Favor Grows

Hey —welcome to Prairie Lakes. Hard to believe that we’re just days away from Christmas. If you’ve got school-aged kids, they’ve probably already started to make your house a giant mess—which is a sure sign that Christmas break started.

I don’t know what is swimming around in your mind this weekend; my guess is that there’s a pretty long list of things in there. Usually is at this time of year.

But here’s what I’d like to invite you to do as we get going here together:

Give yourself a little Christmas gift. For the next 30 minutes or so, give yourself permission to just check out of all of that. Check out of the lists. Take a break from the to-do’s. Whatever you’re kinda stressing about or bracing for, it’ll be there waiting for you after you leave.

And give yourself an invitation to focus on something different.

Series Intro: Highly Favored

We are in week 4 of our Advent Series, Highly Favored. As we’ve been walking through the Christmas story, this theme of “favor” comes up time and time again. Here’s how we’ve been talking about it:

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Week 1: Favor Shown (By God)

Week 2: Favor Received (By Us)

Week 3: Favor Shared (To Others)

Week 4: Favor Grows (From Others)

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Following Jesus should gain you more favor from others—especially from those who don’t follow Jesus.

Like, the people who don’t believe like we do… don’t have the same values as we do… disagree with us on some of the issues...

Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

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John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

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So...

Seems like it’s the opposite. Seems like the more you follow Jesus, the more the people in this world are going to hate you, not like you.

Seems like the more you follow Jesus in this world, the less favor you get, not more.

In fact, it seems like Jesus is saying that if the world loves you, it’s probably because you’re following the ways of the world rather than the ways of Jesus.

So… time in. You’re wrong. Case closed.

To be clear:

There will absolutely be times that this world will hate you for following Jesus.

The fact that we believe the Jesus is the only way to God...

That the Bible is God’s Word...

That there’s moral and immoral ways to do sex...

Make no mistake: there will be and even should be times that we lose favor for what we believe and how we live.

But I still maintain that following Jesus will win you more favor than less—even with, and especially with, those who don’t follow him or believe in him. I still believe that to be true.

Why?

Well, (3) reasons:

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Following Jesus will win you more favor, because:

That’s how it worked with Jesus.

That’s how it worked in the past.

That’s how it works in Jesus’ kingdom.

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Those are the three. And if you’re scrambling to write those down, don’t worry about it. We’ll be unpacking each of them as we go, so you’ll be able to capture them.

But let’s jump into this first one. Following Jesus will win you more favor because… that’s how it worked with Jesus.

Turn in your Bibles with me to Luke 2:52.

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Following Jesus = More Favor

That’s how it worked with Jesus. (Luke 2:52).

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(Set up - end of the Christmas story in Luke… Jesus is a young man…)

Here’s what Luke says:

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Luke 2:52 “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

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Ok. So there it is: Jesus himself grew in favor with others. That’s how it worked with him.

In fact, if we read on in Luke, we’d see this as a major theme: people really loved Jesus.

Of course, he did things like: give people their sight back; their legs back; even their lives back. He handed out a few free lunches. People are generally favorable towards that kind of stuff.

But it was more than just the miracles that made Jesus popular with most people. In Luke 19, as the religious leaders started to grow so threatened by and angry with Jesus that they plotted to kill him, Luke says that they couldn’t find a way to do it, because “all the people hung on his words.”

Jesus was so popular for a time that he was untouchable. That’s how it worked with him.

What we gotta figure out, though, is what does that mean for us? Simply because it worked that way for Jesus… should it work the same way for us? Could it, even?

I think the answer to that is “yes”—if we do a little digging here in this verse.

See, when Luke tells this part of the story, this is “young man” Jesus. This isn’t 30-year old public ministry Jesus. This isn’t miracle Jesus or preaching Jesus. This is young man Jesus. This is Jesus growing in “stature”—meaning physically: getting older and taller and bigger.

Still: as a young man, before his public and popular ministry, Jesus grew in favor with both God and man.

Why?

Because he grew not only in stature, but in wisdom.

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Following Jesus = More Favor

That’s how it worked with Jesus. (Luke 2:52).

Jesus grew in his wisdom: a deep understanding of how to practically live well with God and others.

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Our world has a bottomless appetite for living a better life. Bottomless.

If you’ve got a hack for health, a program for fitness, a tip for time management, or advice for a better marriage or sex life or parenting… really, growth and getting better in any way—there’s a market for it. People want to live well. Live better. Always have.

It’s just that people so often settle for what’s on the surface of better, and don’t touch what’s deeper. What’s best.

They want advice on how to be more successful or make more money, only to find out that it doesn’t satisfy when they get it.

They want advice on a better sex life but don’t ever feel truly satisfied in their relationship.

They want to know how to navigate difficult relationships but still struggle with anger or unforgiveness or resentment.

A lot of us want better but never find what’s best.

But not so with Jesus.

Jesus grew in his wisdom.

Jesus went deep in his relationship with God, and from that depth offered truth and practical advice that revealed both the depth our need but also the depth of his practical truth and how to really live real life.

He said things like turn the other cheek, and treat others like you want to be treated, and love your neighbor as yourself—things that when people trusted him enough to actually live those things out, discovered a life that was better than they ever imagined.

And so Jesus grew in favor with others because he grew in wisdom and shared that wisdom with others.

And here’s the good news for us:

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Following Jesus = More Favor

That’s how it worked with Jesus. (Luke 2:52).

Jesus grew in his wisdom: a deep understanding of how to practically live well with God and others.

Spending more time with Jesus and doing more of what Jesus says will win you favor with God and others as well.

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I still believe that people want more of Jesus. They might be skeptical of the church. They might think Christians are hypcrites. But Jesus still has a pretty good reputation. And when Christian people look/talk/act more like Christ, the world usually applauds.

And therein lies the problem:

I don’t know that very much of the watching world would describe the church or Christian people as being very “Christlike” these past few years.

And I know we’re kinda beating a dead horse at this point, but indulge me at least one more time:

There was a pandemic.

There was a polarizing election.

There was social upheaval.

And I think we can all agree:

Christian people’s response to all of those was mixed at best, and a black eye at worst.

I don’t think the world saw the church as a city on a hill in any of those. I don’t think we came off as characteristically wise, with a deep understanding of how to navigate those—the kind of understanding and practical truth that only comes from God.

I don’t think so.

Now, I also think the media doesn’t really help us out in that, either. They manage to find the worst of us and then give that crazy man or crazy woman a platform. Somehow the worst of us seems to always speak for all of us.

Still:

What dominated the narrative from Christian people during those times wasn’t love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control.

It wasn’t wisdom.

But:

That doesn’t mean we can’t be known for those things the next time one of those rolls around. We can do this better. We can.

In fact, that’s kinda the silver lining when you fail hard:

There’s no place to go but up.

Let me show you what I mean.

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Show Barna graphic

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This is a graphic of some survey data conducted by Barna Research Group, which is an outfit that has been around for decades that’s kind of a “Gallup Poll” but for the church specifically. I know you all can’t see the details of this, so I’m gonna point some things out out and explain it.

SUBJECT: Perceptions of Evangelicals Among U.S. Adults. So, basically, they asked (3) groups of people (non-Christians, practicing Christians, and Evangelicals specifically...

(which are people and churches like Prairie Lakes who believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that the Bible is God’s Word, that we have a responsibility to share the gospel, stuff like that)

They asked these three groups of people what they thought about evangelicals by giving them 22 different words that could describe them.

And so here’s what’s crazy about the results.

The red diamonds are non-Christians. Basically: what does the outside world think about us? Well...

Most of them think about us in primarily political terms. They think evangelicals are “conservative,” both religiously and politically. 40% of them said that; by far the most common descriptor.

Not caring, or hopeful, or friendly.

Not encouraging or generous.

Nope. Conservative.

Now, I’m not exactly sure what “religiously conservative” means. But I know what politically conservative means. And I know that at least half of us in whatever room you’re in probably are that. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

But I think there is something wrong when that’s the headline. Like, when the outside world’s first thought about us is a political affiliation instead of, oh, I don’t know…

Love.

Selflessness.

Peace.

Wisdom.

Hope. Help.

You know… all of those things that Jesus was known for… all of those things that made Jesus so popular...

All of those things that flowed out of this deep wisdom he grew from his spending time with God and obeying him...

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We’ve got a problem, my friends, when the headline about us in our world isn’t the same headline that Jesus had in his.

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There’s some other really fascinating data here as well. See, the yellow diamonds are Evangelicals—what we think about ourselves, or how we would describe ourselves.

And by our count, we’re very caring. Rest of the world disagrees.

We’re very hopeful. Nobody else sees us that way.

And we’re a friendly bunch. But not if you disagree with us, probably.

Oh, by the way, we’re also super encouraging, generous, and good-humored. But mostly in our own eyes.

Ok. I don’t mean to depress you or irritate you, especially so close to Christmas. And truthfully, I don’t like what that data says any more than you do.

But I do like the clarity it creates.

And I do think we live in a world that craves a better life.

And I do think that Jesus has the best answers. In fact, I think Jesus is the answer.

And I think there’s no place to go but up.

I don’t want to win the world’s favor by doing worldly things.

I want to win the world’s favor by doing Jesus things.

And the only way that you and I are going to do that is to be wise like him: spending more time with him, and doing what he says.

Be generous.

Be selfless.

Be peaceable.

Be loving.

Be. Like. Jesus. And I bet if we do, we’ll win ourselves some favor. Maybe even some people into his kingdom.

That’s number one. Here’s number two. Remember what we said:

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Following Jesus = More Favor

That’s how it worked in the past.

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This wasn’t something that was brand new with Jesus; this was something that God’s people have had a long tradition of doing.

There’s a couple of places in the Bible that list Jesus’ genealogy. And if you trace his ancestry, you’ll eventually run into several generations of Israelite kings—one of which was a man named Solomon.

We get his story in 2 Kings. Solomon asked God for wisdom to rule, and Scripture says that God gave him that to a level that no other had ever seen. Kind of theme here of wisdom… knowing God, and knowing how to practically and deeply live life.

Solomon writes this to his son in the book of Proverbs 3, which is a book of wise sayings. Let me just read a couple of verses here for you, and then put a couple on the screen:

Proverbs 3:1-2 “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.”

And then he says:

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Proverbs 3:3-4 “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

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Think about this:

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Following Jesus = More Favor

That’s how it worked in the past.

When you’re loving and faithful, you’re the welcome exception to the rule.

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This world has always been a more unloving than loving place. Unfaithfulness is the norm. Shoot… there wouldn’t be a country music genre otherwise.

You’d be surprised at how much favor you gain with people when you do the most basic and foundational things that Jesus tells us to do:

Love people. And be faithful. It was true then; and it was true now.

Let me take you to one more place, still under this 2nd idea of “it’s always been this way.”

Turn with me to Jeremiah 29:7. We’ll have it on the screen as well.

Solomon lived during a time where God’s people were governed as their own nation under God’s laws. But Jeremiah lived during a time where God’s people rebelled so the point where God allowed them to be conquered and exiled.

In other words:

Jeremiah’s writing to them in a place where their government doesn’t agree with their beliefs; where the culture they live in doesn’t value what they do; and where they feel increasingly powerless to do anything about it.

And in that place, here’s what Jeremiah says:

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Jeremiah 29:7 “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

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In a land where they didn’t respect who was in charge...

In a place where they felt like the culture was moving away from their God...

And at a time where they felt like they were out of control...

Jeremiah tells them to seek the peace and even the prosperity of the city that they were exiled in.

Not “pray for judgment.”

Not “fight for your rights and your beliefs.”

No:

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city. Of the community you’re in.

See:

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Following Jesus = More Favor

That’s how it worked in the past.

When you’re loving and faithful, you’re the welcome exception to the rule.

We want to be known for what we are “for”—and what we are “for” is the peace and prosperity of all.

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How cool would it be for Barna to do that study again and have some of those sliders move?

I mean, maybe not all of them can move, right? Yeah… we’re still gonna get called out for being “religiously conservative” because of our “crazy” beliefs about Jesus being the only way and the Bible being God’s Word… okay… so be it...

But what if we were also seen as generous? What if our hopefulness was undeniable? What if the world, even though they still heaped some judgment on us, also had to admit that we were friendly?

We have to be known, more and more, for what we’re “for”—and what we’re for has to be felt and seen as good for everyone.

Okay. Last one.

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Following Jesus = More Favor

Because that’s how it works in Jesus’ kingdom.

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We’re gonna head over to the book of Romans - so go ahead and find that. We’ll be in chapter 14. I’ll put it on the screen here in a minute. Romans 14.

As you find that, here’s what’s going on:

Church people in Rome were being divisive.

I know. Shocker. Church people disagreeing and arguing over things.

Here’s what they were arguing about:

A lot of them came from a pagan culture before they stepped across the line and started following Jesus. And what that meant in Rome was that there were temples to gods and goddesses, and there were idols of them, and you’d bring sacrifices of like meat or grains to offer to the gods.

But then what the pagan temple would turn around and do was sell that meat to markets, and the markets would then sell them to the Roman people.

Like, you could walk down the aisles at the Roman grocery store and buy some strip steak that had been sacrificed to Zeus. I mean, they were the best cuts.

Now: some Christians thought that this was more than ok to buy and eat that meat. Zeus was a made up god. He wasn’t real. There’s not some magical crazy hex on the meat. Steak is steak. Eat up.

But other Christians had a real problem with it. Because it was attached to idolatry… and shopping in that section… and maybe by eating it you’re kinda approving of it, or at least that’s how some people might perceive it...

And so: argument ensues, and then comes the judgment.

And Paul writes to them about this in his letter—basically correcting both sides.

To the side who thinks it’s ok, he says the most loving thing to do would be to not eat it. If someone is struggling with you doing it, don’t. It’s just food.

And to the side who thinks it’s not ok, he says grow up: this isn’t a matter of right and wrong. Stop calling things “evil” that aren’t. It’s just food.

And then he writes this in verses 17-18:

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Romans 14:17-18 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.”

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We could say it this way:

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Following Jesus = More Favor

Because that’s how it works in Jesus’ kingdom.

Hold on to what really matters and let the rest go. Righteous, joyful, and peaceful people win over divisive people.

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That’s what really matters. Righteousness—not being right. Joy—not divisiveness. Peace—not platforms.

That’s how it is in the kingdom of God. There might be a lot of different convictions on different issues and matters in the kingdom—but only a few things really matter. Let’s keep those things front and center. Let’s be known for those things more than any other.

Last spot and we’re done. Take a look with me at what Paul says to the church in Thessalonica:

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1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 “...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”

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Here’s the point:

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Following Jesus = More Favor

Because that’s how it works in Jesus’ kingdom.

Hold on to what really matters and let the rest go. Righteous, joyful, and peaceful people win over divisive people.