Blessed and Blessing

Introduction

I’d like to stand before you this morning and say, “I’m a man with few pet peeves…a man that doesn’t allow little annoyances get under his skin…and man who reacts like water: in perfect concert to whatever force is brought upon it.” But, three of my four children and my wife are in the room right now and could quickly say, “Nay nay!”

So, in the interest of honesty, I tell about one little thing that stuck in my craw for some time: A few years back it became en vogue for people to talk about being “blessed.” I saw t-shirts, bumper stickers, and billboards with people claiming to be blessed. And not a week went by that I heard someone talking about being blessed on television or in public somewhere.

Now don’t get me wrong, when we’ve genuinely been blessed by God, we ought to give Him glory. And, we ought to see every good and perfect gift as coming from God. And, recognizing God’s blessing, regardless of what life throws at us, is a vital spiritual discipline. I have no problem with talking about being blessed under those circumstances. My problem was, people were using it constantly, particularly when they were receiving something that fulfilled their materialistic desires. And since many of those who were using the phrase weren’t even believers (or at least weren’t living like believers), I took offense to the statement. Not to mention, when we use a term too much it starts to lose it’s real meaning and becomes just another word we use, instead of a genuine recognition of God’s favor in our lives.

So, as you can clearly see, it was one of the rare times I probably over-reacted to something silly!

But, it all seriousness, as believers, we need understand what blessing is all about and what we are supposed to do as a people blessed by God. I believe we will find those answers tucked away in the passage we will look at this morning.

Body: Genesis 46:31-47:12

Verses 31-34

Joseph prepares his family for their audience with Pharaoh...

This would have been like nothing they’d ever experienced...

It was vital that they made a good impression and didn’t overstep in order for them to receive the rights to live in the land of Goshen...

Additionally, it was important that they asked Pharaoh directly and were given the land by Pharaoh directly…(Joseph, though the second most important person in the kingdom, wasn’t Pharaoh…)

Verses 1-6

We have no idea which five brothers Joseph brought before Pharaoh or why he just took five...

They’re request is granted by Pharaoh.

He not only allows them to dwell in Goshen, but he even gives them the very important responsibility of caring for his livestock!

This is an incredible blessing to them. Now they would have legal status as the keepers of the Pharaoh’s livestock, which offered protections that weren’t often available to foreigners.

Goshen was far enough away from the Egyptian city-centers that there was less of a chance of inter-mixing, potentially threatening the purity of the Jewish religion and bloodline.

Essentially, they wouldn’t have run the risk of being assimilated into the Egyptian culture, as Joseph has necessarily experienced.

Verses 7-12

Some scholars see Jacob’s blessings to Pharaoh here just as simply greetings, however I disagree.

In fact, I believe we can find our application points in these blessings.

So What?

In order to truly grasp the significance of Jacob’s blessing to Pharaoh, it’s important to see it within the larger context of Israel’s history, particularly through the Abrahamic covenant.

To begin, we have to go back to Genesis 12...

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

I want to focus particularly on the following phrases:

“…I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

“I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse...”

“…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Throughout these verses we see that Abraham and his descendants would be blessed and conduit of blessing to others.

This continued through Abraham’s son, Isaac:

Genesis 26:3–4 ESV

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

Again, look at the following phrases:

“…I will be with you and will bless you...”

“And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed...”

Once again, there is the promise of blessing and the promise of being a conduit of blessing to others.

Then, a little further in Genesis we find this:

Genesis 28:13–14 ESV

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

“…and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were promised to be blessed by God, but also to be the conduit of God’s blessing to the world around them.

In our passage this morning, twice we see Jacob offering a blessing to Pharaoh. This may seem like a small, unimportant part of the larger story, but I don’t believe that it is. In fact, it’s pretty incredible.

First, this is the only place we see one of the patriarchs offering a blessing to a foreign leader. In fact, it would usually be expected that the greater person would offer the blessing to the lesser. But here, from a human point-of-view, the lesser person (Jacob) is offering a blessing twice to a greater person (Pharaoh).

What’s significant about this? Jacob’s status as great is not determined by his wealth, his worldly position, or how godly he has always been. His status as great comes from God’s sovereign choice. Thus, he can offer a pagan king a blessing from God because his status was established by God hundreds of years earlier through Jacob’s forefather Abraham, and was confirmed both to his father, Isaac, and to himself.

A person’s true status is established by God, not by man.

Second, Jacob has not always been a godly man. He started off poorly, took a better turn along the way, then turned again during his years of depression, and just recently has turned once again back to God.

His spiritual pilgrimage has in many ways been a mess. More often than not, a mess of his own doing. And yet, God is still blessing him and allowing him to be a conduit of blessing to others. Why?

Because God’s promises aren’t null and void when we are less-than we ought to be. And that is very good news for people like me!

Look at what Jacob says about his own life:

Genesis 47:9 ESV

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.”

Jacob had some bad experiences foisted upon him. But, much of the “evil” he experienced he either brought upon himself, or he responded to it in the worst possible way.

And yet, despite this fact, Jacob is still blessed by God and a conduit of God’s blessing to others.

I point this out because as God’s people, we are can sometimes act like Jacob. We can create our own hardships. We can respond to trials and tribulations exactly the wrong way. We can act like children, giving God the silent treatment when we don’t like our circumstances. We can live our lives for long periods of time like God is a distant deity who plays little to no role in our daily lives. And yet, if we are truly His, He will never let us go completely.

One of my favorite stories in the NT is about John Mark. Look at what happened with him:

Acts 13:4–5 ESV

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.

Acts 13:13 ESV

Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,

Acts 15:36–40 ESV

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

2 Timothy 4:9–11 ESV

Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

Think about that, John Mark, the young man who deserted Paul and Barnabas on the First Missionary Journey, who created a division between Paul and Barnabas, now, at the end of Paul’s life is “very useful” to Paul for the ministry.

Here’s the point:

God doesn’t give up on His own.

If God doesn’t give up on His own, then we can’t either. And, if we are His own, we need to understand that even when we make of mess of things, God still desires to bless us and to make us a conduit of blessing to others. But, it means we first need to turn back to Him in repentance.

Third, it’s often been asked why God chose to bless Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Why He chose particularly Abraham, knowing that Abraham is less-than perfect, his son Isaac was even less-so, and Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, was a mess for a large portion of his life. Why did God choose them and not someone better?

God never explains it. In fact, He never says why He loves any of us in Scripture. Just that He does.

What it does tell us is why He blesses Abraham, and by extension Abraham’s descendants; including Abraham’s descendants through Christ, Christians:

Galatians 3:29 ESV

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

As we saw in the verses in Genesis, God blesses His people so we can bless others. This was true of the patriarchs, and for Israel, and continues to be true for the church today.

God blesses us so we can be a conduit of blessing to others.

It’s important that as modern believers we understand that God doesn’t bless us in order to make us comfortable, to help us live our “best life now”, to tell us how wonderful we are, or to help us achieve the American Dream. God blesses His people so we will bless others.

And whether this blessing is for people within the church or people outside the church, we are to be a blessing to others.

1 Peter 2:11–17 ESV

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

So, how can you share your blessings with others? Those inside the church? Those outside the church? God hasn’t given us the option to be a blessing when we feel like it, but a calling to look to be a conduit of blessing to others. So, let’s look for ways we can bless others this week!