What Love Looks Like

What is love? Other than being the first three words of a popular secular song… this question is a loaded one. Why? Because there are numerous definitions out there regarding what love is… and what love isn’t.

So far, in our series, “The Best Christmas Ever,” we have talked about God’s amazing gifts of hope, peace, and joy. This morning, we are going to talk about His gift of love. But it is important that we understand God’s love… it is important that we do not try to push our idea of what love is… on God.

Our world has some interesting ideas of what love is.

When we come across something we really like, maybe a song, maybe a car, maybe an event, maybe a book… we sometimes say, “Man! I love that song!” or “I love that ice cream,” or “I love that author and book.”

Sometimes we use the word love to express our enjoyment of a material thing or place.

Sometimes the world argues that love is circumstantial. I’m good with loving you so long as you meet these certain expectations of mine. But the moment those expectations are not met, my love becomes questionable.

I’m here to tell you today that God’s love… is MUCH DIFFERENT than the world’s view of love. I’m here to tell you that there is a greater love offered to us today like nothing this world could ever offer.

I want us to understand today that love… is something we can see. Love is someone we can know… We need to understand today that love isn’t merely something to be defined… it isn’t something we have to chase after… it is something that came to us… revealed to us through the character of someone… that someone is God.

1 John 4:7–8 NIV

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

God IS love. Love is not something we have to define… it is something we can know through the person and character of our heavenly Father.

And… as this passage suggests… the reason we struggle in this world to know what love is… to know what love looks like… is because we struggle to know God. The further we go from God… the more difficult it is to know what love is.

Love is the GREATEST gift we have been given from God AND it is especially communicated in the Christmas season.

This world often operates with a conditional form of love… but our God operates in a form of love that is far beyond that. His love is agape love or… unconditional love.

It is hard for us to even imagine what unconditional love even is… because our minds and experiences are immersed in a circumstantial understanding.

We believe… we get what we deserve. And this has grown over the years to create a feeling of entitlement.

But God gives us MORE THAN we deserve today. THANK GOD we don’t receive what we truly deserve… but instead God has given us something more… BECAUSE of His amazing love for us.

Maybe you’ve been struggling to understand God’s love for you. Maybe you’ve tried to understand God’s position from a worldly understanding… maybe you feel slighted… like God has let you down. My intent today is to clear the air with these biblical and non-negotiable truths.

One - God LOVES you. And there is nothing you can do to change that reality.

Two - God has demonstrated His love for you. God’s love is not passive, it is an active, unconditional love.

Three - God wants you to live in AND operate in His love.

We’re going to start with that first point that will move us from 1 John… hold your place there and turn to John 3 as we establish the truth that…

God Loves you.

John 3:16 NIV

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

We know this verse well… but I fear that some do not know His love well. When we read this text, it might be easy to gloss over an important truth found in the first phrase… God so loved the world.

The world is a BIG place! Much bigger in population size today than when this verse was first written down. And sometimes, we can forget that when the Bible refers to the world in this passage… it is referring to us… each one of us.

You see, although God has the power and ability to see the entire world collectively… He also sees… you. You are NOT just another face in the crowd, you are a son or daughter, created in the image of God AND loved by God. In fact, according to Romans 8:38-39, there is NOTHING you can do that would cause God to stop loving you!

Romans 8:38–39 NIV

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This truth flies in the face of the worldly conditional view regarding love. Because per the world’s standards… I’ve done plenty to cause God to stop loving me… but His love has never ceased for me nor will it ever cease. GOD’S LOVE FOR US… FOR YOU… ENDURES FOREVER!

God’s love for you… is real… and is forever. And as I mentioned before… His love for you is not passive… but active.

God does not sit in heaven and proclaim a love for us that is not backed by action. His love for us is PROVEN through what He has done for us.

For those that struggle in feeling God’s love in difficult times… you need to understand that God has provided for us in our most difficult time. Our hope is not in the amenities or circumstances of this world… our hope is found in the greatest gift this world has ever received.

John 3:16 spoke of the action God took because of His love which brings us to the next point:

God Demonstrates His Love For us.

We don’t have to guess at how much God loves us today… the Word tells us.

John 3:16 tells us His love was the reason He sent Christ to die for us. Romans 5:8 says it this way:

Romans 5:8 NIV

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

That word demonstrates means God proves His love for us… while the world was so undeserving… Jesus gave His life for us BECAUSE of God’s love!

Let’s go back to our main text in 1 John 4:9-10

1 John 4:9–10 NIV

9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

His love for you is not merely words… God took action. Our greatest need involved a price we were unable to pay.

Sin separates us from God. God NEVER STOPS loving us, but sin breaks our fellowship with the Lord. Sin comes with the wage of death… the consequence of death. It is the earned result of our rebellion against God.

But God did not create us to perish… God did not create us for sin… He created us to be in fellowship with Him! So… He made a way for forgiveness… He paid the price we owed with the life of His Son.

In sin… we die. But in Christ, we live. The eternal life spoken of in John 3:16 is out of reach for us if not for the work of Christ on the cross.

All of this… this manger scene… this beautiful picture of God’s love coming to us… was a set up for all of this… the cross… this terrible scene of suffering and shame.

This scene right here is remarkable… for it is the coming of Immanuel which means GOD WITH US (Isaiah 7:14).

God… who is love… came to the earth… to do the most loving thing ever witnessed in this world. He died that we might live. He didn’t give up on us… He gave all for us… that we might come back to His love.

In response… God asks that we place our faith, our trust, our belief, in His Son. He asks that we give our lives back to Him. He asks that we become a beacon of His love… to this dying and broken world.

The manger scene is a picture of what God did… the Church is to be a move of what God is doing. His love is STILL on the move… and His love is to be in motion through His church. So we, as the church… the body of Christ… the extension of Jesus’ ministry until He returns… we need to...

Live in and Operate in His love.

1 John 4:10–12 NIV

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Here’s the deal… when we give our hearts to the Lord, God’s love comes alive in our hearts. When that happens, the love we have received from Him… is something we will or should extend to others.

in fact, 1 John 4 goes on to say that the extension of God’s love through the life of the believer is a sign of our love for the Lord.

1 John 4:19-20 says this

1 John 4:19–20 NIV

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

This seems pretty intense, right? But consider this: when we receive the greatest gift of love in our lives… the love of the Father that is the gift of His Son… it will change us. It will give us a new worldview. We will not see the world as we once did… we will begin to see the world as God does.

Even though the world deserves His wrath, God so loved. Even though the world has fallen and is broken… God so loved. Even though the world turned its back on God… God so loved.

GOD LOVED US FIRST. God is not asking us to do something He is unwilling to do. God desires… rather commands His people to extend to others the same love He has extended to us.

And we at HWC embrace that command… so much that it is a part of our mission statement. “Loving God. Loving People.”

This is based off the greatest commands identified by Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40.

Our first and most important priority is to love God.

Our second most important priority is to love people… as God loves people.

All people matter to God. Therefore… all people should matter to His church. So what does this look like in real time? It means that we, the church, live in and operate according to the love of God.

It means we place God’s will… above our will. It means we trust His love… not the world’s definition of love.

And if we find ourselves struggling to love someone at any given moment here’s my simple advice to you: In that moment, take time to draw closer to God.

When I struggle to be loving… I find I am drawing closer to my self instead of my God. But when I draw closer to the Lord and His love… I remember the love and forgiveness He has extended to me… and I able able then to be loving to others.

Closing/Communion

So how do we wrap this up on this Christmas Eve morning? By doing something very important. In a moment, we are going to receive communion together and worship the Lord.

I want to read a passage we refer to every time we receive communion together. It comes from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NIV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Communion is about three important things:

One… it is about our relationship with the Lord. Our fellowship with God would not be possible if not for the sacrifice of His Son.

Two… it is about remembering all that Christ did so we could be forgiven and free of sin. His love for us… cost Him His life. He died the death meant for us. We must never forget that truth.

Three… it is a proclamation of the Lord’s death until He returns. It is living in and operating in His love. The Lord’s death was the greatest act of love the world has ever seen. May we forever proclaim the greatness of His love.

We are going to serve the elements and take them together. As we do… ask yourself these two things:

One… How is your relationship with Jesus? Are you good or do you need to get some things right with the Lord?

Two… How is your life a reflection of His love? Are you living in and operating according to His love? If you find yourself struggling… draw closer to Him in this moment.

Communion Reception

If you find your life is not where it needs to be… I want to pray with you a simple prayer for salvation. The greatest gift you could possibly receive this Christmas is the gift of Jesus.