ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR BLESSINGS?

Proverbs 10:22 (KJV)

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Some time in about 1992 or 1993, I bought what was, for me, the nicest car I had been able to get since going into the ministry, 1988 Buick LeSabre.

It was marriage challenger for us.

Anita and I have an arrangement. We do not buy a car unless both of us agree that the car is the will of God for us.

One time we looked at a 1967 VW Bug.

They were asking $300 for it.

·   It had no battery

·   It had been hotwired so there was no key, to start it you flipped a toggle switch and then pushed a button they had mounted on the dash

·   The windshield wipers only worked if we were going fast enough. Otherwise I had to reach my hand out the window and operate them by hand.

·   It used one quart of oil every day whether you drove it or not and

·   There was no upholstery on the seats – just a blanket draped over the springs.

I wanted it!

But – Anita had “made me” agree that I could not pay more than $250 for it.

She never said a word the whole time I was looking at the Bug.

The guy and I were “dickering” back and forth but it was really more his dickering.

I just kept saying, “My wife won’t let me pay over $250.”

I got the Bug for $250, drove it for a year, until the dashboard had an electrical fire and I sold it to my brother for $300.

Anyway, back to my story.

Anita and I have done this time and time again – we do not buy a vehicle unless both of use have prayed over it, and agree that God is in it.

And we had never gotten a lemon – not even the Bug – we loved that car!

And then I saw this LeSabre.

It was maroon, had a split bench seat.

It was the first full size car we had ever had

And I bought it without even asking Anita if I could buy a car.

You have to take in account that we had not made payments on a vehicle since 1984 when I was able to pay my father in law off after he had bought my 1978 Chevy pick up from the bank so I would not lose it.

We had paid cash for every vehicle we had.

I not only bought the LeSabre without asking Anita. I got a loan to buy it without asking Anita.

But you have to understand – THIS CAR WAS BEAUTIFUL.

When I drove it to church that first Sunday, everyone said it looked like a preacher’s car.

Anita said it looked like an old lady’s car.

She did not make me take it back, but she never liked it.

I’ll never forget making a visit on a new family in our church just after I got the LeSabre.

My wife wasn’t happy

We were making payments on a car for the first time in ten years

I drove up to this family’s home and the man of the house came out. He walked around the car, looked inside and, in a jealous tone said, “Looks like the Lord really blessed you.”

Suddenly our text for this morning’s lesson came to mind and I said, “I don’t know. We’ll have to see if any sorrow comes with it.”

The Bible makes this promise, “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

I think I know a whole lot of people who are unhappy with their “blessings of the Lord.”

Firstly,

I. BECAUSE THEIR BLESSINGS ARE NOT FROM THE LORD

(but are the product of their own lusts)

Achan may have said the wedge of silver and goodly Bablyonish garment were “a blessing of the Lord” because God had given them the victory over Jericho.

But he would have been wrong, wouldn’t he?

Saul could have said that the spoil, sheep and chief things they took from the Amalekites was a blessing of the Lord, couldn’t he? God had allowed them to win the battle.

But he would have been wrong, wouldn’t he?

Absalom could have said his rapid rise to power and how easily he was able to drive his father out of Jerusalem was “a blessing of the Lord.”

But he would have been wrong, wouldn’t he?

Far too often those things we call “blessings of the Lord” were not from the Lord at all.

They might be

A. Gotten unwisely

At a moment in our lives when we were not yet ready for them.

Or with counsel that is more of the world than of God.

Everything from

·   Cars to

·   Boats to

·   Houses

Can be obtained through loans that the borrower has no business taking but believers he or she can afford because the lender supposedly ran a credit check and said they can afford it.

Treat every lender, even if he is a friend, as a stranger.

His job is to give you money, not to guarantee you can make the payments.

They might have been

B. Gotten unscripturally

Psalms 1:1-2 (KJV)

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

A wise Christian

1. Gets his counsel from Biblically minded counselors and

2. Obeys the Bible even over his counselors

C. Gotten too hastily

(God would have given it with no sorrow if they had waited for it)

There are times when God’s answer to prayer is “wait.”

If we choose to rush ahead of God, what would have been a blessing of the Lord can become a matter of deep sorrow.

Some people are unhappy with the blessing of the Lord precisely,

II. BECAUSE THEIR BLESSINGS ARE FROM THE LORD

(but they are not content with what God has given them)

I bought a brand new motorcycle when I was 20 years old.

It was a Suzuki 450L

I’m telling you, it was beautiful.

I bought it for a purpose. I wanted to save gas money.

They were threatening to raise the price of gas to almost $.90 per gallon!

This motorcycle got 60 miles to the gallon.

I loved that bike.

But the first day I drove it to work, I showed it off to the men on my crew and Marty Bell said, “It’s a sexy little thing – but it’s too small for you.”

That’s all it took.

From then on, I fought discontentment.

·   It bounced too much on the road, (too light for long rides)

·   It didn’t have adequate storage for my lunchbox and thermos

·   It wasn’t as fast the Yamaha 650 Maxim one of the guys in our church rode.

It happens over and over that people get what they need, but want more than they got.

And one of the reasons some people can’t be happy with the blessing of the Lord is exactly because of that.

God showers great blessings on His children but generally speaking:

A. God gives us what we need

Philippians 4:11 (KJV)

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

B. God gives us when we need

The missionary Hudson Taylor went to China in a time much different than our own.

Although he had told churches of his needs and was supported through a missions agency (of his own founding), money was not guaranteed.

One morning, as he stepped out of his house to get to work for the day, his cook approached him in distress because he was about to use the very last food they had on the shelves.

Hudson Taylor’s response was, “Praise the Lord, that must mean that God will send us support money today!”

By the end of the day, he had funds to buy more food.

We just wouldn’t live that way anymore, would we?

It’s one of the reasons we see so few magnificent answers to prayer – we don’t want to be put in a position of needing prayers answered that badly!

C. God seldom gives us more than we need

Exodus 23:28-30 (KJV)

And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

God gave the Promised Land to Israel in phases, as they could care for it.

God will give you what we need, when we need it, but God will not give us so much that it will be wasted on us.

That leads me to make one final point before we finish,

III. CONTENTMENT IN GOD’S BLESSING IS HAPPINESS

Philippians 4:11-13 (KJV)

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

The price of real joy in life is contentment in the blessings of the Lord.

Learn to trust in God regardless of riches and you will learn to have great peace and joy in your life.

JONATHAN- BECAUSE HE LOVED HIM

1 Samuel 17:57-58 (KJV)

And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

1 Samuel 18:1-4 (KJV)

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.

Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

In a series such as I am attempting this year, where we examine various characters of the Bible for clues as to what it means to be spiritual, I doubt that many would include a message on the person I want to preach about today.

That is not to say that Jonathan is not acknowledged, by Bible students and preachers, as a good man, but:

·   He is the son of King Saul – not so good of a king

·   His story is not that detailed in the Bible and

·   He does die with his dad in the end

But I am compelled of the Lord to give Jonathan at least one full service dedicated just to him.

Fact is, Jonathan’s is an amazing story of godliness in what had to have been tumultuous circumstances.

Notice first of all that he was,

I. FAITH FULL IN COMBAT

1 Samuel 13:2-3 (KJV)

Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.

And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

Saul blew the trumpet but Jonathan smote the garrison.

Jonathan’s faith in combat is clearly represented in,

1 Samuel 14:1-16 (KJV)

Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.

And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men;

And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD'S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.

And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.

The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah.

And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.

And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.

Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them.

If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them.

But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the LORD hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be a sign unto us.

And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.

And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.

And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him.

And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow.

And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.

And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.

Saul and his company seem to have a knack for inactivity when they should be fighting.

Jonathan was of a completely different spirit.

I think he might have known something about his father that others had to learn over time – he wasn’t a leader.

So while Saul and the rest of the army shaded themselves under the pomegranate tree, Jonathan got his armor bearer and went out to engage the enemy.

Now, the key to the story is,

1 Samuel 14:6 (KJV)

And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.

Jonathan adventured into the field of battle, by faith.

I don’t want to imply that a spiritual man doesn’t count the cost.

Jesus said,

Luke 14:28-30 (KJV)

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

Wisdom and discretion dictates that a soul study out the consequences and costs of his actions.

He does not run headlong into situations without forethought and prayer.

But neither does a spiritual man let numbers prevent him from doing what God has called him to do.

It was years ago I heard David Gibbs challenge the pastors attending one of his Christian Law Association pastoral courses to make sure we do SOMETHING by faith every year.

His argument was this – churches claim to be organs of faith.

But we operate many times, much like any typical business, perhaps a secular non-profit.

When taken to court for our faith, a judge can reasonably expect that we demonstrate that we are different than other businesses by the action of our faith.

An action of faith would simply be doing what we believe God has led us to do, even if we don’t have any apparent means of doing it.

Jonathan believed that, if God was in it, he and his armor bearer could defeat a whole garrison of the enemy.

I note secondly that Jonathan was

II. LOVING IN FRIENDSHIP

1 Samuel 17:57-58 (KJV)

And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

1 Samuel 18:1-4 (KJV)

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.

Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

It’s not difficult to see why Jonathan and David would have become close friends.

·   Jonathan was an adventurer in combat

·   David was the same

While Saul talked a big game, both Jonathan and David were the kind of men who got out and played the game.

Though the Bible does not go into details, I can imagine that the two were able to “feed off of each other.”

Men can do that.

·   A great coach

·   A great officer

·   A great member of the team

They inspire and generate passion in others.

I listened to an interview of Kris Tanto Paranto this week.

Paranto was a part of a team of specialists to responded to the assault on the embassy at Benghazi.

For 13 hours he and the team of, I think six, men held off the attackers.

He said that when he heard the guns begin to fire and stepped out to respond his first thought was “Thank God I am the one going!”

He knew it was going to be bad, but he knew that he and the rest of the team were capable of their assignment.

He was glad it was him and not a less experienced team.

He said that, as the action was unfolding, he didn’t really have to think about his responsibilities, he knew exactly what he was supposed to do and he knew exactly what the others would do.

It’s called synergism

“The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.”[1]

Did you notice that Jesus sent His disciples out by twos?

Two can do more than twice is much as one.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (KJV)

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

I believe the modern acceptance of homosexuality is of the devil.

And one of the devilish things that has resulted is that real men don’t develop the bonds with other men for fear of it looking “weird.”

Men need to be around men.

They need to:

·   Feed off one another

·   Provoke one another

·   Inspire one another

to be greater

·   Men

·   Leaders

·   Husbands

·   Parents and

·   Conquerors and

·   Providers

A spiritual man will inspire others to be spiritual men.

Jonathan was:

Faith full in combat

Loving in friendship

Finally Jonathan was,

III. FALLEN WITH HIS FATHER

1 Samuel 31:1-3 (KJV)

Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.

And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons.

And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.

It would be impossible for me to explain the relationship Jonathan had with his father, King Saul.

Jonathan would have been so much better king than his father was.

·   But he was not king, so he served his father

·   He understood, I think, that God had chosen David to replace Saul and not himself, so he was a friend to David

·   He served his father and

·   He supported his father

And all the while

·   He sustained his friendship to David

He died fighting in a contest, the Philistines believed David would be helping them to win.

His story reminds me a little bit of what some of the men of the civil war went through.

General Grant wrote in his memoirs about some of the personal struggles he went through concerning the war.

He believed that the Civil War was the judgment of God upon our country for the Mexican-American War, which he said, was an unjust conflict, instigated by our government to steal Texas from Mexico.

He claimed that all of the ranking officers he knew personally all felt the same about it.

But they fought anyway – because they were soldiers – they served their country, right or wrong.

Then came the Civil War.

Officers and soldiers who had fought side by side in Mexico, now had divided loyalties.

Men who had been classmates at West Point, now found themselves competing against one another, each fighting for what he believed his country stood for.

·   Fathers and sons

·   Brothers and cousins

Faced off against one another; each willing to kill the other for a cause much bigger than their love for one another.

What should Jonathan have done?

·   Should he have betrayed his father and joined David’s ragtag band?

·   Should he have shirked his duties and not gone to battle with his father that day?

All I can tell you for sure is that:

·   He never quit loving David

·   David never held it against him and

He fell in combat, alongside his father.

A spiritual person will die for his convictions.

Jonathan was:

·   Faith full in combat

·   Loving in friendship

·   Fallen with his father

Conclusion

·   A spiritual man will act in faith

·   A spiritual man will inspire others to be spiritual men and

·   A spiritual man will died for his convictions (and live for them too)

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[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=two+can+do+more+than+twice+as+much+as+one&oq=two+can+do+more+than+twice&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.9446j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=synergism, accessed 5-27-17