ADVENT WEEK 4

LOVE CAME DOWN

Last week, we talked about Joy and the Shepherd’s Candle – Advent Week 3 calls us to remember that Jesus came not just to save us, but to fill us with joy that lasts.

Joy in His Presence — God has drawn near. Joy in His Salvation — Our rescuer has come. Joy in His Strength — We can endure because He sustains us.

The joy of Advent is not temporary or seasonal — it is eternal, because it is found in Christ Himself.

This is the joy of the shepherds. This is the joy of the gospel.

This final week, we look at Love as the final theme of Advent.

Let Us Pray!

“Love Came Down: The Unfailing Love of God Revealed in Christ”

Advent Week 4 – The Angel’s Candle (Love)

BIG IDEA:

Advent Week 4 reminds us that God’s love is not abstract, distant, or theoretical — His love is incarnational, sacrificial, and transformational. Jesus is not just the messenger of God’s love; He is the manifestation of it.

POINT 1 — Love Announced: God’s Love Pursues Us

Illustration:

Think of a parent who bends down to pick up a crying child. The child cannot climb up on their own — the parent must come down. God’s love stoops low to lift us high.

Counter-Cultural Illustration:

Culture says love must be earned — perform well, behave well, achieve enough, and then you’ll be accepted. But Advent proclaims the opposite: God loved us before we could ever respond. Grace moves first.

Luke 1:26–38 — The Annunciation to Mary

When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, it was the announcement that God was not waiting for humanity to climb up to Him — He was coming down to us. Love moves first. Love initiates. Love pursues.

Key Idea:

God’s love is a pursuing love — He comes to us long before we could ever come to Him.

Romans 5:8 — “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 John 4:7-11 — “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

John 3:16-18 — “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

Open-Ended Questions:

1. How have you experienced God pursuing you in different seasons of your life?

2. What keeps you from recognizing the ways God initiates love toward you?

3. How should God’s pursuing love change the way we pursue others?

POINT 2 — Love Embodied: God’s Love Becomes Present Among Us

John 1:14 — “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

God’s love is not just declared — it is demonstrated. Jesus did not love from a distance but entered our world, took on flesh, walked among us, and carried our burdens. Love is not merely spoken; love is shown.

Counter-Cultural Illustration:

Our culture loves from a distance — through screens, likes, emojis, and short bursts of digital affirmation. But real love shows up, sits with, and sacrifices. Advent love is not convenient; it is incarnational.

(current mental health crisis)

Illustration:

A handwritten letter is meaningful, but it cannot replace the embrace of a loved one returning home after a long absence. Presence is always greater than communication. Jesus is God’s presence made visible.

Supporting Scriptures:

Matthew 1:23 — ““Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

He “emptied Himself” and took the form of a servant – to be with us – to serve us not to be served

Philippians 2:5–8 — Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Key Idea:

God’s love is personal and present — He didn’t send a message, He came Himself.

He told Jeremiah and us that we will seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with all our heart – not part of our heart, not Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings – with all our heart – Jeremiah 29:13

James 4:8 – Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Open-Ended Questions:

1. What does God’s presence in Christ reveal to you about the nature of true love?

2. How can you become more incarnational in loving others this season?

3. Where do you need to experience God’s personal presence today?

POINT 3 — Love Given: God’s Love Transforms How We Love Others

John 13:34–35 — “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Advent love is not just something we receive — it is something that transforms and commissions us. Jesus births a new kind of community marked by sacrificial, covenant love. His love becomes the blueprint for Christian living.

Counter-Cultural Illustration:

Culture’s love is transactional: “I’ll love you if…” “I’ll stay as long as…” “I’ll give when you deserve…” But Christ’s love is covenantal: “I love you because He loved me first.” Christian love is not earned — it is given freely.

Illustration:

A candle doesn’t lose its flame by lighting another. Instead, the light grows. When God’s love ignites our hearts, it multiplies as we share it.

Key Idea:

Those who are loved by God are called to love like God —

Sacrificially –

Romans 5:8 – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Corinthians 13 – patient, kind, does not insist on its own ways, rejoices in truth, bears all things, never ends

John 15:12-13 – “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.

Faithfully –

Psalm 136 – Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Lamentations 3:22-23 – The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 7:9 – Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Romans 8:38-39 – For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Generously –

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 – The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Hebrews 3:16 – Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Supporting Scriptures:

1 John 4:11–12 — “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

Colossians 3:14 — “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Ephesians 5:1–2 — “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Open-Ended Questions:

1. Who is God calling you to love sacrificially this Advent season?

2. What barriers in your heart keep you from loving others as Christ loves you?

3. How can your family, church, or friendships reflect Christlike love more intentionally?

CLOSING IDEA:

Advent Week 4 proclaims the greatest truth of Christmas: Love came down. Not the love of sentiment, but the love of sacrifice. Not the love of comfort, but the love of incarnation. Not the love of convenience, but the love of covenant.

Because Jesus came, God’s love is no longer distant. Because Jesus died, God’s love is no longer questioned. Because Jesus lives, God’s love is no longer limited.

FINAL SUMMARY — Advent Week 4: Love That Changes Everything

The Angel’s Candle reminds us that love is the heartbeat of Advent:

Love Announced: God pursues us before we pursue Him.

Love Embodied: God comes near, takes on flesh, and dwells with us.

Love Given: God’s love transforms us into people who love like Jesus.

Advent hope lights the first candle. Advent peace steadies the second. Advent joy celebrates the third. But Advent love fulfills them all.

Because God is love. Because Jesus is love revealed. Because the Holy Spirit pours love into our hearts.

Love came down — and nothing has been the same since – it was a new beginning!

Let Us Pray!