Recently, our family encountered something that all of us do at some point in life; we encountered a series of unfortunate events.  One of those events was the breakdown of our main car, our Acadia.  It was ran low on oil about a year beforehand and the engine finally decided to blow.  I mean, rod through the side of the engine, dump all of the oil at once, travelling from 60 to 0 in a few seconds, fill the car completely with smoke blown.

Our car was broken.

The interesting, but fair thing about cars is that they hold their value pretty well so long as they drive.  As fast as that car came to a dead stop along 422, its value plummeted with it.  It was literally worth 10 times the amount that morning as it was that evening.  Who knew that an engine was such an important part to a car? 

In our culture, when things are broken, they become worthless.  We’re so quick to throw things away and replace them with something new.  We don’t fix things anymore.  Things just aren’t made like they used to be.  Things made today are made with that very intent; to be thrown out and replaced with something newer.

There is a very common misconception out there that God sees things the same way.  Before we go to church, we have to get our lives right.  We don’t want to be hypocrites.  Before we approach God, we first have to stop sinning.  We’re only worthy to approach God, only worth anything to Him, when we live a good life.

Nothing could be further from the truth!  This religious lie of has put up a false barrier that keep far too many people away from God who need to draw near to Him.

God will never, ever turn His back on someone who calls on Him in their sin.  Hypocrisy is not honest, broken, sinful people who go to church to seek and serve God.  Hypocrisy is people who go to church and then claim that they are without sin and better than those who don’t.  Jesus has a huge problem with true hypocrisy as well!

If you walk through these doors wasted and high without a penny in your pocket, or in whatever other sin-consumed state you can imagine, but you come here in that condition because you know you need Jesus; that’s exactly where you need to be and exactly why we’re here.  Hopefully the people you meet here will welcome you with open arms and love you enough to come alongside of you to go to Jesus together.

This isn’t some new-age, hyper-grace, seeker-friendly, watered-down concept of what church is supposed to be, either.  It’s a Biblical truth and reality!  The world doesn’t place much value in broken things, but God places incredible value in our brokenness!  Why?  Because God sees not just our brokenness, but our full potential with which we were created! 

God will never turn away anyone to turns to Him in their brokenness.  To Him, we are beautifully broken!

God doesn’t toss aside broken things, He is a redeemer and a restorer.  He is a master craftsman who can repurpose and restore anyone from any circumstance!  Not even rotting in a tomb for days is too far gone for Jesus, just ask Lazarus!

The Bible is full of brokenness because mankind’s history and present and future is full of it.  This will continue up until the day that Jesus proclaims, “Behold, I make all things new!”  The Bible is full of broken men and women who turned to the Lord and not a single story where God turns them away.  In fact, all of the mighty men and women of God who did incredible things for the Lord have recorded in their Biblical account their brokenness, too.

We turn first to a brief and pointed parable of Jesus about this very subject matter.  Who does God accept and who does God reject?  The religious person who lives righteously and stands firmly on their own righteousness to approach God?  Or the broken sinner who asks for God’s mercy?

Luke 18:9-14

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one