Beatitudes: Discipleship Through Brokenness -2

In yesterday’s post we were challenged to evaluate whether we were pre-christian, a follower of Christ, or a disciple of Christ. We are emphasizing Christian discipleship. Observe with me Matthew chapter five for the beginning of instruction.

Discipleship – the demands and the blessings. Christ begins with 8 “blesseds” – eight characteristics of a disciple. To capture these eight in one word it would be “broken.”

Broken. Not a popular word, rarely spoken from the pulpit and in some circles ridiculed. As seen in one web site: “I believe that God is a GOOD God – All the time. God wants you WHOLE, complete, nothing missing nothing broken! Physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, financially, etc… That’s what I believe - and the scriptures back it up. WHOLE is the complete opposite of broken.” I have trouble with that perspective. Let me explain.

Broken. I think back to the years we raised Tennessee Walking horses. I had a black roan stallion with four white stockings and a bald face. Beautiful animal. Without being broken, his worth was only in pasture breeding. His value increased as he went through the breaking process. Not broken of spirit but broken of self will so that my will became his will. There was a lot of resistance and bucking until that happened. But the result was a horse of great value.

So also is God with us. He takes us through breaking situations. Our natual tendency is to resist, to buck against it. “Why me, God? It’s not fair.” He gently walks through the situation with us saying, “my child, I love you. I’ll never leave you. I’ll take even this painful situation and work good out of it for your sake, for your influence on others and for my glory. You’ll be much more valuable to yourself and others.” This breaking process is part of God’s plan in building a disciple.

Matthew records Christ’s last words before ascension into heaven in chapter 28: 18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’"

Jesus began to prepare His disciples for the trek of moving from followers of Christ to being His disciples and on to discipling others. It’s as if Jesus were saying, “The world mistakenly thinks that happiness is found in wealth, fame, power and pleasure or basically in things going our way. Not so. True happiness and power is found in the way of brokenness, of emptying self in order to be filled with me. Let me describe how your attitude will be developing.” And He begins with the blesseds – the beatiutdes.

In tomorrow’s post we’ll examine briefly each of these characteristics of a “broken person.”