The Bless Me Theology What Will You Be Found Seeking?

Acts 4: 32-33 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all. (NLT)

This is your year of supernatural blessing! So screams the smiling televangelist to a crowd of 17,000 cheering people. God wants to give you increase! God wants to expand your territories! The crowds lap it up because after all, who doesn't want to be blessed? But there is an undercurrent of poor theology mixed with greed in what American Christianity has become in these the last days. The bless me, bless me, bless me theology has produced a Christianity that no longer pursues God but rather pursues His blessings. There are two inherent flaws in that line of thought. The first being that God Himself is the blessing as opposed to the carnal and material wants of this life. Secondly, that we are in fact pursuing the wrong thing:

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6: 33 (NLT)

Instead we tend to pursue everything we want and we craft a religion to fit our desires. We see from the key verses however that the original design for the church was one of unity in purpose and understanding. They felt that God had blessed them already with what they owned, so they shared everything. The verse actually says that they thus considered what they owned was not even theirs! Could you imagine if that were to happen in the church today? That is how God intended blessings to be regarded not as something to pursue but something already given! Not as something to hold onto tightly but something to share with all. That is how you turn the "bless me" theology into the "how can I bless you" way of God.

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2: 10 (NLT)

We are each a masterpiece in the eyes of God. His recreating us in Christ was specifically so we could be a blessing to others not so we can sit in a pew and wait for more blessings from God. It is actually within the process of blessing others that we allow the blessings of God into our own lives. This is the fundamental flaw within the bless me now crowd it turns blessings into worldly materialism and away from eternal values. Blessings beloved are those things God has already given you, not what the devil shows you that you do not have. True prosperity is when your spirit prospers and you move within the plan of God for your life not when you get a new car. It is when your marriage is strong in the Lord, your kids are safe, and you have solid friends you can count on. But the bless me now mentality treats these things as afterthoughts.

Now look at the key verses for what they preached! They testified powerfully about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the result was that God's great blessing was upon them all! Did that mean they all lived in fancy houses and prospered materially? No. It meant that they were walking within the plan of God for their lives. There is no greater blessing after salvation beloved.

The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. Proverbs 37: 23-24 (NLT)

The Lord delights in every detail of our lives! He wants to direct our steps specifically so that we will not fall, though we may stumble! That is the blessing of God! A car will rust and the average lifetime is ten years, assuming no accidents or theft. But what do you do when despair settles in your heart? What about that new job or hot shot promotion? The average job now lasts less than ten years and that is assuming no lay offs for a poor economy. But what can you do when your life is in mourning? That new house you just have to have will last you on average 25 years, assuming no structural damage, natural disasters or bank repossession. But what can you do when you feel captive by this world and the lies that it sells? Well, here are the blessings God came to give to us:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Isaiah 61: 1-4 (NIV)

What material goods can compare to this list? To be healed when brokenhearted. To be comforted when mourning. To see again after being blind. When this world tries to put on a cloak of heaviness over your life God will give you a garment of praise! When your life lies in ashes, God can restore it to beauty! You may be saying to yourself that these aren't things you face but you forget where God found you! He found you brokenhearted, despaired, shackled and blind. He renewed the ruined city of your life. He restored the places long since devastated in your life. He even broke the generational devastations in your life! Don't ever fall for the worldly notion that you haven't been blessed enough. My dear God, our blessings overflow simply from our salvation! Instead of bless me bless me bless me, it should be thank you thank you thank you.

But as soon as a work of God begins you know that the enemy will come against it. We start to see in the Book of Acts some of the common schemes the enemy uses to poison us against each other and against the church. In the very next chapter we see the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They represent for us today the spirit of fraud in the church. The false nature of the church. The hypocrisy that keeps so many away from the foot of the cross. This couple was part of the church. They were the couple next to you in the pew. They were in your small group. In the Book of Acts we read that they sold a piece of property and presented a sum of money to the Apostles as people were doing then sharing everything together. But they secretly held back a portion of the proceeds for themselves. They did not have to of course because the property was theirs and so was the money. The problem was they lied and said they were giving all of the proceeds. You see, they wanted to look better than they really were. They wanted to appear more spiritual than they really were. They acted one way at church but another when alone. Sound familiar? Here was the response from Peter:

Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." Acts 5: 3-4 (NIV)

This spirit is alive and well in the modern church and lends itself to the bless me mentality. Where we walk around with our best church mask on every Sunday. We raise our hands in worship but lead a life that is a lie to God. Sure we tithe and maybe serve in a ministry or two but all we are doing is playing church. We have the best singers but no move of the Holy Spirit. We have the best musicians but no power over the spirit of heaviness in our lives. We bring our shiny Sunday-best Bible to church and then discard it on the shelf for another week. For that brief glimmer of time on Sunday maybe we can feel the power of God move, but not in our day-to-day lives.

Ananias and Sapphira were both struck dead by the Lord. A sign to the new church that hypocrisy is a great offense to Him. A lesson we sadly have lost over the centuries. The next chapter in Acts reveals another scheme the enemy uses against the church. The selfish and disgruntled spirit:

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, "We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word." - Acts 6: 2-4 (NLT)

Rumblings of discontent. Sound familiar? "Why do they only sing hymns?" "Why do they let him speak, he's boring." "They take too many offerings." "If they don't expand their nursery service times, I will have to find another church." I am sure we can all fill in the blanks here. In the early church it was an issue about the equal distribution of food to widows. We see here in this story the literal creation of ministry. People are chosen to serve so that the leaders can focus on prayer and teaching the Word of God.

Unfortunately today we see too many churches where the discontent defines the church. A spirit of discord runs from leadership down through the congregation. The spirit is one of selfishness, where the church exists to glorify the congregant. Instead the church should have a spirit of true devotion and worship where the congregants exist to glorify God! Selfishness makes the church about your needs when it is supposed to be about His sacrifice. Here is the Bible teaching on selfishness:

For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. James 3: 15-16 (NLT)

Worldly, unspiritual and demonic. That is the spirit that runs through too many churches today. Too many people think they are doing a favor to a church by attending. Or that they are doing the church a favor by serving in ministry. Or that they are doing the church a favor by tithing. Once we are saved we need to realize that it is no longer about us but always about Him. We attend church because God may desire to use us there to speak into someone's life. We serve in ministry because God has prepared good works for us to do and there are eternal lives on the line. We tithe because God prefers obedience to sacrifice. The world sells a very me-centric focus for our lives but we must live a Christ-centered existence to avoid the snares of the enemy.

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. 1Corinthians 2: 1-5 (NIV)

Christ and Him crucified. That is all that is needed. That is what breaks the yoke. That is where the blessings lie. The blessings aren't in catchy slogans and slick marketing campaigns. It isn't in seeker friendly, emergent, purpose driven words but only in a true demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God. Human wisdom says to look to skies for the blessings you haven't received. God's power reminds us to look inside to all the blessings we already have been given. Human wisdom says it is more important to look the part than to live the part. God's power says if you live the way He wants you to, then you can leave the church masks at home. Human wisdom says the church is about you and your needs being met. God's power says the church is all about His plans and those who have yet to come to the foot of the cross. Don't rest on human wisdom today. Don't be found seeking His blessings; be found seeking His kingdom.

Reverend Anthony Wade January 18, 2012