Broken Vessels Week 3 – David Nasser
Overview:
Ezra, a prophet in exile in Babylon, loved God and he lived in a broken world. Ezra finds out of what is happening in his world and is so affected by what is affecting his God that he tears his robe. 49 times in this passage, Ezra takes ownership (his usage of our or we) of what is happening around him. Although Ezra was not the one committing the sin, his prayer was, “God forgive us.” If our world is broken and it breaks the heart of God then it should break us. It has to be bigger than the people, the effects, and the symptoms, it has to be about God.
It’s one thing for brokenness to be caused by broken people but it is another thing when those who claim to be believers contribute to the brokenness. Those who should have known better weren’t speaking up against the brokenness.
What does it look like for you tonight to become a defendant of the defenseless? When do we get to the point where if it breaks God’s heart, then it breaks mine.
God looks upon this world and says, “I am so broken about this world that I will break my Son over it”
We live in a broken world.
We live in a broken world that is breaking the heart of God.
What breaks the heart of God should break the heart of his people.
Statistics
HOMLESSNESS
500,00 homeless in the us
7,000 homeless in Virginia
680 homeless in Lynchburg
ABORTION
56 million abortions/year worldwide
25% of all pregnancies end in abortions
3,000 abortions every day in the US
50 million aborted in the US since roe v. Wade 1973
90K abortions in the US in 2017
ABUSE
3.6 million children abused every year in US
300K victims of rape & sexual assault each year in the US
15 million adolescent girls worldwide have experienced forced sex
about 18 million women have been the victims of rape since 1998 in the US
A person with a disability 2 times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault or rape than a person without a disability.
DEATH
17k murdered this year in the US
1 million people commit suicide every year
RACISM
8000 Recorded Victims of Racial or Religious Hate Crime in the US / Year
DISPLACED
68.5 million refugees worldwide
SLAVERY
40 million slaves worldwide, most are women and girls.
10 million child slaves worldwide
20 million people are trafficked
4.5K cases of human trafficking in the United States this year
60 thousand slaves in USA right now
TERRORISM
25K people died of terrorist attacks this year
PERSECUTION
215 million Christians are persecuted
3K Christians were killed; 1.2K were abducted; 1K were raped or sexually harassed; and 793 churches were attacked in 2018
Verses:
Ezra 9:1-15 NIV
After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race[a] has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” 3 As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. 4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God,6 saying:
“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold[b] within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection[c] in Judea and Jerusalem.
10 “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ 13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15 O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”
Quotes:
Sometimes statistics are just another number emotionally but it becomes something that breaks our hearts when we know someone who is a part of that statistic.
It has to go beyond a statistic, it has to become reality for us!
Time, Talent, and Treasure. These are three of our resources that we can bring to the table to help the brokenness in this world.
Questions:
1) We are living in a broken world which breaks the heart of God. We all have experienced this brokenness. From your life journey share how you have seen God redeem this brokenness.
2) What actions can we take as sons and daughters of Jesus to combat the evil that we see in the world around us?
3) Taking time in prayer, seek God and ask Him to reveal to you what may be keeping you from seeing brokenness as God does. Can you share what he is saying to you. Is he calling you to action, repentance?