Are you blessed?
How many of you feel blessed?
Or maybe you feel like you’ve been blessed at certain times in your life?
I’ve got some good news for everyone in the room today…
God WANTS to BLESS your life.
You may wonder what I mean when I say that. I want you to know that I truly believe this with all of my heart, that God wants to bless your life. That at the heart of God is blessing and favor and every good thing.
Count Your Blessings
When I was growing up there was this song we sang in church called, “Count Your Blessings.” Now we finished up the Jesus Music series last week so I won’t go into the details of this song… but this is a great segue into this series because the chorus of that song says…
“Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God has done.”
And I tried to do that as I was growing up.
Every time I got a front row parking spot at the grocery store I was counting my blessings. Every time I got a new job, or a raise, or I made a good grade on a test I was counting my blessings. When I got into the college of my choice I was counting my blessings. When I met my wife, I was counting my blessings! When we bought our first home I was counting my blessings.
Isn’t this what we do? We live in a world where, if someone has a lot of money, a big house, nice car, a good job, a beautiful family… we say,
“Wow, look at them. God has really blessed them.”
And I don’t mean to suggest that these things aren’t blessings from God. But I do think we need to pause from time to time and ask the question,
What does it mean to be blessed?
And if I’m being honest… That’s been a question I’ve really struggled with all my life.
What does it mean to be blessed?
I remember in 2005 going on my first mission trip to San Marcos, Honduras.
Like a lot of you I’ve been on mission trips all around the world. But this one was different. We had developed a relationship with a missionary in Choluteca and he was working to plant a church in San Marcos.
Our job for the week was to get to know the people, work in the school each day, and provide a VBS kind of experience at night for all the children.
Our team was fairly small and our week there was filled with difficulty. At one point, every one on our team was down with the stomach bug. It was hot during the day. We woke up to roosters crowing before the sun came up. But we were committed to doing what we believed God had called us there to do through every hardship we faced.
Our team worked hard every day. The people there was some of the most impoverished people we had ever been around, but they were so full of joy and love. By the end of the week we had more than 1000 kids coming to the church to hear about the love of God. We were able to buy bananas for 1 penny each and that was the big giveaway on the last night, everyone got as many bananas as they wanted!
And something happened that week to every person on our team. Everyone started asking the same question…
We have so much more than they do, why are they so happy and why am I not?
They live in a house smaller than my closet, how are they so full of joy and why am I always so angry?
They have so little yet they share everything they have with us, I have so much yet I’m so unwilling to share what I have with anyone, why is that?
What does it really mean to be blessed?
Too often we think that the blessing of God is all about health and wealth. But what if the blessing of God is about something better?
What is the Blessing?
What’s interesting is that as we look through the pages of scripture what we discover is that there isn’t really a correlation between blessing and wealth.
If anything, to receive the blessing of God, from God, more often than not it means letting go of what we hold on to so that we can take hold of God’s blessing.
1 // What is the Blessing?
The first thing we have to understand is what the blessing of God is and what it is not.
Abraham was blessed by God. That blessing came in the form of an invitation and a promise. The invitation? Leave the place you call home, come and walk with me. The promise? I will make your name great and I will make you a great nation. (Genesis 12.1-3)
Job was blessed by God. That blessing came in the form of an invitation and a promise. The invitation? Trust me in your brokenness and loss. The promise? I will be with you in the good times and bad, and I will make all things right and all things new. (James 5.11)
Mary was blessed by God. That blessing came in the form of an invitation and a promise. The invitation? The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the Messiah will be formed in you. The promise? From now on all generations will call you blessed and you will give birth to the Son of God! (Luke 1)
Paul was blessed by God. The blessing came in the form of an invitation and a promise. The invitation? Stop persecuting me and start following me. The promise? The Light shining on you will shine through you to others.
So what is the blessing of God? What does it mean to be blessed.
An Invitation and a Promise
In every person blessed by God in scripture, the blessing is connected to an invitation and a promise.
The invitation is always about Presence and the promise is always about sharing that Presence with others.
In every story, with Abraham and Job, with Mary and Paul, and with so many other stories of people of faith throughout scripture… from David to Nehemiah, Isaiah and Jeremiah, Peter and John, and the list goes on and on and on, the blessing had little to do with a person’s material blessings but everything do with the blessing of God’s presence in their life.
And what happens when this light, this presence, is living inside of perfectly imperfect people?
I’m not sure anyone ever said it better than the apostle Paul. Paul considered himself the chief of all sinners. But he also understood that God’s grace was sufficient for Him and that God’s power was made perfect in his weakness. Listen to what Paul once wrote in 2 Corinthians 4.6-10:
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
What is the blessing?
The blessing of God is the light of Christ shining in our hearts. It shines in the hearts of those living in Honduras just like it shines in so many of you here in Coppell! The blessing isn’t about the presence of material possessions, it’s about the Presence of the Living God living in you!
2 // Who is the Blessing For?
The second thing we have to understand is who the blessing is for.
Paul continues…
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
Paul knew that we are all perfectly imperfect.
But here’s the good news, broken jars let the Light leak!
Those lines and broken places in our lives are the exact places where the Light of Christ shines through our lives. And if you are not broken, or allowing others to see where you’ve been broken, then the Light of Christ can’t shine through your cracks.
I love it when people come to me and tell me… You may not know this but we’ve struggled financially in the past. Once upon a time we had to file for bankruptcy. If there is ever anyone who needs financial help, financial counseling, or just someone to talk to who’s been there… tell them to come see us.
Or… I’ve struggled with addiction. This was my vice but now I’ve been sober for this long. If there is ever anyone who you know who is struggling with this same thing or any addiction, who needs help, or just someone to talk to… tell them to come see me.
Or… We’ve struggled with infertility. Our journey took us down this road. And it was hard. My faith was in shambles. But now we’re older. We’ve walked that road. We understand what it’s like. And if there is ever anyone who is struggling in that same way and they need help, if they need someone to talk to, you tell them to come see me.
What’s happening in that moment? People who have the light of Christ shining in their hearts want to let that Light shine through their brokenness to others.
Paul knew what this kind of hardship is like. The blessing isn’t that you won’t experience hardship.
Ask Abraham and Sarah, ask Job and his wife, ask Mary and Joseph, ask Paul.
The blessing is that the Presence of God is with us and the Light of Christ will shine within us.
This blessing of the Light of Christ is FOR YOU, but it’s NOT JUST FOR YOU.
SO..
3 // How do we share the blessing of God?
Paul said…
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
SEEEN BY WHO?
Who sees the light of Jesus shining in us through our suffering?
The world around us! There is something DIFFERENT about you!
Yes! There is! It’s the Presence of God in us, for us, with us, and shining through us!
This is how we share the blessing of God.
Like a cracked pot, a fractured jar of clay, we let the light of Christ, which is the blessing of God, the presence of God, shine in us and through us to those around us.
Maybe you think, God can’t use me. My life is to broken, I’ve made too many mistakes. But do you know what happens when you put a candle inside a broken container?
The light shines through the brokenness.
Light leaks!
Will you allow the light of God shine in you and through you to those around you?
Here’s a story for you to consider…
Long ago lived a wealthy king whose fortune was unrivaled. He possessed valuable treasures from all known lands including paintings and sculptures from the world’s greatest artists. The legend of his prosperity was punctuated by his most prized possession, a precious diamond bigger than any that had ever been seen before. In fact, it was larger than the king’s own hand and nearly flawless in its color and clarity.
When the king wasn’t admiring it himself, the diamond was put on display for all his loyal subjects to admire, protected by armed guards, of course. Visitors from far and wide came to gaze upon its mythical beauty.
As the king’s fame grew and his kingdom flourished, he credited this very special diamond as the source of his prosperity.
One afternoon as the king gazed upon the diamond, holding the precious stone up to the sunlight, to his horror he noticed a deep and long crack from the top of the stone to the very bottom.
“How could this have happened?” he exclaimed, heart-broken with the devastating knowledge that it would be impossible to fix this terrible flaw.
His court gathered around him with his most esteemed advisors attempting to appease his fears. The best jewelers throughout his kingdom visited his throne room to examine the flawed diamond. After inspecting the crack, most were concerned that any attempt to work on the stone would cause further damage, splitting it into countless smaller stones. The only ones to offer solutions suggested to an unrealistic hope.
Finally, a poor, elderly man arrived at the palace and asked if he could examine the stone. Initially the king’s guards thought he may be a homeless wanderer but quickly learned he was a gifted lapidary whose engraving artistry was thought to be the best known to humanity. After scrutinizing the flawed diamond this old man looked at the king and said, “Your Highness, I know what to do. I can fix this. Not only will I restore its beauty, but I will make it more valuable than you could even imagine.” The king sat in disbelief wondering about the audacity of this old man’s claims.
“Your Majesty, all I ask is that you let me do my work undisturbed, unmonitored. In two weeks’ time I will return your diamond to you. In the meantime, allow your patience and trust to give me the privacy I need to focus on my work.”
The king, concerned this might be a con, agreed, adding the condition that the elderly stonecutter must do his work in the palace. A room was prepared and guards appointed to keep watch over the old man’s coming and goings. With
that, the old man took the stone and began the slow, undramatic work of restoration.
The king couldn’t rest, obsessing over the future of his most prized possession. After two weeks, the old man let the guards know that he was finished with the work and would like to present the diamond to his king. The palace guards rushed to the king’s throne room with the most anticipated news of the kingdom, and the court was assembled for the presentation.
Standing before His Majesty, the elderly lapidary held up the diamond, wrapped in a dirty old polishing rag. He carefully pulled the stone from the cloth. There, engraved on the top of the diamond, was an exquisite flower, and the crack down the middle of the stone was its stem. The king was astonished; the diamond was actually more stunning than before and more beautiful than anyone could have dreamed.
*This story is taken from The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth by Christopher L Heuertz
This is what God does with our lives. He takes what’s broken and makes it beautiful. He uses the lines in our lives to allow his beauty to shine through.
The blessing of God shines brightest through our brokenness.
Shine?
Will you let the light of Christ shine in you and through you to those around you? If you do, as you do, God will receive the glory and you will experience His blessing!
God WANTS to BLESS OUR lives.
If you want the blessing of God, it comes with an INVITATION and a PROMISE!
The INVITATION? To walk with Jesus. Say YES to becoming a follower of Jesus. IN many ways, that begins with your baptism.
When you say YES to the INVITATION, you become a recipient of the PROMISE. The Promise is that God will walk with you. And our God is a God who walks with and lives in broken vessels just like you and me.
We might think if we have acquired a lot of money and possessions that we are blessed. We may even feel blessed because we have so much.
We’ve been told by the culture we live in that to be happy, to be blessed, you have to have a lot of stuff. But it’s a lie.
Stuff does not equal happiness.
Monetary wealth and material possessions does not equal a blessed life.
To live a blessed life is to have the Light of Christ within you. To share his love with others. And, to let His light shine through your brokenness.
QUESTIONS:
- How have you typically understood the blessings of God?
- Why is it important to differentiate between the physical blessings of God and what it truly means to be blessed by God?
- In scripture, the blessing of God seems to always comes with an invitation to walk with God and a promise to share that blessing with others. Read Hebrews 11 and discuss how these heroes of faith, though perfectly imperfect, were blessed by God and shared that blessing with others.
- Read 2 Corinthians 4.6-10. How do we allow the Light of Christ to shine in us and through us to those around us?
- Write down all the blessings of God in your life.
- How can you use those blessings to bless others?
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