“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.” (Deuteronomy 28:3-6)
This is God’s promise to the Israelites as they stood beyond the Jordan outside of the Promised Land. He promises blessings to His people. He will make them prosper, whether they are in the city or the field. He will make the fruit of their work prosper, whether from the ground, their wombs, their flocks, or their herds. He will make them prosper in all things, whether upon their coming in or their going out.
But there’s a catch. He would do this for Israel only “if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.” (Deut. 28:2b) If they did that, He would cause that “all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you.” (Deut. 28:2a). If they didn’t obey the voice of the Lord, if they didn’t keep the commandments of the Lord and “walk in his ways” (Deut. 28:9), they would be met with curse and woe. The blessings would be replaced with curses. Everything that the Lord promised to prosper and bless would be cursed and fail.
Thanks be to God that our Lord Jesus Christ has come into our flesh and fulfilled the law for us – in our place and for our benefit. Our Lord Jesus Christ died for us – in our place and for our benefit. Our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead for us – in our place and for our benefit. By this, we have justification before God. We are forgiven, clean, holy, and righteous. The blessing of God is promised to us in Christ Jesus. It depends upon his work, not ours.
All this is ours in Holy Baptism. For in Holy Baptism, God claims us as His own, makes us His children, His heirs, and His holy people. And so it is that the work of our hands and its fruit is holy because we are holy in Christ. It is pressed into His service, and it thereby becomes a blessing to us and to our neighbour.
For this great gift, our reception of the blessings of God because of Christ Jesus our Lord, it is our duty to thank and praise, serve, and obey Him. This is not in order to receive the blessings but because in Christ we already have. With this in mind, we sit down on the first day of the week and set aside as He has prospered us to give to His church for His work of blessing in our midst (1 Cor. 16:2).
– LCMS Stewardship Ministry: lcms.org/stewardship
