of studies, I imagine us, you know, sitting across

each other with a cup of coffee and in a time

that is much more like celebration, conversation,

reflection. And in this study today, what I want

you to get from this reflection is do not lose

heart. And what do I mean by this? Part of walking

with the Lord, whether it is before you became

a Christian or after you became a follower of

Jesus, in that journey of following the Lord,

we have to come to terms with the reality of

brokenness. And if we do not come to terms with

the brokenness and what that entails, we will

lose heart. And I want to make sure that we do

not lose heart. Let me show you this picture,

for instance. Look at it for a second. Which

one of those would you say is you? Interesting,

isn't it? So I'm not going to ask you to tell

me the answer. You just keep it for you. But

as we are walking with the Lord, we forget that

we are broken. And that all of us are broken.

The way I think of it as I put these pictures

together was that when I came to know Christ,

it was the justification. God accepts us, makes

us whole in Him. Now I'm in Christ. But then

he gives me the Holy Spirit and he starts a healing

journey of sanctification. And now starts healing

different parts of our lives. But then the promise

of being made whole is the glorification. That

is going to happen one day. But as you start

following Christ, you realize more and more.

The more you know the Lord, the more you know

yourself. Almost like going backwards. It's like,

oh, I have cracks in my life. And then to actually,

Lord, I'm broken. Unless you are the one that

sustains me until the end, I cannot stop depending

on his power and his grace at every stage of

the journey. But when we forget we are broken,

we start losing heart. And there's a beautiful

picture of brokenness that God uses to describe

this reality without describing us directly,

but describing himself. And that's in the book

of Psalms. It says in the book of Psalms, will

you read this with me? He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds. God describes himself

as one who wants to heal. The broken hearted.

Who wants to bandage. The wounds of the one who

is wounded. God wants. To take place in our lives.

In these spaces of brokenness. But even though

this is a beautiful picture of who God is. It

has an implication. It means that we are broken.

And that we are. Wounded. And that reality. It's

something that not everybody engages with in

the same way. And I want to take you through

this study. Three aspects of brokenness that

we need to understand as we are following Jesus

so that we will not lose heart. Because if we

miss the point in each one of these three areas,

most likely you will lose heart, get into a place

of faith crisis and discouragement in your work

with God. And it doesn't have to be. The first

one is the realization that the human heart is

broken. When you look inside of who you are,

you will find brokenness. That is if you are

honest with yourself. In the scriptures, I love

how the prophet Jeremiah puts this because he

nails it. He says, look, the heart is deceitful

above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand

it? Have you ever done something that you regret

later? Or done something you knew was wrong and

you did it anyway and then you feel bad that

you did it? The heart is deceitful above all

things. Beyond cure. Who can understand it? He

wrote this before Jesus came into the picture.

Now we know the cure. Jesus. But then God says,

look, I, the Lord, search the heart and examine

the mind to word each person according to their

conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.

God is interested in your heart, in your mind,

in your inner world, not in the external. And

often when we forget the brokenness inside, we

try to emphasize the external. And we can become

legalistic. It's all about checking the boxes.

But we never pay attention to what is going on

inside. And that is where God wants us to focus

on. What is going on inside at your heart level,

at your mind level? What are you wrestling with

in that space? Because that is the area that

God wants to heal. But not everybody will accept

it. Some people will completely deny it. And

in this trip to England with our apologetics

class, Crossroads, we started that program because

we wanted to equip Christians to learn how to

think critically about contemporary issues of

worldview so that we can engage intelligently

in conversations and guide people to truth. So

that we can love compassionately. So think critically,

engage intelligently, and love compassionately.

That was the desire that drove us to start the

School of Apologetics. And as part of the completion

of the first year of the whole program, we took

a group of people from ECB. to England, to London,

and to Oxford, to be able to engage with some

of these things, biblical archaeology. And we

were able to also engage with the origins of

Darwinian evolution thought. And we were able

to also engage with some of the most influential

apologists of the 20th century, C .S. Lewis.

And as part of that trip, It meant that we wanted

to also understand these two people, who they

were, where they came from, what was their journey.

And a picture emerged from that. I know that

some of you wanted to go to the trip with us.

You didn't get the visa or the flight cost went

too high after the war with Iran and the U .S.

And all the stuff like, oh, I cannot go anymore.

So I promised that I was going to show you pictures.

So today, you will see pictures. You can also

check Instagram. Roshanak has posted videos of

the experience there as well. But we went to

these two places. We went to Charles Darwin's

home, and we went to C .S. Lewis' home, and we

learned more and more about their lives. And

one of the things that we were reflecting...

was the contrast between the two. One started

his life identifying himself as a Christian and

then abandoned the faith completely. And then

the other started his life and identified himself

as an atheist, and then he embraced the faith

completely. It was like the opposite journey

of these two influential thinkers, even until

today. And what we have is that we have their

own words because they have written books about

their own journey. And we get to see what was

the thinking about this area of their lives.

And one of the things you realize is that one

denies his brokenness and the brokenness of the

world. The other one accepts it and recognizes

it. And a very different outcome. This is Charles

Darwin's home. This is where he lived after he

got married. This is where he had his family.

All the research that he did after his marriage,

after he got married, was done in this place.

He had received a big inheritance from his family,

so he didn't have to work like a normal job hour,

so that allowed him to do lots of research as

a naturalist. Huge place, beautiful place. You

can go inside the house that is now a museum,

and you cannot take pictures inside the house

except for his bedroom where he actually died.

And it's a big property, huge place. You can

walk in the meadows. You can see some of the

plants and things he had, the experiments that

he did with the worms. and all the things that

he did. His most famous book that was a bestseller

was a book that researched how worms affect the

process of the ground. Very interesting. But

as Charles Darwin was growing up, his mother

died when he was young. His father was in the

medical field. And his father was not a believer.

In Christ. But he grew up going to church. He

grew up believing. And it was until he was 22

years old. That he took this trip on this boat.

This ship that took him all the way around the

world. And that trip is going to be the one trip

that starts marking the difference in his journey

from faith. away from the faith. In fact, before

22, once he took that trip, he was actually studying

in Cambridge and his plan was to be a clergy.

He wanted to serve God in ministry in the Church

of England. So imagine somebody that is in his

20s going to seminary and says, I want to be

a pastor one day. And at 22, hey, I'm going to

take this trip. Pray for me. It's going to take

a few years. And then he comes back. And now

he is doubting the faith. We actually got to

also see in London the Museum of Natural History.

And right there, they removed the statue of the

founder of that museum who was a Christian, who

wanted to... created this beautiful building

as a cathedral architecture to display the beauty

of God's creation so that all the displays of

nature will point to God. And even though that

was the intent of that place, today it has become

a temple for Darwinian evolution. And in fact,

right there in the center you see the statue

of Darwin. And it's a whole place of indoctrination.

about Darwinian evolution from the very beginning.

We'll talk about that in another study later.

But Darwin tells us a little bit about his journey

and how he came to that place of denial. At the

beginning, when he's 22 years old and he goes

into this trip, he puts it this way. He was on

board of the Beagle, and it was quite orthodox.

And I remember being hardly laughed at by several

of the officers for quoting the Bible as an unanswerable

authority. It's like he believed in the Bible,

he believed in the authority of the Bible, he

had been studying it, and he would quote it to

his friends right there on the ship. And he would

get laughed at, even though there were also people

that were supposed to be religious. But the captain

of the ship gave him a book. written by a geologist

who did not believe in the Bible and he wanted

to do one thing. He wanted to remove Moses from

geology. That was his goal. In other words, he

wanted to stop studying geology with the assumptions

that the Bible was true and that there had been

a catastrophic event in the past with a global

flood and all of these things. For him, none

of that made any sense. He wanted to study geology

without the assumption that the Bible was true.

And he wrote this book, and this is the book

at 22 years old that Darwin gets from the captain

of the ship, and he starts reading it. And that

book, with that worldview of the Bible not being

true, It's a book that started influencing his

perspective. He's surrounded for three years

by all of these people that are antagonistic

towards the faith, who believe the Bible is not

true. He's reading a book from a scholar that

says the Bible is not true. And you have to interpret

the scripture and geology without the Bible.

So in this journey, he comes back. And now his

faith is completely in crisis. And he explained,

I had gradually come by this time to see that

the Old Testament from its false history of the

world was no more to be trusted than the sacred

books of the Hindus or the beliefs of any barbarian.

You can see the shift. I believe in the Bible.

Let me quote the Bible. The Bible is true to

now. The Bible is just a myth like any other

book of ancient civilization. At that time, you

must remember, there was not much archaeological

evidence like we have today about the historicity

of the Bible. And that's why we went to London

to the British Museum, to be able to see some

of that collection of biblical archaeology that

is amazing. So as he starts now no longer believing

in the Bible, then his worldview is not going

to be shaped by the scriptures. And he says,

Thus this belief crept over me at a very slow

rate, but was at last complete. The rate was

so slow that I felt no distress. He had ten children.

Three of them died. Two of them died, little

babies. But one of them, who was his second child,

a daughter, Annie, she died when she was ten

years old. Now, I know what it's like to suffer

the pain and the grieving of having a daughter

that you love die at home. And it's a very painful

process. Imagine having his daughter for 10 years.

He describes her as the joy in the home. She

got sick. They went through lots of treatments.

But nothing helped. And eventually, she died.

And we know that during that period of time,

that affected him tremendously. But we know that

at that time in his life, he stopped attending

church altogether. So from reading people that

say the Bible is not true, to now struggling

with suffering. God, where are you? Why is this

happening to me? How can you explain that God

would allow a 10 -year -old daughter that is

so full of life die, and even though we are praying

for you to cure her, you're not curing her? What

does that say about God? So his process of deconstructing

his faith was slow, but it was complete. And

eventually he says, I can indeed hardly see how

anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true.

This whole idea of salvation, you being a sinner,

God dying for you, you need to repent, and if

you don't, you go to hell. That, he says, is

a damnable doctrine. That's very strong language,

isn't it? But that's why he believes. This is

his own words in his autobiography. And it's

in this period of time that he starts figuring

out, right, if the Bible is not true, if Christianity

is not true, and not only true, but it's detestable,

and on top of that, we have to explain how everything

is, he comes up with an idea, a theory, that

can, from his perspective, explain life without

a God. And that's how he starts writing his assumptions.

But Darwin, what about your inner life? Look

inside. What do you see? Are you aware of the

brokenness? No? I feel no remorse from having

committed any grace. The only thing is that I

have often, and often, regretted that I have

not done more direct good to my fellow creatures.

I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I could

do things. I wish I did more good. That's all.

But brokenness? Being a sinner? Needing repentance?

Nah. That's myth. Dammable doctrine. Okay, so.

If you believe that you are not broken and God

is not there and the Bible is not true, then

how do you make decisions? What guides you? How

do you determine right from wrong? What is your

compass? Well, a man who has no assured ever

present belief in the existence of a personal

God can't have for his rule of life. Only to

follow those impulses and instincts which are

the strongest or which seem to him the best ones.

The pleasurable sensations serve as the habitual

guides. So, are you telling me your compass is

your feelings, your desires? Right. What else?

I'm just another animal. Part of the animal kingdom.

Animals live by instinct. So do we. At the end

he writes and he says, look, I'm not an atheist.

I was a deist. But actually if I had to put a

word to really capture where I stand today, he

says, it is only fair to call me an agnostic.

And that was the experience with Charles Darwin.

A man... who was influenced by Christianity,

but the rejection of the veracity of the Bible,

the endorsement of a humanistic worldview, the

dealing with suffering in his life, and not really

understanding the human brokenness and God's

love, led him to become an agnostic. Who rejected

not only the Bible as a myth, but Christianity

as a detestable doctrine. From the faith to rejection.

And then we went to C .S. Lewis' home. C .S.

Lewis' home was in Oxford, not in London. Actually

on the outskirts of London. Beautiful area. But

in Oxford, that's where you go to the neighborhood

where C .S. Lewis lived. And this is his house.

You can go inside the house. You can take pictures

in there. And we got to see the original typewriter.

They still have it there with the big signs that

do not touch. So the typewriter that he used

to write some of his famous manuscripts or letters.

And we learned that actually he would handwrite.

And it was his brother, because they lived together,

who would type. And we were able to also take

pictures. There was this desk in one of his rooms.

And they said, you can sit there and take pictures.

So everybody was sitting there taking pictures,

posing at his desk. And to realize, wow, this

is the place where he wrote several of the letters

or some of the manuscripts, ideas that came.

And he was an intellectual atheist. And he had

experienced suffering in his life, just like

Darwin. His mother died when he was a child.

His father was someone that was a little bit

emotionally distant from him and his brother.

So he didn't grow up in a warm home. And then

he went to fight in the war, and he survived

it. Many of his friends died. So he experienced

suffering as well. But in his wrestling with

the ideas about mythology, of ancient mythologies,

and thinking that the Bible was just one of those

myths, he had a couple of intellectual friends

that started also influencing his life and having

good conversations about things. And he writes,

he says, I was at this time living like so many

atheists or anti -theists in a world of contradictions.

I maintained that God did not exist. I was also

very angry with God for not existing. I was equally

angry with him for creating a world. So as he

is realizing that his atheism was a reaction,

To the disappointments, the anger that he had

about this whatever God. That was driving his

denial of the reality of God as well as the reality

of his own brokenness. But then he started realizing

that the claims of Christianity were so categorical.

It's almost like somebody saying, hey, you have

cancer, you're going to die unless you take this

medicine. And I have the medicine. It's like,

that how categorical that is. Because if I say,

oh, no, I don't have cancer, I don't need medicine.

What if you do? You're going to die of it. But

if you do and you take the medicine, you're going

to be healed. So he realizes the message of Christianity.

That you are broken. God loves you. He sent Jesus

to die for your sins so that he can reach the

inner part of your heart and your mind to start

healing that until the day of your glorification.

And this is a gift from God that you cannot receive

based on your own effort. It's a gift that you

can receive by his grace. He's interested in

your heart, in you. And if you reject that, you're

rejecting God and the only cure to your brokenness.

And if you die in that brokenness, you will have

to be separated from God for eternity. That message

that Darwin called damnable doctrine, C .S. Lewis

started realizing that this was something that

needed deeper thinking. Christianity is false.

It's of no importance. But if true, it's of infinite

importance. The one thing it cannot be said is

that it's moderately important. It's one or the

other, but not in between. Reject it completely

or embrace it wholeheartedly. So as he started

engaging more and more and reading the life of

Jesus, he came to the realization that The claims

of Jesus. And what the Bible said about him.

That he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. God

incarnate. The word of God made flesh. That God

who created the world and who created humans

became a human to save us. And that he healed

people. And that he said, I am the way, the truth,

and the life. No one comes to the Father except

through me. Before Abraham was, I am. I came

to heal. I came to give sight to the blind. I

came for the lost. I came to take away the sins

of the world. All of these things that Jesus

would say and the gospels would describe about

him. were things that he started categorizing

in his intellectual mind. He says, there's only

three possibilities. Either Jesus really believes

these things, but of course they are not true.

Therefore, if they are not true, but he believes

them, that means that he's insane. It's like

me saying, I'm Superman. I really believe I'm

Superman. Pastor Pablo, we need to take you to

the psychiatrist. Right? If I'm believing that

I'm the son of God and that is not true, but

I really believe it, you are insane. He said

the second option is that he knows that he's

not the son of God, but he's lying about it because

he wants to deceive people to follow him. Therefore,

the second option is that he's a liar, deceitful,

an evil, ungodly person. And the third option

is that he's actually telling the truth. He believes

it, not because he's crazy, but because he's

telling me the truth. It's one of the three.

And as he's engaging in that wrestling with these

three options, he realizes that the things that

he said, the actions that he did, the life that

he had did not match a person that was insane,

did not match a person that was evil. It was

only congruent with the third option. So he writes

and he says, now it seems to me obvious that

he, meaning Jesus, was neither a lunatic nor

a fiend. And consequently, However strange or

terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to

accept the view that he was and is God. It was

all an intellectual process of engaging with

thinking and logic and discerning truth. He went

to teach at Magdalen College. And we got to visit

with the team that school. Actually, if you were

to zoom in in this picture, you will see us,

our team, all standing right there on the bottom

as the tour guide is taking us through it. And

why is this place so important? Because this

is where C .S. Lewis, as he was wrestling with

moving from atheism to believing in Jesus. There's

a beautiful path like a big park that is part

of this college. And we got to walk in that park.

We went through that path walking with the group.

And why we wanted to take that walk in that path?

Because that is where C .S. Lewis says, I started

walking here and when I got to the end of that

path, I was a believer in Jesus. That was his

experience. He was wrestling with ideas. And

somewhere along this path it clicked. It is true.

Jesus is the son of God. Which means that I am

broken. And from that point on he became a follower

of Jesus. Broken. But in a journey of healing.

And he became a prolific writer. I'm one of the

most influential apologists of the 20th century.

A person who started dedicating his life to help

people understand why Christianity and the Bible

was intellectually, logically true. What a contrast.

The Apostle Paul. who was also one who rejected

Christianity. He did not believe that Jesus was

true. He was in a similar journey as C .S. Lewis

in the idea of thinking that this whole thing

about Jesus was fake until he met Jesus. And

he turned from opposing Christianity to following

Christ, and he writes this about his own brokenness.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full

acceptance. Christ Jesus, Came into the world

to save sinners. Of whom I am. Who? The worst.

What a contrast. With a Darwin that says. I don't

regret any sin in my life. I'm a good person.

Once you look inside. If you're honest. And once

you realize the depth of God's love. You can

only conclude more and more like Paul says. I

am the worst of sinners. But for that very reason

I was shown mercy. So that in me the worst of

sinners. Christ Jesus might display his immense

patience. As an example for those who will believe

in him. And receive eternal life. Now to the

king eternal. Immortal. The only God. Be honor

and glory forever and ever. Amen. And that is

how he concludes his own reflection. Once he

looks inside. And he acknowledges his own brokenness.

In the presence of a loving merciful God. Rather

than rejecting all this and saying it's myth.

It's damnable doctrine. It cannot be true. There's

nothing wrong with me. To I believe that I am

broken. I believe that Jesus is the son of God.

And he came to heal the broken hearted. And bandage

their wounds. Of whom I am the first. Have you.

Come to terms. With the realization that you

are wounded. And that you are on a journey of

healing? And have you confessed your brokenness

to Jesus? If you are not following Jesus, Jesus

is not your savior. I'm here to tell you God

loves you. He sent Jesus to come and heal your

heart. And he's inviting you today to bring your

brokenness to him. As you are. And confess your

brokenness to him. And submit. to the truth that

he is God, that he is Lord, and you can trust

him and follow him. Give your life to him. If

you are already following Jesus, don't turn to

legalism to mask your brokenness. You can dress

the right way. You can listen to the right music.

You can avoid the drinking and the smoking and

avoid going to movie theaters and parties and

all of that. And none of that erases the struggle

that you are facing within. Invite Jesus inside.

What is the woundedness that brings you the most

shame, that brings you the most fear? That is

the place that Jesus wants to enter. So do not

replace relationship with God with legalism.

Legalism is simply a way of masking the brokenness.

So that is the first brokenness inside. But there's

a second level of brokenness that is going to

cause you to lose heart if you do not really

understand it. And it follows from the first

brokenness. And that is that the world is broken.

The world is broken. Think about it. If every

human is suffering from brokenness inside, whatever

that may look like, and the world is populated

by humans that they're all broken, then that

follows that the world is also broken. And Jesus

actually was going to say it very clearly, not

to give us false hopes. Would you read with me

what Jesus said to us? I have told you these

things so that in me you may have peace. In this

world you will have trouble. But take heart.

I have overcome the world. Sometimes people wish

that verse was not in the Bible. That Jesus would

have said, if you follow me, everything will

go well for you. I want to bless you in every

way and nothing bad will ever happen to you.

Because now you are following me. But that's

not what Jesus said. He said, for as long as

you are in the world, the world is broken, is

under spiritual oppression. There is such a reality

as spiritual darkness. There is the truth of

human brokenness. And therefore, in this world

that I came to save, you're going to face troubles.

But in the midst of the troubles that you are

facing, what I don't want you to miss is my peace.

I'm not going to take the troubles, but I'm going

to take the trouble from within. I'm going to

give you peace in the midst of it. Because you

can trust in me. I have overcome the world. And

one day, all these things will be made right.

One day, the world will be completely redeemed.

New creation. No more sin. No more spiritual

darkness. No more brokenness. But until that

day, trust me with your pain. And this reality

is one reality that many people do not come to

terms with. And because they don't come to terms

with this, they lose heart and they reject God

altogether. Terrible things happened. This week,

very sad week for the nation of Thailand. We

got a student in a school that killed several

people with a gun from his home. He killed his

grandparents. They went to the school, started

shooting at people. And as of this morning, eight

people have died. Several more are wounded. Now,

if you came from the U .S., where I come from,

it's always sad, but we have become numb to it

because it happens so often. Every year, shootings

at schools. But this time was shocking because

of what, Thailand? Is this happening now in Thailand

too? And we're grieving as a nation because of

it. And every time where that happens here in

the U .S., sad, a broken world. But when we don't

realize the brokenness of the world, we turn

to God and we accuse him for it. And that is

what C .S. Lewis wrestled with. In the process

of wrestling with the moving from atheism to

following Jesus, he says, my argument against

God was that the universe seems so cruel and

so unjust. But how had I got this idea of just

and unjust to start with? Like many people who

have rejected God and walked away from the faith,

they reject God because they have experienced

a broken world. And when the world is broken,

it hurts so much and it's disorienting. It's

like, what? This should not happen. This is wrong.

And God, if you created this world, why is this

happening? If you are so powerful, why don't

you keep this from happening? And if you allowed

it, then why did you allow it? That means that

you are evil? And if you're evil, how can I trust

you? Or maybe you're not even evil. Maybe you

don't even exist. Maybe you are the product of

my imagination. And that is the space where the

person starts losing heart because cannot understand

that a broken world is compatible with the existence

of a loving, sovereign God. And they're both

true. And that did not happen just to C .S. Lewis.

It was a guy that grew up going to the church

as a kid, but then he stopped going to church.

He walked away from it altogether. And then he

became an atheist. You see him right here in

an interview with Sean McDowell. The reason why

McDowell interviews him is because Brand wrote

a book about his testimony, because when he was

a young adult, he drank some water that was contaminated

with bacteria, terrible stuff, went to the hospital,

and he died. He had a near -death experience,

and then he was able to come back to life, and

then in that period of time, he had a spiritual

encounter. And as he says, he saw Jesus, he says,

I went to hell, and it was just a horrible experience.

But as he's telling his experience, he says,

you don't have to believe me because it sounds

like out there, but this is, I'm telling you

what happened to me. And as he's writing the

story and as he's telling it, at a moment, he

starts crying. His voice breaks because he says,

when I saw Jesus, I had so much hatred for him.

I realized, he says, that even though I wasn't

there when Jesus was crucified, I would have

done the nails. That's how much I hated him.

Why? Because the world is broken. Because evil

happens. And if evil happens, you are evil. You

are responsible for this and I hate you. And

that is what, shaped his life as a young adult.

Very similar stage in life on age as Darwin in

his crisis. Have you come to terms with the fact

that the world is broken and that bad things

will happen and that there's evil people and

evil people will do evil things? Have you come

to terms with the reality that we are not immune

to suffering? That we are not immune to be touched

by these evil things? Do you know how many followers

of Jesus are being killed today in countries

where Christianity is opposed by oppressive governments

or religions? When we suffer, we do not point

the finger to God and accuse him of being evil

or for not existing. When we suffer, we turn

to Jesus with our pain. And we give it to him

and we grieve in his presence. Because that is

the place where Jesus wants to give us his peace.

In the world we will suffer. But in his presence,

we will experience peace in the suffering. And

then we will hope for the day of his return when

he will complete the salvation of humanity and

bring the world into a whole new chapter free

from these things. If you are following Jesus,

But the suffering in the world has made a crack

in your faith. Could I encourage you to bring

your pain to Jesus today? Do not lose heart.

If you walk away from God because of suffering,

you will not find solace. You will not find peace.

You will not find what your heart needs anywhere

else but in Jesus. And because our heart is in

a state of brokenness and Jesus wants to heal

us in that place, and because the world is broken,

that follows that there's one more place that

is broken and that we forget. And that is that

the church is broken. Each person that surrounds

you today Whether you look to the left, whether

you look to the right, whether you look back

or to the front. Every person in this room is

a broken person meeting Jesus and his grace and

his power. Everyone. And because we are all broken

people, sometimes broken people make broken decisions

that create brokenness in other people's lives.

And for a long time, I lived with the assumption

that church was a safe place. Because it's full

of Christians who love Jesus. Until it wasn't

a safe place anymore. And the disorientation

that you suffer when someone does something to

you, to your children, that is no longer safe.

Wow. Coming to terms with the brokenness of the

world is hard. Coming to terms with the brokenness

of the church is even harder. Because this was

supposed to be a safe space. And when it's not,

you're not only grieving what happened, but you're

grieving with the reality that it's not a safe

space. What do we do? You turn to the scriptures,

and the picture that you discover is just eye

-opening. Let me take you through it. Jesus has

a good shepherd that comes to heal all of the

wounded sheep, saves us, brings us to the church.

Now we are serving the Lord, we are walking with

the Lord together. The Apostle Paul is preaching

the gospel, people are coming to know Christ,

and then he starts writing letters to these first

Christians in the first churches in the history

of humanity. Now look at some of the things he

says. It is actually reported in the Corinthians

that there is sexual immorality among you. And

of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate. A

man is sleeping with his father's wife. And you

are proud? Shouldn't you rather have gone into

mourning and have put out of your fellowship

that man who is doing this? Like what? In a church?

That happening and that church was celebrating

it. How about this one? Alexander the metal worker

did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay

him for what he has done. You too, Timothy, should

be on your guard against him because he strongly

opposed our message. What? Politics? An opposition?

In the church? What about this one? On my first

defense, no one came to my support. But everyone

deserted me. May I not be held against them?

What? You were abandoned by people that were

supposed to be there to support you and you felt

disappointed with Christians? Yes. Yes. And yes.

But he says at the end, but the Lord stood on

my side. And gave me strength so that through

me the message might be fully proclaimed. And

all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered

from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me

from every evil attack. And will bring me safely

to his heavenly kingdom. And to him be glory

forever and ever. Amen. The fact that the church

is a broken place. Does not mean that I walk

away from the church. And I walk away from God.

The completely opposite is true. I'm going to

continue to proclaim the gospel and I'm going

to continue to serve the Lord Jesus because despite

what happens, he's going to take me home safely.

Have you come to terms with the fact that the

church is broken and have you given your disappointment

to Jesus? I like to think of it this way. If

you went to a hospital to visit a friend, would

you be surprised to find people who are sick

there? Would you? Of course not. That's what

the hospital is for, isn't it? If you want to

visit your friend at the hospital and then you

came home and you start coughing and you realize,

oh, I think I got a virus or something. Would

you be surprised that you got sick by going to

the hospital to see sick people? No, you wouldn't.

You wouldn't come home saying, I don't believe

in hospitals anymore. I will never put a foot

again in a hospital. I hate hospitals. I hate

doctors. They're a group of fake people. Would

you say that? No. Then why are you saying that

about the church? Why are you surprised when

you find wounded people in the church? Why are

you surprised? Will people in the church do or

say things that hurt you? Don't lose heart. That's

a reality. And wait until you become a pastor

and start preaching at ECB. Listen. When we realize

that the church is a hospital for broken people

in a broken world, our expectations change. And

rather than walking away from it, the determination

the Apostle Paul mentions is true. How can I

follow Jesus without making disciples? And how

can I make disciples without a church? They go

hand in hand. If I'm truly a follower of Jesus,

I cannot follow Jesus without the community because

if I'm following Jesus, I'm called to make disciples.

So if I'm making disciples, we're the church.

Now how are you going to deal with that brokenness,

my friend? The only thing that is the right response

is determination to say, Lord, as long as we

are here, would you help us create a space where

people can heal? And give us thick skin, as we

say in the U .S. Give me a heart that is not

easily offended or discouraged. Help me have

my eyes fixed on you. And do not let me lose

heart. So the three wrong responses that you're

going to experience is denial. Nothing wrong

with me. There's no brokenness in me. Everything

is good. You are not being truthful. Wake up.

Because if you are broken, you need Jesus. The

second response that is wrong is turning away

from God because there's a broken world. No,

don't turn away from God. Turn to Jesus because

he's going to give you peace in a broken world.

And the third wrong response is to walk away

from the church because there's a bunch of fake

people. No. If you were hurt, invite Jesus to

heal that wound and continue serving Jesus so

more people will find the one who heals the brokenhearted

and bandages their wounds. There's only one Jesus,

one church, one faith, one baptism. Only one.

And we'll continue serving him until the end.

So that is my reflection. That is one of the

things that I have been processing and thinking

through. And I hope that this helps you not lose

heart. And as we conclude this time, let's read

together 2 Corinthians 4 .1. Therefore, since

through God's mercy we have this ministry, we

do not lose heart. Lord Jesus, thank you for

the reminder. A reminder that sometimes we don't

like to hear, like going to the doctor and realizing

we have high cholesterol. We don't like to hear

the reality. But you have reminded us today that

we are broken in a broken world and the church

is a broken place for broken people. And as long

as you are in the midst of it, there's healing.

As long as you're in the midst of it, there's

going to be new beginnings. And give us the strength

to not lose heart. In the beautiful name of our

Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen. Whether near or far,

if you are looking for community or are in need

of prayer, we welcome you to engage by sending

us an email to office at ecb .asia. If God is

calling you to support our ministries, you will

find giving options on our website. And remember

to join us next week. God bless you.