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CHRIST-CENTERED BIBLE STUDY

Lesson 2: Portraits of Our Brokenness

As discussed in lesson one, one question people commonly ask when reading the Bible is: “What does this teach about what I am supposed to do?”

Yet, if you read Scripture looking only for dance stepsbehavior patternsyou’ll fail to hear the music of the gospel, which is seeing the beauty of what Christ has done.

Big Idea: To hear the music of the gospel, you must first ask, "What does this passage reveal about my spiritual brokenness that requires the redemptive work of Christ?”

 

Another way of asking this is: “How does this verse point me to my need for Jesus?”

Let’s get some practice.

1

There’s a Hole in My Bucket

Imagine you are reading through the Book of Jeremiah and come across these words:

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:12-13, ESV

The people of Israel were dependent on rainfall for their survival. They frequently collected rainwater in underground cisterns cut out of rock that functioned like a large bucket.

The prophet Jeremiah asserts that God’s people had exchanged a flowing fountain for broken cisterns that were incapable of holding life-giving water.

As you reflect on this passage, ask yourself, “What does this passage reveal about my spiritual brokenness that requires the redemptive work of Christ?”

With this new perspective, the passage describes a heart condition we all have. We each trade living water for broken cisterns when we seek life in:

  • Pornography
  • Control
  • Romance
  • Performance
  • Or anything else you find your identity in apart from Christ.

When you are looking for life in any of these places, you are trying to catch water in a bucket full of holes rather than going to the Giver of Life.

Our desire for the approval of others

Respond

What are the broken cisterns in your life?

How are you tempted to make life work apart from Christ?

That’s where the Jeremiah passage wants to take us. And asking, “What does this passage reveal about my spiritual brokenness that requires the redemptive work of Christ?” opens the door to go there.

2

Planning for the Future

Now it’s your turn. Read this passage:

Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16, ESV

Reflect

Reveal
What does this passage reveal about my brokenness that requires Christ’s work in my life?
Answer
Hide

Notice the reference to “boast” and “boasting” in verse 16. James is speaking to a prideful spirit of independence that says, “I’m the master of my fate, the controller of my destiny. I’m the man.”

James invites me to come to the Lord, acknowledging my propensity to try to control my future, and live independently from Him. I must repent of my lack of faith in His goodness.

Thus the real dance step is not about planning at all.

What I hear Christ saying is, “Entrust your future to me”; not merely, “Stop making boastful claims about your future, you braggart.”

This kind of trust requires a renovation of our souls.

Take a Step

Write out this question in your journal or in a note on your phone. As you read your Bible this week, ask yourself this question: “What does this passage reveal about my spiritual brokenness that requires the redemptive work of Christ?”

What's Next:

In the next lesson, we’ll look below the surface to discover the root issues of the sins we struggle with, so we can better hear the music of the gospel in our lives.