The Advent of Love | Sunday, December 20, 2020

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) > > But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) > > By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)

On the final Sunday of Advent, the gift at the center of Christmas is God's own love made flesh.

The Theme Running Through the Most Famous Verses

You could say without question that the most well-known verse of Scripture is John 3:16. Very closely connected to it is Romans 5:8, and connected to both is 1 John 3:16. Do you recognize the theme in these verses? You are sensible people, so of course you see the connection—each one speaks of love.

Over the last four weeks we have been returning to familiar themes that surround the Christmas season. In more traditional or liturgical expressions of Christianity this season is called Advent, and on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas many Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Catholic churches observe it. It may not be as well known among Baptists and non-denominational camps of Christianity, but it is nevertheless a very important period of time. Traditionally, on each of the four Sundays before Christmas the church has zeroed in on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love.

The Advent of the Things We Need

Three weeks ago I shared that the coming of Jesus is the advent of joy. Two weeks ago I shared that the coming of Jesus is the coming of hope. Last week I shared that the coming of Jesus is the coming of peace. So this week I want to remind you—or perhaps inform you for the very first time—that the advent of Jesus is the arrival of love. That is a super simple point, but it is really important.

The advent of Jesus is the arrival of many things that we desire and many things that we desperately need. Hope, peace, joy, and love are not just things we want; they are things we actually need. I don't believe you can live, in any real or abundant way, without them. When people lose hope, peace, joy, and love, their well-being decreases sharply and goes downhill very quickly.

Some of you know this experientially. For some watching right now, it was the loss of one or more of these things that pushed you to seek and ultimately find Christ. Perhaps you are watching today still seeking, and the journey you're on began with the loss of one of these four things. I want to encourage you with something Jesus said:

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Luke 11:9–10)

Love at the Core of the Incarnation

The advent of Jesus is the advent of joy, hope, and peace—and at the top of the stack, it is the coming of love. The arrival of Jesus 2,000 years ago is truly the greatest manifestation and expression of love that we could ever comprehend. At the core of the incarnation—that big theological word for God becoming a man—was and is love. For God so loved the world that He gave His Son.

Jesus came to this world because of love, and He came for a very specific purpose that was motivated by love and meant to be a demonstration of love. He came to be a sacrificial lamb to take away the sin of the world. That is exactly how John the Baptist introduced Him: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Tina Turner asked, "What's love got to do with it?" As it relates to the coming of Jesus, the Scriptures answer: love has everything to do with it.

A Very Special Kind of Love

What do I mean by a very special kind of love? We use the word love in both formal and casual ways. We may say we love Chick-fil-A, or our house, or our spouse—but we understand that love for a chicken sandwich is on a different level than love for a spouse.

Science even confirms this, breaking love into categories marked by different hormones: lust, revealed by testosterone in men and estrogen in females; attraction, characterized by dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin; and attachment, characterized by oxytocin and vasopressin. We can observe how these affect the brain and neurological system, so science recognizes there are different kinds of love.

The Scriptures acknowledge category differences as well. The New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek, and several different words are translated "love" in English, each identifying a different kind. For a great resource I highly recommend C.S. Lewis's book The Four Loves. The four words are eros, storge, philea, and agape. Eros is intense longing or lust, connected to our word "erotic." Storge is natural or instinctual affection—the love a mother has for the baby growing in her womb. Philea is brotherly love, found in the name Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. And agape is the highest form of love, the one most frequently used in the New Testament.

Agape: The Very Nature of God

The greatest description of this love is found in 1 Corinthians 13:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. It is not rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless, but love will last forever. (1 Corinthians 13:4–8)

This is the love that is the very nature of God. In his first letter the apostle John tells us that "God is love," and that word for love is agape. All four expressions of love are important—I'm not sure human life would continue without eros, storge, and philea—but there would be no abundant or eternal life if it were not for God's agape love.

The advent happened because of God's love. Jesus' coming was motivated by and a demonstration of His agape love. Earthly life depends upon earthly expressions of love; but eternal and heavenly life depends upon a heavenly agape love from God. There is no ultimate or abundant life without an abundant outpouring of God's ultimate love, and Christmas is the entry point of that love coming to this world.

In this the love of God was manifested 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. (1 John 4:9–10)

Love as the Source of Joy, Peace, and Hope

Over the last few weeks we have talked about joy, peace, and hope—and these are all the results of God's love given to us in and through Jesus Christ. We have a sure and steadfast hope because of God's love demonstrated when Jesus laid His life down for our sins; because of His justifying grace we have hope in Him.

We have increasing joy unto abundance for eternity in Christ, because for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would have eternal life in God's presence—and in His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand pleasures forevermore. And we have peace, a peace that surpasses understanding to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, because of God's love. All of these things are connected to love, and as 1 Corinthians 13 says, "the greatest of these is love."

Share the Love You Have Received

The love of Christ—manifested in the incarnation, demonstrated on the cross, given to us through the resurrection, and shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit—should be the very thing that compels us to share this great love with others. Second Corinthians 5:14 tells us that it is the love of Christ that compels us. This is the great blessing and opportunity that Christmas affords us: to share the love of Christ with others. To be an evangelist is to give to other people the love of God you have freely received.

I hope you will make the most of this opportunity over the next five days leading up to Christmas. What your friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors need more than anything else is the joy, hope, and peace that God's love in Christ brings. As we look around our culture, it's clear that people are lacking joy, hope, and peace—and core to all of these is the love of God in Christ Jesus.

When Jesus came 2,000 years ago, that little baby born and laid in a manger came as an expression of God's love, motivated by God's love, to demonstrate God's love, so that you and I could have joy, peace, and hope in Christ. You may not gather with family the way you normally would this year—maybe you're doing a Zoom call—but however you're doing Christmas, this is a great opportunity to share the love of God with them.

Communion: Remembering His Body and Blood

I want to take time this morning for us to remember, in a material and tangible way, God's love—just as Jesus taught His first followers to do when He led them in the Lord's Supper. On the night before He was crucified, the night He would be betrayed, Jesus gathered with His disciples for the Passover, a meal the Jewish people had observed for over a thousand years. But that night He did something different. Paul writes:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you." (1 Corinthians 11:23–24)

If you have bread or a cracker, partake with me as we remember His body broken for us.

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." (1 Corinthians 11:25)

The wine on that night was a reminder of Jesus' blood that would be shed, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. His blood had to be shed so your sins could be dealt with. If you have the grape juice, partake with me as we remember His blood shed for us.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the demonstration of Your love on the cross 2,000 years ago—and not just in the cross, but in the fact that You came to the earth as that little child. Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. You came so that we could have grace, forgiveness, and salvation from our sins, that we could experience Your love, joy, peace, and hope. We remember Your body broken for us and Your blood shed for us, and we pray that You would keep us mindful of these things not just today, not just through Christmas, but every single day. We thank You and praise You for Your grace, in Jesus' name.

Father, I pray that You would work in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters, enabling us by Your grace to be bold by Your Holy Spirit to share the good news of Your love that brings joy, peace, and hope to all people. Give us opportunities over the next few days leading up to Christmas to share Your grace with our neighbors, co-workers, family, and friends. Cause Your church to shine brightly like a city set on a hill, that men would see our good works and glorify You, our Father in heaven. Make Your love flow forth from our lives to other people. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

And now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The God of peace be with you all. Amen.