What Does It Mean to Be Blessed?

00:00:00.000 | #Blessed

00:00:06.000 | It's a social media tag for when someone feels blessed and who has or is getting everything

00:00:11.720 | they dreamed of getting.

00:00:12.960 | It can range from getting a new girlfriend, a new job, a pay raise, finding a $10 bill

00:00:18.720 | on the sidewalk, or getting surprisingly good news.

00:00:21.600 | But what does it mean to truly be blessed according to scripture?

00:00:26.640 | That's a very different discussion, one initiated by a discerning listener to the

00:00:31.800 | podcast named Jordan.

00:00:33.320 | He writes this, "Hello Pastor John.

00:00:35.480 | Of late, I have been having discussions with my friends around what it means to be blessed.

00:00:39.860 | The term 'blessed' is thrown around in our culture today, and it's all over our

00:00:43.360 | Bibles too.

00:00:44.360 | To me, it seems like the way God uses 'blessed' or 'blessings' in the Bible is very different

00:00:49.440 | from how it's used now.

00:00:51.960 | I see the term 'blessed' associated with material possessions or family or health.

00:00:56.080 | These can be all good things, but I think you could also argue that if these blessings

00:00:59.800 | lead us further away from God, they are not true blessings at all."

00:01:04.400 | On the other hand, Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

00:01:09.400 | Matthew 5:3.

00:01:10.400 | And he said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake."

00:01:15.840 | Matthew 5:10.

00:01:16.840 | And he said, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all

00:01:21.720 | kinds of evil against you falsely on my account."

00:01:25.000 | Matthew 5:11.

00:01:26.400 | Rarely, if ever, do I see people posting about how blessed they are as poor in spirit or

00:01:31.800 | persecuted, like we read about in the Beatitudes.

00:01:35.720 | With that in mind, what is a biblical definition of what it means to be truly blessed?

00:01:42.880 | Jordan puts his finger on the nub of the issue, I think, by referring to the Beatitudes in

00:01:49.380 | Matthew 5.

00:01:50.380 | I'm going to circle back and probably end there and affirm what he sees and show why

00:01:55.800 | it is such a great answer to his own question.

00:01:59.180 | But first, let me lay down a principle that has helped me grasp why there is such a preponderance

00:02:09.000 | of earthly blessings promised in the Old Testament, like the inheritance of land, Psalm 37, 22,

00:02:18.340 | deliverance from our enemies, Psalm 41, 1, fruitfulness in our families and our fields,

00:02:24.420 | Genesis 17, 20, 48, 4.

00:02:27.660 | While in the New Testament, there are very few earthly blessings promised, but rather

00:02:36.100 | afflictions are promised with the material physical blessings largely postponed until

00:02:45.140 | the resurrection.

00:02:46.140 | So here's the principle.

00:02:48.660 | In God's wisdom, the Jewish religion of the Old Testament was largely a common sea

00:02:55.820 | religion.

00:02:57.860 | Israel was the showcase of God's blessings among the nation.

00:03:03.020 | So for example, in 1 Kings 10, it says, "When the queen of Sheba heard the fame of Solomon

00:03:10.740 | concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.

00:03:16.520 | And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he built,

00:03:24.180 | the food of his table, the seating of his officials, the attendance of his servants

00:03:29.980 | and their clothing and his cupbearers and his burnt offerings that he offered the house

00:03:35.640 | of the Lord, there was no more breath in her."

00:03:40.060 | I call that the showcasing of the blessing of God on the people of God in the Old Testament.

00:03:47.220 | There's nothing like that in the New Testament.

00:03:50.140 | In God's wisdom, the church of Jesus Christ is not an ethnic or geographical or political

00:03:57.620 | or national entity.

00:03:59.600 | It cuts across all ethnicities, all geographies, all politics, nationalities.

00:04:05.900 | There is no geographic center for Christianity.

00:04:09.300 | There's no great temple like Edifice in Christianity.

00:04:12.600 | There are no places to do pilgrimages in Christianity.

00:04:15.980 | There are no priests or saints through whom we have to go to God, but only Jesus Christ.

00:04:21.300 | And instead of telling the world to come to us, "Come see how I bless my people."

00:04:27.020 | God never says that.

00:04:28.020 | He says, "Go, go to the world.

00:04:31.540 | And if it costs you your life, lay it down."

00:04:34.900 | But he says very plainly, "Whoever would be my disciple must renounce everything that

00:04:38.980 | he has," Luke 14, 33, "put it at the disposal of me and my mission."

00:04:44.500 | That's the kind of radical life we're called to live in the New Testament.

00:04:50.060 | So there's the principle.

00:04:52.120 | And the failure to recognize this distinction between God's plan for Israel in the Old Testament

00:04:58.500 | and God's plan for the church in the New Testament has caused a lot of people to put

00:05:04.020 | way too much emphasis on earthly blessings today.

00:05:10.100 | And I think one of the most illumining texts about how we are blessed as Christians, which

00:05:17.340 | we are, I would say infinitely blessed, is 1 Corinthians 3, 21 to 23.

00:05:26.180 | It goes like this.

00:05:27.380 | "So let no one boast in men, for all things are yours."

00:05:34.500 | Let that sink in.

00:05:35.500 | Oh, glory.

00:05:38.620 | All things are yours.

00:05:41.500 | Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future,

00:05:51.580 | all are yours.

00:05:53.020 | And you are Christ's.

00:05:54.880 | And Christ is God's.

00:05:57.660 | What a verse.

00:05:58.660 | I love it.

00:05:59.660 | It's amazing.

00:06:00.660 | It is.

00:06:01.660 | To belong to Christ is to belong to God as our Father and to be heirs of all that God

00:06:09.180 | owns, that is, everything.

00:06:13.140 | Paul says, "The world is yours.

00:06:16.180 | All things are yours."

00:06:18.580 | Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the world."

00:06:22.700 | You cannot be richer than a Christian is rich.

00:06:28.340 | Put all the billionaires together.

00:06:29.740 | I should have taken the time to find out their names.

00:06:33.580 | You could name them.

00:06:35.100 | Put all the billionaires in a sack, right?

00:06:37.660 | And they are paupers.

00:06:39.020 | I mean, poverty-stricken paupers compared to the lowliest Christian.

00:06:44.900 | But notice that in the list of things that belong to us is death.

00:06:51.460 | It's in the list.

00:06:53.300 | All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death.

00:06:59.500 | Death is yours.

00:07:01.180 | This means that you do not get all your blessings in this life, but that death itself belongs

00:07:10.700 | to you as a gift, as a doorway to infinite, eternal, immeasurable blessing.

00:07:20.420 | Death becomes your servant because of Christ's triumph over death.

00:07:26.420 | The Apostle John heard a voice from heaven saying, "Blessed are the dead who die in

00:07:33.540 | the Lord."

00:07:34.820 | Revelation 14, 13.

00:07:36.780 | Why is that?

00:07:38.500 | Paul answers in Ephesians 1, 3, "God has blessed us in Christ with every blessing that

00:07:46.820 | heaven can conceive, for the eternal happiness of God's people will be ours."

00:07:54.640 | But Jesus taught us explicitly not to expect them now.

00:08:02.200 | For example, in Luke 14, 13, he said, "When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled,

00:08:10.180 | the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you."

00:08:17.660 | I love Jesus' logic.

00:08:20.180 | You will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection

00:08:26.780 | of the just.

00:08:28.820 | That's the orientation of Jesus Christ, the King.

00:08:32.300 | That's the New Testament pattern.

00:08:34.740 | Eternal generosity and service now, spectacular blessing later at the resurrection.

00:08:43.420 | Or here's the way James puts it, "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,

00:08:51.380 | for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised

00:08:58.420 | to those who love him."

00:08:59.540 | James 1, 12.

00:09:01.460 | First the trial, then the blessing.

00:09:04.580 | The crown.

00:09:07.260 | So let's circle back now to Jordan's reference to the Beatitudes.

00:09:11.580 | I think the Beatitudes, taken together, provide a beautiful summary of the blessings promised

00:09:20.140 | to the followers of Christ.

00:09:23.460 | Six immeasurable blessings are sandwiched between the summary promise, "Yours is the kingdom

00:09:30.400 | of heaven," verse 3, verse 10, "Yours is the kingdom of heaven."

00:09:33.640 | So these six blessings summarize what it means to live forever under the kingdom, the heavenly

00:09:41.300 | rule of God.

00:09:43.540 | Number one, we will see God, verse 8.

00:09:47.320 | They shall see God.

00:09:48.480 | The pure shall see God.

00:09:50.680 | Number two, we will be shown mercy.

00:09:53.880 | They shall receive mercy, verse 7.

00:09:56.280 | Number three, we will be part of God's family, verse 9.

00:10:00.500 | They shall be called the sons of God.

00:10:03.020 | Number four, we will experience God's comfort, verse 4.

00:10:07.260 | They shall be comforted.

00:10:09.300 | Number five, we will be co-owners of the whole world, verse 5.

00:10:16.040 | They shall inherit the earth.

00:10:18.760 | Number six, we will be satisfied with personal and universal righteousness, verse 6.

00:10:26.780 | Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

00:10:31.660 | So in summary, the presence of God seen and enjoyed in the face of Christ, covering us

00:10:39.300 | with mercy because of all our sins, calling us his children, comforting us for all pain

00:10:46.020 | and loss in this world, bequeathing to us the universe for a familiar homeland, and

00:10:52.620 | everything set right in our souls and in the social order of the new world.

00:10:58.700 | This is our great reward.

00:11:02.040 | This is what it means to be truly blessed.

00:11:05.900 | Wonderful, eternal perspective that encompasses the coming new creation.

00:11:11.380 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thanks for joining us today.

00:11:14.540 | You can ask a question of your own, like the great question today, or search our growing

00:11:18.580 | archive or subscribe to the podcast.

00:11:20.260 | You can do all that at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:11:26.100 | How do we discern false teachers?

00:11:28.340 | It's a hot topic in the inbox.

00:11:30.700 | It's always been a hot topic in our inbox, and it's up next time.

00:11:34.860 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:11:35.860 | We'll see you back here on Monday.

00:11:37.220 | [END]

00:11:42.220 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

What Does It Mean to Be Blessed?

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