The Advent of Love | Sunday, December 20, 2020

Good morning, friends, and welcome to Cross Connection Church online, the best church that there is, both online and offline. I don't think I'm biased at all; it's not biased if it's true, right?

This is a special morning, and it's going to be a great service—maybe one of the best services ever. It is a special morning because this is the final Sunday before Christmas, which means that it is the final Sunday of Advent. I have what I think is an important message for this morning.

Another reason that it's going to be a great service is that after our time of worship and after a message from God's Word, I will be leading you in celebrating communion. I want to encourage you to get some bread and some juice to partake together at the end of our time together, so make sure you have that ready before we get to that part of our service.

Also, before we cut over to our worship leaders, I want to ask you to send out an invite—a text message or a post on social media for our service this morning. All you have to do is share that link, live.ccchurch.com, with your friends and family.

Now, over to Pastor Anthony.

Heavenly Father, we come before You now, Lord God. We are so grateful and thankful. We are grateful for the joy in our lives that You give us, Lord, as we remember this Christmas season—the birth of our Savior. God, will You fill us up with that joy and with Your Spirit? God, we love You. In Jesus' name, amen.

Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing over the plains, and the mountains in reply echo back their joy.

Shall we see this song? Talk to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing. Come, adore Him, Christ the Lord.

Welcome! Thanks for tuning in to Cross Connection Church. We are glad we get to bring you church at home today. If you don't know me, hi, I'm Pastor Garrett. Here at Cross Connection Church, we are all about living life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus Christ.

Part of living life in connection is encouraging you to be in prayer. We also want to be praying with and for you regarding whatever prayer needs you have this week. So check out prayer.lifeinconnection.com on our website. There, you can submit your prayer requests and know that as soon as you hit enter on that site, our pastors and prayer team will be praying with and for you. We love you, and we see God answer so many prayers here at Cross Connection Church. Please check it out at prayer.lifeinconnection.com. We would love to be praying with and for you this week.

We are on mission this week, and we are asking you to diligently pray for Luke and Kristen Ryder with Cross Connection Outreach. They are in Mozambique, Africa, and are going through a really tough time. In the north of Mozambique, there is ISIS, and in central Mozambique, a civil war is breaking out. It is not exactly the safest place to be right now. Please pray for Luke and Kristen as they are actually leaving Mozambique for their safety, as well as for all the people they have poured into and the ministry leaders they have raised up there. They have not only planted churches but also developed many local pastors and ministry leaders. They really do need your prayers this week.

With that, I'm going to go ahead and pass it back to Pastor Anthony, who will lead us in a song of worship. This is a time we set aside for worshiping the Lord with our giving. If you call Cross Connection Church your home church, here are the ways you can give: First, you can text the number 84321 on your cell phone. Second, you can go to give.lifeinconnection.com. Third, you can mail in your offering to the church address at 1675 Seven Oaks Road in Escondido.

So with that, let's go ahead and worship the Lord together. God bless you, and I hope to see you tonight at five o'clock for another message with Pastor Miles. I would love to see you there!

So joy to the world on a night like no other! Emmanuel, God is with us. Beggars and kings, let us come and adore Him. Rest in His peace and bow before Him.

Sing, all ye people, the Lord Almighty! Sing every creature of God. Come bless His name, for He is good. He is good! He was born to conquer, the great light of the world, the reason for Christmas.

But never, oh bliss! Redemption came in His name, Jesus. Sing, all ye people, the Lord Almighty! Sing every creature of God. God bless His name, for He is good. He is good! He was born to conquer, the great light of the world, the reason for Christmas Day.

From the mountains, we will shout out, for the Lord our God Almighty reigns.

Sing, all ye people, the Lord Almighty! Sing every creature of God; bless His name, for He is good. He was born to conquer the grave, the light of the world, the reason for Christmas.

Well, yes, Lord God, You are the reason for Christmas Day. Lord God, we thank You and praise You in Jesus' name. Amen.

I think you could say without question that the most well-known verse, or maybe the most famous verse of Scripture, is John 3:16. "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."

Very closely connected to John 3:16 is Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Connected to John 3:16 and Romans 5:8 is 1 John 3:16: "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."

Do you recognize the theme in these verses? You are sensible people, so of course, you see the connection in each of these verses.

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...

Christmas is a time when many Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Catholic churches observe Advent. 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 focuses on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love.

In my message three Sundays 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, obviously, this week I want to remind you—or maybe 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's really important as well.

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

Some of you know this in a very experiential way. In fact, some of you who are watching this right now may have found that it was the loss of one or more of these things that pushed you to seek and ultimately find Christ. Or perhaps you are watching today and you are currently seeking for something, and the journey you're on right now began with the loss of one of these four things: hope, peace, joy, and love.

I want to encourage you with something that Jesus said. It's recorded in Luke's Gospel, in Luke chapter 11. There we read in verse 9: "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. The advent of Jesus is the advent of joy, hope, peace, and finally, and really at the top of the stack, it's the coming of love as well. The arrival of Jesus 2,000 years ago is truly the greatest manifestation and the greatest expression of love that we could ever comprehend.

At the core of the incarnation—an incarnation is a big theological word that gives voice to an even bigger theological concept having to do with 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. Not only did Jesus come to this world because of love, but He came to this world for a very specific purpose, a purpose that was motivated by love and meant to be a demonstration of God's love.

Jesus came to the world to be a sacrificial lamb, to take away the sin of the world. That's exactly how He was introduced to those who ultimately would be His followers. When John the Baptist was baptizing early in Jesus' ministry, and Jesus came to him to be baptized, John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." So, Jesus came to the world to be that sacrificial lamb.

Why? Well, everything that Jesus did and does is motivated by and a demonstration of a very special kind of love. Of course, Tina Turner asked the question, "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. Everything that Jesus did and everything that Jesus does is motivated by and is a demonstration of a very special kind of love.

Now, what do I mean when I say a very special kind of love? When talking about love, I think we all recognize that we use the word "love" in our culture in both formal ways and also in rather casual ways. We may say that we love Chick-fil-A or we love our house, or we may say that we love...

Our love for a chicken sandwich is on a different level than our love for our spouse. Hopefully, we all understand this intuitively, but it has also been demonstrated by science. According to science, love can be broken down into three categories, each characterized by its own set of hormones that are released within our bodies.

One form of love that science identifies could be categorized by the word "lust." It is revealed in the system by the release of testosterone in men and estrogen in females. Then there is another form of love that science identifies as "attraction," which is characterized by the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin within the body. Finally, there is a third form of love that science is able to observe, and that is "attachment," characterized by oxytocin and vasopressin. We can see these things within the body and how they affect our neurological system; we can see how they affect our brains. Science recognizes that there are different kinds of love, something we understand intuitively because we experience these different kinds of love.

The Scriptures also acknowledge that there are categorical differences for love. Some of you may know that the New Testament was originally written in Greek, specifically in what is referred to as Koine Greek. There are several different words that are translated into English as "love," and each one identifies a different kind of love. For a really great resource on this, I highly recommend C.S. Lewis's book, "The Four Loves." In his book, Lewis writes about these four different kinds of love, represented by four different words in the Greek language: eros, storge, philia, and agape.

Eros is an intense longing or lust; it is connected to our English word "erotic." Storge is a natural or instinctual affection, the love that mothers have for the little baby that begins to grow in their womb immediately upon learning that a baby is growing within them. Philia is brotherly kindness or brotherly love, as seen in the city of Philadelphia.

The word "philea" is in the word "Philadelphia," which is known as the city of brotherly love. The fourth word, "agape," is considered to be the highest form of love. It is the love that is most frequently used in the New Testament scriptures. You may know that the greatest description of this love is found in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, specifically in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

There we read in verses four through eight: "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. It never

This love is most clearly seen in and through Jesus, beginning with Christmas and culminating in Good Friday and Easter. We read in the Scriptures, "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."

With all this in mind, I want to take some time this morning for us to remember, in a very material and tangible way, God's love, just as Jesus taught His first followers to do two thousand years ago when He led them in the Lord's Supper, or Communion, as we know it. It has been many weeks since we partook of Communion together, so this is a great time just before Christmas. I hope that you have some bread and juice to use for Communion. If you don't have anything in your home to partake of Communion right now, I want to encourage you to maybe pick up the elements at the store for Communion sometime this week prior to Christmas and partake with your family some evening this week. You can even watch the end of this service again online on YouTube to lead through Communion, unless you want to lead through Communion yourself.

If you do have the elements of Communion, then I want to encourage you to get them either right now or in a few minutes when our worship leaders lead us in another song. Following that song, we'll partake together. But before we do that, I want to highlight one more important point this morning about this love that God gives to us in and through Jesus Christ.

Over the last few weeks, we have talked about joy, peace, and hope. These things are all, I believe, the results of God's love given to us in and through Jesus Christ. We have sure and steadfast hope because of God's love given to us in Jesus Christ, because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross when He died for our sins. The demonstration of His love for us is seen when He laid His life down. Because of His work on the cross and His justifying grace, we now have a sure and steadfast hope in Him. Not only that, we have increasing joy unto abundance forever, for eternity in Christ, because of God's love. 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 is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. The joy that we have, this increasing joy unto abundance for eternity, is a product of God's love. Not only that, we have peace—a peace that surpasses understanding—to guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus because of God's love. All of these things are connected to love. As 1 Corinthians 13 says, the greatest of these is love.

The love of Christ, manifested for us in the incarnation, demonstrated for us on the cross, and given to us through the resurrection, is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This love should be the very thing that compels us to share this great love with others. 2 Corinthians 5:14 tells us that it is the love of Christ that compels us. It should stir us to want to share the love of God with other people.

This is the great blessing that Christmas speaks to us about and the opportunity that Christmas affords us. It is an opportunity for us to share the love of Christ with others. To be an evangelist is to share the love of God with others that we have freely received.

As we finish up our time in the Scriptures this morning, I want to share with you a point I've shared before: the gift of God's love in Christ is meant to be shared with all people. I hope that you will make the most of this opportunity over the next five days leading up to Christmas to share the love of God. What your friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors need more than anything else in their lives is the joy, hope, and peace that God's love in Christ Jesus brings.

Sadly, as we look around our culture, it's very clear that people are lacking joy, hope, and peace. Core to all of these things is the love of God in Christ Jesus. When Jesus came 2,000 years ago, the little baby born and laid in a manger came as an expression of God's love, motivated by God's love.

Demonstrate God's love so that you and I could have joy, peace, and hope in Christ according to His love. It is my prayer that the love of God, shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit, would be the very thing that compels you to speak that love to other people.

You may not be getting together with family members and friends like you normally would at Christmas time. Maybe you're doing a Zoom call with family members. I don't know how you're doing Christmas this year, but I do know that this is a great opportunity to share the love of God with them. People need hope right now; they need joy, and they need the peace that God gives. It is available to us in Jesus Christ. Since we have it abundantly in Christ, we should share it with other people.

Father God, I pray that You would be working in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters. Enable 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. God, give us boldness to speak up and to share this good news with others because this is what people want and what they desperately need.

Would You cause Your church to shine brightly like a city that is set on a hill, a city that cannot be hidden? Let us truly let our light so shine before men that they would see our good works and glorify You, our Father in heaven.

Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters that You would give them opportunities this week, over the next few days leading up to Christmas. Give them opportunities to share the good news of Your grace, love, peace, joy, and hope with their neighbors, coworkers, family members, and friends. Make Your love flow forth from our lives to other people. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Oh, holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Till He appeared, and the soul felt its worth, a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Oh, hear the angel voices! When Christ was born, His gospel is peace. In His name, all oppression shall cease.

In grateful chorus, we celebrate the moment when Christ was born. It was a night filled with wonder and joy, a time that resonates through the ages.

As we considered this morning, John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life." Romans 5:8 also states, "God demonstrates His love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This is God revealing how great His love is for us. Jesus came to the world as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. All of your sins and my sins were placed upon Him, and He was crucified in my place and in your place as our substitute, the propitiation for our sins. This allows us to be forgiven, to receive God's grace and forgiveness, and to experience His love, joy, peace, and hope.

On the night before He was crucified, the night that He would be betrayed, Jesus gathered with His disciples for the Passover meal. The Passover was a very clearly scripted meal that the Jewish people had been observing for over a thousand years by that point in time. However, Jesus did something different on that night. As they were gathered together in an upper room in Jerusalem, we are given some details about what happened in the Gospels. The Apostle Paul also writes about it in 1 Corinthians 11. He 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.'"

I hope that you have a cracker or some bread to partake with. As we take this, we want to remember Jesus's body that was broken for us. He took it, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you." If you have bread, would you partake with me as we remember His body broken for us?

The Scriptures say that in the same manner, after they had eaten, He took the cup and said to them, "This is the cup of the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance..."

The grape juice, the wine that they had on that night, was a reminder of Jesus's blood that would be shed. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, forgiveness, or removal of sins. His blood had to be shed so that your sins could be dealt with. He said, "I want you to remember my blood shed for you." So, if you have the grape juice, would you partake with me as we remember His blood shed for us?

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the demonstration of Your love on the cross 2,000 years ago. Your love is demonstrated 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, that we could have forgiveness, that we could be saved from our sins, and that we could experience Your love, Your joy, Your peace, and Your hope.

So, Lord, we remember Your body broken for us. We remember Your blood shed for us, and we pray, God, that You would keep these things in our minds—not just today, not just this week through Christmas, but every single day. Lord, remind us of Your grace for us. We thank You and praise You for Your grace. In Jesus's name, Amen.

Now, a couple of things before I give a benediction this morning. We will cut away this evening at 5:00 p.m. on the patio at the church, where we are having our outdoor services. I would invite you to come. It will be socially distanced. We have been encouraging people during this period of time to wear masks because of all the things that are happening in our county.

We will be having service tonight at five o'clock. It will be a wonderful time. We have heaters out there and little gas fire pits, so even if it's cold, you'll be okay. Come on out at five o'clock for socially distanced worship, fellowship with one another, and we will glean from the Scriptures together.

Also, this week on the 23rd, Christmas Eve Eve at Cross Connection Church, we don't really do a Christmas Eve service. We have been doing a Christmas Eve Eve service—the night before the night before Christmas—for many years, since before I was the pastor of the church. So, we are still doing that this year. On December 23rd at 5:00 p.m. on the patio area at the church, it will be socially distanced.

This is a distanced time of Christmas music and a time of reading from the Scriptures to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Christmas. We will have something special at the service as well, so I hope to see you there at five o'clock on the patio, December 23rd, for Christmas Eve Eve.

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.

Burt's Bees, just for you, Nick. Hey, that's me! I better not end up at the end of the service.