Life with Jesus to Bless the World
Dear Calvary Family,
We are all familiar with the common refrain offered when someone sneezes. The automatic response for most of us when we hear someone sneeze is, “God Bless You!” Which, on a side note, do you know that in some Latin cultures the proper response to a first sneeze is “salud” (health), to a second sneeze “dinero” (money), and to a third sneeze “amor” (love)? Don’t ask me why!
Anyway, back to “God Bless You.” When we ask God to bless us or someone else, what do we really mean? In the context of a sneeze, we are basically saying, “I hope you are okay.” In the context of something greater, we often mean, “I hope everything works out for you, or I hope you get what you want or need.” But what if God’s plan to bless us extends farther than our present-day wish lists? What if God’s greatest and most wonderful blessing to us is to offer himself and his presence?
In Ephesians 1, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives us such a powerful opening statement to his letter to the early church,
“3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”
Wow, what a statement! We are blessed in Christ to be chosen (vs 4); adopted (vs. 5); receivers of grace (vs 6); forgiven of sins (vs. 7); unified under Christ (vs. 10), among other things. These are some incredible blessings!
Then, as recipients of these blessings, we're called as followers of Jesus to be “rivers, not reservoirs.” Meaning we are called to receive the blessings given to us by Jesus and then to take these blessings and go bless the world by telling our neighbors and the nations of the wonderful blessings found in Jesus Christ.
I love what the African pastor and theologian, D.T. Niles once said, “I am just a beggar, telling other beggars where to find bread.”
This is what we want to be about here at Calvary Church. Equipping and encouraging each other to live our lives with Jesus. And out of the abundance of life with Jesus, live on mission to bless the world!
This is our focus for August in our sermon series. I really hope you can be part of our worship time this Sunday at 9:00am (English/ASL) and 11:00am (Spanish) as we unpack this in further depth. And oh yeah, bring some school supplies with you for our annual “Fill the Bus” donation drive and then explore ways to serve this Fall at the Team Fair in the Lobby. We can’t wait to see you soon!
Matt Doan
Reach Pastor