For God So Loved The World: A Sermon For The 4th Sunday Of Advent

For God so Loved the World: a Sermon for the 4th Sunday in Advent

John 3:16 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

We now come to the 4th and last Sunday of Advent, a season in which we prepare ourselves for the return of Christ. On Tuesday night we will switch to the season of Christmas in which we remember the birth of Christ to the Virgin Mary in a manger in Bethlehem. We live between the two comings of Christ. We are comforted by the truth that Jesus was born as well as His promise to return.

The theme for the 4th Sunday in Advent is love. We have already studied the themes of hope, peace and joy. So, what then, is love? that is the million dollar question. As Christians, we are taught to love our children. Children are the gift of God. At Christmas, we remember that the greatest gift of a child is the birth of our Lord Jesus. This is a good start to the definition of love. Another expression of love is the joy of the wedding in which the groom and bride are united in their love for each other. In the case of the Church, we are the betrothed bride of Christ awaiting the wedding day in which we shall be with Him, not to be parted by death, but for ever.

There is also an aspect of God’s love shown in the life and death of our Lord as well. We read from John 1:14 that the Word who had created all things became flesh and tabernacled among us. Considering how sinful and rebellious we all are, why would He do this? We read from the Exodus account that the first tabernacle was set in the middle of the camp of the congregation of Israel. When the Tabernacle was dedicated, the glorious presence of the LORD was so great that even Moses was unable to enter.(Exodus 40:34-35) God is holy. In fact the holiness of God is the only attribute of God which is in the superlative degree. He is “Holy, Holy, Holy.” (Isaiah 6:3) But the glimpse of Gods glory at the Tabernacle and later at the dedication of the Temple (2 Chronicles 5:14), was only transient. We also read from Exodus 32 that because of the sin of the worship of the golden calf, the Holy LORD had to withdraw Himself from the camp. Moses, Joshua, and others who wanted to inquire of the LORD had to leave the camp to come to the Holy LORD. Most of Israel was happy to see this from the distance of the camp.

Moses was indeed a great intercessor who went back and forth between the tent of the LORD outside the camp into the camp, bringing God’s word to Israel. The Gospel of John records that the Law came through Moses, but Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. As good an intercessor as Moses was, there came the need for a greater intercessor who could also bring grace and truth. This is the mystery of the Incarnation. God, the Son, entered into the sinful camp bringing the Word of the Father to His people. The shame is that many of these rejected both Him and the grace and truth He brought. For a short period of time, the Holy God was again present in the camp.

This Jesus was crucified about 33 years later for our sins at Passover time, our sacrificial lamb which we eat at the Lord’s table in the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper, Communion). He who had come into the world and pitched His tent among us was lifted up on a cross as a sin offering. As we have noted, there are many ways we see the love of God expressed. But the love of God is especially demonstrated in the death of His only-begotten Son. On the night before He died, it is said in John 13:1:

John 13:1 NKJV

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

The word “end” is the Greek word “telos” which has the idea of a perfect and finished work. We see a verb form of this noun in John 19:30 where Jesus says: “It is finished.” The love he had for His people is perfectly expressed in His atoning death. Sacrificial love is the highest form of love there is, and Jesus was the superlative example of this love.

In John 13:1. Jesus said that this love was for His people. There is something especially true about the expression of this sacrificial love to His bride, the church. But John 3:16 goes even further. It says that God so loved the WORLD. This love is offered to everyone. Why would God even love sinners so? How marvelous is this grace. It is true that the purpose of this expression of love was that people would believe on Him and have everlasting life. We should also notice that the tern “world” is much broader than Israel. It includes everyone in this offer. It is a great tragedy that so many, both Jew and Greek have rejected this loving offer and face condemnation.