Your Questions God’s Answers – Westminster Presbyterian Church

Have you heard of those who suffer from temporary amnesia? Due to some trauma they have forgotten who they are. They have lost their identity. They also do not know where they fit, nor what to do. They have forgotten their family, their job, their joys – everything. They wander around aimless, asking who they are?

This is in essence the modern dilemma. We do not know who were are, why we are here, where we fit. So, we grasp for some comforting identity, some meaningful purpose.

What is mankind? What is our true identity? What were we created for? What is our purpose? We are made in the image and likeness of God. To know him, reflect and enjoy his greatness and glory – we are made to like Him, and to be like him.

Yet, instead of imaging him, we, in our amnesia, are trying to make God in our own image. We call the shots and make the rules. God must answer to us and submit to our sense of right and wrong, to our definition of meaning and identity. We end up attacking the image of God that is in us. We are fighting against ourselves, and our created purpose.

We are fighting against our own biology, the way we are fashioned. God has already set the rules, the purpose and direction of life. We can fight against it, but we can never win.

There is great rest and peace in knowing who we are created to be. Sin has given us delusions of grandeur. But God has created us in real grandeur.

Psalm 8 proclaims, “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet … O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

Do you know who you are? God does. He created you, in his own image, to know and delight in him and his creation. Wake up to your created glory! Remember who you are; and known true rest and peace.

Why do we do it? Why does the pastor raise his hands? What should the congregation do during the benediction?

“Where the benediction is an ancient practice in Christian worship and found at the end of every Pauline epistle, many Christ are unclear on its meaning and treat it as little more than a pious way of ending a worship service… The benediction is God’s Word to us, both in Scripture and during the weekly public assembly. Each week, God pronounces his benediction upon us, telling us that his promise, and not our experience, gets the final word to all who are in Christ.” URNCA It is as if Jesus were saying to us, ‘‘I have been dead, and in dying made a curse for you; now that curse I have fully removed, and my Father hath acquitted me and you for it; and now I can be bold to bless you, and pronounce all your sins forgiven, and your persons justified.’’ Thomas Goodwin

“The church today should be encouraged to have a richer understanding of receiving Christ’s benediction, which testifies both to the presence of God among the congregation and to the completeness of the atoning work of the Savior.” Kelly Kapic

What does the word mean? Bene = Good; Dicere = to speak. It amounts to blessing; the good word, or speech. Benediction. The real content that is given during the benediction is grace. Paul mentions grace is each of his benedictions.

The benediction is not a prayer, or a request being made to God; it is a pronouncement from God to us. It is a bestowal of his presence, grace and blessing. It is not a mere reminder, but an actual giving of grace.

Some words or pronouncements achieve what they declare. For instance, “Not guilty.” That conveys a status. Or, “By the power vested in me, I introduce Greg and Sally, Husband and wife.” Or, “you are hired, or fired.” In the benediction, we are blessed. That status is conveyed to us. A spiritual transaction takes place. We are filled with God’s promise, presence and blessing.

The source of the blessing is Jesus Christ. It is an application of the person and work of Christ to the lives of his children. The benefits of God’s plan and Christ’s work are applied to us by the Holy Spirit. This may be why the Spirit is not mentioned in the NT benedictions – the Holy Spirit is the person conveying the blessing from the Father and the Son.

Why does the pastor lift his hands?

Jesus did. In Luke 24:50-51, Jesus was lifting his hands in blessing his people as he ascended. OT priests would also life their hands to convey a blessing (Lev 9:2). In the early NT church, the presiding officer would literally lay his hands no the heads of the worshippers as the service ended to convey a blessing. Today, the pastor lifts his hands to bless, and the people raise their hands and eyes to receive the blessing. It is not a prayer, but a blessing – keep your eyes open!

It is the minister, the one set aside to stand in the place of God, that pronounces the benediction. Elders or ministerial candidates can pray the blessing. Yet, in families, the husband, as the prophet, priest, and king of his home, can pronounce a blessing on his family.

Interestingly, in Philippians 4:23, “be with your spirit,” your is plural and spirit is singular. This points to our unity in the Spirit. We are one people. It also harks back to Phil 1:27, “I will now that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”

So, don’t leave the worship service without receiving God’s parting blessing. He sends us out into the world and into the week with his presence, promise, and grace.