The Favor of God

This word – FAVOR – can change your life. In the Old Testament it means grace, charm, acceptance, goodwill or desire. In the New Testament, “favor” is from the Greek word “Charis” or “Grace.” It is the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life; the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace. Lance Wallnau may have defined God’s favor the best when he said, “Favor is the special affection of God toward you that releases an influence on you, so that others are inclined to like you, or to cooperate with you.”

Favor is different from grace, although it comes from the same root word. Grace is undeserved, unmerited. But the Bible is full of instruction about how we can obtain favor. Often I think we believe that God’s favor is reserved for the giants of the faith, i.e. Moses, Joseph, Ruth, Nehemiah, Mary, Paul or John. These luminaries we know God granted favor to but we also realize that we are not in their spiritual class. We need to remember, however, that God's favor is not reserved just for the gifted of the flock. It is available to all of us no matter our stature. But how do we get it?

There are many Scriptures which teach that favor is obtained by the righteous, “For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12). “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth” (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). “When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7).

There really is no magic formula when it comes to God’s favor. He bestows it on anyone who favors Him and His commandments. In Matthew 6:33 we are told to put the kingdom of first and “all these things will be added unto you.” These “things” are referring to our physical needs – food, water, clothing and shelter. So we see that God will continually bless our lives even down to our basic needs IF we put His kingdom first in our lives. And I think this is where most of us struggle. The cares and trials of this world seemingly make it impossible to put the things of God first, yet this is how we obtain His favor. Of course, this makes perfect sense as God wants a relationship with us not just a token hour of worship each Sunday. He wants what is important to Him to be important to us.

I have found in my own life that as I have walked in obedience, God will meet my needs and the needs of my family in ways I would never have expected. Just this past week, I had a friend who I have only known for a few months give me bags of clothes and toys for my daughters because her daughter had outgrown them. I can’t even begin to express the gratitude I have toward this woman as we are not in a financial position to be able to afford to buy such things right now. This is just a simple example but I found a wonderful list of what God’s favor can do in your life. I have included it below. I hope it is a blessing as you realize all that God wants to bestow upon your life as you commit to following Him.

What God’s Favor Can Do in Your Life

1. Produce supernatural promotion and increase (Gen 39:21)

2. Bring restoration of everything the enemy has stolen (Exodus 3:21)

3. Bring honor in the midst of adversaries (Exodus 11:3)

4.  Produce increased assets (Deuteronomy 33:23)

5. Give great and unusual victories even against impossible odds (Joshua 6:20; 10: 9, 20)

6. Give recognition and promotion even when you seem to the least likely one to receive it
(1 Samuel 16:22)

7. Produce prominence and preferential treatment, favor and kindness (Esther 5:8)

8. Get petitions granted, even by ungodly civil authority (Esther 5:8)

9. Change rules, regulations, even laws if necessary to your advantage (Esther 8:5)

10. Win battles you did not even have to fight because God will fight them for you (Psalm 44:3)
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“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” - Jeremiah 29:11

Christianity Characterized in a Word

During this past week I have been studying Biblical love. Most people know 1 John 4:8 “God is love” and the fact that Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. In addition, many people are familiar with portions of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, also known as the great love chapter of the Bible, as it is often quoted during marriage ceremonies.

But what does Biblical love look like in action?

I believe one of the best examples in Scripture that pictures the type of love Jesus has for His children is found in the life of the Disciple John. He is referred to as the disciple Jesus loved and it is said of him that he loved Jesus. This of course begs the question - did the other disciples not love Jesus? Or did John simply love him more?

According to John MacArthur, when we read John’s gospel account, “we enter into the most sacred holy place of all, the holy of holies and we see God in person, God in flesh. And so the fourth gospel is the gospel of all gospels. It is the holy of holies of the New Testament. It is almost as if we ought to take off our shoes for we stand on holy ground as we approach this gospel because it presents in the most magnificent glory the deity of Jesus Christ. It talks about His humanity, it talks about His servant hood, it talks about His kingship, but it presents primarily His deity. It is behold your God that John is trying to get across.”

It would seem based on John’s writings that he had an intimate knowledge of Jesus unlike anyone else. Of course, John was the only disciple at the cross. Even Peter who when told that Jesus would suffer many things and be killed, bolded declared, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” (Matthew 16:22)  We also remember that when the Lord was carrying His cross to Calvary, Peter was busy denying Him three times.

But John was there, wasn’t he? He was at the cross as Jesus told him to take care of His mother. John, unlike the other disciples, was not fearful of losing his life or ashamed to be associated with Jesus because he loved him. Because he LOVED Him. Love compelled John to follow the Savior anywhere – even to the cross. And as a result of this great love, when John was isolated on the island of Patmos for his faith, cut off from civilization on that small, deserted island. Shut off from everyone. He was shut up to God and there received the most extensive revelation of future events ever shown to any writer in the New Testament.

Unfortunately in today’s word, love is associated with a feeling or an emotion. The Greek language, which is the language of the New Testament, uses two different words to describe and define love. The most commonly used Greek word translated “love” in the New Testament is “agape.” This love is represented by God's love for us. It is a non-partial, sacrificial love probably best exemplified by God's provision for our rebellion as found, by no coincidence, in the Gospel of John chapter three, verse 16, “For God so loved (agape) the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

In contrast, our love is usually conditional and based upon how other people behave toward us. The Greek word “phileo” defines this kind of love, often translated “brotherly love.” Phileo is an emotional kind of love. It is something that can be experienced by both believers and non-believers. This is in contrast to agape, which is love extended through the Holy Spirit and requires a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. This kind of love gives and sacrifices expecting nothing back in return.

As we walk with the Lord and become conformed to His image, agape love should be apparent in our life. It is this type of love that makes the world sit up and take notice because it is only possessed by believers. It is agape love in action that magnifies the message of the gospel for it is the very center of it – God loving us while we were yet sinners! It is a statement we should never get over. It is a love we should never get over. And it should compel us to follow the Savior, as it did John, all the way to the cross.

"Every Christian would agree that a man's spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God." - C. S. Lewis

Reflecting on the Resurrection - The Foundation and Pinnacle of the Christian Faith

First, Happy Resurrection Sunday! As we approach this day, I am reminded that as a Christian this is not a day that we only celebrate once a year, but every day as it is the very underpinning of our faith. For you see, without the resurrection of Christ, we have no faith. The birth, work, ministry and death of Jesus Christ is all in vain without the resurrection. It was there, in that tomb, that Jesus defeated the grave and death, and it is this fact that is the very lynchpin of all that we believe and hold to be true in this life and the next.

In I Corinthians, chapter 15, the Apostle Paul gives the best dissertation in the Bible on the importance of the resurrection as he states, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty….And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (verses 13, 14, 17, 19). I do not believe there is another series of verses in the entire Bible that sums up more perfectly the condition of the Christian without the resurrection. Paul goes as far as to say that if Christ did not rise than we should be pitied, and indeed we should be.

In his book Mere Christianity , C.S. Lewis sums up the work and mission of Christ this way, “I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [Jesus]: ‘I am ready to accept Jesus as a great teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man, who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God [who rose from the dead and claimed to have the power to forgive sins] or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool; you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

I would also add that the New Testament emphasizes throughout its pages that only if the resurrection of Christ is real is the Christian faith not an illusion, and more so, the resurrection alone, single handily substantiates every claim Christ made regarding his identity and life’s purpose.

This truth is something to behold, isn’t it? Only the Christian faith professes to have an incarnate God who came to earth to be a sacrificial Savior to atone for the sins of a people who were powerless to change their sinful condition before a holy and just God. It is the Christian faith at its core that elevates the resurrection of Jesus as the means by which all who have put their faith in Him for the forgiveness of their sins will also rise one day as He did (John 20:31). It is the resurrection that is the gateway to God, the great pearl of all theology to ponder, and the crescendo of the Christian faith.

Let’s all rejoice this Resurrection Sunday with the Apostle Paul as he proclaims, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades [Grave], where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:50-56). Amen.

“Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: ‘a virgin's womb and an empty tomb.’ Jesus entered our world through a door marked ‘No Entrance’ and left through a door marked ‘No Exit.’” - Peter Larson

In Defense of the Bible

This past week I was at the library searching files of microfilm for Christian articles that the Pastor of my church had written in the late 1980’s when he was pastoring a church in Newfoundland, Canada. The newspaper I was researching was called the Western Star, which is the daily local newspaper for the Newfoundland area.

As I was scrolling through each issue, I came upon an article in the "Letters to the Editor" section that made a compelling case for why we can trust the Bible and believe it is the infallible Word of God. The letter was written in response to a weekly religion columnist named Michael Newton, who, as far as I can tell, spent most of his time researching scholarly works and rhetoric that denounced the Bible as being inspired of God. As you will see, Mr. Newton’s repeated attacks on the veracity of the Bible incited this reader, Robert M. Pike, to pen the following article. I am included it in its entirety because it is one of the most well-written and well-argued articles that I have read on the subject.

Please comment and let me know your thoughts.

Thank God for the Bible

Sir, I would like to make a few remarks regarding recent articles by Mr. Newton in the Religion Online section. Since Mr. Newton’s articles on the Christian religion differ very little, I see no need to be specific. I am reminded of an old poem that reads as follows:

Last eve I passed by the Blacksmiths door
and heard the anvil ring the vesper chime,
and looking in I saw upon on the floor,
old hammers wrecked by beating years of time.

"How many anvils have you had," said I,
"to wear and batter all those hammers so?"
"Just one" said he, and with a twinkling eye,
"that anvil wears the hammers out you know."

And so I thought the anvil of God’s Word,
through ages skeptic blows have beat upon,
yet though the noise of falling blows is heard,
the anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone.

Writers of Mr. Newton’s persuasion remind me of the Roman Senator Cato who ended all his speeches in the Senate with the words, "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be destroyed), only they are supplying the word "God" for Carthage. They follow the line of Karl Marx who once said his sole purpose in life was to destroy God in the hearts of men. Such people who believe that God is obsolete have no personal responsibility to a Creator, and of course, feel no need of the Bible or a Personal Savior. Once, while talking to unbelievers of His day, Jesus gave them advice that could well be taken today. He said, "You search the Scriptures (the Law and the Prophets), for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me" (John 5:39).

Bible critics attack the story of creation and the work of Jesus Christ (John 1). They attack His virgin birth (Matthew 1:18-22); His life and earthly ministry; they attack His work of redemption (John 19:28-30); they deny the declaration of God that He (Jesus) was His son and that He resurrected (Romans 1:4); and they make a mockery of His coming again. In other words, they deny all prophecy whether foretold or forth-told. If they could have disapproved all this they would have succeeded in destroying God. God stakes His claim to being God on His ability to foretell the future saying, "For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done" (Isaiah 46:9-10).

In the New Testament, we have the Apostle Peter saying, "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." One would think that would be sufficient proof, but he goes on to say, "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed…knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:16-21).

More than 2,500 years ago, Daniel said that many in the end time would go to and fro and knowledge would be increased (12:4). It seems to me that prophecy has amply been fulfilled since the turn of the century. I need not elaborate.

Before I finish I would like to mention two or three items to show how far ahead of modern science the Bible really is:
1) When most people thought the world was flat, Isaiah said, "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth" (40:22). Job declares, "He hangs the earth on nothing" (26:7). What scientist could give a better description of the earth’s shape and position in orbit?
2) For hundreds of years the basic elements of the world were thought to be earth, air, water and fire. Then came the scientific age and they discovered the atom, electron, proton and photon - an amazing discovery indeed. But what does the Bible say? "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebrews 11:3).
3) We know that the world’s food supply is made possible by the hydrologic cycle. In 1841 a scientist using a thermometer invented by Galileo in 1593 and a barometer invented by Torricelli in 1643, showed that the clouds were actually the result of rising vapor. Hundreds of years before the Bible says, "For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man" (Job 36:27-28). In Ecclesiastes 1:7, we read, "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, there they return again."

Thank God for the Bible.

- Robert M. Pike