Numbers 6.22-27
I've been thinking for a while that it would be a good idea to take a look at the biblical notion of God's blessings. Our text seems to be a good place to start. It's often used as a benediction, a blessing. So, let's spend a little time looking at this text and then jumping from it to some larger ideas.
In our text God speaks through Moses to Aaron and his sons who are the priests of Israel. God commands the priests to say these words over the people of Israel. As they do this, God will bless. This is something like what happens when the sacraments are celebrated. A pastor says and does certain things in baptism and in the Lord's Supper. As he does this, God blesses. The priests of Israel were the means for God to bless His people .
Here, we need to pause for a question. What does it mean to bless? This is another church word that we need to unpack so that we can understand it. Here's the basic idea. When God blesses He acts to do a specific good to a person or a group of people. In Aaron's blessing there are several specific ways in which God blesses. The point of the text is not to give an exhaustive list but rather to give some examples. He will keep, make His face to shine on, be gracious to, lift up His countenance on and give peace. We're not going to look at each of those blessing, but let me touch on a couple of things. First, I want you to notice that the blessings are specific. This is counter to the common notion that God's blessing is a vague something or other. No, when God blesses, He does something specific. So, in the blessing to 'keep', God is saying that He will watch over His people. He will keep them safe. The assumption here is that His Church is surrounded by many dangers. This blessing is about God acting to keep His people safe from those dangers. Then there is the promise to give peace. Peace is very large concept in the Bible. It's important to remember that God's peace is nothing like a truce. A truce simply says that bad things won't happen. It only deals with negatives. But peace is a very positive thing. God's peace is about the well being of a person. It's about deep and satisfying relationships, first with the Father and then with others. It's also about being at peace with yourself. God will act to give His people this kind of peace. I think that gives you enough to get the basic idea. When God blesses He acts to do a specific good to a person or a group of people.
In the Old Testament, blessings were usually presented as physical and material, things like a good harvest or lots of children or wealth or victory in war. Some see this and assume that all of God's blessings are physical and material. But there is a difference between the Church in the Old Testament and the Church in the New Testament. Before Jesus came, the Church was a child, a minor. But since Jesus has come the Church has entered maturity. So, God dealt with the Church in the Old Testament as someone would deal with a child. He spoke in ways that would be easily understood. Here, just think of a parent reading a child's Bible story book to his young children. And so, the blessings in the Old Testament were usually things that you could touch and see. God's blessings for the Church in the New Testament are more adult. The emphasis isn't on things you can touch like wealth that moth and rust destroy. Rather, the emphasis is on matters of character and the inner life. So, in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus is dealing with issues of character. Many of the beatitudes are blessings that involve the inner life. Things since Jesus' advent have changed. The blessings are more mature, more adult than they were in the Old Testament. They're still about God's keeping, shining His face on and giving peace to His people, but they show differently now.
So, God blesses His people. It might show differently depending on when a person lived, but both before and after Jesus' advent, God has blessed His people. This is a goal of the Gospel, an important goal. The point of the Gospel is that you might be blessed. This is a basic attitude of the Father to you. He wants do you good and to do that in very specific ways. Remembering this can be such an encouragement.
Now, it also needs to be said that God curses. The idea of God cursing is so very sobering and even frightening. It's understandable if people want to avoid the topic. But it is in the Bible. And how can we talk about blessings without talking about curses. The two are flip sides of the same coin. So, in Deuteronomy 28, after listing some of the ways that God has promised to bless His Church, Moses also includes a list of some ways that God threatens to curse His Church. Here are some examples: 'The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ... The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ... You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit.' I think that you get the point. God's great desire is to bless and that in abundance. But, if necessary, He will curse. That means He will act to do a specific evil to a person or a group of people. And remember, we're only talking about God's dealings with His Church. We'll get to His dealings with unbelievers some other time.
Now for an important question. When does God bless and when does He curse? How does He decide to do the one instead of the other? This is an important question because it is you whom He will either bless or curse. Here, I want to stress again that the Father desires to bless His people. He desires to bless you. That's why we have our text. God calls Aaron to bless in His name. He wants to bless. But God's blessing is not some automatic thing, something that we just assume will happen to us. There is a reason why God blesses. The Father will bless when He sees faith in Jesus. He blesses His people as they work at following Jesus well. So, there's this from the Psalms. 'Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!' God blesses, He acts to do a specific good, when His people are working at following Jesus well. This also explains when God curses. It's when His people refuse to work at following Jesus well. And so, we have this at the beginning of that list of curses in Deuteronomy that I mentioned. 'But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.' When any of God's people refuse to work at following Jesus, he merits God's curse. This is very sobering and something that we all need to take to heart. One last thing. The Father is either blessing or cursing. There is no neutral. And this is clear from what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Though He doesn't use the words 'blessing' or 'curse', that's what He's talking about. 'Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.' The Father is either blessing or cursing His people. There is no neutral. And it all depends on whether a Christian is working at following Jesus well.
I am sure that this will lead some of you to say to yourself, 'Well, God must be cursing me all the time. I never follow Jesus very well.' If you're thinking this way, you may need to do some re-thinking. Let me tell you why. The Father does not evaluate us by looking at our behavior. If that were the case then the most blest people who ever lived would be the Pharisees. No, the Father evaluates the heart. Remember this verse? 'But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.' And so, the Father is looking for hearts that are saying, 'I want to follow Jesus. I really do.' And that attitude of the heart will show. It shows as working hard at the goal of following Jesus well. And it also shows in sincere and honest repentance when the Spirit points out some way in which that person has not been following Jesus well. The key is not how close to perfection one gets. None of us are anywhere near even a distant glance at perfection. No, the Father looks at the heart. What's going on in the heart? Is working at following Jesus well a priority in the heart? The Father will bless all those who desire to follow Jesus well.
Now, let me relate all of this to the world in which we live. Here, there will be conflict. It's back to Psalm 1: the righteous way versus the wicked way. The strategy for successful living that most of our friends and neighbors have adopted goes something like this. Work hard. Stay out of trouble. Catch a few breaks. If you do this, then life will work out adequately well - or so the theory goes. Now, there are variations on the theme. My training didn't have any appeal to lucky breaks. It was just a matter of working hard and staying out of trouble. And what is the result of this kind of strategy? In my case, there was achievement. In my youth, I was identified as a success. The strategy worked in that I achieved most of the goals set before me. However, there were also some unintended results. One was fear or what most people call anxiety or worry. Adopting this kind of strategy has to result in a life where fear is always at least just beneath the surface. It shows in the dread of failure or in the persistent question, 'But what if...?' It's here that the idea of luck interjected itself in my training. While I wasn't to depend on getting a lucky break, there was always the possibility of something bad coming out of the blue and hitting me square in the face. And so, in different ways, I was afraid. Over the years, the Father has pretty much rescued me from this. I'm not afraid any more. There is no anxiety. I don't worry. This is one of His blessings to me. Another unintended result of this kind of strategy is having that persistent need to push to finish whatever it is that you are doing so that you can get to the next thing that also absolutely must get done. This is what it means to be driven. And it makes sense that this shows up since, according to the strategy, it's all up to you. So, you have to push to make sure that it all gets done. I have to say that this is something that still plagues me. But the Spirit is working on it. And I am confident that He will rescue me from this also.
That's my variation of this common strategy. But whatever the variation, it has this at its core: God's blessing is irrelevant. It has no role in how we are to plan our lives and pursue the goals that have been set before us. God's blessing is just another of those 'religious things'. It has no role in our lives, no place in the 'real' world. You can talk about it on Sundays, but reality resumes on Monday morning. And so, if the goal of enjoying God's blessings is irrelevant, then the means to that goal - working hard to follow Jesus well - is also irrelevant, or at best secondary. It's just not an important part of 'real-world living'. Sadly, there are many Christians who have fallen for this lie. And, as a result, they do not enjoy God's blessing, things like His peace or Gospel fearlessness. They do not enjoy the shining smile of their Father's face. And they sense that lack. They may pray for these things, but they don't seek for them as God has prescribed. Jesus isn't the priority of their hearts. And that is so sad.
And that is why I am telling you all of this. This evil strategy is the stuff of our world. It is out there. And it has affected us all to some extent. So, one goal for this sermon is to impress upon you that we live among a people who give absolutely no thought to the fact that God blesses and curses. They live each day, setting goals and making choices, as if there were no God who evaluates and responds to what they do. They live as if God does not bless or curse. That is the world in which we live. It is a world that is filled with danger. So, the sermon is a warning. Be careful. The danger is real. You don't want to become like them. It is also an appeal. Self-evaluation, from time to time, is good. (This is not something meant just for us older folk. You younger ones need to do this too.) Ask yourself how the fact that God blesses and curses affects your plans and goals. How are you doing at maintaining a very different and Godly strategy for your life? The priority for us is to be working at following Jesus well. That is the key to a successful life. How are you doing at keeping that a priority of your heart? We do not raise these question in a vacuum. That is foolish. We do so in the context of prayer and the Word. It is only the Spirit Who can keep us safe and these are two of His best tools to do that. I would encourage you to strive to maintain regular habits in these two tools of the Spirit.
We are beginning a new year. By the time this year is over God will have blessed, and He will have cursed. His choice to do the one or the other to us depends on our choices.
I've been thinking for a while that it would be a good idea to take a look at the biblical notion of God's blessings. Our text seems to be a good place to start. It's often used as a benediction, a blessing. So, let's spend a little time looking at this text and then jumping from it to some larger ideas.
In our text God speaks through Moses to Aaron and his sons who are the priests of Israel. God commands the priests to say these words over the people of Israel. As they do this, God will bless. This is something like what happens when the sacraments are celebrated. A pastor says and does certain things in baptism and in the Lord's Supper. As he does this, God blesses. The priests of Israel were the means for God to bless His people .
Here, we need to pause for a question. What does it mean to bless? This is another church word that we need to unpack so that we can understand it. Here's the basic idea. When God blesses He acts to do a specific good to a person or a group of people. In Aaron's blessing there are several specific ways in which God blesses. The point of the text is not to give an exhaustive list but rather to give some examples. He will keep, make His face to shine on, be gracious to, lift up His countenance on and give peace. We're not going to look at each of those blessing, but let me touch on a couple of things. First, I want you to notice that the blessings are specific. This is counter to the common notion that God's blessing is a vague something or other. No, when God blesses, He does something specific. So, in the blessing to 'keep', God is saying that He will watch over His people. He will keep them safe. The assumption here is that His Church is surrounded by many dangers. This blessing is about God acting to keep His people safe from those dangers. Then there is the promise to give peace. Peace is very large concept in the Bible. It's important to remember that God's peace is nothing like a truce. A truce simply says that bad things won't happen. It only deals with negatives. But peace is a very positive thing. God's peace is about the well being of a person. It's about deep and satisfying relationships, first with the Father and then with others. It's also about being at peace with yourself. God will act to give His people this kind of peace. I think that gives you enough to get the basic idea. When God blesses He acts to do a specific good to a person or a group of people.
In the Old Testament, blessings were usually presented as physical and material, things like a good harvest or lots of children or wealth or victory in war. Some see this and assume that all of God's blessings are physical and material. But there is a difference between the Church in the Old Testament and the Church in the New Testament. Before Jesus came, the Church was a child, a minor. But since Jesus has come the Church has entered maturity. So, God dealt with the Church in the Old Testament as someone would deal with a child. He spoke in ways that would be easily understood. Here, just think of a parent reading a child's Bible story book to his young children. And so, the blessings in the Old Testament were usually things that you could touch and see. God's blessings for the Church in the New Testament are more adult. The emphasis isn't on things you can touch like wealth that moth and rust destroy. Rather, the emphasis is on matters of character and the inner life. So, in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus is dealing with issues of character. Many of the beatitudes are blessings that involve the inner life. Things since Jesus' advent have changed. The blessings are more mature, more adult than they were in the Old Testament. They're still about God's keeping, shining His face on and giving peace to His people, but they show differently now.
So, God blesses His people. It might show differently depending on when a person lived, but both before and after Jesus' advent, God has blessed His people. This is a goal of the Gospel, an important goal. The point of the Gospel is that you might be blessed. This is a basic attitude of the Father to you. He wants do you good and to do that in very specific ways. Remembering this can be such an encouragement.
Now, it also needs to be said that God curses. The idea of God cursing is so very sobering and even frightening. It's understandable if people want to avoid the topic. But it is in the Bible. And how can we talk about blessings without talking about curses. The two are flip sides of the same coin. So, in Deuteronomy 28, after listing some of the ways that God has promised to bless His Church, Moses also includes a list of some ways that God threatens to curse His Church. Here are some examples: 'The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ... The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ... You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit.' I think that you get the point. God's great desire is to bless and that in abundance. But, if necessary, He will curse. That means He will act to do a specific evil to a person or a group of people. And remember, we're only talking about God's dealings with His Church. We'll get to His dealings with unbelievers some other time.
Now for an important question. When does God bless and when does He curse? How does He decide to do the one instead of the other? This is an important question because it is you whom He will either bless or curse. Here, I want to stress again that the Father desires to bless His people. He desires to bless you. That's why we have our text. God calls Aaron to bless in His name. He wants to bless. But God's blessing is not some automatic thing, something that we just assume will happen to us. There is a reason why God blesses. The Father will bless when He sees faith in Jesus. He blesses His people as they work at following Jesus well. So, there's this from the Psalms. 'Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!' God blesses, He acts to do a specific good, when His people are working at following Jesus well. This also explains when God curses. It's when His people refuse to work at following Jesus well. And so, we have this at the beginning of that list of curses in Deuteronomy that I mentioned. 'But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.' When any of God's people refuse to work at following Jesus, he merits God's curse. This is very sobering and something that we all need to take to heart. One last thing. The Father is either blessing or cursing. There is no neutral. And this is clear from what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Though He doesn't use the words 'blessing' or 'curse', that's what He's talking about. 'Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.' The Father is either blessing or cursing His people. There is no neutral. And it all depends on whether a Christian is working at following Jesus well.
I am sure that this will lead some of you to say to yourself, 'Well, God must be cursing me all the time. I never follow Jesus very well.' If you're thinking this way, you may need to do some re-thinking. Let me tell you why. The Father does not evaluate us by looking at our behavior. If that were the case then the most blest people who ever lived would be the Pharisees. No, the Father evaluates the heart. Remember this verse? 'But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.' And so, the Father is looking for hearts that are saying, 'I want to follow Jesus. I really do.' And that attitude of the heart will show. It shows as working hard at the goal of following Jesus well. And it also shows in sincere and honest repentance when the Spirit points out some way in which that person has not been following Jesus well. The key is not how close to perfection one gets. None of us are anywhere near even a distant glance at perfection. No, the Father looks at the heart. What's going on in the heart? Is working at following Jesus well a priority in the heart? The Father will bless all those who desire to follow Jesus well.
Now, let me relate all of this to the world in which we live. Here, there will be conflict. It's back to Psalm 1: the righteous way versus the wicked way. The strategy for successful living that most of our friends and neighbors have adopted goes something like this. Work hard. Stay out of trouble. Catch a few breaks. If you do this, then life will work out adequately well - or so the theory goes. Now, there are variations on the theme. My training didn't have any appeal to lucky breaks. It was just a matter of working hard and staying out of trouble. And what is the result of this kind of strategy? In my case, there was achievement. In my youth, I was identified as a success. The strategy worked in that I achieved most of the goals set before me. However, there were also some unintended results. One was fear or what most people call anxiety or worry. Adopting this kind of strategy has to result in a life where fear is always at least just beneath the surface. It shows in the dread of failure or in the persistent question, 'But what if...?' It's here that the idea of luck interjected itself in my training. While I wasn't to depend on getting a lucky break, there was always the possibility of something bad coming out of the blue and hitting me square in the face. And so, in different ways, I was afraid. Over the years, the Father has pretty much rescued me from this. I'm not afraid any more. There is no anxiety. I don't worry. This is one of His blessings to me. Another unintended result of this kind of strategy is having that persistent need to push to finish whatever it is that you are doing so that you can get to the next thing that also absolutely must get done. This is what it means to be driven. And it makes sense that this shows up since, according to the strategy, it's all up to you. So, you have to push to make sure that it all gets done. I have to say that this is something that still plagues me. But the Spirit is working on it. And I am confident that He will rescue me from this also.
That's my variation of this common strategy. But whatever the variation, it has this at its core: God's blessing is irrelevant. It has no role in how we are to plan our lives and pursue the goals that have been set before us. God's blessing is just another of those 'religious things'. It has no role in our lives, no place in the 'real' world. You can talk about it on Sundays, but reality resumes on Monday morning. And so, if the goal of enjoying God's blessings is irrelevant, then the means to that goal - working hard to follow Jesus well - is also irrelevant, or at best secondary. It's just not an important part of 'real-world living'. Sadly, there are many Christians who have fallen for this lie. And, as a result, they do not enjoy God's blessing, things like His peace or Gospel fearlessness. They do not enjoy the shining smile of their Father's face. And they sense that lack. They may pray for these things, but they don't seek for them as God has prescribed. Jesus isn't the priority of their hearts. And that is so sad.
And that is why I am telling you all of this. This evil strategy is the stuff of our world. It is out there. And it has affected us all to some extent. So, one goal for this sermon is to impress upon you that we live among a people who give absolutely no thought to the fact that God blesses and curses. They live each day, setting goals and making choices, as if there were no God who evaluates and responds to what they do. They live as if God does not bless or curse. That is the world in which we live. It is a world that is filled with danger. So, the sermon is a warning. Be careful. The danger is real. You don't want to become like them. It is also an appeal. Self-evaluation, from time to time, is good. (This is not something meant just for us older folk. You younger ones need to do this too.) Ask yourself how the fact that God blesses and curses affects your plans and goals. How are you doing at maintaining a very different and Godly strategy for your life? The priority for us is to be working at following Jesus well. That is the key to a successful life. How are you doing at keeping that a priority of your heart? We do not raise these question in a vacuum. That is foolish. We do so in the context of prayer and the Word. It is only the Spirit Who can keep us safe and these are two of His best tools to do that. I would encourage you to strive to maintain regular habits in these two tools of the Spirit.
We are beginning a new year. By the time this year is over God will have blessed, and He will have cursed. His choice to do the one or the other to us depends on our choices.
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