One moment of favor is worth a thousand days of labor.
God wants us to know how much He loves us and what He is doing to give us the opportunity to live with Him forever in a world without sin. This is why God has labored diligently the past 6000 years, choosing men and women and working with them to provide examples for us to follow.
God even went a step further and inspired men to record the life stories of these examples in the Bible. The most amazing account ever recorded is the account of the birth of Jesus. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
The Bible gives us a record of so many events surrounding the birth of Jesus. This morning we are going to look back to that first Christmas. It was right about this time of the year when the Angel Gabriel first visited a young virgin named Mary in the city of Nazareth.
Luke 1 NKJV
26 ¶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name wasMary.
28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.
30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.
32 “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
33 “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
I’ve been to Nazareth and walked the old city several times imagining what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph and Jesus living there. When the Angel Gabriel visited Mary we’re told that there were only about 400 families living in Nazareth. It had a city market and a synagogue situated on the top of the hill of Nazareth with stone houses all around.
Mary must have been inside and alone when Gabriel appeared because of the words Luke uses to paint that picture for us. It begins, “And having come in …”. In that time, Virgins who were already engaged to be married, as was Mary, were often found alone either in prayer or preparation, making sure their lamps were filled and their wedding garments ready. They did not know when the trumpet would sound and the bridegroom would come.
Let’s read a portion of Luke’s account of the first Christmas.
Luke 1
28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
This greeting was common among God’s people butdelivered in an unusual way. It was not proper for a man to say this to a woman who was engaged, especially in a private setting. This gave her reason to be a little concerned. She asked herself, what is he doing here and what does he mean? Where is he going with this?
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.
30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Not only were the words gracious but we can so well imagine the formidable presence of this angel who had just been sent by God with the holiest of messages. At times it is not only the words which impact us but the spirit with which they are delivered. No doubt Gabriel’s words pierced Mary’s soul and spoke to her in a way nothing else, but the word of God could. One Word from God can change everything.
The angel said to her … “Do not be afraid” … why? … because, as I said a moment ago, you are highly favored, and the Lord is with you … you are blessed among women for you have found favor with Almighty God!
One moment of favor is worth a thousand days of labor.
Later Luke takes notice that as a young man, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with both God and man. Imagine what it would be like to find out that you have favor with God.
In Luke 1:30, the phrase, “do not be afraid”, the English word afraid = Greek Word: phobeo – where we get the word Phobia. Phobeo means:
• To run away from; stay away from; to hide mentally or physically because of fear, worry or anxiety.
• To imagine something will hurt you, even when it’s presently not, and maybe never has … nonetheless, you’re afraid …
Fear itself is not always unreasonable … but … unrealistic fear is. How do we know if our fear is unrealistic? Well, if God says, “don’t be afraid”, then it would be unreasonable to let fear control us.
Did you know there are some really bizarre fears alive in the minds of people around us? There is an identifiable phobia of trees; there’s fear of the color yellow; even a fear of bellybuttons; and wind; stringphobia; there is a diagnosable phobia of taking a shower or bathing or being clean; dancing phobia: not afraid you can’t dance but rather afraid of other people who are dancing; and, tons of people seem to suffer from a really hard to pronounce phobia: Arachibutyrophobia – The fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
Now I can understand getting a little anxious about Angels showing up and popping in, out of thin air but, peanut butter? Who’s afraid of peanut butter? Evidently lots of people are …
One of the latest phobias to be researched and diagnosed during the past decade is Nomophobia. We are told that more than 50% of people in the UK and almost that same percentage of people in the US suffer from this fear which could not have even existed prior to March 13, 1984.
Nomophobia is a crippling, all-consuming phobia that lives in the minds of many people. It so consumes their lives that they miss work, lose sleep, go into deep depression, spend large sums of money, demolishhomes, experience fits of rage, and become so mentally and emotionally dysfunctional and some even refuse to eat, bathe or even take one more step.
What is Nomophobia, as if some of you have not already googled it … Nomophobia is the fear of being without your mobile phone or the use of it due to loss or low or no battery, poor cellular signal or going into situations which discourage the use of mobile phones. Some suffer from such extreme nomophobia they experience severe panic attacks and have to keep their hand on their phone at all times, even when they’re sleeping.
As I said, Fear itself is not always unreasonable … but … unrealistic fear is. You are not going to die if you can’t access social media for a day or two.
Fear stops us; shuts us down; torments us; controls us; captivates us; robs us of confidence; diminishes our strength; lies to us; distracts us from more important things and limits our potential. Fear wants to destroy our life. Fear torments the soul and keeps that soul in bondage.
The only thing you need to fear is something that’s bigger and stronger than your God … and for me,that’s just not realistic … especially when my God is with me.
For Mary to have been afraid for her future was unreasonable. Why? Because, the angel Gabriel toldher that she had the favor of God on her life.
Imagine what it would be like to have the favor of God on your life … You’d be unstoppable, or should be. When Jesus was about 33 years old, He was speaking to a crowd of people and a certain woman spoke up:
Luke 11 NKJV
27 ¶ And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Jesus quickly acknowledged that his mom was blessed,but He also told the crowd that those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice are more blessed than His mother. More blessed than Mary? How can this be? Because, not only is God with you, and over-shadowing you, the Son of God actually lives inside of you. He moves in when you get Born-Again!
So, if you don’t have Him living in your heart yet, allow me to personally introduce you to the Star of the Christmas Story, Jesus, the Son of God. More than just being brave or courageous; more than just learning how to control your anxieties with mantras and meds; more than learning how to practice Christianity, let me to introduce you to the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the:
• Alpha and the Omega
• The Beginning and the End
• The First and the Last
• The Author and the Finisher
• The One Who Was, Is and Is to come
• He is the Son of God
• The Prince of Peace
• The Promised Messiah
• The Lamb of God
• The King of all Kings
• Firstborn among many brethren
• The Savior of the World
• And He wants to be your Friend
From the Babe in the manger to the King of all Glory, Jesus is alive and He is Lord!
You are highly favored by God … because Jesus gave His life for you. And one moment of God’s favor can be worth an eternity of favor and blessing.
There is no reason to be afraid of the future … because you have been given the opportunity to receive the Son of Almighty God as your Savior.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
Whoever fears the future is not understanding how perfectly God loves His children. He did not save us to punish us, or torment us, but He saved us from torment and punishment. God has an eternal plan for every one of His children.
Have you been Born-Again? Does Jesus live in your heart?
Celebrate the Christmas Story this year by asking the Son of God to save your soul and show you His perfect love. Don’t be like the Bethlehem Inn-keepers, make room for Jesus in your life this Christmas.
