Defining the Favor of God

http://pastors.com/defining-the-favor-of-god/

January 28, 2012

 

The phrase “favor of God” seems to be growing in popularity, and I’m glad. It’s a biblical phrase – a good phrase. But it’s often misunderstood. I once heard a guy talk about finding a parking spot right up front on a busy shopping day because of the “favor of God.” I pictured in my mind the pregnant lady with triplets who had to park a football field away because of the favor of God upon this Pastor.

A recent story from LarkNews (satire, by the way – don’t start an email rumor mill – it’s fake) highlights our western view of God’s favor…

Christian family blessed through others’ misfortune

NEW CASTLE, Del. — Sam and Victoria Gutman have always been smart shoppers, but they have gone to another level during the recent recession, buying automobiles, computers and more from distressed owners.

“God continues to bless us,” says Sam. “All things really do work for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. We’re living proof.”

Last week they bought a Lexus coupe from a man who lost his job — and pension — when his employer collapsed.

“He was weeping when he gave me the keys,” Sam says. “I got that car for a third of what it’s worth. Beautiful leather seats, new tires. God is so good.”
Victoria fondly recalls buying a bedroom suite from a couple going through an acrimonious divorce.
“That was one of our best deals yet,” she says. “They drove the price down just to spite each other. That lovely set adorns our bedroom and is a lasting testimony to God’s provision.”
…
Even the home they live in was purchased as a foreclosure after weeks of aggressive counter-offering.
“God helped us negotiate that one down until we were practically stealing it from them,” Victoria says. “It belonged to a guy who was laid off and had to get a job at McDonald’s. The tilework is unbelievable.”
“…God continues to bless.”
via LarkNews

Scripture, however, presents a different understanding of the favor of God, and it comes out in the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!… Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!”
~ Luke 1:28-30 NLT

Mary and Joseph certainly didn’t enjoy rich circumstances. Situationally, they seemed anything but blessed. Joseph worked as a carpenter to earn the family’s daily bread. The trek to Bethlehem was challenging because of Mary’s pregnancy and we all know that there was found no room for them in the inn in such a small town. But she still enjoyed the favor of God like few in history had.
If the favor of God isn’t necessarily material or financial, then what is it? It’s simply the undeserved kindness of God. God, in His sovereignty and His good will toward His children, chooses at His own initiative to show undeserved kindness to people.
I don’t know why Mary was chosen for this role, but I do know that it wasn’t on the basis of how good she was. She, like the rest of us, was a sinner, saved by the grace of God. While I do believe we can live in such a way that we are more ready recipients of His favor, I still believe His favor is granted in His sovereignty, which makes it all the more beautiful when we see it.
We can identify God’s favor when we see three things happening…

1. God has sovereignly chosen a recipient of His grace.
2. God has blessed that recipient in one way or another.
3. God has intentions that His blessing be shared with others.

I don’t see, in Scripture, God’s favor granted to people simply for their own enjoyment, but rather so that the lives of others can be changed and God can be glorified. Our enjoyment of His blessings brings Him pleasure and glory in the eyes of others.

God’s gracious kindness is His to give, and He gives it when, to whom, and how He chooses. But Scripture also invites all of us to be partakers – to come by faith and receive the gift of Jesus Christ, freely offered for all the world. In other words, while none of us can demand or expect God’s favor, we can claim it on the basis of grace – on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

The favor of God isn’t about having more money or easier circumstances. It’s about enjoying the kindness of God, sovereignly, yet freely offered to all who will receive Jesus Christ and the life He has to offer.

Source: BrandonACox.com

My Church Model Is Better Yours

January 14, 2012 By Derwin Gray

“The Mega Church is the best!”
“No! The House/Organic Church is the best!”
“No way, bro! The Hipster Church is the best!”
“The Traditional Church was good for the Apostle Paul, therefore it is still the best!”
We slam the Mega Church, saying it’s “too corporate and shallow.”
We slam the House Church/Organic Church as just “a bunch of bitter and disgruntled people who were burned in a Mega Church, so that now they just want to meet together with a ‘four and no more’ mentality.”
We slam the Hipster Church as too “technologically driven and entertainment-based, with music so loud it will bruise your internal organs.”
And we slam the Traditional Church as “dead and irrelevant.”

Enough already! STOP IT!

Last time I checked, the New Testament doesn’t saying anything about Mega Church, House Church, Organic Church, Hipster Church, or Traditional Church.

ECCLESIA
The New Testament simply speaks of Jesus’ Ecclesia (Church). Ecclesia comes from two words, ek, meaning “out,” and kaleo, meaning “to call.” The Church literally means “the gathering of the called-out ones.”
The word Ecclesia originally had more of a political aspect to it. Missiologists Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, in their book ReJesus, on page 32, point out that in the Apostle Paul’s time, an ecclesia was a gathering of elders in a community.
In smaller villages and towns across Judea, local leaders gathered regularly to discuss and deliberate over a variety of social and political dilemmas facing the community. The ecclesia was a gathering of wise community leaders, brought together by their common vision for the shalom of the wider community. In essence, the ecclesia was a community within a community whose function was to add value to the place in which they lived (Frost & Hirsch, ReJesus, 32).

MISSIONARIES
As Jesus’ “called-out ones,” we must embrace and see ourselves as sent by Jesus as missionaries into the villages of which we are a part, to add value, to bring wisdom, to cultivate a better village through incarnating the Gospel (Frost & Hirsch, ReJesus, 32). Our lives, through abiding in Christ and the Spirit’s power, are an invitation to those not yet in the ecclesia, to join us as they see us bringing God’s Kingdom into our sphere of influence.
Essentially, the ecclesia is a community of Jesus Christ look-alikes (disciples) that infiltrate every facet of society, doing good and infecting non-carriers of grace with grace. At the core of God’s rescue and healing mission on Planet Earth is His community called the Church.

LEADERSHIP, ORDINANCES, AND FUNCTION
Pastor Mark Driscoll and Dr. Gerry Bershears, in their book Doctrine, offer this helpful biblical definition of the local church,
The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the great commandment and the great commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy.

SIZE DOESN’T MATTER! AND NEITHER DOES THE MODEL!

As God’s missionary movement, each local church must contextualize to fit the lost people within the community God has assigned them to reach and bless.

The size or model of the local church is not the issue. A local church can be called a Mega Church, Organic Church, House Church, Hipster Church or Traditional Church, and God can use these diverse models greatly for His glory.