The Gift of Love

Gifts of Advent—3 of 4

• The Gift of Peace
• The Gift of Faith
• The Gift of Love
• The Gift of Grace

"Come Home for Christmas" Sunday

December 15, 1991

John 3:16

I. THE WONDER OF THE OLD CHRISTMAS STORY

We've heard it all our lives, and we never get tired of it: Christmas is love. Christmas is giving. "The people who sat in darkness ... saw a great Light" The wonder of God coming in a totally unexpected Way: God in a Baby!

The wonder of this truth really "got to me" this week when I saw little Andrew Mann Nielson (as the Baby Jesus) in the cradle of straw— a real baby— and watched him move and reach for his mother— and once again I realized that God actually wrapped all His LOVE in such a tiny package!

We think of how from that Baby all we hold so very dear about salvation and life and eternal life have come: no wonder Christmas means so much! We say things like: It's too bad that the wonder of Christmas couldn't continue 365 days a year!

II. CHRISTMAS IS A MESSAGE OF GOD'S LOVE FOR ALL TIME

Sometimes we forget the way that God comes near in OUR time: How He draws near NOW! God still comes the totally unexpected, incredible way! We savor the Christmas traditions, and we even believe the incredible, wonderful story that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. But sometimes we forget that the real heart of Christmas IS for all 365 days of the year!

When we are the "people who sit (in any kind of) darkness"— when we have the hard places in life: situations or even people threatening to bring us down to ruin, when we have burdens or sins, too often instead of looking for a Higher Power we seek FIRST our own solutions. After all, isn't that what God gave us intelligence for? We never think that God wants to be asked in on every facet, every detail of our lives! This world is too complicated for something as old-fashioned as "faith" to enter in when there are real problems!

But God is waiting to enter into every part of our lives! It wasn't just in Bethlehem that God came in a surprising, loving way! God has invaded the world with His love and goodness!

III. HOW THE GOODNESS OF GOD REACHES A SINFUL WORLD

Faith tells us that at the heart of our Universe is GOODNESS! There is LIGHT and there is LOVE where God sits on His throne. But that is there, and we are here.

So too often we think our faith is just for the life that comes after death; and we wait for Christ to come and ZAP all the bad guys— the porno people and the greedy money grubbers that swallow up the poor people of the world. After all, what can WE do?

So sometimes— all too often— we have neglected to let God really be at home in our hearts, so that He can do whatever He wants to do in His own way!

He is interested in every one of us!

IV. HEAR GOD KNOCKING! KNOCKING!

But "that was then.. and this is now! Right?" Jesus came then as a Baby, but He has already conquered sin and death and hell, right? He is now at the right hand of the Throne of God. Right?

It is true that Jesus has conquered. And it is also true that one day the Bible tells us that this present, evil world will tremble at His coming. But it is not quite true that He expects us to passively wait until He comes and ZAPS the bad people of the world. Jesus wants to be active in each of our homes and lives.

What do you suppose that Jesus is doing just now?

Yes— He is praying for us. Yes, He is preparing a place for His people— for you and me if we will trust Him. But there is another picture of the glorified, majestic Savior that sounds a lot like the theme of the Christmas story!

In Revelation, Chapter One, John the beloved has a vision of the glorified Christ that nearly overwhelms him. Remember, John walked and talked with Jesus Christ for more than three years. He knew all about the lowly Nazarene, the One who had been born in Bethlehem. But this vision was a revelation in itself! It literally bowled him over! He fell down at the majesty and glory of the Lord Christ!

But in Revelation, Chapter Three, John gives us another picture of this Savior. And do you know what He is doing? He is standing outside a door, knocking! The Savior of the world, knocking at a door, asking to come in!

"Is there any room in there?" Does that sound familiar?

And do you know what door it is that the Savior is knocking on? IT IS THE CHRISTMAS STORY ALL OVER AGAIN! JESUS IS LOOKING FOR A HOME, A PLACE TO FELLOWSHIP, TO EAT AND SLEEP!

That door is the door of your life! It is the door of that situation that is overwhelming you! It is the door to the areas of your marriage that have gone sour! It is the door to the way you look at relationships!

Conclusion:

"Christmas" says to us:

• Light is more powerful than darkness
• Love is stronger than hate
• and Jesus has proved it by his own life.

He has proved it in the lives of everyone who has trusted him.

He has changed the course of human history.

He will complete his conquest, He has promised but in the meantime, He still is seeking to come to you and me in his own loving way.

We need answers for the troubles we all face in life: misunderstandings, losses of all kinds, insults, slights, bruises. But before we need answers, we need God's gift of love!

He sent a baby to save a darkened world. And he comes now, knocking, knocking at our doors, in any and every circumstance of life.

To "Come Home for Christmas" means to find that God is our home, and that we are welcome in His family, in His household.

But it is also to let God come into OUR hearts, and welcome GOD into our family situations, to make GOD at home in us!

"O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend on us, we pray!
Cast out our sin, and enter in;
Be born is us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell.
Oh, come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord, Emmanuel."
-Philips Brooks