Counting Your Blessings

©November 22nd, 2020 by Rev. Rick Goettsche

Thanksgiving this year is definitely different. This year has been unlike any year we have experienced before. Most of us are ready for 2020 to be a distant memory, hoping that life can soon get back to normal.

Yet the trials of 2020 make it even more necessary for us to stop and reflect on the reasons we have to be thankful. It is tempting to fixate on all the negative things we’ve experienced this year. I’d challenge you, however, to look for reasons you can be grateful, even in the midst of a pandemic.

The Apostle Paul was well acquainted with difficult times. He was constantly in danger. On several occasions, he was beaten to within an inch of his life. He was ridiculed, attacked, slandered, and often did without. Yet he wrote to the church in Philippi that he had learned the secret to being content in all circumstances,

I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:12-13, NLT)

Paul said he could do all things through Christ who gave him strength. I think part of how he found strength in the Lord was by continually recounting the blessings of God in his life. This morning, I want to help you do the same, so we are going to look at some of the blessings that belong to believers in Christ. My hope is that as you recount these blessings, you can be thankful and joyful regardless of what’s going on in the world around you.

Blessing #1—Forgiveness

The first blessing for the believer is found in 1 John chapter 1,

8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. (1 John 1:8-10, NLT)

John reminds us of a couple of very important truths. The first is that we are sinners. If we claim we aren’t sinful, then we are lying to ourselves and we are also calling God a liar, because He tells us we are sinful creatures worthy of condemnation.

Now so far, this doesn’t sound like much of a blessing, does it? It kind of sounds like bad news! If we are honest, we know we are sinful people. The reason most people try to claim they aren’t sinful is because it makes them feel bad. It makes us feel ashamed when we think of all the different ways we fail.

Even worse is when we think about how our sin affects our relationship with God. In our minds, God has to be utterly disappointed in us, as we continually fail Him again and again. We often make the same mistakes over and over again. We reason that if we were God, we would write us off and turn His back on us.

Thankfully, we are not God! John tells us that God does not turn his back on us when we sin. And admitting our sin doesn’t make God dislike us. On the contrary, John tells us that it is only when we confess our sin that we find freedom.

The promise here is that if we confess our sins to God, He will forgive us and cleanse us from wickedness. What a wonderful promise! When we sin, we are tempted to run from God and hide, for fear that He will punish us, but John tells us God wants us to do the opposite. When we sin, he wants us to run to Him, admit our failure and ask for His forgiveness. He will not only forgive us, but will work in us to cleanse us, purify us, and make us holy. This is a tremendous blessing that is available to every believer in Christ. If we confess our sins to Him, we find forgiveness and help.

Blessing #2—No Condemnation

The second blessing is closely tied to the first one, but takes things a step further. To find it, we look to the book of Romans, chapter 8.

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (Romans 8:1-2, NLT)

This blessing is twofold. First, there is no longer any condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. This is the opposite of the way many people view God. Many imagine that God is waiting for us to mess up so He can punish us. Or that God can never look at us and see anything but our sin. But that isn’t the case at all. Paul says for the believer there is no longer any condemnation for our sin.

There may be consequences to our sinful actions, but God does not condemn us for the ways we have failed. This should embolden us to take hold of the first blessing we talked about—because we know God will forgive us if we come to Him and because He will not condemn us for our failures we should run to His arms when we fall into sin rather than hiding or pretending we are ok. He will not turn us away but embrace us.

One of the most common things we hear people say is, “I know you say God will forgive you and accept you, but you don’t know what I’ve done.” They imagine that their sin is so great that God could never forgive them. Paul tells us that’s not the case—there is forgiveness for all who come to Jesus.

Many Christians struggle when they fall into the same sins over and over again. When we keep making the same mistakes, we fear that God will get tired of forgiving us and will eventually turn his back on us. I have often said the best part about Romans 8 is that it comes right after Romans 7. Listen to what Paul said right before this,

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. (Romans 7:21-25, NLT)

Paul is frustrated by his own actions. He knows what he’s supposed to do, but he keeps messing up. We can relate to this, can’t we? Paul’s heart echoes our own when he reflects on what a miserable person He is. But what is his response? That Christ Jesus sets us free from sin! And then he tells us there is no condemnation for those who believe, even those who are miserable sinners who keep messing up.

The second facet of this blessing is that we have been set free from the power of sin in our lives. Yes, we will continue to mess up, just as Paul did. But we find that there is power from God to do what is right. We are no longer slaves to our sinful nature, but we can ask for God’s help when we are tempted and find strength to do what is right. This reminds us that we do not fight our battle against sin in our own power. We have a powerful ally—God Himself. Thank God for His indescribable gift!

Blessing #3—Inheritance

The third blessing from God is the blessing of an inheritance waiting for us. We see this in a couple of different places in the Bible. The first is in 1 Peter.

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. (1 Peter 1:3-5, NLT)

Peter tells us that because of Jesus’ work in the life of the believer, we have an inheritance guaranteed for us in heaven. This inheritance has several facets for which we can rejoice.

First, we will inherit eternal life. If you have ever stood at the grave of someone you love, you know how important it is to know what lies ahead. If our faith is in Jesus, then we can have absolute assurance that when we die, we will spend eternity in heaven with Him. This means we can live life boldly, knowing that this life is not all there is, and that we are living now to live again for all eternity in heaven.

Second, we inherit rewards in heaven for the good we have done on earth. Throughout the Bible, we are told we will be rewarded in heaven for what we have done in this life. I have to be honest, heaven seems like its own reward to me, but the idea that God plans to give us a greater reward for the good things we do in this life is incredibly encouraging.

Jesus taught that we can either work for rewards on earth, or for rewards in heaven. If we do good things in the hopes that others will take notice and honor us, then we have already received the reward we desired. Conversely, when we do good things to honor God, without expectation of a reward or honor, we will be rewarded in Heaven.

This should embolden us to live for the Lord, even when it seems like the good things we do go unnoticed. They may be unnoticed by the world, but the Lord notices them and promises that they are storing up a reward for us in heaven that cannot be defiled or stolen and will not decay or decrease. We can live for the Lord now, knowing we have an inheritance of blessing waiting in heaven.

Third, we have assurance of our inheritance. In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul tells us that our inheritance is guaranteed.

Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. 12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. (Ephesians 1:11-14, NLT)

Paul tells us that as part of our salvation, God has given us the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He has promised. Peter says much the same thing, when He says God protects us to ensure we receive the salvation He has promised.

This is good news for believers, because we inevitably go through times of feeling like we’re doing pretty good followed by times where we feel utterly worthless. We must remember that our salvation, and the inheritance that goes with it, is a gift from God to begin with, not something we earn by being good. These verses remind us that God guarantees that He will carry us through in faith to the end of our lives. In those times when we feel like we have messed up so badly, so much that God must have turned His back on us, so badly that we think we have lost our salvation, we must remember these promises. God has guaranteed our inheritance. We can be certain of our inheritance because we have the Holy Spirit living within us.

Blessing #4—God’s Presence

And that leads us to the fourth blessing we have in Christ—which is God’s presence in our lives. As we have just seen in Ephesians and 1 Peter, God promises that He is active in our lives for the rest of our days. He promises that we no longer have to face life in our own strength, and that He will walk with us through every circumstance of life, strengthening us, guiding us, and sustaining us.

Jesus promised the same thing to his disciples (and by extension, us) right before He left the earth.

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NLT)

Jesus promised us that He is with us always, even to the end of the age. Because of that, we can live with a confidence the rest of the world lacks. We know God is active in our lives even when we can’t see Him. In the book of Romans, Paul reminds us that God is orchestrating things in our lives to ultimately work for good.

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28, NLT)

If we believe these truths, we have great reason for gratitude! No matter what we face in the world, no matter what changes or reversals we see, no matter who is in power in a given place at a given time, we know that if we are believers God is with us and is actively working things out for good.

In a year like 2020, this is great news. I have seen all sorts of jokes about how best to describe this year. For the most part, I’ve felt like this year we have had to continually say, “So this is what we’re doing now? Ok…” If there has ever been a year that should remind us that a lot of circumstances are outside of our control, this is it. For many people, that has led them to despair. We like to feel like we are in control, but the truth is, we never are.

For some, they have concluded that everything is completely out of control. But that’s not accurate either. God is still in control. And for the believer, we have the promise that God is in control, He is with us, and He is working things out ultimately for good. We may not understand it, we may not be able to see it yet, but we have an assurance the rest of the world lacks, but desperately longs to have.

Conclusion

For many people, Thanksgiving is going to look very different this year. Some families will not gather at all. In truth, most of this year has looked very different. For many, this will lead to discouragement, and it will certainly make it difficult for them to find reasons to be thankful. But for the Christian, we simply need to look to the Bible and count our blessings. Then we realize that no matter what happens, we have myriad reasons to be grateful, because God has blessed us in more ways than we would dare to imagine.

So what should we do in response to these blessings? I’ve got a few ideas.

First, serve the Lord boldly. One benefit of the challenges of this year is that we are presented with many opportunities to serve the Lord with faith and boldness. Rather than looking inward and thinking about our needs, our hardships, and the changes we are experiencing, we should cast our gaze outward. We should look around and see the hardships and needs of others and look for ways that we can either alleviate those needs or at least bring some comfort in the midst of a trying time. We can do this because we know that God is with us, and even if no one else sees or appreciates our efforts, He does.

Second, seek the Lord constantly. If there is anything these promises teach us, it is that God wants a relationship with us. The devil will do anything he can to keep you from having a vibrant relationship with God. He will tell you you’re not good enough, that you’ve messed up too badly, or that God has surely turned His back on you. But none of those things are true. We see in these verses that God loves us, and He stands willing to forgive us when we mess up. There is no condemnation for the believer, so there is no reason for us not to seek the Lord.

There’s an old Peanuts cartoon where Linus is looking out the window at a heavy rainstorm and tells Lucy he’s worried the whole world might flood. Lucy reminds him that God promised to never flood the whole earth again. Linus responded that she’d taken a load off his mind. Lucy’s response is profound—sound theology has a way of doing that! She’s right. Seek the Lord, study His Word, know His character and you will find comfort no matter the circumstance.

Finally, share the Lord liberally. If there is one thing our world needs this Thanksgiving, it is the message of the gospel. Jesus is the One who can offer assurance in “these unprecedented times.” These promises are wonderful, but they only apply to believers. This should drive us to do two things: first, to make sure we are genuine believers in the Lord; and second to make sure those we love are as well. Take the time to share these promises with the people around you, so they can share in these blessings as well.

I hope you see that no matter what has gone on this year, or what lies ahead of you, those who trust in Christ have many reasons to be thankful. So, we need to make time to count our blessings and thank the Lord for them.

©November 22nd, 2020 by Rev. Rick Goettsche