Blessed and Redeemed by God's Grace in Christy

Blessed and Redeemed by God’s Grace in Christ Numbers 6:22–27 (NIV84) 22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24‘The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.’ 27So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” This small paragraph about giving priestly blessings appears in the midst of a series of laws that set out restrictions and special roles for different classes of people in Israel. The section includes directives for the Levites in chapters 3 and 4, about people who are unclean, or possessed, or adulterers in chapter 5, about the Nazirites in 6:1–21, and about the offerings to be made by the heads of tribes in chapter 7. Thus, this powerful prayer of blessing stands out in a list of responsibilities. It has long been recognized as one of the most beautiful of all the prayers in the Bible. It is even found in the earliest known fragment of a quotation from the Bible—a seventh- or sixth-century BC silver scroll the size of a finger, which has this prayer inscribed on it and can now be seen in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Part of the power of this blessing is that it expresses an unconditional love of God in poetic form that is simple and memorable and speaks to the individual as much as to the community. Psalm 67 (NIV84) 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah 2 that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. 3 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. 4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah 5 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. 6 Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. 7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him. Psalm seem to be influenced by the blessing from Numbers 6. It has the striking character of beginning with a prayer for God’s imparting goodness on us but turns quickly to a prayer that praises God’s goodness instead, and then returns in the last verse to be a prayer for continued blessing on us. The song of joy of the whole creation is spontaneous and heartfelt. Surely God has blessed us wondrously and powerfully and given us new life. It is as if only music can adequately express such deep gratitude and praise. Two features stand out in this psalm. The first is that in its short seven verses, it is broken by a refrain inserted at two points in the psalm, verses 3 and 5. This, in effect, breaks the psalm into three parts: verses 1–3, 4–5, 6–7. The first and third parts contain both the request for blessing and the praise of God; the middle section has only the praise of God. A second feature follows from this: by placing the prayer for blessing in the first and last lines, the authors have created a “sandwich” effect whereby the prayer for blessing frames the central point of the psalm: to call for the praise of God by Israel and the nations alike. This device is usually called by literary textbooks an “inclusion.” God gives the blessing as confirmation of His continuing relationship to us as people of God. We have a larger role to play in God’s unfolding salvation history with all peoples and nations of the earth. It is this larger role in God’s unfolding salvation history that must seize our attention. Like the people Israel, Christians as people of God must remain aware of all the actors in God’s salvation history. Peoples of other faiths, nations of the world, and the earth itself are all actors with whom Christians interact through the blessing of the gift of Jesus. God gave Jesus, God’s only Son, out of love in order to reconcile the world to God’s self. Yet, not everyone will be cheerful or joyful. There will be those for whom life seems bleak and sad, for whom grief is very real. Within their aching hearts and shadowed souls, relentless cheerfulness seems empty, heartless, and even cruel. It creates a painful conflict within them. They feel isolated and alone in their sorrow and out of sync in their despair. They perceive their own darkness as a painful and embarrassing indictment of faithlessness. These anxious and self-conscious people are more in tune with Psalm 42 than Psalm 67. If you are one of those, please hear again the assurance that for you, compassionately, the risen Christ still shows his wounded hands and side. The one whose birth we celebrated a mere 5 days ago is also the one who has been raised up from the grave, and is the one who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). Friend, if you at times feel like a cheerless worshiper, the call is not to fake joy, but simply to concider God’s invitation to remember that He desires to bless and to trust that in Christ He has blessed you already. This is what Numbers 6:4-7 and Psalm 67 calls us to: Remember that God bless his people; Trust that He’ll continue to do so as He has promised. This is the witness of Scripture. But, even if the fullness of the light of God’s blessing is too much for you to embrace just now, and even if its promise seems in vain at this very moment, these passages want to jog the memory that for some, somewhere, joy is real, even now. Somewhere, rejoicing is sincere. For some, even now, thanksgiving is heartfelt. And God’s promise is that is there for you too in Christ. May this be enough to prompt you to see meaning in your life circumstances too. Remember that the coming of Jesus, His birth, His life, His ministry, His death, His resurrection mould and form Christians as people who can hold on to hope in the midst of despair and trust through times of loss and despair. “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning,” the psalmist has proclaimed (Psalm 30:5). The Life of Jesus reveals to us that God has been faithful and will be again. The outcome of Jesus’ ministry reveals God has blessed and will bless again. Jesus’ death on that cross and His resurrection reveals that God does not stay distant or silent forever. For Christians this is the deepest promise of we celebrate in the Lord’s Supper, that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ. God’s face is shining upon all in the coming of Emmanuel, in our darkness as well as in our light. In Him and through Him God is blessing us all. Friends, fundamentally, this is what Psalm 67 does. It rejoices that God is present with God’s people. God is blessing the people with His very self. This is the deepest longing of the human heart: to know with assurance the loving, living, abiding presence of God. The blessing that will come to all people is that very knowledge of God and God’s loving-kindness, God’s saving power that will come upon all peoples and all nations of the earth. Where is this better portrayed than in the coming of Jesus? In so doing, Psalm 67 proclaims that God intends to take all this much farther than our own feelings and perspectives readily or happily embrace. Let’s look at this in the right context. The scope of God’s purpose is revealed to embrace the whole world. God is blessing all the nations, not just the Hebrew people. God is blessing and judging all the peoples. This revelation turns narrow or selfish associations with God’s judgment inside out. No one is exempt, and no one is excluded from its span. God’s work of righteousness proceeds without regard to any narrow-minded boundaries. It is not subject to human calculation or even understanding. God’s judgment is God’s trustworthy gift to all peoples and all nations. Therefore, it calls forth thanksgiving and praise. And in doing this, the depth of the people’s rejoicing is revealed. If you look closely you’ll find that the emphasis has shifted focus from the worshiper to God. The great stretch of God’s saving love embraces the private hurts and needs and joys of each person, even as it reaches to include the whole of humankind and all the nations of the earth. God’s righteousness will be made manifest for the whole of the world, God’s way made known upon earth. Salvation is for all. This gospel of salvation is for all people, all nations, just as the earth has given its increase to God’s people. This place an obligation of those who realise that they are blessed. As God’s people they must witness of God’s love and care for all people and take this message to all nations. Ans what do we take to the nations? The 3 declarations of Psalm 67: (1) that God has mercy on God’s people and gives them God’s blessings [and that the greatest blessing is Jesus]; (2) that God gives them God’s presence [shines on them – profoundly true in the coming of Jesus]; (3) that this is done so that earth may understand God’s ways and all nations may know God’s deliverance [in Christ]. Therefore, all people will praise God. “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you” (verse 3). At the heart of it all is trust—trust in God to act and to save God’s people and God’s world, and in so doing, to bless. It is in this context that Galatians 4:4–7 becomes relevant: 4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Friends, Jesus is the apex of God’s blessing to us. Like I said earlier: The Life of Jesus reveals to us that God has been faithful and will be again. The outcome of Jesus’ ministry reveals God has blessed and will bless again. Jesus’ death on that cross and His resurrection reveals that God does not stay distant or silent forever. Paul often puts together short summaries of the work of God’s salvation as his “plan” that has unfolded through time according to his prophetic word given in advance. Good examples of this is Romans 1:1–8, 1 Corinthians 2:6–10, and Ephesians 1:7–10. So often, the life of Christian faith is portrayed as struggle and effort because it is. In Scripture, the life of Christian faith is even portrayed as a battle, which requires the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:10–17). These biblical calls for courage and strength connect deeply with our experiences in life. Struggles and battles are, in fact, a feature of living the gospel truthfully and faithfully. However, Galatians 4:4-7 offers a vision of the reason why we can face it all. It reminds us that at God’s appointed time our lives were irrevocably changed to become the blessed adopted brothers and sisters of Jesus. It reminds us of the foundation for the fulfillment of all the blessings that God had in store for us. Other scriptural voices fill in a more complete picture of Christian living. One of the loveliest statements of the calm confidence and joy of the believer is found in the familiar text, Philippians 4:4–7, that ends, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” May God bless you with this understanding. May this understanding guard your heart and mind. May you experience His peace. May you put Christ’s name of the people you meet so that God can bless them too. Amen.