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.