Blessed to Be a Blessing

It is possible to be a religious person, to attend church all your life, to read your Bible everyday, but never discover the heart of Jesus. Do you know the heart of Jesus? Do I?

Discovering the heart of Jesus is a highway some journey that has both terrifying and exciting exits along the way. Let me begin with the terrifying exit. We may not want to stop here, but when the car is running out of gas we must stop to fill up, or we might end up stuck on the highway—unable to go any farther in finding the heart of Jesus.

So here it is; when Jesus was on earth He saved his harshest words for religious people; people who viewed religion as a platform for their benefit. Matthew 23 records those words and is aimed at none other than the religious leaders. Where did they go wrong? They stopped short of finding the heart of Jesus, and the viewed their spirituality for their benefit.

Reading beyond Matthew 23 we see Jesus’ further discussion on the topic with His disciples. In chapter 25 Jesus tells three parables, all which carry the same message.
1) 10 brides waiting for the bridegroom, yet not all go. 2) Three servants entrusted with their owners’ provisions, and only two out of the three get to share in the master’s happiness based on their performance. 3) Perhaps the most direct parable of the three is about the sheep and the goats. They are separated based on what they did—feeding the hungry, quenching the thirst of the thirsty, giving clothes to those that need it, visiting the sick and the prisoners. This is not to say that doing these things saves us (they don’t), but it is to say truly following Jesus will lead us to loving and serving people in need.

Here is what scares me . . . most of my life I always thought the church was here for me. So that I could be fed, so that I could grow, so that I could develop my gifts, so that I could have my needs met, so that people could minister to me, and befriend me. Writing those last two sentences made me feel quite narcissistic, yet if we are honest at the deepest level, this is the version of Christianity that most of us have, and the one that Jesus speaks most strongly against. Can you relate?

When we find the heart of Jesus we find the same thing he told Abraham in Genesis 12: You are blessed to be a blessing! We discover that God did not bless us for ourselves he blessed us so that we could be a blessing to our neighbors, co-workers, friends . . . in a word our community, and even the world.

Let’s stop and think about that. Maybe some questions would help. Do I pray in a way that has other people’s interest in mind, or my own? Do I spend my money in a way that has other people’s interest in mind, or my own? Do I spend my time for my pleasure or to be a blessing to others?

Here is what I am learning about the heart of Jesus -- signing up with Jesus is not just about what He wants to do in you, but also about what He wants to do through you. How He wants you and me to be a blessing to our community . . . the world.

The most vivid imagery I can think of to illustrate this point is the Dead Sea; a body of water the Jordan River feeds into but has no outlet. The water just remains there until it evaporates. The result is in the name, a lifeless sea. In contrast, the Sea of Galilee which has water flowing in and out of it, it is beautiful and sustains life.

Our culture has helped us develop a self-serving version of Christianity: God and the church are here to bless me. My hope and the exit that excites me in finding the heart of Jesus (come to think of this might even be the same one that terrifies me) is discovering a self-sacrificing version of following Christ that places others’ needs above our own, and truly unleashes the life changing power of the love of Jesus on an unsuspecting world.

With a deep gratitude for the “Grace Place” as we pursue the heart of Jesus together,

Pastor Jon