Luke 1, 2, 3
Dec. 21, 2014
Intro
-had 4 or 5 times in my life where I’ve randomly met people I knew in the midst of impossible odds…
1) 25th anniversary cruise…middle of Pacific Ocean…random seating at breakfast…”where are you from?”
…”you’re Bobby Carroll!! You were my paperboy!”
2) college QT tour ‘78… billeted in home in North Bay ON…
-dutch woman…realized she was my mom’s first cousin…”You’re family – I’d better give you a hug!”
-that relationship changed in an instant…
-strangers to relatives…united by family ties…
-instant favor, love and acceptance…
On this final Sunday before Christmas, I believe that God wants to speak a word of His favor to each of us…He wants to give us the gift of His favor…or at least help us see that we already have it…the gift of His love, grace and acceptance…based on being part of His family…one of His beloved children…based on what Jesus Christ came to do for us…thru His birth, life, death, and resurrection…
God’s favor is a big part of the Christmas story…there are at least three instances when God’s favor is declared over an important character in the Christmas story…
Let’s look at these three instances of God’s favor…found in Luke 1, 2 and 3…and as we do, let’s allow the Lord to speak personally to each of us, especially those of us who know Jesus as our Lord and Savior…and hear once again…(because maybe we need to hear this again today), about what it means to be favored by God…and how favored by God we really are…
Open to Luke 1…Prayer…
First of all, we see God’s favor upon the person of Mary
1 God’s Favor Upon Mary – Lk.1:28 “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
-let’s read 1:26-33…
Now, what does that word “favor” actually mean? In the original greek it means “graciously accepted, someone who has been given much grace, shown great kindness; not simply saving grace…but in Mary’s case, that special and particular favor, in being chosen and singled out from all other women, to be the mother of the Messiah, to carry within her the life of God.”
Mary was given much grace by God because He chose her to be the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You may be thinking, “that’s great for Mary, but what does that have to do with me? I’m no Mary – believe me!”
If I were to ask you, “what do you think a Christian is?” what would you answer? Some of you might say, "A Christian is a person who believes in Jesus." Someone else might say, "A Christian is someone who follows the teaching and the example of Jesus."
Both these things are true. But we need to be reminded that to be a Christian means that the life of Jesus is in you…that Christ lives in you…
You find this taught throughout the Bible. In Col. 1:27, Paul says, "It's Christ in you, the hope of glory.” He also says in Gal. 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”. In Gal. 4:19 he says: "My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…”
You see: The Christ who was formed in Mary in the flesh is formed in His people by the Spirit. A Christian is a person with the life of Jesus in them. If you are a Christian, you are highly favored, because you have been chosen to carry within you the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
-think of the all the ways God can use you to impact other people as you carry within you the presence of the living Christ…eg Mary meeting Elizabeth…Lk 1:41
Today you need to hear God say to you, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Secondly we see God’s favor upon the Shepherds.
2. God’s Favor Upon the Shepherds – Lk. 2:14 “…and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests…”
-let’s read 2:8-14…
The King James Version translates verse 14 as, “on earth peace, good will toward men,” which has influenced a number of Christmas carols…Unfortunately, most modern translations agree that this is not the most accurate translation.
The NIV says, “ . . . and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” The NASB says, “. . . and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.”
The point is that, even though God’s offer of peace goes out to all, only his chosen people — the people who receive Christ and trust him as Savior and Messiah and Lord, the people who have received His favor, will experience the peace he brings.
If we have trouble relating to Mary, we should have no trouble relating to the shepherds. They were common, ordinary folk who had a lowly but important role in life…actually, in first century culture in the holy land, they were looked down upon and considered to be pretty well at the bottom of the societal scale…for example, they weren’t allowed to give testimony in a court because, frankly, they weren’t trusted…
But, these lowly folk became the first witnesses to the birth of God’s Son in Bethlehem and gave joyful testimony to what they had seen and heard…
God’s favor rested upon these shepherds…as it does upon anyone who is humble and receptive to God and is willing to listen and receive the good news of the gospel that Jesus announces…
…and one of the great gifts God promises to those upon whom His favor rests is peace…and my, what a great gift peace is…peace within ourselves…peace with other people…and most foundationally, peace with God…through our Lord JC…
A Christmas Eve Ceasefire
eg. An absolutely unique, historically true incident took place on Christmas Eve 1914, during World War I…
WW 1 temporarily came to a halt on the front between France and Germany. Only five months into the war, more than 800,000 people had already been killed or wounded. Yet, as the sun went down a strange calm settled across the lines. It began when British soldiers raised Merry Christmas signs towards the German lines. In a matter of moments, both sides were singing Christmas carols across the battlefields to each other.
Christmas morning dawned with officers on both sides unable to prevent their troops from leaving their trenches and meeting "the enemy" in no-man's land for songs and conversation. Exchanging candy and cigarettes, German, French, and British soldiers passed Christmas Day in peace along miles of the front. So pervasive was the spirit of reconciliation that along some stretches of the front the spontaneous truce continued all through the 26th, neither side willing to fire the first shot.
At long last, the war resumed when fresh troops arrived, and the high command on both sides issued a decree stating that further "informal understandings" with the enemy would be punishable as treason.
God would like the peace He gives to make a real difference in your life, now at Christmas and all the time…and maybe that involves “an informal understanding” with someone you consider an enemy…to take the bold step of stepping out of your trench…approaching your enemy with love, kindness and compassion…seeing what God can do…
And you can do this, friend…you can…because if God’s favor rests upon you…and child of God it does…you have His favor…then His gift of peace also rests upon you…a peace that can be offered to others in the Spirit of Christ…the Spirit that reaches out and reconciles and restores and renews relationships…
Today you need to hear God say, “My favor rests upon you; now you can be a person of peace…”
Lastly, we see God’s favor upon the Main Character in the Christmas story, that of Jesus Christ Himself.
3. God’s Favor Upon Jesus – Lk. 2:52 “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.”
-I’m actually moving away from the Christmas story…moving twelve years past the Christmas story to the time when Jesus went to the temple in Jer. with His family, but stayed behind as they began travelling home…they anxiously searched for Him…and when He was found and scolded by His parents, His response was…read vv.49-52…
-we know without a doubt that God’s favor was upon Jesus Christ during His entire lifetime here on earth…
…as a matter of fact, if we move the time line of Jesus’ life another 18 years, we see God the Father making this declaration over His beloved Son Jesus at the time of His baptism in the third chapter of Luke 3:21-22…
-God the Father has always loved His Son, has always been pleased with Him, has always poured out His favor upon Him…Jesus has never known anything else, than the perfect love, acceptance and delight of His Heavenly Father for Him…
Now you say, so what does that have to do with how God feels about me? I’m no Mary…I may have more in common with the shepherds…but there is no way on God’s green earth that I can come close to the life of Christ and the Father’s favor that was given to Him…the way God the Father feels about His Son Jesus can never come close to how He feels about me…
Well, my dear friend, that is where you are wrong…you are about to hear what may be the most revolutionary truth in all of scripture…what you are about to hear has the potential to transform you from a struggling, insecure, timid child of God to someone who is empowered, bold, confident and set free to serve God without those many limitations we place on ourselves…(I can’t do this, God doesn’t love me, isn’t there for me, can’t be trusted, isn’t worth serving, etc. etc.)
The exact same words God the Father spoke over Jesus at His baptism, God the Father is speaking over you as His child.
Lk 3:22 “…you are My son/daughter/child…whom I love…with you I am well pleased…”
* the reason He is well pleased with you is because He is well-pleased with Jesus and because you are in Christ, you get the benefit of that relationship…it’s not what you have done to make God pleased with you; it’s because of what Jesus has done…
This is the truth that sets you free like nothing else can…
-but you say, “you can’t take a verse like that and apply it to me, because it was said to Jesus and not to me…”
Oh yes I can…know why? because Jesus tells us we can…
…Jn 17:23 (Jesus high priestly prayer…praying for His disciples/people for all time…you and me…)
“…and have loved them even as you have loved Me…”
God the Father loves us just as much as He loves His Son Jesus Christ…
You’re Family
Want to know why God the Father loves you just as much as He loves Jesus? because “You’re Family”…thru the gift of God thru JC…thru His atoning death and resurrection…thru the forgiveness and grace give to us by JC…we’ve become sons and daughters of God…so we’ve moved from stranger to relative…were united by family ties…which brings immediate love, acceptance and favor…
Conclusion
As we wrap this up, I want to turn to the next chapter of Luke, chapter 4, and point out one more thing about God’s favor…4:18-19…”to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…”
The Year of the Lord’s Favor – Lk 4:19
You are I are living in the time of God’s favor…era of God’s favor…it started with the appearance of Christ on the earth and it will continue until the Second Coming of Christ…
-this is the period of God’s grace, love, forgiveness and mercy for all who will turn to Christ…
-this is a time of finding grace from God, freedom from sin and from anything that holds us back in our walk with God…
-for anyone who has not received God’s favor by accepting His free gift of forgiveness from sin and eternal life…then I invite you to do so today…
So on this final Sunday before Christmas, may you be able not only to hear but receive the word of God’s favor…given to you through the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…
Prayer…for ears to hear Your Spirit saying, “you have My favor…love, acceptance, grace…you are My child, whom I love…with you I am well-pleased…”