Beloved. Let Us Love One Another: A Sermon For The 4th Sunday Of Advent

Beloved. Let us love one another: A Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Advent

1 John 4:7–8 NKJV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

We now come to the 4th Sunday of Advent which also happens to also be Christmas Eve. Here the second Advent joins the first Advent in which we remember that Jesus came as an infant in Bethlehem, We remember that this same Jesus shall return at the end of the age, not as a baby, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This does not mean that Jesus was not born king. In fact, He has always been King, seeing that He is the eternal God, the Son. But when Jesus first came to Bethlehem, His divinity was veiled in His true humanity. We think of Charles Wesley’s hymn: “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and the words “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the Incarnate Deity.” But when He returns, we shall see Him as who He truly is, was, and ever more shall be. The veil will be lifted from our eyes, and we shall see Him as He is.

This is our hope as we discovered in the first week of our Advent study. It is this truth which encourages us to live out this hope in the present age. We also learned from John’s Gospel about what true peace is. It is the peace which Jesus alone can give, a peace that sustains us in the evil present age. Last week we learned that unconditional Christian joy is one of the badges of election, so to speak. We think about what joy it will be when He appears in glory and receives us unto Himself. Now, this week we will look at the last Advent theme, love.

We return again to the 1st Epistle of St. John. The word “love” (agape) is everywhere. The word “love” is everywhere in society as well. We think of the Beatles “All You Need is Love” as just one of countless examples. Is there a difference? Let’s find out.

If we were to go back to the times of the New Testament, there were many words translated “love” or “affection.” It would take too long to tell you about all of these words, so let us stick to just three. One of these Greek words is “eros” from which we get erotic or sexual love. This word does not appear in the New Testament, so is it love? when we go back to Genesis, we see that God blessed sex within the context of a marriage between a man and a woman. If God established sex as a means of both companionship and reproduction, we must not think about sex as being dirty. The fact that mankind has abused sex and made it dirty does not change this fact. Many Christians have a negative view of sex. This was true to the people whom the Apostle John wrote. The people who had left the church had the tendency of seeing everything done in the body as evil. The human body was the prison for the soul. When one died in their opinion, the soul was reunited to God. There were others who thought that since nothing done in the body was important, that every urge ought to be indulged, including sex. The Christian honors sex and sexuality as a gift but not a god.

The second word is “philos” which is usually translated as brotherly love. Some think it as a higher form of love than “eros”, but perhaps it is better described as broader in scope as it is not exclusive to a man and his wife. If is the love that friends have for one another. But one can have many friends. It can also be described as a social group such as a fraternity, community, an ethnic group, or even love for one’s country. This bond exists within the church also where members address each other as brothers and sisters.

The third term is “agape” which is also translated “charity” in the King James Version. Many consider this to be the highest form of love. It is considered the highest as this love is unconditional. It reaches across boundaries which ordinarily include some people and exclude others, Jesus taught this form of love. We can remember that Jesus said that even the world loves its own. To love at this level is doing no more than the Gentiles practice. We see this selfless love in Jesus. Romans 5 tells us that while we were still enemies that He died for us. Paul concedes that the Gentiles might be willing to die for a good person or a good cause, But Jesus came to reconcile us on the cross. When we first started this Advent study, we began with the theme of Hope and read from 1 John 3:1-3. There John tells us to behold what matter of agape the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God, He reinforces this by reaffirming “and we are.” What an audacious statement. What have we done that God should love us? Why did God send us His only-begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him (Jesus) should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)? It is because He loved us (agape).