from brokenness to wholeness

Recently I've had the pleasure of presenting a series of conversations about God for a student group  called CRU (better known as Campus Crusade for Christ) at a local university. During this second talk in the series we tackled the issues of Sin and our Beautiful Savior. What follows is some reflections on that talk. 

 

This journey from broken.ness to whole.ness is a beautiful one. As in any conversation or experience though it has to start somewhere. This journey started the week prior with the Reality of God, as we saw His amazing power, beauty, love and creativity in the world He's made as well as getting to know a bit about His attributes that make Him supremely set apart as the One True God. It became very clear to each of us just WHO we were talking about. His name is YAHWEH and He is God (if anyone's curious about that conversation let me know and I'll post how we arrived there). With that determination in place the stage was set to walk into this conversation... 

We're all sinners... yup even us pastors (shocker, i know).

This is the reality of being human. Blame it on Adam and Eve, if you'd like, because we've all been born into brokenness... but thank God we don't have to stay there! We'll get there in a second though.

You don't have to look very far in this life to see that every person is all kinds of messed up. Even people who seem to have it together for the most part. If you really get to know them, see their lives and get familiar with they're dark corners, then you'll see their sin pretty quickly. If you ever run across someone who is completely perfect in every way, you're probably getting to know someone who is really, really good at lying. We are all sinners. Maybe not all murderers and swindlers but we all have sin (by the way, there isn't a sliding scale of Bad when it comes to God's view of sin, it's all sin). If you wanna find out how we got here go read Genesis 3 (google it) and while you're at it go take a gander at how we're described in our sin Romans 3.10-18.

The reality of this fact, means that no one is off the hook when it comes to this topic. We love to compare ourselves to other people, saying "well at least I'm not as bad as that guy/girl" but in God's reality we're all dirty and literal enemies of His holiness.

Sin is no light matter, not some simple moral imperfection or character flaw, rather sin sets us diametrically opposed to the Holy One Himself. That's what Holiness is, it's complete and utter separation from that which is not Holy. So it's not like God is just up there being a big jerk because we messed up that one time and wants to hold it against us. Rather, if God accepted us in our broken nature (our sin) then He would cease to be Holy. Think of it in this way, if He is absolutely PURE than any imperfection takes away that PURENESS, the implication is that He would cease to be what He was. IF God would accept us as sinners, then He would cease to be who He is. WE are enemies of God in our broken state. That's pretty serious...

  There is another reason this is no minor matter. Romans 6.23 tells us that the cost for our sinfulness is death. Physical, yes (but that's gonna come anyway) but more than that it's spiritual death, eternal separation from the creator and sustainer of life. Apart from God we're all dead. Big upper I know, after all, I didn't choose to be born, nor did I choose to be born a sinner! But thank God that in the midst of our sin deserving death, LOVE comes crashing in. The only one powerful enough to pull us up out of the muck and mire of our sin, provides a way to do just that!

 Check out the second half of Romans 6.23, "but the gift of GOD is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." And here I thought my iPod was a good gift! God gave us back our ETERNITY, not only that but also our ability to have communion with HIM! We were condemned to death and separation forever from God because He is holy and just, but in one act of redemption He broke down all the barriers and made a way (John 3.16 is a good one to check out here).

HE BECAME OUR BEAUTIFUL SAVIOR!

 Check the transition ::
DEATH > LIFE,
BROKEN > WHOLE,
SINNER > SAINT...


Take a minute or two. Close your eyes and just think about that...


The only one who could've done anything... did.

Love kinda crashed our brokenness party, but the tab was not small. Because of God's justice the cost of my sin and your sin had to be paid for. Who could possibly pay that tab!? Only GOD himself, it's why this is such a big deal. Jesus Christ is God and showed us the ultimate act of love that has ever been or ever will be.

He left the glory of heaven to walk around with us for about 30ish years and then let us hang him on a tree and kill him (don't forget we were sinners after all, it's what we do!) But in the midst of all that hatred against the Holiness of God, He gave Himself up to pave the way for restoration and peace. If you've never heard it before, GOD LOVES YOU. He gave Himself up for YOU! He wants to be in restored relationship with YOU! YOU matter A LOT!  The ultimate act of love demonstrates just so brilliantly how beautiful He is. One thing about God is that He doesn't need us, He didn't need to restore us... He doesn't need anything, He's already perfect. So the choice is the most beautiful thing ever.

 To see more of the beauty of the Savior take a couple minutes to read Matthew 27.45-54 which tells about the happenings around the event of Christ's crucifixion, especially check out the beauty of the curtain in the temple being torn... it's such a beautiful thing, ask a pastor or someone to explain it too you if you don't see the significance. Then read John 1 (hint:: Word = Jesus, it'll make sense).

What God did for YOU is amazing... seriously...

So the question becomes how does one attain the spectacular gift of God? Well turn your browser, smart phone or good old fashioned Bible toward Romans 10.9 and 13. This beautiful gift is free for the taking, it's simply a matter of asking. Here's the deal though, it's a asking with a sincere heart. So many people (even people sitting in church every sunday) have the knowledge up in their head of Jesus but it never hits their heart.
Pray to God and ask Him to take your sin in exchange for Jesus being your Lord. He'll honor that request, but don't stop there. Ask Him as well to show you the beautiful savior in new ways and seek him out in the Bible. You'll be amazed and what He'll show you. If you've got questions ask someone who you know get's this stuff, if you don't know someone else, get a hold of me. I'd love to help explain it.

 Now the result of this beautiful act of becoming whole is also incredible! Romans 5.1 tells us that we now have Peace between us and God.
Romans 8.1 tells us that because of Jesus sacrifice there is no longer condemnation for our sin.
and Romans 8.38-39 tells us of the security we have that this is true.

Nothing can take it away. If you're truly committed to Christ, you're His and He's the one who keeps you for eternity. Not sure about you but I don't think there's anyone better suited to keep me for eternity than the God who created and sustains it all in the first place. Memorize Romans 8.38-39, you'll need it someday!

All of this brings me to tears as I realize just all that God has done on my behalf and I hope it has the same effect on you, wherever you're at or whatever you're dealing with. God Loves you, read it again in Ephesians 2.1-10.. then find some quiet space just to reflect. Talk to God, He's waiting for this conversation.

IF you've been a follower of Christ for a while, this reality of our savior better get you're blood going, if not, it's time to look at him again. He's waiting for you as well!



It's such a pleasure for me to share these truths with college students and just as much with anyone else. This is big stuff, the most important thing ever actually. 70 or 80 years on this earth doesn't hold a candle to the beauty of eternity.

much love
pb