READ | SERMON NOTES
Summary
“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.”
(Numbers 6:24-26)
God’s promised blessing bestows eternal abundance and fullness of life. Should we not consider the impact of His blessing upon persons and creation around us? Is blessing the goal of our faith, or the means of our mission? Either view will determine the way we live.
1. The PARADOX of Blessing – “The LORD make His face to shine upon us.” Psalm 67:1 echoes The Aaronic Blessing. “Blessing is not simply a friendly wish but a bestowal of life-force… the power for life.” (Walter Brueggemann) Everyone, religious or otherwise, wants to be blessed. However, blessings when wilfully taken for ourselves, can be a curse for our relationships with one another, or for the environment we live in. Conversely, blessings are a joy when someone else gives or pronounces it. Acknowledging another’s good work, expressing wholehearted acceptance of somebody, or assuring someone anxious that there shall be a flourishing outcome of productivity, wholeness, and rest in their lives blesses the recipient with strength and immense peace.
Blessing is never ours to take and always someone else’s to give. By might, Jacob usurped Esau’s birthright blessing resulting in a fractured relationship between the siblings. (Genesis 27:41) War uses might to seize land to which an enemy has no right. By right as the firstborn, Cain killed Abel as he defiantly sought God’s blessing resulting in his cursed relationship with the blood-drenched earth. (Genesis 4:1-16) Common today is the suing of another for the right of blessing to property. People and creation always suffer when we try to take blessing for ourselves.
2. The PURPOSE of Blessing – God blesses His people so that “His way and saving power” are known “on earth and among all nations”. (Psalm 67:1-2) All peoples can rejoice because God blesses and judges them “with equity and guides the nations upon earth.” (v4) God reverses the curse upon creation when He blesses the earth with increased yields (v6) so that “all the ends of the earth revere Him”. (v6)
“The whole earth is mine” (Exodus 19:5) shows that God’s concern is for all humanity and all of creation, not only His chosen ones. Everything lights up when God shines – His people, the nations and the earth – fulfilling His blessing to Abraham, “So that you will be a blessing… in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3)
God chose the Levites to represent the firstborn of Israel. Situated closest to the temple, He gave them the right and responsibility to bless Israel with His promise to make them a “priestly kingdom and a holy nation”. As Christ disciples and therefore a nation of priests, our responsibility is to push out God’s blessing to our neighbours. It is not about hoarding more of God’s blessing for ourselves but availing His mercy and goodness to others. By doing so, we work alongside Him to heal our relationships with one another, and renew all that has gone wrong in the world.
That first Christmas, Christ came to shine God’s light in the darkness. As Christ’s faithful disciples who have welcomed God’s holy blessing, we are called to “Go and make disciples of all nations!” So let us, having received the priestly pronouncement of blessing, “speak good” a benediction to society and the world – so that others whom we reach out to with loving kindness may know and receive the salvation of God; and creation may also be restored and renewed.
(Sermon notes by Marjorie Tan)
PONDER | REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What kind of blessing are you currently seeking? Who or what are you seeking it from? What would you do to get that blessing?
- If blessing is fundamentally “God’s enhancement of a life of fullness”, how would that affect the world around you (persons and creation) right now?
- Is blessing the goal of your faith or the means for your mission? How would taking one view or the other affect the way one lives?
