*******SERMON OUTLINE*******
Blessed! What Does It Really Mean?
Intro...
How many blessed people are in here tonight?
I know that we all say we’re blessed and highly
favored of the Lord,
But do we really know what it means to be
blessed?
Tonight I want to look at two entirely different
Greek words for Blessed,
So that we can gain a full understanding of
what it truly means for us to be blessed.
I. Blessed in the Beatitudes...
A.
Luk 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
Luk 6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
Luk 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
The Greek word in the beatitudes that is
translated blessed is Makarios.
Some scholars, including John Wesley
translate this word happy,
But they lose it’s full definition in that
translation.
See not only can Makarios be used to explain
the overwhelming joy or happiness which
becomes man because of what Christ has done
for us,
But it has other more relevant uses.
Aristotle along with others used Makarios to
describe the sanctity of the Gods,
And also to describe the God like blessedness
of men who had gone on to the Isles of the
Blessed.
The word Makarios denotes the quality of deity.
God is Makarios.
In 1Ti 1:11 Paul talks about the glorious
gospel of the blessed God...
God is also something that no one else is.
He’s God!
So even though we can’t become God we can
inherit some of His qualities.
Holy, Loving, Blessed......
The two-fold meaning of Blessed
1) Luk 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
The Lord said blessed are ye...for My sake.
Because of who He is and what He has done...
You become blessed which means fortunate
and happy by extension.
By extension means it wasn’t your blessedness
or happiness it is the blessing of the Lord, or
the Joy of the Lord so to speak.
2. In Luk 1:48 For3754 he hath regarded1914 the3588 low estate5014 of his848 handmaiden:1399 for,1063 behold,2400 from575 henceforth3568 all3956 generations1074 shall call me blessed.3106, 3165
The word translated shall call me blessed is
Makarizo. (VERB)
And what this scripture literally implies,
What Mary was actually saying in the Greek is
that
"People will recognize her blessedness because
she was indwelt by God in the person of the
Son she bore.
B.
So to be blessed means to literally be indwelt
by God because of what Jesus has done for us.
There can be no blessedness without Christ
indwelling man. Amen?
No man who is not saved in and through
Christ can be blessed.
But those who are blessed in the sense of being
saved and indwelt by God are fully satisfied.
C.
If you look back in the beatitudes you’ll see
that Those who were blessed had to sacrifice
material things in order to be blessed. Amen.
They did without the material or the temporal
satisfaction so that they might be satisfied
eternally by the God who is able...
See, material things can never satisfy the way
that Christ can. Amen?
Sure they can make you happy but they don’t
make you blessed.
These days it’s hard to tell the makarios people
from the happy people.
See you can be temporarily happy whether you
are a believer or a non believer.
But you have to be indwelt by God because of
Christ in order to be blessed.
People think they are blessed just because
they’re happy and that’s not true.
Jesus never said that he came to make all our
circumstances happy and joyful ones...
He said that He would change the way we felt
about our circumstances.
In tribulation be of good cheer.
Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure.
The word makarizo should be translated we
bless them who endure.
Not just because they endure but because they
are able to endure because they are indwelt by
God.
II. The Second And Most Common Word For Blessed (Eph 1:3)...
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
The word translated blessed here is not
makarios.
It is a word comes from eu, which means good
or well,
and the word lego, which means to speak.
The word eulogeo is where we get our word
eulogy from.
And it means well spoken of.
Eph. 1:3 actually reads God the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of being well
spoken of.
Now there are two different renderings of this
word here.
And those are Eulogetos and eulogeos
Eulogeto is exclusively used to describe the
triune God.
Because when the word ends in tos it implies a
certain quality or worthiness.
It says that God is Worthy to be spoken well of.
Whereas eulogeo means one who will prove
him or herself worthy to be well spoken of.
Or one who will be made worthy.
Sheep & Goats
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Many of us pray God Bless me or Bless me God.
What were really saying is speak well of me.
Now some of you are saying what audacity.
Let’s remember that God’s words are the
equvalent of God’s actions.
The Worlds were made by the words of His
mouth.
There is creative power in His speech.
When God speaks things happen. Amen?
If He speaks good of us whose concept of good
do you think He’s going to adopt. His.
And He’s going to speak into existence those
things which He knows are best for us not just
for now but also for eternity.
He’ll speak blessing into your life and in turn
you’ll be made worthy. Amen?
So what does blessed mean?
It means to be indwelt by God and made worthy because of what Christ did.
