Brokenness

Jeremiah 18–19

Main Idea: God will not break the broken.

1. God Will Not Break the Broken (18:1-11).
2. We Can Remain Unbroken (18:12-17).
3. God Ultimately Breaks the Unbroken (19).

When we sin—and we all sin—God desires brokenness. What is brokenness? Brokenness is a state of awareness of our sinfulness and inability in light of God’s presence. This, again, helps us understand the first beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” The poor are not those who are financially poor; they are those who see their sin deeply. Now think about the irony of this. People who see their sin deeply are “blessed.” Exactly how are they blessed? The answer is to translate the word blessed as “congratulated.” The person who is broken should be congratulated. Why? Because he gets it. He understands the right relationship. If I play one-on-one with Kevin Durant and don’t take any coaching, if I post up and trash talk, that doesn’t make me great; it just makes me self-deceived. People who understand their limitations are to be congratulated. They understand reality. They get what is real.

It may be helpful to say what brokenness is not: pride. The opposite of brokenness is not wholeness; the opposite of brokenness is a perceived wholeness. Prideful people are not aware of their need for God. Perhaps this is why, when God came into the brokenness of the world, he was constantly fighting pride in the form of self-righteousness. The self-righteous person has not been in the presence of God.

Think about this from a macro level. God offers himself to all people in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, leads us to Jesus, who leads us to the Father. So our relationship is culminated with us prostrate before the throne of God. The best picture we have of this is Revelation 4–5. Literally, all creation is praising God. There is no strutting there, no pretense, no jockeying for position or status. All are humbled. All are bowing. All, upon seeing the throne, acknowledge what has always been true: that he is holy and above all things. That is where all this is going.

The way into the throne room is the person of Jesus Christ who, when he allowed his glory to be shown, was as blinding as the throne room of God (John 18:6). So when we know the means to the throne, the person of Jesus, we find him as glorious and awe-inspiring as the throne of God. The Holy Spirit, the means to Jesus, is just as glorious. Meaning, when we expose ourselves to the Word of God, we expose ourselves to the Spirit of God, and God the Spirit has the same effect as being in the throne room of God. The Holy Spirit of God brings a brokenness of life, a hatred of the sin of pride.

Since this brokenness is the natural response in those who love and know God, God expects this of all people.

Here is something we may not have thought of: Everything in me reacts against brokenness. I do not want to expose my mistakes; rather, I want to hide them. Therefore, I use the caulk of my words to fill the gaps in my character. I want to be Kevlar when people critique my spirituality.

Here is one of the most telling passages on brokenness in all of Jeremiah. However, the point of the passage is not about our brokenness but about God’s response. This passage motivates brokenness. The motivation is that it gets God’s attention. God, in his sovereignty, responds to our brokenness.

The context of the passage is that God is still pursuing Judah. He stills wants them to respond. So he carefully explains how he responds to our brokenness.

God Will Not Break the Broken

Jeremiah 18:1-11

The story begins with the familiar metaphor of the potter and the clay (vv. 1-4). Then God explains how he responds to those who respond to him (vv. 5-10).

This remarkable passage explains the unexplainable: how God responds to people who follow him. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so is Israel. Israel is at God’s disposal. God might announce that he is going to “uproot, tear down, and destroy,” a phrase that harks back to Jeremiah’s call. In other words, God may say this to Jeremiah. However, God’s plan allows for the potential of obedience. If the nation will repent, God will “relent” of the disaster. Conversely, if God decides he will “build and plant”—again a nod to Jeremiah’s call—and that nation does evil, he will relent of the good. In other words, God’s plan for prosperity allows for the potential of disobedience. Christopher Wright imagines the Creator’s relationship with the pot this way:

• Plan A: “I intend to make this clay into a wine jar.”
• Response: Something in the clay runs counter to the plan.
• Plan B: “I’ve changed my mind; I will make it into a soup bowl.”
• Plan A: “I intend to act in judgment against you.”
• Response: “Repent and change—you can counteract Plan A if you choose to.”
• Implied Plan B: “I can change the plan and suspend the judgment. You don’t have to suffer Plan A, if only you will respond in repentance.”

That last line is not spoken here, but it is clearly implied by the logic of verses 7-10, and it had already been expressly urged upon Israel from the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry, most powerfully in 3:12–4:4, and in the temple sermon of 7:3-7 (where the language is similar to 18:11). In other words, the prime message from the divine Potter is, “Work with me here; respond to what I say. Change your ways, and I will change my plans” (Wright, Message of Jeremiah, 213–24; emphasis original).

God’s word of judgment may be modified due to a broken heart. God’s word of blessing may be modified due to a prideful heart.

We Can Remain Unbroken

Jeremiah 18:12-17

So God posits that not all final things are final. There actually is some hope if they will return. Yet the response is tragic.

After this explanation and appeal, the reply comes back from Israel:

But they will say, “It’s hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart” (18:12).

So, even though God has offered them this opportunity to respond, even though God is willing to suspend judgment, even though another opportunity for them to repent may await, they will not do it. They will assert themselves in a downward spiral of sin against God.

God’s response is fascinating (vv. 13-15). Rejection of his will is unnatural. Mountaintops are always snow covered, and cold water always flows from a distance, but these natural processes are not mirrored in the way Judah shows affection for God.

God has no other choice. After many opportunities, and after an explicit offer for them to repent one more time, they refuse. God will not hold back on his judgment (v. 17).

The application for those of us in the New Testament era is clear. For those who have constantly rejected Christ, there is still time. Yet, if someone goes to his grave rejecting Christ, the opportunity expires, there is no hope, and he will face the wrath of God. This is clear enough.

Yet the passage applies to believers as well. We are told not to grieve the Holy Spirit but to be responsive to him (Eph 4:30). Does God lose his patience with believers? The answer to this question draws us back again to this fundamental theological truth: God does not punish believers; he disciplines them. While this may seem like a theological technicality, it is important. All the punishment for my sin was taken by Christ on the cross. He absorbed all the wrath of God when he died for our sins. Yet when we sin, it strains our relationship with God. Therefore, we must continue to pray for the filling of the Spirit, and we must fear the discipline of God that he extends to everyone who walks away from him. He is too good of a Father not to discipline us.

When bad things happen, this question comes to our minds: Is God punishing me, or is this something that is just “happening”? This is a question we may not be able to answer, and that is fine. The discipline of the Lord, broadly speaking, is anything that draws us into relationship with him. Therefore, the constant advice in the Proverbs is to look all around us for wisdom (Prov 8). In the broadest way of conceiving of this, we are to use every opportunity to submit to God. When we refuse, he disciplines us. Therefore, we are to take on a spirit of brokenness, to willingly submit at every turn in order to avoid the chastisement of the Lord, a discipline that is very real.

God Ultimately Breaks the Unbroken

Jeremiah 19

For those who remain unbroken, God—well—he breaks them!

Jeremiah is commanded to go and buy a pot. After describing how God feels about Israel’s sin, he breaks the pot in their presence. Now this is brokenness. The sense here is the finality of it all. The broken pot cannot be restored. It is broken beyond repair.

This is our motivation for being broken before God. The first application is, if someone is rejecting God, God can bring a judgment from which there is no recovery. This is eternal separation from God in hell.

There is an application for believers as well. For many reasons the culture we produce as Christians in our books, music, and literature is a swelling tide of conversations on the grace of God. This is understandably so. Is there a more remarkable topic? God’s grace can engulf any past mistake and make us whole. Yet there is an important condition for this conversation: the grace of God is only remarkable within the presence of the law. Grace is remarkable because we have violated God’s law.

The grace of God is so profound that my sin cannot stand against its power. This means grace is greater than sin. It does not mean my sin in itself has little effect. Nothing could be further from the truth. My sin is not ineffective to hurt me; rather, it is only ineffective in the presence of God’s grace. The point is that we can make mistakes that will have long-term consequences. Long after we have been forgiven, Christians who ignore the prompting of God will need to live with the consequences of their sin. Therefore, be broken.

Conclusion

Nancy Demoss’s classic contrast of proud people versus broken people is clarifying and convicting:

Proud people focus on the failures of others.

Broken people are overwhelmed with a sense of their own spiritual need.

Proud people have a critical, fault-finding spirit; they look at everyone else’s faults with a microscope but their own with a telescope.

Broken people are compassionate; they can forgive much because they know how much they have been forgiven.

Proud people are self-righteous; they look down on others.

Broken people esteem all others better than themselves.

Proud people have an independent, self-sufficient spirit.

Broken people have a dependent spirit; they recognize their need for others.

Proud people have to prove that they are right.

Broken people are willing to yield the right to be right.

Proud people claim rights; they have a demanding spirit.

Broken people yield their rights; they have a meek spirit.

Proud people are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation.

Broken people are self-denying.

Proud people desire to be served.

Broken people are motivated to serve others.

Proud people desire to be a success.

Broken people are motivated to be faithful and to make others a success.

Proud people desire self-advancement.

Broken people desire to promote others.

Proud people have a drive to be recognized and appreciated.

Broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; they are thrilled that God would use them at all.

Proud people are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked.

Broken people are eager for others to get the credit; they rejoice when others are lifted up.

Proud people have a subconscious feeling, “This ministry/church is privileged to have me and my gifts”; they think of what they can do for God.

Broken people’s heart attitude is, “I don’t deserve to have a part in any ministry”; they know that they have nothing to offer God except the life of Jesus flowing through their broken lives.

Proud people feel confident in how much they know.

Broken people are humbled by how very much they have to learn.

Proud people are self-conscious.

Broken people are not concerned with self at all.

Proud people keep others at arms’ length.

Broken people are willing to risk getting close to others and to take risks of loving intimately.

Proud people are quick to blame others.

Broken people accept personal responsibility and can see where they are wrong in a situation.

Proud people are unapproachable or defensive when criticized.

Broken people receive criticism with a humble, open spirit.

Proud people are concerned with being respectable, with what others think; they work to protect their own image and reputation.

Broken people are concerned with being real; what matters to them is not what others think but what God knows; they are willing to die to their own reputation.

Proud people find it difficult to share their spiritual need with others.

Broken people are willing to be open and transparent with others as God directs.

Proud people want to be sure that no one finds out when they have sinned; their instinct is to cover up.

Broken people, once broken, don’t care who knows or who finds out; they are willing to be exposed because they have nothing to lose.

Proud people have a hard time saying, “I was wrong; will you please forgive me?”

Broken people are quick to admit failure and to seek forgiveness when necessary.

Proud people tend to deal in generalities when confessing sin.

Broken people are able to acknowledge specifics when confessing their sin.

Proud people are concerned about the consequences of their sin.

Broken people are grieved over the cause, the root of their sin.

Proud people are remorseful over their sin, sorry that they got found out or caught.

Broken people are truly, genuinely repentant over their sin, evidenced in the fact that they forsake that sin.

Proud people wait for the other to come and ask forgiveness when there is a misunderstanding or conflict in a relationship.

Broken people take the initiative to be reconciled when there is misunderstanding or conflict in relationships; they race to the cross; they see if they can get there first, no matter how wrong the other may have been.

Proud people compare themselves with others and feel worthy of honor.

Broken people compare themselves to the holiness of God and feel a desperate need for his mercy.

Proud people are blind to their true heart condition.

Broken people walk in the light.

Proud people don’t think they have anything to repent of.

Broken people realize they have need of a continual heart attitude of repentance.

Proud people don’t think they need revival, but they are sure that everyone else does.

Broken people continually sense their need for a fresh encounter with God and for a fresh filling of his Holy Spirit.(Demoss, “Proud People vs. Broken People”)

There is something remarkably refreshing about the idea of brokenness. God does not crush the vulnerable and broken; rather, he uses them. This was true for Abraham, for Moses, and for Peter. God takes those who are broken, and he uses them.

Even the idea of brokenness is suggestive. God likes those who are broken because they have an accurate sense of their relationship with God. Against the backdrop of God’s goodness, glory, and magnificence, we are ruined and broken people. We have nothing to offer God. Broken people are not better than others, but they are more self-aware. They understand reality, and are blessed.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What is the main idea of this passage?
2. What is brokenness? How should we understand brokenness in light of the Beatitudes (Matt 5)?
3. You’ve thought about what brokenness is. Now describe what it is not.
4. How does brokenness differ from self-righteous pride?
5. Is brokenness a natural response in those who love and know God?
6. What is our motivation for brokenness?
7. Reflect on these statements: God’s word of judgment may be modified due to a broken heart. God’s word of blessing may be modified due to a prideful heart.
8. What does this passage teach us about the results of disobeying God?
9. How should Christians respond to brokenness?
10. List several passages in Scripture that discuss the call to repentance and brokenness.