As a sign of respect, I always appreciate it when we stand to
hear God's word. So if you would enable, if
you're able to remain standing, please do so as we hear from the
word of the Lord this morning, this evening.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that
whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him.
Then in the first John, beloved, let us love one another, for
love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and
knows God, And anyone who does not know love does not know God,
because God is love. In this the love of God was made
manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so
that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be a
propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we
also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if
we love one another, God abides in US and His love is perfected
in US. My friends, this is the word of
the Lord. Thanks be to God, Dear Father,
Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, we pray that you would grant to us
an understanding of this word, that you would change shape,
mold our lives by it, that we might love you more, that we
might serve you more, that we might know you more.
Lord God, make it so. We pray in Christ's name, we
ask, Amen. Please be seated.
Well, it's Christmas, so it's time to talk about love.
I know it is because every ROM com I've watched over the past
two months has all been about Christmas and love.
Every song that I've heard on the radio has been about
Christmas and love. Even the commercials that we've
seen. OK, so I was watching one of the
football games a little bit ago and during the 2 minute warning
at halftime, there were five commercials.
Four of the commercials were all about Christmas and love.
Even football ties together the idea of Christmas and love.
So it's all about Christmas and love.
And therefore we have our topic today.
We're going to talk about love. Now that's clearly not the case
that we're going to talk about this because the society is
drawing us towards it. We are talking about love this
evening because the scriptures drive us toward it.
It is the Scriptures that speak to us about God's love.
Certainly if you were listening to the songs that we were
singing, the Scripture that was read earlier, all that we've
been talking about has been focusing upon the love of God
for us. But it's easy to imagine a
Christmas curmudgeon. A Christmas curmudgeon is out
there who is saying, look, that's not really what Christmas
is all about. And it's true that we've made a
major point here at Hebburn Church.
We've tried to make the major point over and over again that
the core aspect, the core, central, core theme of
Christmas, the central characteristic of Christmas is
that it is the beginning of a plan of salvation that leads to
the cross of Jesus Christ. That Christmas is so crucial to
us as Christians because it ultimately leads to the death of
our Lord and our Savior. It's this is the incarnation.
We're celebrating the coming to earth of Jesus Christ, of God
himself. And that's a marvelous,
wonderful thing. And just on that basis, we can
cheer and be excited, but we need to realize that it leads us
towards something that is brutal towards the death of this God
who loves us. So that comes to earth.
So it would be easy for somebody at Christmas curmudgeon to sit
there and say, look, Christmas is great and all, but it's about
his death, it's about his sacrifice, it is dwelling, it is
God revealing himself, it is God comforting us.
It is all those things. But it doesn't necessarily have
to be about love. There are other reasons why God
might be compelled to come to earth and to give up his life.
In my previous church, I had a parishioner and I was pretty
confident that this guy didn't love me, didn't like me, let's
call him Joe, just to give him a name.
I was pretty sure that Joe did not care for me.
And so I was quite taken aback when early on in my ministry, he
presented me with a quite a substantial Christmas gift.
And I was like, wow, OK, I was really taken back.
So I went up to him afterwards and said, you know, Joe, Gee,
thanks so much for the gift and all that kind of stuff.
And he said, don't think that that means I like you, says I
just have to do this because you're the pastor.
I thought, well, forget that. And I threw the gift of what?
No, I didn't. I didn't do that.
But yeah, so there are other reasons why perhaps it is the
case that God just feels compelled.
After all, he made this world and this world is desperately in
trouble. Maybe he feels compelled that he
just says, well, I guess I have to go down and do something to
save them, they're in such a mess.
Or maybe there's a sense of obligation, or maybe it's just
something that he just thought to do and there's no real motive
behind it. But Christmas curmudgeon out
there. The Bible tells us otherwise.
The Scriptures tell us otherwise in that most memorable place.
I think in the 20 some years of it, I've been doing preaching
ministry or longer than that, I guess 30 some years preaching
ministry. I don't know that I've ever
looked at John 316. Just as that crucial text that
many of you will know by heart and all of you should know by
heart, here's a Christmas challenge for everybody out
there. Make sure that your family and
your family members can recite John 316.
Heavens, that should be on your task of things to do tomorrow.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that
whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life. There's a there's a purpose
right there that those who call on Jesus name would not perish
but have eternal life. A little bit later he says not
to condemn the world, but to save the world.
This is the point. This is the thrust of Jesus
coming to earth. That's the purpose.
But don't miss the motivation. For God so loved the world, He
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that we
might live the motive of God's interfering in the brokenness of
this world. This is great love for us.
Now, again, it'd be easy to picture the great Christmas
curmudgeon sitting there sitting saying, yeah, but I never see
that. I never see that.
And I fear that the curmudgeon never sees that because so many
of us who carry the marks of Jesus Christ don't really
believe it. I remember a college student,
young woman that I was speaking to one time, and she could
recite John 316. She could tell me that she
absolutely believed with all of her heart that God loves the
world, but she just couldn't get it in her head that God would
love her. She lived a life of debauchery
in so many ways, pursuing a life, a lifestyle that many of
us would be horrified by. She had a background, a family
background, a living experience that would also horrify us.
And in the midst of all of that, she was very convinced that God
could love the world, but that God could never love her.
So often, the Christmas curmudgeon has a point.
Why doesn't he see Christians experiencing the love of God?
Why doesn't he see us celebrating?
Why doesn't he see us loving it? Perhaps there's a good reason
for that. One reason might be because,
frankly, we have a bad view, a bad understanding of what love
is. When we talk about love, it's so
easy for us to talk about a sentimentalism and emotionalism
that is just ultimately drivel when it compared to what God's
love really is. But in light of that sentimental
drivel, it would be easier for my college student friends to
look at her life and say, look, it would be impossible for
anyone to love her. She was unable to love herself.
She was convinced that nobody would ever love her.
She knew that God could not love her.
And if love is just a sentimental drivel, and maybe
she's right or we've swung on the other side in our society,
that love is acceptance and approval of anything you want.
You only love me if you accept me and you approve of everything
I do. That's the only expression of
love that is acceptable. Again, all you do is got to read
the scriptures and realize that God doesn't buy into that
picture of love. So what do we say to the
Christmas curmudgeon that wants desperately to see this kind of
love that we're talking about, this kind of love that would
motivate God to send his own Son into this world?
Well, it's a divine love. What is the divine love?
Self giving for the benefit of others.
Now my friend Joe from my other church, he was self giving, gave
quite a lot, but it certainly wasn't for my benefit.
It was for His benefit. There's people that can self
give. There's for people that can
pursue the benefit of others, but it is a divine love that is
self giving for the benefit of others.
This is the kind of love that is expressed on Christmas morning.
This is the kind of love that we see when we come to the cradle
and see that baby born and realize the incarnation, that
God has come here to earth to express a love for his people.
What kind of a love? A love that is self giving for
the benefit of others. Well again, our Christmas
curmudgeon can very easily sit there and say I never see that.
I never see that. I never see divine giving of
yourself, A love that pours itself out completely.
And OK, maybe parents to some extent, but there's usually a
limit to which that'll run. Maybe kids to parents, but
that's the limit to that. Romantic love often falls far
short of that. Friendship love seems to fall
far short of that. Where can we see this picture of
divine love? Self giving for the benefit of
others. I studied chemistry in high
school and when I was in high school, I enjoyed understanding
or trying to grasp the what was going on.
But I could always feel that there was just something
happening that I was just missing.
I was kind of grabbing a hold of what was going on, but I but I
could, I wish I could understand it better and I just couldn't
grasp it just a touch. And then when I got to college,
somebody introduced me one of those little model sets.
And some of you who've studied chemistry know about these kind
of things. You know, you've got carbon
atoms and you've got covalent bonds and they bond to hydrogen
model molecules. And you've gotten, you know,
all. And, and suddenly, like after
years of trying to kind of picture it, not really being
able to picture, suddenly now I've got a model right in front
of me that kind of connects everything together.
And I went, oh, now suddenly I see.
And it was a, it was a, a, well, in, in some ways it really was
a, an experience that shifted the way in which I went, did my
studies, I pursued chemistry after that because suddenly
things clicked a little bit. I understood what orbitals,
electronic orbitals look like. And some of the, and, and it
came from having a model in my hands, OK, to our Christmas
curmudgeon. Where's the model?
And to our chagrin and shame, I think most Christians hide the
model that God has given to us to understand this self giving
for the benefit of others kind of love.
What's the model? The model, dare we say it on
Christmas Eve, is the Trinity. It's the Trinitarian love.
Now we tend to avoid talking too much about this because we are
in the midst of a great mystery. Here we have got the Trinity,
the three in one. Everything in which we all
acknowledge is beyond our comprehension.
So why are we talking about something beyond our
comprehension? Because the Scriptures make
certain things clear about it and we can articulate those
things. God is 1.
We understand that there are three persons in the Godhead.
We don't understand that, but OK, there are three persons in
the Godhead and here's of beauty that is communicated through the
Scriptures over and over again. The Father loves the Son and the
Son loves the Father. There's a love that exists
between the Father and the Son and the Son and the Holy Spirit
and the Spirit and the Father. There's a love that happens in
there. And because we're nervous about
the Trinity, because we admittedly can't understand it,
then we shy away from this beautiful model that the Lord
has provided for us, this model of the love of God.
Now picture what's happening in the Trinitarian doctrine.
Some of you might know it well, others may not.
But the concept is that God is always, from all eternity, been
a Trinity. There has always been these
three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, into all eternity.
And in all eternity there has been a mutual love that exists
between the Persons, the Father self giving for the benefit of
the Son and the Spirit, the Son self giving for the benefit of
the Father and the Spirit. The Spirit self giving for the
benefit of the Father and the Son for all eternity, for all
eternity. And have you ever wondered why
we talk about heaven is so positively?
Why is heaven in paradise? OK, there are some pictures in
the scriptures. Go to Revelation.
You got a great illustration of what a great picture of what
heaven should be. And you see this paradise, you
see this, this wondrous spot. That's true.
We can see it somewhat in Scripture, but Christians hold
passionately to the understanding of the reality of
the beauty of heaven, the paradise of heaven, the joy and
the blessing that is going to be there.
In large part because suddenly we too are going to be immersed
in a community where the Father gives himself totally and
completely for the benefit of the Son and the Spirit, and the
Son gives himself totally for the benefit of the Spirit and
the Father. And we are going to be, Why is
it going to be paradise? Why is it going to be heaven?
Because we are suddenly going to be surrounded completely and
totally with a love that has he gone on from all eternity, From
all eternity. This self giving love has led to
Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve where the Father
gives the Son for our benefit. For our benefit.
Now our Christmas curmudgeon might say, well that's fine and
dandy for heaven, but I'm not yet ready for heaven.
What about today? What about now?
And the passage that we open the text with speaks directly to
that in first John chapter 4, verses 7, verse 11.
Listen to verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, if
God has this ability to give of himself so completely for the
benefit of the other, if God so loved us, then we ought to also
love one another. The Christmas love that the
curmudgeon is looking for is supposed to be demonstrated
every day in the life of his followers.
Part of the reason why we celebrate Christmas and Eve so
much and get so excited about the love part that it
demonstrated in Christmas, is because we're supposed to see
shocking of shockers. We're supposed to see ourselves
there. When we see this, we're supposed
to look and we're supposed to say that's the kind of thing.
Now, who do we love? What the benefit of others?
OK, within the context of the text, and I think the Scripture
is fairly clear about this, The focus of the others of our
attention is this community right here, right here.
We are supposed to love one another, giving of ourselves in
such a way that we're benefiting the other person.
We're supposed to give ourselves in such a way the world is
supposed to sit there and say, oh, how they love one another.
Seriously, I don't want to make you feel bad before Christmas
Eve, but when was the last time you overheard somebody saying
that about you? Oh, how they love one another.
That's what they're supposed to do when they look at this
church, when they look at this body, when they visit us in
worship, they're supposed to say, oh, how they love.
And what they're supposed to see is a self giving for the benefit
of the other. But the other extends far beyond
just our community, extends outside the walls of this place.
The other encompasses the other, this world that is desperate, in
need of nothing other than that Christmas expression of God's
love, that they would see the self giving of our God and
Savior in Jesus Christ that leads ultimately to the cross so
that they would picture what it means to give of oneself for the
benefit of the other. And they're supposed to see that
in and through us. But finally the other is God
himself. We are supposed to self give of
ourselves for the benefit of our God.
Now does that stir in you an excitement?
Does that stir in you a desire that says, man, that's what I
want my life to be. I want I want to be successful
at work and faithful in my family and and raise wonderful
children and be good to my parents.
I want all that. But man do I ever want to have a
life where I am self giving for the benefit of my God and the
Christmas curmudgeon. Forget that your own heart
should be saying there's no way. I know myself too well.
I've been a follower of Jesus Christ for 40 some years.
I know myself too well. There's no way that I will.
Ever. Be self giving for the benefit
of others. And then we hear John who speaks
and says this. If we love one another, God
abides in US and His love, His love, is perfected in US.
My friends, this Christmas Eve we celebrate because God his
self giving of himself for the benefit of others, and that love
resides in you. It might just be a spark.
You might find it just little bits, but it is if you're a
follower of Jesus Christ, it is there unmistakably.
It says so right here on the text that love is in your life
and in your heart. Allow it to grow, allow it to
perfect, allow it to show itself, manifest itself so that
you can self give of yourself for the benefits of those people
that you worship with each and every week, for those people
that are far beyond our walls and all around, and ultimately
for our Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray.
Let's pray unto him right this time.
Christ our Lord, how grateful we are for that divine love, the
giving of yourself, so that we it might benefit Jesus.
Thank you for doing that, Father.
Thank you for sending the Sun Spirit.
Thank you for indwelling that purpose so that we too might
know the fullness of that kind of a divine love and have that
perfect within us so that we might share in the divine
nature, the divine purpose of demonstrating love one to
another. Lord, make that a reality in our
lives, beginning right now. We pray through Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior, whose birth we celebrate this day, the
giving of His life for ours. Amen.