Quest 4
Text: Luke 2:1-20
That might be a difficult question to answer . . .
Example: Does Kirby Smart, coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, play favorites? Does any coach who wants to win play favorites?
Perhaps the question should be: What does God favor?
Our text concerns shepherds who received the birth announcement of Jesus.
To whom would you have given the birth announcement?
Did God play favorites by selecting shepherds?
Shepherding was a humble occupation. It was the occupation of Abraham, Moses, and David.
WHAT DOES THIS TEACH US?
First, remember where we live: our culture favors the rich.
Example: The 400 richest Americans added 4.5 trillion dollars to their wealth in 2021. That was a 40% increase to their wealth during the pandemic.
Another example: The Golden State Warriors minority owner, billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya, boldly stated a week ago "nobody cares" about the Uyghur genocide in China.
Not rich but would like to be? Listen to Jesus: “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24)…And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)
God’s favorites are humble people.
Consider just a few verses -
2 Samuel 22:28 - You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.
Matthew 23:11-12 - The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
1 Peter 5:5-6 - Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
And consider the parable of two men praying (Luke 18:9-14).
While our culture values possessions, God favors generosity.
You don’t have to be rich to be generous. Consider a story from the life of Christ (Luke 21:1-4): Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
A lack of generosity is the root of the injustice in this world. Injustice in this world is due to a distribution problem, not to a resource problem. Example: People are starving in the world while we stockpile surplus wheat. The nation of Somalia, the 2nd poorest country in the world and the most malnutrition, has 59% of their population undernourished, 31% of their children stunted, and a child mortality rate of 11.7%.
We are funnels of God’s gifts, not buckets of his blessings.
When God favors you, you get more responsibility, not more privilege.
Jesus told a parable which points this out (Matthew 25:21) - His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Jesus said, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” (Luke 12:48).
