The Favor of God
The Favor of God • Sermon • Submitted
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· 122 viewsIn this sermon, I want to lay out the basics of the favor of God.
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The First Place Favor Is Used
The First Place Favor Is Used
NOAH
and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.
It’s interesting to me that this is the first place favor is used and this example of favor is in relation to the pre-incarnate form of Jesus. What’s even more interesting is that Jesus was showing up to deliver a promise while on His way to investigate the need for judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. You couldn’t have any more of a stark contrast between having favor and not having favor.
Before we read this story, I want to stress this fact: Everyone is loved unconditionally by the Lord but not everyone enjoys the favor of God. The favor of God is conditional.
Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.”
They said, “Do as you have said.”
It appears that Abraham was just enjoying the shade of the terebinth trees (some say oak trees but literally means a very large tree with the emphasis on its size meaning good shade) during the heat of the day when he happened to look up and notice three men standing nearby. Verse 1 clearly states it was the Lord and obviously Abraham recognized Him, and he bowed low to the ground. He immediately said, “If I have found favor, please do not pass by Your servant.” This is an important phrase. He then requested that they rest a bit with him in the shade with some water to wash their feet and some food to refresh them.
He then requested that they rest a bit with him in the shade with some water to wash their feet and some food to refresh them.
Lord is “YHWH” in the Hebrew. Listen to this definition, “the name of the one true God, with a focus on sure existence and His relationship to His covenant persons and people.”
Mamre is a place name that means “grazing land” and was the main area of habitation for Abraham and his family. It was named after an Amorite who helped Abraham defeat Chedorlaomer (). It was famous for these trees. Just east of her is where Abraham purchased a cave, Machpelah) for a family burial plot (two miles north of Hebron). He, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and on were buried there. Some say that Mamre was later renamed Hebron.
Prior to the Israelites dwelling in Canaan, it was occupied by the tribe of Anak, the giants. After the conquest, it was given to Caleb (). It became a city of refuge. It became the capital of David during the 7 years he ruled only Judah. The Edomites captured Hebron after the Babylonian invasion and it was recaptured by Judas Maccabeus in 164 B.C. It isn’t mentioned in the NT; although, Herod the Great erected pretentious structures there. Interestingly, Herod was part Edomite. And Edomite came from Esau’s lineage who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.
This area was of great significance to Abraham and was rich in history for him and the Lord. After Abraham left Egypt, he and his nephew Lot went south to as far as Bethel. There at Bethel, strife broke out between Abraham and Lot’s herdsmen because the land couldn’t support both of them because they were very wealthy.
Abraham encouraged Lot to pick what land he wanted and he’d take the remainder. This is important because it indicated trust on Abraham’s part that whatever land God showed Abraham would be his and his children’s; therefore, he had no need to worry about it or take first choice. Lot chose Sodom and Gomorrah. After this separation, God then told Abraham to look north, south, east, and west for all of that land would be his and his descendants forever. Abraham walked the length of the land and then settled at Mamre in the trees, which are in Hebron (). All of his descendants lived in Hebron pre-conquest of Canaan.
Hebron means “league” or “confederacy.” League is “a covenant or compact made between persons, parties, states, etc., for the promotion or maintenance of common interests or for mutual assistance or service.” A confederacy is “an alliance between persons, parties, states, etc., for some purpose.” For Abraham Hebron, specifically the trees of Mamre, represent his history with God.
The word “bowed” means “to fall prostrate…as a position of submission to a human superior.” He didn’t simple bow at his hips to greet or show someone honor. He literally fell at the feet of the Lord as an act of submission, again, because he recognized who was there. We know this because he called Him, Lord, which is Adonai in the Hebrew.
Adonai is “Lord, Master, i.e. the title of the true God with a focus on the authority and majesty of a ruler…yet also implying a relationship based in promise, covenant, or other relational factors.” In this scene, we see Abraham recognized His master in the context of relationship based in promise, covenant, and other relational factors meaning God wasn’t a Master to followed from a slave/master relationship but a God who chose Abraham as a partner in His plans and One who would promote Abraham’s best interests in return. IT’S IN THIS TYPE OF CONFEDERACY THAT FAVOR IS FOUND.
The Definition of Favor
Favor is “hen” (pronounced kane) in the Hebrew. It’s “acts which display one’s fondness or compassion for another; acts of kindness displaying one’s pleasure with an object, which benefit the object of pleasure; an object which gains a favorable response; to be pleased.” It’s acceptance and preference sometimes over another. This is an important part of the definition because it reveals that not everything has the favor of God.
One of the most important ways that favor works is in how others perceive you. When you have the favor of God, people are drawn to you and WANT to help you. This perception is orchestrated by Father and often tied to His assignment for you. The best example of this is Esther. Xerxes looked upon her with favor and because of that favor, she was able to thwart Haman’s evil plans.
When God finds favor with someone, He looks at him or her with appreciation and acceptance.
I believe a relationship of trust is one of the conditions of favor. In this series, we’re going to dig into the favor of God and how one finds it. But notice that God looks at him or her with appreciation meaning that they are doing the things that make Him appreciative. They are children who are living their lives to make Him happy not out of legalism but out of adoration and love for Him. They aren’t children that grieve Him by rebellion and sin. They are actively pursuing Him and His will. These are all things that He appreciates and this causes Him to extend His favor to them.
For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
Favor, here, is rason and means “pleasure, will, wish, i.e. a strong desire which implies a choice; acceptance, favor, i.e. a state of condition of approval.”
“Lord, how wonderfully you bless the righteous, Your favor wraps around each one and covers them under your canopy of kindness and joy.” TPT
Here we see favor tied to righteousness. It is CHOOSING to put God first that opens the door of His favor in your life. Now, even though is the first place the Hebrew word “hen” is translated favor, the first place it is used in the Bible is actually .
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Grace is “hen.” Noah found favor because he kept his bloodline pure and “WALKED WITH GOD” when everyone else wasn’t. Notice here and in that favor is tied with “finding.” Both Noah and Abraham “found favor.” Found is “masa” and means “discover, uncover, find, find out, i.e. learn the LOCATION of an object…achieve a state, implying a discovery or unfolding process.” This reveals that finding God’s favor is a discovery process. You learn what He likes and what makes Him happy and then as you intentionally do those things, He shows His appreciation by giving you His favor.
Now, quickly, we are in the “age of grace” or the “age of favor” in which God is offering everyone the free gift of salvation. But living a LIFE OF TANGIBLE FAVOR is conditional for the believer. And with it comes access to God, His plans, and His presence that others might not enjoy.
Back to .
and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.
It was God’s favor that caused the Lord and his two angels to NOT pass Abraham by. They stopped and waited for him to see them. The only reason he saw and discerned is because he had a history with God. He knew what His friend’s presence felt like and when he felt Him, he looked up and there He was. Again, FAVOR IS IN FRIENDSHIP, IN A RELATIONSHIP OF TRUST.
We see that once Abraham spotted the Lord, he then quickly prepared a nice meal for them and stood by them as they ate. After this act of hospitality and serving the Lord his best, the Lord then prophesied to His friend.
Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”
So he said, “Here, in the tent.”
And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.”
(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.
And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”
Gen 18:9-
Sarah did not laugh out loud (lol). She laughed INWARDLY! And the Lord knew it. That freaked her out. Abraham had already done his lol-ing in so he was cool with the prophecy. :D And now here is the responsibility that comes with the favor of the Lord.
Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
Genesis 18:16
The Lord of the universe said, “I have known him,” implying an intimacy. The word is most commonly referring to knowing someone by experience. He chose to cultivate a relationship with Abraham because He could trust him to teach his family to keep the way of the Lord so that God could do all He had promised, which included the promise of the Seed that would crush the enemy’s rule. And like any good friend, the Lord shared what He was doing with Abraham and true to Abraham’s nature, he used that information to intercede. That is the responsibility that comes from relationship with the Lord.
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him,
And He will show them His covenant.
Fear is exactly what Abraham walked in. It’s “reverence, i.e. pertaining to respect toward a superior; worship i.e. pertaining to a profound reverence to a superior.” It’s a grasp of His awesomeness that causes wonder and astonishment!
Surely the Lord God does nothing,
Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
One definition of servant is “worshiper.” Secret is a neat word is means “confiding, confidence, the act or state of intimacy and trust, with a focus of reliance on secrecy to maintain that discretion.” I.e. God shares his confidence with His true worshipers because He trust them to be discreet. I love this!
. . .
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Friends in the Greek is “a person with whom one associates and for whom there is affection or personal regard.” They left everything to follow the Lord. Like Bill Johnson says, “I’m not sure I would have done what these did if some stranger came into my business and said, ‘Stop what you’re doing and follow me.’” They stuck with Him through thick and thin for 3 1/2 years. Yeah, the made mistakes but their hearts were bent toward Him. And He loved them for it.
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
This sums up favor right here. Favor wraps itself around those who do what He says. And you only do what He says when you believe in and trust Him.
Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”
And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
The unique relationship Abraham and the Lord shared was generational. David also enjoyed such a relationship with Him, too. Several scriptures show that God, the Sovereign One, based His decision at that time on His past relationship with both Abraham and David long after they were gone!
And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.”
Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem;
Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, as He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.
‘For I will defend this city, to save it
For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
For Your servant David’s sake,
Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.
There are plenty more but you get the picture. Even to this day, His watchful care over Israel is because of Abraham and the covenant He made. The fact that we are born again is because of the covenant He made with Abraham. The Holy Spirit indwelling is because of His covenant with Abraham. But in return you could say that all of these things are because of Abraham’s belief in God that created the favor of God in his life.
Thought: I almost wrote that everyone is loved the same by God but is this true? He loved Esau less. Look into this.