INTRODUCTION
• PC VIDEO
• SLIDE #1
• I like the video because I hope it serves as yet another reminder about the real reason for the season!
• Today we light the candle of LOVE.
• The way we celebrate Christmas today can easily take one off track as to the real reason for Christmas.
• BUT there is one thing the giving of gifts can remind us of; love!
• MOST of the time we give gifts as an expression of our love toward another person, or your dog.
• I know sometimes we give gifts out of a sense of obligation, but more times than not, we give to those whom we care for and love.
• Those whom we love, we want to give them the best gift we possibly can get them.
• When I get gifts for my family and friends, I want to get them something that will bring some joy into their lives.
• The best gifts are gifts which are given from a heart of love.
• When Mary, Joseph, the shepherds peered down into the manger, what they were viewing was a gift of love to humanity from God; a God who loves humanity and wants the best for humanity.
• Today we will examine the advent candle of LOVE!
• We are going to examine what is probably the most cited biblical passage in Christianity in the 20th century and perhaps since the 16th Century according to the College Press Commentary.
• Today we will look at John 3:16-17 as so that we can gain a deeper understanding
• Let us turn to that beautiful passage together this morning.
• SLIDE #2
• John 3:16–17 (HCSB) — 16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. The character of love.
• The beginning of verse 16 we catch a view of the character of love. The verse begins with FOR GOD LOVED…
• The small word FOR offers us insight to to how God’s love in action. God’s love in action, reaching back to eternity and coming to fruition in Bethlehem and at Calvary, is viewed as one, great, central fact.
• That love was rich and true, full of understanding, tenderness, and majesty.
• FOR opens the door as to why we had that baby in the manger in the first place. (Baker NTC)
• 1 Corinthians 13 reveals what love is all about, it reveals the character of love.
• Listen to the words of Paul from God. We tend to relegate these words to weddings.
• SLIDE #4
• 1 Corinthians 13:1–7 (HCSB) — 1 If I speak human or angelic languages but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, 5 does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
• These words are not just meant for a wedding, they are a revelation of the kind of love God possess.
• The character of love centers on hope, forgiveness, and it does not wait to drop the hammer on another.
• The manger came before the cross, from that manger, Jesus would live a sinless life, and then He would go to the cross to pay the sins of mankind, even the sins of those religious leaders who sent him to the cross.
• He died for the sins of those Romans soldiers who beat, abused, and nailed Him to the cross.
• As we sing AWAY IN A MANGER, to remember also, WHAT CAN WASH AWAY MY SINS, NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS!
• The nature of love is selfless, not selfish, Jesus would grow out of that manger to demonstrate a selfless love that is unparalleled by anyone.
• SLIDE #5
• Romans 5:8 (HCSB) But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
• Think about this, WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS.
• This implies that love is exactly what 1 Corinthians reveals to us.
• Next John 3:16-17 reveals for us…
• SLIDE #6
II. The author of love.
• This one should be obvious, back in verse 16, FOR GOD….
• God I the author of love. FOR GOD LOVED…, this not tell us of any other author of love other than God.
• 34
• God is ever full of life and full of love. 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 very name is Love. Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to John (Vol. 1, p. 140). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
• SLIDE #7
• 1 John 4:10 (HCSB) Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
• Love can cause one to do great things, God being the author of love knows what to do. Love started with God, love starts with God, and it is found in God.
• If you want to learn how to love, go to the author of love, God!
• God’s love is one that put others best interest first! It was not in Jesus’ personal best interests to leave the magnificence of heaven to come to earth to be abused, He did it to show us the path of love.
• The false gods are always taking, stealing and demanding, our God loves you so much that He sent His Son to take your place on the cross!
• S we continue with verse 16, let us next see…
• SLIDE #8
III. The object of love.
• As we continue through verse 16, we see the object of God’s love.
• For God loved the world…
• The object of God’s love is the world.
• For John the word WORLD is used about 78 times in this Gospel, and about 24 times in his letters, it stands for the realm of humanity arrayed in opposition to God.
• When Jesus entered the world, God knew it would be hostile, and that hostility would result in Jesus going to the cross in order to shed His blood for the sins of mankind.
• The statement that God loves the world is surprising on two counts (3:16).
• Judaism rarely (or never) spoke of God’s loving the world outside of Israel.
• God desire was to reach this world through Israel, His chosen people.
• It is a uniquely Christian idea to say that God’s love extends beyond the limits of race and nation.
• We know He is speaking of humans, not the birds and the trees because He says, so that everyone who believes in Him...
• This clearly indicates the reference of the world is mankind.
• This verse is of further interest because John tells his readers elsewhere that they are not to love the world (1 John 2:15–17) because it is a place of disbelief and hostility (cf. John 15:18–19; 16:8).
• Yet God loved the world enough to send His son.
• WE are not to love the ways of the world, God does not love sin, He loves SINNERS!
• What is the object of your love? If your love is strong, pure and true, you will do whatever it takes to do what is best for the one you love!
• That is what God did, YOU are the object of His love!
• God loves fallen man, He still loved Adam and Eve after the fall!
• Next let us see….
• SLIDE #9
IV. The gift of love.
• Verse 16 further shows the actual gift of love presented to us!
• He gave His One and Only Son,
• Notice that we are told that GOD GAVE!
• Giving is the essence of a gift. If you purchase or make something and give it to me, you have given me a gift.
• If you purchase or make something and I come and take it, it is no longer a gift.
• God GAVE us His son, the Roman soldiers, the Jewish leaders did not come and take Him, God gave Him as an offering for sin!
• SLIDE #10
• 1 John 3:16 (HCSB) This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.
• Can you imagine how hurt you would be if you went to get what you thought was the perfect gift for the one you love, and then when you offered it to them, they rejected it?
• God has given you the gift of Jesus Christ, please do not reject the gift!
• The gift of Jesus is the climax of God’s love!
• Now, why did God give us this great gift?
• SLIDE #11
V. The purpose of love.
• Let us look at our verses again.
• SLIDE #12
• John 3:16–17 (HCSB) — 16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
• The end of verse 16 and verse 17 exposes the purpose of God giving us the wonderful gift of love!
• God did not send His son to condemn the world, He could do that without sending Jesus! Rather, He sent Jesus so that we could be saved through Him!
• Perish is the opposite of salvation as death is to life.
• The words “… should not perish” do not merely mean: should not lose physical existence; nor do they signify: should not be annihilated.
• As the context (verse 17) indicates, the perishing of which this verse speaks indicates divine condemnation, complete and everlasting, so that one is banished from the presence of the God of love.
• A condition which, in principle, begins here and now but does not reach its full and terrible culmination for both soul and body until the day of judgment. Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Gospel According to John (Vol. 1, p. 141). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
• God did not send Jesus so He could see how many people He could see perish, He sent Him so that as many as would believe in Him would have eternal life!
• God does not leave mankind to itself. HE does not say, WELL I HOPE YOU FIGURE IT OUT!
• He sent Jesus!
• SLIDE #13
• John 14:6 (HCSB) Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
• Jesus provides the way, Jesus shows us the truth and Jesus is offers us LIFE!
• THE, THE, THE!
CONCLUSION
• The gift of Christmas is LOVE, a gift named Jesus sent by the author of love so that we could enjoy the gift of everlasting life!
• When you are busy opening your gifts on Christmas, do not forget the greatest gift, JESUS CHRIST!
