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Sunday, November 21, 2004

Rev. Dr. Harold E Kidd

2 Samuel 9, 1 Kings 17, Matthew 5: 1-2, Mark 5

PASS IT ON

'Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down, His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."'   (NIV)

"He sat down and taught them." Most of us have been taught that to be blessed, a blessing, is something that we receive. And in receiving it, it brings joy into our lives. Blessing in this sense has become the instrument through which the Lord has met our needs. Blessing we understand to be the expression of God's goodness come into our lives. To be blessed is to be the recipient of God's favor. And so in this sense, our blessings are understood to have somewhat of a personalized nature to them. Therefore, we are blessed.

One of our gospel hymns is suggestive of this personal nature of being blessed when you read its lyrics,

 The Lord is blessing me, right now, right now

He woke me up this morning and started me on my way,

The Lord is blessing me, right now, right now, right now.

And yet, in the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us his own definition and descriptions of what it means to be blessed. He sat down and taught them. When you read the Beatitudes, they communicate, not the experiences we have come to view as being blessed, but a total contradiction of what the culture of our present age would suggest.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed are those who mourn, Blessed are the meek, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad … ." The Beatitudes speak to a disciple’s responsibility of giving back to God and then giving back to others in the name of God to advance God's kingdom.

These words are especially important for our listening ear in the days and cultural times in which we live, because we live in a time in which there is an enormous emphasis on individuality -- more emphasis on receiving than on giving.  

Personal happiness. Personal gain. Personal accomplishment. Personal possessions. Religion is now a personal thing. "I don't need to come to church, but I can worship God at home, all by myself." I once pastored an angry elder who felt he no longer needed the church for its worshipping community and didn't need to come to church to receive communion, but could serve himself communion at home. By the same token, politics has also become a personal thing for many. It’s a sad reality when a person who has been elected with the confidence of people to represent them and their needs, chooses to use their elected office for personal gain.

And much has become so personalized to the detriment of our ability to work together as a team. It’s become that way in religion. It’s become that way in politics. It’s become that way in many sporting events. One of the things you'll notice in a team sport, such as basketball, is that advertisers no longer market the team -- used to be the Celtics, or the Lakers, the Dodgers, or the Yankees. In a special segment on ESPN where they interviewed Magic Johnson and Larry Bird on how the game of basketball has changed, they both agreed that it’s now "all about the individual." 

The size of my contract. The number of my endorsements. My statistics. Which brand of shoe or jersey will market my name? Give me the ball. When it comes to selling sporting apparel, the individual star has become the marketable item rather than the team. Teams have become secondary to the individual.

We are bombarded with a cultural mentality that continues to preach a gospel of selfishness and a concern for me, myself, and I. And if the church isn't careful, we as well can buy into this cultural mentality and gospel whose only focus is getting more for ourselves. The prosperity gospel, to which many are flocking, is a by-product of this focus on personal gain and enjoyment, where to talk too much about giving, can easily cause a deaf ear. When you study the teachings of our Lord in this text, they totally contradict our cultural and world views of living a blessed life.

And in the midst of this prevailing climate, it does us well to periodically ask ourselves as the church, have we focused so much on the personal side of being blessed, that we have paid to little attention to the communal side?

Not only are our blessings personal but they are also communal. Amen.

God is blessing you and me so that we can bless others.

Jesus taught that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. I believe that one of the reasons God blesses some with finances, or resources, talent, or energy, or kindheartedness, or compassion the way he does is because He knows they will pass it on. He knows the blessing He has given them; they will in turn use it to bless someone else. God is concerned about the well-being and prosperity of his people. Amen. And one of the primary ways the Lord looks after us is through the giving of others. Amen. Blessings that become like a chain reaction, the Lord sends the blessing, but it just doesn't stop at your house, but God uses you to take that same blessing to someone else who needs it.  

But there's another aspect to this subject which we would miss if we're not careful. It’s not the amount the Lord blesses us with, but our attitude of heart which keeps heaven's blessing supply line open. This is one of those sermons where the scriptures can speak for themselves. Amen. In 1 Kings 17 there was a famine in the land of Israel. It was bad times economically. There was a widow in a little town called Zarephath who had a sick son, a bit of flour in the bottom of a barrel and a small cruse of oil for just one more meal.

Knowing this, God yet sent his prophet Elijah to this woman. God had blessed her, and He wanted her to be a blessing to Elijah.

She only had enough flour to make one last meal for her and her son, but because she was willing to share her blessing of only one last meal with Elijah, every day she would go to the flour barrel, she would stoop down, and at the bottom of the barrel, to her amazement, there was enough flour for another day's meal. The blessing she had of just a little flour and some oil, she took that blessing and shared it with Elijah. And when you pass your  blessing on, God will replenish what you have given away.

Like this woman, some days when you get down to the bottom of your barrel, in the blessing of your finances, in the blessing of your kind-heartedness, in the blessing of your strength, in the blessing of your smile, in the blessing of your wisdom, in the blessing of your spirituality, when you feel like you don't have any more that you can give, if the Lord leads you to share it, Pass It On. Let the blessing the Lord has given to you become a blessing in the life of someone who needs it now. Pass It On. He's more than able to replenish that which you give away!

And God will bless you in other ways as well. For this woman had a son who became sick unto death, but because Elijah, a recipient of her blessing, was in the house, God used Elijah to raise up her sick and lifeless son.

Pastor Ron Mehl in his book God Works The Night Shift tells the story of how one evening he sat exhausted in his study. Emotionally he was whipped. He had given all he had; in his spirit he was down, depressed, and dejected. Just then there was a knock at the door. He didn’t answer. The knock came again. Still he didn't answer. The knock came a third time, and he finally answered.

It was a young couple in the congregation who was going through troubled waters in their marriage. They came to him expressing they did so because they had so much faith and confidence in him. Little did they recognize they had come to him when he was spiritually and emotionally running on fumes. But he pulled up a chair, and began to listen intently. And as he listened, the Spirit gave him wise counsel.

And this is what he writes about that experience. "God spoke through me that night to encourage a couple of struggling kids about to join the ranks of America's divorced. It was God's gracious way of saying, 'Ron, you may think you're at the bottom of your barrel, you may have decided you have nothing left to give, but I can still bless and encourage other people through you, whether you think you have any personal resources or not.'”

Yes, God is more than able to replenish the blessing that we give away.

If You've been Blessed Pass It On!

David, when he was a young man, was befriended by Jonathan, the son of Saul, in ways that David never forgot. It is said that David loved Jonathan as he loved his own soul. God blessed Jonathan with a kind and unselfish heart, and because of Jonathan's kind heart and unselfishness, Jonathan blessed David with the warmth of his friendship. In the nighttime of his life, when King Saul sought to kill him and David was a wanted and hunted man, Jonathan was a friend to David who literally stuck to him closer than a brother.  

David's life was blessed because of Jonathan's blessing of being an unselfish and kindhearted person. David never forgot the blessing of Jonathan's friendship. In 2 Samuel 9, years have passed, Jonathan has long since died in battle, but Jonathan had a lame son named Mephiboseth, whom David sends for.  And he takes Mephiboseth into the King's palace and treats Jonathan's son as he does his own. Dressed Mephiboseth up like a young Prince and set him a table with the king’s family. David passed on the blessing that had been passed to him. He befriended the son of the man who had befriended him.

Wouldn't it be a awful commentary on our testimony to have been blessed of the Lord and fail to Pass It On? The Lord blessed us with his forgiveness, but some yet refuse to forgive others. The Lord blessed us with his mercy and understanding, yet when it comes to someone else, some want to be judgmental and condemning. The Lord sent someone to bless us with words of encouragement when we needed it, yet some find it easier to criticize than to encourage. The Lord blessed us with a season of being at the center of activity, yet when our season comes to an end, some don't want anybody to take their place.

If the Lord Has Blessed You, Pass It On!

In Mark ch. 5 there is the familiar story of the healing of the Gadarene (some manuscripts Geresene) Demoniac. This man was possessed with wicked spirits that caused him to live in the graveyard, shrieking and cutting himself with stones, and when they would bind him, he would break the chains. He lived as an outcast from his community. He was from the country of the Gadarenes, but he just as well could have been from Inglewood, Hollywood, Iowa, or Idaho.  Have you ever pondered the fact that he was some mama's son, some daddy's boy, could have had a wife and children? Something that negatively affected his life and his mental state of wholeness had gotten hold of him.

The text says it was a legion of wicked spirits. It could have been the horrors of war he saw as his country was under Roman occupation. It could have been some terrible experience which had driven him to the brink of insanity. 

In our own day it could have been the stress, it could have been an addiction which had taken control of his mind and behavior. It could have been his experience on the battlefield of Viet Nam or Iraq. It could have been the hardships of trying to survive in the urban wilderness of Los Angeles or Chicago. Whatever it was, something had driven him to the brink of insanity.

But then one day, he saw Jesus. It does not matter what it is, there is always hope in Jesus. And "he ran and fell at the feet of the Lord, and the Lord cast out this legion of demons and sent them into a herd of swine."

After this exorcism, the next scene is of this man clothed and in his right mind sitting at the feet of Jesus. Hallelujah! Folk we give up on, Jesus can still clothe in a right mind. Amen. When Jesus got ready to leave the region, this man wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus said, "No, no, you go back to your own community, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." The one who had been blessed wanted to stay with the blesser, but Jesus said, “Go back to your community and tell them what the Lord has done for you."

In vs. 20 it says the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. Decapolis means ten cities, so this man went back and in told his story in not one city but ten. I imagine the Lord knew there were those who needed to hear the good news that Jesus is able clothe you in a right mind. But if he had stayed with Jesus just basking in his own blessing of having been healed, the blessing would not have flowed to those who now needed to receive it. A family may have been waiting, a life was waiting, old neighbors may have been waiting. Yes, someone just like him, someone who was about to lose their grip on life, someone about to become a stranger to themselves may have been waiting.

 If You've Been Blessed, Pass It On!

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