What does it mean to live a blessed life?
“Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?” So they answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.”
Quick Recap
In our last service, we looked at this conversation with Peter and Jesus. And specifically the first four key points:
Who are you traveling with? Who do you journey with in life and debate with on the road - especially you men?
Who do people say that Jesus is? And the idea of having an understanding of how society currently views Jesus.
Who do you say that I am? This is a more important question!
And who or what is the Christ?
And we left it by saying that Christ means Chosen One & Anointed one and that the Christ, Jesus, was anointed by God to bring us Freedom. But we also talked about how freedom is not exactly the elusive idea that the West is perpetually chasing - but instead how freedom is the ability to choose what binds us. So as Christians, we choose a new Master - Jesus Christ - the anointed one.
So on the road, Peter makes this statement to Jesus acknowledging that He is indeed the Christ and the son of the Living God.
So now, let’s jump into Matthew’s gospel and read his account of the story to find out what happens next…how did Jesus respond to Peter’s life-changing statement?
“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you…”
Blessed are you
So what does blessed mean? What does being blessed look like?
The Passion Translation writes: You are favoured and privileged.
The Amplified Bible writes: Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied). Imagine that - you are so blessed and so happy that you are to be envied.
In the New Testament - there are two keywords that are translated Blessed:
eulogeo: to speak well of someone, to praise. We get the word Eulogy from it. We bless God and we can bless each other - and we do this when we speak well of God, or when we speak well of each other. Think of the song the UK Blessing that has done so well - it is the church singing or saying of goodness to the people of the UK. It is a blessing and it is deeply powerful.
makarizo: you’ll have to forgive my pronunciation - this means to make large or long - we get the word Macro from it - I would translate it as count yourself happy because you are bigger, or larger than what you think and let’s say larger is in spiritual terms rather than the perimeter of your belly!
So Jesus response to Peter after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, is to say to Peter you are blessed, privileged, favoured, count your self happy, you are to be envied.
That’s awesome! But, at the same time - we have to be careful here not to add our own spin on what it means to be blessed, privileged, favoured, happy and envied. Because if I am honest, it is easy to do and I have done it many times let me tell you.
What Blessing isn't
So It’s worth saying right from the beginning that Blessed doesn’t mean everything will now go swimmingly for the rest of your life. Maybe it would be nice if it did but it doesn’t. That’s definitely not going to be true for Peter as he will have his trials soon enough if you follow the story through.
This ancient Hebrew word has worked it’s way into everyday language that I think has become quite unhelpful...there has been a move in society to see blessing as the good life, blessing equals a successful life. Blessing is about comfort. Blessing is about ease, the perfect marriage, the obedient children, the all-inclusive holiday in the sun.
— John Harding #Blessed Series
And I agree. It is easy for us to understand blessing as what we have, the comfort and the ease. But It quickly leads us to problems in our theology if we do that.
For example, Christian author Sarah Walton wrote the following:
“One of my children has several disorders that have often left us devastated, broken, and uncertain about the future. Are we no longer considered blessed?
My husband lost half of his salary, forcing us to lose our home and all we had worked for. Are we no longer considered blessed?
I have battled multiple health issues for most of my life. Did I just happen to draw the short stick and miss out on the blessings that so many others seem to have been given?
Why do we most often associate being blessed with positive circumstances, wealth, comfort, and the absence of problems? I believe it’s because many of us have a very short term and shallow view of what it means to be blessed.”
The danger of view blessing about stuff, whether it is health and wealth, is that when we don’t have those things, then maybe we see ourselves as being less blessed? And if someone has more of stuff, more apparent blessing then I could start to think that maybe they are loved and blessed by God more than me, right?
Or worse still, I could look at what I have and compare it to you and think that God has blessed me more than you…which is basically nothing more than ugly pride. And this is an interesting thought because if blessing is about comfort, stuff, and ease how does that reconcile with the life of Christ? What about the poor?
“Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
How can the poor be blessed if blessing is about stuff?
Blessing has to be about much more than just stuff. Peter, who was having this conversation with Jesus on the road, would later go on to write…
“But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.””
You see, Peter was blessed. Jesus said he was blessed. But being blessed is not an absence of suffering. In God’s kingdom, you are blessed even in the suffering. And that’s radical. And that’s so very different to what many people think about blessing or how many of us measure blessing.
Defining Blessing
Paul, one of the key writers of the New Testament thought about this idea of blessing a lot. And in his letter to the church in Rome, he quoted a verse from the Old Testament identifying what real blessing actually is…he wrote…
““Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.””
This is the reason I am blessed every day of my life. Not because of the size of my bank account but because of the size of forgiveness I received to cover my sin. I am not blessed because of stuff that I have but because I have forgiveness in Christ.
So let’s get back to Sarah and look at her story.
They went through crisis after crisis - and now they write about it, and reach out to others offering hope that God’s grace will sustain you and see you through the most trying of circumstances.
That’s what it means to be blessed. That no matter what you do or don’t have, no matter what crisis is or isn’t happening in your life - the Grace of God will see you through the storm.
As Sarah said, we’re still here. Gold has held us up and even made us stronger despite what is going on around us.
I don’t know about you but that is a great understanding of what it means to be blessed! Sometimes, well, oftentimes the way God does things doesn’t always match with how we would do it. How many of you know what I am talking about.
But we can trust God, and that He is good and faithful and His ways are higher than our ways.
So let’s carry on with the story…
“Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
The Key to Blessing
Ok, so Jesus is telling Peter here that this revelation that He had about Jesus being the Christ, the anointed one, did not come from man, but directly from God himself.
And that is, in some ways, the key to this whole story and the key to blessing and the key to being able to see Jesus as the Christ.
The Passion Translation says that my Father in heaven has supernaturally revealed it to you.
You see Both Peter and Judas got to hang with Jesus. The Pharisees got to see the miracles - but watching and hearing are not enough - there has to be an encounter with the Holy Spirit whereby your heart sees it too. Where there is a supernatural revelation that Jesus is the Christ.
So the Apostle Paul who outlined what blessing was to the church at Rome, wrote another letter to the church in Ephesus and said:
“I...do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened...”
This is a great prayer to pray for ourselves, I pray it all the time for you guys and my family. That God would give us revelation - this is where the Holy Spirit breathes in our hearts the truth of Jesus being the Christ - the anointed one, the one with the anointing to break any chain from any oppression.
Because without that supernatural revelation, we stay stuck in the things that bind us and hold us down. But when we do get that revelation about Christ and His Anointing, then we are blessed. Blessed indeed.
The Source of Blessing
The source of blessing is God himself, and it occurs when the Holy Spirit reveals something to us about Christ, the anointed one, and his anointing to break the chains that bind us. That’s what you need to be blessed.
Not stuff.
Sure stuff may come. But the more you have doesn’t make you more blessed. Having less stuff doesn’t make you more blessed.
The more revelation from God you have about Jesus being the Christ, the son of the Living God, the more blessed you are.
The more you understand your identity in Christ, the more you understand what it means to be in his tribe, the more you understand you are a son of God, the more blessed you are.
And this is not just a one time event.
This is a daily event.
I notice that the more I study the Bible, the more I pray, the more time I spend with believers and worship, the more I seek Him - the more blessed I get!
It’s good stuff.
And it doesn’t stop there, Jesus carries on and says to Peter…
“For you didn’t discover this on your own, but my Father in heaven has supernaturally revealed it to you. I give you the name Peter, a stone. And this truth of who I am will be the bedrock foundation on which I will build my church”
Blessing and the foundations for the church
The truth of who I am will be the bedrock foundation on which I will build my church. In other words, what causes us to be blessed is the foundation of the church.
It is what causes the church to stand firm in adversity as it understands who Jesus is and that He is the anointed one - not governments, not public opinion, not possessions, not celebrity or fame, not even our right to be right, but He is the true redeemer, He is the source of any and all hope. He is the anchor of everything that is good and right.
And that’s why the church grows under persecution.
Blessed is the church because she understands who she is and what her identity is. She understands sonship, family, and tribe.
And in that is true freedom, true liberty, and true purpose.
And that’s the rock on which Jesus’ church is built. The sure and steady foundation of revealed knowledge about the Christ, the anointed one, and His anointing.
This is good stuff, eh?
“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Immovable and immutable Blessing
God has supernaturally revealed to us that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One. We are free to choose Jesus as our Lord, our Master and become the Children of God. And when we do - we are blessed, we are happier and more content with life because life takes on a different meaning to us. We see things in a different way.
But it doesn’t just stop there. That revealed knowledge about Jesus being the Christ, the Anointed One, is the foundation upon which the church is built. And it is referred to as a rock - it is sure and safe and immovable and immutable. This gives us hope and surety for our lives.
But then Jesus goes on to say that this church will be so strong that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Death itself cannot defeat it or overcome it.
I want you to just stop and think about that for a second.
Just let that sink in.
And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Wow.
No wonder we are blessed. We are part of something so big, and so strong that hell itself cannot prevail against it. Hell may try to overcome it. But it never will. And we are part of that.
And not only that - we have a part to play in that too.
“I will give you the keys of heaven’s kingdom realm to forbid on earth that which is forbidden in heaven, and to release on earth that which is released in heaven.”
Blessing and the Keys to the Heavenly Realm
We have the keys of heaven’s kingdom realm?! Oh my goodness. We are now getting into this whole realm of the authority of the believer - and let me tell you that is a whole series just in and of itself.
That said - when you have come to a place of surrender to Christ and you are faithful to His teaching, to His Word and you take your place in the body of Christ - you are given an authority by God to bring heaven to earth in the area of your calling.
In a simple sense, it is why we pray for the sick to get healed.
There is no sickness in heaven. It’s forbidden. And we can carry that truth to earth, and pray for healing.
In the Lord’s prayer, we are invited to pray
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Notice that - your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
This is praying the reality of heaven on to earth. This is the same idea. Is someone sick? Well, let’s pray for them because in heaven they wouldn’t be sick - so Lord, your will (that there be no sickness) be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So we can bind, or forbid things on earth because of what is going on in heaven.
So what can we release on earth? In essence, all of those things that Jesus has been anointed to do! To break those things that bind up people.
The same principle applies. What do you see in heaven? Forgiveness, grace, the presence of God, unity, harmony. There is no pandemic there. There are no protests there about racism because there is no racism in heaven. We are all one.
Forgive us for racism and prejudice
You know, I am gutted about what has happened recently with what has happened in the states, and the subsequent protests around the world. I really am.
Don’t get me wrong, It’s good & right to protest something that is unjust and unfair and unrighteous. It’s right that together we say enough is enough.
But the truth is, I look at this and think that the church has got such a long way to go. I think the church has t take responsibility here. And as I church leader - I have to stand before God and the people that have suffered and ask for forgiveness because we have not taken our responsibility seriously.
In fact, I think the church has often endorsed racism and prejudice with the way that it has acted - out of a desire for power rather than a desire to extend God’s Kingdom from heaven to earth. And whilst I think the local church is the hope of the world, I am not naive enough to think it has not played its part in so many atrocities over the years.
We all have a past, and in that past are things that we are now ashamed of. The church is no exception. So I do ask for forgiveness. I do seek reconciliation. And I hope and pray that I can be a part of a brighter and better future - one where the church understands both its blessing and its responsibility.
It’s the church’s responsibility to release unity and grace and acceptance and forgiveness. Prejudice and racism cannot exist in the church, because it is the exact opposite of the teachings of Christ.
So please forgive us.
Yes, we should protest. But more than that - we should extend God’s kingdom, His well from heaven down to earth.
Am I blessed?
And as a church, as we understand that gospel, the Good News of Jesus, as we grow in our understanding of the anointing that He has to break every yoke that binds and every chain that oppresses, including racism and prejudice, then the Kingdom of God comes and God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
And that’s what blessing is.
That's why we can call ourselves blessed.
Am I blessed? You betcha I am. And not because of the size of my bank account. Not because of what I have, or don’t have. The truth of the matter is I am blessed because God in His infinite grace revealed to me the truth about Jesus - that He is indeed the Christ, the Anointed One. That I am forgiven. That I am set-free and can choose to live for Him and that when I do, the Gospel impacts this world, and lives are changed and the Kingdom of God is extended.
Yes, I am blessed. I such an extravagant and generous and beautiful way.