Rev. David Holwick T [very well-received]
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 28, 2015
Deuteronomy 11:26-28
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I. We love to be blessed.
A. The go-to term for boasting.
Social media uses hashtags (attached keywords) to associate
an experience or feeling with a statement or photo.
One of the most popular has been "#blessed".
For example, someone buys a $94,000 Cadillac Escalade and
sends a photo of it to all their friends with the tag
"#blessed".
A social critic at The New York Times suggests that it's
become "the go-to term for those who want to boast about an
accomplishment while pretending to be humble, fish for
a compliment, acknowledge a success (without sounding
too conceited), or purposely elicit envy."
How can a word that is supposed to mean "endowed with divine
favor and protection" take on such an opposing use?
#64862
B. Blessing has its place.
1) Everyone wants to have good things and be fulfilled and
happy.
2) God himself says he wants these things for us.
a) Consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:11 --
"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give good
gifts to those who ask him!"
3) I'm sure the promise of divine blessings is a motivation
for many people to become a Christian.
a) No one says, I want to be a Christian so I can be
deprived and unhappy and miserable.
b) We come to Jesus because we want God to make our
lives better.
4) But should blessings be our focus, or just the icing?
II. Blessings may not be what we think they are.
A. We focus on material needs.
1) The Prosperity Gospel is widely taught.
A whole segment of American Christianity believes in what
is often called the "Prosperity Gospel."
You believe in Jesus, go to church, and God will give you
a Cadillac.
God wants you to be rich in a very materialistic sense.
Popular promoters of this are Creflo Dollar, Paul Crouch
and to a lesser extent Joyce Meyer.
Creflo Dollar once wrote, "As a child of God, you have a
covenant right to receive His blessings.
See yourself possessing the things for which you've been
praying.
For example, if you're believing God for a new house, then
speak His Word and visualize yourself living in that
house."
#64860
2) Even if you are not as crass as the TV preachers, many
average Christians think God's deal with us is we
believe in him and he will make sure we stay employed
and have nice things.
3) It can lead to real disappointment.
One person wrote to a forum on Yahoo.com.
The title was, "Why hasn't God blessed me with a job?"
After describing their failed attempts at job interviews,
the person says this:
I'm a born again Christian (in which I'm getting SICK of
giving money away but yet, I'm not getting anything
in return).
Even when I was reading my bible everyday, going to church
and living a Godly life and tithing, praying for
employment, fasting.
But I'm still without a job.
I'm getting sick of it.
I'm getting sick of being told "Tithe and you'll get a job"
well, that [expletive] don't work.
I'm sick of going to church and my pastor begging for money.
Especially when people don't have any.
I'm just sick of everything Christian.
I don't know if I'm getting frustrated or what.
But sometimes I feel like cursing...
#64863
B. Jesus had a different emphasis.
1) Look at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12.
a) He says those who are blessed are poor in spirit,
mourning, meek, hungering for righteousness and
pure in heart. Beaten up, too.
2) What blessings do they receive?
a) The kingdom of heaven (i.e., salvation), comfort,
mercy, a vision of God.
b) No Cadillacs in there, though the meek do inherit
the earth.
1> Inheritance comes later, of course, not right
now.
2> His main emphasis is on the joy of a real
relationship with Almighty God.
C. A material emphasis is not totally wrong.
1) The Bible contains many verses that talk about how God
promises believers good things in this life.
2) Celeste and I are reading through the Bible together.
a) Not so much together, because she does her reading
at 5:30 a.m., but we go at the same pace.
Right now we are in the psalms.
Psalm 37:25 says, "I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread."
Many other psalms have similar statements.
b) Malachi 3:10 is even more direct. God is speaking and
he says:
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that
there may be food in my house.
Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see
if I will not throw open the floodgates of
heaven and pour out so much blessing that
you will not have room enough for it."
3) The testimony of many Christians is that they have received
good things in life and they give all the credit to God.
III. Blessings can be material or spiritual, but they have strings.
A. It is explicitly explained in Deuteronomy 11.
1) Blessing "IF" you obey the commands of the Lord your God.
2) Curses "IF" you disobey the commands and turn away from
him.
B. You have no right to expect blessings if you are disobeying God.
1) God commands believers to work hard, live frugally and
be generous to others and God.
a) I believe God has designed it so that material blessings
flow naturally from these practices and values.
2) Other forms of disobedience can also affect your blessings.
a) If you are having an affair, or shoplifting from
Walmart, or hating people in your heart, blessings
may evaporate.
b) Even if you are not caught for these things, God can
get back at you in other ways.
c) As Paul says in Galatians 6:7-8 --
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
A man reaps what he sows.
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from
that nature will reap destruction...."
IV. Blessings are not always straight-forward.
A. Evidence of blessings is not proof of obedience.
A Christian radio show host received a call from a female
listener.
The woman asked the show's host to pray for her, and come in
agreement with her that her live-in boyfriend, who was still
married to another woman, would become her husband.
The radio host in a nice way tried to tell her that that was
a ridiculous request, asking him to pray for her to have
another woman's husband.
The radio host asked her why she thought that God would honor
that kind of prayer.
The woman responded, "Because God has been blessing me:
He's blessed me with a good job, a nice house, a nice car,
and two beautiful children."
(These were children she had by the same man she was
shacking up with!)
#64860
1) Don't judge your inner life by how well your material life
is going.
2) God may just be being nice to you out of mercy.
a) He often blesses people who don't deserve it.
b) But don't presume upon it. Repent!
B. The lack of blessing doesn't necessarily mean God is mad at you.
1) Some people seem to be blessed more than others.
a) Christians can get bent out of shape because of this.
b) Especially when they think they have been more moral or
spiritual than the overly-blessed person.
1> This raises interesting questions of its own.
2> Why do we think our superficial assessment of the
inner qualities of others is accurate?
c) God has his own reasons, and his own timing.
1> Perhaps he is giving them an incentive to repent.
2> You will answer to God for yourself, not for them.
2) Why do others seem cursed instead of blessed?
a) The suffering of people in our community recently.
1> This week's death of Tom Sillence.
2> Boating accident that killed young Chris D'Amico.
A> Think how their families are devastated.
b) Particularly hard-hit - Janet Spencer and her family.
1> Janet leads the community Bible study at Hillside
Lutheran. I see her as a truly godly woman.
2> Her husband has Alzheimer's, her grandson Levi was
born with spina bifida, and her son Keith, who
was disabled, had a massive seizure this week
and was declared brain dead.
3> Few would say Janet has been blessed, but I think
she would. She knows that what God gives, he
never takes away.
c) People with close relationships to God can suffer.
1> Job lost everything he had.
2> Paul was beheaded.
3> Moses was exiled.
4> Jesus was crucified.
V. The ultimate goal of God's blessings.
A. He is trying to mold you.
1) God doesn't want you fat and wealthy, he wants you more
like his son, the Lord Jesus.
2) Without Jesus, all the other blessings - health, wealth,
life itself - have no lasting value.
3) Jesus is the only way to true blessings.
#18350
4) And he wants you to be a blessing to others.
Psalm 67:1-2 reveals God's agenda:
"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his
face shine upon us,
that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation
among all nations."
Use your blessings to reach others for Christ.
B. Do you have the ultimate blessing?
1) Without Jesus, you have nothing.
2) Salvation comes to those who seek God with their whole
heart.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Sermon #18350 “Why Should God Bless You?” Rev. Coty Pinckney, Community
Bible Church of Williamstown, Massachusetts;
<http://www.expository.org>; July 28, 2002. Abe Kudra Collection.
#64860 “The Truth About Blessing,” Bodé Adeboyejo,
<http://lordsquill.com/Articles/Reformational/Truth_About_Blessing.htm>.
#64862 “Are Christians Too Blessed?” Jim Daly, January 21, 2015;
<http://jimdaly.focusonthefamily.com/are-christians-too-blessed/>.
#64863 “God Shouldn't Bless Them With A Job,” Rev. David Holwick;
<https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20140308212821AANdfra>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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