Well good morning! It is really great to be here this morning.
This morning I want to assure you that you are blessed. Despite what it might feel like sometimes…
• you live in a relatively free country.
• you are ridiculously wealthy.
• you are healthy.
• you probably have at least one cell phone each.
Let’s have a look at some stats!!!
In Ethiopia… one in ten babies die as an infant. In NZ, it is one in 200!!!
As a recently convert to Team Dad, even given all our complications, I’m pretty happy our daughter has been born in NZ.
In NZ you will live on average 30 years more that in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Ok… so people in the USA are very rich. But look at NZ verses these other countries…
We are loaded!!!
And cell phones… Many of us have two!!!
We are materially blessed as a nation. We are wealthy beyond the imagination of most people on earth!
There was another nation that was blessed. This was the nation or people group of the Israelites.
This blessing started off with Abraham in Genesis 22:16-18
God was saying to Abraham… because you obeyed me… I am going to bless you soooo much… beyond what you can imagine. And while you will benefit from this… it is through you that I will bless all the nations of the earth.
Now isn’t this an interesting concept… other nations are blessed through a nation that God blessed.
Or to make it a bit more personal… other people are blessed through people whom God blesses.
This is not an isolated incident in the Bible.
Look at Joseph. God blessed him and he was a real blessing to the nation of Egypt as he guided them through a drought.
Look at Jonah. Here is a guy who was a reluctant participant in blessing the people of Ninevah… but through his call to repentance, this city was blessed.
Look at Daniel and his mates. They blessed King Nebuchadnezzar and the people of Babylonian empire with their gift of wisdom that God gave them.
If you read many of the Old Testament stories you will see a common thread. God blessing people so that they can bless others.
Jesus continued this message. Jesus himself was described as being blessed (Luke 1:42). Jesus blessed many, both in action and in word. But He also taught specifically about this issue of why we are blessed.
I want us to quickly think about two of the stories Jesus told.
Firstly the story of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:15-21).
Here is a guy who has been blessed. He has fertile land, which is a big blessing. But what was his focus? To store up what he had been blessed with for himself.
Let’s look at another story. This time the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35).
The Samaritan traveller was undoubtedly blessed. He has supplies. He has money. He has his own donkey.
Contrary to what Shrek says, having a donkey is a blessing.
He also has compassion. And he blessed this mugging victim greatly.
If we look at the rest of the New Testament we continue to see this pattern.
In Acts we see offering being taken for churches who are facing famine.
We see people selling their homes and contributing it to the church so it can look after the needs of the less fortunate.
So what’s my point???
I want to strongly state that:
1. We are blessed!
2. There seems to be a pattern of God wanting those whom have been blessed to bless others.
Does this seem reasonable?
A part of scripture that has been having a deep impact on me for over a couple of years now is the end of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
As Jesus is about to ascend to heaven, he commissions His disciples. Essentially He says that I have blessed you with a message of salvation… a message of reconciliation. Now go bless others with this same message.
Now in both passages there is this focus on all nations. This is the same focus we saw back in Genesis... Being a blessing to all nations.
In the Luke account, Jesus says to start in Jerusalem. But this is not the starting and finishing point of this activity. There is no way you can read these pages and come away with the impression that Jesus though His disciples should only tell those in Jerusalem. He is saying to share the blessing Jesus gives His disciples with all nations.
So…
1. We are Blessed
2. We have this pattern of God wanting those whom have been blessed to bless others
3. Jesus commissions His disciples to bless all nations
And as believers, aren’t we Jesus’ disciples?
Does this mean that just maybe Jesus wants us, as His followers, to be about blessing other nations?
I again want to strongly state that… YES… we should be about blessing other nations. While we might start in our own back yard… our own proverbial Jerusalem… Jesus has set us a focus on the nations.
And this focus was been around since Genesis… as we saw earlier.
In fact I would like to go one step further. I would like to suggest that these commissioning verses are actually stating one of the core purposes of our lives. And… when we don’t fulfil this purpose… it leaves a void in us.
These are some heavy, and hopefully, challenging words.
I want to tell you a story about one of the most profound experiences I have had. In 2004 Carl, Claire and I went to Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia. That year we meet one of the most vibrant, fun-loving persons on this earth called Olga. Olga was not a believer but her brother Sergey is.
While Olga spoke next to no English… in fact I don’t recall her even saying “Hello”… and I spoke next to no Russian… not even a Privet!... we seem to connect. We had a lot of fun teasing each other. All with no language.
In 2005 we again spent time with Olga, this time as a believer. She was the same fun-loving, vibrant person but there was a new joy about her. I also had the absolute honour and privilege to baptise Olga.
Do the verses in Matthew come to mind??
… 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…This last year we spent a lot of time with Olga. She has started to learn and speak English. But more amazing is she is now speaking into the lives of some of the younger girls… discipling them.
I do not think I can ever explain or share how much joy seeing and thinking about this brings. The closest analogy I can give is when you are playing cricket and you hit the ball with the full face of the bat, in the sweet spot, with perfect timing and it flies to the fence. Not one of those brutal shots which is all about power and muscling the ball. Rather it is when everything comes together in refined perfection. I know this doesn’t fully do justice to what that feeling is but it is the closest I can get.
I think the reason for this feeling is that it was because it was one of those moments… in my case one of those very rare moments… where my purpose… what God designed me to be and do… was being fulfilled.
This morning I want to suggest that this purpose, of blessing the nations… blessing those particularly in nations less well off than ours… is something that is designed into all of us.
You might say that some people are meant to be involved in this type of activity… But others are meant to focus on their local community. Or on their family. Or on their ministry here in New Zealand. Or on their work environment.
There is one problem with this. I just can’t see this “out” in scripture. These areas are important but I do not believe that scripture says that it’s an either-or situation. I very much believe it is a both-and situation.
For some of you this might be a bit challenging. Over the years as I have shared with people about going to Siberia or being involved in mission trips, I have frequently come across the response that this is a wonderful thing for you to do but it is not for me.
That has always sat uncomfortably with me but we have a New Zealand cultural tendency accept each other’s opinions as valid. We call this tolerance.
What this means though is that I have been thinking about this subject for over two years now. So I am pretty sure that God is calling ALL of us, without exception, to bless the nations of this world.
So I have three challenges for you…
1. Show me anywhere in scripture that takes away the call of Jesus to bless the nations. You might like to look at Matt 8:21 and Luke 14:26.
2. If God has given us no out to this calling, what are you going to do about it?
3. If you decide you should do what Jesus is calling you too and you don’t know how to progress this, come and have a talk to me over the next few weeks about coming to Siberia with us.
Yes this is a blatant advertisement for Siberia. This is partly what these trips to Siberia are about. Helping our church family find out how they can fulfil this calling.
It maybe that you find Siberia is not your thing. But at the very least it will open your eyes… and probably your heart to the possibilities of being involved with people who are culturally different to you. It will show you that Jesus is the saviour and restorer of all the nations… not just New Zealand.
And if you fall in love with the people of Siberia… you will have found something that God designed you for.
