The Gift: Love Came Down Humbly

-Christmas Party 12/15 ($5-$10 limit for kids, $10-$20 limit for adults)

-Christmas Caroling @Morningside senior home 12/17 @6pm

-Angel Tree (27 Kids now) Explain What angel tree is

-Food Pantry & Mudd ES collection bins

-Christmas eve service @10am

-New years eve service (no morning service) we will be having a watch night service Sunday night @10:30PM.

Im excited to continue this series we kicked off last week! “The Gift” we all love getting gets and giving gifts. Especially during the Christmas season. Most of the time these gifts are temporal and have costed us something financially. In this series we are going to be unpacking the greatest gift of all time....Jesus, but we are going to look even deeper into how He offers us some particular gifts. The gifts of Hope, Love, Peace, and Joy

-Last week we hit on how Jesus has brought us the gift of hope…and that:

Biblical hope is all about God’s faithfulness. His past faithfulness motivates the hope for the future. Looking forward by looking back.

Read Ephesians 3:17–19 “and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

PRAY

For God So Loved The World Section:

-Today we are going to really lock into how Jesus is love itself embodied and how He has gifted that love to us as well! Just as our opening verse described this love his love is wider, higher and deeper than we can even imagine.

-Many things come to mind when we think of love, feelings, emotions, images, experiences, places to name a few

-some of us in this room feel we have experienced the beauty of love and all that comes with it. Others of us may feel like we have been hurt or taken advantage of by false expressions of love in our lives and we don’t “trust” love from anyone or for us love isn't selfless but selfish and always has strings attached.

The mindset i will only receive love from someone if i do x,y, and z.

Or I will only give my love if this person does x, y, and z.

-The English word love has very broad meaning “an intense feeling of affection”or “a great interest and pleasure in something or someone”

- Our journey into the significance of Jesus as the gift of love begins with the well-known verse from John 3.

Read John 3:16-17.

The Foundation of Love:

Here, we find the foundation of God's love—the sending of His Son for the salvation of the world. The incarnation, God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus, is the ultimate expression of divine love.(we will hit on this a little more in a few minuted)

The Universal Scope of Love:

Building upon the foundation of John 3:16, we discover in verse 17, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Jesus didn't come to bring condemnation; He came to bring salvation. The love of Christ transcends all boundaries—ethnic, cultural, social, and personal. It is a love that encompasses the entire world, inviting all to experience the transformative power of His grace.

The Personal Impact of Love:

The gift of love that Jesus brings is not merely a theoretical concept but a deeply personal experience. When we open our hearts to Him, we encounter a love that forgives, heals, and redeems. In the busyness of the Christmas season, we must slow down and take the time to reflect on the personal impact of Jesus' love in our lives. His love has the power to bring peace to our souls, joy to our hearts, and hope to our circumstances.

The Call to Share the Gift:

As recipients of this incredible gift of love, we are called to be bearers of that love to the world around us. In sharing the love of Christ, we become instruments of His grace, reflecting the light that dispels darkness. Matthew 5:14-16 reminds us, "You are the light of the world...let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Our response to the gift of love is to share it generously with others, illuminating the world with the hope found in Jesus.

-Now lets dive a little deeper into the incarnation.....

The Incarnation Section:

-John 1:1-18 (Really Break this passage down)

-This is what we call the incarnation…. Which means in the flesh (John 1:14)

-Became does not mean that he ceased to be God. In becoming man, he did not forsake his divine nature, as if that were even an option. Rather, he became man by taking on human nature in addition to his divine nature. It is essential to the incarnation

-Flesh isn’t merely a reference to the human body but the entirety of what makes up humanity — body, mind, emotions, and will. This is crucial for us understand. He had to become like us(except our sin) so that he could save us!

-Christmas is about the incarnation of our Lord and Savior!…. The ultimate meaning of Christmas is Love…God loves us so much that he humbled himself to become a man to provide the only way for us to dwell with Him for all eternity.

-There are a couple things I really want you to understand about the Incarnation….

-The incarnation was not Jesus’ beginning (John 1:1–5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.”)

-The Incarnation incarnation shows Jesus’ humility (Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”)

-The Incarnation fulfills prophecy (Isaiah 9:6–7 “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.” )

-The Incarnation is Mysterious (It can be hard understand how He was both God and Man)

-The incarnation is necessary for salvation. (Hebrews 2:14–18 “Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring. Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.”)

-In contemplating the incarnation, we are confronted with the unfathomable decision of the Almighty to step into human history. Philippians 2:6-8 beautifully captures this truth: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" The depth of God's love is revealed in His willingness to embrace humanity, with all its frailty and imperfections.

-The incarnation demonstrates God's commitment to understanding and sharing in our human experience. Hebrews 4:15 assures us, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin." God did not remain aloof but chose to walk in our shoes, feel our joys and sorrows, and experience the challenges of human life.

-The incarnation unfolds with the vulnerability of a newborn in Bethlehem. The King of kings chose to enter the world as a helpless baby, dependent on human care and protection. This act of humility and vulnerability reveals the depths of God's love—a love that willingly exposed itself to the limitations and fragility of the human condition.

-God's love at the incarnation is purposeful and redemptive. The incarnation was not a random event; it was the divine plan to rescue humanity from sin and separation. The depth of God's love is seen in the intentional sacrifice of sending His Son to be the atonement for our sins.

The Gift Of Love Section:

Jesus is the reason for the season , let us reflect q little more on the profound significance of the gift He brought into the world—the gift of love.

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.

-The Priority of Love: In these verses, the Apostle Paul beautifully articulates the essence of love. He begins by emphasizing the priority of love over other spiritual gifts, eloquence, and even acts of charity. Without love, our words become mere noise, and our deeds lose their meaning. Love is the foundation upon which everything else in the Christian life is built.

-The Nature of Love: Paul goes on to describe the nature of love using powerful and poetic language. Love is patient and kind; it does not envy or boast. It is not proud or self-seeking. Love does not keep a record of wrongs but rejoices in the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

-The Permanence of Love: One of the most profound aspects of love is its enduring nature. In a world marked by change and uncertainty, love stands as a constant force. Prophecies will cease, tongues will be stilled, and knowledge will pass away, but love remains. Love is eternal, and it is the thread that connects us to God's heart.

-The Exemplification of Love in Jesus: As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we witness the perfect embodiment of the love described in 1 Corinthians 13. Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world not with grandeur and power, but as a humble baby in a manger. His life on earth was a demonstration of selfless love—He healed the sick, comforted the brokenhearted, and ultimately sacrificed Himself for the redemption of humanity.

AGAPE Section:

-The Greek word agape is often translated “love” in the New Testament. How is “agape love” different from other types of love? The essence of agape love is goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love. Unlike our English word love, agape is not used in the New Testament to refer to romantic or sexual love.

-Nor does it refer to close friendship or brotherly love, for which the Greek word philia is used. Agape love involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. It is distinguished from the other types of love by its lofty moral nature and strong character. Agape love is beautifully described in 1 Corinthians 13.

-Outside of the New Testament, the word agape is used in a variety of contexts, but in the vast majority of instances in the New Testament it carries distinct meaning. Agape is almost always used to describe the love that is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God does not merely love; He is love.

-Everything God does flows from His love. Agape is also used to describe our love for God (Luke 10:27), a servant’s faithful respect to his master (Matthew 6:24), and a man’s attachment to things (John 3:19).

-The type of love that characterizes God is not a sappy, sentimental feeling such as we often hear portrayed. God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely, not because we deserve to be loved or because of any excellence we possess, but because it is His nature to love and He must be true to His nature.

-Agape love is always shown by what it does. God’s love is displayed most clearly at the cross. “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4–5). We did not deserve such a sacrifice, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

-God’s agape love is unmerited, gracious, and constantly seeking the benefit of the ones He loves. The Bible says we are the undeserving recipients of His lavish agape love (1 John 3:1). God’s demonstration of agape love led to the sacrifice of the Son of God for those He loves. This is the most beautiful gift we could have ever be given.!

We are to love others with agape love, whether they are fellow believers (John 13:34) or bitter enemies (Matthew 5:44). Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of sacrifice for the sake of others, even for those who may care nothing at all for us. Agape love as modeled by Christ is not based on a feeling; rather, it is a determined act of the will, a joyful resolve to put the welfare of others above our own.

-Agape love does not come naturally to us. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as God loves, that love—that agape—can only come from its Source. This is the love that “has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” when we became His children (Romans 5:5; cf. Galatians 5:22).

-“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). Because of God’s love toward us, we are able to love one another.

-In the midst of the gifts trees and lights, let us not forget the profound truth that Christmas represents—the gift of love given to us through Jesus Christ. As we embrace this love, may it transform us from within, enabling us to love others as Christ loves us. Let our Christmas celebrations be a testimony to the enduring power of love—the greatest gift of all.

Week 2 Questions:

1.How would you describe love? Do you find it easy or hard to love others?

2.Do you believe you have experienced false expressions of love? What did that look like and how did it impact you?

3.How do you respond to God’s love for you?

5.How have you shown agape love to others? Have experienced agape love from other Christ follower? How has that impacted you?