Made For Mission: Blessed to be a Blessing

Last week, we began a new series on God’s mission. We learned that as we move forward into a new era as a church, it is vital that we understand our identity as coworkers in God’s plan for the world. Knowing who we are as God’s image-bearers will define our role and teach us how we are to cooperate with what God wants to accomplish in and through us. Becoming familiar with God’s purposes as they are laid out in the Bible not only lays a foundation for where we have come from, it also propels us forward into the future. Knowing God’s mission brings real and lasting meaning to our lives. When we join with God and with others who also follow Him, we begin to see clearly our destination and goal, which is eternal communion with God and one another in heaven where we will worship God and finally fulfill our destiny as His image-bearers.

This week, we’ll look at an important passage that sets the tone for all that will follow. In the call of God to Abram (later renamed “Abraham” by God), God states that through Abram, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This shows that blessing people is a high priority in God’s eyes, and He wants those who bear His image (that’s you and me) to do the same. 

How to Use This Guide 

Thank you for taking the time to do this Bible study. When we dig deeper into God’s word, He promises to bless us. We follow in the footsteps of King David, who wrote in Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

This guide will provide a weekly framework for spiritual conversations with friends or family. We encourage you to reach out to a friend or two, pick a time to get together each week, and work through this guide together. This Bible study can also be a good tool for families, perhaps coordinated with mealtimes.

What does the Bible say?

Read Genesis 12:1-3

Who is doing the talking in these verses? How many times does the word “bless” or “blessing” occur here? Who will be blessed in these verses? Who will do the blessing? What needs to happen before the blessings can be experienced?

Sometimes we must obey God in a specific way before we can experience His blessings. Put another way, God may call us to do something that will open the way for Him to bless us and bless others through us. Have you thought of your life as a life of blessing? We can learn from Abram’s story that God’s goal was to bless. All the circumstances that were going to happen, all the obstacles and hard times, all the moments spent wondering if they had made the right decisions, all the waiting, all of it was designed to bless them and make Abram and his family fit to be a blessing to others. What do you learn from Abram about the ways God can bless a life?

Let’s look at the promises God makes that have to do with blessing in this short passage. In Genesis 12:1, God lays out the condition for His blessings to and through Abram. What was Abram going to have to do? Skip ahead and read Genesis 12:4-6. Did Abram meet the condition? Who did he take with him as he set off on his travels? 

God then appears to Abram in Genesis 12:7. What does He say? What was Abram’s response to this promise? When a person builds an altar, this means that they are declaring publicly who they are following and which God they worship. In this case, in the middle of Canaan, Abram builds an altar to the God who had promised to bless him. By doing so, he set himself apart from the Canaanites and the many gods they worshiped. As Abram continued to travel in the land, he built altars in the places where he lived to outwardly show his allegiance was with God (e.g., see Genesis 12:8).

In Genesis 12:2-3, there is blessing upon blessing. What are the four statements that describe these blessings? 

1. I will bless you (Genesis 12:2a)

This blessing is attached to a promise. God promises Abram that He will make him into a great nation and then God says, “I will bless you.” 

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2. You will be a blessing (Genesis 12:2b)

God now promises that Abram will be a blessing to others. He will make Abram’s name great. This means that people will know about him and honor him as the beginning of the people of God. Abram is an important figure in the Bible because he is the father of the Israelites. Abram was known in his own time as a man of God and was a person who blessed others. 

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3. I will bless those who bless you (Genesis 12:3a)

Here, God sets a reciprocal blessing in motion. He will bless the people who bless Abram. God states here that He is on Abram’s side. When people treat Abram well, God promises to bless them. This must have been an incentive for people to respect and interact honestly with Abram. God was showing others that He was with Abram and that He was the real God. God was instilling fear into people who came against Abram, stating in no uncertain terms that whoever cursed Abram, God would curse. 

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4. All people on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3b)

This is an amazing promise. We know it is true because out of Abram and his lineage, the Jewish people, Jesus Christ was born. And through Jesus, all people on earth were, are, and will be blessed. 

What amazing promises and what beautiful blessings. The blessings expand outward, beginning with one person andl ultimately reaching the whole world. This is the way God works. He is a God of blessings because it is in His nature to bless. This means that as humans who are made in the image of God, we are designed to be a blessing to others. Are you aware of ways that God is blessing others through you? What does it mean to bless others? 

Being a “blessing” means possessing a generosity of spirit. Blessing others means having another’s best interests at heart. A person of blessing is a positive and gracious presence. Who comes to mind when you think of people who bless others?

There is another aspect to blessing that has to do with the words we say to others. We can bless them with our speech. A good example of this is the Aaronic or priestly blessing in Numbers 6:22-26. Who in your life needs to hear some words of blessing? Try writing your own blessing using the priestly template below and then say it to someone in need of hearing it.

May the Lord bless you by/in/as you ___________.

And keep you ___________.

The Lord make His face shine on you in/when _________.

And be gracious to you in/when _________.

The Lord turn His face toward you in/when ___________.

And give you peace in ___________.

(feel free to fill this in with your own words)

Prayer: Lord, we worship You as the God of blessing. Your generosity pours out into the world, not only through the natural world You created but also in and through those who follow You. May we all be Your blessing-bearers to the world.  Amen.

Small Group Discussion Questions

1. What do you see as the greatest hindrance for God’s mission today?

2. In his sermon, Dr. Laxton referenced Paul’s interaction with the Greco-Roman culture of his day. Paul states that he has “become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22b). What do you think this means? How do you think Paul’s credo could be applied in the culture of our day?

3. Can you think of a time when you changed your habits or mindset so that you could more directly engage with others who don’t know Christ? Would you tell the others in your group about what happened? If you are just starting to think about this, share about what you hope will happen when you, for instance, speak with a neighbor who you know doesn’t go to church, join or start a book club outside your Christian circles, go to an exercise class at your gym, or interact with other parents at your children’s sports activities.

4. Do you think Christians are a blessing to the world today? How so? Where do you think we could do better?