God’s Rich Blessings

Numbers 6:24-26

Why do we end our worship service with a benediction? We will be finishing our series on worship this week by answering that very question. As we have seen, our worship is meant to be very God and His Word centered. Things are done for God, as God commanded that they be done. Our service opens with an invitation to worship from God's Word, and now we will look at the close of our service from God's Word as well, the benediction or blessing. Is that something important? Is anything really happening?

In order to answer those questions, we need to look at a more basic question: What is blessing? There is a lot of confusion about what is a blessing. Is it physical things? That seems too unspiritual! Is it just spiritual? That seems like that doesn't take into account all that God does in our lives! We will attempt to get some clarity around this issue, and I hope by the end of it, you will see the benediction for the real blessing that it is.

We will look at two points this morning: God's blessings are comprehensive and All God's Blessings are in Christ.

### God's Blessings are Comprehensive

Let's start with a simple definition of what blessing is. Blessing is being in the world of God's favor. You can think of it like coming home to a place where you are loved and cared for. God is looking after you and bringing in good things into your life. It's a pleasant place to be.

But what does the living room look like? Saying it is a home is a general thing, but what specifically is entailed in a blessing from God? When God blesses someone, what happens? It can be hard to narrow down, because in the Bible, the word for blessing occurs over four hundred times. As we saw last time, God is a generous God. However, there are some themes that pop up a number of times, so take a little tour with me through the Bible to see what blessing looks like. As we go, I'm going to point out some features of the blessed home that is before us, the comfy chairs, the warm fireplace, the stocked pantry, as it were. This blessed home has been lived in by many people, but you are not taking the tour as a guest or tourist. At the end of the tour, I'm going to hold the keys out to you and offer you to be the new possessor with me. Entering into the home isn't automatic or free, but it is open for the possessing.

Let's take a look at the first blessing. I've got five that somehow all begin with R. The first blessing God ever gives is in Genesis 1:22 given to...fish and birds. Odd first guests, maybe, but God doesn't miss the little ones. He blesses the fish and birds and tells them to multiply. Our first blessing God gives then is Reproduction. In fact, there is a Hebrew saying to couples that "may they be like the fish," pointing to the blessing of children. This blessing is given to Adam and Eve, and of course most famously to Abraham in Genesis 12.

Kids, and everyone who was a kid, this is a great promise for you. While we pray for you to have kids of your own someday, right now, YOU are the blessing. We love you, and you are a blessing from God.

I know for some of you talk of children may be hard to hear. Unlike our culture, you've desired children but have been thus far been denied or denied for so long that it is a biological impossibility now. Let me say this very clearly: this does not mean that God is mad at you or you somehow aren't fully in the house of blessing, like you are locked out of a room. Matthew Arbo in his wonderful book Walking Through Infertility says the following, "The new covenant is unthreatened by infertility. Under the new covenant the promise underscores spiritual birth, of living and preaching the gospel. The infertile are in this case are the spiritually infertile, those who do not contribute to the mission of making disciples of all the nations. Infertile are those who, irrespective of how many children they may have, parent no spiritual children, point none to Christ, and rear no one to maturity" (39). In other words, God's plan for Abraham depended on physical children, but we are in a new phase of that plan, a new promise. That promise doesn't depend exclusively on children anymore but conversions. Having children is a great and wonderful blessing that should be pursued by all moral means, but the point of having children is raising up worshipers for God. And that is something that you can do whether you have children or not.

After blessing man and animals with reproduction, God blesses something else unexpected: a day (Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:11). God blesses the seventh day as a day of Rest, our second blessing. God then made a command, still in force today, to set one day aside (for us that is Sunday) as a day or rest and worship. It is a blessing to rest, however counter cultural that is for us today! For us, blessing is tied to activity. Even retirement is framed as the chance to do something else. Now, God isn't telling us to just lay around all the time. But when He blesses us with rest, we are called to enjoy it, to put down the idea that one is only valuable when they use every second to advance their agenda. God isn't a harsh slave master wondering when you are going to get your act together. He's got great things for you to do, but they aren't in competition with a weekly rest and reset.

Our third blessing might surprise the minimalist Christian, but the third blessing is Riches. This actually comes up a lot in the Bible (Gen. 24:48; 39:5; Ex.23:25; Dt. 16:10; Dt.28:8, 12; Heb. 6:7; 1 Chron. 4:10; 2 Chron. 31:10). And for those of us who might say, "Well, I'm not rich by American standards," I guarantee you that you are richer than most of the world is right now to say nothing of how it has been for the vast amount of human history. Further, we can't define riches solely in terms of material things. As we covered last week, our properly obtained wealth is a gift from God and should be seen as such. It is a gift from God to advance the mission of God and enjoyed accordingly.

Kids, that counts for you, too. Think of all the wonderful things that you have, the parents who love you, the house you live in. Look how God is caring for you already! Use it well.

So far we have covered Reproduction, Rest, and Riches. We will move through the other two relatively quickly.

The fourth way God often blesses is in Redemption. We see this in Genesis 12 as God promises to Abraham that his seed will ultimately bless the whole world. Of course, we know that this blessing is Jesus Himself. This refers to God taking us out of slavery to sin, being compelled to behave in ways that God finds offensive, and adopts us into His family.

This leads us to the fifth and final way of blessing: Renaming. I found this in only one place, but given where it is, I think it is important. This is Genesis 12 again, in verse 2. God promises to give Abraham a great name because of what he will bring into the world, again, Jesus.

Now, you may rightly raise an eyebrow here. That seems like this is just talking about Abraham. He undoubtably has a great and famous name because of what happened through him, but none of us is given a great name like that...right?

### All God's Blessings are in Christ

Well this is where Christ comes in, and where we find all of our blessings in Him. When we recognize our sin, come to Christ for forgiveness and the power to repent of that sin, we are adopted into God's family and have a relationship with Him. Sounds like the blessing of redemption to me.

We are given a greater name (Eph. 3; Rev. 22:4). He gives us the right to become sons of God (John 1:12). That is the blessing of renaming.

With His authority we go to disciple the nations. That's the blessing of reproduction.

In heaven, we will be in the recreated city, a place where there is no sickness, crying, pain, or need. Sounds like the blessing of Riches to me.

On earth, we are given the relief of not having to earn our way to heaven. Sounds like Rest to me.

All of this products of redemption itself and only found in union with Christ.

But I want us to go back to the renaming bit, where all of that started. That is what we see in verse 27 of our passage.

This wonderful blessing is given to Aaron the priest and his sons told to say this to the people of God. It was given with hands spread out, as if to lay hands on the whole congregation. We see this offered to the people after the offering of the sin offering(Lev 9:. (Luke 24:50) It wasn't a blessing for just anyone or from just anyone, but a blessing from God for His people. In verse 27 it is said that by saying this blessing over them, it was placing His name on them. In other words, as commentators point out, this is like saying "property of God" over the people. It's a "a mark of ownership" (Peter John Naylor, Numbers 177).

And that is what is happening when I say the benediction to you. This is a blessing, a declaration from God that you are His and have His blessings and keepings just as we have described above. What a reminder to close out the worship service! We heard God's invitation, responded in song to Him. We've prayed to confess our sins, stood to confess God's truth, heard God's Word prayed, sung, and preached. We've responded to God and preached to each other in song, and before we leave, we are reminded of who we are, Whose we are, given a name that is unlike what the world may give to us. Spurgeon said, "Brethren, the world may curse us; but if God bless us, the curse will be as the whistling wind. Friends may become enemies, or may forget us; but, if God blesses us, we can bear the wound" (_The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons_, vol. 36, 587).

One more lengthier quote: "The Lord has blessed his people, and he would have them know it. He has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and it is his wish that they should experience the fulness of this blessedness. Are any of the Lord’s people without a sense of his blessing? It is not the will of God that you should continue in this low condition. If you are cast down, he has said to his prophets, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.” Have you sinned, and wandered into the darkness? The Lord bids you return, and encourages you to pray, “Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” The happy God would have you happy in the enjoyment of his blessing."

So we've finished the tour. We are all gathered on the porch, and I'm holding the keys out. This can all be yours, but you have to turn to Christ. No other key unlocks this blessing. You can find cheap imitations of these blessings therein, but the real thing only comes from Christ. You can't open this door yourself. You also don't bring anything of your own inside. You surrender everything. You leave behind the life you had, the sins you treasure, in order to gain Christ, the Blessing Himself.

Kids, that's true for you, too. Will you turn from your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you and be your master? Adults?

Will you take the keys?