01.10.2010 A Better 2010 - Psalm 67 - Blessed to be a Blessing

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Psalm 67 - 67:1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, [Selah] 2 that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving power among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou dost judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. [Selah] 5 Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! 6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us. 7 God has blessed us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

Looking today – this Psalm is a theme throughout the Bible. We are blessed – God blesses us – in order that we might be a blessing. When God acts on our behalf, He does it for us, but not JUST for us – He does it so we might take His blessing and become a blessing to those around us. When we fail to remember that, the blessings dry up – because God is giving them to us that we might use them in the lives of others.

Blessings come in a multitude of ways – TRIALS – sometimes in a deeper understanding of God. Sometimes blessings come in circumstances. But if we only look at circumstances – we may miss a lot of what He wants to give us.
As God blesses us, we are to turn around ang give that to tohers.

God is the God of all comfort, that we might be able to comfort those in affliction. When God gives His comfort and mercy and blessing – He is doing that because your brothers and sisters in Christ may someday be going through the same thing and He wants you to step up.

As this is true personally, this is true about the Church. As Americans, we tend to read it as a personal book. But it is first written to the community of believers. It is written to the church – and we read it as a community – and the blessings – as God blesses this community – and He has in many ways – even through the difficulties. During the mortgage burning party, we’ll talk a bit about that. But He does that so that we might be a blessing to others. It is easy to forget that that is our purpose. We must keep that in the forefront. Even as we look at Having a Better 2010 – think of it – God’s desire for us this year – in the ways God has blessed us – we are to be a blessing to the commuity.
First, we are here that more people may find faith in Christ. That is always our job – our goal – our purpose – our mission – to bring more people to faith in Christ. To set the church up in such a way that that is our purpose and focus. It is so easy to forget that. We often view church – is it meeting my needs? How are the ministries going? That is very important.
Last night, I was running and listening to our sister church in Westerville – we are a relational church with a missional purpose. And that is really true of us as well.
I want to challenge us – to have a better 2010 – to have a missional focus to bring more people to Jesus. Of course you are! IF not, we’ll talk later! You’ve got to be! It has changed you! How can we not want that for our neighbors and the people we work with? And that could overcome some of the fear – being able to communicate with them in your own way.
Preaching a sermon to your neighbor is probably not going to work – but communicating what Christ did for you – that is powerful. Like the blind man – what do you think about this Jesus? I was blind and now I see! We all have a story like that! For me it was only a short 18 years of blindness before my eyes were opened - -for some it was longer, for others, shorter. In bringing more to faith, we need to minister to more people. We do a good job of caring and serving – but God doesn’t want us to stop – OKAY, we’ve served enough! NO! we need to be serving more! Let’s continue – move – and serve more.

Finally – it is helping more people to grow in their relationship with Christ. We have small groups – and that is one of the key things. The reason we will be doing this one on family and marriage – most need help in marriage. That is a real key thing for Christians – to have good, real, strong marriages – that is very valuable! The reason I teach through the Bible – we believe the Bible is what helps you grow in your relationship with Christ. There is something significant about the Word of God in your life. We could get up and give seminars, which can be helpful, but there is a POWER in God’s word and it is what changes us from the inside.

Psalm 67 is typical Hebrew poetry – ABCBA –
A. Prayer for God’s Blessing
B. Prayer for the Nations.
C. Prayer for God’s Reign
B. Prayer for the Nations.
A. Prayer for God’s Blessing

Psalm 67 - 67:1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, [Selah]
God’s blessings are on the basis of GRACE. You cannot earn, work for, become worthy of – the blessings of God. Grace is unmerited favor – God’s gift to you – something you do not deserve – that is how His blessings come.
15 parables of Jesus focus on this concept. 15 – that is forty percent – that is His primary teaching mode – focus on this concept that God’s blessings are on the basis of grace.

Matt. 20 – the farmer goes to the unemployment place early in the morning and hires a group – and comes back later and later and hires different men. Then when it comes time to pay – He pays the last ones first – and pays a full days wage –

8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, `Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.' 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, 12 saying, `These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'

There are athletes who beg for a new contract. I don’t really care about the athletes – but this might be a good one for them to read…

13 But he replied to one of them, `Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?' 16 So the last will be first, and the first last."

How do you wish to live life? To get what you deserve? Or to wish for God to be generous and gracious to you? The reality? A lot of us are the ones who were hired early in the morning – and we want everyone to get what they deserve. When people are doing well, we think they have earned it – and we want that – but Jesus flips things upside-down. How about this – I am generous and just want to give. We need to learn to receive God’s blessings. If all you are thinking – fortunate circumstances – you will miss how God wants to bless. Hope for that – that is all fine – but it is more than that.

Psalm 67 – ….cause your face to shine upon us… - That meant – at that time – a person would come before a ruler – and how a person was treated was read through the ruler’s face. Either in favor – or in rejection. Cause your favor – look at us – with favor – let us be in favor with you. A quick note – understand – this is not what the psalm is about – but understand the power of facial expression – does your face express approval or disappointment? There are times you have to express disappointment – but those times should be much less. There is tremendous power in a person’s expression.

2 that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving power among all nations.

Why? That all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you. – like Gen. 12:2 – you shall be a blessing.

They were God’s people – but they separated themselves from the nations rather than being a blessing to the nations.

3 Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou dost judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. [Selah]
This is a prayer for God’s reign – His rule over all. In this realm and all realms.
I don’t know if any of you saw the show on Islam and the Quran. They talked about the law – as a Christian community – it is different when we talk about rule and reign – ‘already, not yet’ is the term. Like the field where the wheat and tares are – should we get rid of the weeds? No, leave them – we’ll deal with them at the end. Those who don’t know Christ are all around us – and God has planted His believers to be light and salt – in there, making connections – blessed to be a blessing. The transformation of the earth takes place at the end. The early Christians recognized that Rome was temporary – and they didn’t like that. America is temporary. Oil is a temporary thing. But there is something that is eternal – and that is people’s souls.

5 Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee!

What an attitude – how much do you wish for that? One of the songs – when I run – All Creatures of our God and King – O Praise Him! Sometimes I am running on the towpath - -someday – all creatures! You come around a corner in Colorado and there is a herd of elk – All creatures will praise Him someday! We have some dogs next door that I wish would praise less…
6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us. 7 God has blessed us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

We are blessed to be a blessing.