LORD, Give us Your Blessing
Many of our services end with the blessing contained in Numbers 6:22-27. Some people misunderstand the word "blessing." They want to get their house, their Harley, their car, or their cat "blessed," like it's some kind of magic formula that will prevent injury or accidents. That is not God's intent. He just wants to give us his divine favor. This Trinity Sunday we consider how our three-in-one God blesses us: each Person of our One God gives us his divine favor. We can confidently say, LORD, Give us Your Blessing. June 3, 2007.
Now this is the true Christian faith: We worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God, without mixing the persons or dividing the divine being. Those words are part of the Athanasian Creed, a portion of which we will read at the end of this sermon. We do that because today we observe Trinity Sunday. Once a year we use this Sunday to consider the mysterious make up of our three-in-one God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – three Persons yet one God. This is a Bible teaching that goes beyond all human understanding. One plus one plus one equals one. Yet this teaching about our three-in-one God has been believed, confessed, and defended throughout history because that’s how God reveals himself in the Bible.
Today we are not going to try to explain logically how God can be three-in-one, but we would like to spend a few moments enriching our understanding of how this triune God goes to work for our benefit. Before us are the familiar words of blessing which we often use at the close of a worship service from Numbers chapter six. That word “blessing” pops up regularly in religious talk. Just what is a “blessing”? Some people might say, “It’s something good that happens to you,” like, “It’s a blessing that it rained last night so I don’t have to water the lawn.” The dictionary allows that definition. Some would say, “A blessing is a wish for prosperity, a wish that something good will happen in the future,” like, “I wish you blessings on your new job.” The dictionary allows that definition, too. But the number one definition listed in my dictionary is this, “A blessing is a statement of divine favor,” or better, “A blessing is a gift of divine favor”?
Our three-in-one God wants to bless us. He wants to give us gifts of his divine favor. That’s why we can pray with confidence LORD, Give us Your Blessing.
Keep Us
When God told Aaron to announce this blessing to the Israelites, they were traveling through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land. Aaron said, “The LORD bless you and keep you.” Aaron’s words made the Israelites happy. They were reminded, “God has kept us from getting lost by guiding us with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He has kept us from dying of starvation in this wilderness by providing manna and quail. He has preserved us during attacks by the Amalekites, Ammonites, and Amorites. The Israelites could say, “The Lord has given us the divine favor, the blessing, of keeping us. He guides, provides, and preserves us.”
The Lord keeps us, too. If he did not guide us, we would wander in the wilderness of sin until lost forever. If God did not provide for us, we wouldn’t have all the friends, food, and fun which we enjoy. If God did not preserve us, we would be easy target practice for the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16). When a young mother gave birth to a baby prematurely, whom do you think gave the doctors and nurses the skills so that the baby could survive, be baptized, and grow? Did you ever narrowly miss a car accident when you didn’t see someone zooming up in your blind spot on the freeway? Whom do you think commands the angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways? (Psalm 91:11). Believing Christians have gathered to praise the triune God on this location for one hundred fifty-eight years. Whom do you think has made that possible? The devil is hard at work trying to get us to take all of that for granted, but, our three-in-one God is also hard at work with consistent reminders that he is “keeping us.”
We know that all three Persons of the Trinity are involved in “keeping us,” but when we hear Aaron announce God’s divine favor, “The LORD bless you and keep you,” we can’t help thinking of Luther’s words about God the Father: I believe that God made me and every creature and that he gave me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my mind and all my abilities. And I believe that God still preserves me by richly and daily providing clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children, land, cattle and all I own, and all that I need to keep my body and life, and by defending me against danger and guarding and protecting me from all evil. All this God does only because he is my good and merciful Father in heaven, and not because I have earned or deserved it. For all this I ought to thank and praise, to serve and obey him. This is most certainly true! The triune God promises to give us divine favor. In full confidence we pray, “LORD, Give us Your Blessing. Keep us,” and he does.
Be Gracious to Us
We hear the names Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah from the Old Testament Scriptures and picture them as great heroes of faith. But Scripture also reveals Abraham as a man who lost trust in God and twice endangered his wife just to save his own skin. Isaac should have learned a lesson from his father but didn’t. He pulled the same stunt. Jacob lived by his wits and relied on trickery to get God’s blessing. Judah committed adultery with careless indifference to God’s commands. From these men came the Israelite nation, people who bickered and complained, moaned and groaned, at nearly every turn in their wilderness wandering, people who time and again demonstrated their lack of trust in God as they tried to gain a foothold in the Promised Land. The Israelites did not deserve God’s blessing.
But the Lord showered them with mercy anyway. He entrusted his promise of a Savior from sin to Abraham, “In you shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). He repeated that promise of love to Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. God held his anger in check because of his promise to save the world from its own self-inflicted horror. There’s a special Bible word we use which refers to this undeserved love from God – “grace.” God told Aaron to use that word in the announcement of divine favor and to couple it with a unique picture, “The LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” You know how to make your face shine, don’t you? Some of you just did by smiling. The Israelites deserved God’s frown, scowl, and anger, but they knew he was smiling on them because he promised a Savior from sin. That is God’s grace.
The Lord smiles on us, too, and shows us love even though we don’t deserve it. God wants thankful offerings. But sometimes we catch ourselves placing money in the offering basket just a little bit grudgingly. Then our offering is not perfect. God once killed a deceitful husband and wife team named Ananias and his wife Sapphira for an imperfect offering. God wants attentive, active worship. But sometimes our mind wanders during the liturgy, and we sing the hymns without concentrating on the meaning of the words. Then our worship is not perfect. God killed Aaron’s sons for imperfect worship. For any infraction of his holy will, God has a right to frown on us, to scowl at us, to be angry with us, and to drive us into outer darkness. The amazing thing is that God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:10). He does not and will not frown on us, scowl at us, or blast us with his anger, which is exactly what we deserve. He’s done with that. He already did all that frowning, scowling, and anger aiming when he redirected his anger away from us and onto our Substitute, Jesus Christ. That is grace. That’s how we know that God is smiling at us. The devil is hard at work trying to make us wallow in guilt and feel like the load of our sins will never be removed from our back, but our three-in-one God is also hard at work convincing us that we are forgiven.
We know that all three Persons of the Trinity are involved in saving us and showing us undeserved love, but when we hear Aaron’s announcement, “The LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you,” we can’t help thinking of Luther’s words about God the Son: He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sin, from death and the from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. All this he did that I should be his own, and live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he has risen from death and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true! The triune God promises to give us divine favor. In full confidence we pray, “LORD, Give us Your Blessing. Make your face shine on us and be gracious to us.” He does, and he is.
Give us Your Peace
If Aaron stood before the Israelites, extended his arms, and announced only the first two phrases of God’s blessing, an Israelite might respond in this way, “God certainly is great! He guides, provides, and preserves us. He smiles on us with undeserved love. But I wonder, are all those good things meant for me personally?” That Israelite would have his question answered by the third phrase of Aaron’s blessing, “The LORD lift up his face toward you and give you peace.”
When the Lord makes his face shine on us, he is smiling on us. When he lifts up his face toward us, he is looking right at each and every one of us, personally. When Aaron said, “The LORD lift his face toward you,” an the Israelite was reminded, “The Lord grants his divine favor, and his divine favor is for me. Now I know for sure that I am at peace with God.” The Hebrew word peace implies complete spiritual health, total spiritual well-being. As Aaron announced God’s blessing, the third phrase assured the Israelite that God’s blessings were personal and complete,“The LORD gives you peace.”
The boss at work circulates a memo to all the people in the office, “Good work! Nice job on the latest project!” But it would mean so much more if he would pull up a chair next to your desk, look you in the eye, and say, “I just want you to know that I think you are doing a wonderful job.” The devil is hard at work trying to convince us that God’s promises are unsure. But God the Holy Spirit is also at work. He uses Scripture to convince us that God is looking each of us right in the eye and saying, “I am giving you eternal life.” God the Holy Spirit uses Scripture to convince us that this gift of life is complete. The Lord lifts up his face toward us and gives us peace.
We know that all three Persons of the Trinity are involved in making sure that we enjoy personal certainty in our relationship with him, but when we hear Aaron state, “The LORD lift up his face toward you and give you peace,” we can’t help thinking of Luther’s words about God the Holy Spirit: I believe that I cannot by own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, set me apart and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sets apart the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church he daily and richly forgives all sins to me and all believers. On the last day he will raise me and all the dead, and he will give eternal life me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true! The triune God promises to give us divine favor. In full confidence we pray, “LORD, Give us Your Blessing. Give us your peace,” and he does by the working of the Holy Spirit through the words of Scripture.
Some people misunderstand the word “blessing.” They want to get their house, their Harley, their car, or their cat “blessed,” like it’s some kind of magic formula that will prevent injury or accidents. That is not God’s intent. He just wants to give us his divine favor.
Human reason cannot comprehend how God can be three Persons, yet one God. This teaching of the Trinity reminds us that Christian faith is unique. There is no substitute, no alternative, no option for getting to heaven by another religion. As the Athanasian Creed states, “Whoever wishes to be saved, before anything else it is necessary that he hold to the Christian faith. If a person does not hold to this teaching completely and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish forever.” On this Sunday we do not try to explain the teaching of the Trinity. We simply acknowledge it as true and stand in awe before the one and only true God. Better yet, this true God is also our Savior God. That’s why we confidently pray, “LORD, Give us Your Blessing!” This is most certainly true! Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on June 3, 2007
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