The Three Loves of Christmas

Intro: What are some words that come to mind when we talk about Christmas?

You can also be honest!

For some it’s stress

For others, it’s joy

For some, it’s a reminder of pain

For others, it’s a time of revelry

Charlie Brown was also looking for the meaning of Christmas

One of the main parts of the movie has him screaming, “Can anyone tell me what Christmas is about!?”

It’s the same with Lucy Lou Who in the Grinch, she’s just not sure where Christmas is, because this doesn’t exactly feel like it.

However, when we look at the story of Christmas, we see a story that is birthed [get it?] out of love.

The birth of Jesus is a gift of love that impacts everything about us.

And so, as we approach the week of advent when we focus of love, could you turn to

Luke 2:8–14 (CSB)

THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!,,

So, let’s talk about the three loves that we encounter because of Christmas

God’s Love for Us

The gift of Christ’s birth is a gift of love!

Look at vs. 11, it says, “Today in the city of David a Savior was born FOR YOU!”

Christmas is, according to Scripture, for YOU.

The birth of Jesus is one of the biggest moments in history that we can point to in order to prove that God loves you immensely

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” but He never would have died if He had never been born. His love for you is incredible.

And, look at who showed up at his birth! The angels appeared to shepherds, this incredibly common, dirty, smelly job!

If this were a power move by God, He could have sent angels to foreign diplomats or to the king of Israel, Herod, or even the Emperor of Rome, but He sent angels to some lowly shepherds

And that’s because

God’s love is not dependent on us.

God’s love is for us, but it’s not based on us!

If God’s love was based on my ability to make Him love me, I would have no hope, I could never dream to do enough good to make God love me.

If we had to be “the right” kind of person for God to love us, we would not have a chance! I don’t think any one of us would say that we’re particularly saint-like or anything like that, and I’m positive that none of us here are perfect! We’re ordinary people, and so Christ became an ordinary person to save all of us ordinary people!

The Incarnation brought God and man together in a mystical union that transcends all time and understanding. On paper, this event should not have happened!

It would be inconceivable to say that the infinite and all-powerful Creator of the universe could occupy a tiny human frame.

And yet, by the grace of God because of the love of God, God became man in Jesus so that this little baby in a manger was at the same time the Second Person of the Trinity who is upholding the universe.

God’s love is personified in the Son, Jesus.

Christmas illustrates the love of God for us, but it also shows us the necessity of our love for others.

Our Love for Others

Christmas is one of those times where you’re supposed to be nice to people, right?

It feels like every Christmas movie has a jerk that eventually turns up to be good because it’s Christmas.

It’s always on Christmas Eve, and then someone tells that villain, “But it’s Christmas!” and then they turn out to be good and everything works

Why do we resonate with that so much? What is it about Christmas that enforces the expectation that we have to be nice, that we have to love each other?

Obviously there’s something cultural in it, if you’re told enough times that that’s what you’re supposed to do, it will make an impact, but I think that the main reason that we do this is because of God.

God has given us so much love that we can’t help but reciprocate.

And so, we give gifts and we’re nice to people and we donate to the salvation army and we do coat drives and make nice dinners.

But, we still manage to mess it up, because we’re people who are broken.

And so, receiving becomes better than giving, we can be nice out of obligation, we’re made at the guy ringing the bell at Safeway for making eye contact, and we make sure to bring up those nice dinners to our family as proof that we don’t need to do the dishes.

This is because the source of our love has ceased to have it’s foundation in Christ and is now on us or the holiday itself.

And yet, for the Christian it must not be so!

John 15:12–17 ““This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”

Jesus gives us a command: love each other!

I tried to figure this out and I couldn’t, so I’m not absolutely positive, but I think that this is the only time that Jesus gave a command.

He tells His disciples to do things, but He doesn’t typically say, “I command you,” to do anything, but this is something that He commands.

So, we must love each other!

Even when it’s hard, and it’s often hard!

The beautiful thing about this passage is that it’s just the first and last verse that are about us.

The command of Jesus are just bookends to this passage, it’s what’s in the middle that’s really interesting (like a command sandwich if you will)

All the other verses are about the love of God and His plan for us, the love command is just the beginning of that!

What this means is that your love isn’t up to us, it’s up to God!

If you trust in Jesus as your Lord, then you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, making you more and more like the person that God created you to be, and it is only by Him working in you that this can ever happen.

We can’t love people in the way that Christ did, unless God works in us and loves through us.

WATCHMEN NEE: P 34

How do we do this?

Especially at Christmas, we can so quickly ask the how question.

How am I supposed to love people?

How do I love my family or friends?

What does showing love to my spouse or my kids look like?

Part of this is just going to be in knowing the people that you are doing your best to love.

I’m somebody that likes verbal encouragement. That’s always been a big deal for me.

And so, my wife and my friends are generally people who know that that’s a great way to show love to me.

So, especially during Christmas, it’s such a benefit to me when Aubree and I can talk about how thankful we are for each other.

For some of you, maybe the way you feel love is time together.

And so Christmas can be such a wonderful time because you can spend time with people during Christmas or Christmas Eve. It’s a cozy holiday, you’re supposed to spend time by a fire and drink hot chocolate and not do anything like God intended, and so your soul warms because of this aspect of Christmas.

There’s a lot of different ways to do this, I think a helpful resource, if you’re looking to love your friends and family better, is the five love languages by Gary Chapman.

It’s really helpful for just a simple understanding of how different people give and receive love, although it’s specifically made for a romantic context, it also works with other relationships.

I think, however, that one of the best ways that we can love others is at the table. We can sacrificially give of our time by making food, we can spend time by eating food, we can encourage and laugh with each other over a good meal, we can love our friend, family, and neighbor around the table for a good meal.

So, please invite someone over for a meal this week! It doesn’t have to be fancy, it can be mac and cheese and hot dogs, but share a meal together and practice the love that God calls us to in the wake of the birth of Christ.

Application: Invite someone over for a meal this week!

However, in whatever way it is that we are supposed to show love for the people in our lives, it must be rooted in the love that God has for us. If we’re trying to pour out love from a cup that is completely empty of love, we will wind up bitter and angry toward the people that we love. If we pour out the love of Christ into others because we are full of His love, then we can never grow tired of it.

In all of this though, we would not be able to receive the love of God for us or act in love towards others if it were not for the Father’s love for the Son

The Father’s Love for His Son

Christmas would not be complete if we did not reflect on the death and burial of Christ along with the birth of Christ.

All throughout the story of Jesus, we see different examples of the God the Father loving God the Son.

John 5:20 “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.”

John 3:35 “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.”

Matthew 17:5 “He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.””

God the Father loves His Son immensely, which makes Christmas all that more incredible!

In Christmas, we not only see a gift of love from God to us in the birth of Christ, but we see the continuation of the story of God giving Himself up so that we can be with Him.

At Christmas, the birth of Jesus also pointed to the death of Christ on the cross!

God the Father, in giving His Son, knew that His Son must die in order for Christmas to matter

God the Son, in becoming man, knew that He must give Himself up in order for Christmas to have any weight.

The love of the Father for the Son was exchanged for the wrath that we deserved.

We see this on the cross!

Matthew 27:46 “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””

Every other time in the story of Jesus, Jesus calls the Father His Father, never God, but at this moment when He quotes Psalm 22 on the cross, God the Son had taken all of our sin and brokenness and rebellion and hurt on Himself and became sin so that we could then be forgiven

And God the Father turned His face away from His Son whom He loved to pour out all of the punishment that was deserved for our sin on His very own Son!

The love for you that is shown in God the Trinity in this very action is immense!

I would NEVER give up my daughter for someone else, they aren’t worth it to me, and yet in God, the Father, Son, and Spirit loved you with such a love that the Son was willing to be sacrificed on a cross for you!

And how beautiful it was when Christ rose from the dead three days later, having beaten sin and death in us and being raised at the right hand of the Father where He belongs!

And so, as we are in this Christmas season of celebrating the coming (or advent) of Christ both in the past and in the future, let’s be a people that are informed entirely by love. The love of God for us, the love that we have for others, and the love that the Father has for the Son.