Blessed

“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…. Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great’” (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1).

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Mat. 28:18-20).

Can you hear it? The promise of a thousand years resounds. My paraphrase:

“Now the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, ‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go from your country and your kindred and your fathers’ houses to the nations that I will show you and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them into a new family in the name of the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit as I will make of you a new humanity, a great called-out-community ekklesia. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you so that they know me. And I will bless you and make my name that you bear 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. Fear not, disciples, I am your shield, your reward, I will be with you always.”

Abraham’s story is our story. We are his children. We have inherited his promise (Gal. 3-4; 2 Cor. 1:20-21).

We are the called out people, a nation of priests to bless the world (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:7).

Do I believe, really expect, lean on, count on, move forward and act upon, that through my church, through Christ in me, that the nations/neighborhood will be blessed?

Do I intentionally seek to fulfill that in Christ? Do I intentionally seek to bless?

Do I use my God-given faith-imagination to faith-see what this neighborhood would look like blessed?

Drugs, addiction, materialism, moralism, legalism, Jesus-in-my-pocket-ism, broken marriages, broken families.

Lord! Bring blessing! We cannot, but you can. Through us, by your Spirit.

The psalmist shared that vision:

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the people praise you!” (Ps. 67:1-3).

That is, “God in Christ has so poured out every spiritual blessing on us, given us freely that we may freely give (Mat. 10:8), in Christ making all grace abound to us so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, we may abound in every good work (2 Cor. 9:8), he has made his face shine upon us in Christ, so that GOD’s WAY MAY BE KNOWN in our neighborhood, the gospel which is the power of salvation (Rom. 1:16) among all the nations/neighbors. Let all my neighborhood praise you, O God; let all my neighborhood praise you!” He has blessed us so that we will be a blessing, so that he is known, he is lifted up, he is praised!

Oh, Jesus, my King, and Father, Spirit, may your name be praised in our neighborhood! Let it ring from the tops of the empty churches anew. Let our light shine into and then your light shine out of the dark corners of the drug houses. Bless! Let the neighbors, the addicts, the broken, the self-righteous, the sunk-in-pleasures-of-this-world praise you!

Your saving power!

But yet.

We look.

And imagination fails.

There is darkness. Overdoses. Death. Grief. Loss. Separation. Illness. Poverty. Cycles that seem impossible. Stubborn hearts. Contentment and apathy. Inoculation to Jesus.

God’s word to Abraham breaks after Genesis 3-11.

Fall—death.

Cain and Abel—death.

Genesis 5 “and he died. And he died. And he died”—death.

Flood—death.

Noah’s drunkenness and fall—death.

Tower of Babel—death and judgment.

Was there any hope?

Darkness winning.

Death reigning.

But.

“From you I will make a great nation. I will bless.”

LIFE! Life breaks forth.

This is our story. We are to be life in the realm of death. We are Jesus’ new life here and now. We are blessings here and now. We are Abraham’s descendants in Christ. We are flags pointing to him who is the Way. We bear the life of Christ who is the Life in us (2 Cor. 4:10, 12). We are a resurrection people. We are a blessed people to bless. 

Thank you for the image from https://angellmike.com/2016/02/21/abrams-god/