What does love look like? You might think of a couple on their wedding day committing themselves to one another for the remainder of their lives. Or the couple celebrating a milestone anniversary, reflecting upon the many experiences that they’ve shared with each other. That’s love. You might think of a parent holding their child for the first time or a grandparent walking hand-in-hand with their grandchild who just learned to walk. That’s love. You might think of your favorite sports team, or your favorite food, or maybe your favorite recreational activity. That’s love. Maybe you’re thinking of that Christmas gift that when opened will be met with a wild “I love it!” We so often attach the word “love” to anything or anyone that brings us happiness, that makes us feel good, that brings us joy. Those are the things, the people, the experiences of love.
How about God? What does he love? In the words of John 3:16 God not only tells us WHO he loves, but he also tells us WHY he loves and HOW he loves. It might be a little surprising because God’s love is a little different than how we often think about love. Join with me in reading those familiar words, “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” (John 3:16). Who does God love? “For God so loved the world.” You might hear those words and that might not be all that surprising. You might think, “Why wouldn’t God love the world? Afterall, he’s the one who made it.” And you’re right! God did make the world and everything in it. In fact, after creating that world, God steps back, takes a look at his handwork and says, “It was very good” (Genesis 1:31). The world and everything in it were absolutely perfect. That’s a world that would be easy for God to love. A world that brought God joy and happiness. But that world would not stay that way.
Listen to these words from just a couple of chapters later in Genesis 6. “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled” (Genesis 6:5,6). The people that God had created to love him and live with him forever, had decided God was not worthy of their love and trust. They loved themselves more than the God who created and cared for them. And sadly, that continues to be true of our world to this day.
Just look around and see the many ways that people have found to manipulate love. Selfishness leads people to be more concerned about what they want than about what would be helpful to others. Vengefulness, jealousy and greed prompt people to acts of violence and hate-filled words that destroy relationships and end lives. You find people who have decided to redefine love as anything they feel like doing regardless of what God says about it. No, this is not the world that is in love with God. This is a world that is in love with itself. This is a world that does not naturally brings joy or happiness to God. He sees the loveless ways that people treat each other, no less, the way they treat him. Why would God love THIS loveless world?
The answer to WHY begins with a single word in John 3:16. It is the word “perish.” God knew that that the people of his world were going to perish if he did not step in and do something. That’s the amazing part about God. God’s intentions did not change even though the world he created had. God’s intentions were and still are that every human being would live with him in perfection for eternity. But because of sin, God knew that when a person’s life came to an end, it would result in being forever separated from God in hell. That was the last thing that God wanted, so God did something about, so that people would not eternally perish. What did God do? God gave.
As much as people might not like to admit it, a Christmas present does, to some degree, tell you how much that person cares about you. If someone gives you a half-eaten can of nuts “wrapped” in a brown-paper bag stapled at the top, you might kind of wonder how much they really care about you. A gift is a reflection of how the giver feels about you.
Look at WHAT God gave you. “For God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son…” God the Father gave his Son Jesus for you. Jesus, fully God from all of eternity, willingly enters this world, wrapped in human flesh and born of a woman. Jesus came from heaven to the world he created in order to live for us and love for us. That’s right, Jesus came to love in our place. Jesus loved God perfectly for a world of people that have repeatedly failed to do so. That perfect love for God led him to love the people in his life perfectly, for us who have repeatedly failed to do even that. Jesus perfectly loved his parents and brothers and sisters. Jesus perfectly loved his teachers. Jesus perfectly loved his friends and followers. Jesus perfectly loved even those who did not love him. That love would finally drive him to the cross where he would willingly perish in the place of all people. Yes, Jesus would suffer the punishment of hell for our loveless thoughts, words and actions – for our selfishness and greed, for vengeance and violence, for hatred and jealousy. For every sin, for all of humanity, Jesus perished. Why?
“…that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus came to live and die so that you and I can have the life that God intended for people to have with him ever since he created the world – eternal life with him in heaven. A life that is free from stress, surgeries, sadness and struggles. A life free from temptation. A life where you will never again have to deal with disappointment or disease. A life where violence and hatred will never be found. This is the life of peace that Jesus has come for. This is the life that God promises to all those who believe in Jesus, who trust that he has done for them what he has said. This is the life that God promises is waiting for you as, “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). This is the life that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, to bring to you!
Maybe you’re sitting there this evening and thinking, “That love of God seems so great, but so far away. It just doesn’t feel like God loves me.” I can understand that. Maybe there it’s the loneliness, sadness or fear that you’re feeling today. Maybe this is the first Christmas without a loved one that you normally celebrate Christmas with. Or maybe it’s a Christmas that has uncertainty hanging over it – the uncertainty of a job, or a relationship, or your or someone else’s health.
That’s the great thing about God’s love. God’s love does not depend on how you feel tonight, tomorrow or any other day of your life. God’s love is completely unconditional. God’s love does not depend on what you’ve done or failed to do in the past. None of those things can change Christmas. None of those things can change what God has given for you and wants for you. In fact, that love of God is the one thing that you can count on no matter what you may go through.
That love that God has shown to our world, to us, changes the way we look at the world around us. The Apostle John put it this way, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We see the world differently when we’ve seen God’s love for the world.
I remember going over to my grandparent’s house when I was little and playing with what looked like a paper towel tube. It was actually a kaleidoscope. It was so simple. No batteries needed. You just looked through it and the lenses inside that tube would make everything into these intricate designs. Nothing had actually changed on the outside. It was just that you looked at it differently. The love that God has shown to you makes you look at the world in a different way. We see our lives and the people that God brings into our lives as opportunities to reflect the love that God has shown to us. Your relationships with your spouse, your children, your parents are an opportunity to demonstrate the patience, forgiveness and love that God has shown to you. Times of loss and uncertainty become an opportunity to witness and grow in your trust in what God has promised you. God’s love helps us to see people not as problems, but souls that God so loved that he gave his one Son to live and die for, people that God wants just like you to live with him forever.
Dear friends, that’s what love looks like, not that we loved God, but that God loved a perishing world so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. That is God’s love for you! Amen.
