Something happened to me a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t all that unusual,
but it got me thinking. I was on the phone, having a conversation with
another Christian. As we ended our conversation she said, ‘God bless you’
and I replied with my typical ‘Good-bye’. Now, what did she mean when she
said, ‘God bless you’? Is it anything more than my ‘Good-bye’? Bear in mind
that ‘good-bye’ originally meant ‘God be with you’. Is this ‘God bless you’
just an empty phrase? Or does God’s blessing actually mean something? What
does it mean for God to bless? That’s what I want to look at. But I want to
look at it against this backdrop. To some people, the Christian faith is
essentially a philosophy of life. The guidelines have been given. If you
follow them, so it is claimed, then things will turn out well. It’s kind of
like the Boy Scouts’ list of virtues: ‘A scout is trustworthy, loyal,
helpful, courteous …’ and all the rest. If you follow the guidelines things
will turn out well. But it’s assumed that you’re on your own. God has
provided the guidelines for this Christian philosophy of life. Now, it’s up
to you to follow them. Your fate is in your own hands. There are many
people, both in and out of the Church, who view the Christian faith in this
way. It’s a philosophy of life. Now, these two issues are related. Are we on
our own to follow this philosophy of life or does God actually bless? If He
does bless, what difference does it really make in the nitty gritty of life.
That’s what I would like to deal with. Let’s see what the Spirit will say.
Our text is a part of Moses’ final sermon to the people of Israel before
they were to enter the Promised Land of Canaan. Moses was not going to enter
with them so he wanted to remind them of God’s covenant with Israel. As a
climax Moses says this. ‘I call heaven and earth to witness against you
today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.
Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live…’ [Deuteronomy
30:19] Moses is clear. After the people enter the Promised Land, God was
either going to bless them or curse them. Moses isn’t talking about
following some guidelines on your own. Rather, God was going to act. And His
action would make all the difference. Blessing or cursing.
Back in chapter 28 Moses gave some examples of what these blessings or
cursings would be. Under blessings he included things like military success
against their enemies. There would be agricultural prosperity so that there
would be an abundance. And because of God’s blessings, Israel would attain a
position of prominence among the nations. These are the kinds of things that
Israel would need as they entered Canaan so that they would prosper there as
the people of God. But then there were the examples of how God would curse.
There would be military failure leading to conquest and exile. There would
be drought and blight and famine that would lead to sickness, disease and
ultimately to death. And because of God’s curse, Israel would become a tool
in the hands of the surrounding nations, for them to use as they wished. And
so, instead of Canaan being a Promised Land, it would become a living hell.
Moses’ point was clear. The people weren’t left to themselves to follow
guidelines from some philosophy of life and hope for the best. Their God
wasn’t some distant, disinterested deity. He would be intimately involved in
the lives of His people, either to bless them or to curse them. The
blessings of God would be the means to life. The curses of God would result
in death. And nothing has changed from that day to this.
We need to be very careful. Much of the world that we live in assumes the
philosophy of life model. The particulars of these philosophies may be very
different, but they all agree on this: There are no blessings of God, not
really. You make your own luck, and then you roll the dice. But that isn’t
the Gospel. Our God is near to us. He is involved in our lives. He acts. He
blesses His people and His blessings make all the difference in the world.
That’s the Gospel.
Now, let me take this a little further and clarify what I’ve said by asking
some questions. First, are these blessings still a matter of things like
military victories, agricultural abundance and national prominence? No.
Those blessings were appropriate back then when Moses announced them. But
that was the time when the Church was underage, not fully matured. Now,
since the coming of Jesus, the Church has achieved adulthood. And so, the
nature of the blessings has changed so that they are appropriate to the
situation of the Church today. Some have looked at the blessings of God in
the Old Testament and have concluded that the point of those blessings was
to grant an easy life. And so, the point of the blessings today, they say,
is the same. But that is so wrong. Easy living wasn’t the point of God’s
blessing even back in Moses’ day and it certainly isn’t the point today. The
goal of the blessings is to enable the people of God to fulfill their
calling. When God blesses you, it’s so that you might serve Christ better.
It is so important that you understand this. Sadly, there are many, even
within the Church, who are disappointed when they hear this. They want an
easy life. But that reflects a profound misunderstanding of what it means to
be a Christian. We are here to be servants of Christ. We are here to do His
bidding. That’s what it means to be a Christian. Remember Mary. ‘Behold, I
am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ [Luke
1:38] So, the blessings of God are appropriate for that goal. But note well
that Moses’ words. ‘See, I have set before you today life and good…’ [v.15]
The blessings of God lead to life. Fulfilling your calling to serve Christ
is how this life is most enjoyed. Our God promises to bless us so that we
might serve Christ well and, in this way, live well. It’s not either/or. You
will get both, the ability to serve well and to live well. Or you get
neither.
Let’s ask another question. How do we get these blessings? What has to
happen so that God will bless us? Moses is clear. ‘If you obey the
commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the
LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and
his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD
your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession
of it.’ [v.16] We receive God’s blessings as we give ourselves to loving
obedience to His commands. Does this mean that there’s more required than
believing in Jesus? Absolutely not! But understand that believing in Jesus
includes loving obedience. That’s how true faith in Jesus functions. A faith
that is without loving obedience is not a faith that will save and lead to
the fullness of life. It is not a true faith in Jesus. It is a faith that
will result in the curse of death. The blessings of God come only to those
whose faith is real. Real faith makes itself known. It shows by its loving
obedience. For these people, God will act. He will bless. And that blessing
will make a real difference. So, the answer to our question is quite simple.
If you would be blessed, you must obey.
Now, let me anticipate the concerns of those of you with a tender
conscience. You’ve heard what I’ve just said and you’re thinking, ‘But what
about my sin? What about those many times when I fail to obey my God? Do I
forfeit God’s blessing because of my sin?’ That’s the right question. Listen
to a Psalm. ‘If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could
stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.’ [Psalm
130:3-4] This is a profound Scripture worthy of much meditation. Does Moses
expect any of his hearers always to obey and never to sin? Does God? The
Scriptures are abundantly clear. We are all terrible sinners. None of us
could stand before God. None. If God were to list our sins who here would
not have a list miles long with sins that would shame you if others knew
about them? And yet, Jesus has come, hasn’t He? And He has brought
forgiveness with Him. This forgiveness will be granted to all who repent –
without exception. When the Spirit nudges you, when He points out some sin
in your life, quickly repent of it. Admit your sin. Hate it and turn from it
as best as you can. Then turn to Jesus. Renew your promise to live for Him,
to serve Him with your whole life. As you do that, the blood of Christ will
cleanse you completely from whatever sin that was. At that point the matter
is closed. The sin is forgiven and forgotten by the Father. He is again
ready to bless you. And since real repentance is done because of loving
obedience, He will even bless you for your repentance.
It needs to be said, though, that not all will repent. In some cases, the
Spirit will point out sin, and He will be ignored. There are some who will
refuse to repent. They may go through the motions about some general notion
of sin. But they will refuse to repent of the specific sin that the Spirit
is point out to them. And that is unbelievably sad. Moses’ words apply here
also. God will act, not to bless but to curse. And as good as the blessings
are, that’s how bad the curses will be. So, I say to each person in this
room, God is either in the process of blessing you or cursing you. He is
neutral toward no one.
Let me close with this. My goal this morning has been to encourage you. Over
the years I have seen many of you change. You are better disciples of Jesus
than what you once were. You are serving Christ better. And why is that? It’
s because your God has acted. He has seen your loving obedience and He has
blessed you. I can see it and so can you. Is there any reason to doubt that
He will continue to do the same in the years to come?
