The Heart of Christmas is Love

Introduction

Let’s be honest. As we celebrate Christmas day with friends and family, there will most assuredly be a gift that you have to figure out how to respond to without hurting someone’s feelings. Your brain may be saying, ‘What were they thinking?’, but your words need to be more delicately chosen. I want to offer you eight ways to respond to a gift that may be less than desirable:

8. Well, well, well, now, there’s a gift!

7. No, really, I didn’t know that there was a Chia Pet tie! Oh, wow! It’s a clip-on too!

6. You know, I always wanted one of these! How did you ever think of giving me this?

5. You know what? I’m going to find a special place to put this.

4. Boy, you don’t see craftsmanship like that every day!

3. And it’s such an interesting color too!

2. You say that was the last one? Am I glad that you snapped that baby up!

1. You shouldn’t have! No, really, I mean it. You really shouldn’t have!

So, there you go. I hope this prepares you for any and all scenarios. Today, I want to speak about a gift you don’t have to rehearse a response for. It is the greatest gift that has ever been given to us, and Christmas is the time that we celebrating it being presented presented.

When God sent his son to be born, it was a full expression of his unfailing love. His love is a gift that is thoughtful because it meets our greatest need—our sinful state. It is a gift that is priceless because it could never be purchased apart from Christ’s blood. It is a gift that is timeless because the grace of God is never ending. Above all else, at the heart of Christmas is God’s love.

GOD’S GIFT WAS RIGHT ON TIME

Every year there are people who ask me what I want for a gift and I tell them and then I get it. I once heard of a family that gave the same $20 bill to each other for birthdays; they just passed it around throughout the year. It’s easier to do something like that than to agonize over finding the ‘perfect gift.’ But have you ever received a present from someone and you could not believe how perfect the timing was? Maybe because of something you were going through or because of a need that was met, it was as if the giver knew just what your heart wanted. Those are the best kind of gifts because they reach beyond or own wants or needs and into the soul of our lives. Timing really is everything.

The book of Galatians talks about the timing of Christmas as Paul wrote to the church in Galatia.

Galatians 4:4–5 LSB

4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

From the moment creation was broken by sin, God began to hatch a plan to restore and rescue all that he had made. The Bible is an account of his divine efforts and faithfulness to reverse the effects of the Fall. Motivated by love, God partners with those who love and trust him to enact the greatest rescue plan in history. Paul wrote that when Jesus came and was born to Mary, the fullness of time had come. It was the right moment in history to send his son to make a way for the world to be restored. Because of love, God was not content to sit back and watch his creation suffer forever. He went to great lengths to be with us and make us a part of his family once again.

Tracy Howell of Leonard, Texas, found a unique way of showing her husband both her love and fellowship in his daily life. On December 1, 2020, she shared the following in a Facebook post, which has since racked up hundreds of thousands of shares.

“Clifford and I have been married almost 41 years, and I have made his lunch every working day since day one. On occasion I would join him on the job site and have lunch with him. He made the comment once that lunch tasted better when you share it with someone you love. Soon after that, while fixing his sandwich one night, I took a bite out of it before putting it away. When he got home (long before cell phones) he commented that someone took a bite out of his sandwich. I told him that since I couldn’t join him for lunch, I took a bite so he knew I was joining him. I continue to do this frequently (unless it’s tuna or pimento cheese) and he still says, 'Saw you joined me for lunch today and it sure was good.’”

Tracy wanted her husband to know she wasn’t just thinking about him, she was actually “joining” him in his daily experiences. She was still “with” him. She’s “taking a bite” out of whatever struggles or hardships he encounters.

What is perhaps most amazing is that when Jesus came, he came to meet us exactly where we are. He was born under the law of God in order to redeem mankind from the regulations of the Law. In doing so, his perfect life met the requirements that the law demanded. Where we are weak, he is strong. Where we are poor, he is rich. Where we fail, Jesus is successful.

WE ARE LOVED INTO THE FAMILY

According to Galatians 4, the full expression of God’s love is demonstrated in our spiritual adoption. We become children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ. We are given all the privileges of sonship and daughtership with God as our Father. The late pastor J.I. Packer wrote about this incredible expression of love that came to us at Christmas.

“Adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification. To be right with God, the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God, the Father is greater.”

Many of us live our lives every day missing the fact that God loves us. When we miss the fact that we have been adopted into his family, we have a hard time loving ourselves. In turn, we have a hard time loving others who are also valued and treasured by God. The reason this aspect of Christmas should not be missed or avoided is because it is central to us living the full lives that God wants for us.

We spent most of 2022 studying the Letter to the Ephesians. In the opening of the letter, Paul tells us about all of the benefits of being in God’s family and being recipients of his love in the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:3–14 LSB

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, 5 by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight, 9 making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him 10 for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him. 11 In Him, we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who first have hoped in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

As a part of God’s family, we are made blameless in God’s sight (vs. 4). Our sins are washed away by his love. God’s will and way are made known to us as a father might share with a child (vs. 9). We are chosen to receive hope and salvation (vs. 13). We are marked with a seal to ensure that we are filled by the Spirit of God and will inherit eternal life as one of God’s precious possessions (vs. 14). All of this is only made possible by the arrival of Jesus at just the right time to one day sacrificially give his life on a cross to validate God’s amazing love for us.

LOVE FREELY RECEIVED IS LOVE FREELY GIVEN

The reason love must be at the heart of Christmas is because, if we miss this being the central message of the season, in the midst of the lights and presents, we may never receive it for ourselves. What is perhaps most tragic about this oversight is that we often give the kind of love that we perceive to be ours. If we have not experienced the grace of God, it is difficult to offer the grace of God. If we do not know the compassion of God, it is difficult to express the compassion of God. But when we recognize the kind of love that God has for us, it becomes the way in which we treat others around us.

Love is as much a question of the will as it is the emotion of our soul. The incredible thing about love is it is more about our will than an emotion. It is a force that requires the deepest of work from which there is never a vacation. The most famous of all passages in the Bible about love helps us understand God’s feelings toward us and the way we should feel about our spouse, children, friends, and neighbors. It comes from 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 LSB

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up; 5 it does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered; 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now abide faith, hope, love—these three; but the greatest of these is love.

We can get caught up in all kinds of things, even good things, and miss the whole point if love is not our motivating factor. Love like we have been given from God should cause us to be patient and kind to one another. It should cause us to avoid being envious of one another or proud. Love drives us to honor others and to keep a cool head. Love is present when we avoid evil and rejoice with good. Does this sound like the love you have received from God? Does it sound like the love you display in your life?

The way this passage might sound during Christmas would be like this:

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny ornaments but do not have love, I’m just another decorator.

If I work hard in the kitchen baking Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime but do not have love, I’m just another cook.

If I work at a soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse. Love is kind even when harried and tired. Love does not envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. 
Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love does not give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who cannot. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails.

Conclusion

Imagine how a parent would feel if on Christmas day when the gifts for their children were handed out, the children just took them, said “Thank you,” and laid them aside with no attempt to open the gifts not even to find out what they were!

A man told a story about the time when he asked his six-year-old son what he wanted for Christmas. His son usually was very specific about the kind of presents he liked. The dad asked him what he could get him. Bill expected a well-planned reply, such as "I’d like a baseball glove; you can find it at Toys ‘R ‘Us, aisle 6, below the batting helmets, or a specific Lego he wanted. But his son’s request was a bit different. He said, "Dad, I’d like a ball to play with for Christmas."

"Great, what kind of ball?"

"Oh, I want don’t know, either a football or a soccer ball."

"Well, which would you want more?"

"Wellll," and thought about it. Then he said. "If you have some time to play ball with me this year, I’d really like a football so we could throw it back and forth in the back yard. But if you’re gonna be real busy this year, maybe you just better get me a soccer ball, because I can play soccer with the rest of the kids in the neighborhood."

The dad thought about this and said, "Let me surprise you. How does that sound?"

And the little boy smiled and said, "Oh that would be great, Dad. I really love you." the more the dad thought about it, the more he realized his son was not so much interested in the gift. He was interested in the giver.

Imagine how the Lord must feel when he has given gifts to us that He intends for us to use, and yet we never take the trouble to find out what they are, never put them to work, and then excuse ourselves from serving the church by saying that we can’t do anything!

“Toys will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust; but giving the gift of love will endure.” (Ministry127.com) So, this Christmas, look upon the arrival of Jesus as the ultimate gift from God. The kind of gift where the only proper response is to receive. May that love you receive in your heart cause you to live it out every day of the year.