The Favor of God- Luke 1:26-38

Introduction

Well, thank you… I love this. Maybe this is something we can incorporate more often.

Well, lets go to the Lord in prayer.

Alright, 2nd—5th graders you guys are free to dismiss. And as a reminder, parents you can pick those children up at the Wetlands Building, and if you need any help finding where that is, don’t hesitate to ask someone with a lanyard.

If you’re new with us, welcome to CBC my name is Andrew McClure and I’m one of the Pastor’s here, and this is the second week of Advent where we are unpacking the 5 angelic visitations that accompany Christmas, or the story of Jesus’s birth.

Last week, Coleman looked at the first visitation, which was Gabirel’s announcemnt to Zechariah and Elizabeth concerning the pregnancy and birth of John the Baptist.

and Today, we are looking at the second, but before we dive in

its important to tell you that one of the primary responsibilities of an elder, and pastor is to call your attention to, and perhaps even correct false teachings that subtely, yet destructively work themselves through a church.

This isn’t something that a typical congregation notices in our reading of Scripture, but other than being charged to Preach the Pure Word, the true Gospel

… correcting false ones is the most populous command for church leaders in Scripture.

It’s why Paul wrote many of his epistles, and its what Paul consistently reminded his young pastoral protege Timothy to do.

2 Timothy 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

2 Timothy 2:25–26 “correcting his opponents with gentleness.

It’s what Paul charged the ephesian elders to do

Acts 20:29–30 “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

A Sheperd is given a crook to do 2 things.

To guide sheep to green pasture.

And secondly, to beat away the wolves who hide themselves in sheep clothing.

And this is so important, because what we believe inevitably impacts and influences what we do.

Our Beliefs drive our behaviors--- and false teachings, hearing them, reading them, digesting them will inevitably lead to wrong behaviors.

So we must preach what is right and pure and true.

And correct, and rebuke what is false.

Now, I wholeheartedly believe that the most destructive false gospel impacting us today is the Therapeutic Gospel---

a Gospel that preaches that God exists to satisfy my emotional wants and needs.

A Gospel- where we make the one true God subservient to our feelings.

And if you want to hear more about the my refutation of the Therapeutic Gospel you can listen to a sermon I preached in Philippians entitled: Enemies of the Cross.

Altough, I believe its the Therapeutic Gospel we are having to actively beat back right now… there’s still an older, but widely adopted false Gospel that we can’t forget about..

& that’s the Prosperity Gospel.

If the Therapeutic Gospel makes God subservient to our internal desires,

The Properity Gospel makes God subervient to our external desires.

If the Therapeutic Gospel preahces God exists to meet my emotional wants

The Prosperity Gospel preaches God exists to satisfy my material wants.

And when it comes to the Prosperity Gospel, or Prosperity Teachers a key word you’ll hear a lot is the word FAVOR.

In this false teaching, favor is the belief that material blessings, like wealth, and health are a direct result of God’s favor upon your life.

Being healthy, wealthy, and prosperous are evidences of God’s favor in this false gospel.

As one Prosperity teacher is quoted, “Favor is given to fulfill your purpose. Favor brings you into a new level of prominence, a new level of influence, a new level of income.”

And that’s just a bunch of hogwash. Malarkey. Nonsense.

But gracious its a persuasive message, and widely adopted.

And that doesn’t shock me at all… because it plays off the natural narcissism and entitelement we all share.

We all want personal prominence, and personal purpose, because we believe that we’re the main character of the universe’s story.

Consequently, God exists to bestow upon ME, necessary favor, so that I can be prominent and purposeful.

So it doesn’t shock me at all to see why the Prosperity Gospel is so widely adopted.

But Church, Life is not about our prominence, or our personal purposes.

we aren’t the main character of Creation’s story.

God is. Life, and all of Creation is about God’s prominence, and God’s Purposes.

But… here’s the catch 22… to live for God’s Prominence and God’s Purposes we still need FAVOR.

You see, just because the concept of Favor has been hijacked and abused, doesn’t mean that it isn’t biblical or essential.

I mean when you survey Scripture, it’s immediately apparent that Favor is essential to living for God.

Noah found favor with God

Abraham

Joseph

Moses

The Israelities

Gideon, Samuel, David, Esther.

Ezra was constantly described as having “The Good Hand of the Lord” which is FAvor, upon him.

Daniel was favored by God.

and of course Jesus grew in favor with God.

But today, we find the concept of Favor appearing twice in our short passage, as it rested upon a young girl named Mary.

Look at verse 28

Luke 1:28 “And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!””

The greeting Gabriel gives is a traditional, informal one. Like saying Hello.

So he says… HELLO, and then proceeds to call her, “O favored one.”

And what’s striking is the next verse

Luke 1:29 “But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”

In typical fashion, the individual visited by an Angelic Being is Troubled.

But in atypical fashion, it isn’t because Gabriel is an angel, nor is she frightened by his appearance… but what is it troubling her?

The saying… the greeting.

Mary is perplexed… WHY IS THIS ANGEL CALLING ME FAVORED!

So Gabriel responds, Luke 1:30 “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

So favor is a prominent theme in our text, so that’s what I want to unpack this morning.

The Favor of God.

So here’s the outline, God’s Favor is GIVEN for GOD’S GLORY and our GOOD.

Given, God’s Glory, our Good

Let’s begin with Given.

Given

God’s Favor is Given

So what are we talking about when we talk about Favor?

Well the Greek word is the word Charis (Karis), and it appears 147 times in the New Testament.

Yet, only 6 times do translators use the word Favor… with the other 141 times translated as Grace.

That’s right. They’re synonmous. When we talk about the Favor of God, we are talking about the Grace of God.

As many of you know, Grace is often defined as “Unmerited Favor.” which means we can also say that Favor is “Unmerited Grace.”

Emphasis here on unmerited. It’s unearned. It isn’t accrued.

Instead it is Given.

Go back to verse 26 for me.

Luke 1:26 “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,”

Gabriel, who just emphatically told Zechariah that he stands in the Celestial City before the Presence of God perpetually, was dispatched not to Jerusalem, or Byzantanium, or NYC, or Los Angeles… but to Nazareth.

A town so small, and irrelevant that Luke had to give a qualifer “it’s in Galilee” just so his hearers (WHO WERE ALL FROM THE REGION) could get a feel for where it is.

Nazareth is a nothing town, and had a reputation that Nothing good could ever come from Nazareth.

but look at verse 27 because it gets even more shocking.

Luke 1:27 “to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”

Dispatched to a nothing town, to a nobody girl.

A virgin betrothed.

Now marriage then, much like now consisted of 2 distinct phases:

Engagement or Bethrothal and then Marriage.

But the big difference btween then and now is Engagement.

First, a formal agreement would be initatied by the parents seeking a wife for their son.

And they would secure this agreement with the brides parents alone.

The future groom and bride would have no say so. This was 100% arranged.

And my prayer is that in the next decade we move back in that direction, because I got 4 coming down the pike.

But once the agreement is made, a dowry would be paid.

The grooms father, would pay a purchase price to the bride’s becuase he was in effect losing a daughter of domestic helper, and the grooms family was gaining one.

And once these things happened, the couple were legally betrothed.

and this was legally binding, and could only be broken with a certificate of divorce due to adultery.

And they would remain betrothed, until the wedding--- which would usually take place when the young girl was of marrying or reproductive age.

Alright? So this means, that most scholars believe Mary was probably 13 years old, but no older than 15.

A child.

A teenage child.

And there wasn’t anyting inherently special about her.

Luke writes, “And the virgin’s name was Mary.” (PERIOD.)

I mean when he writes about Zechariah and Elizabeth we read

Luke 1:6 “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.”

I mean, at least they were special…

Zechariah was a Priest, and Elizabeth descended from a priestly family.

And they were righteous.

But Mary… no qualifier. No description. Just common, ordinary, nobody Mary.

But chosen by God to be gifted FAVOR.

Church, God’s Favor on her life was not due to her particular piety or holiness.

It was not due to any special worthiness on Mary’s part.

The Favor of God is GIVEN… it’s a Gift.

It has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with the kindness, goodness, and love of God that he possesses without measure.

He is Love. His disposition is one of Grace.

He is the God of all Grace, and Mary received Grace as a Gift. It was unearned.

But while we’re debunking false teachings let me say one more thing about verse 28.

In your Bible it probably reads, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

But in many Bibles used around the world it says, “Hail Mary, full of grace.”

That’s because Jerome, a bible translator in 382 A.D. translated the Greek into Latin, called the Vulgate, and he translated verse 28 wrongly… to say Hail Mary, full of grace.

Leading many to erroneously believe that Mary, in and of herself, is full of grace.

A source of grace.

This is why people falsely pray unto Mary, and request favors of Mary because they believe Mary is a source of grace.

Once again proving my earlier point that our BELIEFS drive our BEHAVIORS.

But Mary wasn’t a source of grace, but a recepient of it.

God’s Favor is Given.

But secondly, it is Given for God’s Glory.

God’s Glory

Prosperity Gospel teaches that God gives Favor to help us rise in prominence and fulfill our personal purposes.

Once again, making us the star of our lives.

But that’s not true.

God’s Favor is given for God’s Glory.

To make Him prominent, and to fulfill His purposes.

You see the evidence or outcome of Mary receiving favor was the conception of a son.

Now put yourself in Mary’s shoes here…

Do you think that was Mary’s plan for her life?

Do you think that getting pregnant in her engagement at age 13 would help her become prominent!?

Well, maybe?

It’d make her famous alright, but not in the good way.

You see the punishment of adultery was STONING.

The law commanded she would be stoned.

This wasn’t for Mary’s prominence, nor was it her personal plan or purpose.

Yet, she was still the recipient of favor so that she could Glorify God.

That she could make Him prominent, and fulfill His purposes.

Church, this is why God pours out his grace and favor on your life.

Becuase without His grace, you can never fulfill His Purposes.

God’s Purposes cannot be fulfilled in our own strength, or wisdom.

They’re too big for us.

And even if they could, we’d easily claim the glory for it. We’d crow and boast and beat our chest, drawing all mankind’s attention to ourselvs and all that we were able to accomplish.

But God is a jealous God, and He has vowed to share His glory with no other.

So He gives us purpose, that cannot be fulfilled in our own strength, so that He may ultimately get all the glory in their fulfillment.

Noah couldn’t have known, or built without God’s Favor, and when God shut the door from outside, it was He who received the Glory.

Joseph couldn’t have risen to such prominence without God’s Favor, and when all Egypt and Cannan were saved, it was God who got the glory.

Moses couldn’t have led the people through the red sea or the wilderness without the continual favor of God, and when they entered the promise land it was God, not moses who got the glory.

David was a nobody runt, but favored by God, so that all may know the God of David.

Daniel interpreted dreams, all because of the favor of God, and God was decreed to be worshipped throughout Babylon.

Paul preached with Power, and planted churches all throughout the Mediterrean because of the Grace of God was perfected, not in Paul’s strength, but in weakness. Why? So that God may be known and glorified.

And on and on, I could go…

Church, God yearns to pour out his favor and grace upon you.

For salvation of course, for it is by grace that you have been saved, not by works, lest any man should boast.

The Grace of God has been given to you for salvation, so that God may be glorified.

But His grace only begins at salvation, it didn’t run out.

He continually yearns to gift you favor, so that you can fulfill His purposes.

To walk in His will requires His favor.

To love your wives, as Christ loves the church requires His favor.

To respect your husbands as the head of the union requires His favor.

To raise and parent your kids in the Lord… DEMANDS His favor.

To serve, and give, and witness requires His favor.

To live with integrity, and upright morality requires His favor.

And I just wonder, how many of us this morning get a sense that we are living without the favor of God.

Void of His power and grace in our life… all because we seek to spend it on our own passions. To live for our own prominence and purposes.

We come to God wanting him to bless us.

To get that promotion, buy that new house, have that child, secure that spouse… for what!?

To make me, myself, and I happy, prominent, glorified.

Forgetting all the while that like Abraham, we have been blessed, SO THAT we may be a blessing unto the Glory of God.

Whose glory are you living for?

Becuase if you really want to know the power of God’s grace and favor, we must stop living for ourselves and seek to make ourselves vessels for His fame, His renown, and His glory.

And that’s the story of Mary.

She was favored, a recipient of the favor of God, so that she may fulfill God’s Purposes for God’s Glory.

And what was His purpose?

verse 31, Luke 1:31–33 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.””

What Gabriel announces here is a direct fulfillment of the Purposes of God.

More than 1000 years prior, God had spoken through the Psalmist in Psalm 2 that God would beget a Son, a Son of the Most High.

And around that same time, in 2 Samuel 7 we read that this Son, God’s Son, would come sit on the throne of David, and his throne would be established forever.

And More than 700 years prior, God said that Son would be conceived and born from a Virgin.

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

And again in Isaiah 9, this son, born of David, born of a Virgin shall reign forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

700-1000 years prior to this encounter between Gabriel and Mary… God had decreed His purposes.

And he has not come to bestow FAVOR upon Mary, for the fulfillment of His purposes for His Glory.

So its a fulfillment of Scripture, but the virgin birth is also important for the purposes of God in another way.

You see unlike Zechariah, Mary wasn’t doubting here… she was just perplexed, becuase she understood basic biology.

Luke 1:34 “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?””

Naturally speaking, a virgin couldn’t conceive, so Gabriel tells her that this isn’t natural at all, but supernatural.

Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

You see, the long awaited Messiah, had to be born of a virgin in order to be the true Son of God, for if he were conceived naturally, he would be the son of Joseph.

And to be the son of Joseph, would mean he was a typical Son of Adam, from whom we have all inherited a sin nature.

Original Sin is a core doctrine of the Christian faith and is found all throughout Scripture.

And all born of Adam, you and me, and your family and friends, are all born with a natural proclivity, not to seek God, but to avoid him and seek out the passions of our own flesh.

But the Virgin Birth ensures that Jesus bypassed Original Sin.

Being born of the Holy Spirit, he did not inherit the nature of sin, instead as Gabriel says, “he will be called Holy--- because he is the Son of God.”

Sons and daughters of Adam are Unholy.

But Jesus being the Son of God, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, is Holy.

Now many will try to argue that for me being held accountable for Adam’s failing is UNFAIR. It’s Unjust of God to imput Adam’s sin unto me.

Well, to that I’d first say that Adam aside, each and every one of you have sinned willfully of your own accord. So you aren’t only accountable for Adam’s sin, but your own too.

But it’s actually really good news, that Adam represented us… sure it brought great destruction but the good news of the Gospel is that just as the sin of Adam was imputed to all mankind, so the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to all who trust and believe in Him.

So Mary was favored as a gift, to fulfill God’s Purposes of sening His Son to earth as our represntative, born of a virgin.

The Favor of God is GIVEN FOR THE GLORY OF GOD AND HIS PURPOSES.

Mary did not merit it, nor was it for her own plans and purposes.

Yet, and this is our final part… the Favor of God was also for her good.

our Good

Prosperity teaching is false.

It falsely teaches that life is about us.

And that the favor of God is given to promote us and prosper us.

And if Scripture or personal experience has taught us anything its when we make self the center of the universe, life will always be unfulfilling.

That health, wealth, or prosperity may fulfill you for a moment, but ultimately it will flee.

Like a vapor, your happiness will be here one moment, and gone the next.

But when you replace self, with God and His Glory, it will always be for your good.

Our fulfillment is not found in accumulating for ourselves, but actually giving ourselvs away.

It’s not found in worldly gains, but losses.

Not personal kingdoms and castles, but crosses.

The words of Jesus echo here, Matthew 16:25 “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Mary’s gain from a health, wealth, and prosperity perspective wasn’t found in conceiving htis child.

She would have been judged, accused of adultery, and ostracized by many.

After the child was born it didn’t get any better.

Her life didn’t get easier. She didn’t get healthier or wealthier, instead it got harder

When she went to dedicate young Jesus in the Temple, the aged prophet Simeon said, a sword will pierce her own soul

Rearing this child will not be health, wealth and prosperous instead it will be like a sword piercing through her soul.

For young Mary would watch her son be rejected and suffer, and ultimately be crucified.

And yet, as she set her heart to receive God’s Favor, solely for God’s glory, she would later sing in Luke 1:46–48 “And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;”

She is blessed. That word blessed means HAPPY.

Conclusion

Mary— the Recipient of God’s Favor, for God’s Glory, and ultimately for Her Good.

Her own happiness. Her wholeness. Her flourishing is directly tied to living her life for God’s Glory by God’s Favor.

And church, so is yours.

It’s a paradox. I get it.

The fact that your happiness is found only when you stop pursuing your own happiness, and instead pursue the glory of God.

It feels backwards. Its counter-intutitve.

It’s counter-cultural.

But church, that’s the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom Jesus was born of a virgin to inaguarate.

The Kingdom that Gabriel pronounces will have no end.

And as Jesus begin his ministry, he talked a lot about this Kingdom didn’t he?

In fact, early on a large crowd began following him and he went high up on a mount, and began to preach about this kingdom.

That sermon would later be called the Sermon on the Mount, and the first portion would later be known as the beatitudes.

And using modern English in the MSG Translation here is what Christ said…

You are happy when you’re at the end of your rope, because with less of you there is more of God.

You are happy when you’ve lost what is most dear to you, because only then can you be embraced by the one most dear to you.

You are happy when you’re content with just who you are, no more and no less. Because that’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

You are happy when you hunger and thrist for God, not the things of this world.

You are happy when you care for others, for then you are cared for.

You are happy when you are clean on the inside, for then you can make sense of the outside.

You are happy when you are persecuted, for that persecution drives you to God.

You are happy, when you are Given God’s Favor, to live for God’s Glory--- for that is your ultimate good.

Counter intutitive yes… but the secret to a truly prosperous life.

So CBC--- this Christmas, today, the second sunday of advent can I leave you with these words…

Numbers 6:24–26 “May The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and give you favor… amen.