Love

Throughout this season of Advent, we have been looking at the Gospel of Luke and the story it offers to us on the birth of Jesus. We have been focusing on one word each week that is a characteristic of what it means to be a Christian with the idea of us being able to ask ourselves this question, “How can I grow in that part of my life?”

Today theword that we will be focusing on is “Love.” We will be looking at Luke 2:1-7.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Please pray with me…

There is a song that we will sometimes sing within the church which is entitled “They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love.” This songshould be the truth. The song more than any other should remind us that we follow a Lord and Savior whose birth we are about to celebrate that showed us how to love.

You may have noticed concerning today’s scripture that the word love was not mentioned. So how can our word of the day be love when love is not mentioned within the text?

The answer is because love shouldn’t need to be said. It needs to be shown. Others should be able to know our love through our actions. It is whypart of our mission statement reminds us that we are called to “Love All People.”

Jesus showedus what that means. We find him loving those that were considered unworthy within Jewish society. He loved the leper. He lovedthose that were blind. He loved those that were said to be crippled.

That doesn’teven include what he said to us concerning our enemies. We are to love our enemies. We are to love those that have done something so egregious that we would consider them being against us.

Jesus didn’tonly say it, but he also lived it. He showed what it means to love all people all the way to the cross when he asked his father to forgive those that had put him upon the cross because “they no not what they do.” We havethe example that we are called to follow. We have been shown what it means to “love all people.”

We can see two expressions of love in today’s scripture without it being mentioned. Verse five tells us that Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married. We don’t have to hear that they love each other when we are told that they are engaged. The wordengaged and the word love usually go together. “Will you marry me” usually is a good way of saying that you love someone.

The other examplewould be that Mary gave birth to their first-born son. Again, we don’t have to be told that they love the child. We can assume that through the fact that they have a child that they love that child.

We should be expressing love in the same way as Christians. People shouldn’t have to hear the word love to know that they are loved not only by us but by the one who is, or wants to be, their Lord and Savior Jesus.

This is true within our church family. Those that visit should be able to recognize that love is in the room. They should be able to tell through the way we interact with each other and with them that we are a church that loves all people.

Romans 12:10 says that we are to “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” We show our love for each other for the way we are there for each other. How we care for each other.

Those within our communities should be able to tell of our love for them by the way we treat them. Our first scripture reading offers us the way that we express our love for others as Christians.

The New Testament is written in Greek. Unlike English, the word “love” is expressed through four unique words. This allows us to receive a clear understanding without only relying on context to understand what the author is attempting to say to us.

The word used for love in our 1 Corinthians text is “agape.” This word for love offers to us that we are talking about the same type of love that God offers to each one of us. We are to love as God first loved us.

The first way we show love is by being patient. We are to be understanding if people do not trust us right away or if we invite them to church and they decline.

A person might not be ready to learn about God. They may need some time to decide that they want to learn more about the one that we believe came down to earth to die for them in order to save them from the power of sin.

· We are to be kind.

· We are to not envy.

· We are to not boast.

a. We need to give God the glory.

· We are to not be proud.

· We are to not dishonor others.

· We are to not be self-seeking

a. Its not about us.

· We are to not be easily angered.

a. Jesus got angry but not easily angered.

· We are to not keep a record of wrongs.

a. We are to forgive

· We are to rejoice in the truth and not delight in evil.

· We are to protect.

· We are to trust.

· We are to be hopeful.

· We are to persevere

a. We are to not give up.

The most important reason for us to love God and love others is that God first loved us. John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.”