Glynlea Grace United Methodist Chruch

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷ In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. ¹⁹ We love, because he first loved us. ²⁰ If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹ And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.

Summary and Purpose

Summary: When God entered our world in the form of a little baby named Jesus, love came with him.  God is love and Jesus is God in the flesh. When Jesus, God the Son, came down at Christmas, love literally came down. This love was demonstrated when Jesus paid the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross. On the third day, he rose from the dead, conquering sin, death and evil on our behalf. This enables us to receive God’s forgiveness and have a restored, intimate relationship with God. As people with a restored, intimate relationship with God, we receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts. The Holy Spirit is also God, which means we receive love into our hearts. This love changes us and enables us to become more loving towards God and neighbor.

Of all the gifts that came down at Christmas (hope, peace, joy & love), love is the most important. It is love that makes hope, peace and joy possible. With these gifts intact, we are able to make the right decisions to mend our broken relationships. Love binds us together and re-establishes our relationship with God and each other. God’s love can even mend relationships between enemies. What an awesome God we serve!!

Purpose: To help the congregation to latch on to the love that became possible for all people with the coming of Jesus Christ.

The Sermon

I. Introduction: Last three Sundays, we talked about the various gifts that came down at

Christmas

1. First Advent Sunday: Hope - Based on God’s promises and is a surety.

2. Second Advent Sunday: Peace - Based on assurance that God loves us and will

take care of us

3. Third Advent Sunday: Joy - Based on fact that Jesus has done everything to save

us, God is in control and God wins in the end

4. Now, on fourth Advent Sunday, we talk about the most important gift that came

down at Christmas: Love

• 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 states: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love I gain nothing.
• 1 Corinthians 13:13 states: So now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.
• The summation of the entire Law is to: 1) Love God with all our hearts, souls and minds and 2) Love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40)

II. Why love is the most important gift that came down at Christmas

1. The other 3 gifts are based on God’s love. Love makes them possible

• Hope: We trust God’s promises because of God’s love
• Peace: As previously stated, based on God’s love
• Joy: Jesus saved us because he loves us

2. Love is what makes it possible for us to mend or maintain our relationships

• There is nothing more important than having good relationships between each other and God.
• We were created to be in relationships. In the Garden of Eden we were in perfect relationship with God, each other and creation. It was love that cemented this relationship. Then we broke our relationship with God by disobeying God. This devastated our relationship with each other and creation. Love is the one thing that can repair our relationships.

3. As a former Juvenile Probation Officer (JPO), I’ve seen what happens to kids who

don’t grow up in a loving family. Juveniles who consistently get into trouble with

the law come from unloving families.

4. This brings us to two questions

• How did love come down at Christmas?
• What is this love that came down at Christmas?

III. How love came down at Christmas: God is love and Jesus is God

1. First John 4:8 states: “He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.”

2. First John 4:16 repeats: “So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is

love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

3. Jesus is God in the flesh. This is what being the Son of God is all about: John 1:1-

14 & 5:18; Philippians 2:5-11

4. So, if God is love and Jesus is God in the flesh, then love literally came down at

Christmas

5. This love was demonstrated when Jesus paid the penalty for our sins at the cross.

First John 4:9-10 states: “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 loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the

expiation for our sins.”

IV. What this love is that came down at Christmas

1. It is NOT a feeling. That’s the worldly type of love.

2. God’s love. The love that came down at Christmas is an attitude expressed in

action. First Corinthians 13:4-7 gives a list of attributes to describe love:

• Patient: an attitude not a feeling
• Kind: an attitude not a feeling
• Doesn’t envy or boast: an attitude not a feeling
• Is not arrogant: an attitude not a feeling
• Is not rude: an attitude not a feeling
• Doesn’t insist on its own way: an attitude not a feeling
• Is not irritable or resentful: an attitude not a feeling
• Doesn’t rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices w/the truth: an attitude not a feeling
• Bears, believes, hopes and endures all things: an attitude not a feeling

3. Love is having the right attitude towards God and people. It is a Holy Spirit

empowered choice.

V. Love is a Holy Spirit empowered choice

1. The Holy Spirit changes our hearts and enables us to choose to have the right

attitude towards God and neighbor. The Holy Spirit enables us to love.

2. This begins with repentance and trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord.