We've all heard the concept that when we do things that please the Lord, He sends HIs blessings.
However, does the bible teach that?
Am I missing something?
Galatians 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Faith in God’s works, not our own works, is what brings us the blessings. We are in Christ by faith. We were baptized into Him when we were saved from sin by trust in His work on the cross as the only means by which anyone can be righteous enough to stand before God. The moment we were saved, before we did one good deed, we were as holy as Jesus Christ, for He gave us His holiness. He gave us His righteousness! In fact, He was made righteousness for our sakes!
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Romans 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Having been positioned in Christ, we have everything we need to be counted righteous before God!
Colossians 2:7-10 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (8) Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (9) For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (10)
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
We need to be so rooted in Him that nobody can convince us that we need to do or not do a particular act in order for God to consider us holy and righteous. God did the work to make us righteous when Christ died, was buried and rose from the dead! That death and resurrection was the grounds Christ stood on in order to enter Heaven and make atonement for us as the High Priest took sacrificial blood and brought it into the Most Holy Place.
Paul said we are complete in Christ. You cannot add to the accomplishment that God provided in being made righteous before God, so get rooted in Him based upon that truth so much so that nobody can pull you out. The way in which people can steal or spoil you from being in Christ is to convince you that you need more than the work of the cross to be in right standing before God.
Paul wrote that he sought to see the Colossians so rooted perfectly in Him, looking to nothing other than the work of Christ on the cross to justify them before God, that when they stand before God they would be firm in that foundation.
Colossians 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
God reconciled us to Himself by the work of Christ.
Colossians 1:21-23 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled (22) In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: (23) If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
By having been put in the body of Christ through baptism into His death, that and that alone is how we can stand holy before God without any worry of requiring reproof or blame. And if that is what it takes to stand before God, then we must remain in that place and not allow any other contrary thought to remove us from that place. The moment that we think that we must do something to cause God to consider us holy, in addition to what God did in His work of the cross, is the moment we have been stolen and spoiled from that safe haven of having been placed in Christ.
The fulness of the Godhead is in Christ, and that means everything any9body will ever need from God is at our dis-posal simply by being in Christ! For that reason, Paul said that there are treasures that hidden in Him, that cannot be known by those who are not in Him.
Colossians 2:2-3 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; (3) In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
So, do not leave this treasure trove of Christ! Do not allow yourself to be removed by thinking that Christ’s work on the cross plus a good deed makes you acceptable to God and worthy of blessings.
Being in Christ alone makes us unreproveable in His sight.
Now, this does not mean we can sin and not lose bless-ings. God put us in a place of blessings by placing us in Christ. Those who rely completely on that work of the cross for our salvation are firmly in Christ. Committing sin brings danger to that, and is cause for the need to seek forgiveness. He’s faithful and just to forgive us if we confess and pray for it! But nothing we do can earn blessings. He did the work to earn the blessings, but we can see those blessings fly away by committing sin.
This is an important distinction that many people over-look and miss. We cannot earn salvation by works of righteousness, but we can keep salvation by not sinning. That in no way means that doing good deeds earns salvation. We have it already without having done a good deed. If we never did a good deed, we would still be saved. But if we do sinful deeds, they will jeopardize our standing in God and we actually remove ourselves from grade. Picture it as though God placed us on a high peak, but committing sin causes us to fall, and only God can bring us back up through our request and repentance. We can cause ourselves to fall, but we cannot pick ourselves back up.
Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We can cause ourselves to be separated from the love of God. Nothing outside of ourselves can do this. Paul outlined everything that is unable to separate us from God’s love except ourselves in the passage above.
Only Christ’s good work earns our salvation, and anything that we do cannot gain it, but it can lose it.
Therefore, when we think that doing a good deed causes God to bless us, then we are thinking that we can add to the work of God to see blessings come our way.
Now, answers to prayer can come when we take steps of faith and believe God. Jesus told us to believe after we pray, and don’t doubt, and whatever we pray for will come to pass. But these are not blessings! They are answers to faithful prayer.
God is pleased when we obey Him. But the blessings that come our way are not the result of obeying God. The blessings are the result of Christ’s work moving God to be pleased with us. Do a word search in the New Testament using the words bless, blessing and blessings. You will not find that an obedient act that you do will bring God’s blessing. Only the work of Christ caused the blessings of God to come upon us.
Ephesians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (4) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
If we are already blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, what other blessings can there be? By being in Christ we have it all! Thus, we are complete in Him!
Are there things that we can do to earn God’s pleasure?
Isaiah 53:10-11 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (11) He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
By Christ having borne our sins and iniquities, God was made to look on us and be satisfied that we were reconciled to Him. It’s not though anything that we can do that accomplishes this. Our only means of pleasing God is through Christ’s work of taking our sins upon Himself and dying for them. We do not read that God looks at a good deed that we perform and is satisfied. He shall see of the travail of Christ’s soul and shall be satisfied.
Am I missing something?