A Stocking Full of Love

Scripture: 1 John 3–4, especially 3:1

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God!

Introduction:

Many of our Christmas traditions are rooted in church history, and if we know their origins we’ll appreciate them more.

The hanging of stockings by the fireplace is just about the first and oldest of our traditions.

For most of human history, most people didn’t have extensive wardrobes. Socks in particular had to be washed out at night and hung by the fire to dry for the next day.

Centuries ago, a teenager named Nicholas from the city of Patara on the Mediterranean coast in ancient Turkey entered the ministry. He became a popular and beloved bishop in the city of Myra. In one of his ministry trips, Pastor Nicholas was in a particular city. While there he heard of a widower trying to raise three daughters. They were on the verge of starvation, and this man was unable to provide a dowry for his girls. As a result they were unable to get married. Even worse, they were in danger of being sold into slavery. Burdened for this family, Nicholas went to the home by night. The eldest daughter’s stockings were hanging by the fireplace, and Nicholas reached through the window and tossed a coin into the stocking. He reportedly later did the same for the other girls.

Thus it became a tradition on St. Nicholas’ Day for children to hang their stockings by the fireplace where, during the night, a treat would be place in them.

The Christmas stocking is appropriate to Christmas because it symbolizes the truth of the gospel. Like that poor family, we’re grief-stricken, and impoverished in heart, enslaved by sin, and unable to save ourselves.

But on Christmas Day, God put something into our stockings, so to speak.

What He put there was better than gold—the feet of His own dear Son, feet that were to be nail-pierced for our sin.

1 John 3:1 KJV 1900

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

The Privilege of God’s Love!

1 John 3:1 (KJV 1900)

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

The first word of John 3:1 is a Greek term meaning, Look at this, become aware of this, consider this.

The older translations use the word behold, but that’s not a term we use anymore. The real emphasis is—hey, look at this, pay attention! The Lord wants us to stop what we’re doing and look at something He wants to show us. He wants us to pay attention. He wants us to see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God.

1 John 3:1 (KJV 1900)

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

It is the love of God that has bestowed the privilege of adoption upon us.

No man is a child of God because of any merit or work of his own.

Man has rebelled against God.

Man has chosen to go his own way in life and to do his own thing. He has wanted little if anything to do with God. He has not wanted the restraints of God upon his life; he has preferred to make his own way through life. Therefore, man has rebelled against God:

⇒ ignored God

⇒ neglected God

⇒ cursed God

⇒ disobeyed God

⇒ disbelieved God

⇒ rejected God

⇒ denied God

It is this that makes the love of God so amazing. It was while we were rebelling and opposing God—while we were sinners and enemies of God—while we were standing against God—while we were in wrath and at enmity with God—while we wanted little if anything to do with God—that God bestowed His love upon us.

Note that God’s love is the giving of His Son to the world. God bestowed His love upon us by giving His Son to die for our sins. We know that God loves us because He gave His Son to die for us. It is the death of Jesus Christ that makes it possible for us to become children of God. How?

⇒ When Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself, our sins were removed from us.

⇒ When Jesus Christ died and paid the penalty for our sins, the penalty was removed from us.

Therefore, God is able to receive us as righteous men and women, as being free of sin. When Jesus Christ died for our sins, He removed all sin from us; He freed us of sin. Therefore, God is able to accept us into His family, the family of God. God is able to adopt us as children of God.

1 John 3:1 (KJV 1900)

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

The world does not know nor understand believers. This explains why believers are ridiculed, mocked, ignored, opposed, abused, rejected, and persecuted by the world. The persecution may come at work, at school, in the neighborhood, or anywhere else; the world just does not understand why believers act and live the way they do. The world does not understand …

• why believers separate themselves from the pleasures and things of the world

• why believers deny themselves and live sacrificially so that they can carry the message of Christ to the world and meet the needs of the desperate

• why believers go to church so much and talk so much about Christ

Note why the world does not understand believers: because the world did not know Jesus Christ. Think about it: God’s very own Son came into the world, but the world did not know Him. They wanted nothing to do with Him; they rejected Him. Now if the world rejected Jesus Christ, God’s very own Son, they are bound to reject God’s adopted children.

The world is just unwilling to recognize and acknowledge that God is righteous and pure and just. They want nothing to do with a lifestyle that demands all that a person is and has. They are just unwilling to give sacrificially to carry the gospel around the world and to meet the needs of the world. They do not understand the nature of believers—that they are the children of God; that they can live no other life than that of following God. Why? Because believers know God in all of His love and the majesty of His being. This the world cannot understand.

The Hope of God’s Love!

There is the great hope and mystery of God’s love, the eternal transformation that believers shall undergo.

Note the great declaration:

1 John 3:2 (KJV 1900)

2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

“Beloved, now are we the sons [children] of God.” It is not that we shall be God’s children; we are already God’s children. If we have trusted and given our lives to Jesus Christ, we are now the children of God.

Now note the declaration again: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God.”

We know what we are now, but “it does not yet appear what we shall be … when he [Christ] shall appear.” The contrast is emphatic: we know what we are now, the children of God, but we do not know what we shall be like when Christ returns.

The believer is to be made just like Christ, conformed to His very image. This means that believers shall be like Christ in person and in character. Believers shall possess a perfect body and being (1 Co. 15:51–57).

1 Corinthians 15:51–57 KJV 1900

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

When You Look at God’s Love You Look at Jesus

There are two “John 3:16’s” in the Bible.

In 1 John 3:16, we read:

1 John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

In other words, if you could only draw one picture for the world to depict the concept of love, it wouldn’t be a wedding ring, a sensual embrace, a romantic candle, or a sacrificial act of kindness.

It would be the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Faith of God’s Love!

1 John 3:3 KJV 1900

3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

There is the great motive of God’s love—purity.

God wants a people just like Himself, a people who are pure and holy and righteous just like Himself. God wants us living with Him in fellowship and communion; He wants us worshipping and serving Him forever and ever. This is the reason God has saved us in Jesus Christ and given us the great hope of being eternally transformed: all so that we can live with Him in glory. If we keep our eyes upon the great glory that lies ahead, it stirs us to live pure lives. God has done so much for us—He has loved us with such an incredible love—that we are stirred to live as Christ lived. We are aroused to please God, aroused to live a godly life. God is going to purify us, make us perfect in every sense of the word. In appreciation we must purify ourselves now, while on this earth. We must seek to be pure even as Christ Jesus is pure.

When You Look at Jesus You Lose Your Fears (1 John 4:7–19).

1 John 4:7–19 KJV 1900

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us.

We can rely on His love at the crucial junctions of life.

We can rely on His love when our strength fails, when our friends die, when our hearts break, when our minds reel, when our hopes are dashed, when our health is gone.

We can rely on His love, and His love is embodied in Jesus Christ.

So this verse says, in effect, whatever you’re facing right now, rely on Jesus! We don’t need to be afraid of anything in this life, because we can rest in the fact that come-what-may, God loves us and His perfect love casts out fear.

Conclusion: Perhaps today you feel lonely and you’re fighting off the Christmas blues.

Well, God loves you, and you can rely on His love.

His love casts out fear.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God.

And that is what we are. Because the heavenly Father put the feet of Jesus Christ into your Christmas stocking 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, you have a stocking full of love.

He left His Father’s throne above so free, so infinite His grace—

Emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race:

’Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!

So, this Christmas as with all the time, is the test, the proof that we love God:

Do you understand the incredible love of God?

Are you stirred to live pure lives because of His incredible love for us?