Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
This message is a timely reminder as we enter Thanksgiving and Christmas that we often over look the things we already have for which we should be thankful. Instead, we look in expectation at additional things we want to get for Christmas. We need to stop and count our many blessings.
This week we pick up with the temporal blessings associated with the child of God living in compliance to the righteousness of God. The spiritual blessings are the foundation to all other blessings as we noted in the past two weeks. I will remind you of the writings of James 4:3 “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” James instructs Christians as to why they do not receive some of the things they ask for. He tells us God does not give blessings when our motive is to use that blessing for wrong purposes; that God does not squander his blessings on us just to see them wasted on our pleasures. All of God’s blessings have a purpose and that purpose is the glory of God. When we are careless with God’s blessings we show our lack of appreciation. This is a characteristic of spiritual immaturity. God does not give us a new job so we can miss his word and worship in the local church on the Lord’s Day. God does not give us extra money so we can spend it all on ourselves. God does not give us new friends so we can use them.
Now let’s look at the concept of temporal blessings.
Deut.8:11-18
The advanced tactical blessings given by God are bestowed upon the believer who does not forget the Lord when the temporal blessings come. This believer does not disgrace the Lord in the eyes of Satan’s powers and principalities when he or she is blessed. This believer does not forget the source of his or her blessings. This believer's spiritual maturity keeps his or her pride in check.
And as a side note, just because you may not have many possessions and or much wealth does not mean you are not a spiritually mature believer, and conversely it does not mean you are a spiritually mature believer because you do have much. Always remember that whatever temporal blessing you receive, it is from the justice of God and the blessing is tailor made for you alone. Jesus Christ said the abundant life is not defined by you having an abundance of things. Great capacity to enjoy life does not depend on a life with great quantity, but great quality. God treats you and I as individuals, thus times our blessings are not identical. We must never envy something God has imputed to another believer. That something God has imputed to the other believer is not just for their joy, but for God’s glory.
God does not have a maturity uniform that we all must fit into alike. We are all different and many times we have spiritual capacities that are equally different. As we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, II Pet.3:18, we are conformed to the image of Christ’s character bit by bit. Some grow in some areas easier than others. The mistake we make as Christians in trying to fit everyone into our mold, not Christ’s mold. This is where the love of God must be present in our lives so we do not judge one another.
One believer may only have enough finances to pay his bills from week to week; the other may have enough surplus that he doesn’t know what to do with it all.
We dare not be so arrogant as to put an ultimatum on how much God can bless another believer, whether that blessing is money, friends, health, promotion, vocational prosperity and success, leadership skills, and so forth. This is totally up to the discretion of God who always has the final say in the positive believer’s life.
Much can be said for being born into wealth, or being born with good healthy genes, or being born in a good nation or neighborhood, or being intellectually astute, or having a good education and employment opportunities. The truth is, it still takes spiritual maturity to enjoy these blessings.
There are men and women who have money, success, friends, education, prominence and so forth and yet they destroy their marriages, use drugs and some even do worse.
Solomon had it all, but because he had forsaken the Lord he was a most miserable man, Ecc.5:9-17; 7:11-14.
Solomon’s answer to wasting time seeking ones own blessings was to remember the Lord, Ecc.11:9-12:1.
You see it would be better to be wise with a little than to be a fool with much.
Immature negative believers do not listen to God because they think God is unfair. They are always looking at what others have rather than being thankful to God for what they have.