In his song “Blessings on Blessings,” Anthony J. Brown writes, “Every time I turn around Blessings (blessings) blessings (blessings). Every time I turn around blessings on blessings.” The message of the song is clear, his life is filled with blessings from God and if we are not claiming our blessings, we ought to be. I must agree there is an abundance of blessing from our God awaiting us.
Brown’s message reminds me of the way John Wesley describes “grace upon grace!” in his sermon on “Salvation by Faith,” preached at St. Mary’s Oxford, before the university, in June of 1738. He references Ephesians 2:8, saying “By Grace are ye saved through faith,”:
“If then sinful men find favour with God, it is “grace upon grace!” If God vouchsafe still to pour fresh blessings upon us, yea the greatest of all blessings, salvation; what can we say to these things, but, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!”
Wesley reminds us in this sermon that while God’s Grace in the justification of our sins through Jesus Christ is the source of salvation, faith is the condition of salvation. He tells us our faith must be stronger than believing God is, or that he rewards those who seek him. It must be stronger than to recognize Jesus is the son of God, the Christ.
Look at Luke 4:34 where even Satan recognized Jesus as the Son of God. Surely, we must do better than that!
So how must our faith be different. I believe we find the answer to that question in Romans 10: 9-13 NIV
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Faith demands we not only profess our faith in our LORD Jesus Christ but that we also believe in our hearts. We must not just intellectually know that God is God and Jesus is the son of God, but this must be within our hearts.
John’s message last Sunday is so true. God’s full plan is unfathomable for us. What I do know is that it is our faith which allows us to receive God’s greatest blessing, the salvation given through his only begotten Son! May we continue to journey together on our path to discipleship, taking the next faithful step.
May we be led by the Spirit of God on our journey, and always saying, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!”
In love and faith,
Pastor Peggy