Love comes first in the fruit of the Spirit because love is the primary fruit of the Spirit. It is the most important fruit of the Spirit and encompasses all the rest. Love comes last in the four candles around the outside of the Advent Wreath, because love is also the most important of these, and in Advent we are working our way towards the most important aspect of Christmas, which is God’s love for us in Christ.
Maybe you are like Joie in this story: Christmas was an exciting time and Joie was excited too. He was only 10 years old and he was as excited as any ten year old boy could be. For him Christmas was still a time of wonder. He did the things most 10 year olds do. He played ball, rode his bike, climbed trees, went fishing with his dad. He was a happy kid. He just enjoyed life – every part of life. To him life was full of wonder and amazement. And Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year.
It was Christmas Eve and the ground was white with snow. It was cold and it was clear. The stars bright that night and seemed so close that you would have thought you could reach out and touch them with your hands. The family was on their way to the grandparent’s house – that was the family tradition. Joie could hardly wait. He was excited and his mind just raced with ideas about what he might receive this year. What present would be under the tree for him tonight?
Every year the family would gather in grandpa and grandma’s house. There was always a huge tree and there was always a present under the tree for each person there. The kids would seek peeks at the presents and find out where theirs was located. Joie was usually one of the first to find out where his present was placed – but this year it was different. He didn’t find his right away – even though he searched all over.
He began to worry because he couldn’t find it. Then his eyes caught a big box in the corner. It was a huge box – the biggest present he had ever seen. He slowly walked over to it and sure enough written on the tag were the letters – J – O – I – E. He was grinning from ear to ear. His eyes were wide with excitement.
Grandpa always handed out the presents. Grandpa was not very fast but this year he seemed especially slow and wouldn’t you know it – Joie’s name was the last one called. As soon as his name was called Joie bolted up to Grandpa – “Is this really mine, is that big present really mine?” Grandpa reassured him it was. As soon as he knew it was his – he tore into the package and what do you think he found? What do you think was inside that large box? It was the best Christmas present Joie had ever received.
What do you think it was…? We all have ideas of the best present is – don’t we. We can all picture in our mind what the best present is.
How do you measure the value of a present? How do you judge its worth? By its size? By its weight? Do you judge it by its cost or perhaps by its usefulness?
What I would like to do this morning is examine God’s present to us. It is wrapped up – it has bows on it – it is standing in the corner and it is large.
Usually around this time of the year, The Nativity Story, has shown on TV a number of times. And each time, I tear up when I see Mary speaking with the shepherd and he says “You have been given a gift.” Mary responds “He is for all mankind.”
You see that is what we tend to forget, Jesus was the best gift that we could possibly get for Christmas. He is the embodiment of God’s love for us.
I recently read Ray Fowler’s sermon on Advent week 4, and I want us to concentrate on what it says about the real meaning of Love in Advent: God’s love for sinners. This is really the heart of the Christmas story. The Christmas story is all about love. Joseph’s love for Mary and Mary’s love for Jesus are both important parts of that story, but they are not the most important. The central message of love at Christmas is God’s love for sinners.
This is evident from the angel’s words to Joseph about Mary in Matthew 1: “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) Why was Jesus born into our world at Christmas? It’s all in his name! The name Jesus means “Savior” or “salvation,” and Jesus was born into our world to save his people from their sins.
We read in John 3: “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17) The greatest gift ever given at Christmas was the gift of God’s own Son. God gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. Jesus did not merely come into the world. He was sent into the world. God the Father sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
If you ever doubt that God loves you, just look at his Son, Jesus. Look at Jesus the child born into the world as a baby at Christmas. Look at Jesus the man, teaching the people, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Look at Jesus the Savior, suffering and dying on the cross for your sins to bring you to God. Look at Jesus the King, risen from the dead, ascended to heaven, coming back for you to take you to be with him that you also may be where he is forever.
Nothing can ever separate you from God’s love for you in Christ. As Paul writes in Romans 8:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
The Christmas story is all about love, but the most important part of the story is God’s love for sinners. God so loved the world, he gave us his Son so that we would not perish but have eternal life.
Heavenly Father,
The whole meaning of Christmas can be explained in one little four letter word…LOVE. You sent your gift of pure love to us that first Christmas. Love descended from heaven to be born of a virgin. Love lay in the scratchy hay of a manger in a meager barn in Bethlehem. All of your love, God, was robed in the delicate skin of a baby and wrapped in swaddling clothes. This final week of Advent, help us to reflect on the magnitude of love that was made manifest in Jesus.
Your word became flesh and you made your dwelling among us when Jesus was born. You set aside all of the glory and splendor of heaven and chose the most humble way to enter into your kingdom. Beneath the stars, surrounded by all of the hosts of heaven, Love came. Welcomed by an earthly mother and father, shepherds and wise men, Love came.
You are King and King and Lord of Lords, Messiah and Ruler of All, yet you came not as a lion but as a lamb. You came as an innocent baby whose purpose was walk this earth in complete love, and then to sacrificially give his life as an atonement for the sins of His children. Emmanuel. God with us. Love in the form of a man.
That was your plan. From beginning to end, you knew every minute of Jesus life. You knew that the cross of Calvary was waiting for Jesus, yet you still sent your only Son so that our sin debt could be paid and we could walk blameless because of the shed blood of Jesus.
There is no greater gift then this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. You willing gave the gift of your life because of your love. Your righteous blood covered our sin. You redeem and restore us when we confess you as Lord and Savior of our life. In that moment you give us the gift of your love for all eternity. We receive grace upon grace and mercy upon mercy in that moment.
The greatest gift of all came that first Christmas. It wasn’t wrapped in a beautiful package and set under a decorated tree. The greatest gift came wrapped in the flesh of baby Jesus and laid in the rough wood of a manger. Our perfect gift would later be rewrapped in the scars of our sin and nailed to the rugged wood of a cross on Calvary, all because of love.
Father, this final week of Advent, fill our hearts and minds with the significance of that truth.
Thank you, Lord, for loving us enough to send Jesus.
In Jesus’ precious name we pray.
Amen
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