Pastor Tim Patoka Through the Word, the Triune God Blesses Us June 12, 2022 Receive the Triune Lord’s Blessing Numbers 6:22-27 1) Know What to Expect 2) Confidently Receive It How many times have you sung Happy Birthday? You sang at least a handful of times a year as a kid when you went to your friends’ birthday parties. If you have kids of that age range, you get to do it all over again as an adult. When you’ve sung that song to your friend or family member, did you mean it? Probably yes, even if it was umpteenth time singing it. Or when we get to the time of year when we greet each other by saying, “Merry Christmas” or tell our loved one who’s not doing so great “get well soon”, do you mean what you say? Hopefully, yes! Even if you’ve said it a thousand times before and will say it a thousand times again. What about the familiar words and phrases in our worship services? Do these words still carry their weight despite hearing and saying them on a weekly basis? They certainly do, or at least they should. The words of God that we’ll be looking this morning are perhaps very familiar to you as they are how we end almost every worship service here at Grace – “The Lord bless you and keep you. 25 The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. 26The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26) We don’t repeatedly say these words to simply fill the silence or to signal that we’re soon wrapping up our worship service. Rather, we mean what we say whenever we say these familiar words. For it is with these words that we receive our triune Lord’s blessing about what we expect to receive from him. And because this blessing comes from our triune Lord, we therefore confidently receive it. Know What to Expect Though these words may be familiar to you, what may not be is when the Lord gave them to his people. We find ourselves among the Israelites shortly after their exodus from Egypt’s slavery. After passing through the dry land at the bottom of the Red Sea and arriving at Mt. Sinai, they had a long journey ahead of them before they finally reached the Promised Land of Israel. Moses was their leader and the go-between of the Lord and the Israelites. His brother Aaron, his sons, and their male descendants were the priests. And before the Israelites set out on their long, arduous journey, the Lord wanted them to know that he would be with them and bless them the entire way. 1
Pastor Tim Patoka Through the Word, the Triune God Blesses Us June 12, 2022 So he told Aaron and his sons to bless the Israelites with these words. “The Lord bless you and keep you.” (Numbers 6:24) As a loving parent keeps their child safe from harm and bodily need, so the Lord would keep the Israelites safe by guarding and protecting them in their upcoming travels. “The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.” (Numbers 6:25) To make your face shine on someone is to give them your complete attention in a good, gracious way. That meant a lot when it came from someone mightier than you. If you remember from Esther’s account, then you know how great it was when King Xerxes turned his face toward her and listened to her plea to save the Jewish people (Esther 5:2). So the Lord would make his face shine on the Israelites throughout their coming wanderings to their delight. “The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:26) Peace from the Lord isn’t like peace from this world. In this world, we get peace when life is easy and our problems go away. But peace from the Lord comes from a right standing with him because of sins forgiven, a peace that is ours even when our life is abuzz with not-so-peaceful things. This is what the Lord told the Israelites to expect from him as they journeyed into the Sinai wilderness, blessings that are likewise given to us today as we journey throughout life. But are those the blessings you want from the Lord? Sure the Lord promises to keep us safe from harm and bodily need. But wouldn’t it be better if we had more, if the Lord also kept us from want by blessing us with a prosperous life like we see on social media? It’s great that the Lord has promised to make his face shine on us as he gives us his complete attention. But wouldn’t it be better if he took one step further, to wait on us and be at our beck and call? The Lord has promised give us peace through the forgiveness of our sins, but wouldn’t it be better to have the world’s idea of peace – to live like we’re always on vacation? Why those are the blessings that our Lord should give to us! While the Lord could, that’s not what he has told us to expect. Rather, we expect the same blessings he gave to the Israelites – to keep us, to make his face shine on us, and to give us peace. For these blessings are more than enough to calm our hearts and strengthen our feet as we journey through life on our way to heaven. And we can rejoice along the way! The Lord is far greater than we are. He doesn’t owe us anything. Yet he has shown us his grace, mercy, and love in promising to bless us in this way. Blessings he continues to give even when we sinfully wish for more or something else. These blessings will also take care of us in the days to come. Remember that the Lord first spoke these words to the Israelites before they began their journey to 2
Pastor Tim Patoka Through the Word, the Triune God Blesses Us June 12, 2022 Israel. Despite their doubts and grumblings, the Lord took care of his children through every circumstance. So he will for his children today. The Lord will keep you safe from harm and bodily need. And when he allows bad things to happen, he will guide it for your eternal benefit. The Lord will make his face shine on you and he graciously gives you his complete attention whenever you come to him in repentance, prayer, praise, or thanksgiving. The Lord will give you peace that is unlike anything from this world. Yes, your life may be filled with distractions and stress, but there’s no beef between you and your Lord. Your Savior has taken your sins away by his death on the cross and given you a clean record before the Lord. And guess what? He now looks down on you with favor as he continues to bless you in these expected ways. Confidently Receive It We certainly receive these blessings along with everyone who has his name. The Lord’s name is not like a magic phrase that, by its mere utterance wonderful things happen. Rather, it’s what stands for him and everything he’s revealed about himself. While the term “Christian” didn’t exist in Moses’ and Aaron’s day, it’s what we use today to refer to those who have the Lord’s name placed upon them. What did the Lord say he will do for those who have his name? “I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:27) The Lord himself blesses us. And he’s not simply doling them out upon all Christians in general, but he’s blessing you specifically, you individually, you who alone has your name and life’s story. But would you think that by looking at your fellow Christians today? Sometimes, we can feel like a number, like one of many people all lumped together. I’m certain you’ve felt this way as I have when I call customer support for a large business. You spend forever on hold, re-explain your story to every person, and get transferred to someone who simply repeats the company policy without addressing your problem. Imagine what it’s like for the Lord who has millions of Christians calling on his name at any given moment! We may think, “Sure the Lord blessed Christian So-and-So over here in this cool and wonderful way, but he hasn’t blessed me! I’m thinking I fell through the cracks, that the Lord forgot about me.” Or we may see how Christians are living today and wonder what there is to show for it. A persecuted minority with enemies on every side; a lifestyle that is increasingly at odds with our sinful culture. If the Lord has been blessing his children since the days of Moses and Aaron, it sure doesn’t seem like he’s been doing it or all that consistently!
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Pastor Tim Patoka Through the Word, the Triune God Blesses Us June 12, 2022 There are a couple of things to remember here. First, think back to what blessings we expect from God – to keep you, make his face shine on you, and give you peace. We shouldn’t hold the Lord to something that he hasn’t promised to bless us with. Second, draw your confidence to receive these blessings from what our triune Lord has already done. This Sunday is also called Holy Trinity Sunday where we consider how our Lord is both 3 and 1. He is 3 persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and yet still 1 Lord. We’ll delve more into this when we confess our faith using a portion of the Athanasian Creed. As 3 persons, our triune Lord has already done a lot for us. God the Father not only created our universe in 6, 24-hour days by his word alone, but has continued to preserve it and all who live in it for the 6,000-10,000 years it’s existed. God the Son, aka Jesus Christ, redeemed us from our sins by paying the price we owed with his death on the cross. Because of that and his resurrection from the grave, we now have forgiveness and the promise of eternal life in heaven. God the Holy Spirit has conquered our inborn hostility and brought our spiritually dead hearts to life by giving us faith. He continues to strengthen our faith through Word and sacrament. Our triune Lord has certainly done these things. And he will certainly keep you, make his face shine on you, and give you peace. That’s exactly what you receive whenever the Lord’s name is placed upon you whether it be at the end of a service or whenever we spend time in his Word. And we confidently receive these blessings because it is our triune Lord himself, both 3 and 1, who is blessing us who have his name upon us. Concluding Encouragements “The Lord bless you and keep you. 25The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. 26The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26) These words have been spoken over God’s children for nearly 3,500 years. Their meaning and our triune Lord’s blessing has not changed since then. As 1 Lord, he has promised to bless us in these expected ways that are more than enough to meet our needs as we journey through whatever life still has for us. We are also confident to receive our triune Lord’s blessing because he is 3 persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As he has already blessed us in three distinct ways, so our triune Lord will his blessing to all who have his name placed upon them. As such, gladly receive our triune Lord’s name and confidently rejoice in the expectant blessings he gives to you specifically. Amen.
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