Being a blesser

1 Peter 3:8 – 9

 

This morning God has led me to discuss “Blessing and Cursing”; well to be more accurate “Blessing”, but to understand blessing we must also talk about cursing.

 

1 Peter 3:8-9 “Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it.”  NLT

 

In this text Peter first talks about unity and love.  Peter says that Christians should be:

1.      of One mind – the mind of Christ

2.      Compassionate toward each other

3.      Love one another

 

If each of you would treat every Christian this way it would bless them, bless you and bless God.  Anything less is cursing.

 

First let’s take a very quick look at cursing.

 

I say a quick look because we all have a good working knowledge of what cursing is; we do it pretty regularly.

 

CURSE - A prayer for injury, harm, or misfortune to befall someone. (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)

 

1.      A “prayer” here does not mean that you bow your head and clasp your hands to pray.

a.       You can curse verbally – your words are heard

                                                   i.      Gossip

                                                 ii.      Dirty Words

                                                iii.      Mixing the truth with error

b.      You can curse mentally – your thoughts are heard

                                                   i.      Attitudes

                                                 ii.      Racism

                                                iii.      Unspoken curses

c.       You can curse physically – looks can kill

                                                   i.      A dirty look

                                                 ii.      A cursing action

                                                iii.      Physical contact

                                               iv.      Addictions and Abuse curse families and communities

2.      A curse can last a long, long time

a.       We are still under the curse of sin that began 8,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden

b.      Our bad habits, ideals and motives can create generational curses

                                                   i.      Addiction

                                                 ii.      Racism

                                                iii.      Abuse

 

We curse with that little snide remark, a evil desire towards someone, our actions toward others or any other of millions of ways.

 

Enough about cursing.  We have enough cursing in our world today.

 

What we need more of is blessing.

 

A blessing is any action that declares or requests God’s favor and goodness upon others.

 

We can bless the same way we curse.

  1. We can bless verbally
    1. Encouragement
    2. Lifting others up

                                                               i.      Even when they are not around

    1. Honesty and integrity
  1. We can bless mentally
    1. Positive thinking
    2. Praying for others
  2. We can bless physically
    1. Serving
    2. Helping
    3. Guiding
    4. Physical contact

                                                               i.      Blessing was often conveyed by touching

    1. Bless by giving your resources to help others

 

Our blessings can be very, very powerful things.  So powerful that it may not be able to withdraw a blessing if we give it by mistake.

 

Many of you may remember in Genesis chapter 27 when Isaac was tricked into giving his youngest son Jacob his blessing instead of giving it to his oldest son Esau.  His blessing, once given, could not be withdrawn.

 

People we should bless

 

1.      Bless those with less power or influence

a.       Minister to and bless the hungry, the thirsty, outsiders, the poor, the sick and the prisoners (Matthew 25)

2.      Bless those who are our equals

a.       Fellow church members

b.      Family members

c.       Peers – classmates, coworkers

3.      Bless those who are our leaders

a.       Government leaders

b.      Church leaders

c.       Other leaders

4.      Bless those who are our enemies

a.        Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy.  44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too.  46 If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.  47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.  48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”    NLT

5.      Bless God

a.       Psalm 103:1-3 “Bless the LORD , O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!  Bless the LORD , O my soul,  And forget not all His benefits:  Who forgives all your iniquities,  Who heals all your diseases,”  NKJV

 

Blessing is what God wants you to do.  That should be enough.

 

As you bless others God will bless you.  This is just chocolate on top of the ice cream.  What we get should be way down the list of our priorities, after being faithful to God and after blessing others.

 

God can bless your:

  1. Relationships
    1. Family
    2. Friends
    3. work
  2. Finances
    1. Debt removed
    2. Finances built
    3. Territory expanded
  3. Health
    1. Physical, mental and spiritual healing
    2. Strength and grace to deal with illness
    3. Use your illness to bless others
  4. Any thing else He may choose to bless.

 

1 Peter 3:8-9 “Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds.  Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it.”   NLT