How Words Can Bless or Curse
Joel Gorveatte · Tidal Church Moncton · July 3, 2022 · Recharge series
Joel Gorveatte traces God's blessing through Genesis, from creation to Abraham and Jacob. God's blessing brings His approval and the ability to flourish, and it is given so we can bless others. Our words can build up or tear down.
More from Joel Gorveatte · The Recharge series
Topics: Identity, Purpose, Relationships
Transcript
[0:00] Amen. I tell you what. You look good today. And I am ready to let you have it. In a good way, in a good way. I am so excited about the Word that we're going to look at today in Scripture as we continue the series called Recharge. And this summer, that's what we want for everybody to experience, a recharging, a refreshing as we head into the next season of our lives, as we've kind of come out of a season and now we're sort of recharging here in the summer. And today I just hope, just like every Sunday, that you will walk away from this experience today with a greater appreciation and love for the power of God's Word, His truth at work in your life.
[0:54] And the Holy Spirit, what He's going to say to you today could be life-changing. And today we're in Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. We're going to go actually a lot of the way through the entire book of Genesis today, and following this theme, here's the title for today. We're gonna talk today about how words have the power to bless or curse. There is power in the words you speak and in the ways that words are spoken over you. And so what does the Bible say about blessing? Let's go to the very beginning and find out in the creation story in Genesis chapter 1.
[1:51] In Genesis chapter 1, look at verse 21. In fact, this might be one of those days, even if you didn't bring a paper Bible with you, it might be fun to actually look it up online so that you can kind of see how all of this flows throughout Genesis for yourselves in the creation story in Genesis chapter 1. Look at verse 21. So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Notice that. And God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." Now, this is the very first spoken blessing in all of Scripture, and it's spoken over the creatures of the earth. Now, the second blessing was spoken over humankind.
[3:01] Skip down to verse 27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." Now, I want you to notice something with both of these blessings. Notice that there are kind of two parts here. Number one, that God grants His approval. He looks and says it is good, and then number two, He grants the ability to be fruitful and to increase.
[3:52] So again, in Genesis 1 with both animals and humans, God gave His approval, and number two, He granted the ability to be fruitful and to increase. And this two-part blessing is a theme that's found all throughout the Old Testament, Jewish Scriptures, and the New Testament. In fact, the word blessing is found over 400 times in just the Old Testament alone. Turn to the next chapter now in your Bible, in chapter 2. God gives another blessing. Genesis 2, verse 3: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested." And so what we see here is how the very creation of the world was founded upon God's desire to give blessing to that which He created. And in the Garden of Eden, after being given freedom and dominion over the world, unfortunately man starts to listen to the lies of Satan. Satan comes along and says, "You don't trust God, do you? God's not telling you the truth. God is being selfish. God is trying to withhold good things from you. Don't believe Him."
[5:19] And so they chose the curses of Satan rather than the blessings of God. And the next part of the story is God hitting the reset button to give the world a second chance. Find Genesis chapter 9, and God here sends the flood, the flood across the whole world that leaves a remnant here on this earth, Noah's family, to start over again. And after the flood, what happens? God speaks a blessing over Noah. Look at Genesis 9:1. "Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.'" So you see the pattern again: God looks and gives His approval, and He grants the ability to be fruitful and to increase. But I want you to notice something here, that while God provides the ability to be fruitful and to grow and increase, they're the ones who still have to do the work, right? And then as Genesis continues, we see that there is a reason that God blesses. We are blessed for a purpose. And what is that purpose? I am so glad you asked.
[6:42] Because find Genesis chapter 12. Genesis 12. Originally, this guy's name was Abram, or Abraham, that we're going to look at, and then God changes his name to Abraham, and God, in Genesis 12, we find this man whom God selects, in whom God sees great potential, and He calls Abraham to step out in faith and do something kind of radical, to step out in faith and do something kind of crazy that doesn't make sense, to pick up and leave everything and take his family to a new land where he's never been before. And God says, "Abram, if you will do this," and we're going to talk about why in just a couple of weeks. We're gonna get more into the story of Abraham, why God called him and what all that was about.
[7:33] But God says, "Abraham, if you will do this, I will give you a special blessing." Genesis 12:2-3, God says, "I will make you into a great nation." And I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. Everybody say, be a blessing. Shout it out, say, be a blessing. Okay, so catch this. God says, you need to understand, Abram, when I bless you, it is not just for you. Let me say that again, Abram, when I blessed you, it is not just for you. There is a purpose for My blessing, that you are blessed by God. He says, so that you can then go and be a blessing to others. God continues in verse 3, Abram, I will bless those who bless you. We're in verse 3. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Folks, when God starts blessing you, when God's blessing starts flowing through you, other people start wanting to be around you because the blessing starts splashing out over on them too. But unfortunately, many times we become blessing accumulators.
[9:10] Right? God, I want more. God, will you give me this? Will you give me that? God, God, look at all this, Lord, Lord. Thank You so much for just making my life comfortable. And God says, listen, you have misunderstood My purpose. My purpose is not to bless you for your comfort, but rather to bless you for your calling. To go make a difference in the lives of others. Mark Buchanan writes about a group of children who were asked what love is. And Billy, age 4, said, when someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
[9:57] You know your name is safe in their mouth. That's one of the most powerful things I've ever heard. That is, that kid is so right. Listen, when someone loves you and blesses you, you know your name is safe in their mouth. So let me ask you today, do people know that their name is safe in your mouth? About people, do you use your words to bless or to curse? Do you use your words to build up or to tear down?
[10:45] Do people feel that you are for them or against them? Do people know that their name is safe in your mouth? Let's look at how this blessing gets passed down from generation to generation in Abraham's family. Let's go to chapter 25, all the way to chapter 25 of Genesis, and Genesis 25:19 says, this is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca. And so Abraham's son Isaac marries Rebecca, and they have two sons, twins, in fact.
[11:40] Esau, the firstborn. And Esau, the firstborn, the Bible says, is tough and rugged. He's like an outdoorsman and a hunter, but Jacob the younger son is kind of weaker and a milder disposition and more of a mama's boy. And look at Genesis 25:28. This is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. This one sentence has so much emotion wrapped up in it. Genesis 25:28 says, Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebecca loved Jacob.
[12:29] Don't miss the pain in the statement. Do you see what this is saying? It's saying that the father and mother have picked favorites. And Isaac really doesn't love his son Jacob very much, and the mother, Rebecca, doesn't really, so much, love her son Esau. And thus begins a whole world of hurt, and what you read in the rest of Genesis is this family that is ensnared in a battle because the children do not feel the love of their parents. If you go to Genesis 27, and traditionally the inheritance, as Scripture calls it, the birthright, is handed down to the oldest child, to the oldest brother, Esau, but Jacob and his mother come up with a plan to steal the blessing from Esau.
[13:36] And so what they do is, they trick Esau in a moment of weakness to give up his birthright. And then they dressed Jacob up. His mother helps him get all dressed up and kind of this outfit where he's wearing like animal skins and hunting gear, and they make him smell like the outdoors and the field, and like he's just been skinning an animal, and he goes in when it is time, that time of life, this day that Esau has been looking forward to when he will finally receive the blessing of his father, the birthright. But instead Jacob slips into Isaac's tent, the father, and the father is so old and blind that he is easy to trick.
[14:29] And thinking that it's the older brother, he reaches out and lays his hand on Jacob. And here's what he says. Genesis 27, skip down into the middle of verse 27. ah The smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness, an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.
[15:17] The trick worked. Jacob pretended to be Esau and stole his brother's blessing. Verse 34: And when Esau found out what had happened, when he heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said, Bless me, me too, my father! But Isaac said, No, son, I'm sorry. Son, I only have one blessing to give, and you missed out. And here you see the pain of a blessing withheld. And the truth is, for many of us here today, for many of us, sometimes we can look back and discover that the trouble in our lives, some of the bad decisions that we've made, sometimes the mess that we make in our lives can be traced back at times to never having felt the love and approval that we craved to receive from our parents.
[16:19] Yes, some of you know exactly what we're talking about. This is a pain that you have felt deeply. See, a blessing withheld often leads to a life in turmoil. And the rest of the story is the agony and fighting between these two brothers. And so Jacob, who stole his brother's inheritance, goes on to great success. He becomes rich and builds wealth and has flocks and land. And yet deep down inside, even though he has all the outside signs of success by the definition of the world, on the inside he's still this insecure little boy who never felt the blessing of his father.
[17:10] And so let's go later in Jacob's life to Genesis chapter 32. And one night he has an encounter with an angel of the Lord. And just as Jacob has wrestled with his father and wrestled with his brother, now he is about to wrestle with God. Go to Genesis 32:24. And so Jacob was left alone, and a man, who we later find out is an angel or some representation for God, wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled. And then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
[18:06] Now, up until this point in his life, Jacob has been wrestling and fighting with his parents, with his brother, with his uncle, with everybody, because he has been so desperately seeking the approval of other people. But folks, Jacob is about to experience a life-changing moment. Everything is about to be transformed in his life, because finally, after a lifetime of trying to find the approval of other people who let him down, finally Jacob decides to seek the blessing of God in his life. And look at what happens. This is so good. In the middle of chapter 32, verse 26, Jacob says to God, "I will not let You go unless You bless me." And this is the day he finally finds the blessing of God. And so go to chapter 35, verse 9, and listen to what the Lord says to Jacob. This comes many years later. Genesis 35, middle of verse 9: God appeared to him again and blessed him.
[19:19] And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. But you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel." So He named him Israel. Verse 11: And God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful." You see it? Do you see it? "Be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from your body." See, the whole first half of his life, he was trying to seek the approval of everybody else. But then he finally finds what he's always been looking for, that can only be found in God, and God changes his name from Jacob to Israel.
[20:12] Now, for clarification, let's define this Hebrew word for blessing in Genesis. The word here for blessing is Barak. Isn't that fun to say? Everybody say Barak. Here we go. Say it with me: Barak. You got to get a good "k" on the end. If you're gonna sound Hebrew, there you go. In the creation story, wherever it says God is that God blessed, when it says God blessed the creatures of the earth, when God blessed Adam and Eve, it's this Hebrew word Barak. With Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, it's the same Hebrew word for blessing, Barak. And you noticed it, didn't you, that each time God gave this blessing, the Barak had two elements. Number one, God gives His approval. God looks and says, "It is good." And number two, God endows with fruitfulness, that you may increase and multiply. Isn't that good news? And here's what that means. God's blessing is that sense of approval that maybe you never felt from your parents.
[21:26] God 's that you can be a blessing to others. God's blessing is an empowerment of opportunity that frees you flourish. And whether you realize it or not, listen, God's blessing is the very thing that you have been searching for in your life. Amen. Amen, that's an encouragement. And then here's what's so fantastic. Once Jacob receives the blessing of God, then he gets up and he goes from that place and he starts blessing everybody. He starts passing the blessing on to everybody he comes into contact with.
[22:22] In fact, there's a funny story. When his son Joseph later on in life, his son Joseph is living in Egypt and his son Joseph introduces Jacob as an old man to the most powerful man in the world at that time, the Pharaoh of Egypt. And what's so funny is guess what Jacob goes up to him and says, "Pharaoh, can I give you a blessing?" And he blesses, a prayer of blessing over the Pharaoh. And here's what's so beautiful: at the end of his life, when Jacob is about to die, he gathers his sons together for their blessing. But unlike his father Isaac, who would cause all kinds of problems because he had chosen one child over the other, only giving one blessing to one son, Jacob instead gives a blessing to all of his sons. Every single one of them. Now grace is flowing all over the place. And what's so cool is these 12 brothers, the sons of Jacob, are the ones who become the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Find Genesis 49 and we get to the end of Jacob's life, as we read this beautiful tribute.
[23:43] Genesis 49:28: All these are the tribes of Israel. And this is what their father Jacob said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to them. God's blessing is not generic. It is specific and appropriate to His calling on your life. Listen, God didn't call you to be like that person. God didn't call you to be like Billy Graham. God didn't call you to be Joel Osteen. God didn't even call you to be Joel Gorveatte. Thank goodness. His blessing on your life is specific to the way that He has designed you to be for His glory.
[24:34] And see, like Jacob as a young man, we get into all kinds of trouble when we become jealous of somebody else's blessing. Well, come on now. Somebody needs to hear this. When we become jealous of somebody else's blessing, how many people live with jealousy and God, why can't my life be like that person? God, why can't my family be like that family? God, why can't my ministry be like that? Why can't I have a house like that? Why can't my life be like those people? Why can't my gifting, my spiritual gifting and my leadership and my talents be like them?
[25:22] And listen, like Jacob, you will continue to wrestle and struggle in angst as long as you continue to try to seek out somebody else's blessing rather than living into the calling of who God has made you to be for His glory. Not what the world says about you, what He says about you. Author Marianne Bird says, when I grew up, she said, I knew that I was different. I hated it because I was born with a cleft palate. What that means, she says, when I started school my classmates made it clear how I looked to others.
[26:10] I was a little girl with a misshapen lip, a crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and it caused garbled speech. When schoolmates asked what happened to your lip, I told them that I had fallen and cut it on a piece of glass because somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than been born different. I was convinced nobody outside my family could love me. And then there was a teacher in the second grade, a teacher we adored, Mrs. Leonard.
[26:55] Annually, we had a hearing test, and Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everybody in the class. And finally, it was my turn. I knew from past years, as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper and we would have to repeat it back. She would whisper something like, the sky is blue, or, do you have new shoes? I stood there and waited for her words, and God must have put in her mouth those seven words that changed my life.
[27:41] When Mrs. Leonard said in a whisper, I wish you were my little girl. And listen, to people who were made ugly and twisted by sin, God says, I wish you were my little girl. I wish you were my little boy. That's why Jesus died on the cross, so that we can be forgiven of our sins and be brought into His family. That yes, ultimately the cross is the symbol of our forgiveness, the symbol of our freedom. There is no salvation apart from the cross of Jesus Christ, but once you receive His forgiveness, what happens is what started as your forgiveness and entry into His family becomes a symbol of your blessing, because God looks through the cross and says, I see you and I love you and declare that you are good through Jesus.
[28:50] And that's the first part of a blessing, right? But what was the second part? And God says, and I have given you, I'm gonna give you exactly what you need to be fruitful and increase, not the world's way, but God's way. And just like Jacob, the only way that you can live in the blessing of the cross of Jesus is to surrender your life to Him. No more living for yourself. No, no more living by the world's standards. No more living for the approval of other people. You have to declare that God's blessing will be enough.
[29:41] But stand together, and we're gonna stand and sing this song together, and after we sing, what I want to do is at the end of this song to come back and declare over you a blessing. There are some of you who maybe have never received that before, and maybe some of the things that we've talked about, the way that you've sought the approval of others, or maybe the way that we've talked about all the pain that comes from not having received that spiritual blessing from your family. Today we're going to give you your blessing.