TRUE BLESSINGS

2000 William R. Cunningham
August 13, 2000

For some reason I keep thinking about how far we have strayed in the church community. The typical mainstream sermon or teaching inevitably relates to prosperity in the form of wealth or possessions. I keep thinking about how people don't know God and the little that the church community is doing to rectify that. Our concept of God tends to be that of a genie or grocery store. We approach God when we need something and our praises to God are for something that we had faith for and received. I think about how Jesus Christ said to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

I think of the people that were killed and are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. They stood up for Christ and their faith in him and not for the wealth that they acquired if indeed they had wealth. I think of the missionaries that go into rural poverty stricken areas of the world simply to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why, so that these people might have great wealth or poverty or so that they might come to know Christ. Too often the gospel of riches is preached instead of the Gospel of Christ. Too often the temptation to pursue wealth and abundance overshadows the real issue of reconciliation to God.

Because of the twisted views of prosperity and thus blessings, we tend to think that God blesses us by giving us stuff. We equate blessings with the amount of things that we have acquired. Please understand that I am not suggesting that we should avoid nice things. However, my point is that these things become the focus of our lives and the goal of our existence. We feel that it is God's responsibility to make us rich or to grant us great possessions because we have faith in Him. This has provided the foundation for lust and a turning away from the one and true God. How can we turn away from God?

We turn away from God when we don't do what He says and therefore don't live according to His Way. We turn away from God when we turn towards something else. Consider the following scripture

True blessings come from God and are a result of obeying Him. Notice that I said true blessings. Technically, blessings can come from any number of sources, even from ourselves. My point is that true meaningful and lasting blessings originate from God and are a result of obeying Him. We shall examine Deuteronomy 7:12-16, 8:1-20 and learn about the process of true blessings from God.

Let's define the word bless before we dive into Deuteronomy. This includes word such as blessed and blessing. In general the word bless means happy, fortunate, prosperous, or the act of wishing good for someone. Blessings are not merely words spoken. Rather, blessings include the power to bring about that declaration. There are two different emphasis of the word bless used in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The word "bless" in the Old Testament derives from a Hebrew word that literally meant, "to kneel." This was a sign of adoration (see Psalms 103:1,2; 145:1,2). The word "bless" in the Old Testament was used mostly as a verb, which meant that it referred to an activity or gesture. There are at least three modes of blessings, which are given below.

1. God blesses us (Ex. Genesis 1:22,28, Acts 3:25-26)

2. We bless God (Ex. Deuteronomy 8:10)

3. We bless others. (Ex. Genesis 49:1-28)

God blesses us by giving us gifts both temporal and spiritual. We consider such gifts as a blessing from God because of his mercy and grace and not because we earned it. We bless God when we show our gratitude for what he has done for us (his blessings). We bless others by declaring or wishing God's favor and goodness upon others.

The New Testament's emphasis on the concept of blessing is on the fact of being blessed. Where as the Old Testament speaks much about blessing or bless, the New Testament speaks much about being blessed. The Beatitudes is an excellent example of this concept (Matthew 5:3-12). The fundamental concept of blessing in the New Testament is that we are already blessed. Blessings do not come from riches and possessions. Blessings ultimately come because of what God has done. The greatest gift or blessing that God has provided is salvation for all people. We are already blessed due to the fact that we are part of the Body of Christ and reconciled to God the Father, the creator of heaven and earth.

Our lesson will be divided into four aspects of blessing. We will examine the following.

1. God blesses us

2. We are blessed by God

3. We bless God

4. The blessings of God are sustained and continue

 

The first thing we must notice is that we must obey God. This doesn't mean that we have to follow or live by the Old Testament Law. This does mean that we have to abide by the Way of God and do what he tells us to do. What has God told you to do? What have you done to hear God? Where do you spend your time? God will do what he says if we do what he tells us to do. This is reasonable since it is very unlikely that God would bless disobedience.

Doing what God said would guarantee the Hebrew people blessings from God. They had to listen to and obey God's rules in order to receive His blessing. The same principle applies to us, which can especially be seen in salvation. Let me explain. Salvation is provided for all people yet all people do not believe. Only those that believe in Jesus Christ will experience the blessings (salvation) of the LORD. Likewise the Hebrew people had to obey the LORD in order to experience the blessing of the LORD, namely the Promised Land, they had to obey Him.

The possessions of the Hebrew people would be blessed as well as the individual. They would experience abundance in crops and in livestock as well as offspring. The blessing (favor) of the LORD would manifest itself in the prosperity of the people and what they had. This goes right back to what Jesus said some time later.

God first and stuff come as a result. We don't serve God or obey God to receive great wealth. That would not produce blessings from God because of the improper motives of serving God. We obey God because we love God. We do what God says because we have faith in him for every aspect of our lives. We obey God because we love him and we trust him. God's love (blessing) will overtake us and we won't have to worry about what we shall eat or drink or what we will put on today. We will walk in the confidence that God, our heavenly Father, will take care of us.

Our blessings, whether material or spiritual, ultimately originate from God. These blessings are a result of our obedience to God, i.e., living according to His Way. If we live a life in obedience to God's word then we can have confidence in knowing that His love and care will always be with us and that He will always provide for us. We can rest assured that we will truly prosper in the things that we do and in the things that we have.

Again we see a call to obedience so that prosperity (God's blessing) might come from God. I use the word prosperity to mean increase or to move forward in according to God's grace. Consider the following scripture as an example of this concept.

First we see that a man (Hebrew for "person" in this context. No gender is specified) is blessed by walking according to the Way of God. He or she is blessed as a result of his upright lifestyle. Notice that whatever he or she does will prosper. The word "prosper" here comes from a Hebrew word that means to push forward (in various senses), to break out, come (mightily), go over, be good, be meet, be profitable. The question now is what are you doing so that God can prosper it? What about your relationship with him? What about working on a good marriage? What about working to acquire more patience? Prosperity should not be measured in dollars and cents, rather, against the principles in the Kingdom of God (fruits of the Spirit for example).

Another thing that you might notice from the Deuteronomy scripture is that obedience precedes blessings. You obey first and then you are blessed because of it. Also note that God determines the blessing. This simply means that the purpose of God's blessings is not merely for our own self enjoyment. Rather, we have to think of the blessings of God to be accompanied by a purpose. God is not in the business to make people rich just because.

Deuteronomy 8:2-9 Highlights the fact that we must remember what God has done for us in the past and how what he did was for our good, to lead us forward. Moses told the people that God did the things that he did regarding the wilderness so that they would learn that we live by the word of God as well as physical food. In verse five we also see that God chastens (corrects, instructs, and punish) His people just like a father chastens his child (See 1 Corinthians 11:32, Hebrews 12:5-6).

The New Testament firmly establishes that we are already blessed, if indeed we believe in Jesus Christ. We obeyed God by believing in Christ and now we experience His blessing. Measuring blessings in dollars and cents will obscure the fact that you are already blessed. My father once said that people don't realize that they are already blessed when they have something to give to the church. Instead they keep giving trying to get blessed. Good news folks. You are already blessed! Prosperity doesn't come by faith since faith alone is nothing or meaningless. Prosperity comes from activity and the corresponding blessing of the LORD as we shall see shortly.

What do you do when you experience the blessing of God? Do you thank Him and recognize that what you received was not because of your own work? We should be careful to bless God when we experience and enjoy God's blessing. The word "bless" in this verse means to thank God and to show adoration for his mercy and grace upon you. Basically we have to give God his dues otherwise the temptation of pride might begin to grow and prosper.

The Hebrew people were to bless the LORD for the Promised Land that they were to enjoy. They were to thank God and acknowledge His blessings in their lives. Do you bless the Lord for His blessing sin your life? How often do you thank God for His mercies and gifts in your life? How often do you recognize and acknowledge that God has prospered you in school, on your job, or in your business. Of course remember that prosperity implies that you are doing something. The Bible does not teach that God will drop prosperity out of the sky. Prosperity is "applied" to what you are doing. In the case of the Hebrew people, prosperity was applied to their livestock, crops, and children.

Consider the following scripture.

Notice that the concept of wealth and blessings is not implied in this scripture. Though prosperity may be the result of God's blessings, we shouldn't define God's blessings by prosperity.

Here is the dangerous part. Remember that the result of obedience is blessings and that these blessings may be experienced in any number of ways (prosperity in your business, your job, etc.). Therefore, disobedience is the enemy to blessings. Disobedience will stop the blessings of God from flowing. Disobedience, as a matter of fact, is indeed a turning away from God. Therefore, God warns the Hebrew people, which apply to us as well, to beware that they don't forget the LORD by disobedience.

The danger is that the Hebrew people would eat and drink and be merry and enjoy the blessings of God and then forget that God was the source of those blessings. Their hearts would be lifted (pride would set in) and they would forget the Lord God. Since they have forgotten that the Lord is the source of what they had via His blessings, it would be reasonable to see how they could fall away from God and not do what He says. If they remembered what the Lord had done for them then they would be less likely to move away from Him.

Though some of the things that the Hebrew people experienced in the wilderness might have seen harsh, we see here that it was for their own good. However, God always took care of them even when they complained and demonstrated a lack of faith in Him. Of course, disobedience by one generation prohibited them from entering into the Promised Land.

The great danger! The thinking that what you have is because of your own efforts is very dangerous. Such thinking will result in the blessings of God to stop flowing because you will begin to walk in disobedience.

Remember God because our blessings come from Him. Whatever we have originates from the LORD. Therefore we should heed this warning as well and remember God as we enjoy what He has given us. If we don't then we place ourselves outside of his covering. God will not honor disobedience. We might end up a slave or in bondage to something else (namely what we turned to in the first place).

What have we learned in this lesson? We saw that true blessings come from God and those blessings come as a result of our obedience to God. Sure there are blessings from other sources but only true and lasting blessings come from God. The reason we are blessed of God is because we obey God, i.e., live according to His Way. Doing this place us under His arm of protection and prosperity. Prosperity is measured in terms of succeeding in the things that you do and that because of God's purpose for you.

We learned four things about blessings.

1. God blesses people

2. People can bless God

3. People can bless other people

4. God's blessings must be sustained by continued obedience

 

We said that the word blessing means generally to prosper or to declare good tidings on someone. To bless God is a form of praise and worship of God.

How can we apply the things that we have learned in this lesson? The first thing that we should be aware of is that true blessings come from God and that by obedience. The primary objective in our lives should be to accomplish what God wants of us and do so in accordance with His Way. All Christians and ultimately all people should strive to live their lives according to the principles of the Kingdom of God. If we live our life according to God's Way then we can be confident of having the things that we need and enjoying the blessings that God bestows upon us.

The concept of faith has been so twisted that we think that God's purpose is to give us the things that we want in honor of our faith. We think that God is supposed to prosper all people with this great faith so that these people will have great possessions and wealth. However, the greatest thing that we should pursue is obedience to God. Only then can we rest in His blessings. Only then can we accomplish His purpose for our lives. We cannot serve God and money. We cannot pursue God and things. Either we will cling to wealth and forsake God or we will cling to God regardless of the wealth.

Remember God in all the blessings that you experience. When you obtain a new home, car, job, or business contract, remember God. All things belong to God and ultimately He prospers you. Don't think for a moment that the things that you do have is solely due to your own efforts and smarts. Remember that God has blessed you and that when you enjoy that blessing that you should honor God and bless Him.

Don't let a day go by without thanking God for the many blessings that He has given you. Pray to the Father and do what He says. Thank Him for the things that you do have because even in those you will find His blessing. Truly we should bless the LORD and learn to speak kindly of each other in love and respect so that we too might be found blessing each other as well. Amen.