“To Heal the Brokenhearted”

Sermon ~ 8/22/2020 ~ Olympia & Tacoma ~ Roc Corbett

 

INTRO:  There’s a prophecy in the book of Isaiah that is being fulfilled every day.  The prophecy is about God the Father sending the one who became His Son Jesus Christ, and of the purposes for which He was sent. 

This prophecy, and the fulfilling of it, touches each one of us very personally, and opens the way for us to have a spiritual relationship with God and with Christ. 

 

Listen to the beautiful words, expressing God’s love for us…

Isa. 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor, He sent Me to heal the brokenhearted…”

 

UCG Bible Commentary (2003)   

Chapter 61 begins with “the song of the Lord’s anointed. God was speaking in Isaiah 60:22. And He is still speaking in the next verse, 61:1. Yet He mentions another here as God. This makes sense only when we understand that God the Father and Jesus Christ are both God.   …

 

• I was meditating about this, and related verses, and began to understand more fully than when I was younger about how important the healing of our broken hearts is…

 

• There’s something so very encouraging going on, and so necessary for each of us…,

and it is one of the most important and powerful gifts of God that we receive from and through the work of Jesus Christ…

 

SPS:  I’d like to share this with you today, with the hope that you will be encouraged and strengthened, and be able to be renewed with this kind of healing, because God knows we all need this blessing for which He sent His Son ~ “To Heal the Brokenhearted.” 

 

Isaiah wrote of this from a prophetic point of view.

 

            Let’s see it from the time it began to be fulfilled in a very direct manner…

Luke 4:16-21 “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. 

• Let’s notice what this means before we go on…
• Heb. 5:4-5    “…just as Aaron was…”  This is referencing the role/s that Jesus was anointed to fulfill, with His anointing coming from God…
• Aaron’s anointing was described in Exodus 29, with the anointing oil being poured on his head…” 
• Acts 10:36-38  Describes when, how and the effects of this anointing by God of Jesus Christ….

I wanted to emphasize this first, and then get to the main point for the message today.  Jesus was anointed by God in heaven, as our High Priest, to bring to us these blessings…

Back to Luke 4:18

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.  He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

(Let’s read on, and then I’ll come back to this point…) 

to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” 

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them,

“Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

 

• The healing of our broken hearts is founded on the love and work of God and Christ.

If we see this first, the door to the way forward will open more easily for the receiving of the blessing God so very much wants to give to us.So, let’s look more closely…

This phrase, “to heal the brokenhearted,” is not in the manuscripts, but is included in the KJV, NKJV, and other translations…

Jesus was reading from the book of Isaiah, where it was written… 

 

Vines ~ Definition:  Brokenhearted = “suntribo” = “to rub together,” and so “to shatter, shiver, break in pieces by crushing,” is said of the bruising of a reed, Metaphorically of the crushed condition of a “broken-hearted” person Luke 4:18. 

• Let’s take another step toward understanding this point, and read about the “crushed reed” in 

Matt. 12:18-21  This passage will help us to more deeply understand His approach as He deals with those He loves so very much…

This is in fulfillment of another prophecy in Isa. 42:1-4

 

My purpose today:  To speak “heart to heart” about something that God is so graciously giving to each one of us, because He knows our hearts need this kind of healing. 

• He knew this when He inspired Isaiah to prophecy of the Messiah’s mission…

And, it’s appropriate that we read again of why He was sent, and how He accomplished the work the Father had given Him.

Isa. 53:1-12

 

• He knew this when He inspired the writing of the Psalms…

And here, we can transition to the effect of His healing work in our lives…

Psa. 147:1-3  “Praise the Lord!  For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.  The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.  He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

 

These kind of wounds are real…just as real, and usually harder to heal from than physical wounds. 

STORY:  My knee, with a chainsaw…  If you’ve ever had an injury or a deep cut, you know how painful it is and how it hurts to be touched.

Often sorrow and loss are like deep wounds. They can be so painful that it seems nothing or no one can make the pain go away. Sometimes our heart is so broken that we can’t even express the words, and nothing seems to help.

 

 

But, God is there, and Christ as well…We can read in Scriptures God inspired about how He healed others whose hearts were broken…

 

Psalms 56:8-11

 

God was so aware of David that He even figuratively collected his tears. In the same way God is involved with us and aware of our pain, our joys, our failures, our accomplishments.

 

Another example, showing the connection and understanding that Christ has…

King David said in 

Psa. 69:9, 20

V. 9 “Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up [This verse is prophetic of Christ, and quoted by Him in John 2:17 when He cleansed the temple], and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.”

 

Psa. 69:20 “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.”

 

Rom. 15:3-4 “For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

 

How can we receive this awesome blessing?

1. God gives us a very important way to engage in our own spiritual health…

• How He heals the brokenhearted:

Psa. 34:18“The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.”

 

• The kind of broken heart that God can work with… a repentant heart

Psa. 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart—these O God, You will not despise.”

 

2. Since God sent Christ to heal the brokenhearted, we can come to Him for that blessing…

Matt. 11:28-30“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

 

Phil. 3:8-14One of the best passages for me, about leaving old hurts behind and pressing forward toward the goal…

 

                       

This message started with God’s love for us, and Christ’s love for us. 

We considered a bit about ourselves, and how we may receive the blessing of healing…

Now, let’s turn our thoughts to helping others…

3. We can help others along their path toward the healing of their broken hearts…

 

2 Cor. 1:3-4 “…“the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”

Reach out to others. As God has reached out to us, so we should be instruments of God to reach out and help others who are in pain.

Ask God to use you to encourage others through their pain.

By your own pain you will be able to understand and help in a far greater way. Jesus Christ our Savior was tested in every way just as we are and understands all that you go through (Hebrews 4:15). He reached out to us by giving His life so that we would be healed.  We can all take on the job of healing the broken hearts of those around us by emulating His life. Being a disciple of Jesus means offering encouragement, hope and love to those who are in need. 

 

Conclusion: 

Our hearts are the field in which the seed of the Kingdom is sown.  (Matt. 13:19). 

Our heart is the dwelling place of Christ in us.  (Eph. 3:17).

Our heart is the where God places His Holy Spirit in us.  (2 Cor. 1:22).

We are to “…let the peace of God rule in your hearts…” (Col. 3:15).

We can have hope, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which was given to us.  (Rom. 5:5).

How wonderful it is that God sent His Son “…to heal the brokenhearted.”  Thank you, Father, and thank you, Christ, for giving us this blessing and showing us the way to receive it, and to pass it on to others.