Obedience Always Brings Blessing Charles F. Stanley Memory Verse: Psalm 24:1-5 I. Introduction: I define a blessing as any expression of God’s goodness and love toward us. Answered prayer, miraculous provision, and unexpected favor are some examples. We easily recognize these as God’s gifts. But sometimes He chooses to bless us in different ways. For instance, He grants us strength and joy in the midst of hardship, and He uses our suffering to help us mature spiritually. When we obey God, we can trust that He will display His goodness and love to us. Those who are wise will watch for His blessings in all their different forms. II. Biblical Examples A. Noah’s obedience saved his family from the flood. B. Abraham’s obedience resulted in his becoming the father of a great nation, God’s chosen people, Israel. C. Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. D. Joshua won the battle of Jericho by following God’s supernatural strategy. E. David refused to harm Saul, the anointed king. F. Jehoshaphat relied on God’s word when the Ammonites attacked Judah. G. Peter obeyed Jesus’ command to fish in the heat of day. H. Paul followed God’s will and took the gospel to the Gentiles. III. Types of Blessing God’s gifts aren’t always obvious. But when you obey Him, He may bless you with: A. Peace, joy, and contentment. These internal qualities often result when we step out in faith and obey God. B. Spiritual growth. We will have more faith to obey the next time God challenges us to do something. C. Eternal blessings. When we stand before God on judgment day, we will be rewarded for our obedience (see Mark 9:41; Luke 6:21-23). IV. Suffering Before Blessing Often, the first effect of obedience is not blessing, but suffering. Sometimes, what God requires of us will initially lead to pain and sadness. We shouldn’t assume that difficulty means we’ve made a mistake or that He has abandoned us. Let’s look at two significant examples of suffering as an initial result of obedience: A. Moses followed God’s command to lead His people out of Egypt. Not only did the leader experience difficulty in freeing the Israelites from bondage; the people also complained bitterly about life in the dessert once they were released. Despite these and other challenges, Moses is known as the most important leader in the Old Testament. B. Paul obeyed God by preaching the gospel. As a result, he suffered tremendous persecution, danger, and physical abuse (2 Cor. 11:23-27). However, because he was imprisoned, the apostle had time to write his epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians, and Philemon. His obedience resulted in supernatural blessing (see 2 Tim. 4:7). V. God’s Purposes for Our Suffering A. To bring us to the end of ourselves. We become most useful to the Lord when we rely on Him completely. If we respond correctly to loss and suffering, we will find blessing through it. B. To prevent pride. Suffering reminds us that all good things are gifts from God and not earned by our own efforts. C. To remove idols from our lives. Worshipping anything other than God is a problem. He causes all things to work together for our good (Rom. 8:28). So if He removes a good thing from our lives, He must have a purpose, even if we can’t see it at the time. D. To deepen our understanding of His ways. When God does something and we aren’t sure why, we can anticipate learning something new about how He operates. E. To demonstrate His faithfulness to His children. In suffering, you and I have the opportunity to become living examples of the goodness of God. As others watch how we respond to overwhelming adversity, they recognize His loving care. VI. Conclusion: If you obey God, can you expect His blessings? Yes. But remember that His choice of blessing may be different from yours. Perhaps He will use suffering to draw you closer to Himself. Or He may use it to remove from your life those things that hinder fruitfulness for Him. No matter what, if you walk in His will, He will bless you in surprising ways.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 04:13:30 +0000
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