Mark’s sermon this morning touched on the idea that we do not have to be adequate or worthy to be chosen and used by God. 1 Cor 1:26-31 reminds us that God chooses the most unlikely people ‘so that no one may boast before him’ and so that we understand our adequacy and worth are bound up in God Himself. Christ has, he reminds the Corinthians, become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. All we need is in Christ.

This goes against the grain of everything we are taught and everything we strive for, humanly speaking. We feel we have to be worthy in our own righteousness, to ‘deserve’ God’s favour. When we realise how flawed and broken we are, we tend to hide from God, recognising our unworthiness, rather like Peter when confronted with Jesus’s miraculous powers: Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!‘ (Luke 5:8) Yet our brokenness is no barrier to acceptance by God. The truth is that we are all broken, all stained by sin, all unworthy of His favour… and yet He loves us unconditionally and chooses us, not because we are worthy in ourselves, but because of His great mercy. As we sang this morning, ‘Though I’m broken, I am running into Your arms of love.’ (‘Joy’, Rend Collective)

Far from being a barrier, brokenness is required for us to come to the end of ourselves and reach the mercy of God. ‘A broken and contrite heart You, O God, will not despise.’ (Ps 51:17) God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Ps 147:3) Jesus talked about being the rejected cornerstone and saidEveryone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces.‘ (Luke 20:18) At the Last Supper, He broke the bread in symbolism of what would be done to His body and told us that this was done for our sakes; each week when we take Communion, we remember that Christ’s brokenness opened the door to our salvation, so it should really come as no surprise that our brokenness is the pathway to God.

Humanly speaking, we shy away from being broken. We admire wholeness. Yet all who serve a wounded Saviour must learn that brokenness is not to be feared or despised and that just as He was broken for us, so we too must be broken to be fit for His service. God’s will must be done in His way (‘Broken Bread’, Rend Collective) if we are to see His kingdom come in our area and our times. We serve a Saviour who is known by the scars, but we can be confident that as we offer Him our brokenness, He will make us whole.