Advent Week 4: Jesus is Love

Well, we are in the last week of Advent as we anticipate the arrival of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Of course in the first week of this series and this season I mentioned that there are Advent Candles, which we don’t have, but if we did, in this week, the 4th week, we would light the 4th candle, and also, in a few days, a 5th.

Many churches that follow the tradition of Advent have 4 candles that represent the attributes and characteristics of Christ that we celebrate as we anticipate the arrival of Christ, and then they have a 5th candle that actually represents Christ himself, that they light on Christmas Eve.

That is something we did do in our church when I was growing up, we would have a candle light service on Christmas Eve, and this Friday at 5:30pm we’ll be out in the front lawn and will finish with candles at the end as well. The candles we use are battery operated, so if you need authenticity, you may need to bring your own candle.

Now, over these last 3 weeks we have looked at the first 3 attributes of Christ that we celebrate during Advent, / / Jesus our Hope, Jesus our Peace, Jesus our Joy, and today we will look at / / Jesus is Love. But before we do that let’s look at the 5th candle that we will be lighting on Friday evening.

The fifth candle is meant to represent not just / / Christ himself, but also his purity, his blamelessness, the role that He plays in the Christmas story. Because, as much as we say that Jesus is the Reason for the Season, and that He is the central part of this story, he is not the only part of this story. There are many different aspects to this grand story that involves humanity, God & all of history and time. The Christmas story isn’t something that just happened. It’s not something that was last minute. The redemption of mankind has been in the works since God laid the foundations of the earth itself. Revelation 13:8, speaking of Jesus, says, / / …the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.

The beginning of the Gospel of John describes Jesus and his role in this earth.

/ / It says, In the beginning the Word already existed. The word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:1-5)

And remember last week, we talked about the prophecies that were fulfilled through the life of Jesus Christ, but we also read the last verses of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, and it says that God would send Elijah. / / “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives...” (Malachi 4:5)

So, we’ll look at that mention of Elijah in a minute, but first, the great and dreadful day of the Lord is a bit of a daunting phrase, isn’t it? Not much of a Christmas celebration here...

The phrase, / / “Day of the Lord” is referenced several times in the bible, but only a couple times is it mentioned in this way with / / “Great and Dreadful” attached to it, or as some translations write, / / the great and awesome day of the Lord, and some say the great and terrible day.

The word there is / / yare’ and it means all of those things. To fear, to revere, to be afraid. To stand in awe of, reverence, honor, respect, to inspire reverence or godly fear or awe...

When we read the book of Proverbs it often talks about the fear of the Lord, this is not to be afraid of God, but to have a healthy fear, a reverence, an awe for who He is. When you see a bear at the zoo, behind a cage, and it stands up on it’s hind legs and gives a big long roar, there’s something very awe inspiring… but, if you suddenly find yourself IN that cage, that awe quickly turns to awe no.... The awesomeness has not changed, it’s what that awesomeness might do to us that changes.

See, this great and terrible, or awesome day of the Lord is in reference to the plans that God has for Israel and all people, of which Christmas, Advent, Jesus Christ are RIGHT in the middle of!

We read this during our Daily Bible reading this past week, 2 Peter 3:9-10 says, / / The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgement.

Judgement does exist, but judgement is nothing to fear when we have someone who removes from us what is being judged.

Romans 6:23 says, / / For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

The wages of sin - talking about the consequence, the repercussion of sin.

Sin in of itself will destroy.

Sin will cause damage, it will hurt you, it will cause turmoil, it will cause death. And the only way to remove that death from us, the consequences of our action, is for someone to come and remove that from us.

I would love to tell you there’s another way, like, only the really bad sins have consequences, so you don’t need to worry. Or you can take care of it by yourself. But that’s just not true. Romans 3:23 says, / / For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. YET God, in HIS GRACE, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

The wage of our sin, falling short of God’s glorious standard, is death.

But, God removes that consequence by His grace, which is free!

So, if Jesus has taken care of what needs to be judged in me, then the great and terrible day of the Lord is really the final pronouncement of judgement against the war that SIN has waged against me.

Listen, if someone is bullying your son at school, do you get mad at your child?

If someone hurts your daughter, do you get mad at her?

No, of course not, you’re probably mad at the person or the thing that hurt the one you love. We need to stop this thinking that God is mad at US because we mess up… Because His entire purpose for your life is that you are free from the sin that has been hurting you and pushing you around.

Paul says in Romans 7, starting in vs 21, / / I have discovered this principle of life - that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave [captive] to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave [captive] to sin. Romans 8:1, So now there is no condemnation [adverse sentence] for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power o sin that leads to death.

Little confusing. I’m free, but I’m captive. I want to do what is right, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do. I mess up. God says I’m free.

Remember we have talked about Israel and what they went through after leaving Egypt, they were free physically, but not free mentally. This is why Paul says / / But there is another power within me that is at war with my MIND!

Ok, so the problem is in our mind.

What is / / Repentance? to think differently, reconsider, to change one’s mind for better

What does Romans 12:2 say? / / Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let GOD transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Thought precedes action.

Watch this connection - Romans 6:16 says, / / Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

This is why he says in Romans 12 not to just copy what other people are doing, it doesn’t work.

So, when we meet Jesus, do we have anything to fear in the Great and Awesome, or Terrible day of the Lord? No, but the sin I’ve been at war with sure does! There will be a day where I will be free from the temptation of addiction, the effects of diabetes, the desire to do my own thing… either in this life or the next, the lamb of God will receive the reward for his suffering!

So, What about Elijah? Malachi said, / / “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah...”

Scripture is not saying Elijah himself is coming back, but that the spirit of Elijah, or the same spirit that Elijah had and the prophetic mantle that was on his life is going to rest on someone in a time to come.

We’ve already seen it once, so why not again. The story of Elijah in the book of 2 Kings is pretty cool. Elijah is a prophet, he’s been sharing God’s heart to Israel for many years, and he’s about to graduate to heaven, but not like most people, because, he’s not going to die.

He’s got a young apprentice that he’s been training, named Elisha, and right before he knows he’s going to be taken into heaven, he asks Elisha this, / / “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” And Elisha replies in 2 Kings 2:9, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.” “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when i am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.”

Sure enough, as they keep walking a chariot of fire appears with horses of fire and it drives right between them, separating them and it’s in THAT moment that Elijah is taken up in a whirlwind. He doesn’t die, he simply is taken straight up to heaven. And it says that Elisha saw it, and grabbed Elijah’s cloak that had fallen off of him when he was taken up in the whirlwind, and as you can read after, the mantle, the spirit, the power that was on Elijah’s life was definitely evident on Elisha’s life as well.

So we’re not talking about the prophet himself showing up again, but that same spirit, the spirit of God that rested on Elijah, on Elisha, will be seen again. And it happens.

As we read in Luke last week, Mary, the mother of Jesus had a cousin named Elizabeth, who had been barren, but was pregnant. And in Luke 1 it says that an angel came to Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, who was a priest and tells him that Elizabeth is going to have a child, and he tells him to name him John and it says in Luke 1:17, / / He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children...

That’s John the Baptist, and he’s an interesting character. He pushes back at the pharisees, he causes a bit of trouble sometimes, and it even says in John 1 that the Jewish leaders sent some people to investigate what was going on with John because he was preaching saying the “Kingdom of God is at hand” and he was baptizing people, and in John 1:19 it says they asked him, / / “Who are you?” He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah.”

“Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”

“No,” he replied.

“Are you the Prophet we are expecting?”

“No.”

“Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”

John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am the voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming.”

I don’t get it, the angel says he’s going to do exactly what Malachi said that Elijah would do, right? Malachi says, “Look! I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers...” The angel says, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children...”

Even Jesus says in Matthew 11:13-14, / / For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time. And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come.

So, why John fights it, I’m not sure, but the 5th candle, the Christ candle is a reminder of all of this, the role and fulfillment of prophecy that Jesus Christ is. He’s the one the prophets spoke of. The spirit of Elijah was on John the Baptist who was sent to prepare the way, and the fulfillment of God’s promise is met through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And so we wait with anticipation for the birth of our Savior!

Now, today’s candle, or the 4th week of Advent is that / / Jesus is Love!

Now, we talk a lot about love here, the fact that God loves us, and that we’re meant to love others. That is the great commandment isn’t it? Jesus said this multiple times:

In Mark 12 it says that a pharisee, who was an expert in religious law, which means he studied the old testament and really knew his stuff. Remember, the Pharisees were the group of Jewish religious followers that had created a list of 613 laws that people needed to follow.

You ever watch those police shows when they ask them about a certain criminal code and the guys like, “ya, that’s code 142 section A line 22…” everyone’s impressed because nobody knows that rule.

Well, this guy, the expert in religious law, he’s like that, he could be like, Ya, rule 23… oh ya, law 47. Yup, that’s the second half of 612 right there.

And Mark 12:28 says that he comes to Jesus and asks, / / “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

This story has a parallel scripture in Matthew 22 and It actually says that he asked him that to try and trap him. The Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to trip up so they could discredit him because they didn’t like what he was teaching and didn’t want to follow him. Jesus was changing the game, he was preaching forgiveness and grace and mercy and they were stuck in the law, do it right or you’re not one of us.

Here’s a little pro tip for ya this morning: You can always sniff out a religious person, because they determine your worth based on how good you are. But a true follower of Jesus identifies with how Paul described his life to Timothy, who he was teaching how to be a good church leader. Paul, the apostle, the one we look up to, the one who said, imitate me as I imitate Christ. He says in 1 Timothy 1:15, / / This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” - and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners.

HA! The pharisees were constantly putting people down for not measuring up and Paul was like, “I’m down here with ya. We just can’t do this thing right, can we? Man we need Jesus...”

So, this Pharisee, trying to discredit Jesus asks him what the most important law is.

And Jesus answers in Mark 12:29, / / “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Love.... it’s what this is all about. For God so loved the world… right? the NLT translates John 3:16 in this way, / / For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son...

Romans 5:8 says, / / …God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

This is how God showed his love for us. This is what He did. He made a way for us to not just be made right with him because of the wrong things we’ve done, but a way to be free from the wage of sin. If sin has a payment, and we sin, then someone’s going to pay. And Jesus did.

Why? Because of love.

One of my favorite scriptures is Hebrews 12:2, which says, / / …looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross...

For the Joy set before him.... What was the joy that was set before Jesus that gave him the guts and fortitude to endure what he did through his torture and crucifixion?

What’s on the other side of the cross that Jesus could se?

You could say that he gets to go back to heaven. He was human on this earth, and on the other side of the cross he knows he will rise again, he knows he will ascend to heaven where the seat of the king is waiting for him. That’s pretty cool.

But did Jesus die for himself? no. For God so loved the WORLD. You…me.

The Joy that was set before Jesus Christ that helped him endure the cross was your face. It was you. You are that loved. You are that precious. You are that amazing. You are a masterpiece.

Now, during this series we haven’t just been looking at why Jesus did what He did, or what He is. Right? These past three weeks of Advent we have been asking the really important question, if Jesus is these things, Prince of Peace, the Hope of Salvation, The Joy that is found in the Lord, then what does it mean for us to live under that authority? What does it look like to receive those things and live under that kind of ruler?

So, I want to read from 1 John 4 this morning. It’s a beautiful chapter in the bible about the love of God. And it’s written by someone who experienced this love first hand.

John wrote this book, and he also wrote the gospel of John, and 5 times in the gospel of John it says that he is “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. FIVE TIMES! But he’s not so conceited the he says that it’s him, you gotta kinda look for it.

5 times, in John 13:23, John 19:26, 20:2, 21:7 and 21:20, he refers to someone calling them the disciple whom Jesus loved, not by name, just by that reference. But then at the very end of the book and the last of those references, in John 21:20 it says, / / Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved… and 3 verses later in vs 24 it says, / / This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate.

Ha, GOTCHA - You’re talking about yourself...

The point is he was close to Jesus, in John 13:23 the NLT, which is what we often read here, says when they sat down to dinner he was sitting NEXT to Jesus. But the KJV along with many other versions of this scripture actually translate it as saying, / / Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.

I just think that this closeness, this connection that this particular disciple had with Jesus makes him a pretty unique and qualified person to speak about the love of God.

One of the translations actually says Jesus favorite disciple. I’m not sure I would translate it that way. I don’t think God has favorites. But how many know that our perspective of someone’s love for us actually plays a part in determining how we receive that persons love?

Oh man, when we have been rejected. When we have been betrayed. When we have been hurt and wounded. We don’t always trust love. We don’t always trust the person who says they love us. And because of our own experiences we suffer in future relationships because our expectation has been damaged by our past. I suffered from this for years. I was so hurt and wounded in my heart that I was 100% convinced no one would ever love me. Even when well meaning friends like Kelley would say, “You’re going to make a great husband one day...” I wouldn’t believe her. I may have smiled on the outside, but I was calling her a liar on the inside.

And the problem with that was that it was like I was walking around with a big ol’ sign on my forehead saying, “REJECT ME!”, and all of my actions fed right into that. My friends would be going out to play pool and I wouldn’t go, I can’t explain it, but I felt rejected even in the midst of their invitation and if I did go I felt awkward the whole time, wondering what people were thinking about me, if people actually wanted me there, quiet and alone in the midst of a crowd.

If you’ve ever felt that way, there’s healing! Trust me. I am a very different person now. Doesn’t mean I’ve got it all together, I feel like Paul sometimes, “I’m the worst of us”, but I’ve experienced God’s healing and CONTINUE to experience His healing. Remember, Romans 12:2 says that we are transformed by God as we allow him to change the way we think. It was my thinking in those moments that was causing further rejection. I think they are rejecting me, therefore I act like they are rejecting me, and as a result every action feeds into my perception and expectation of rejection, so whether they are or not, I feel it.

But, when God does a work in our hearts and minds and we begin to think that we might actually be worth something, actually worth loving, then we start acting like it a bit, and the more we do, the more we become more comfortable and confident in our own skin.

So I kind of like how John is writing about himself here. He’s the only one that talks that way. Guys, I’m the one that Jesus loves! Doesn’t mean he didn’t love the others, but John knows it! He knows He’s loved. And he’s so confident of that that he’s willing to lean against Jesus while they’re at the dinner table!

So, the way he talks about love in 1 John 4 is really important. And I’m going to read a good portion of it. Starting in 1 John 4:7 - 19, and then we’ll pull a few things from this scripture.

/ / Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, Since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgement, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not full experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

/ / 1. Love comes from God

vs 7 says that exactly... love comes from God. and in verse 8 he writes, God IS love.

It’s not just something he does, it’s who he is. Everything God does comes from a heart and an expression of love, because that’s who He is. All of these things we’ve been looking at over this Advent season are such an incredible reality we need to understand. Jesus IS the Prince of Peace, Jesus IS our hope, He IS our Joy, He IS love… not like he tries to be, he just is.

And again in vs 16, John writes / / God is love, all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

/ / 2. Love is Received

God showed how much he loved us by SENDING his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life THROUGH him. This is real love, NOT that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrificed to take away our sins.

True love is not us loving, or or even us learning to love, true love is God loving us. That’s the starting point, nothing happens until that happens. True love starts with God giving, which means it starts with us receiving.

Kelley and I learned this very early on in our relationship that if we wanted to be able to truly love each other we needed to learn to receive God’s love, first for ourselves, and second for each other. If I try to love you with just my own human capacity for love, I will fall short every single time, because it is in understanding, receiving and allowing His love to change me, that I’m able to love the way God intends for me to love.

And he shows it. Those verses we read say that God showed his love for us by giving…by sending Jesus. Love is not just words, but action.

Remember when we were in our series on Grace & Mercy, we looked at the fact that Jesus, when he showed mercy, often it was written as compassion, which always expressed itself as love in action. It was a feeling or a heart of love, or Jesus was moved by love that was compelled to action.

So, God is a giving God. His love is a gift, it’s something we receive. He WANTS to love you, and/ / it’s in HIS loving us that we have love to give.

/ / 3. Love is meant to be Given

…since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

After receiving, start giving!

And this is super important, and I mentioned this a bit, but even though we are meant to love each other, it is NOT your love for me that makes me feel love or feel secure. Your love can’t do that. It’s God’s love that does that. I am transformed by HIS love.

/ / The moment I need you to love me to be ok is the moment I’ve put an expectation on you that you will never meet, and I’ve ultimately set you up for failure. Because you were never meant to fill that void, only God can.

But, that doesn’t mean our love for each other doesn’t have a huge part to play here. vs 12 says, / / …if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

Your love for me, and my love for you, our love for people, that is, learning to give the love we have received from God, is a part of God’s love being perfected in this earth! The full expression of God’s love happens when people receive HIS love and love other people!

This is really the main point today, as we focus on the 4th week of Advent, and Christmas itself. / / Christmas IS the love of God expressed through Jesus Christ. And this love is not something that is fleeting. God’s love isn’t momentary. God doesn’t love us for a moment and change his mind. He doesn’t love us and forget us. His love is enduring.

/ / 4. Love is Sealed

And God has given us his spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

God actually gives us his Spirit as a seal, as proof that we are his, that he loves us.

Paul talks about this in multiple places. 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:3 all say that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a seal of God’s enduring love, of our salvation, of the hope to come.

Romans 5:5 actually says, / / …we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

The seal of the Holy Spirit isn’t just proof that we’re Gods, but it is the power by which we receive his love. The ESV says it this way… / / God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

/ / 5. Love is a Journey

And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.

This is a journey. As we live in God we learn more and experience more of His love, and are able to love those around us more. No one is perfect, and no one should be expected to love us perfectly. In fact, If you’ve ever put the expectation on someone that they get it right all the time, you’ve set them up for failure, and you for disappointment, because none of us get it right all the time.

Kelley and I have always said that a relationship can work as long as the two people involved are willing to work at it. If you are willing to recognize that yes you are a masterpiece, but that also means you’re a real piece of work, then you can work and grow together. I don’t get it right. And it takes humility and a willingness to change and grow to make love work, because as we are loved by God, and as we live in Him, love grows, and as it grows, we love more and more like He does.

See, love is powerful. It has the power to transform, to change and to heal us. vs 18 says of that this kind of love that John is writing about has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear.

Love helps us when we feel like we don’t measure up.

Love says it’s ok when we feel like we’ve failed.

Love picks us up when we fall, carries us when we are weak, cares for us when we’re broken.

When we realize that in our weakness God provided his only son, in our inability to save ourselves God gave us all of himself, we realize that God isn’t looking to punish us for our wrongs, but save us from the effects of them!

vs 18 continues to say. / / If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and that shows us that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

The solution to being afraid, the solution to not getting it yet, the solution to not knowing how to love like we want to or should, is to simply ask for him to love us. More love is always the answer!

And if the love of God is made perfect through not only His giving of it, but our receiving of it and giving it to others, then the experience of God’s perfect love that truly breaks fear in our lives is when we learn to be loved by God AND people, and learning to love in return. Because God’s love is brought to full expression when we learn to receive and give love. The ESV actually says, his love is perfected in us.

So, we need each other!

And vs 19, where we are ending today just wraps this whole thing up perfect. / / We love each other because he loved us first.

This holiday season, this advent, leading up to Christmas day when we celebrate His birth and His life, my prayer for you is that we experience the fullness of His love for us, which is expressed not only through His love for us, but our ability and willingness to receive that love and give it to those around us!

Let me pray for you this morning...