Holy Trinity Sunday June 3, 2007

“Cherish These Familiar Words”

Numbers 6:22-27

22 The LORD said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

24 The LORD bless you and keep you;

25 The LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26 The LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.””

27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.”

Those are familiar words. Many say those words at mealtime but fail to ponder them. It’s easy to do. Think about it. As you begin to eat, are you cherishing that Jesus is your personal family guest? Are you in awe that the Lord’s mercy endures forever? We say those familiar words quickly but don’t think about the meaning.

Today in the Bible verses for our sermon, we have the privilege to take a look at some other words that are familiar. We’re not going to rattle through them – we’re going to slow down, soak them in, and cherish them. Listen closely now, and cherish these familiar words from Numbers 6. (read text)

It is noteworthy that the LORD is the one in charge, and he had something important to say. He issued a specific command to Aaron to say these specific words and give this specific blessing. God did not give Aaron a license of interpretation. God did not want Aaron to wing it. God didn’t tell Aaron to say whatever. The LORD said, “This is how you are to bless the Israelites.” For over 3,500 years Christians have been speaking these words of blessing to one another in worship. Literally billions of Christians have been encouraged by this specific blessing from the mouth of God.

The first phrase is, “The LORD bless you…” What does it mean that God blesses us? The blessing of God includes all aspects of our life. Wherever we look, we can see how the LORD blesses us through physical, material blessings. Luther notes our blessings concisely, saying, “The LORD gave me my body and soul, eyes ears and all my members, my mind and all my abilities. He richly and daily provides clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, cattle and all I own, and all I need to keep my body and life.”

God does not have to bless us. He doesn’t owe us even one nickel. But because he is so loving, he has on his own decided to bless us. He blesses us every time we turn around; in ways we could not have imagined and in ways we could not count. And of course, the greatest blessing is not physical. The greatest blessing is the Word, the way God decided to tell us about Himself. He has given us the Bible so we would know all about who God is and what God has done. He has given us Jesus to forgive our sins and give eternal peace of mind. He has washed away our muck and erased our defiance and brought wicked sinners into his own family, pure and holy. What a blessing!

But there’s more…not only has the LORD blessed us, he also promises to keep us. “To keep” means “to exercise great care over.” It means to maintain, to defend, to guard. What good is a blessing if you can’t maintain it or defend it? What good is a blessing if you are destined to be robbed of it? But the LORD says, “I will bless you AND keep you.” The richest way God blesses us is not that he keeps our nest eggs safe or that he keeps our cars running or houses standing – even though he often does that too. The richest way God blesses us is that he keeps us close to the message of Christ and forgiveness until the day we meet him in eternity. He will keep problems from overwhelming us. He will maintain our souls with his Word. He will defend us from going into places where temptation abounds and guard us from Satan. The LORD blesses us AND keeps us.

That right there would be enough comfort, joy and peace to fill our week, knowing that the LORD blesses and keeps us. But our LORD always goes above and beyond and give more than enough, and this specific blessing is no exception. He also promised, “The LORD will make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.” The word “shine upon” means “to shine upon as a mother’s face radiates with love.” Think of how a mother’s face glows with warmth, joy, compassion, contentment and quietude when she holds her baby in her arms. Her face shines on the baby. Isn’t it something that the LORD specifically wants you to know that like a mother’s face shines on her child, he will make his divine face shine on you? It’s such a gift. It could never be repaid. It doesn’t have to be. The LORD will make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. He sees our deepest needs and he responds in a heartfelt and gracious way.

And there is still more. The LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace… This phrase, “The LORD turn his face toward you” in the original means that the LORD will give you his undivided attention. And as he does all of this – he will give you peace. What good is blessing if you worry about it all the time? With the LORD there will be no more tension. There will be no more anxiety. There will only be peace.

This entire blessing is the arrow down. It is all God’s blessing for us – and not our work for God. Just imagine for a minute that it was the arrow up, though. Wouldn’t it be awful if the LORD decided we’d be on our own to provide blessings for ourselves? Or if he decided we’d have to be in charge of guarding our things? What if he said, “I will not shine my face on you unless you earn it…there are some strings attached.”? What if he turned his back to us instead of his face? What if he made us scramble to capture our own peace?

That would be terrible. Yet in our foolish sinful heart that is what we do. We think it would be good for us to be in charge and not God. We think it would be the pinnacle of life to decide when and how to bless ourselves and carefully guard all our blessings. We like to scramble to provide our own peace because trusting God’s isn’t good enough. God says, “I will turn my face toward you” and we turn our back to him. Instead of smiling, we slap him in the face!

And what does God say in response to our “I want to be God; who needs you?” attitude? He says, “REPENT!” And then, as soon as we repent, he says, “I will bless you and keep you. I will make my face to shine on you and be gracious to you. I will turn my face toward you and give you peace.” Our God is so patient; his forgiveness covers an entire lifetime of sinning. He responds to our selfishness with love. He longs to forgive the repentant sinner.

So from now on, please slow your heart down as you reach the end of the service. Don’t miss the amazing comfort our Lord provides in the words, “The LORD bless you (in lots of ways) and keep you (from all harm and danger). The LORD make his face to shine on you (like a mother’s face shines upon her baby) and be gracious to you (responding in a heartfelt way when we need him the most). The LORD will turn his face toward you (give you his undivided attention) and give you peace.” No more tension. No more worry. Just peace. Amen.