Waiting for His return... (4)
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Love has come...
Love has come...
As we bring our service to a close, let’s look at God’s love.
Just over 2000 years ago, God sent His love to us in town called Bethlehem.
Most of us can quote verses like
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.
We have heard the story of a virgin, whose name was Mary, who was called to be the mother of the Promised Redeemer.
We can understand the angst that Joseph must have had when he heard the news, “Mary is expecting.” As Joseph pondered his dilemma, “Should I quietly end this or should she get what she deserves?”
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
In all this, God had a plan to send Love into the world, and Love’s name was called Jesus.
As we attempt to bring together the love of God and the reason that God would come into the world, I want to read a few verses from
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.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
God’s plan of love was fully met in Christ. While at Christmas, we look to the manger, “Christ the Saviour is born.” We cannot leave Him in the manger in Bethlehem. It was a holy night. It was an amazing manifestation of God’s love, but it was only the start of God’s plan.
This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
He came to take away sin, but not just any sin, He came to take away my sin.
“On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suff’ring and shame, but I love that old cross, where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners was slain.”
Mary’s little child, became the saviour of the world. It was obvious that Mary knew, but I’m sure she could only see a small portion of the tapestry that God the Father was about to unveil: Our Great Redeemer. Glorious Saviour, Lord of All.
The story of the manger, the sacrifice of the cross, the joy of the empty tomb, and the promise of His return, begs the question of
What must I do?
What must I do?
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR’S BROCCOLI
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR’S BROCCOLI
A little girl stayed for dinner at the home of her friend. The vegetable was buttered broccoli, and the mother asked if she liked it. The child replied very politely, "Oh, yes, I love it." But when the bowl of broccoli was passed, she declined to take any. The hostess said, "I thought you said you loved broccoli." The girl replied sweetly, "Oh, yes, ma’am, I do, but not enough to eat it!"
“One cannot define one’s neighbor; one can only be a neighbor,” Haddon Robinson said. “Your neighbor is anyone whose need you see, whose need you are able to meet.” A neighbor is someone who says, “What is mine is God’s and what is God’s belongs to my neighbor because my neighbor belongs to Him.” (Stephen Sheane, SC)
This story of the Broccoli might seem cute, and some of you might even be able to agree with the sentiment, “Just not enough to eat.”
Do we love our neighbours enough to feel sorry for them, or do we love them enough to practically care?
It’s maybe a difficult question to be asked at a Christmas Eve service, and maybe even out of place…even though Jesus left Heaven to come to earth and become our atoning sacrifice.
What if God had cared, but not enough to send His one and only Son...
Where would that leave us?
Lost and undone...
God didn’t care just about enough to send Jesus,
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Because of this, we can live in love and live in God. Theology is good. The fact that you believe that Jesus died for you brings salvation. When we believe in Jesus’ sacrifice, Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
If we live in agape love, self-sacrificial love, loving without a guarantee of being loved back. The laying down one’s life kind of love, that person lives in God and God in them.
There’s a cost...
There’s a cost...
We need to look to others needs above our own. God will bring people our way to love, even when we don’t feel like it. That’s when God pours His grace into us to accomplish HIs plan.
To close, I want to encourage you, as well as myself to look for ways to love. It may require your time. It may cost you something. Chances are, it will come at inconvenient times.
The manger wasn’t a palace. The cross wasn’t a thrown. Everything that Jesus carried for us didn’t come at a convenient time either.
As we take a glance at the manger, let’s not neglect to look at the crown of thorns, His nail-scarred hands, and the cross.
Never forget...
Love has come...
Let’s pray!