Have you ever stopped and thought about the amount of faith Mary and Joseph had?
Matthew 1:19 says, "Then Joseph her husband, being a just [man], and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily."
Joseph was a just man. Romans 1:17 says the just shall live by faith.
Luke 1:30 "And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God."
In order to find favor with God, in order to please Him, you must have faith. Faith is a pre-requisie for pleasing God. (Hebrews 11:6)
So, the Bible alludes to the fact that Mary and Joseph were people of faith... not just religious people, but people whose faith was strong and deeply rooted in the Lord. (Faith, remember, is a deep-rooted trust and conviction of the truth of anything. Faith toward God means knowing that He is, that He is Who He says He is, and He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6)).
Mary and Joseph's faith would be put to the test during the nine months of pregnancy and birth of Jesus Christ. (In all honesty, it would be tested throughout His childhood too - not that Jesus was a hard Child to rear, but can you imagine the responsibility of rearing the only begotten Son of God?)
For Mary, her faith meant making a trip to see Elisabeth after God told her through the angel that she was expecting. (It's hard traveling with an expectant mother in today's world, can you imagine how it was back then?) Her faith meant being an expecting mother before marriage. (What will the others think?) Her faith meant traveling to Bethlehem and giving birth in a stable. (Is this sanitary?) It meant getting up and moving to Egypt on a moment's notice. (I need more time to pack.) Her faith meant freaking out when she lost track of Him in Jerusalem when He was 12. It meant following His ministry, and watching Him be crucified on the Cross. It meant trusting God through all of that!
For Joseph, His faith meant marrying a woman who was already having a Baby. It meant not divorcing her or stoning her. It meant being responsible for providing for the mother of Christ and the Son of God. It meant having to take special steps to protect them. It meant teaching that Son how to be a carpenter.
Notice, both Mary and Joseph had faith before God called them to rear His Son. Now, I've heard it said when someone is going through a tough time... "God is building my faith." Nope. He's building your patience and hope (Romans 5). No, faith building is your job.
Do you want to be part of something special in God's kingdom? You have to have faith. How do you get faith? Through reading and studying the Word of God. (Romans 10:17- faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.)
Get in the Word, as much as possible. In doing so, your faith will be increased and God will use you for something awesome.
9 comments:
Did you notice the word "favor" is the same word used as grace in Eph. 2:8? I am preaching this passage Sunday and its on my mind.
Is the favor God showed Mary connected to her life or her faith, OR is it unmerited favor?
Interesting thought. I didn't notice that.
Ephesians 2:8 says it is By grace that you are saved through faith...
God's grace is unmerited favor upon us that will do us no good unless we have faith. We are sinners against God, thus no favor He bestows upon us is merited.
Plug this into Mary's situation... she was still a sinner. So the favor God extended to her was not merited based on that fact. She did, however, have faith, so God favored her, saved her and used her.
So, my answer to your question is... both. The favor was connected to her faith (her faith which would have affected the way she lived life, see James 2:18, Romans 1:17, Hebrews 11:6) but it was still unmerited because she was a sinner.
Does this help? Or even make sense?
(I am trying to answer this between stories. I just finished one on the Rusk HS Basketball team, and am now having to write about the Texas State Railroad.)
Did God's grace appear before faith in salvation? Yes. And faith is necessary to be "favored." This sounds like a catch-22, but it isn't.
God has unmerited favor on everyone. "God so loved the world." Once faith enters the picture, God's favor increases. It is still unmerited, but He favors those more who have faith.
Luke 1:28 says Mary was highly favored. Why? Because of her faith.
The foreknowledge of God comes into play. Mary was chosen because God knew her heart, how she would respond, and how she felt about God. She was a faithful woman, a woman of faith and God knew how she would handle this situation.
Noah, was likely a man of faith before being called out to build the ark. The Bible says "But Noah found grace in the eyes of God," then his life is described. I believe Genesis introduced Noah as having found grace in the eyes of God, then brought us up to speed on how he was living.
The phrase "highly favored" is one word that occurs only twice in Scriptures. The other time it is translated "make accepted."
The meaning of the word is:
1 to make graceful. 1a charming, lovely, agreeable. 2 to peruse with grace, compass with favour. 3 to honour with blessings.
The verse could be translated "Hail, accepted one, the Lord is with thee."
I'm not trying to argue your point, but I'm not so sure that faith has anything to do with why God chose Mary.
Mary was not with child before she heard the announcement, but she was favored before her response to the announcement.
Could God have chosen someone else to have this baby? Did God chose Mary because she was the most faithful women on the earth?
I don't think we have scripture to back this up.
The point I was trying to make was two-fold.
(1) Mary and Joseph had to have a lot of faith in order to be used by God to bring forth His Son. The situation itself demanded a great amount of faith.
(2) God uses those who have faith.
I agree with that!
This is seen in her response to God's grace toward her.
God offers us great opportunities to be used by Him, but many times we don't accept these offers and aren't willing or greatful in our responses to His grace in our life.
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