Perspective Shift: Seeing Commands as Blessings

Genesis 9:1-7 NKJV  So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.  (2)  And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.  (3)  Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.  (4)  But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.  (5)  Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.  (6)  “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.  (7)  And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it. 

• Be fruitful and multiply… be fruitful an multiply. Do not murder and be fruitful and multiply… 

• “Is he really going to preach on be fruitful and multiply again?” 

• You better believe I am going to preach on be fruitful and multiply again. 
• Why?! 
• Because it comes coming up in the scriptures… God has brought us to Genisis so we are going to preach Genesis, Amen?! 

• If you are new to CLC this morning, welcome! We are so happy you are here! What we do here is preach through scripture, line by line, chapter by chapter. 

• And God has us going through Genesis right now. 

• Now if you are not new to CLC then you probably know that the first commandment that God ever gave man was “Be fruitful and multiply”. 

Genesis 1:28a NKJV  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply…”  

• This was the first ever command to mankind. The first command was not “Don’t eat from the tree of the Kowledge of Good and Evil” That command came later, this here is the first command God gave man. 

• Not only was this the first command God gave man, it was the first recorded words of God to man. 

• The first thing, that we know of, that God said to man was “Be fruitful and multiply”… 
• When God speaks to us, we should listen, amen? 

• So there should be so significance placed on the first recorded words of God to man! And those words were “Be fruitful and multiply”. 
• Now we talked about this in past sermons, but there is an astonishing similarity between the six days of creation and the events of Noahs ark. 

• In Creation the earth was covered in water, then God sends His spirit to hover over the water, and call’s dry land to appear. Man is then placed on a land that has no sin it and man is told “Be fruitful and multiply”. 
• Fast forward to the events of the flood. Noah and his family are on the Ark, the earth once again is covered with water, once again God sends the Holy Spirit to hover over the water, and once again dry land appears. 

• Once again man steps foot onto a sin free creation (And spoiler alert, he will once again mess that up, but that will be talked about in a few weeks)… and finally, once again God speaks to man as he steps foot in this new creation… this recreation of the earth… and what does God say? 

Genesis 9:1 NKJV  So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 

• When Noah was on the Ark, God spoke to Him and told him to get off the ark. 

• When Noah made an offering God spoke in his heart, but not to Noah. 

• But here we see the first recorded words of God to man as man stands on the new creation, the recreated earth… the same words God told man during the seven days of creation… Be fruitful and multiply. 

• So I have preached on this months ago… the first command of God… Be fruitful and multiply… but this week, this week as I preach on this I want to preach it a little different. 
• You see last time I preached it is a command, but this week I want us to have a perspective shift… 

• Perspective Shift: Seeing Commands as Blessings. 

• I want us to have a perspective Shift, I want us to see God’s commands not as burdensome, but as a blessing… because I read these two verses about the command to be fruitful and multiply, and some of us have the wrong perspective about them… 
• Some of us missed the point… Some of us missed some important context. 

• And I can say that confidently because I missed this the first time around and only saw it when my wife prayed over these verses before I wrote this sermon, then as she was inspired by the Holy Spirit she pointed out what I had missed… 
• Let’s see if you see it this time… Let’s read the verses again… Gods first recorded words to man on new creation… God’s first command to man…  

Genesis 1:28a NKJV  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply…”  

Genesis 9:1 NKJV  So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 

• Did you catch it… it doesn’t say “God commanded Adam” and it doesn’t say “God commanded Noah”. No, that’s how I read it at first… but I needed a perspective shift… 

• It says “God BLESSED them and said “Be fruitful and multiply”… it says “So God Blessed Noah and his sons and said “Be fruitful and multiply”. 

• Now certainly this was a command. If Adam and Eve or Noah and his family were not fruitful and multiplying, then they would be in sin… it is 100 percent a command… but it was not spoken as a command, it was spoken as a blessing. 
• And as I prayed over these verses, with what Pastor Amanda showed me in mind, God just showed me that we, church, some of us more than others, we need a perspective shift… we need to see God’s commands as blessings! 

• So this morning we have three points, and get ready because they are long sentences, but I want y’all to know these three things as you walk away this morning, here are the three points: 

• Point One – When we have this perspective shift, living a life of obedience becomes living a life of blessing. 
• Point Two – When we have this perspective shift, we become excited by obedience, not burdened by it. 
• Point Three – When we have this perspective shift, encouraging others to a life of obedience becomes encouraging others to a life of blessing. 

• You see church, we need a perspective shift… we need to see God’s commands as blessings. Let’s pray. 
• So let’s get into point one this morning… 

Point One – When we have this perspective shift, living a life of obedience becomes living a life of blessing. 

Genesis 9:1 NKJV  So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 

• Far too many times I have heard “exvangelicals”, that is, people who were exvangelical Christians who have given up on their faith… far too many times have I heard evangelicals say things like “We are told to obey this and do that, obey this and don’t do that… but WHY? Who are we really hurting?” 

• Who are you hurting? YOU ARE HURTING YOU! YOU ARE ROBING YOURSELF OF BLESSINGS. 
• And further, the fact that you are now backslidden shows that you have hurt yourself in the worst way possible, you have robbed yourself of your relationship with God. 

• But the problem is that there are too many of us who see the commandments of God as something that MUST BE OBEYED OR ELSE… and we see them as nothing more. 

• We see this Sky Daddy God who just has a list of arbitrary and mean rules that He commands us to follow. 
• And it is exhausting to try to follow all of them, the Bible itself even shows that it is impossible for man to keep the whole law… 

• So why does God do this… why is He such a task master… 

• Well when we have this perspective shift, when we can see God’s commands as blessings… then we realize that God has always wanted the best for us, God has always wanted to bless us. 

• Now instinctively, if you are around Christians who live a life of obedience to Christ, you instinctively know this fact… but sometimes, without a perspective shift, it is hard to apply it to our own lives… here, let’s do an experiment. 

• Show of hands… how many of you have experienced a time in your life where you obeyed God, and the result of that obedience was a tangible blessing… if God has blessed you for obedience raise your hand. 

• Keep em up… now new Christians, or people who are net yet Christians, take note, obeying God has resulted in blessings for all these people. 

• Now, put your hands down… on the flip side, show of hands… how many of you can remember a time in your life where you disobeyed God and as a result you missed out on blessings and found trouble instead… how many of you can remember a time where disobeying God turned out poorly for you, raise your hand. 

• Look around again. When we obey God we are blessed, when we disobey God we find trouble, or wrath, or cursing… praise Jesus that He has forgiven us so we can get back on the horse and get back to a life of obedience and blessing. 

• But we need that perspective shift, so that we WANT to live a life of obedience because we WANT to live a life of blessing. 

• You know, speaking of Jesus, there was a point where a woman called out to Jesus “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts which nursed You!” 

• This woman was saying “Blessed is MARY because she bore you and nursed you! How blessed it most be to be the mother of Jesus! 
• But Jesus corrected this woman and said, “Actually, let me tell you who is truly blessed…” 

Luke 11:28 NKJV  But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” 

• More than that! More than that, you are MORE blessed simply by hearing the word of God and obeying it! 

• OPEN YOUR BIBLE, READ IT, DO WHAT IT SAYS… And boom! You are more blessed than Mary! 

• And of course, Mary hears and obeys God’s voice, so she is just as blessed. 
• But we can be more blessed than even the act of nursing Jesus, simply by obeying God’s commandments. 

• Thus, when we have this perspective shift our life does not become burdensome, but it becomes blessed when we obey God’s commandments. 

Genesis 9:1 NKJV  So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 

Psalms 127:3-5 NKJV  Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  (4)  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth.  (5)  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. 

• Every child that Noah had was a blessing. Every grandchild… blessing. Every great grandchild… a blessing to Noah. 

• But if he would have disobeyed this command, to be fruitful and multiply… he would have also rejected the blessing. 
• He would have not heritage from the Lord, no reward, no arrows in his quiver, no reason to not be ashamed. 

• He would live a very lonely life. 
• He would miss out on all these blessings… 

• And so, as we have this perspective shift we can also say that “Living a life of disobedience is to live a life without the blessings of God. 

• And I don’t want that for anyone, I want to pastor a BLESSED church, Amen?! 

• And that brings me to point two this morning: When we have this perspective shift, we become excited by obedience, not burdened by it. 

Point Two – When we have this perspective shift, we become excited by obedience, not burdened by it. 

Genesis 9:1 NKJV  So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 

• Does anyone here with multiple kids remember their firstborn… any of you have a difficult first born? 

• Like sleepless nights, crying and screaming fits… that sort of thing when they were a baby? 
• These are my people… 

• Oh sure it was easy to be excited about that first kid before you knew how hard it was going to be… but then after six months to a year…  another pregnancy test comes out positive… 
• I remember that experience like it was yesterday… I couldn’t believe how hard Ezra was… he had some minor health issues that meant we did not get sleep for about the first 8 months of his life… those were the hardest 8 months of my life… 

• But when Amanda came in with a box of donuts and a pregnancy test, we were NOT trying to have a baby mind you… when she came in with that positive test my heart JUMPED FOR JOY. I WAS EXCITED, NOT BURDENED… Because I know that children are a blessing from the Lord. 

• The same is true about Ruth and Esther… nothing but blessing and excitement… 

• And at the same time, sleepless night and irrational anger… 

• Yo, you don’t know irrational anger until your two year old has woken you up for the sixth time that night screaming and yelling for absolutely no apparent reason… 

• Yet even still, I see my children as blessing… I would weep and weep and weep if I lost just one of my children… if it was one of the difficult ones (Pro tip, have boys)… I would cry and cry… I would mourn for the rest of my life… why? Because my children are a blessing from the Lord, not a burden. 

• I saw a meme that was so true, it said “Parenting is so strange… I would die for my children in a heartbeat… but at the same time, like, I really don’t want to make them dinner tonight…” 

• The first command to man form God was a blessing and we should be excited to follow that command… we should be excited to live a life of obedience… 

• Every time I pick up my kids from school, that is part of my obedience… when I have to drop what I am doing because one of them is sick… part of obedience… when I have to discipline them and it really does hurt me more than them… that is part of obedience… and as such all of the “burdens” of parenthood really should be looked at as blessings, I need a perspective shift. 

• By the way, if you need a perspective shift about your kids, just talk to someone who can’t have kids but wants them… I know we have people in the church like that… they cry out to God for the blessing of children, don’t take yours for granted… 

• *Prophetic prayer for open wombs, don’t mention names* 

• Now of course it is not just children, it is all areas of life. 

• Church I am excited to tithe every week. WHY?! Because it comes with an overflow of blessing. 
• I am excited to read my Bible… I am excited to pray… I am excited even to be able to confess my sins and be prayed for. 
• I am excited to go to church, to sing, to serve. 
• I am excited to honor others, to seek forgiveness, to give forgiveness… 

• And when I am not excited to do those things… you know what I need? I NEED A PERSPECTIVE SHIFT. OH LORD GIVE US A PERSPECTIVE SHIFT. 

• Look at the way that Biblical authors talk about obeying God… They have the correct perspective, and if we don’t then we need a perspective shift… 

• Let’s start with job who says that obeying God is more treasured than the food he needs to survive! 

Job 23:12a NKJV  I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food. 

• What about the Psalms… songs of joy about obeying God… 

Psalms 1:1-2 NKJV  Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;  (2)  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 

Psalms 19:8-10 NKJV  The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;  (9)  The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.  (10)  More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 

• Is that how you feel about the commands of God, that they are to be more desired than even GOLD? If not, you need a perspective shift! I can quote 13 other verses from Psalms that say “The law of the Lord is my delight” the whole book of psalms is full of this sentiment! 
• What about the New Testament, well look what Jesus said about obeying God… 

John 4:34 NKJV  Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 

• Or what about the book of Hebrews that says God’s law should be in our heart? 

Hebrews 8:10 NKJV  FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 

• Are the laws of God on your mind and in your heart, if not you need a perspective shift… these commandments are blessings! This is why Paul says that he delights in the law of God… 

Romans 7:22a NKJV  For I delight in the law of God… 

• Y’all I can go on an on and on with verses about people who delight in the law of God, who are EXCITED to follow it. 

• And I can tell you, if you have been living in rebellion to God’s law… just start obeying… and watch as blessings come… then when you start seeing miracles you will have a heart change… 

• “God told me to do this CRAZY thing that world says I definitely shouldn’t do… I can’t wait to see how he comes through”. 

• God tells us to be fruitful and multiply, that’s a BLESSING! We should be excited about that! 

• It is shocking how many people act AMAZED at when I tell them I have four kids “WHAT?! FOUR KIDS! THAT’S A BIG FAMILY!” 

• No it is not! Pastor Solo Mwania has 11 kids, NOW THAT IS A BIG FAMILY. Church we need a perspective shift… I have four blessings, sometimes I wish I had more… because I trust the Lord, I delight in His command, and I am always excited to see how it turns out! 

• Now that brings me to the final point this morning… When we have this perspective shift… that God’s commands are blessings… then when it comes to encouraging others to live in obedience to God… we stop seeing ourselves as bible bashing thugs, and instead we see ourselves as blessing spreading Christians. 

• Point Three – When we have this perspective shift, encouraging others to a life of obedience becomes encouraging others to a life of blessing. 

Point Three – When we have this perspective shift, encouraging others to a life of obedience becomes encouraging others to a life of blessing. 

Genesis 9:6-7 NKJV  “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.  (7)  And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.” 

• When I read these verses about being fruitful and multiply, and they are juxtaposed with a commandment not to murder… it is hard for my mind not to go immediately to abortion. 

• When it comes to abortion I am an Abolitionist… I don’t think abortion should be regulated, I think it should be abolished. 
• I don’t think we need more heartbeat laws and the like… we need to abolish abortion… we need to stop being a nation that kills babies. Period. 

• But sometimes being anti-abortion, I am painted as a hateful bigot who has no feelings of compassion for the mother. 
• But quite the opposite is true. 

• MOST OF MY FEELINGS OF COMPASSION ARE FOR THE MOTHER. 

• The Child who is murdered will be fine, they will wake up in heaven and rest in the glory of God for eternity. 

• I don’t like that they never got to make that choice by their own free will. 
• I don’t like the pain and torture these babies often endure while being murdered… 

• But I believe this precious little ones will be in heaven. 

• So then, why be so anti-abortion… if the baby goes to heaven, who is the abortion hurting? 
• THE MOTHER! It is hurting the mother! When you support a woman in her abortion you are in turn saying “Yeah, If you don’t want that blessing, go ahead and murder it! Chose convenience over blessing, chose culture over blessing, chose cursing over blessing… I support you in throwing away your blessing!” 

• What kind of backward attitude is that. 
• Instead, when we have a perspective shift, our conversation can change. 

• “Miss, I know you are scared, but this child will be a blessing. 10 years from now you will not regret having this child, in fact you will probably do anything for him… he will be the biggest blessing in your life, don’t throw him away”. 
• Or even “Ma’am, I know you don’t think you can be a mother, but this baby WILL be a blessing. Even if you chose to put her up for adoption, she will be a blessing to the family she goes to, and God will bless you in turn for choosing life. You will never regret not having an abortion. 

• Church there are 36 families waiting to adopt for every one child who is put up for adoption… when you abort a child you are robbing those families, and yourself, of blessing. 

• Yes abortion is awful because it is murder, it is evil, it is wicked… but there is forgiveness and grace. If you have had an abortion and repented in Christ Jesus I believe you are forgiven and free of that past… but you are still missing the blessing of your child. 

• AND I WANT PEOPLE TO BE BLESSED. 

• And of course it is not just abortion, that is just what comes to mind when I read these verses from Genesis. 

• Encouraging people to obey God is encouraging them to be blessed… so next time you are counseling your disciple and you are afraid to tell them what they NEED TO HEAR… remember, you are encouraging them to be blessed! 

• I want you to be blessed, so don’t steal. 
• I want you to be blessed, so don’t lust. 
• I want you to be blessed, so don’t gossip. 
• I want you to be blessed! And as such I want you to obey! 

• Let me conclude this morning, as we finish talking about having a perspective shift… let me conclude by reading Psalm 112. 

Conclusion 

• Hey if you have your Bible turn to Psalm 112 with me… 

Psalms 112:1 NKJV  Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments. 

• Now the rest of this psalm is going to describe what kind of life this man should expect… what kind of man are we talking about? The man who fears the Lord and who greatly delights in His commandments… 

• If you greatly delight in the commandments of God, listen this should be your perspective now… if you greatly delight in the commands of YHWY then you should expect a life like the one described in Psalm 112… Let’s read the whole psalm from the begging… 

Psalms 112:1-10 NKJV  Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments.  (2)  His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. There is the be fruitful and multiply blessing again (3)  Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. I am not going to lie, those sound like some good blessings for delighting in God’s commandments… wealth, riches, and righteousness, thank you Jesus!  (4)  Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. Are we as Christians not called to let our light shine? Well according to this Psalm our light shines when we delight in the commands of God! (5)  A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion.  (6)  Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.  (7)  He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.  (8)  His heart is established; He will not be afraid, Until he sees his desire upon his enemies. My desire for my enemies, now that the price has been paid on the Cross, is that they would be saved! (9)  He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted with honor.  (10)  The wicked will see it and be grieved; He will gnash his teeth and melt away; The desire of the wicked shall perish. 

• I want to serve a blessed church, we can be a blessed church… let us have a perspective shift and start to see the commands of God as the blessings of God… just as God blessed Noah with a command to be fruitful and multiply, amen?! 

Join us this Sunday at either 8:30AM or 10:30AM for worship followed by this message from the Word of God. Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids. 2808 Schaeffer DR SW, Cedar Rapids, IA   52404. www.CedarRapidsChurch.com