All I Want For Christmas is Love

We're doing a series here as we approach Christmas at Cross-Connection called "All I Want for Christmas." We realize, as we open the Scriptures, that we have deep spiritual needs for grace, hope, and peace, and all of those come through the love of God. Today, we're talking about His love.

Open with me to Romans chapter 5. Amen. Good morning and Merry Christmas to all of you! Thank you, Christian. Thank you, Bishop. I so appreciate it. Would you mind standing with me this morning and taking out your Bible? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. We're going to open to the New Testament book of Romans, which is about two-thirds of the way through your Bible. You'll find the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and then Romans.

As you're turning to Romans chapter 5, just a brief announcement: Next week is the last Sunday before Christmas, so we're going to do something new. We're going to call it Ugly Christmas Sweater Sunday. If you have one of those, we encourage you to wear it. I have it on good authority that there may be some pastoral staff who might have them as well.

Romans chapter 8 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus," unless you don't wear your ugly Christmas sweater on Ugly Christmas Sweater Sunday. It doesn't say that, so don't worry! There is no condemnation if you don't wear one, and there is no condemnation if you do. It would just be fun.

Now, picking it up at verse one in Romans chapter 5, Paul says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Not only that, but we also glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God...

Demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were His enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Not only that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Father, as we have the Scriptures open before us today, we ask that You would open them to us by Your Holy Spirit. God, that You would work so that our ears and hearts would be open as well to receive from You what You want to speak to us today. These words were written under inspiration two thousand years ago, and we ask that You would help us to see, by the same inspiration, by the same Spirit who inspired them, the application that You want to speak to us today.

If God, Your word is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, it is able to transform us by the renewing of our minds and to cleanse us by the washing of the water of this word. So God, continue Your work, Your sanctifying work in us as we come before the Scriptures today. For we ask this in Jesus' name, and all those agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

We call this time of year Advent, which properly defined means a coming into place or an arrival. Over the last three Sundays leading up to today, we are in this series which we're calling "All I Want for Christmas." We have been considering together the very first point of the first message in this series. A few weeks ago, we noted that Christ's Advent is the arrival of that which we deeply need and ultimately desire.

This time of year, in a lot of ways, is about desire, especially for children. I have four specimens of children, and so I've been hearing a lot of wants and desires over the last many weeks as we're getting ready for Christmas. There's hardly a day that goes by that I don't hear, "I want this for Christmas," or "I want that for Christmas." If I went by their lists, Amazon would be at my house like six times a day. Thankfully, we can't do that. This time of year is so dominated by wants and desires, and we live in...

A culture exists where, in many ways, our needs have been met, and our wants have been fulfilled to the point where we start to think that our wants are actually needs. There certainly are things that we truly need—things that are essential. When we really start to look at the things we have need of, we come to discover pretty quickly that it's not just material things that we need.

There are material needs, but we are more than just material beings. Because we have a spirit and a soul, there are things that are deeper than just material needs. We certainly need things like air to breathe, food to eat, and water to drink. However, in the same way that we need those material, physical, tangible things, I believe that we deeply need grace from God. Not only do we need grace from God, but we also need to have peace with God. Additionally, we have a deep need for hope.

It is very hard to live and to fully experience the abundant life that Jesus spoke of in the Gospel of John without having hope in this world. All three of these things—grace from God, peace with God, and hope in God—are essential needs if we are to experience the abundant life. These are the things that are found in Christ.

The advent of Jesus, His arrival, and His coming into this world, which we celebrate at Christmas, is the coming of Christ—the little child born in Bethlehem. His coming is the arrival of that which we deeply need and desire: grace from God, peace with God, and hope in God. As we've seen in the previous three studies, these things are interconnected; they are joined together. It is impossible, I believe, to have hope in God if you do not also have peace with God.

In the very opening pages of the Bible, specifically in Chapter 3 of Genesis, we read of sin entering the world, and the result is death through sin. Death has spread to all humanity, and we all experience this death in many different ways. In fact, Paul, in Romans Chapter 5, which we just read a moment ago, states that through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin has spread to all of humanity. For thousands upon thousands of years, we see that death has spread.

To all of us, the suffering and brokenness of this world affect our lives. However, God's aim is to deal with that brokenness. We are at enmity with God; we are in conflict with Him as a result of sin, because sin is against the very nature of God. Since the fall in Genesis chapter 3, humanity has been in opposition to God. Therefore, there has to be a resolution to that war, that conflict, so that we can have hope in God. There must be peace with God.

We cannot have peace with God, nor can we have hope, if we do not also have His grace. These concepts are tightly woven together. I am absolutely convinced that as we examine peace, hope, and grace, we cannot receive grace from God that brings peace and hope without the love of God. Love, as we see throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, is the foundation from which God's grace flows. This grace enables the resulting peace with God and the hope that we possess. Ultimately, love becomes the basis for these great gifts.

I think you would probably agree that this time of year, the Christmas season in our culture, particularly in the 21st century in the United States, is largely about giving—giving and receiving. One of the things you discover as you become a giving person is that the words of Jesus are true. It is recorded in the book of Acts in the New Testament that Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

If you grew up as I did, experiencing Christmases filled with receiving gifts, you likely loved that aspect. My kids certainly enjoy receiving gifts. However, as you mature and become the one giving those gifts, you realize there is great joy in giving, just as Jesus said. This principle is recorded in Acts 20:35: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

This Christmas season, characterized in such a significant way in the Western world by giving, would not be possible without the gift given out of love, as described in what is probably the most famous verse of the Bible. You even see it referenced in songs during football season: John 3:16.

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. It is the love of God that is the basis for this gracious gift, which is really the foundation for this season of giving that we also enjoy. So, God's love is the basis.

Point number one on your outline: God gives grace because God loves. He gives grace because He loves. Love is the basis for God's gracious gift that has brought peace with God and gives us hope in God.

Over the last several weeks leading up to today, we've been returning to Romans chapter 5, where all of these ideas—grace, peace, hope, and love—are found. We just read from it a few minutes ago. Look back again at Romans chapter 5, beginning at verse 1. Paul says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith." This is where grace comes in. God, through the gift of His Son, as stated in John chapter 3, verse 16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," has made it possible for us to be justified before a holy God.

Genesis 3 says that we are sinful; we have done things, thought things, and lived things that are in bitter contradiction to the nature of God, against His nature and His law. Therefore, we are in opposition to Him, and justice needs to be satisfied. To be justified is to satisfy that very thing—justice is satisfied, and it is satisfied in the gracious gift of Jesus on the cross.

As you move down through Romans chapter 5, you see that we are justified by His blood. Romans chapter 5 tells us that having been justified, we access this justification by faith, as Paul says in Romans 5, verse 1. Because we have been justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, as stated in verse 2.

Through Him, we also now have access. We have been justified; justice has been satisfied. But God's grace goes further than just dealing with our past. God's grace deals with our present situation. It makes it possible for us to have access to a holy God. This is one of the amazing things as you read through the Old Testament of the Bible. You see how God wanted to have a relationship with humanity, but because of sin, that relationship was separated.

Death right there. Under the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, the first five books of the Bible describe that the only way for sinful humanity to come in contact with God was through the sacrifice of an animal. Through that sacrifice, they could approach God, but there was still a separation. This separation is vividly portrayed in the Old Testament. They had a tabernacle and then a temple under Judaism, and you could only come so close to God. There was an actual tangible representation of the barrier between humanity; it was called a veil. There was a veil between the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God was, and humanity. You could only come to that place through a sacrifice.

But now, in Christ Jesus, because our sin has been dealt with, we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and there we rejoice. Romans chapter 5, verse 2 says we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The Bible is orienting us towards a future in which God returns and establishes His kingdom, His rule and reign here on the earth. When we read in the prophetic scriptures of the Bible about that time, we look forward to it with joy, anticipation, and optimism because it is described as a time with no suffering, no war, and no death. I don't know anybody who would not desire to live in a world where there is no more suffering, no death, and no tears. All those tears are wiped away in that future glory.

So we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, looking forward to that day. Verse 3 states that not only that, but we also glory now in tribulation because we know that tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. Hope does not disappoint. Look at this in verse 5: hope does not disappoint. Why? Because the love of God—did you underline that in your Bible?—has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

There is such a beautiful and sweet progression of what is happening here in Romans chapter 5, verses 1 through 5, as Paul makes it very clear that we have been, in the past tense, justified. Our sin is dealt with in Jesus Christ by the gracious gift of Christ on the cross, and we come in contact with that or lay hold of it by our trust in Jesus. Since we have done that, therefore now we can have peace with God, where there was war, where there was enmity, where there was conflict.

Gone, it's done away with, for He is our peace who has broken down the middle wall of partition. He has removed the veil, if you will, to make it possible for us to come in contact with God. So, we have peace with Him, and now, because of His grace, we have access, and we rejoice in hope of the glory that will come one day. This hope will not leave us disappointed, Paul said, and it will not leave us disappointed because it is on the basis of God's love.

The love of God, as you look through the pages of Scripture, especially in the New Testament, is essential. These are the great things that we deeply need outside of the physical and material needs that every one of us has for air, water, and so forth. We have this deep need in our soul for grace, for peace, and for hope, but we cannot have these things without the love of God.

To see it scripturally, you're in the book of Romans. Turn to the right with me, if you will. We're going to go to a small book in the New Testament called the book of Titus. From Romans to the right, you'll pass 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and so forth. If you hit the big book of Hebrews, you've gone too far; just back up a little bit.

Titus chapter 3, we'll pick it up in verse 3. Paul writes this: "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." This is describing our past condition before Christ Jesus justifies us and begins His wonderful work of transforming and sanctifying us. We were once foolish and disobedient, deceived, and we were hateful.

But when, in verse 4, the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Spirit whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That, having been justified, past tense, by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. There is so much glory, so many spiritual blessings.

In Titus chapter 3, verses 3 through 7, Paul speaks of grace, peace, hope, mercy, justification, regeneration, renewal, and an inheritance of eternal life. We read of all these wonderful things, but what is the basis for this?

Look back at verse 4: "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, it was not by our religious works, it was not by religious ritual, it was not by religious observance, and it was not by any sort of sacrifice that we ourselves could offer. But when the kindness and love of our God and Savior appeared towards us, He rescued, redeemed, and saved us so that we could have all of these things: grace, peace, hope, mercy, justification, and an eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus. All of this is on the basis of the love of God.

Paul speaks about it again in the great book of Ephesians. If you are in Titus, just back up to the left a little bit and find the book of Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter 2, we come to a really famous passage of Scripture that many of you may have read before. We will pick it up at verse 1.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1 says, "And you, God made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind. We were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

But here it is, verse 4: "But God, who is rich in mercy." Why? Because of His great love. Underline those words: "because of His great love with which He loved us." Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved.

He raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, verse 7, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace, here are these famous verses: "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

What is the basis of all of this? Verse 4: "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love."

Because of God's great love, we have access to this grace, this hope, and this mercy. In this peace and this regeneration, we find the hope of eternity that He speaks of in verse 7. There, it says that in the ages to come, He might show the riches of His grace in His kindness toward us who believe. It is going to take all of eternity for us to fully grasp the greatness of the grace and the riches of God that are directed toward us in God's kindness.

Where does this love come from? It all comes from God's love for us. God, in His great love with which He loved us, even when we were completely unlovely, gave us grace and mercy because of His love. Now, where does this love come from? Some of you have served in children's ministry before, so you know the answer to that question. You may have sung the song with the kids from First John, chapter four, verses seven and eight.

First John 4:7-8 says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Where does this love come from? It comes from God because God is love. God doesn't just love as an action; He doesn't just have love or show love.

Point number two on your outline: God loves because God is love; it's His very nature. Sometimes, we in our culture have a difficult time defining or describing love because we throw this word around for all kinds of things. You might love tamales—it's Christmastime, right? You might love tamales, and maybe you love your dog, and then you love your spouse. Hopefully, there's some sort of hierarchy there regarding how you're using that word.

Now, maybe tamales might be a really big, important thing to you, but I'm hoping that your spouse is somewhere higher up on the hierarchy. Even though we use the same word to describe these things, we sometimes have a very difficult time defining just what love is.

Emotion is love and action, and quite frankly, you can answer yes to both of those questions. One of the reasons I believe that we, in our day, have such a difficult time really defining love is not just the problem with the English language—though there is a problem with the English language. Other languages have multiple words for love.

Especially when you go back to the language that the New Testament of the Bible was written in, which was Greek, there are at least four words used to describe love. Three of them are found in the New Testament. We just have one word that we say we love: tamales, our dog, our spouse. But the Bible uses multiple words, and that's helpful.

However, it's not just the deficiency of the English language. I believe that one of the reasons we have a hard time understanding or describing what love is stems from our culture in the West. For the last one hundred and fifty to two hundred years, we have sought to remove God from the consciousness of our culture. It’s no wonder that you would have a hard time understanding what love truly is if you remove God from the culture.

As God reveals Himself to us through the pages of Scripture, we learn that God is love. It's hard for us to fully understand what God is or what love is if we don't have a framework for who God is. One commentator said there is no love in the true sense but that which finds its source in Him. If you remove God from the consciousness of a culture, then what? There are so many things that start to fall apart.

How many of you have ever played that game of Jenga? You take the little blocks out and put them on top. When you remove God from the cultural construct that we have, everything is destabilized—meaning, dignity, identity, morality, love—all of these things go away. This is why Friedrich Nietzsche, when he talked about the death of God, made a profound statement.

If you've ever read "The Madman" by Friedrich Nietzsche, it's pretty amazing because it does not say what a lot of people think Nietzsche was saying. He was basically saying, when he said, "God is dead, and we have killed Him," what shall become of us, the murderers of God? He argues that we don't have any basis for morality or for meaning, and we don't have anything upon which to hang our understanding of what love is.

Love is when we move toward God. Another commentator on love says that because of His nature, God's nature is love; mercy and goodness flow from God like a beautiful river, as sunlight radiates from the sun. Real love has its ultimate source and origin in God.

Now, Paul speaks about this concept of love in the passage that we've been returning to every week in Romans chapter 5. Look back at Romans chapter 5, verse 6: "For when we were still without strength, in due time, or in just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

So, God's love is demonstrated; it's revealed. When we open the Bible, we are engaging with what we call revelation. Theologians and Bible teachers believe that this is the revelation of God and that we cannot know God apart from revelation.

There are three different kinds of revelation that theologians speak about. First, there is general revelation, which the Bible discusses in Psalm chapter 19 and also in Romans chapter 1. Psalm 19 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows forth His handiwork." We can look and see God's nature revealed in creation. Romans 1 also states that God reveals Himself through conscience. The fact that you and I have a conscience that tells us what is right and wrong, at least at a very basic level, is the imprint, the fingerprint, if you will, of God's creation. We see His fingerprints all around the cosmos as well. Creation and conscience cry out to us of a Creator, an origin from which these things came. This is called general revelation.

However, general revelation is deficient. It can tell us that God exists, that He is intelligent, and that He is powerful, but it does not provide a complete understanding of what God is like. To know what God is like, we need special revelation. God speaks in a language that we can understand through what we call prophets in the Old Testament. He reveals Himself, His nature, and His will. What is God like, and what does God like? These two aspects come through special revelation.

Will, but here's the deficiency of special revelation. God can tell us, "I love you." In fact, through the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." However, there's a problem with that revelation; sometimes certain things can be lost in translation.

Those of you who are in a bilingual family, and there are a number of you here in this church, realize that there can be things that are lost in translation. You're trying to explain something, and how many of you have seen those pictures of things we call "Chinese English"? They just use Google Translate to translate the information, and then you look at these things and think, "That's not what that means."

Things can be lost in translation, and because we are broken and fallen, we don't fully understand what love is. We frame love through our broken lens. So when God says, "I've loved you with an everlasting love," we respond, "We don't really know what that means." To explain to us what He really means by love, God moves us into the third form of revelation, which is called personal revelation. God became a man to personally show us what it means when He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."

Romans chapter five, verse eight connects us with this idea: God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This same concept is echoed by John in First John chapter four. He writes, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God." In First John chapter four, verse eight, the next verse, verse nine, says, "In this, the love of God is manifested, revealed, shown to us, displayed toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him."

In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now, that word "propitiation" is difficult because we don't really use it unless we're reading a theology book. Propitiation is a theological term that means atonement or payment.

You see, through sin described in Genesis chapter three, we have a debt that is too great, and we can never pay it. Unfortunately, Americans understand debt really well—national debt, personal debt, consumer debt. We understand debt pretty well, and you understand that if you have a debt and you pay the minimum payment...

You'd be saying that for a long time. The problem is that our debt for sin is so great we can't even afford to pay the minimum payment through our religious rituals, our religious efforts, our good works, our church attendance, our service, or our tithing. We cannot afford to pay the minimum payment.

But Jesus, when he was on the cross, spoke the last words recorded in the Gospels: "It is finished." In the Greek language, it's one word, "tetelestai." It is an accounting term which means "paid in full." The debt is paid; the redemption cost has been paid by Jesus. That's what the word "propitiation" means.

So, point number three on your outline: God demonstrated His love by giving all. He gives grace to us because He loves us. He loves us because it is His very nature to love, and He demonstrates His love towards us by giving all. This He did when you and I were in opposition to Him.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 13, it is recorded that Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friend." We understand that there is an incredible devotion and love shown when a person lays down their life for someone they love, for a friend. This might be the greatest expression of human love.

However, Romans chapter 5, verse 8 says, "God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." So, when we were His enemies, 1 John chapter 3, verse 16 says, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us."

This love is so great that the church has been commemorating the love of God through a sacrament on a regular basis for the last 2,000 years, a sacrament that we call communion. We are going to partake of communion in just a few minutes at the end of our service.

In the sacrament of communion, we are memorializing and commemorating the love of God in a very tangible way. We remember what He did to show His love through partaking of the bread, which represents His body that was broken for us, and partaking of the cup, which represents His blood that was shed for us. It is the most beautiful display of love. God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love," and then He says, "Let me show you what that looks like." So, we celebrate.

We commemorate His body and His blood given for us. Aside from the church, for the last 2,000 years, we have memorialized or commemorated His love through partaking of communion. But what else do we do? What is the proper response of the person who has received this love?

In 1 John 4:19, John states, "We love Him because He first loved us." In the Gospels, Jesus speaks about someone who has been forgiven much, saying, "He who is forgiven much loves much." The love of God brought our salvation and our forgiveness, dealing with all of our sin. The payment is paid in full, and we see the demonstration of God's love in that.

So, what is our response? Point number four in your outline is that we love God in response to His love. This theme is seen throughout the entire Bible. Genesis 1 and 2 show us that God created everything, seen and unseen. Genesis 3 explains why the world is broken: because of the entrance of sin through one man. Sin entered the world, and death spread to all humanity; all of creation is affected by the sin in the fall of Genesis 3.

From Genesis 4 through the rest of the Bible, we see how God intends to deal with sin. He does so first by selecting a family through which He will bring a blessing to all humanity. This story is told in Genesis 12, where God calls a man named Abram, who is generally known as Abraham because his name was changed. In Genesis 12, God says to Abraham, "I want you to come and follow Me to a land that I will tell you of. I am going to make you a great nation, I will make your name great, and I will bless you. I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the world, all the nations of the world, will be blessed."

In this promise of Genesis 12:3, God is promising to bring the Redeemer, Jesus. Jesus would come through the family of Abraham, through Abraham's son Isaac, and through Isaac's son Jacob, whose name would be changed to Israel. Israel had twelve sons, and they would be called the tribes of Israel. God would continue His plan through them.

His work through this family is significant, but when you get to the second book of the Bible, the Book of Exodus, you find that there is a great problem. This family is in the nation of Egypt, and they are there as slaves in bondage. So, God sends Moses to deliver them, to redeem them out of Egypt. He says to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." You know the story. Through the plagues, the power of God is revealed, and Israel is released from Egypt.

Then, God leads them, under Moses's leadership, to bring them to the land of promise. Now they are about to enter the Promised Land. The story continues and is recorded in the fifth book of the Bible, the Book of Deuteronomy. Moses stands before the children of Israel for the last time, just before they come into the Promised Land, and he says this to them in Deuteronomy 4:37: "Because God loved your fathers." He is speaking to all of Israel. He continues, "Therefore, he chose you. He chose you and brought you out of Egypt with his presence, with his mighty power."

Why did God deliver them thousands of years ago? Because of His love. The basis of God's deliverance, then and now, was God's love. Just so they would remember this, though they forgot, a few chapters later in Deuteronomy 7:7, he says it again: "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all the peoples." God says, "Don't think I loved you because there is something incredibly special about you."

Now, because of our fallen nature, we so easily fall into that trap. We think, "Well, God chose me. Of course, God chose me; look at me!" In Israel, they fell into that pattern. God says, "Don't think I chose you because there is something amazing about you." In Deuteronomy 7:8, it states, "But because the Lord loves you and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the land of Egypt, because He loved you."

So, what is the response? Moses, speaking to that group of people, says, "God chose you because He loves you." What is your response? This is found in Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." The response to the love of God is to love God.

Love by loving God. The Scriptures reveal that we respond to God's love by loving others. In 1 John 4:11, it says, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

Point number five on your outline is that His love compels our love for others. The love of God at work in us, when we realize how great He has loved us, compels us to love other people. When we understand that He who is forgiven much loves much, we begin to love God, and His love at work in us and through us motivates us to love others.

However, the problem is that because of our brokenness, we sometimes don't fully understand what love is. So, God gives us a beautiful definition or description of this love through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. You don't have to turn there; you can just note it down. I want to read to you from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This is the description of God's love:

"Love suffers long and is kind; it does not envy; it does not parade itself; it is not puffed up; it does not behave rudely; it does not seek its own; it is not provoked; it thinks no evil; it does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

Now, those of you who grew up in the 1960s know very well what the world needs now is love, sweet love, right? Two years after that song was a hit in 1965, the summer of 1967 was called the "Summer of Love." Our culture, beginning in the mid-1960s until now, has said this is what love is all about. The primary expression of love from the 1960s onward has been sexual expression.

We have seen the results of that from the 1960s until now. Our culture has said, "If you want to know what love is, it's all about sex." Look at what has happened to our culture. Do you think it has been progressing in a good way for the glory of God or not so good? I would say not so good.

So, maybe our thesis, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love," suggests that sexual love will make everything better. That's the thesis of the 1960s. Thank you, baby.

Boomers, that's the theory, and our culture has been experimenting on that theory for the last 50 to 60 years. I think that's been a good thing. I would say, what the world needs now is love, sweet love, but it needs this kind of love. It suffers long and is kind; it does not envy. It's a patient love, a kind love, a human beloved, a sincere love—God's form of love.

There is a kind of love in the description of the Bible that is sexual love; it's called eros. It's where we get our English word "erotic." That is an important concept for marriage, but that's not the love that God calls us to love with or with which He has loved us. He has loved us with this kind of love in First Corinthians chapter 13, and that should begin to permeate our lives.

As we are almost to Christmas, it's my prayer that for those of us here today who have received God's love by receiving Christ Jesus, we have grace from God, peace with God, and hope in God because of His love. I pray that His love would stir us to love Him and to love others with a love that is patient, kind, humble, and sincere.

Let me tell you, when the world sees that kind of love happening in us—patience, kindness, humility, and sincerity—these things are kind of at a deficit in our nation. It screams of the character of God.

In just a moment, our worship leaders are going to come up and lead us in worship, and we'll partake of communion. But before we do, I want to share one very small, tangible way that we can practice this kind of love or show this kind of love in kindness today.

There's a family in our church whose son is in the military. One of the guys in his unit was getting ready to deploy just a couple of weeks ago. They were on base preparing for deployment, and a couple of days before they deployed, this young man, Private Angel Diaz, had his wife go to live with his mom along with their two-year-old son and their three dogs. Tragically, there was a fire in the middle of the night at the house, and his wife didn't get out; she died along with their three dogs. His mom managed to get out with their little son.

This family member, who is connected to our church, has been reaching out to Private Diaz, who does not know the Lord. They have been taking him to church with them through Calvary Chapel. So, after the service today, if you'd like to write...

Just a card of encouragement. We have a whole bunch of cards out at the connection point, and they are meant to encourage Private Diaz and let him know that we are praying for him and love him. We don’t know him in person, but we can still reach out with the kindness and love of our God and Savior. I think it would be an encouragement to him.

That’s one real small, tangible way, but this week, God is going to give you a whole bunch of other tangible ways to be patient with people at this time of year, which is often lacking in kindness, humility, sincerity, and joy. When we do these things, we are showing forth or bearing what is called in the Bible the fruit of the Spirit. We are giving forth the fruit of the Spirit to other people, and all of this is because of what Jesus did for us in His love.

The worship team is going to come back up, and at this moment, we are going to pray. We will pray for Private Diaz and his family, but we are also going to partake of communion. The bread represents Jesus's body that was broken for us, and the cup represents His blood that was shed for us—a visible demonstration of the love of God. So just hold on to these, and we will partake together after we sing.

Let’s pray. Father, we do pray right now for Private Diaz. We pray for his son, his mother, and the rest of his family. God, it’s hard for us to even fathom the grief and sorrow at this time of year, or at any other time of year, as he has lost his wife. We ask, God, that you would be with him and that you would be to him the God of all mercies, the God of comforts, the Father of mercies, as the Scriptures say. We ask that you would comfort him by the presence of your Spirit and by the body of Christ coming around him.

We pray, God, that you would encourage and strengthen his heart in you, that he would come to find hope, joy, and peace through your grace and by your love. God, just pour out your love upon him in this moment. We ask that you would be with him.

As we have received your grace, we have peace with you and hope in you—all because of your love demonstrated towards us. I pray, God, that you would so affect our lives, infect our lives with your love, and that we would love you and love others as you have loved us.

So, God, as we sing these songs of praise and prepare our hearts for communion, remind us of the greatness of your lovely family.

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