The story of the candy cane
• A Candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that could be used as a witnessing tool, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane.
• He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus.
• He began with stick of pure white, hard candy.
• White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus,
• And hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church and firmness of the promises of God.
• He made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior.
• The shape at the same time represented the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who have gone astray.
• Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the Candy maker stained it with red stripes.
• He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the beating Jesus received by which we are healed.
• The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have eternal life.
• Unfortunately, the candy became known as a Candy Cane - a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time.
• But the meaning is still there for those who "have eyes to see and ears to hear".
• The Wonder of Jesus and His Great Love that came down at Christmas and remains the ultimate force in the universe today.
On this third week of advent, that’s exactly what I want us to look at today is love.
Read 1 John 4:7-10.
1Jn 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1Jn 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1Jn 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1Jn 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
In this passage, the simplest & yet most profound statement of all is, "God is love."
• That sounds beautiful, but what does it mean?
• We use the word "love" a lot,
• And I’m afraid that our use of it can be rather confusing.
So What is love to you?
• Now I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute to tell you that I love my wife.
• She is my companion, my encourager, and my counselor,
• She is faithful & loving & I am not ashamed at all to tell you that I love her.
• I love this town.
• I love the fact that I can walk up the middle of Main Street and feel I belong here.
• I love the way neighbors and friends wave at each other and care about each other.
• I love our church & the people here.
Now even though I used the same word "love"
• To both describe my feelings toward my wife & towards this town,
• I hope you realize that I don’t love them in quite the same way.
The problem is that Our English language is limited.
• We use this one word as a catch-all for many different feelings.
• "I love my wife. I love Franklin. I love our dogs. I love a sunny day. And I love my home.
Since we use the same word to express all those different emotions,
• We depend on the person who hears us, to put our words through the filter of understanding, & then to arrive at the correct conclusion.
• When I say, "I love my wife," I trust you to take those words & filter them & reach the conclusion that "He loves his wife the way that a man ought to love his wife."
• When I tell you that I love Franklin, I trust you to understand that I am not weird, & therefore I don’t love a place in the same way that I love my wife.
• I trust you to put those words through the filter & reach the conclusion that I love a place in the way that a man ought to love a place.
To confuse things further,
• The word "love" is also used in many different expressions.
• Love is something that we “fall into.”
• Love brings stars to our eyes,
• Love causes our hearts to go pitter pat.
• And yes "Love makes the world go ’round."
With all these definitions of love
• We may get even more confused when it comes to the subject of spiritual love.
• The Bible tells us that "God is love,"
• And that I am to "love the Lord, my God with all my heart."
• It tells me to love myself, & to love my neighbor, & even to love my enemies.
SUM. So what is love, really?
• Much of our confusion is a result of the limitations of our language.
• The New Testament was written originally in Greek, not English.
• And it helps to know that.
There are 3 Greek words that are most often translated "love"
• "Eros, phileo, & agape."
• We have to understand that they all express different kinds of love
• But, at the same time, we generally translate all 3 of them into the single English word "love,"
• For the simple fact that don’t have any other single words that would translate them better.
So This morning let’s look at those 3 words
• To help us understand a little bit better what God is saying to us
• When he tells us to “love one another.”
Eros – describes the physical type of love.
Phileo- means "brotherliness,” “companionship," & “friendship.”
THEN THERE IS THE THIRD, AGAPE
• The word agape, is the word that is used in 1 John 4, where it says,
• "God is agape."
• It is a love that is different from the other two because it’s totally unselfish.
• It is a love that is more concerned about making the object of love feel loved, than it is in making the lover feel loved.
The lover is willing to sacrifice,
• To make any sacrifice necessary just to make the object of love feel loved.
• That is what God did.
• When He looked down at the human predicament,
• He didn’t consider how comfortable it was in heaven.
• He didn’t consider His own situation,
• But He willingly sacrificed Himself & came to earth & lived with us.
• He breathed our air & experienced our life.
This is the kind of love that reaches down & picks up clay & anoints blind eyes &
causes them to see.
• This is the kind of love that stands beside the grave of a loved one & weeps with mourners.
• This is the kind of love that blesses children.
• This is the kind of love that does not regard itself, but unselfishly goes to the cross & sheds its blood, & gives its life so that there might be hope for those of us who are hopeless without it.
That is "agape" love.
• Now If God had loved us with eroticism,
• Or if God had loved us with "phileo"
• He would have packed His bags the first time He was rejected.
He would have gone back to heaven & said, "I’ve had all of this I can stand."
• He never would have endured & persevered & gone to the cross.
• Instead, He would have said, "I won’t take this any more.
• I’ll go back where I am appreciated & I’ll go back where I am respected."
So when the Bible says, "God is agape love"
• It means that God doesn’t love us with just a surface type of love,
• He loves us with an all-sacrificing love.
He gives Himself completely to express His love.
• At Christmas time when we talk about love we have to ask ourselves one question
• JUST HOW MUCH DOES GOD LOVE YOU?
Jn 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• Have you really considered the significance behind the fact that God was willing to send His Son down here to earth to die for us?
• Think about it for just a second.
• Jesus was already in Heaven, a perfect place where everyone desires to be after they pass from this life and enters into the next life.
• Jesus was sitting in heaven, a place that has no sin or darkness.
• A place where there’s no pain,/ jealousy,/ anger,/ hatred, /pride, or temptation.
Nothing that is unpleasing to God is in heaven.
• Then all of a sudden God sees a problem in the world.
• Sin was in the world.
• Anything that is unpleasing to the Lord is sin,
• And there was a whole lot of sinning going on.
So God says lets see, what should I do (obviously a rhetorical question),
• I’ve already flooded the earth and I promised not to that again.
• People have been told to offer sacrifices to cover their sins from me,
• But still I need to go ahead and take care of this problem of sin once and for all.
But who could I send?
• And just at that moment Jesus stands up and says I’ll go.
Jesus knew what was going to take place.
• Jesus knew before the creation of the world that
• He was the only one who could pay the penalty for sin
• And wipe it away once and for all.
So if He knew before the creation of the world that he was going to die
• Than think about this,
• He had to know that He was going to be
• Tormented, / Spit upon, / Beaten, / Humiliated, / Scorned, / Yelled at, and Hated.
All of this from the people that He was trying to save.
• Jesus loves us and the people in the biblical days
• But before He came He already knew who would hurt Him,
• who would betray Him, and who would deny Him.
Jesus did not just know them by face
• Or by the action that they were going to carry out.
• Jesus knew them by name.
Jesus knew before the creation of the world
• The man’s name that made that crown of thorns
• But Jesus said I love you so much that I am going to die for you.
• He knew the person that yelled at Him saying get down off the cross if you are God.
• He said I died for you.
• To The soldier that beat me till my face was so swollen my eyes could barely see.
• He said I love you.
• To Those who hated me even though I was doing everything that I did for you,
• He said I love you.
• To Those of you that took the time to nail me to the cross,
• He said I love you.
• The soldier who pieced my side
• Those that say I want nothing to do with Jesus,
• Those who hate me because I am the only way to Heaven,
• Those that confess me as Lord and Savior but still live the way they want,
• Those that refuse to pray to me, read my word, or serve me, I love you.
This is agape love in its purest form.
His love for us is so deep that when we sin
• He is willing to forgive us.
• This is hard for us to understand because we are people
• Who put limits and guidelines on our forgiveness.
God on the other hand says that he will forgive us if we confess our sin.
• And not only will He forgive us but He will cleanse us of all impurities.
My favorite word there is ALL.
• Everything that we have done past, present, and future,
• Has been thrown out the window.
• This is true love, agape love,
• When you can forgive no matter what.
Micah 7:19 says that He will cast our sins into the depths of the sea.
God loves us so much so that regardless of the things that we have done
• He is willing to throw them into the depths of the sea
• Never to be seen again, never be brought to the surface.
The Bible talks about the love of God being so deep
• That you can’t go under it,
• So wide you can’t go around it, and so high you can’t go over it.
That is amazing because it goes to show
• That you can’t get away from the love of God.
• No matter where you are or what you are in, God still loves you!
• He may hate the sin that you are in but He always loves you.
Now is the season where we look forward to Christ coming.
• The time where we can put our daily life in the world aside for a while
• And concentrate on the one that was concentrating on us before we were even us.
Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Now on Dec. 16th we can see He is coming.
• We can prepare for the joy of the season.
Isaiah tells us that this “child”, His “Son” was born and given unto us.
• What He is in this verse He is in relation to us. He came for us, for our benefit.
• He is not just abstractly wonderful—He is Wonderful in our lives.
He is not just some counselor—He is our Counselor.
He is not some far removed deity—He is our Mighty God.
He is not just someone’s father—He is our Everlasting Father.
He is not peace in an abstract way—He is our Peace.
1. He came for our benefit.
2. He came to where we were—because we couldn’t go to Him.
3. And If we want the benefits of being with Him, He will come to us and apply them as needed.
We need to Praise God at Christmas.
• Praise Him for the incarnation, for the word made flesh.
• I won’t speak of shepherds watching flocks on frosty nights, or angel choirs.
• I won’t speak of a stable in Bethlehem, or lowing oxen,
• wise men trailing a star with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
• I will praise the Father who stood on heaven’s threshold and said farewell to his Son as he stepped across the stars to Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
• And I will praise the infinite, eternal Son,
• Who became most finite,
• A baby who would one day be executed for our crimes.
Praise Him in the heavens,
Praise Him in the stable,
And Praise Him in our hearts.
