The Blessings of God

Genesis 12:1-3 (NLT) The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

In this passage from Genesis, we read of God telling Abraham that He wants to do a work through him. God wants to take Abraham, bless him, and make him great. But before he could do that work, Abraham first had to be called out from where he was living. He was told to leave his home, leave his family and go to the place that God shows him.

In today’s sermon, we are going to be looking at the blessings of God, at how God wants to bless us and how we in turn can bless others. I’m sure that all of us here want to live in the blessings of God. So what I would like to do look at the biblical pattern of how blessings work.

The journey to being blessed by God starts with obedience. You see, God couldn’t begin to do what he wanted to do until He had Abraham where he wanted him.For Abraham, that meant leaving his old life behind. It even meant leaving some of his family. We as followers of Christ are still called in the same way today.

What happened literally in the Old Testament is to demonstrate what happens spiritually in the New Testament, in the New Covenant. Jesus, who is the fulfilment of the Old Covenant puts it even more clearly:

Luke 14:26-27 (NLT) “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

If we want to follow Jesus, if we want to go where He is going and be where He is then He comes before our father or mother, brother or sister, and even before our own life. He calls us out of where we are living in order that we might follow Him.

In Matthew 16 He makes it even clearer:

Matthew 16:24-25 (NLT) Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it

Leaving the world doesn’t mean we go off to live in a cave in isolation, as some have thought in the past. No, it means separating ourselves from the world and how it lives, it means becoming vessels for God’s purpose. Our journey into the blessings of God begins with losing our own life and deciding to following Him. And if we are willing to lose our lives, we will find them. We exchange the life that the world has to offer with the life that Jesus has for us.

God’s promises are so often conditional. We read time and time again in the Bible, “If you do this, then I will do this.” Or if you obey, God’s blessing will follow. This is one of God’s promised the Israelites.

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (NLT) “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God:

And we see this same pattern repeated again and again in the Bible.
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Section 1: God Blesses us

So the result of Abraham’s obedience to God was that He would make Abraham into a great nation. Abraham would be made famous and would be blessed. And of course, we know that these things happened.

Abraham did leave his home and settled in the land of Canaan, and his descendants became the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. So what does it mean to blessed by God? In the Old Testament, the word predominantly used for blessing is “barak,” which means to invoke Divine favour. This concept is first introduced in Genesis 1:22, where God blesses the living creatures He has made and gives them the command to be fruitful and multiply.

God’s blessing is a dynamic verb. It’s not just a static state of goodness but active divine favour and purpose. The New Testament uses the Greek term “eulogia” (ευλογία), which embodies the giving of good gifts. In the sermon on the mount, the Beatitudes, exemplifies the New Testament’s interpretation of blessing, 

It shows it as the divine favour bestowed upon those who embody the qualities that God is looking for.

Matthew 5:3-12 (NLT) “God blesses those who are poor and realise their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

We can see how God specifies a particular blessing to each group of people. And they are blessed with the Kingdom of Heaven, with being comforted, with being given the whole earth, with justice, with mercy and with future rewards of Heaven. We see that same pattern, that out of obedience towards God, by following His character and His ways then blessings follow.

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Section2: We are a blessing to others.

But we have been called to do more than just receive blessings. We have been called out by God not just for our own sake, but also so that we can bless others.

1 Peter 3:8-12 (ESV) Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

So this verse in Peter explains that we have been called by God in order that we can be a blessing to others. And that blessing is not just to people that are nice to us. We’re told to bless those who do evil to us. When people curse us, we bless them, When people do evil towards us, we bless them. In acting like this we ourselves receive blessings from God. The more we give to others in goodness and kindness, even when they are evil, the more that God blesses us. Just like on the sermon on the mount, the more of Christ’s character that flows out of us, the more He gives us of him. It’s a virtuous circle, the more we give out to others, the more we receive from God.

So how do we bless others? When we bless someone, we make them better off than they were before. We have a positive impact on their lives. This can be in so many areas. It can be in terms of speaking good or encouraging someone, praying good things for someone, building someone up, or helping with their practical needs.

And we know that we can afford to be a blessing to others because we know that God provides everything that we need. We are secure in the fact that we are being looked after by our Heavenly Father in every way, and so we can stand as a source of good to others. Paul understood this when he wrote: 

Philippians 4:19 (NLT) And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

The same principal of giving and receiving also applies as we give with our finances or material possessions.I very rarely preach about money, because it is so easy to manipulate people on the topic, and it’s a subject very much misused in churches. However, the Bible does address this topic, and so I would not be representing the true word of God if I did not address it.

2 Corinthians 9:6-15 (NLT) Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

In this passage, Paul is addressing the church in Corinth as he sends workers to them to collect money from them. We need to note that this money was not for himself, but as a collection for other believers who were in need. And there is so much to unpack in what he says. Firstly, God does not want us to give reluctantly or because of pressure, be it from a church or from someone else. He wants it to be something that comes from our heart, out of a love for Him. And then it says that out of our giving, God will generously supply everything that we need not just for us, but so that we will have plenty left over to share with others.

“They share freely and give generously to the poor.”

And then it continues saying that we will be enriched in every way, so that means more than financially, so that we can always be generous.As we give, God gives to us in every way, not just financially but in all the goodness that he has for us. So again we can see that same Godly principle. We freely share what we have out of love, not for any other reason.And we can do that, because we know that God supplies our needs so that we do have plenty to share with those in need.

Section 3: Blessing God

So as we obey God and bless others, God blesses us. But there is actually a third type of blessing mentioned throughout the Bible, one which I rarely hear people mention, and that is when we bless God Himself

Deuteronomy 8:10 (ESV) And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

When God, or another person blesses us we are made better off than we were before. However, if we bless God, we do not make Him any better than he already is. God is the ultimate source of all blessings, so when the Bible tells us to bless the Lord it is better translated as thanksgiving. In fact many paraphrased Bible translations do translate bless in this context to give thanks.

Conclusion

Galatians 6:7-10 (NLT) Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

In the same way that there are natural laws, such as the laws of physics which define how the world works, there are also spiritual laws that are in place.The Bible defines these laws, one of which is sowing and reaping. We will harvest exactly what we plant. That means that the type of harvest we produce will be the type of harvest that we sow. If we live on producing after the flesh, we will reap the fruit of that. But, if we live by the Spirit, continually doing good, then we will reap a harvest of blessings

We also reap in proportion to what we sow. If we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly, If we sow generously we will reap generously. Paul points out that a harvest isn’t instant, the Bible tells us that we will receive it at just the right time, not necessarily immediately, which is why it urges us to continue doing good and not get tired.
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The point about sowing and reaping is that it is in our hands. God tells us the rules, and then leaves it to us to decide how we are going to work with those rules.