Love Came Down

Today is the last Sunday of Advent, which is a season of waiting in eager anticipation for what God will do.

 During these last three weeks, we have looked back to the people of Israel as they waited for a Savior to appear, and we have looked ahead to the time when Christ will come again and all creation will be restored. 

We’ve been reminded that we are a people who do not give in to despair when the darkness is overwhelming, but who place our hope in the God who brings life out of death. 

We have been reminded that we are a people of peace who are not overwhelmed by chaos but instead entrust ourselves to the God of peace. 

And we have been reminded that we are a people of joy, who do not ignore pain and sorrow but who instead know the joy and comfort of God even as we grieve. 

Today we are called to remember that we serve the God who is love and that we are to be a people who love.

Love— we hear that word all the time. What is love? Some people think it’s something people fall in or out of. Some think of Love as a force beyond our control.

Some think love is like something satisfying that we can achieve. It often drives us to chase after affection through relationships or status.  I’m sure you’ve heard the saying… “Love is all you need,” because some people think it is the path to self-fulfillment. 

But this isn’t what we’re talking about this 4th Sunday of Advent.  Something big is missing from that picture of love.

Scripture invites us to see a kind of love that’s neither accidental nor driven by desire for self-fulfillment. 

Instead, this kind of LOVE involves a steady commitment and devotion that leads to action to care for the well-being of others—never self-seeking, always self-giving—even when it costs us. 

God is love, and His love was revealed at the incarnation. 

I invite you to stand as we read one short verse. Short but profound!  There’s enough deep theology in this one little verse that has kept our heads spinning for years. 

Scripture: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 

THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD THANKS BE TO GOD

Prayer

We’ve been in the Gospel of Luke for the last few weeks, but this morning we’re looking at the same story through a different lens—The Apostle John’s writing.

John’s account of Christ coming to earth sounds a little different  from Matthew and Luke's. We understand that story—it’s pretty straightforward… It starts with the Census, then Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, the Baby is born, the angels sing, the shepherds visit—and so on. 

The Apostle John had read their accounts.  But, by now, the Gospel had spread, and some thirtyish years had passed since Christ ascended. By the time of this writing, the Gospel had advanced.

The Gospel had spread to the Greeks- They didn't understand the concept of waiting for the Messiah or Old Testament laws.  

The Gospel was traveling throughout the Greek world, and John knew he had to write the story differently in a way that would help the Greeks understand it.

So he starts writing a book….He went back further in time than Matthew and Luke…He was writing his perspective in away that his reading audience would get it.. “In the beginning was the Word.”  

You see, Jesus didn’t come to be on Christmas morning.

In the beginning was the Word… the Logos…

That’s lofty language—We don’t have time this morning to get into the depths of this…it takes a little more of a Greek Philosophy mindset to fully grasp what John is saying…

but again, John is writing the story of Christ coming into the world in a way that Greeks would get it. 

Jump down to verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth!” 

John is saying the “Word” What is the “Word?” The Greek word is Logos—the Word, that powerful, creative reasoning…

The Word that created the universe and this Intelligence, which controls the order of the world, this— Mind of God has become a person- a human—and we saw Him with our very own eyes. And let me just tell you, He … He… He…is lovely!  

At this point, the original audience—the Greeks must have fallen over. Their jaws would have hit the dirt. Wait… what? 

This would have been impossible to the Greeks- they couldn't have fathomed it. This was mind-blowing news. It's staggering. It’s shocking.   

The body was evil to the Greeks- like a prison where the soul was shackled, the spirit confined. It's like saying the mind of God descended into a human body. And that eternity could somehow show up in real time so that people could stare at Him. 

And what did they see? Glory- A person FULL of grace and truth. 

What did they see? A person of flesh and blood? What a collision of the eternal realm with the physical realm…to Greeks, this was impossible.

The Word became flesh..

And how is He described? He was full of grace and truth because God is love. 

Again, the same story, different lens. Christ came, full of grace and truth because God is love.

John also declares in I John 4:19 that God is love and makes it very clear that love isn’t just one of God’s attributes among many—it’s His very essence.

Everything He does—His actions, His boundaries, His promises flow from this core reality. He IS love and can’t do anything contrary to His nature. 

We have to understand that God’s love isn’t some fickle, or sentimental emotion. His love sacrifices, and pursues even when it’s rejected. God is love.

Love—Pure LOVE came down and dwelled among us. What’s the definition of LOVE—

It  involves a steady commitment, devotion and action to care for the well-being of others—never self-seeking, always self-giving—even when it costs us. 

No matter how the story of God is told—whether in lofty language, or straightforward—The story of God is one where God is constantly reaching out to the world in love. 

From the time of creation, (In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the word was God) 

God has been seeking the good of humanity, recognizing that humans need community and providing it. 

From creation fast forward—God called and blessed Abraham so that the whole world might be blessed through him and his descendants. God was reaching out in love.

Fast forward some more—When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, God came to deliver them through Moses. God was reaching out in love!

Time after time when the Israelites turned from God and lived lives of unfaithfulness, God sent prophets to call them back to Him self.

Again…God was reaching out in love. 

Fast forward to the birth of Christ—Our text today—God was reaching out in love! The God of the whole world came and dwelt among humanity. The story of God—God’s reaching love! 

God—This is the very God of whom Psalm 8 says, “O Lord, Our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” 

That same God comes to us and takes on our flesh, living as one of us, experiencing all of life from birth to death and everything in between. God shares in our weakness, our grief, our pain, our sorrow, and even our death, so that we might share in the very life of God. 

 The story of God—is God reaching out in love!

So when we say “God is love”—This is what it means— God seeks relationship with us—so much that God would go to such an unthinkable extreme—He takes on flesh and tabernacles in our midst, experiencing all of life with us. 

You see because of God is love, God does not abandon us to our pain, our sorrow, and our death but takes all of that into God’s very life and triumphs over it in the death of Jesus on the cross.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Full of grace and truth, God IS love.

Here’s the thing—You see, when we encounter God—when we RECEIVE LOVE—we’re not the same! His love changes us. 

These days, there are a lot of people wearing the name “Christian.” There are a lot of people in our culture that claim to be believers in Christ. 

But let me tell you this… If you have truly received Christ, who is God, and God is love—YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE OTHERS. That is the sign—that is the proof in the pudding. That’s where the rubber meets the road. That’s where the buck stops. 

John writes so clearly in I John 4:7-21: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this 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 also ought to love one another.”

If we have truly received Christ- there will be a desire to love others. I am NOT saying that there is never going to be a time that we fall short. I’m not saying that we will do it perfectly in all situations and circumstances, but it does mean that God will do a work in our hearts that we will choose to see all people as living miracles of God—each made in His image and deeply loved by God. Our actions will reflect this as we grow in Him. 

If we are not growing in love, it is time to re-evaluate to see if we have truly received Christ, who is God, who is love!  

Love MOVES…

Love moves toward the good of the other. Jesus moved into our world, into our neighborhood, for our good.

When we receive Christ—who is God, who IS love, we will MOVE TOWARD people too! This is God’s law!

The law of God is love! It always has been. Jesus told us that when He came, He fulfilled the law. He didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Do you realize, that all of His law points to this love? Jesus summed it up saying… “Love God, love others as you love yourself.” This isn’t optional. Love moves. Love reaches.

You see, our Love for God and love for neighbor are inseparably bound together as one way of thinking, feeling, and acting.

We see this way of living most clearly in Jesus. Jesus’ love is active, costly, and directed toward healing the broken, forgiving the sinful, and restoring peace to the battle-worn and exhausted. 

Living in the way of Jesus opens our eyes to see others the way God sees them. And when we see people through the eyes of love, that love shines through us in practical, helpful ways. We reach, we move toward others.

Advent reminds us that love itself is God’s essential nature. As we choose to embrace God’s way of love, we begin to reflect it throughout the world.

Friends… can I challenge you this morning to not under estimate the power of love this morning? 

Love came down, dwelled among us—full of grace and truth. This love turned the world upside down and it still is. What a privilege it is to invited into this story of God. The story of love. Love that reaches, that includes, that seeks good. Love that redeems, restores, forgives, gives second chances. 

How we need that kind of love today. We need this kind of love in our homes, our schools, our churches… 

Perfect love casts out fear. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love holds families and communities together when division threatens to tear us apart. 

The apostle Paul tells us what love looks like. He wrote to a community that was fractured. Some “high status” people were receiving privileges that others of low status were denied. Some of them were boasting about their spiritual gifts while looking down on others. Some were excluded. 

Paul told them that their spiritual gifts didn’t amount to a hill of beans if they didn’t have love. Well- not exactly- he said that they sounded like a noisy gong or a clashing cymbal. And then he described what love looks like. 

I’m going to read it from the Message: Paraphrase of I Corinthians 13:1-9: 

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

This is love. For Paul, love is devotion, the conscious commitment to relate rightly with people and seek their best interest. It is patient with others’ shortcomings and refuses to dominate or keep score. 

How can we do that—Especially when people don’t love us back? This is hard!

Advent reminds us that this kind of love is grounded in the hope that God is working to renew all things and will one day fully establish his Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven. 

In the meantime, we practice and keep practicing this way of love, so that our friends, neighbors, and even enemies can glimpse that future reality. When it is all said and done, it’s not power, or performance that is going to last— It’s love. 

God is love. Love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever. 

We can’t muster it up. We can’t muster this kind of love up on our own. We can’t manufacture it. We don’t will ourselves into it.

We receive it.

Love begins not with what we do for God, but with what God has done for us.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Love moved into the neighborhood. Love took on skin and bone. Love stepped into our pain, our fear, our brokenness— and did not turn away.

And when we truly receive that love—when we allow ourselves to be seen, known, and held by God—we are changed. Slowly, sometimes painfully, but truly. Love begins to grow in us.

Love reshapes how we see people. Love loosens our grip on fear. Love gives us courage to forgive, to serve, to move toward others rather than away.

Advent reminds us that love has already come—and love is coming again.

Until that day, we live as witnesses of that love. Not perfectly. But faithfully—abiding in Christ, learning His way, allowing His love to flow through us into a weary world.

So this final Sunday of Advent, the invitation is simple:

Receive the love that has come to you. Remain in the love that dwells with you. God is love. And love has come.

Amen.

Benediction: Go in the love that took on flesh and dwelt among us. Abide in Christ, full of grace and truth.And as you go, love others as you have been loved—in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.