Last week we heard about a man who found the Christian faith with the help of another person. We heard about an Ethiopian Official having a passage of Scripture explained to him, which resulted in this man accepting Christ as his Savior.
Sometimes I think that people are not really interested in the Christian because they just don’t appreciate it’s value. Or, perhaps they have accepted it, but they feel it really hasn’t done them any good whatsoever. In a very results oriented society, they just don’t see any results, and so they become disillusioned with the Christian faith. Then, something might have happened in their life that has led to doubt, and uncertainty. I do not know anything about the parents of those kids in Littleton Colorado, but I suspect that such an incident can test one’s faith to the very limit. And yet, on the other hand, a strong faith has the power to ease the pain of such a tragedy as well.
Today I want to take a few moment to reflect on the value of faith in the light of God’s goodness. When you begin to think about it, you soon realize that the goodness of God is greater than we can measure, and that is goes far beyond our imagination. The Bible speaks of this goodness in many ways, but nowhere do we see it more clearly than in the cross of Jesus Christ. This is a perfect example of what Paul tells us with the words, ". . .where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Rom. 5:20). Julia H. Johnson wrote, “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt.” We sang those words just moments ago.
When you experience God’s grace, it has the potential to fill your life with a certain peace. There may be trouble all around, which cannot be ignored of course, because that would be denial, but somehow you feel like the officer on the submarine was being tested and which had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to the harbor, the captain was asked, "How did the terrible storm last night affect you?" The officer looked at him in surprise and exclaimed, "Storm? We didn't even know there was one!" The sub had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached the area known to sailors as "the cushion of the sea." Although the ocean may be whipped into huge waves by high winds, the waters below are never stirred.
By the goodness of God, a Christian's mind will be protected against the distracting waves of worry if it is resting completely in the care of God. There, sheltered by His grace and encouraged by His Holy Spirit, the believer can find the perfect tranquility that only Christ can provide. Let us count our blessings daily.
The passage from John this morning first of all points us to the source of our blessings They flow from Christ. It is out the fullness of his grace that we receive one blessing after another. What doe this word “fullness” means? For the answer we need to go to the few opening familiar verses of this chapter. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” From those verses we discover that the word “fullness” refers to Christ’s deity. He is the divine Son of God, who took on our human nature, and who lived among us. Here we have the Divine Son of God, through whom all things were made, taking on human flesh and living among us. Some say that because he did this he can now better understand what it is like to live as we must, because he felt our pains, knew our needs first hand, and underwent our temptations. There is truth in that, but we should never forget that He is the Sovereign Lord, the King of kings, who knew our condition before he came, and that he did not come just to empathize with us, but to rectify our problem, our human condition. So we receive heavenly blessings from the ultimate heavenly source, namely God, though Jesus Christ, his Son. Even the bread and the wine, which we will utilize later, come from the hand and mind of God, for they serve to remind us of Christ’s broken body and poured out blood.
Who among us can do what Christ did? Who in the world can do it? No one. He is the only one. There was n one, there is no one, or there is no one to come, who has the power to bring us again at one with God, but Jesus Christ. Only he can grant to anyone who believes, eternal life. Only he can rescue sinners from their misery. A these blessings, and so many more come from the heart of God, our all loving, merciful God, who created us for himself. He has opened for us an ever flowing fountain of grace and mercy, by sending to us his Son, to be one of us, and yet so much more. He is the one who has the "fullness of power” the one who has completed the work of salvation, with a never ending supply of blessings. “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!”
Having said that however, we still need to deal with the disappointments of life. Sometimes we ask God for certain things, and for reasons we don’t always immediately see, his answer is different from the one we want. And this of course is where a strong Christian faith comes in. It’s sometimes so hard to believe that God will never be caught short of blessing for us. It sometimes hard to believe that he will never say, “I”m sorry. I would like to help you, but I’m just a bit too busy right now, and besides, I have run out of blessings for you.” O, sometimes it might feel like that, but as John McArthur writes, “Today many Christians spend a great deal of time and effort vainly looking for blessings already available to them. They pray for God's light, although He has already supplied light in abundance through His Word. Their need is to follow the light they already have. They pray for strength, although His Word tells them in Phil. 4:13 they can do all things through Christ who strengthens them. They pray for more love, although Paul says in Rom. 5:5 that God's own love is already poured out within their hearts through the Holy Spirit. They pray for more grace, although the Lord says in 2 Cor.12:9 the grace He has already given is sufficient. They pray for peace, although Phil. 4:7 says that the Lord has given them His own peace, "which surpasses all comprehension." This just tells me that God already knows our needs before we ask. God has already given us what we pray for daily. And, we have mighty and divine Savior. Just ask yourself this question this morning. “Is there anything he cannot, or will not do? Have we not already received one blessing after the other? Count your blessing daily.
There is so much darkness in our world, isn’t there. We could name one thing after another. Ye tour blessing come one after another too. Jesus said that he is the light of the world. He came to bring the light that you might need in your life. His blessings have substance. His promises are true. When he says something we may depend on it. There are so many people who might have let you down, but he will never let you down. The essence of the Christian faith is that God, can be fully and completely trusted. Did he not keep all of his promises when he sent his Son to take away the sins of the world?
And yet, if we are willing to be honest with ourselves we must admit that God’s blessings are quite undeserved. The word grace indicates this. Sometime we think we must do something to help God with his blessings, something that might make us worthy. But there really is little was can do. A young fellow came to his pastor, earnestly asking, "What can I do to be saved?" Knowing the young man thought he had to accomplish something by his own efforts to gain redemption, the pastor responded to the anxious inquirer, "You're too late!" "Oh, don't say that," exclaimed the distressed seeker, "I really want salvation; I'd do anything or go anywhere to obtain it." "I'm sorry," replied the other, "you're too late for that. Your salvation was completed many hundreds of years ago at Calvary. It's a finished work! All you have to do is simply receive Christ. Then the blessed gift He offers will become yours through His merits. Realizing his great debt was paid, the young man found peace by looking to the Savior and resting his all upon the grace of God." God’s gifts are abundant, and they are all predicated on his marvelous grace.
One blessing after another. That’s what it says. One after the other. John wants us to fully understand the abundance of God’s blessings. O we may doubt, but faith should carry with it a certain confidence. Is having the Christian faith worth it? Only you can answer that question for yourself, but I would say, given the many blessings, one after the other, I can see no other meaningful alternative. As Annie Johnson Flint has it, “His love has no limit, his grace has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto men; For out of his infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth, and giveth again.
As we partake of the bread and the wine today, let us be deeply thankful, and never forget to count you blessings.
