CONNECTION/TENSION

Last week, we began a series about bread. Well, not bread exactly, but on what Jesus did when He had bread in His hands. He blessed it, broke it, and gave it.

Bread is, in many ways, the perfect metaphor for our lives because it’s common and ordinary, and sometimes cracked and broken. But in Jesus’s hands, it becomes sacred and miraculous.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at what it means to be blessed, what it means to be broken, and what it means to be given by Jesus.

Today, we’re going to talk about the word ‘blessed’.

What does it mean to be blessed?

Imagine that an alien were to land on our planet and observe how we use the word, ‘Blessed’ and determine it’s meaning solely by how it is used on social media. The alien might conclude that being #Blessed is about having beautifully made lattes and perfect kitchen remodels, Instagrammable vacations and beautiful spouses.

But that has nearly nothing to do with what the Bible means by blessing. Many of the things we associate with a blessed life—health, provision, beauty, and more—are, of course, gifts from God. But they are like hints and shadows of the real and true blessedness.

To reframe how we think about blessing, we’re going to have to go back to the beginning.

Bread is, in many ways, the perfect metaphor for our lives because it’s common and ordinary, and sometimes cracked and broken. But in Jesus’s hands, it becomes sacred and miraculous.

CONTEXT

Genesis 1:1-4a, 10-12, 16-18, 21-22, 25-28 (ESV) ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good… 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good… 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good… 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth…” 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them…’

‘And God saw that it was good…’ ‘And God blessed them…’

Our origin story is rooted in the origin story of the whole cosmos. God established blessing from the origins and foundations of the world. If we want to understand who we are and what makes us blessed, we have to go back to the creating, ordering, and blessing of the world.

When the Bible tells us the story of the beginning, it begins with a Person, God. “In the beginning, God…” All things have their origin in God. In the ancient world everyone knew that some god or collection of gods were responsible for the material world. They were not like people in our day, who imagine the world as a series of automated processes or random incidents with no divine involvement. For people in ancient times, the questions were not “Did god make this?” and “How?” but rather “Which god made this?” and “Why?” The questions of which god and why are massively significant, and these are the ones the Genesis account wants to answer most clearly.

To illuminate the picture of God presented in Genesis, we need to set the backdrop ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium