Fear and Favor

Is the church responsible for its reputation in society? Not to be indecisive here, but I can see it both ways. If reputation is nothing more than the opinions of others about us, then I’d say no. We can’t be responsible for what people think because we don’t control them. Whether they’re right or wrong, their ideas belong to them.

But we can give people reasons for holding us in high esteem. We can motivate them to sneer at us, too. What the church says and does contributes to how the world sees us.

I was reading a passage in Acts that brought to my mind the issue of reputation. I noticed some repeating themes, so as I did in the last series (links one, two, and three), I reformatted the paragraph. Here’s the structure I found in Acts 2:41-47 (HCSB):

“⁴¹So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them.”

“⁴²And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. ⁴³Then fear came over everyone, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.”

“⁴⁴Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. ⁴They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need.”

“⁴⁶Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude, ^47apraising God and having favor with all the people.”

“^47bAnd every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved.”

Verses 41 and 47b highlight the growth of the church. Evangelism was working; people responded to the gospel. In big numbers and every day! Friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers getting saved–how could folks not observe all this?

Next, verses 42-43 and 46-47a emphasize the devotional life of the first Christians. For them, the faith wasn’t a series of beliefs stuck in the back of their minds. Jesus Christ changed the way they lived. New ideas, new family, new commitments, even miraculous experiences. Everything was different and people noticed!

Finally, verses 44-45 stress the generosity of the early church. Practical love showed society what the Christian life was all about.

I could dig into each of these themes, but I want to explore an aspect of the second one. You can see that I put two words in bold: fear and favor. These are the two principal reactions of the community to the church.

At first glance, these are opposites. Why would people look with favor on a group they’re afraid of? They wouldn’t! Instead, they’d blather about how foolish these Christians were for believing Jesus was the Messiah.

If we put fear and favor in a blender and mix them up, what do you suppose we’d get? How about respect? Or admiration? In other words, the early church had a good reputation in Jerusalem.

But like we said earlier, reputation is a two-way street. We need to act in loving and dignified ways, but we can’t force people to like us.

So how did the Jerusalem church gain a positive reputation in a short time?

The three themes show us how. Knowing good news is one thing; sharing it with others is something else. If we adhere to the truth of the gospel, we won’t keep it to ourselves. We’ll let others know how to enter into the life of forgiveness and fulfillment we’ve received in Jesus. 

And if we commit ourselves to Christ, we’ll want to learn all we can about Him. That’s dedication, and it transforms our souls. Our values change, decisions are different, and our motivations become pure. The process of growing in Christ will include everything from the mundane to the miraculous. We eat together with other believers, and we also pray for God to do the impossible.

The closer we get to Jesus, the more sensitive we become for brothers and sisters who are struggling. We empathize with what they’re going through, whether we’ve had similar experiences. What binds us together is not our histories but our hearts. Filled with His Spirit, we must act.

The society and culture of Jerusalem in the first century was of a monotheistic people awaiting the kingdom of God. What the Jewish people saw in the church reminded them of the kingdom, but it didn’t quite fit their expectations. Curious, they didn’t know what to make of it. Was this a God thing or some strange cult? But so impressive were the followers of Jesus the community recognized something special was at hand.

I don’t know what the environment of your church is like. People desperate for spiritual reality might surround you. Or your town might be a haven of hostiles. But as you continue to serve Jesus, the Lord can grant you the fear and favor of the area’s residents. How they respond to you is up to them. Your duty–our privilege–is to give them something worth responding to.