Come and be blessed

Isaiah 55:1-7

John 4:1-30

I began my sermon by thinking about the reasons why people had come to church. To worship God, receive from God’s Word and teaching, bring our hopes and fears to God in prayer, and to share fellowship I’m sure would all have been reasons given if I’d asked individuals to share. I then asked how many people had come to church with the overt desire to receive blessing from God and the expectation that they would. The words ‘bless, blessed and blessing’ are words we tend to consider to be ‘spiritual’, and therefore somehow a little be detached from the ordinary material day-to-day of our lives. However, our readings make clear that God’s blessing, which I understand to mean his love shown in the outpouring of goodness, friendship and protection, is to be one of the foundational building blocks on which as Christians we build our lives. In Isaiah 55, we are invited to freely and boldly come and receive good things from God’s hands. These blessings are symbolised by such things as milk, bread, wine and water. In ancient Israel, before the advent of supermarkets and fridge-freezers, these were the very basics of life. If you were without any of these things, you would be struggling to get by. Jesus, in our gospel passage, describes God’s goodness as ‘life-giving water’ (Good News Bible) – that is to say, the very thing by which we survive. And so we see that to be blessed is simply to receive the goodness of God as it is manifested to us for our wholeness and well-being, and that blessing is something we should see as being the ‘bread and butter’ of the Christian life and not just something detached that happens to special people or on special occasions.

  1. How do you understand the concept of blessing and being blessed?
  2. Do you hope and expect to be blessed by God daily?
  3. What might be hindering you from coming before God with open arms to receive his goodness?

Over the past few weeks, an awful lot of hard work has been undertaken by a lot of people, culminating this weekend with the three performances of our annual panto. Although, as I’ve said, the panto can be hard work for a lot of people, it is always worth it, and this year again the panto weekend was wonderful. The panto is a perfect opportunity for us as a church family to offer blessing to each other. So many people are involved, from the actors, to the directors and producers, to the backstage crew, to the sound and lighting people, to the scenery artists, to the costumes designers and tailors, to the make-up artists, to the people who sell tickets, to the people who welcome the audience on the door, to the people who do the refreshments, to the people who do the raffle, to the people who come to watch. There are probably a lot of people I’ve still managed to miss out!! The panto, therefore, is an exercise in blessing each other as the St Timothy’s family, the family of God in this place. As someone who was involved on the stage, it was a real blessing for me to see many people from church in the audience. Although we obviously hope that people from the wider community will come and see the show, if nobody from St Tim’s came to see it, it would be a disaster. I hope that if you came to watch, or were involved in some other way off the stage, that you were blessed by the show and your involvement. The Church is the Body of Christ. It is the place where we learn together to be ever-more like Jesus. Jesus told his disciples that they must love one another. He also said “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8b). Just as we have done over the ‘panto season’, so we should be there to bless each other always. This can be on an individual or small level, e.g. small group level, or at a wider level, doing something to bless and build up the whole St Tim’s community.

  1. Do you think there is a culture of seeking to bless each other at St Tim’s? What, if anything, might need to change in this regard?
  2. Could you share any ways in which being part of the Church has been a blessing to you? This could be at St Tim’s, maybe even in your Home Group, or indeed at another church you’ve attended.
  3. Is there anything you think God might be asking you to do, be it big or small, to in some way to bless a church member or group, or maybe even the whole church? What are you going to do about this?

Verse 5 of Isaiah 55 speaks about nations and people who the Israelites do not yet know seeking after God and his goodness. We know that the whole point of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is to enable everyone, whoever they may be, to live in relationship with God, basking in his goodness and love. Indeed, our gospel passage makes it clear that Jesus is here associating with and bringing God’s blessing to someone who was considered to be unable to access the fullness of His goodness and favour (verses 9 and 27). To this Samaritan woman, Jesus offers healing for brokenness and the life-giving water that ultimately will bring eternal life. The implication for us is that we need to be willing to invite people to receive God’s love and blessing for themselves, just as God invites people of all nations in Isaiah 55 and Jesus invites the Samaritan woman in John 4. If we want our church to grow, we need to invite people to join us. This does not have to be a scary thing, and we do not have to invite people to jump straight in at the deep end! Again, the panto provides a perfect opportunity to invite someone along to something that is a lot of fun and not ostensibly religious, but brings people into contact with church, and a church that is friendly, fun and not in the least bit missing out on life by following Jesus. You don’t have to wait until next year’s panto to invite someone along to something. There’s the miracle play at Easter, for one thing, the special events of Christmas, and there’s sure to be lots going off in between. Maybe your Home Group could organise something to which you could invite someone. If we seek God’s guidance, and keep in step with His Spirit in all we do, people are sure to find blessing and thus be drawn deeper. And remember, if you invite someone, the worst thing that can happen is that they say ‘no’!

  1. Do you agree that it is important to look for opportunities to invite people to things at church? Why?
  2. Do you have any ideas for things your group could do to which you could invite people?
  3. Do you have any ideas for things the church could do to which you could invite people?
  4. What, if anything, makes you reluctant to invite people to church, be it for a service or other event?
  5. Is there anyone you would particularly like to invite along to something? Maybe as a group you could remember these people and those doing the inviting in prayer.