Celebration of a Gift

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 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. 18 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. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Maybe like me you were younger and watching a football game, and somewhere in the crowd of fans you saw a homemade sign that read, “”...

I can remember asking my dad what that was, to which he wasn’t really sure of the scripture reference, he was a new believer, but he thought it was a verse from the Bible about God’s love. He was right.

Turns out this is one of the most, if not the most quoted verse of scripture by people. In fact when asked, What is your favorite bible verse… the vast majority of evangelical Christians in America will quote . It is widely known by those outside the church as well, and yet it is clearly not understood for what it truly means.

It may seem odd to be using this verse for the last part of our Advent series, but I would submit to you that this verse and really this passage as a whole best sums up what it means to celebrate Christmas with giving gifts. that is the point of Advent...

Advent is (the coming of Jesus Christ, the first time, as a baby born to a virgin, miraculously conceived some 2,000 yrs ago)… Advent is celebrated by the church every year, and the world simply calls it Christmas, but it more than just a celebration of a feeling or an idea, it is actually a celebration of giving gifts to remind us of the true gift that was given to humanity.

Advent is the Celebration of a Good God giving a True Gift to those who are unworthy

When we say that God so loved the world that he GAVE… We mean to say no can compare to what God gives us, and we will celebrate this forever! We certainly do not deserve God to Give us what he has and yet he did give us true Salvation in Jesus Christ and Eternal life… that is what the Christmas story is all about… it is not just a Manger on a silent night, but it is a manger that stands in the shadow of the cross, and it is for us who do not deserve it.

Yet before I break down our main text, I want to point us to another one that deals with God giving us a gift in an effort to lay a foundation for us to understand ...

James 1:17 ESV

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

In the reformation study bible there are some notes I want to share with you about “The Goodness of God” that we see here in this verse. It is important for us to understand the Goodness of God if we are to truly see his gifts to us and value them above all else.

Every good and perfect gift comes from above… coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or Shadow of turning… Shadow due to change...

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Psalm 135

God never changes. With Him there is “no shadow of turning.” This suggests not only that God is immaterial and therefore incapable of casting a shadow, but also that there is no “shadow side,” in a figurative or moral sense, to God. Shadows suggest darkness, and in spiritual terms darkness suggests evil. Since there is no evil in God, there is no hint of darkness in Him either. He is the Father of lights.

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Psalm 135

When James adds that there is no “shadow due to change” with God, it is not enough to understand this merely in terms of God’s unchanging or immutable being. This reference is also to God’s character. Not only is God altogether good, He is consistently good. God doesn’t know how to be anything but good.

And while we see that God is good we feel a tension because we live in a world where there is a lot of Evil… How do we make sense of this and how do we reconcile this with the idea that God is Good?

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Psalm 135

We encounter affliction, misery, injustice, and a host of other evils. Yet God in His goodness transcends all of these things and works them to our good. For the Christian, ultimately, there are no tragedies. Ultimately, the providence of God works all these proximate evils for our final benefit.

Martin Luther understood this aspect of God’s good providence when he said, “If God told me to eat the dung from off the streets, not only would I eat it, but I would know it was good for me.”

Now, what I mean to encourage you with by all this, is that God is not just Good in his actions toward us, but he gives us a Gift that is so infinitely good, there is no way to understand this season until we believe God is constantly good and will never be anything but good, and he offers us something that is so good we can’t miss it.

Do not miss the Goodness of of the Gift and the Giver… God!

We must believe that God is Good and that his gifts are good and perfect.

Last week we talked about the idea of the Incarnation, meaning Jesus coming as a baby is actually God wrapped in flesh… So really God gives the gift and God is the Gift!

We believe that Jesus is fullyGod and fully man, absolutely divine in nature, the second member of the trinity, he is God the Son… and he was given to the world by God the Father.

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Now before we really break down john 3:16, please understand the context… Jesus is talking to a religious leader named Nicodemus who is thinking Jesus is a good teacher from God, and Jesus is correcting him… Jesus tells him that he can’t See the Kingdom of God or understand Who Jesus is, You cannot know what I gift Christ is unless you are Born again, or made new on the inside… Look at with me...

John 3:1–8 ESV

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

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SO Jesus is telling Nicodemus that you must be born of the Spirit, which is something other than being born naturally into this world… and that this comes from God, yet it is like the wind blowing… It is mysterious and we can’t fully understand it.

Being born again, receiving salvation from God, is not simply a choice you can make, it is something that God by his Spirit brings to you… this also is a gift...

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

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So the Gift that we receive is not something we can simply make happen But God grants who it comes to… Like wind blowing and not knowing where it comes from or where it goes, the Gift of Faith in Christ comes from God… We cannot work for it or earn it… He simply gives it to us.

And going back to what Jesus said to Nicodemus, unless you are Born of the Spirit, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God! And how do we become born of the Spirit? By believing in Jesus as the true light that entered the world because God Gave him to save us...

John 3:15 ESV

15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Eternal life can only be realized by those God allows to receive the gift of Faith to believe in Jesus as the God who saves them from their sins.

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Understanding all this is necessary to get to … Our main text.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This verse sheds light on the following aspects of God’s Love.

Its Character (so loved)

Its Author (God)

Its object (The World)

Its Gift (His Son, His only Begotten Son)

Its Purpose (That whoever believes in Him should not perish)

let’s take a closer look at these aspects of God’s love, which is what we are really Celebrating this season. Advent, Christmas is really a celebration of God’s Love!

God’s Love - Its Character (So Loved)

The word SO may seem insignificant, yet it truly makes what follows here stand out...

The word SO here must be interpreted as “In such an infinite degree” and “in such a transcendently glorious manner” that it places great emphasis on this thought of God’s Love.

He SO LOVED… When we look at the original language here we see that the tense used for so loved is speaking of God’s love in action. The idea is that it reaches back from eternity and comes to fruition in Bethlehem (where Jesus is born) AND at Calvary (where Jesus dies on the cross and is raised from the dead)… And is viewed as ONE, Great, Central fact!

God SO LOVED… That Love was rich and true, full of understanding, tenderness, Majesty, and yet it was self sacrificing and being given willingly according to His own Goodness and not our efforts.

He SO LOVED!!!!

God’s Love - Its Author (God)

For GOD so loved… First please understand that the word used here is the same as the word used in meaning it is speaking of God the Father.

What you need to know is that God is ever full of life and Full of Love. God is not Cold or clinical, God is not undefined or an abstract, a contentless essence, the Absolute of Philosophers… Rather he is the Fullness of ALL essence. All things were made by him and through him!

I love what William Hendriksen said...

“If you were to take all human virtues, then raise them to the nth degree, and realize that no matter how grand and glorious a total picture is formed in the mind, EVEN THAT is a mere shadow of the LOVE-LIFE which exists eternally in the heart of him whose name is LOVE”

That Love of God precedes ours and is the only thing that makes our Love possible...

1 John 4:9–10 ESV

9 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. 10 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.

1 John 4:9 ESV

9 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.

1 John 4:19 ESV

19 We love because he first loved us.

Romans 5:8–10 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

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Romans 5:8 ESV

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

God is the Author of Love, He loves us First and we love because of him… And in he is the primary author of his Love to us!

God’s Love - Its Object (The World)

What is meant by the words, The world here? Seems pretty straightforward yet there is some debate about it and it is significant. Without dragging it out too much let me help you here. What is meant by God loves the World...

Well first off, since the verse goes on to say,”That whoever believes”, it would clearly indicate that we are not talking about birds and trees, but to mankind. So the World is not, The Planet and animals...

Next, we know from scripture that God does not love what is evil, so we know that The World does not refer to evil sinfulness in the world. So the word world here must mean mankind, even though we are sin-ladened, exposed to judgement, and in need of salvation, we are still the object of His care.

So even though we are broken… God’s image is still, to a degree, reflected in the children of Men, his creation. Mankind is like a mirror. Originally this mirror was beautiful, it was a work of art formed by his hands, and yet it has now become horribly blurred because of the sinfulness that has plagued us in the fall of Adam in the garden. Yet its creator still recognizes his own work… Mankind is the object of his love.

And yet mankind is fallen, the words “The World” seem to refer to an international Aspect, cross generational, through the ages idea… That God sent his Son Jesus to save people from every nation, every race, every tribe and every tongue! And this is for all times and ages!

And while this is amazing, is does not mean that everyone in the world will be saved through Jesus… This is not some sort of universalism. There will be those who receive him and those who do not, we call these the elect, those who God knows and calls from eternity past.

Listen, all those who God has chosen will come to Christ, who laid down his life only for his sheep, but not for those who have not been chosen since before the foundation of the world. There is a portion of mankind who will reject Christ as their savior.

Yet Jesus makes it clear that the salvation of those whom the father gives him is not merely a possibility but an absolute certainty! And this is the WORLD that God Gave his son for and So Loved!

John 6:37–40 ESV

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

As much as we all would like to say it is for everyone, we know that there are simply those who refuse to believe… The question for you today, is do you believe this? do you celebrate the Goodness of God in the Gift of Jesus as your savior this Christmas??? Because that is the point of this season.

God’s Love - Its Gift (His Son)

In the original language it would read more like this… That His Son, his only begotten Son, He GAVE...

While all the emphasis is on the amazing Gift, which is His Son, there is a verb here that screams out to us… His Son is a Gift… because God GAVE it to us. It was an intentional giving, it was a premeditated giving… it was on purpose that he gave His Son to us!

Yet since Jesus is God the Son there is a sense that we need to see this as a giving of himself. What I mean is this… It is not like God the Father gave his Son against his will, but since Jesus and God the Father are one, Jesus is giving of himself as much as the Father is giving his son for us.

John 10:17–18 ESV

17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

So this gift of a Christ child on Christmas is as much a Fulfilled Promise from the Father as is it a Self sacrificing gift From Jesus the son to us by him being willing to lay down his life for us.

This is a gift of unbelievable magnitude. As God himself gives him as His Son being born into this world to redeem this world out of Darkness. And in Jesus’ words he was willing to lay it down, no one took it from him… He was intentionally giving himself, he premeditated it, it was on purpose...

Oh how great is this Love of God for the World...

God’s Love - Its Purpose ( That Whoever Believes in Him should not perish but have Eternal Life)

God does not leave this Fallen Mankind to itself… he has not abandoned us without hope left lost in our sin… He Gives a lavish gift of His son, himself in essence, for the purpose of this… That those who receive him with abiding trust and confidence may have everlasting eternal life!

The words here of “Shall not Perish” Indicate a divine condemnation that will not come upon those who Believe. But for those who do not, that one will be banished from the presence of the God of Love and will dwell forever in the presence of the God of Wrath, a condition that though it begins here and now in this life, it will not find its fulfillment until the end of the age. Perishing is the end of all who reject Christ as Savior, it is seperation from God in agony. And while that seems something we wouldn’t want to mention, it only makes the offer of saving all the more glorious for those who are unworthy, which is all of mankind, you and I included.

Yet its purpose is to not perish but have eternal life… The Life which refers to the future age, the realm of Glory, becomes the possession of the believer her and now.

This Eternal life is Salvation and manifests itself in fellowship with God in Christ, In partaking in the Love of God, in knowing His peace, and experiencing His Joy.

Tye idea of Eternal life is seen 17 times in the Gospel of John and 6 times in 1 John. It is a life that is different in quality than the life which characterizes this present age and state of being. It is a glorious union with God the creator of everything in perfection. Yet it is not just a quality of life change but a quantity as well, because it is truly everlasting and eternal in that it will never end!

The purpose of Gods Love is for the objects of his loves to be Saved by his Giving!

And this is why we celebrate with the giving of Gifts. Because we are to be reminded that the greatest gift that could ever be given, and our deepest need is to be received in Jesus Christ, was given to us in flesh, and was born into this world.

God Promised us of a saving Hope, and He fulfilled that promise in the Birth of Christ. He came to earth incarnate, wrapped in flesh, and we celebrate this because the manger stands in the shadow of the cross, which is eclipsed by the glory of the resurrection! And all this comes from the God of Love!

Christmas is a celebration of the Gift of Gods love to us!

No matter where you are today, in just the hearing of this love and the offer the freely comes to you today, the question is Do you Believe?! Has God granted unto you the ability to hear this and see Jesus as the greatest Gift given to darkened humanity to bring them into eternal light and life???

And if you are thinking I am notClean enough to receive then hear the message again… He came to clean you and save you… if you were already cleaned he wouldn’t have had to die to cover your sins… none of us are worthy of this love and yet we are recipients of it… and it is because of the Goodness of God… His love is vast and eternal and even the most distressed in this life can experience it...

I leave you with this true story...

Down through the tedious ages of time man's heart has been cheered at the thought of the boundless love of God, and in his soul there has often been touched a responsive chord to that wonderful love. So compelling is this love that it is often felt by the most unfortunate and seemingly hopeless of mortals. Some years ago after the patient in a certain room in one of the mental institutions of our land had found release from his pathetic earthly sojourn, and his room was being readied for another unfortunate occupant, the attendants found scrawled on the walls of the room the following profound lines: These were later turned into a famous Hymn that the church has sang for many years...

"Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made; Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade: To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain the whole Though stretched from sky to sky."

Friends, Gods love is presented to you today through his word and it is meant to give you real hope. No matter the condition of your life right now, Gods love can transform you so that even the very least of people who suffer the most can speak of something that for ages can encourage others to know the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!