I know all of you, so I won't introduce myself, but it's good to be with you again.
As I mentioned earlier, God's law is what shows us the way to walk in this world, that we can
experience blessing, and so that's why we turn at this time in our service. So we do every Sunday
to hear from God because we believe that he has something to say to us, that he speaks with power,
that he hasn't left us to wander, stumble alone in the dark, but instead he's given us his word
to show us the way to go. We're continuing our series in the book of Proverbs, and you'll remember
that the book of Proverbs is a book about wisdom, and wisdom is skill and the art of living, and as
we've seen, it begins with the fear of the Lord, that's the foundation of wisdom, and it continues
with humility and teachability. Last week, we looked at how we grow in wisdom. We saw that it was an
issue of love, that we have to love wisdom to get wisdom. We can't be protected by wisdom unless we
embrace it. This week, we're going to look at the idea of blessing. Wisdom offers to bless us. As we
read chapter three, you're going to see the word blessing show up over and over again, but this also
raises some questions and some confusion. If everything that God gives us is by grace, in what
sense can we say he blesses those who are obedient? If we know that the prosperity gospel is wrong, the
idea that God's main purpose in this life is to bring us material blessing, then what do we do with the
Proverbs promises of blessing? What is the relationship between our obedience and what God
gives to us? That's what we're going to look at in Proverbs chapter three. This is a chapter with many
things in it, so we're not going to look at everything equally. As we look at the whole chapter, I'm going
to give a special focus to verses five and six, which are two of the most famous verses in the Bible,
which tell us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding.
But we'll simply ask this, what are the blessings that we should expect from wisdom?
What are the blessings that we expect from wisdom? It's with that that we turn to read Proverbs
chapter three. I invite you to turn with me in your worship guide or in your Bible or on your phone.
And no matter where you turn, remember that this is God's word. And Proverbs chapter 30, verse five,
tells us that every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
And so that's why we read now together, starting at verse one.
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments.
For length of days and years of life and peace, they will add to you.
Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Find them around your neck. Write them on the tablet
of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Verse five,
trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways,
acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord
and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof. For the Lord reproves him whom
he loves as a father, the son in whom he delights. Verse 13, blessed is the one who finds wisdom
and the one who gets understanding. For the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her
profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness
and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.
Those who hold her fast are called blessed. Verse 19, the Lord by wisdom founded the earth. By
understanding, he established the heavens. By his knowledge, the deeps broke open and the clouds
dropped down the dew. My son, do not lose sight of these. Keep sound wisdom and discretion and they
will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on your way securely and your
foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked when it comes. For the Lord will be
your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is
due when it is in your power to do it. Verse 28, do not say to your neighbor, go and come again.
Tomorrow I will give it when you have it with you. Do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells
trustingly beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason when he has done you no harm.
Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways. For the devious person is an abomination
to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence. The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous. Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble
he gives favor. The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. I invite you to pray with me
as we come to this portion of God's word.
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the ordinary, normal, week-by-week worship of you,
and you're the words that come from you. We thank you that we have the privilege to hear from you
over and over again. We ask that we wouldn't take it for granted. We wouldn't take for granted the
freedom to worship you together, in person, in public, and we wouldn't take for granted the
privilege of hearing from you in your word. We ask that you would do that now, that you'd send your
Holy Spirit in a powerful way, that we would be challenged and encouraged by the grace that you
offer us in your word. We ask these things not because we deserve them or have earned them,
but we ask them in Jesus' name. Amen.
If you have an iPhone or a smartphone,
you know that there are limits on what you can put on that phone. For example, if you have an iPhone,
if you want to put an app on it, it has to be in the App Store.
And if it's not in the App Store, you're not going to get to put it on. Of course, there's protocols and
requirements for something to be put into the App Store. Not everyone just gets to publish what
they want. It has to be approved. It has to be vetted. And there's reasons for this, but there's
also people who don't like those limits. They think it's artificial. It's their phone. They own it,
right? They should be able to put on it what they want. And so there's this term, jailbreaking,
when you take your phone and you remove all the limits from it. It allows you to put apps on it
that maybe wouldn't be allowed by the App Store. It allows you to access parts of the phone you
wouldn't normally be able to access. It allows you to change and modify things.
And yet, companies warn against it. Your warranty's void often if you do it.
There's a potential your updates won't work anymore. And in fact, Apple has an article out
warning of all the things that could happen to you if you jailbreak your phone. You would be more
vulnerable to hackers coming and taking it. Your battery life will not function as well.
It's possible that you won't be able to install new things on your phone. And if it has problems,
you may not be able to recover it. So you'll find people who are in favor of jailbreaking. You'll
also find people who cry many tears wishing they could go back and undo it. And there's a fundamental
principle there that's also given to us here in Proverbs chapter 3. The builder, the creator,
actually knows what they're doing.
The person who designed something is the one who knows how to keep it safe. There are boundaries
and limits that are good. They're protecting you, right? Apple's not trying to take away your fun.
They're actually trying to enable it. They're trying to make your experience good and pleasant.
They're trying to protect you from those who would take advantage of you. As we talk about blessing in
the Proverbs, that's the first type of blessing that we experience from wisdom. It's the blessing
that comes with honoring the creator. We see this in verses 19 and 20.
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. By his knowledge,
the deeps broke open and the clouds broke down the dew. In other words, wisdom was how God created
the world. And so, of course, if we follow the ways of wisdom, things are going to go well. We are doing
things the way the creator wanted us to do them. God's law, as I mentioned earlier, is not arbitrary.
When he tells us certain things about how we handle our money, when he tells us how we handle our bodies
and our sexuality, when he tells us how we handle our relationships, he's telling us, this is how I
made the world. Wisdom is not random. It works because wisdom is how I created the universe.
And so, of course, there is going to be a certain kind of blessing that comes from living within the,
living along with the grain of the world rather than against the grain of the world.
And this is the kind of blessing we see throughout chapter 2. If you keep wisdom,
verse 2, you'll have long life, more likely.
Proverbs is going to tell us certain things about what we do with our bodies, right?
If we follow that, the chances of us having long life is greater.
Verses 13 through 18 tell us about all these things that are going to be good.
Again, verse 16, long life, riches, and honor.
Verse 17, peace.
If you follow the instructions of Proverbs, you're more likely to have peace in relationships with others,
less conflict.
And this isn't some special blessing from God, right?
It's the same kind of blessing that comes from not jailbreaking your phone.
You're just living with the instructions that the Creator gave you.
Last week, we talked about the love of wisdom and how it protects us.
And I told you that wisdom was like a compass.
It directs us in the right way.
It's like something that holds a kite down.
This week, it's not that it's a compass and a kite, but that wisdom is the architect.
Wisdom is the designer.
Wisdom built this world, and so there's just a natural blessing
that comes from doing what wisdom tells us.
Just like if we had a problem with this building and we weren't sure what was going on,
it would be wise for us to go and speak to the person who designed it.
They might know more than any of us know, even though we live in the building.
So God is the architect of this world.
Wisdom was there with him at the beginning.
And so there's a natural blessing that comes from walking God's ways.
That's a lot of the blessing that's promised here in chapter 3.
That's where this long life, verse 16, riches and honor come from.
And so we trust God even when the things that he says don't make sense to us.
If God tells us to do something that seems counterintuitive to what our culture is telling us,
what our friends are telling us, maybe what we're telling ourselves,
we do it anyway.
Because we trust that he's the architect.
We trust that God actually knows what he's talking about.
Wisdom was there at the beginning.
We believe that God actually knows best.
And when we do that, God promises blessing.
It's blessing in a natural way.
It's blessing with going along with how God designed the world.
Problem, of course, everyone agrees, right, that Apple makes the iPhone.
I do not know of any Apple deniers who claim that the phone was made by some other organization.
We all agree about that.
What everyone does not agree about is whether God made the world or not.
And so that's where so much of the conflict comes from in our culture.
It's not that we are people who hate the world.
It's not that we're bigots.
It's not that we're backwards.
It's just we believe in a different maker.
We believe that God, rather than anything else, is the architect.
God tells us things then that are true.
We expect if we follow those things, there will be blessing.
The makers of the iPhone are not vindictive.
They're not out to get us.
They don't put limits on the phone so that they can pull on over on us.
No, they're actually trying to make things good and pleasant.
They want us and our phones who have long life and riches and blessing.
And so they put boundaries and limits in place.
When and if we follow those boundaries and limits, we expect good things to happen.
We talked when we went through 1 Peter about there being different types of suffering.
And I told you there's a type of suffering that comes from sin, right?
There's consequences that come.
There's also a type of blessing that comes from righteousness.
There's natural consequences, good consequences, from living in the way God has told us to live.
Of course, we need to be reminded of this.
The son here needs to be reminded to keep these commandments in his heart, verse 1,
because the world, the flesh, and the devil are constantly lying to us.
The enemy of our soul, Satan, has no new strategies.
We're aware of what his strategies are.
And one of his strategies is that he's the father of lies.
And so he constantly is telling us the same thing he told Adam and Eve in the garden.
Did God really say, and does God really have your best interests at heart?
Proverbs 3 is reminding us, yes, God did really say, and he really has your best interests at heart.
Trust God, even when he's telling you the opposite of what everyone else is telling you.
Trust him, because he is the expert.
Trust wisdom, because wisdom, verse 19, founded the earth.
How then do we experience blessing?
What's the relationship between blessing and obedience?
Well, one of the ways is just natural blessing.
We live in line with the way God created the world,
and we expect things to work out because of it.
We also see here, though, a different type of blessing,
not just a natural blessing, something that comes from natural consequences,
but there is a special blessing as well.
We're told in verse 4, we will find favor in the sight of God.
So God shows his favor, a special blessing, on people who honor him and obey him.
We see that also in verse 6.
There's an active element to what God's doing here.
If we acknowledge him in all our ways, he will make straight your paths.
Verses 9 and 10 seem to imply some sort of divine intervention.
You're honoring God with your wealth.
Your barns will be filled with plenty.
That seems a little counterintuitive, right?
You'd think the more you give away, the less you'd have.
So there must be some element here of God being at work,
blessing those who honor him.
And then verse 26, we see it again.
The Lord will be your confidence.
He will keep your foot from being caught.
There is this active intervention by God to provide blessing for those who obey him.
Now, this is where we begin to run into some trouble, right?
Sometimes it can be hard to figure out and understand exactly how these blessings work,
but the Bible gives us examples of them.
And in fact, the best examples are the ones that come from the Bible,
because it's hard for you and me to discern exactly how God makes our paths straight.
But we see him doing it various places in Scripture.
One, for example, is the beginning of the book of Exodus.
If you're familiar with the book of Exodus,
you know it tells the story of God's people leaving slavery.
The very beginning of the book, we meet these Israelite women who are midwives.
And Pharaoh tells them,
your job as Israelite midwives is to make sure you kill any male children who are born in Israel.
What do these midwives do?
They, verse 5, trust in the Lord with all their hearts,
and they lean not on their own understanding.
They don't do what they're told, even though it's dangerous.
They do not kill any of the children that come from the Israelite women,
even though they could be punished for it.
And what happens?
Verse 6, God makes straight their paths.
We're told at the beginning of Exodus that God gives them a special blessing
because of their obedience.
He gives families to these midwives.
That doesn't tell us exactly how that happens.
Maybe he provides spouses providentially that they didn't have.
Maybe he provides pregnancy that they didn't have,
but God blesses them specifically for their obedience.
They honor him.
They trust him.
When it's hard, he makes their path straight.
We've also seen an example of this in the book of Proverbs.
I told you when we started Proverbs,
their very first sermon on it,
the story of Solomon.
God came to Solomon and asked him what he wanted.
And Solomon said,
more than anything else, he wanted wisdom.
We know wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord.
So Solomon is saying,
I want what you have to offer God more than anything else.
I'm trusting you with all my heart.
What does God do?
He makes his path straight.
He says, because you've asked for wisdom,
I won't just give you wisdom.
I'm going to give you everything else you could have asked for.
I'm going to give you riches and wealth and honor.
And so God gives Solomon a special blessing
for his trust and his obedience.
Same is true for us.
Now we don't know exactly how or when.
I'm not going to tell you authoritatively
how God is going to bless you,
how he might provide for you in certain ways.
What I can tell you is this.
The book of Proverbs tells us,
if we trust him,
God will care for us.
If we trust him,
God will care for us.
We have another example from Deuteronomy chapter 8.
Israelites are in the wilderness.
God tells them,
when you were in the wilderness,
I kept your clothes from wearing out
and I kept your feet from swelling.
I intervened.
I gave you a special blessing.
I protected you.
Remember verse 26.
The Lord will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being caught.
Now this is exactly the point
where we start to run into trouble
because of course we know
in our own lives
and in the lives of other Christians,
there's times when we've trusted God
and it's led not to material blessing,
it's actually led to suffering of various sorts.
Bible has those kinds of stories too.
Remember Stephen, the first deacon
in Acts chapter 6 and 7,
is faithful in proclaiming the gospel
and he gets a faith blessing, right?
He becomes extremely wealthy.
No, he's stoned to death.
He doesn't experience material blessing here and now.
In fact, he loses his life.
We just spent a whole series in 1 Peter
talking about the suffering
that comes from being a Christian.
And so what do we do
with these promises of blessing
when we don't have the experience of the midwives?
What do we do with promises of blessing
when we feel more like Stephen?
Well, there's a couple things we have to remember.
First of all,
there is sometimes or often blessings now,
always blessing in the future.
In other words,
there's an eternal perspective that we have
as we think about God's blessings.
We may suffer now.
We look forward to the time
when Jesus returns
and he makes all things right.
And the author of Proverbs
has that same sort of eternal perspective.
Remember we saw that last week.
The upright will inhabit the land.
The wicked will be cut off from the land.
And so that's part of how
we have to think about these things.
We have to remember in this life,
Jesus knows this by the way,
the Bible's aware of this.
He tells us in John chapter 6, verse 33,
in this life you'll have tribulation,
but I've overcome the world.
So there's an ultimate blessing
that we look forward to
when Jesus returns.
The other thing we have to remember
is the way that Proverbs works.
I hinted at this
when we started the series.
If you have your Bible with you,
you can go back all the way
to Proverbs chapter 1.
Remember, part of wisdom
is knowing how to interpret wisdom.
Chapter 1, verse 6,
there's wisdom to understanding
a proverb and a saying.
Verse 2,
to understand the words of insight.
So we have to understand
how the words of insight
of chapter 3 work.
And they work like this.
Proverbs, as many people have put it,
are not rules but principles.
They're not rules but principles.
That's the way the genre
of a proverb works.
They have to be applied
in the right time,
in the right place.
They are not guarantees.
Proverbs is not a legal document
where God guarantees
rigid blessings
for obedience
in a certain way
in a certain time
in a certain place.
Instead, Proverbs tells us
the way the world
generally works,
the way it is supposed to work.
It doesn't mean
there aren't exceptions.
That's part of the reason
God's given us
the book of Job
and the book of Ecclesiastes.
So Job is a righteous man.
He trusts in the Lord
with all his heart.
And all his wealth
and family
are taken away from him
with the exception
of his wife.
And Job's friends,
as many people have pointed out,
come to him
and quote Proverbs 3
logic to him.
You're suffering.
Obviously,
you haven't trusted the Lord.
So there's a wisdom
to reading Proverbs 3.
Just because
righteous needs
leads to blessing
does not mean
that everyone
who suffers
has sinned.
It means that
this world is broken.
While it's meant
to work this way,
it doesn't always
work this way
in the here and now.
It's also helpful
to remember
in the Old Testament,
there's a greater focus
on physical,
material blessing
and less of a focus
on spiritual blessing.
In the New Testament,
there's a greater emphasis
on spiritual blessing,
less of an emphasis
on material blessing.
But both
are in both.
So there's both
spiritual and material
blessing in the Old Testament,
both spiritual and material
blessing in the New Testament.
When we trust
in the Lord
with all our heart,
and it seems like
he's not making
our path straight,
we continue to trust
in his goodness
knowing that he will
fully and finally
one day.
When we trust
in the Lord
with all our heart,
but it looks like
he's not making
our path straight,
we trust him
knowing that he will
fully and finally
make them straight
one day.
We sometimes
and often
see blessing now,
we will always
and ultimately
see it in the future.
And in fact,
that's how much
of the Bible
works and talks.
So there's blessing.
There's blessing
that comes from wisdom.
There's natural blessing
that comes just as a consequence
of living in the world
the way God intended.
And there's a special blessing
that God gives to his people,
showing them
what it tells us in verse 4,
his favor.
I focus so far mainly here
on verse 6,
God making straight
our paths,
the blessing that comes,
but this blessing comes
specifically from trusting God.
There's a dance here.
There's a trust
blessing dance.
And we're given
sort of general commands
here to trust God,
right?
Verse 5,
trust in the Lord
with all your heart.
Do not lean on
your own understanding.
Verse 6,
in all your ways
acknowledge him.
Whatever you do,
live according to
what God has told you,
his instructions.
He's the architect.
He's written the manual.
Pay heed to it.
Now,
it would be wonderful
if chapter 3 of Proverbs
ended there.
It would be a great,
pithy saying.
We could have someone
write it in calligraphy
and put it on a wall
in our house
and there'd be no specifics.
We'd just get to say,
we trust in the Lord
in this house.
Problem is,
verse 3 actually tells us
what trust,
or chapter 3 actually tells us
what trust in the Lord
looks like.
Gives us a specific list
of what trusting people do.
In other words,
trust is not just
an action of the heart.
It's something that leads
to real behaviors
in time and space.
It's not just a feeling.
Trust is a behavior
and it's behaviors
that are outlined
in this chapter.
We're told,
verse 7,
be not wise
in your own eyes.
Fear the Lord.
So there's an action
of humility
which we've talked about
multiple times now
in Proverbs.
If we trust the Lord,
we're going to be humble
and fear him,
which means we're going
to be looking to his word
for advice and instruction.
We're going to be talking
to other people
and asking for their input.
That's part of our behavior
of trusting God.
It gets even scarier
in verse 9.
If we are people
who trust God,
we will honor him
with our wealth.
Our checkbooks reveal
whether we trust God
or not.
It is one thing
to memorize
and quote
Proverbs 3,
verses 5 and 6.
It is another thing
to write a check
when it hurts.
And yet the Bible
tells us
that that is what shows
our trust in God.
As I mentioned last week,
wisdom is not a strategy,
it's a relationship.
So this person
in verse 9
is honoring the Lord
with their wealth,
not so they can get
a return or a blessing,
but because of their
relationship with God,
their trust in him
because they want
to honor him.
By the way,
Deuteronomy chapter 8,
again,
I mentioned it earlier,
God tells the people
that when they were
in Egypt,
he protected them.
He kept their clothes
from wearing out.
We trust
that when we give
first to God,
demonstrating our trust
in him,
he's going to care for us.
Maybe it will be
in a Deuteronomy chapter 8,
8 sort of way,
maybe he'll keep
our clothes
from wearing out,
maybe it will be
in a different way,
we don't need to know.
What we need to know
is that we belong
to God
and he cares for us.
The list continues,
verses 11 and 12,
trust in God
means we remain
faithful to him
when things are difficult.
If we're not seeing
our paths made straight,
if our barns
are not filled
with plenty,
even though we've
given God
the first fruits,
it's not coincidental,
by the way,
that verses 11 and 12
follow verses 9 and 10,
we continue to trust God.
We don't despise
his discipline.
So we remain faithful,
seeking God,
even when things
aren't turning out
the way we want them to.
That's how we demonstrate
our trust.
Then we're told
in verses 27 and 28,
trust looks like
loving our neighbor,
which sounds a lot
like verses 9 and 10.
Loving our neighbor
is going to cost us
something, right?
We trust God
that when we give up
for others' good,
he's going to continue
to protect
and provide for us.
And we demonstrate
that trust
by actually providing
for others
rather than hoarding
as much as we can,
trusting our storehouse
rather than God's provision.
These are the actions
that show
whether we trust God.
Verses 28 through 32
present us
with some shortcuts,
some alternate ways
we might try
to get blessing.
We might try
to get blessing
not by trusting
the Lord,
verse 28,
but withholding good
from our neighbor.
We might try
to get blessing
by planning evil,
verse 29.
We might envy
someone
who has more blessing
than us,
verse 31,
but has gotten it
for the wrong reasons.
We might envy
a violent man.
Why would we envy
a violent man?
Well,
he probably has barns
that are full, right?
He's plundered
other people.
He's doing well
in life.
He has success.
He has the blessing
maybe we want to have.
And so we remember
that God's blessings
are sometimes,
often now,
always in the future.
That's the warning,
too,
for this violent man.
Verse 33,
the Lord's curse
is on the house
of the wicked.
It doesn't matter
how much
that violent man
has now.
He will not have it
in the future.
But,
verse 33 again,
he blesses the dwelling
of the righteous.
Of course,
this shouldn't surprise us
because Jesus tells us
in Matthew chapter 22
that the sum of the law
is that we love God
and we love our neighbor.
And that's what we see here
in Proverbs chapter 3.
Trust in God
is demonstrated
through love of God,
treasuring His commandments,
giving our first fruits to Him,
and love of neighbor,
doing what we can
to serve our neighbor,
knowing that God
will provide for us.
And so our trust
has real actions,
real behaviors,
that can help us know
whether we actually believe
God is going to protect
and provide for us.
Our Lord Jesus
teaches us the same thing.
I'm a broken record
at this point,
but Jesus is the great
teacher of wisdom.
He's greater than Solomon.
We saw last week
that He tells us
in John chapter 14,
if you love me,
you'll keep my commandments.
Jesus also motivates
obedience and faith
and trust
through promises of blessing.
Jesus calls us
to trust Him
with all our hearts
and in all our ways.
He does this
in Mark chapter 8.
He says,
if anyone would come
after me,
let him deny himself
and take up his cross
and follow me.
For whoever would save
his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life
for my sake
and the gospels
will save it.
For what does it profit
a man to gain
the whole world
and forfeit his soul?
God calls us
to take up our cross
and follow Him.
He calls us
to obedience and trust.
God also promises
blessing.
He tells us
in Matthew chapter 6,
seek first
the kingdom of God
and His righteousness
and all these things
will be added to you.
Trust in the Lord
with all your heart.
Lean not
on your own understanding.
He will make
your paths straight.
Jesus tells us
about giving and blessing.
He tells us
in Matthew chapter 6 again
that when we give
to the needy,
don't let your left hand
see what your right hand
is doing.
Do it in secret.
And your heavenly Father
who sees in secret
will what?
He'll reward you.
Jesus promises
rewards for obedience.
He tells Peter
in Luke chapter 18
when Peter says,
see, we've left our homes
and followed you.
Jesus says,
truly I say to you,
there is no one
who has left house
or wife
or brothers
or parents
or children
for the sake
of the kingdom of God
who will not receive
many times more
in this time
eternal life.
Jesus calls us
to obedience.
Jesus also promises
blessing.
Jesus knows,
like the book of Job
and Ecclesiastes,
that things don't always
work out in this life.
Jesus is the one
who said that
foxes have holes
and birds of the air
have nests
but the Son of Man
has nowhere to lay his head.
Jesus is the one
who tells his disciples,
blessed are you
when people hate you
and exclude you
and revile you
and spurn your name
as evil
on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day
and leap for joy
for behold,
your reward is great
in heaven.
Sometimes,
often now,
always in the future
in heaven.
Jesus knows
that it doesn't work out
like a math problem
here in this life.
Blessing doesn't work
like that.
But he also promises
us rewards
for obedience.
And he secures
those blessings
for us
by his death
and his resurrection.
These aren't things
that we earn.
They're things
that Jesus has earned
for us.
This might sound
very similar
to the beginning
of 1 Peter,
which we looked at
in September
of last year.
Remember,
it says this
in chapter 1,
God has caused us
to be born again
to a living hope
through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ
from the dead
to an inheritance
that is a reward,
a blessing,
that is imperishable,
undefiled,
and unfading,
kept in heaven
for you.
In other words,
nothing can touch
the blessing
that God has for us.
That is the ultimate
blessing
that we look forward
to in our obedience.
So what's the relationship
between obedience
and blessing?
God blesses
in natural ways
through those
who follow
the rules
that he's given
in this world,
and God blesses
in a special way
those who trust him
in obedience.
in the movie
Grand Torino
with Clint Eastwood,
he plays the character
of Walt Kowalski
who's a Korean war vet,
and he's been
mostly abandoned
by his family.
His wife has died.
He's a widower,
and they visit him
infrequently,
mainly because they're
interested in his inheritance
and his money.
And he has
this Grand Torino
that his granddaughter
is very excited
about inheriting
when he dies.
So there's this interest
not in him,
not in a relationship
with him,
but in his death.
On the other hand,
there's a young teenager
that lives
in Walt's neighborhood
named Tao.
Now Tao's not set up
to inherit anything.
He's not interested
in Walt's money,
but Walt develops
a relationship with him
and he begins
to mentor him.
He helps Tao
get a job.
He teaches him
the ways of wisdom.
He teaches him
how to talk
to other men
when he wants
to get a job.
He teaches him
how to talk to women.
He coaches Tao
through his dating life.
And Walt ends up
actually defending Tao.
Tao and his family
are being tormented
by a gang
that's in the neighborhood
and Walt stands up
to them.
Now I won't spoil
the entire movie for you,
but at the very end,
Walt dies.
and his will
is opened up.
His family,
who has ignored him,
only interested
in what they can get
from him,
find out there's nothing
in the will for them.
Tao,
who has not been
interested
in anything
that Walt
has to offer him
outside of his advice
and his wisdom
and his counsel,
is the one
at the end
who receives
the Gran Torino,
the Ford car
that the granddaughter
desperately wanted
but doesn't receive.
And Walt
has one instruction
for him.
You can have
this car,
just please don't
make any modifications
to it.
And so,
it's the one
who wants
the relationship.
It's the one
who wants
the wisdom
looking for nothing else
who receives
the blessing.
Brothers and sisters,
the same
is true for us.
Trust and obedience
lead to the blessings
of our Heavenly Father.
Not because we want
what he has
to offer,
but because we want
him.
Let's pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
we
are astounded
when we think of it
that you would
actually take
the time
and the trouble
of speaking to us
and helping us
even as we were
people who rebelled
against you
and didn't know you.
We ask
that you would
grow
our obedience
and our trust
in you
and that it would
be motivated
by our love
for you.
We thank you
for Jesus'
promise
of blessing
to us
sometimes in this
world
and always in the
world to come
and we ask
that we would
remain faithful
to you until the
end.
We ask these
things in Jesus'
name.
Amen.