The Advent
of Love
I John
4:9-11
Introduction:
We’ve taken a look at Advent this year from
the perspective of the themes of Hope, Peace, and Joy. Now this week, we
consider “The Advent of Love.” “I love
Christmas,” many will say, “Especially the parties and presents!” That is not
what we have in mind. Love for our families is certainly something we should
cherish, but even that is not the most fundamental connection between love and
Advent. It’s a revelation of God’s love.
I’ve actually heard people say, “Why do you people have to ruin Christmas by
making it religious?” That kind of thinking is what is behind the “Happy
Holidays” greetings that have displaced Christmas for many. We are not making
it religious, other than affirming that we are celebrating the historical fact
of the Incarnation of Christ, and celebrating what that means to us. Today we’ll
consider the Advent of Love in the Christmas story. It is not primarily about our
love for God (though that should be
our response), but rather God’s revelation of His love for us in sending
his Son. There are a lot of Scriptures
we could turn to consider “The Advent of Love.” Matthew and Luke are the two
gospels that give us the most detail about the circumstances leading up to the
birth of Jesus. John’s Gospel starts in eternity past but really emphasizes the
revelation of God’s love in the incarnation. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” It’s John that
tells us so explicitly why He came, “For
God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son...” As I considered this theme I decided to start
with John, but rather than in His gospel, in his first epistle. I counted 15
times in five chapters that John uses the word “love” in this little letter.
4:9 is a favorite of mine as it is a verse that we memorized as a family doing
our devotional advent readings together through the years: “This is how God showed his love among us: He
sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.”
The Big Idea: “Christmas” is how God showed His
love among us. Will it be a time when we show our love for Him and for one
another?
I. God has revealed his love
to humans “In this the love of God was made manifest among us…” (v.9). The omnipotent
Creator of the Universe, the One who is all powerful, all knowing, so Holy that
He is of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity, is a loving God. Immediately
before our passage, in I John 4:7,8, we read “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God. 8
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Not only
is love, in its purest sense, an intrinsic aspect of the nature of God, v.9
tells that God “…made manifest…” or revealed
His love. He has chosen to reveal that love to humans.
Karl Barth, a famous and very influential
German theologian, said that the most profound theological truth he learned in
a lifetime of study was, “Jesus loves me
this I know, for the Bible tells me so…” God loves us, and God revealed
that love so that we could see it and understand it. God involved himself in human history –
this is counter the view of “deism” that pictures the universe as a giant
machine that God set in motion, but in which He does not involve himself today.
The truth is that God has revealed
himself to us in history, and through His Word.
In our passage, I John 4:9
is telling us that Christmas manifests the love of God. The verse before says “God is love.”
What does that mean? What does that look like? It looks like a manger in Bethlehem, a baby wrapped
in rags, no room, no comforts, even later in life “nowhere to lay his
head.” Ultimately, it looks like a cross
on a hill, nail pierced hands. “In this
the love of God was made manifest among us…” He could have sent a letter (and
He did), He could have come for a visit and taught us the truth (and He did), He
spoke to us and lived for a while among us, but he went much further, He did
the unimaginable. Christmas is
how God showed His love among us: He sent
His Son to give us life. Will it be a time when we show our love for him and
for one another?
II. God revealed his love to
humans by sending His Son into this sin cursed world “…that God sent his only Son into the world…” God sent his Son
to die for us—“…that God has sent His
only begotten Son into the world…”
This is what manifested [revealed,
showed forth…] God’s love. Remember Abraham
and Isaac in Genesis 22… “Now I know you fear God…” His action
demonstrated his heart. Words are easy, actions speak louder than words.
Husbands, love you wives. Its more than just “saying” “I love you” now and
then. Do you give her time, are you
willing to listen, do you desire her good even before your own? Christians, Jesus said, more than once, “love
one another.” You might think, I love everyone, I just want nothing to do with
most of them! If faith without works is dead being by itself, love without
works is not biblical love.
God showed us his
love. He concerned himself with us. He sent His Son, to die for us. Paul says,
“…He spared not his own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all…”
God visited us. Remember in Matthew’s account Joseph
was reminded of the words of Isaiah, “You
shall call his name Emmanuel.” Which means, “God with us.” Paul said in
Philippians 2, “Though he existed in the
form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being made in the
likeness of man.”
Think of that: God the Son came to die for us.
This is the profound truth expressed in the most famous verse of scripture, 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.” Romans 5:8 makes
it clear that God’s love is not earned or deserved: “But God demonstrates His own love
toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Soren Kierkegaard, the famous Danish theologian
told this story:
A prince wanted to find a maiden suitable to be
his queen. One day while running an errand in the local village for his father
he passed through a poor section. As he glanced out the windows of the carriage
his eyes fell upon a beautiful peasant maiden. During the ensuing days he often
passed by the young lady and soon fell in love. But he had a problem. How would
he seek her hand? He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to
marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his
most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six
horses. But if he did this he would never be certain that the maiden loved him
or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor.
The
prince came up with another solution. He would give up his kingly robe. He
moved, into the village, entering not with a crown but in the garb of a peasant.
He lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and talked
their language. In time the maiden grew to love him for who he was and because
he had first loved her.
That is the story of
Christmas, “the Word was made flesh and lived for a while among us…” His life,
and His death, revealed God’s love and accomplished salvation for all who would
believe. Christmas is how God showed His love among us: He sent His Son
to give us life.
III. God revealed His live to humans by sending His
Son into this sin cursed world to die so that we could have life “…so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he
loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God loved us so much, that he sent His Son to die for us so that we could
live—“…that we might live through Him…”
Obviously John is talking about more than mere biological life. He is talking
about eternal life, life with meaning, the abundant life of blessing and
purpose that God created us for. Most importantly, a life in relationship with
our Creator.
We read in John
10:10-11 "The
thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have
come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 "I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Jesus
is talking about more than his desire that we have biological life, that
our heart keeps beating our brain waves functioning normally. He is talking
about more than the idea that we’ll live a long time, or even forever. He is
referring to a quality of life that goes beyond the momentary flicker
that is this world. He is talking about the abundant life of blessing, life
with meaning in fellowship with our Creator and redeemer. He is talking about
the life that we were created to enjoy. Jesus came, and demonstrated God’s
love, by laying down his life so that we could have that kind of life.
The word “propitiation” is related to the word
translated “mercy seat” in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (called
the Septuagint [LXX]) and in Hebrews 9:5, “Above it were the
cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat...” [hilasterion]. The word
translated atonement here in I John 4:10 occurs only one other time in the New
Testament, also in 1 John, in I John 2:2. In the LXX, such as in Ezekiel 44:27,
it is used to describe the “sin offering.” John is saying that God showed His
love by sending His Son to be the one and only sin offering for us, the perfect
sacrifice which all other sacrifices prefigured and anticipated. Christmas is how God showed His love among us: He sent His Son
to give us life.
IV. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (v.11). “Love is the
only fire hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a creature’s will”
(Alexander MacLaren). As we celebrate the demonstration of God’s Love, in the
Gift of Christmas, will you allow His Spirit, to melt your heart with the truth
of His amazing grace? Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us,
that we should be called the children of God—and such we are (I John 3:1)! I found this story online this week that
illustrates the idea (excuse the poor form of posting a “quote within a quote”):
As disciples of Jesus, we are to
become by the Holy Spirit like our Master as He Himself tells us in Matthew
10:25, “It is enough for the student to be like His Teacher, and the servant
like His master.” By the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, may we this
Advent become more like Jesus who does not “judge by outward appearances, but
looks upon the heart.” This truth is no
more evident than in our relationships with non- believers that the Holy Spirit
often give us as divine appointments for leading someone to Jesus, and H. B.
London, Jr., and Stan Toler brought that vividly home to me in a story they
share in their little book THE MINISTER’S LITTLE DEVOTIONAL BOOK:
“Ron had long hair when it stood for ‘rebel,’ listened to
heavy-metal music, drank alcohol, and experimented with drugs. He had also
tried church but had been ‘turned off’ by the zeal of a few and the judgmental
eyes of others.
“One summer he was hired to work in a lumber
yard in California. He was partnered with a skinny, fair-skinned Christian
teenager name Joe, who immediately thought Ron was ‘cool.’
“Over the weeks, Ron and Joe laughed, ate, and
talked for eight hours a day. Ron drilled Joe about God and the Gospel, but Joe
never pretended to know all the answers. One day, Joe asked Ron if he’d like to
come over to his house—a beautiful home—for dinner the next night.
“A couple of weeks later, Ron got brave enough
to ask Joe over to his small house in a poor neighborhood, where he introduced
Joe to some of his favorite music.
“As the summer drew to a close and Joe prepared
to return to college, they both knew that their days together at the lumber
yard were numbered. As they walked out to the car on Ron’s last day, he looked
up at Joe and tearfully said, ‘A lot of people have tried to tell me about
Jesus, but Joe, you’re the first person who has shown Him to me” [--H. B.
London Jr. and Stan Toler, The Minister’s Little Devotional Book (Tulsa: Honor
Books, 1997), 41.].
God showed us His love. During
Advent perhaps we can ask Jesus, “Lord, do I simply try to tell others about
you, saying that you love them, or do I allow the Holy Spirit to use me to show
them Jesus?” John said “If God so loved us, we ought to love one another.” That
means reaching out to one another and being involved in each other’s lives.
That means putting the needs of others before our own. In the context of the
church we need to live like the family we are: forgiving, helping, encouraging,
building up one another, sometimes confronting one another. With the world, it
means showing Christ’s love by being intentional about developing relationships
with those in our sphere of influence, at work, at the Y, in school, our neighbors.
What is
God saying to me in this passage? Christmas is how God showed His love among us: He sent His Son
to give us life.
What
would God have me to do in response to this passage? Have
you made a conscious effort to keep the love of God demonstrated in the
incarnation at the forefront of your Christmas celebration? It’s not all about
our traditions, it’s all about Jesus. God showed us His love. He reached
out, and got involved in our story by
bringing us into His story, even
though it cost Him so much. Do we love one another? It’s not just what say we
have in our hearts. It means having the mind of Christ, being willing to “look
out not only for our own personal interests, but also for the interest of
others.” Some have shown that this week in delivering Christmas baskets to
those who serve us in our community. Others have reached out to those in the
nursing home singing and visiting and bringing some cheer. Others have helped
with gifts to some with needs. Others will make visits and invite folks over,
and bake cookies for neighbors. The greatest demonstration of love is to pray
fervently for those in our sphere of influence, looking for every opportunity
to point them to Jesus. Think about
that, Amen.
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