After their exodus out of Egypt, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and experienced some amazing moments. God made a sidewalk through the Red Sea. He gave them the ten commandments at Mount Sinai. He served them breakfast in bed … manna every morning.
But there is a defining moment that is reminiscent of the original blessing in Genesis. In Numbers 6, God instructs the priests of Israel to pronounce a blessing on the people. Here is the blessing the priests pronounced on the people:
May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;
May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Note that the priests were the only people who pronounced this blessing and the only people who talked to God … the average Israelite had no right to talk to God.
Let’s fast-forward to Peter’s first letter. He is writing to the Christians who are scattered throughout the ancient world, primarily because of persecution. He reminds them of who they are in Christ, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.” 1 Peter 2:9
Contrast this with the Old Testament, where the people of Israel did not approach God directly. There were intermediaries called priests.
It was their job to offer sacrifices from the people to God, and to pronounce blessing from God to the people.
Well, Peter certainly turned the priesthood UPSIDE-DOWN. Today, we are called the priesthood of all believers because of our direct access to God. But I wonder if we REALLY understand the implications and ramifications of that description.
I may pronounce this priestly blessing in Numbers 6 at the end of each worship service as a Benediction, but guess what? It is YOUR job, as a member of the royal priesthood, to pronounce blessings on everyone God puts in your path every single day.
In fact, we should add a little hyphen to your occupation. You are not just a teacher or engineer or construction worker. You are a teacher-priest, an engineer-priest or a construction worker-priest.
If you are in Christ, you are a part of this royal priesthood period. Let’s look at the rest of this verse … “You are a chosen people … God’s special possession THAT you might declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
It is our job to declare God’s praises, to pronounce God’s blessings. When you leave this church building this morning, you don’t leave the presence of God. You take the presence of God with you wherever you go. Your primary job, as a priest, is to pronounce blessing.
In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out his disciples on their inaugural mission, and he gives them this COUNTERINTUITIVE command.
He says, “When you enter a home, give it your blessing.”
This sequence is significant, but I think we often do the exact opposite. Jesus says, “If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing.”
In computer science, a default setting refers to a setting that is automatically assigned to a software application. Those default settings are the operating instructions, the operating system.
The instructions that Jesus gives His disciples seem like the wrong default setting. Most of us, before offering someone our blessing, do a quick moral calculation. We try to figure out if someone is worthy of the blessing before we give it. But Jesus takes a totally different tack. He leads with blessing.
So, what does that mean? Let’s see if these thoughts help us better understand…
Generally, we can say there are two types of people in the world. There are those who walk into a room, and they internally announce … Here I am. We all know people like this.
When I was an instructor at the Air Force’s Air University, I had a fighter-pilot student who walked up to me, stuck his hand out, and said “Hi, I’m Keith Thiel. How do you like me so far?” People like this think the world revolves around them, their ego barely fits through the door.
Then, there are those who walk into a room and immediately focus on EVERYONE ELSE. They check their ego at the door. It is all about everyone else. I pray always that we are that kind of church. The kind that always leads with blessing.
Does this leading with blessing always work out? No, it does not. It is not fail-proof, because it is not fool-proof. Sometimes the blessing backfires.
You flip the blessing. Then someone may flip you the bird. So be it. That is when we SHAKE the dust off our feet and move on. But that never changes our default setting … we lead with blessing, just like Jesus … all the time.
Now, let me switch gears. I want to put this idea of Double Blessing into a biblical context.
The idea of double blessing traces all the way back to the prophet Zechariah. He is writing to Jewish refugees who have returned from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. In Zechariah 9:12, we find the Double Blessing. “Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.”
I love this! He is writing to prisoners of war, but he calls them prisoners of hope. The Jewish people endured seventy years of pain and suffering at the hands of the Babylonians, but God says, “Return to your fortress, O Prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.”
Obviously, we cannot turn biblical principles into mathematical equations. I don’t think double blessing means a 200% return on every investment.
But sometimes it happens, and Job is probably the perfect example. Now, Job’s blessing does not discount his pain and suffering. He endured unbelievable pain and suffering.
But when you look in the last chapter of what may be the oldest book in the Bible, Job 42:10 says, “When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before.”
Job is praying for his friends, which is significant since they did him SO wrong. But forgiveness is one habit of highly blessed people. Forgiveness breaks the curse of bitterness and begins a new chapter of blessing.
I love the specificity of this passage in Job. The Lord gave him twice as much as before. And I want you to notice what was the first thing Job did. He Takes Inventory.
“For now, he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, 1,000 female donkeys.”
This is the FIRST STEP in flipping the blessing. This is where we get down to the business of double blessing. In fact, I would suggest that we take inventory of our blessings every day … count our blessings so to speak.
We’ve got to do what the Psalmist said, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
As we have said before in this series, the secret of the double blessing is this … the way you get it … is by giving it.
We are blessed to be a blessing.
And it starts with a really good inventory. We have got to have a really good understanding of how we have been blessed by God before we can flip the blessing to others. This is how we return the favor and pay it forward. So, let’s break this idea down into a few steps, which might make it easier to remember and do.
Step one is what we just talked about … taking inventory … literally counting our blessings.
In Step two, you have got to Find Your Signature.
God’s blessings are as unique as your fingerprints, and the way you flip the blessing is going to be as unique as you are. One author put it this way (Oswald Chambers), “Let God be as original with others as He was with you.”
For example, there is a story about a grocery bagger, a young man with Down Syndrome named Johnny. One day he got an idea. He decided to come up with a thought for the day, make multiple copies, and drop one in people’s grocery bags as they checked out.
About a month later, the store manager said, “When I went out on the floor this morning, the line at Johnny’s checkout was three times longer than any other line.
I went ballistic yelling, ‘Get more lanes open!’ But the customers said, “No! We want to be in Johnny’s lane. We want the thought for the day.”
You see, Johnny had transformed this store. Even now in the floral department, when they have a broken flower or an unused corsage they go out on the floor, find an elderly woman or little girl and pin it on them.
It is inbred in us that we do exceptional things for God. We need to be exceptional in the ordinary things. It is precisely in the ordinary spaces of life that we can see and share extraordinary blessings with others.
Step 1 is taking inventory of your blessings, and step 2 is finding your signature.
In Step 3 you’ve got to Learn Other People’s Love Language
Most of us tend to give gifts that we would want to get.
But instead, what if we figured out what would be the BIGGEST blessing for the gift receiver. Our love language may be gift giving, but their love language may not even involve gifts … perhaps it is quality time. Whatever it is, we must Learn Other People’s Love Language … what is important to them? What makes them feel loved and appreciated?
Step 4 is to recognize that Little Things Are as Important as Big Things
Flipping the blessing doesn’t have to be something huge. It can be as simple as a smile.
Again, we’ve got to think in general terms. When we consider our time, talent, and treasure, time may be the toughest thing for us to be generous with.
When I take inventory, I realize that it’s little acts of kindness that have impacted me in so many ways. They make me smile inside, especially when I simply witness little acts of random kindness.
Finally, in Step 5, in this business of flipping blessings is to just Have Some Fun
Blessing others can be loaded with fun. For example, I heard of one family who went “Elfing” over Christmas. They picked a family that they wanted to bless, then for 12 days they stealthily delivered gifts. On day 12 they revealed their identity and threw a party.
There are literally thousands of ways, both large and small, to flip your blessings for others. My encouragement is to have fun flipping your blessings in little or large ways … it matters not. We can express our love for people in Christ when they LEAST expect it and LEAST deserve it?
As we conclude today, what would it look like for us to flip our blessing as individuals? As families? As a church?
Step 1 was to take inventory. How have we been blessed as individuals, families, and a church? Where is our time, talent, and treasure? Once we’ve identified the blessings we have, we can begin to dream and be creative about what we can give away.
Step 2 was to find our unique signature. Every single person in this room is blessed with unique gifts and talents. Every family in this room occupies a unique address, home, and dynamic. And finally, our church is a unique local expression of God’s worldwide Church. With that being said, what are some ways that we as individuals, families, and as a church can flip our blessings for others?
Step 3 involved learning people’s love languages. Simply stated, we learn how other people receive and feel most loved. As a church, do you think the community around us feels loved? What are some creative things we can do together to flip the blessing to those around us?
Step 4 was the recognition that little things are big things. We need to identify some very simple things we can do, that your family can do, and that we can do as a church. To reiterate, blessing others DOES NOT always have to be an out of this world gift. It can be as simple as making a meal, mowing the neighbor’s lawn, or paying for the car behind you the next time you are in the drive through.
Finally, Step 5 was a reminder to just have fun while you flip your blessings. Perhaps most importantly, this is not and should not ever be a burden. In fact, Luke reminds us in the book of Acts that Jesus himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Simply Have Some Fun … flipping your blessings. Amen