True Blessedess

Luke 11:27–28 (ESV)

27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”

28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Blessed because God chose you.

Blessed because used you.

Sure, for a moment.

Jesus declares, ‘Blessed are those who God chooses and uses that obey His voice! Those that keep His Word. They keep and keep on keeping. They preserve it. They uphold it. They obey it. They utilize it. They are utilized by it.

Here Jesus was working miracles by the “finger of God” and people tried to credit the devil, then a lady makes sure she’s heard to try to credit Mary (motherhood, femininity)!

Now Jesus does not deny that Mary was blessed.

The Angel Gabriel said to Mary,

Luke 1:28 (ESV)

28 ... “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

Luke 1:42 (ESV)

[Elizabeth] 42 exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

Mary declared:

Luke 1:48 ESV

48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

Jesus wasn’t rebuking the woman, but correcting her.

We can very easily get caught up on - stuck on - that which God uses!

A brief overview of the Old Testament reveals that the Israelites not only worshipped idols and foreign Gods, they often worshipped that which God used to deliver them, creating new idols in place of their true God!

Blessings of Israel that became a curse

Moses’ Bronze Snake

Numbers 21:4-9.

700 years later we read:

2 Kings 18:4 ESV

4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

Gideon’s Ephod

In the times of the judges, the Lord wrought a great victory through Gideon over the Midianites. Lets read what happened after the great victory:

Judges 8:22-27.

The Ark of the Covenant

Designed by God and crafted by His Spirit through a man, the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat of God, the symbol of where His presence dwells, but not a Symbol of Himself - the very representation of His presence that was fore-ordained by God Himself, a holy thing, was taken into battle by the Israelites as a god:

I Samuel 4:1-11.

That which God blessed them with became an idol and a curse.

The Temple of Solomon

When the Israelites were rebelling against God, they did not fear their enemies because they believed God would not destroy His Holy Temple.

Jeremiah 7:3–4 ESV

3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

Again, here is something God ordained for them to construct and worship in and have His presence dwell in. They were the most blessed of all nations to have Yahweh’s temple, yet they defiled it. They filled it with idols. Time and time again they let it go in disrepair. Most of all, they disobeyed the Lord and expected Him to save them.

Abraham, Circumcision, and the Law of Moses

We know the Israelites were blessed with the law of God, yet it became a curse to them because they did not keep the law!

Romans 7:7-12.

Galatians 3:1-9.

Once again, those things God blessed us with can become a curse if we trust in those things. If we think we’re special because He used us.

It is through hearing, believing, and obeying that we are most truly blessed.

In this story in Luke, the woman exclaimed that Mary was blessed. Certainly Mary was, but being chosen to bear the son of God, did not mean she did not need to place her faith in the Son of God and obey Him. Jesus is the Son of God! Mary was simply a servant. She, like everyone else, needed to be forgiven of her sins!

You see, this Mary that was so highly favored and blessed among women to bear Jesus became a snare and a trap to millions of believers as they place worship and faith in her.

Many Catholics today not only pray to Mary - which means they put faith in her, they also make idols of the saints! They pray to and keep small statues of believers whom God blessed throughout the ages as they had lived for Him.

Those who lived as blessings by their faith became a curse to everyone who did not truly follow them.

If you want to be like Mary or St Francis or St Jude or St Nicholas, pray to the one they prayed to, JESUS!!!!

The Scriptures

John 5:39–40 ESV

39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

The Jews were blessed with the Word of God, but did not obey it!

We have been blessed with the Word of God. But Jesus said:

Luke 11:28 (ESV)

28 “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

We must keep it!

Let us not get distracted, sidetracked, or held back by the many things that can become our focus.

Let us instead be consumed with Christ and glorify Him by keeping, preserving, proclaiming, and obeying His Words!

Where we gather, how we gather, and what we do are all things that can become a snare if we place our trust in those things instead of Christ.

Hymns, pulpits, and altars can all become idols if we serve them rather than God! So can traditions, translations, music styles, preaching styles, hats, ties, wall and carpet colors, locations, ministries, day that we worship on, pews, liturgy, how we serve and receive communion, how we baptize people, how we marry people, and how we bury people!

Sometimes our sacred cows are the successes and blessings that God has given us in the past. We must learn to wade through the emotions and attachments and cling to Christ!

For one last example, consider the cross.

How many people have a cross or crucifix and wear it around their neck and trust in it as a good luck charm.

I will not cling to the Old Rugged Cross - I will cling to Jesus.

I will take up my cross in obedience to Jesus to crucify my flesh and desires, but I will not rely upon a physical symbol to save me. I may sing about it. I may wear one. I may let it hang on the hall as a stern reminder that the only way to life is through death. I may cling to the truth that the cross bore my shame and granted me life, but it wasn’t the cross alone, it was JESUS who hung upon the cross, who laid His life down. The cross was just the method God chose.

Sometimes I fear we are no different than the Israelites who worship the bronze snake on the pole when we cannot ‘worship’ without a cross on the wall!