This message is not a theological discussion.
This is only a loud thinking about a question we
constantly face in our practical life.
The question is: what is God’s the purpose for
physical blessings?
Let us start with another question: Does God blesses
us physically?
The answer definitely is “yes”. God blesses us physically
while we live in this world.
Physical blessings are a reality that we see
around.
Do you have a shelter, food and clothes? If yes;
you are physical blessed.
Our testimonies are mostly testimonies of physical
blessings.
Why does God bless us with physical blessings?
And what is His purpose for our physical
blessings?
This is what we are discussing in this video.
Before we move to the discussion of God’s purpose
for physical blessings, let us try to understand what physical blessings are.
We all know that humans are a three part
structure – body, soul and spirit.
Remember, our topic is not this, but we have to
bring this fact to our mind for a better understanding of physical blessings.
All of us now live in a physical realm, not in a
spiritual realm.
The soul and spirit is contained in our body.
Our physical body cannot enter the spiritual
realm.
We may have some spiritual experiences while we
live in this world, but we cannot live in the spiritual realm and the physical
realm at the same time.
When we look at a person we are seeing his
physical body.
As we get more familiar with him we slowly understand
the soul of the person in a different dimension.
But still we never see the soul.
We can never see or understand the spirit of a
person.
We can understand the nature of the spirit of a
person through the fruits of the spirit.
That means we can see with our physical eyes the
physical body of a person but cannot see the soul and the spirit of a person.
Still the human with these three constitutes
lives in this physical world.
So while he lives in this physical realm, whatever
he experience is experienced by his whole self.
His spirit may not enjoy or affected by the
worldly pleasures and calamities in this world.
But the spirit experiences divine peace and
comfort even while it is contained in the physical body of a human.
Physical blessings can comfort our spirit also as
long as the blessings come from God.
Our spirit is disturbed when we go after worldly
pleasures and sin.
Remember the spirit of Adam and Eve died when
they committed sin in this physical world with their physical body.
That means we can hurt our spirit while we live
in this world.
And we can do something to enliven our spirit as
we live in this world.
Our second component, the soul is our
personality.
Our personality is formed and reformed by all
what he have been experiencing in this world in our life.
What we are now is the total of all our
experiences in our life so far.
That means the physical affects the soul also.
What we are telling is that all physical
blessings we receive or enjoy while we live in this world are for the three
part structure of body, soul and spirit, that is a human being.
Some may appeal to our physical body alone; some
other may appeal to our soul and some affects our spirit also.
Shall I put forward another question here?
Is there any difference between blessings from
God and blessings from this world?
Yes, there is.
What appeals and affects to our whole being –
body, soul and spirit together – is from God.
What appeals and affects to one or two parts of
our being only is from this world.
That is, if a physical blessing that appeal and affects
body, soul and spirit; all together at the same time is from God.
A physical blessing that appeals and affects our
body alone is from this world.
A physical blessing that appeals and affects our
body and soul alone is also from this world.
And finally what appeals and affects our spirit
for good is from God for it affects our whole being.
What hurts our spirit is from this world, for it
hurts our whole being.
We simply want to state that all the blessings
that we receive from God while we live in this world are physical.
Some of these physical blessings may affect or
may not affect our spiritual life.
Thus physical blessings we receive from God
include: spiritual, physical and material blessings.
Peace, healing, wealth and possessions all
include in this category.
The canon for detecting whether a blessing is
from God or the world is that, all blessings from God accelerate our spiritual
life and all blessings from the world weaken our spiritual life.
Let me answer one more question before we move
forward.
Does God always bless humans with physical
blessings? No!
God may not grant a physical blessing to a man in
the nature, space and time that he may expect.
But this is not the topic we discuss in this
video.
Our topic is God’s purpose in blessing us with
physical blessings.
I hope you have understood the above precept.
These precepts apply only as long as we live in
this physical realm.
Understanding whatever I have said so far is very
important for this discussion.
So now let us move to our main question?
Does God have a purpose in blessing us while we
are on this earth? Definitely!
God never does anything without a definite
purpose.
What are they? Let us look at some of God’s
purposes one by one.
I do not claim that this is an exhaustive study
on the topic.
Some other God’s servants may have more to add.
We should listen to them also.
I am presenting here 4 plausible reasons.
1.
God wants to
incline our heart to God’s Grace and salvation
To understand this, we must have some idea about
Grace and salvation and how it works.
But since this video is not about Grace or
salvation, we cannot go on to a detailed explanation.
There are videos available in my video channel: youtube.com/thenaphtalitribe
about Grace and how salvation works.
Please watch that video also along with this.
Grace is not irresistible.
Irresistible Grace violates our Free Will.
We have the freewill of choice to accept or
reject God’s Grace.
Grace and salvation are legal offers to all men
in this world, but experienced only by those who accept it by faith.
God offers salvation by Grace to us.
We have the freedom to turn back to it and walk
away.
But if you are predestined by God for salvation,
God will work in you so that you respond positively.
God extends Grace to the elected one in such a
way that he accepts it.
This is a theological topic of hot discussion.
We are not taking part in the debate now.
Man, by nature has no inclination for God and His
Grace.
Humans have natural inclinations towards sin.
Noah, in the Old Testament, was a man who sought
and found Grace.
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the LORD. (NKJV)
“Found”
is a simple active perfect verb,
not a passive one.
Thus, Noah found favour or grace in God’s eyes because he was actively
looking for it.
God’s grace is always available; it is not hidden
from anyone.
But it must be “found” by God’s servants.
But usually man is not a seeker of God’s Grace.
Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled
a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again
curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is
evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have
done. (NKJV)
In this Bible verse God is stating His
foreknowledge that humans have an inclination towards evil.
Then will he ever respond positively to God’s
Grace? Naturally no!
That means his heart must be prepared towards
Grace.
God may use physical blessings to prepare us for
the acceptance of God’s Grace.
Please note that God may not always use physical
blessings to incline a human to Grace.
But one of the purposes of physical blessings is
to prepare the hearts of people to incline towards Grace.
For example, a man who is in deep debt may find a
miraculous way to clear his debts.
A sick non believer may be healed miraculously
that he may consider God ways.
A troubled rich man may suddenly experience the
divine peace in his life.
All these are physical blessings from God to
respond positively towards Grace.
In Acts 3 and 4 we read about a healing crusade
that led 5000 to Christ.
As Peter and John were going into the temple,
they noticed a lame man sitting at the gate of the temple begging for help.
They had a short conversation and the apostles
healed him in the name of Jesus.
The man suddenly entered with them into the
temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
This attracted the church going crowd and they
ran towards the Apostles.
This was a wonderful opportunity and Peter shared
gospel with them.
As a result, though the religious leaders were
angry, 5000 men accepted Jesus as savior.
This is an excellent way God uses a physical
blessing to prepare the heart of people for God’s Grace and salvation.
2.
God wants to keep
us sound to fulfill His purpose about us
God has a purpose about each and every one of us.
Think about us; when were we saved?
May be a few days ago, a few months ago or may be
a few years ago.
The best moment in our life is the moment we
accepted Jesus as savior and received salvation.
We are a new creation like a new born baby.
All our sins are just washed away and we stand
clean.
Was it not the best moment for God to take our
life from this evil world?
Does not God know that living in this world as a
born again Christian is hard and there are chances that we accumulate impurity
as we continue to live here?
Still God did not take us away from this world at
the moment of rebirth.
Instead He lets us continue to live in this evil
world.
Why? Because God has a purpose to fulfill with
our life.
To fulfill God’s purpose about our life we should
live with an intention to fulfill God’s purpose.
And in order to live and work for the fulfillment
of God’s purpose for our life in this world, He may grant appropriate physical
blessings.
This does not mean that God has been granting
physical blessings to all of His servants always.
There had been many God’s servants who went
through perils, starvation and torture for the sake of the gospel.
It is usual that physical blessings from God do
not come to men at the time, space and manner we wish.
The great prophet Elijah had to spend days
drinking from a brook and eating bread given by a raven.
He had to run away to a gentile nation and ask
for the last piece of bread that a starving widow had.
But all these worked out for the good of the
Kingdom of God.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things
work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called
according to His purpose. (NKJV)
The above mentioned story of Elijah may be seen
in two angles: One is positive and another is negative
Let us look at the story with a negative
attitude.
Poor man of God, he prophesied to the King as he
was instructed by God.
The prophecy came into being but the prophet was
in trouble.
He had nothing to eat and drink and death threat
was upon him.
He had to run away and lived by a stream.
He sustained there by drinking water from the
dirty stream nearby and by sharing food with a dirty crow.
That also stopped after some time.
Then he ran away from his own country to a
gentile nation.
There he demanded the last piece of bread from
widow and lived in her house.
This story shows all the hardships of a God’s
servant.
Now let us read the story with a positive
attitude.
The man of God stood before the King of Israel
and announced the judgment of God.
The prophecy came into being and there was a
great famine in the land.
So he ran away and lived by the side of a stream.
There even in the days of drought and famine God
provided him a beautiful stream of pure water.
He drank from it.
God commanded a raven to bring him food from the
King’s table at every meal time.
He was miraculously sustained by God.
As the stream dried up, God sent him to the
nearby gentile nation.
There he performed a miracle in the life of a
widow who was about to commit suicide.
There he lived enjoying a part of the miracle God
did for the widow through him.
When the right time came God returned him to his
home country.
What a miraculous and inspiring story.
Both the two versions above are true.
But the way we looked at the story is different.
And the best story is a combination of both.
There are hardships for God’s servants.
There are miraculous provisions also in God’s
plan for us.
When a miracle happens in our life, let us
remember that a hard time is near.
When a hard time occurs, let us remember that a
miracle is at hand.
Jesus was wearing a beautiful seamless garment
while he was arrested.
At the bottom of His cross, the soldiers did not
want to tear it, but decided to keep it for one of them.
It was that much beautiful and costly.
But even while Jesus was wearing it, He was
arrested and taken to crucifixion.
No blessing is a protection from hardships for
the sake of gospel.
But, remember, this discussion is not about
whether God blesses His servants or not.
We are discussing God’s purpose of physical
blessings.
I am talking to you via internet and through a
visual media.
You are watching this video via internet through
a visual media.
Some of my videos are available on TV and you can
watch them at your home.
This is a physical blessing that God had granted
me and you for the increase of His Kingdom.
Thus God has granted us health, wealth and peace.
We should realize that everything God has given
us now is for a heavenly purpose.
We should utilize them for that.
God’s blessings are an enablement to suffer
hardships for the Kingdom sake.
Our house, automobile, money, friendship,
relatives, church community, farm, education and everything has a heavenly
purpose.
It is our duty to find God’s purpose and utilize
them for His glory.
If we do not, we fail miserably in fulfilling His
purpose about out life.
3.
God wants to
reveal his Glory among the gentile nations
Does God want to reveal His glory among the
gentile nations? Yes!
What? Why should He, the Almighty God ever care
for the gentiles who are destined to eternal doom?
Let us take all nations around us at all time as
background to the answer.
What do we see around?
Gentile beliefs and practice are popular in this
the world.
We feel that gentile practices are gaining more
popularity day by day.
And those who practice gentile beliefs silently
or violently are raising questions about the validity and exclusiveness of our
beliefs, practices and our God.
This was the social and cultural background all
the time since the Old Testament period.
God glorifies Himself as an answer to the
challenges posed by the gentiles.
He did it Genesis, Exodus and everywhere.
God answered the challenges of the gentiles
through Samson and Gideon.
God revealed the holiness of His nation during
the time of David, His riches through Solomon.
God’s eternal plan of redemption is revealed, the
necessary sacrifice is done and the resurrection of the first fruit is
fulfilled in the New Testament period.
No gentile power or satan could stop God, the
Almighty.
In fact every action and every intervention of
God in human history is a revelation of God’s Glory.
Remember that God cannot reveal His glory and triumph
through gentile persons or a gentile people group.
If He ever wishes to reveal His Glory among the
gentile nations, that can be done only through His own people.
That is why God chose and redeemed Israelites as
His own people and put them under His own laws His Kingship.
Today we the born again Christians live in the
inaugurated Kingdom of God as its citizens.
The question is, how should we live?
Revealing the glory of the Kingdom or as a shame
to the Kingdom?
Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven. (NKJV)
Physical blessings as we discuss here include
total wealth, i.e. health, wealth and peace.
We are not talking about material wealth alone.
I repeat it again because there are some
extremists who have gone too far with God’s blessings to the understanding that
blessings are only material.
Critics of these new extreme preachers have gone
to the other extreme pole to argue that only spiritual blessings are God’s
blessings.
We must be careful not to deny God’s work in
healing and blessing us, while we disagree with the extreme preachers who
propagate material blessings alone.
A duplicate product is the proof an original
product.
Material blessings are not a proof of God’s
favour.
Material blessings without health or peace of
mind are not from God.
Physical blessings are not material blessings
alone, but include it.
Because, physical blessing from God is a package
of body, soul and spirit.
For God, human are body, soul and spirit.
We live for Christ and His Kingdom.
Everything happens to us must be for the Glory of
God.
Our life and all that we posses and experience
are for His Glory and His Glory alone.
The only incident where a man is saved at the
sight of suffering is the cross.
The thief on the right side of the crucified
Christ looked at the gorgy figure of Jesus and prayed to remember him as Jesus
return as the King.
This is the only place where a man is saved by
seeing a tragedy in another man’s life.
But even here the thief is saved by Grace through
faith in the glorious truth that Jesus is the expected King.
Just recollect all the testimonies we have been
hearing in our churches and other congregations.
Have you ever heard somebody telling that he
turned towards Christ by seeing a cancer or aids patient suffering?
We always hear that a healing, a miraculous
saving from the debt or freedom from the torture of satan lead a person to
Christ.
Remember always that this is the purpose of God’s
blessings in your life.
Whenever you enjoy a blessing from God, consider
it as a blessing that should lead ourselves or attract some other person to
Christ.
Physical blessings reveal God’s Glory in a
physical world.
Though the heaven and earth can be filled with
His Glory, humans can experience it only when it is revealed.
Unless it is revealed to human experience, man
cannot experience God’s Glory.
If you have this attitude of mind, all our doubts
and misunderstanding of God’s blessings will disappear.
Let us praise God for all His blessings in our
life.
Let us praise God that the blessings in our life
attract others to Christ.
Praise God that all His blessings in our life
reveals His Glory.
4.
God wants to bless
us to the increase of His Kingdom
Do our physical blessings have anything to do
with the Kingdom of God?
Kingdom of God is a promised Kingdom in the Old
Testament, an inaugurated Kingdom in the New Testament and a fulfilled Kingdom
in the eternity.
Eternity is a spiritual experience that permits
no physical materials.
Once we enter the eternity, we need not do
anything to increase it.
But we have not yet entered the fulfilled Kingdom
of God.
We are still in the inaugurated Kingdom.
And the influence of the inaugurated Kingdom in this
world should increase.
We are God’s ambassadors to do it.
Kingdom of God is not a treasure that must be
hidden and enjoyed secretly.
It must be lifted up among the people and the joy
of it should be celebrated.
Matthew 5:15 "Nor do they light a lamp and put it
under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the
house. (NKJV)
When we share the gospel of salvation we are
sharing the joy of salvation that we are experiencing.
But what has our physical blessing to do with the
increase of the Kingdom?
Please recollect whatever we have been discussing
so far in this message.
Everything was about physical blessings and God’s
purpose behind it.
In another way, God’s purpose for our physical
blessings is the increase of the Kingdom
That means our health, wealth, material
prosperity and peace of mind and everything that God has bestowed upon us is
intended to be utilized for the Kingdom.
All these blessings are physical and all physical
blessings can be traded.
Health may be traded for the increase of the
Kingdom.
Wealth is a definite source of support to the
increase of the Kingdom.
We will have no such physical blessings in the
fulfilled Kingdom of God.
There we will enjoy divine health without any
sickness.
In another words, the vocabulary of sickness and
health is not necessary there.
Wealth will be a meaningless term because we
inherit the Kingdom itself.
No material possessions will be granted to us in
the eternity; because we will have no earthly flesh and body.
Peace that transcends all understanding will come
to a fulfillment.
That means whatever physical blessings we
experience today are only for the life in this world which has a divine
purpose.
It is here that many of our co believers start to
resent.
The true reason for the resentment is clear:
We do not want to depart with or share our
physical blessings for the advancement of the Kingdom.
But remember, believing that physical blessings
are not from God is not a solution to problem.
Denying our ownership of the physical blessings
is the right solution.
All our blessings are not ourselves; its rightful
owner is God.
We are only stewards of the blessings.
1 Chronicles 29: 14 But who am I, and
who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have
given You.
It is a great joy that God has found us worthy to
entrust all the blessings with us.
Now we have to utilize all our physical blessings
for the advancement of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God must grow and we along with
all our physical blessings should decrease.
A good steward knows that the property he manages
belongs to his master.
A good steward manages the property to fulfill
the master’s plan.
A good steward is faithful in managing the
property under him.
A good steward manages everything cleverly.
If you like to know more about Christian
Stewardship, please visit our video channel: youtube.com/thenaphtalitribe.
There you will find a video on the topic.
Conclusion
Let me conclude this message.
This has been a simple message about a question
we often face in our everyday life.
What a joy and peace it is to consider our
physical blessings: as a gift from God; that reveals His glory to the gentiles;
to fulfill God’s purpose.
Asceticism is not the Christian way of life.
Active exercise to increase the Kingdom of God is
God’s purpose for us.
May God bless you!
No comments:
Post a Comment