Blessed to Bless(02Jan2011)
Series: Missions 2011
Missions M1
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Blessed to Bless
Texts: Psalm 67; Numbers 6:24-26; Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 42:1-6, 49:6; Romans 9:6-8
BIG IDEA: God blesses us so that we would be a blessing to others.
(Refer to the offering picture. On the first Sunday of Advent, I spoke briefly about how we at Tenth like lots of churches and nonprofits had fallen short of our giving targets and I said, “If you are a regular here would you prayerfully consider making a gift over and above your regular giving and as we close the year?” I said, “If you’d like to trust God more, but are not in the practice of doing so, please consider raising your giving to a tithe (a tenth) for the coming year. You’ve really excelled in the grace of giving… In the month of December alone, offerings totaled about $480,000 (yes, it's close to half a million dollars) and by God's grace and your responsiveness to God we are ending the year, our financial position is in the black. So thank you for being a blessing! As result of your giving, though of course we want to be careful in our spending in the new year, we won’t have to lay off staff we feel are called to serve here or cut back ministries we feel called by God to pursue. Thank you for being a blessing.)
Just before Christmas I was interviewed by one of Vancouver’s news radio stations on why church attendance swells at Christmas. Why do people who never go to church at any other time of year attend at Christmas and Easter?
After the interview was done, I was curious and so I asked the reporter, “How did hear out about Tenth.” I’m not sure if she is a follower of Christ, but she said, “A friend of mine invited me to Tenth and I’ve come a few times. I’ve been so impressed with your work in the community that I said to myself, ‘I want to do a story on Tenth some time’.”
If we’ve done any good at all in our city or in a place like Cambodia, it’s not because we’ve initiated anything, it’s because God has blessed us so we can be a blessing.
During January, as we often do here at Tenth, we’re going to focus on God’s call for us to bless the world through our participation in God’s mission locally and around the world. Please pray that this will be a powerful month here at Tenth as God commissions and sends us anew into the world.
Today as begin our new missions’ series, I want us to turn our attention to Psalm 67:
(If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s word.)
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Psalm 67
This Psalm is a prayer of blessing, or what we call a benediction for the community of God’s people. The Psalmist in verse 1 says, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us.”
Here the Psalmist is drawing on the classical benediction expressed first by Moses’ brother Aaron in Numbers 6:24:
24 “‘“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
Even if you are fairly new to Christianity, you have probably heard this benediction at the end of a Christian service. It is a beautiful blessing where the person offering the blessing invokes God to make his face shine upon his people. When that happens, God’s grace, his undeserved kindness, pours over people and he grants them peace. The Hebrew word for peace being used in his famous blessing is the word “shalom.” It means wholeness, complete wellness, peace with God, peace with other people.
In the next part of the verse the Psalmist prays that this would happen as a result of God blessing his people.
In vs. 2
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
Here the Psalmist is alluding to another great passage of Scripture where God called Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3:
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
As we read on in Genesis and throughout the Scriptures we know that when God says, “All peoples on earth,” will be blessed through Abraham—we know that God is not just referring to blessing all the peoples on earth directly through Abraham himself. We know God intends to bless the world, but indirectly, through Abraham—i.e., through his offspring.
But, we read in Genesis 15 that Abraham thinks that it is impossible for God to bless the whole world through Abraham’s offspring since he has no children, and his wife Sarah who is well beyond child-bearing years is barren. But miraculously when Abraham was 99 years old and his wife Sarah was 90, this couple who had struggled with infertility for decades miraculously conceived and gave birth to a son, and they called him Isaac which literally means “laughter”-- because when God told Sarah she would conceive, she threw her head back and laughed (that’s a good one!). Isaac their son would marry Rebekah and they would have twins, Esau and Jacob. And Jacob, who was later renamed Israel, would have 12 sons and several daughters. So Abraham’s descendants became known as the children of Israel.
God had called Abraham’s descendants to be a blessing to not just their own family and nation, but to the whole world. He called them to be a light to the whole world. In Isaiah 42:6 we read God saying to Israel:
“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles.
In Isaiah 49:6 God says to the people of Israel:
“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
God calls his people, the descendants of Abraham, to be a light to the whole world so that his salvation, his freedom, might be experienced by all the peoples on earth.
But, how did Israel do in its call to be a blessing to the whole world?
If you read the Scriptures, you see that for centuries the descendants of Abraham, the people Israel failed to be a light to world.
But as God had supernaturally fulfilled his promise to Abraham thousands of years earlier and enabled Sarah to miraculously conceive and give birth to Isaac, so 2000 years ago God would supernaturally fulfill again his promise to Abraham again that his descendants would be a blessing to the whole world by enabling a teenage girl named Mary to miraculously conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son.
The Gospel of Matthew begins with these words:
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Matthew begins his gospel this way because he knows that the birth of Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of God’s ancient promise to Abraham that through his offspring God would bless the whole world. God fulfils this promise to Abraham by becoming a son of Abraham, an Israelite by becoming a human being in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the light of world. Jesus Christ is the one who can and does bless the world by bearing in his body on the cross the sins of the people of the whole people of the world so those who come to him might receive forgiveness and eternal life; that is, God’s life, now and forever.
In one of the messages in last fall’s Practicing the Presence: Meeting Jesus in Scripture and Prayer series I told a story of how when my wife Sakiko’s mom, was pregnant with her, Sakiko’s father had expressed clearly he wanted a boy and not a girl and was disappointed that he had a girl. Then growing up, Sakiko’s father was so often absent from home because of his work, she grew up with a sense that she wasn’t wanted by her father.
Then out of the blue on day, a few years after giving her life to Christ as a young adult Sakiko had a sense that God was naming her Isaac. Sounds strange, I know. She didn’t get any explanation as to why she was being named Isaac. But, as she reflected on this and prayed over it, she felt God was saying to her, “You are a desired, promised child.” This word has helped her realize how much she is loved by God. Later she discovered that the word was not unique. Paul, in Gal 4:28, says those who belong to Christ are the children of promise. We are Isaac. We are children of Abraham.
In the book of Romans 9 Paul makes it really clear in verse 8 that God considers the true descendants of Abraham, not necessarily those who can trace their physical descent to him, but those who have been adopted into God’s family by Abraham’s great great great grandson Jesus Christ.
Paul says in Romans 9:8: “It is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”2X And if we have been adopted into God’s family by Abraham’s great great great grandson Jesus Christ, we too are sons and daughters of Abraham. We are God’s people.
We are called to step forward, receive God’s blessing, and pray that God would be gracious to us and make his face shine upon us (Psalm 67:1) Why? Not just for our personal success, but “so that God’s ways may be known on earth and his salvation among the nations, so that the peoples would praise God and the nations would be glad and sing for joy” (Psalm 67:2, 4).
God is not our personal savior—he is the savior of the world.
Several years ago there was a popular book, a book that sold millions, called The Prayer of Jabez. In fairness to the author, he didn’t intend to convey this message, but many people took the message from that God wants to literally increase our land and make us financially rich. When this book was at the height of its popularity, someone was walking across a university campus in Los Angeles with a t-shirt that said, “I prayed the prayer of Jabez and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”
When we ask God to bless us, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to get more land, or a bigger condo or house, a faster car, more money. It might mean that, but it might not mean that. It might mean we are a blessed capacity to face suffering with a greater sense of peace and perspective. Being blessed might mean God is doing something powerfully transforming, even as we suffer and wait, which is a huge theme of advent.
The original blessing from which Psalm 67 comes is in Numbers 6:24. In that passage we read the words: 24 “The LORD bless you and keep you… (and closes with the word) and give you peace.” I mentioned earlier that the word “peace” is the Hebrew word “shalom”-- meaning “wholeness, complete wellness, peace with God, peace with other people.” Sometimes the shalom God gives us is marked by bounty and visible prosperity and success. At other times God gives us his shalom as a sense of welling being and peace in the midst of suffering. Jesus and John the Baptist were two of the most blessed by God people who have ever lived. Neither was financially rich. Both were poor by worldly standards. Both suffered. Both were blessed by God’s peace.
So being blessed can mean that we are materially blessed, and given say the gifts of good health. But being blessed as we see in the cases of John the Baptist and Jesus can also mean that we have peace and a sense of perspective and purpose, even in the midst of our affliction.
And we pray that God is gracious to us and blesses us so that God’s ways may be known on earth and his salvation among the nations.
Like the Psalmist, we pray that God would bless us so that other people might know him.
We pray that we would be blessed in order that we might be a blessing to others. We are blessed to bless. If we hold on to God’s blessing and don’t become a blessing to others, like the Israelites who hoarded the manna (manna was the honey wafers God provided for his people while they were traveling in wilderness en route to the promised land, after God deliver them out of Egypt where they had been slaves), if we hoard our blessing those blessings will rot. If we hoard our blessings we will become spiritually bloated. We will become stagnant.
At New York University there is a child study centre, a research centre for studying children and families. One study came out of this centre at NYU (New York University) about families and households with incomes of $75,000-160,000. So these are studies involving children of professionals. Over the last 20 years there has been a sharp rise in the psychological problems of the teenagers who come from these families. Suicide rates have doubled in this group in the last two decades. According to the study, these kids have complete financial security, excessive freedom to learn and explore, and a provision of a very wide range of interesting opportunities for entertainment, recreation and education. But, these factors have often led to apathy, laziness and an inability to commit to goals, attitudes of entitlement, indecisiveness, moodiness, irritability without provocation, low self-confidence and insecurity.
If kids are snowed over with affirmation, prosperity and blessing, but they are not taught to sacrificially serve some cause bigger than themselves, they rot. They become spiritually bloated and fat.
Even if you have not read a study like this one from NYU, many of us have observed young people who have been raised in good families with ample amounts of money and lots opportunity for entertainment, recreation, and education, but are unable to commit to a relationship or to a vocational path. They seem to be in a malaise. Part of that may be attributable to the economy, but part of that malaise is also caused by kids frankly in some cased being spoiled and having a sense of entitlement.
Young people and older people paradoxically will never be happy if they make their personal happiness their goal. If we don’t make our personal happiness our goal, but rather make it our aim to bless others—we will paradoxically be much happier. Jesus said that it is in losing our life in love and service for others that we find it.
I am reading the bestseller Another Country. In this book Dr. Mary Pipher, a psychologist, says that in the previous generation psychiatrists would ask their clients, “What are others doing to you, and how are you feeling?” Now it’s more helpful to ask, “What are you doing for others, and how are others feeling about you?” Even secular people recognize that serving others is a good and healthy thing to do.
The Psalmist here (Psalm 67:2) specifically talks about being blessed so that others may know God’s salvation and so that the nations will be glad and sing for joy. We engage in mission so that others will worship God and find their joy in him.
Many people, particularly in a place like Vancouver, feel that it is fine to pursue spirituality, and even to follow Christ. But many people in Vancouver and probably a lot of people here at Tenth feel that it is inappropriate to talk about your faith with someone else, especially with a hope that other people will actually believe in God as well.
Isn’t it true that when we experience joy in something that we want other people to experience that joy, too? And so to not do it is unnatural and perhaps even unhealthy. One night a man that I know came home and his wife was watching a DVD of a ballet. She was weeping as she was watching the ballet DVD. She said, “This is the best thing that I have ever seen. Please, I know that you don’t like ballet that much, but I have never seen anything like this. I would love for you to see it. I think that you would like it. It is 30 minutes, but would you please watch it all because it gets really good near the end. Please sit down and watch it.” She is weeping experiencing real joy. She says, “I know you are not into this, but this time I think you will see.”
The husband sits down. He watched it. Later, his wife Kathy asked him, “So what did you think?” He said, “It was alright.” Part of the reason that Kathy wanted her husband to watch the ballet DVD was for her. She wanted him to enjoy something she enjoyed, but she also wanted her husband to experience joy through something that she considered to be very beautiful.
There is nothing wrong with what she did. Now if he watched and didn’t really enjoy it much, if she had picked up the jacket of the DVD and slammed it over his head and said, “You ignorant brute! You Cultural Philistine! What’s wrong with you?” That would have been a problem.
But, everyone in some way says, “I want you to watch this.” It may not be a DVD of a ballet, but it might be yoga or running or snowboarding … something you experience a lot of joy in. You want others to experience it, too. You want them to convert--and become a Mac user (iPad user).
So it is with our faith. If we have experienced joy and meaning in our faith through Jesus Christ, it is natural to share it with others. There’s nothing wrong with that—as long we don’t slam people over the head with the DVD cover if they’re not interested.
The Psalmist says, “May God be gracious to us and bless us so that the peoples will praise you and the nations will be glad and sing for joy.”
In the last two weeks there have been a couple of examples in our community where I have seen this happen.
Here’s an email I got a week ago from someone in our community. He works for a famous company you’ve all heard of. He sent this e-mail to his colleague, most of who don’t believe in God.
He gave me permission to share this with you:
Hey guys, a lot has been going on in my life recently, and i wanted to share it with you, a few weeks ago i had some surgery because i had an infection that wouldnt clear, when the doctors cut me open, they found a cancerous tumor and removed it, i am now waiting for a CT scan to see if the cancer is gone from my body or i will be going for some chemotherapy.
My faith and relationship with God has kept me at peace knowing that He will take care of me and is with me every step of the journey. My wife has been an amazing strength to me and my 2 year old daughter has been praying for daddy's owwee every day. i know i will be in your thoughts and prayers, and i will update you with results as soon as i get them. I know this isnt the happiest email you ever got from me, but on a lighter note, there is a good chance i may win the Tour de France next year.
This guy feels so blessed knowing that whatever comes down the pike at him, he’s going to face it with God. He wants to share this blessing in a sensitive, respectful way with his colleagues. BTW, he just found out he’s cancer free. But, he has shared with me even if he had to do chemo (before he knew he was free)—he would be blessed knowing that he wouldn’t be going it alone, but God would be walking through it with him.
Here’s another email I got last week from someone in our community. His permission to share…
He’s the head chef at famous restaurant here in Vancouver.
The other day one of my cooks (Carlos - named changed for privacy) approached me in the office and broke down in tears. Carlos confided in me about an alcohol and drug problem that he's been dealing with. He had no one else to talk to. No friends, no family. He said that his only conversations he had outside of work was with the homeless person he feeds outside his home.
We spoke for two hours. I listened to him. Supported him, empathized with him, encouraged him. I felt in my heart that I needed to help Carlos. I told him that he doesn't have to fight these battles on his own, that our team will support him and that we will get him some counseling. Carlos was also struggling with depression.
Carlos mentioned he needed something in his life, something spiritual. At this point, I told him about my belief in Christ and how he has changed my life. I gave him the example (from a recent Sunday sermon) of how if you put God on the throne of your life, everything else seems to fall into place. I also told him that I would pray for him.
Carlos came into my office expecting to get fired for missing a shift, instead he left looking like he had a huge weight lifted off his shoulders…
When we find our self blessed with Christ and then out of that sense of blessing, bless others so that people are drawn a little closer to God, whether we know it or not, we are, as Abraham’s great great great grandsons and daughters, part of the fulfillment of God’s promise that through his family he would bless the whole world.
Part of the reason we serve the homeless and the poor in our city, part of the reason we are investing in Cambodia for 10-15 years working with groups who advocate on behalf of women and boys and girls who are being trafficked into the sex trade, part of why we are supporting people like Pastor Abraham in Cambodia as he works in Christian community development in this very poor village of Andong, is because as the grandsons and granddaughters of Abraham, we are called to be a blessing to the world.
We don’t believe we are doing these things just because they are good things to do. We believe we are doing these things as part the fulfillment of a larger plan of God to promise to Abraham.
I got a small glimpse of this 2 weeks ago—but let me back up and give a little context.
Back in 1996 when I first came to Tenth our church was a lot more formal than it is now. Everyone who participated on the platform in a service, whether they were preaching or taking the offering or giving the pastoral prayer, would sit on the platform behind the pulpit. We used to have a pulpit back in those days. I remember sitting on the platform and looking out at the congregation which on some low attendance Sundays there would be 100 and something people in here. (This auditorium seats fairly comfortably 600-700.) I remember seeing a lot of gaps, and therefore a lot of wood, as I looked out in the pews.
But then something strange happened over a few Sundays. I rarely get literal visions. I get “vision” as a leader…seeing a preferred future. But I rarely get vision visions where I actually see something while I am awake. I got these visions of this place being full. I just tried to shrug them off, but they just kept coming over a few Sundays…of this place being full. I never spoke of this. I didn’t know for sure where the vision came from.
Then for the last Christmas concert this past December this place was packed with close to 1000 sitting here in that one concert alone. Every pew filled…people sitting in the stairwell…sitting several rows back in the balcony… on the floor…standing on the sides. Before the concert started I knew that it would be inappropriate for me to take a potential seat from a guest, so I just gave up my seat and stood out in the foyer. Just before it was my turn to speak I took the stairs down to the first level, walked under the sanctuary on the first level, took the stairwell over at this corner, and then walked around the back over some choir members, and I just stood right there (point to the place).
As I looked out and saw how full this place was, I was reminded of the vision I had 14 years ago that this place would be full. I had a sense that we here at Tenth had been part of something that wasn’t just something that we did, but the fulfillment of a promise that God gave years earlier.
So it is when we are blessed and then begin to bless others. It is not just something that we are doing, but we are fulfilling part of God’s plan to bless the world that he made thousands of years ago to Abraham. We as his grandchildren are fulfilling that promise. At Tenth, we have been blessed to be a blessing in Vancouver and in Cambodia and wherever God leads us in the world.
Let’s Pray…
How has God blessed you?
How is God calling you bless others, to share the light?
Take a moment to pray:
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy….
Missions M1
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: Blessed to Bless
Texts: Psalm 67; Numbers 6:24-26; Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 42:1-6, 49:6; Romans 9:6-8
BIG IDEA: God blesses us so that we would be a blessing to others.
(Refer to the offering picture. On the first Sunday of Advent, I spoke briefly about how we at Tenth like lots of churches and nonprofits had fallen short of our giving targets and I said, “If you are a regular here would you prayerfully consider making a gift over and above your regular giving and as we close the year?” I said, “If you’d like to trust God more, but are not in the practice of doing so, please consider raising your giving to a tithe (a tenth) for the coming year. You’ve really excelled in the grace of giving… In the month of December alone, offerings totaled about $480,000 (yes, it's close to half a million dollars) and by God's grace and your responsiveness to God we are ending the year, our financial position is in the black. So thank you for being a blessing! As result of your giving, though of course we want to be careful in our spending in the new year, we won’t have to lay off staff we feel are called to serve here or cut back ministries we feel called by God to pursue. Thank you for being a blessing.)
Just before Christmas I was interviewed by one of Vancouver’s news radio stations on why church attendance swells at Christmas. Why do people who never go to church at any other time of year attend at Christmas and Easter?
After the interview was done, I was curious and so I asked the reporter, “How did hear out about Tenth.” I’m not sure if she is a follower of Christ, but she said, “A friend of mine invited me to Tenth and I’ve come a few times. I’ve been so impressed with your work in the community that I said to myself, ‘I want to do a story on Tenth some time’.”
If we’ve done any good at all in our city or in a place like Cambodia, it’s not because we’ve initiated anything, it’s because God has blessed us so we can be a blessing.
During January, as we often do here at Tenth, we’re going to focus on God’s call for us to bless the world through our participation in God’s mission locally and around the world. Please pray that this will be a powerful month here at Tenth as God commissions and sends us anew into the world.
Today as begin our new missions’ series, I want us to turn our attention to Psalm 67:
(If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s word.)
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Psalm 67
This Psalm is a prayer of blessing, or what we call a benediction for the community of God’s people. The Psalmist in verse 1 says, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us.”
Here the Psalmist is drawing on the classical benediction expressed first by Moses’ brother Aaron in Numbers 6:24:
24 “‘“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
Even if you are fairly new to Christianity, you have probably heard this benediction at the end of a Christian service. It is a beautiful blessing where the person offering the blessing invokes God to make his face shine upon his people. When that happens, God’s grace, his undeserved kindness, pours over people and he grants them peace. The Hebrew word for peace being used in his famous blessing is the word “shalom.” It means wholeness, complete wellness, peace with God, peace with other people.
In the next part of the verse the Psalmist prays that this would happen as a result of God blessing his people.
In vs. 2
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
Here the Psalmist is alluding to another great passage of Scripture where God called Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3:
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
As we read on in Genesis and throughout the Scriptures we know that when God says, “All peoples on earth,” will be blessed through Abraham—we know that God is not just referring to blessing all the peoples on earth directly through Abraham himself. We know God intends to bless the world, but indirectly, through Abraham—i.e., through his offspring.
But, we read in Genesis 15 that Abraham thinks that it is impossible for God to bless the whole world through Abraham’s offspring since he has no children, and his wife Sarah who is well beyond child-bearing years is barren. But miraculously when Abraham was 99 years old and his wife Sarah was 90, this couple who had struggled with infertility for decades miraculously conceived and gave birth to a son, and they called him Isaac which literally means “laughter”-- because when God told Sarah she would conceive, she threw her head back and laughed (that’s a good one!). Isaac their son would marry Rebekah and they would have twins, Esau and Jacob. And Jacob, who was later renamed Israel, would have 12 sons and several daughters. So Abraham’s descendants became known as the children of Israel.
God had called Abraham’s descendants to be a blessing to not just their own family and nation, but to the whole world. He called them to be a light to the whole world. In Isaiah 42:6 we read God saying to Israel:
“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles.
In Isaiah 49:6 God says to the people of Israel:
“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
God calls his people, the descendants of Abraham, to be a light to the whole world so that his salvation, his freedom, might be experienced by all the peoples on earth.
But, how did Israel do in its call to be a blessing to the whole world?
If you read the Scriptures, you see that for centuries the descendants of Abraham, the people Israel failed to be a light to world.
But as God had supernaturally fulfilled his promise to Abraham thousands of years earlier and enabled Sarah to miraculously conceive and give birth to Isaac, so 2000 years ago God would supernaturally fulfill again his promise to Abraham again that his descendants would be a blessing to the whole world by enabling a teenage girl named Mary to miraculously conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son.
The Gospel of Matthew begins with these words:
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Matthew begins his gospel this way because he knows that the birth of Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of God’s ancient promise to Abraham that through his offspring God would bless the whole world. God fulfils this promise to Abraham by becoming a son of Abraham, an Israelite by becoming a human being in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the light of world. Jesus Christ is the one who can and does bless the world by bearing in his body on the cross the sins of the people of the whole people of the world so those who come to him might receive forgiveness and eternal life; that is, God’s life, now and forever.
In one of the messages in last fall’s Practicing the Presence: Meeting Jesus in Scripture and Prayer series I told a story of how when my wife Sakiko’s mom, was pregnant with her, Sakiko’s father had expressed clearly he wanted a boy and not a girl and was disappointed that he had a girl. Then growing up, Sakiko’s father was so often absent from home because of his work, she grew up with a sense that she wasn’t wanted by her father.
Then out of the blue on day, a few years after giving her life to Christ as a young adult Sakiko had a sense that God was naming her Isaac. Sounds strange, I know. She didn’t get any explanation as to why she was being named Isaac. But, as she reflected on this and prayed over it, she felt God was saying to her, “You are a desired, promised child.” This word has helped her realize how much she is loved by God. Later she discovered that the word was not unique. Paul, in Gal 4:28, says those who belong to Christ are the children of promise. We are Isaac. We are children of Abraham.
In the book of Romans 9 Paul makes it really clear in verse 8 that God considers the true descendants of Abraham, not necessarily those who can trace their physical descent to him, but those who have been adopted into God’s family by Abraham’s great great great grandson Jesus Christ.
Paul says in Romans 9:8: “It is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”2X And if we have been adopted into God’s family by Abraham’s great great great grandson Jesus Christ, we too are sons and daughters of Abraham. We are God’s people.
We are called to step forward, receive God’s blessing, and pray that God would be gracious to us and make his face shine upon us (Psalm 67:1) Why? Not just for our personal success, but “so that God’s ways may be known on earth and his salvation among the nations, so that the peoples would praise God and the nations would be glad and sing for joy” (Psalm 67:2, 4).
God is not our personal savior—he is the savior of the world.
Several years ago there was a popular book, a book that sold millions, called The Prayer of Jabez. In fairness to the author, he didn’t intend to convey this message, but many people took the message from that God wants to literally increase our land and make us financially rich. When this book was at the height of its popularity, someone was walking across a university campus in Los Angeles with a t-shirt that said, “I prayed the prayer of Jabez and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”
When we ask God to bless us, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to get more land, or a bigger condo or house, a faster car, more money. It might mean that, but it might not mean that. It might mean we are a blessed capacity to face suffering with a greater sense of peace and perspective. Being blessed might mean God is doing something powerfully transforming, even as we suffer and wait, which is a huge theme of advent.
The original blessing from which Psalm 67 comes is in Numbers 6:24. In that passage we read the words: 24 “The LORD bless you and keep you… (and closes with the word) and give you peace.” I mentioned earlier that the word “peace” is the Hebrew word “shalom”-- meaning “wholeness, complete wellness, peace with God, peace with other people.” Sometimes the shalom God gives us is marked by bounty and visible prosperity and success. At other times God gives us his shalom as a sense of welling being and peace in the midst of suffering. Jesus and John the Baptist were two of the most blessed by God people who have ever lived. Neither was financially rich. Both were poor by worldly standards. Both suffered. Both were blessed by God’s peace.
So being blessed can mean that we are materially blessed, and given say the gifts of good health. But being blessed as we see in the cases of John the Baptist and Jesus can also mean that we have peace and a sense of perspective and purpose, even in the midst of our affliction.
And we pray that God is gracious to us and blesses us so that God’s ways may be known on earth and his salvation among the nations.
Like the Psalmist, we pray that God would bless us so that other people might know him.
We pray that we would be blessed in order that we might be a blessing to others. We are blessed to bless. If we hold on to God’s blessing and don’t become a blessing to others, like the Israelites who hoarded the manna (manna was the honey wafers God provided for his people while they were traveling in wilderness en route to the promised land, after God deliver them out of Egypt where they had been slaves), if we hoard our blessing those blessings will rot. If we hoard our blessings we will become spiritually bloated. We will become stagnant.
At New York University there is a child study centre, a research centre for studying children and families. One study came out of this centre at NYU (New York University) about families and households with incomes of $75,000-160,000. So these are studies involving children of professionals. Over the last 20 years there has been a sharp rise in the psychological problems of the teenagers who come from these families. Suicide rates have doubled in this group in the last two decades. According to the study, these kids have complete financial security, excessive freedom to learn and explore, and a provision of a very wide range of interesting opportunities for entertainment, recreation and education. But, these factors have often led to apathy, laziness and an inability to commit to goals, attitudes of entitlement, indecisiveness, moodiness, irritability without provocation, low self-confidence and insecurity.
If kids are snowed over with affirmation, prosperity and blessing, but they are not taught to sacrificially serve some cause bigger than themselves, they rot. They become spiritually bloated and fat.
Even if you have not read a study like this one from NYU, many of us have observed young people who have been raised in good families with ample amounts of money and lots opportunity for entertainment, recreation, and education, but are unable to commit to a relationship or to a vocational path. They seem to be in a malaise. Part of that may be attributable to the economy, but part of that malaise is also caused by kids frankly in some cased being spoiled and having a sense of entitlement.
Young people and older people paradoxically will never be happy if they make their personal happiness their goal. If we don’t make our personal happiness our goal, but rather make it our aim to bless others—we will paradoxically be much happier. Jesus said that it is in losing our life in love and service for others that we find it.
I am reading the bestseller Another Country. In this book Dr. Mary Pipher, a psychologist, says that in the previous generation psychiatrists would ask their clients, “What are others doing to you, and how are you feeling?” Now it’s more helpful to ask, “What are you doing for others, and how are others feeling about you?” Even secular people recognize that serving others is a good and healthy thing to do.
The Psalmist here (Psalm 67:2) specifically talks about being blessed so that others may know God’s salvation and so that the nations will be glad and sing for joy. We engage in mission so that others will worship God and find their joy in him.
Many people, particularly in a place like Vancouver, feel that it is fine to pursue spirituality, and even to follow Christ. But many people in Vancouver and probably a lot of people here at Tenth feel that it is inappropriate to talk about your faith with someone else, especially with a hope that other people will actually believe in God as well.
Isn’t it true that when we experience joy in something that we want other people to experience that joy, too? And so to not do it is unnatural and perhaps even unhealthy. One night a man that I know came home and his wife was watching a DVD of a ballet. She was weeping as she was watching the ballet DVD. She said, “This is the best thing that I have ever seen. Please, I know that you don’t like ballet that much, but I have never seen anything like this. I would love for you to see it. I think that you would like it. It is 30 minutes, but would you please watch it all because it gets really good near the end. Please sit down and watch it.” She is weeping experiencing real joy. She says, “I know you are not into this, but this time I think you will see.”
The husband sits down. He watched it. Later, his wife Kathy asked him, “So what did you think?” He said, “It was alright.” Part of the reason that Kathy wanted her husband to watch the ballet DVD was for her. She wanted him to enjoy something she enjoyed, but she also wanted her husband to experience joy through something that she considered to be very beautiful.
There is nothing wrong with what she did. Now if he watched and didn’t really enjoy it much, if she had picked up the jacket of the DVD and slammed it over his head and said, “You ignorant brute! You Cultural Philistine! What’s wrong with you?” That would have been a problem.
But, everyone in some way says, “I want you to watch this.” It may not be a DVD of a ballet, but it might be yoga or running or snowboarding … something you experience a lot of joy in. You want others to experience it, too. You want them to convert--and become a Mac user (iPad user).
So it is with our faith. If we have experienced joy and meaning in our faith through Jesus Christ, it is natural to share it with others. There’s nothing wrong with that—as long we don’t slam people over the head with the DVD cover if they’re not interested.
The Psalmist says, “May God be gracious to us and bless us so that the peoples will praise you and the nations will be glad and sing for joy.”
In the last two weeks there have been a couple of examples in our community where I have seen this happen.
Here’s an email I got a week ago from someone in our community. He works for a famous company you’ve all heard of. He sent this e-mail to his colleague, most of who don’t believe in God.
He gave me permission to share this with you:
Hey guys, a lot has been going on in my life recently, and i wanted to share it with you, a few weeks ago i had some surgery because i had an infection that wouldnt clear, when the doctors cut me open, they found a cancerous tumor and removed it, i am now waiting for a CT scan to see if the cancer is gone from my body or i will be going for some chemotherapy.
My faith and relationship with God has kept me at peace knowing that He will take care of me and is with me every step of the journey. My wife has been an amazing strength to me and my 2 year old daughter has been praying for daddy's owwee every day. i know i will be in your thoughts and prayers, and i will update you with results as soon as i get them. I know this isnt the happiest email you ever got from me, but on a lighter note, there is a good chance i may win the Tour de France next year.
This guy feels so blessed knowing that whatever comes down the pike at him, he’s going to face it with God. He wants to share this blessing in a sensitive, respectful way with his colleagues. BTW, he just found out he’s cancer free. But, he has shared with me even if he had to do chemo (before he knew he was free)—he would be blessed knowing that he wouldn’t be going it alone, but God would be walking through it with him.
Here’s another email I got last week from someone in our community. His permission to share…
He’s the head chef at famous restaurant here in Vancouver.
The other day one of my cooks (Carlos - named changed for privacy) approached me in the office and broke down in tears. Carlos confided in me about an alcohol and drug problem that he's been dealing with. He had no one else to talk to. No friends, no family. He said that his only conversations he had outside of work was with the homeless person he feeds outside his home.
We spoke for two hours. I listened to him. Supported him, empathized with him, encouraged him. I felt in my heart that I needed to help Carlos. I told him that he doesn't have to fight these battles on his own, that our team will support him and that we will get him some counseling. Carlos was also struggling with depression.
Carlos mentioned he needed something in his life, something spiritual. At this point, I told him about my belief in Christ and how he has changed my life. I gave him the example (from a recent Sunday sermon) of how if you put God on the throne of your life, everything else seems to fall into place. I also told him that I would pray for him.
Carlos came into my office expecting to get fired for missing a shift, instead he left looking like he had a huge weight lifted off his shoulders…
When we find our self blessed with Christ and then out of that sense of blessing, bless others so that people are drawn a little closer to God, whether we know it or not, we are, as Abraham’s great great great grandsons and daughters, part of the fulfillment of God’s promise that through his family he would bless the whole world.
Part of the reason we serve the homeless and the poor in our city, part of the reason we are investing in Cambodia for 10-15 years working with groups who advocate on behalf of women and boys and girls who are being trafficked into the sex trade, part of why we are supporting people like Pastor Abraham in Cambodia as he works in Christian community development in this very poor village of Andong, is because as the grandsons and granddaughters of Abraham, we are called to be a blessing to the world.
We don’t believe we are doing these things just because they are good things to do. We believe we are doing these things as part the fulfillment of a larger plan of God to promise to Abraham.
I got a small glimpse of this 2 weeks ago—but let me back up and give a little context.
Back in 1996 when I first came to Tenth our church was a lot more formal than it is now. Everyone who participated on the platform in a service, whether they were preaching or taking the offering or giving the pastoral prayer, would sit on the platform behind the pulpit. We used to have a pulpit back in those days. I remember sitting on the platform and looking out at the congregation which on some low attendance Sundays there would be 100 and something people in here. (This auditorium seats fairly comfortably 600-700.) I remember seeing a lot of gaps, and therefore a lot of wood, as I looked out in the pews.
But then something strange happened over a few Sundays. I rarely get literal visions. I get “vision” as a leader…seeing a preferred future. But I rarely get vision visions where I actually see something while I am awake. I got these visions of this place being full. I just tried to shrug them off, but they just kept coming over a few Sundays…of this place being full. I never spoke of this. I didn’t know for sure where the vision came from.
Then for the last Christmas concert this past December this place was packed with close to 1000 sitting here in that one concert alone. Every pew filled…people sitting in the stairwell…sitting several rows back in the balcony… on the floor…standing on the sides. Before the concert started I knew that it would be inappropriate for me to take a potential seat from a guest, so I just gave up my seat and stood out in the foyer. Just before it was my turn to speak I took the stairs down to the first level, walked under the sanctuary on the first level, took the stairwell over at this corner, and then walked around the back over some choir members, and I just stood right there (point to the place).
As I looked out and saw how full this place was, I was reminded of the vision I had 14 years ago that this place would be full. I had a sense that we here at Tenth had been part of something that wasn’t just something that we did, but the fulfillment of a promise that God gave years earlier.
So it is when we are blessed and then begin to bless others. It is not just something that we are doing, but we are fulfilling part of God’s plan to bless the world that he made thousands of years ago to Abraham. We as his grandchildren are fulfilling that promise. At Tenth, we have been blessed to be a blessing in Vancouver and in Cambodia and wherever God leads us in the world.
Let’s Pray…
How has God blessed you?
How is God calling you bless others, to share the light?
Take a moment to pray:
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy….
posted by Shigematsu at 8:43 PM
1 Comments:
Ken, enjoyed reading your blog. It sounds like God is doing amazing things at Tenth, and that you are being blessed.
Gods blessings, David Steunenberg.
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