Advent Love

So, over the past few weeks, we have walked through sort of these big themes of Advent, themes that the church has traditionally looked at and traditionally represented by sort of lighting these candles that give us a very visual progression as we move toward that wonderful hope, not just looking backward to the first arrival or first Advent of Jesus, but looking forward to the future. And we're at that week where we can really sort of see that contrast and that progression in this wonderful object lesson of these candles. And so in just a minute, we're going to talk about love. Before we do that, let's go ahead and pray. Father in Heaven, be with us as we open Your Word, as we study Your Word. May You encourage us with Your Word that we would see these realities that are so breathtakingly wonderful, that our hearts would be strengthened and encouraged, that we would see that we are wanted and that we are welcomed, and that You truly do love us.

Be with us this morning during this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So I'm going to do something just a little bit differently as we begin, and we'll get some audience participation, hopefully, from the kids. And so I want you to think, especially the kids, of something that you love, something that you love, and then just go ahead and shout it out. Cheetah. Okay, Evelyn loves cheetah, her stuffed cheetah, and cheetahs, actually. Anybody else? Coffee. What? Coffee. Yes, we know. We've made three pots this morning. Anybody else have something they love? I love life. You love life. Yes. Kittens. Candles. Candles. Christian friends. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Your family, yeah? What? Space. Friends? Yeah. Neptune, your dog. Right? There's a lot of things. Yes, Johnny? You love Neptune, too? Dogs. So there is a lot of things that we can say that we love, right?

Buzz Lightyear! Buzz Lightyear. There it is. I was waiting for that one. So we love a lot of different things. And notice, right? We've got animals. We've got things like coffee. We've got the wonder of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We love life. We love family. We use the word "love" in a lot of different ways when we think about it. And so for us, love in many times can mean a lot of different things. So for example, I was kind of, you know, keeping track. Like Rachel, I love coffee. I love bacon. I love my dogs. I love my wife. I love my kids. But when I say love, I mean something different in all of those situations, right? Or at least I should, and if I don't, there's probably a problem somewhere.

And so one of the struggles we have when it comes to understanding love is that we use it in so many different ways. And the other thing that sometimes happens with us is we use it so frequently. In fact, many of the things that we love, those smaller things, like I love tacos, I could also say truthfully that I like tacos, right? And so sometimes what happens is we use a word so frequently, the depth and weight of its meaning gets diluted a little bit. And so as we come to talk about the love that God has for us, that He reveals in such a wonderful way, as Jesus steps in to human history, we have this struggle because we mean a lot of different things about love, and we use it so frequently that it sometimes, not always, but sometimes, loses its weight.

We also struggle when it comes to loving others and being loved by others. And so one of the things that we have done is we've made love very transactional. And what I mean by that is that if you do something that I like and you benefit me in some way, I will reciprocate with my love. Or if I do something that you like or helps you in some way, you'll reciprocate with your love. And so for many of us, love is a little bit transactional, meaning that we do it in response to get something, or we give it in order to get something, or because we have received something. Jesus will say it this way in Matthew 5:46, "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same."

Now, Jesus isn't saying it's bad to love those who love you. He's saying that that's a transactional model of love, and that Christian love goes deeper, because in the verses before that, he says, "Love your enemies." Right? Love those people who don't love you, who don't benefit you, who don't help you. In fact, who actually seek to oppose you. And so, when we come to understanding biblical love, we struggle with the Word, and we struggle with how we have used it. And so, I want to try to deal with our struggle of love this morning, and our struggle to apply love and to receive love, and we're going to go to a place in Scripture that's going to seem like it's not very Christmassy, but I think, deep down, it really is. So in Philippians, the second chapter, it says this: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Now, the context of these words is that Paul is talking about living faithfully in the Gospel. So we're both outward and inward, and he's talking in this point about people who are having to live at the end of chapter 1

in the face of persecution, and here's how you live faithfully in the Gospel when everybody's against you. And then he's going to say, "Here's how you live faithfully for the Gospel in the midst of a church filled with people who are different than you." It's going to require patience. It's going to require love. It's going to require understanding. Sometimes it's going to require you to put your preferences under somebody else's preferences. It's going to require you to submit in a way that you might not want to. And when I hear those things, I go, "Yeah, that sounds good, and it sounds like the church would do very well if we did that, but how is that possible?" And so Paul doesn't just give us the instruction. He points us to Jesus, who has done it and equips us to do it.

And so what we read this morning, these words about Jesus, who humbled himself, who set aside his glory, who stepped into human history, who died for our sins, who is exalted at the right hand of God, is a picture and an understanding of how Christians should love each other because of how God has loved us. And so I want you to see in this text, there are several pictures throughout this that show us what true love really looks like. And the first picture is this, that real love, the love that Jesus shows us, sets aside what it deserves. Listen to the first two verses of our text. "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who although he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,"

or some of your translations will say, "held on to; but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant." And so one of the interesting things, the fastest thing, I think two probably of the fastest things in the world, Evelyn would probably say it's a cheetah, but the reality is the two fastest things in the world are a dog or a child that you look at and you go, "What's in your mouth?" Right? You know, they're all gonna take off. And a couple weeks ago, the kids were eating a piece of pizza, and they got in the car, and somebody dropped the pizza as they were getting out of the car, and we let the dogs out. And our dog, Dodger, he loves pizza, and he thinks that he deserves all the pizza, and so he finds this pizza pizza that's been on the ground like 30 seconds.

And I'm like, "Dodger, let it go. Drop it. Leave it." And he just looks at me, and then intentionally turns his back to me, and just starts, and I'm over there, and I've got like him in a headlock, and I've got my hand in his mouth, and he is not gonna let go of that pizza for anything. You know why? Because in his mind, he deserves that pizza, right? He lives in a family of five. We've got three kids who also think he's like a stuffed animal beanbag in a great place to take a nap, right? And so he's like, "I deserve, for the traumatic life that I live, I deserve this piece of pizza." And you know what? We're the same way. When you and I think that we deserve something, we absolutely will never let it go, right? And so we protect the things that are ours. Sometimes we do it in ways

that are common sense, right? We lock our house, we lock our car, we put a password on our bank account. But then there are times that we will hold on for everything we're worth to those things that we think we deserve or belong to us. And so Paul says, look to Jesus. Look to what Jesus deserved, first of all. He did not count equality with God something to be grasped. Now that does not mean that Jesus is somehow less than God. It means that all of the glory, all of the honor, everything that He deserves, all of the worship He sets aside. He doesn't hold on to it like Dodger with the pizza. He has everything. And what do we see in Scripture? She gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because

there was no place for them in the inn. Or as we sang about in our very first Song, "Mildly He lays His glory by, born that man no more should die." You want to know what love looks like? Taking the thing that you deserve. Right? And Jesus doesn't just think that He deserves it, right? All of creation testifies to the glory of God. He doesn't just deserve it. He doesn't just think that He deserves it. He actually deserves all of that glory, and what does He do? He doesn't hold on to it. For us, He sets aside those things that He deserves to come close to us. The second thing that you see in this text is that He picks up exactly what He doesn't deserve. Now, I don't mean this in kind of the shady way where we will take something that's not ours, right?

If you've been on the internet for any period of time, you've probably seen these videos where people are doing sort of an honesty test, right? They'll sit somewhere around a corner, and they'll leave a wallet with some money sticking out, and then they'll watch what people will do with it, right? And so some people will be really honest, and they'll take it, and they'll turn it in in a building, or they'll try to find the owner. Or some people will kind of come up to that, and they'll see the money sticking out, and they'll look around, and then they'll just sort of come up and put it in their pocket, right? That's not what it's talking about when we say picking up something that we don't deserve. We're not talking about Jesus doing that. We're talking about Jesus picking up our brokenness, right?

Standing in the place of someone else, and taking their hurt, and their sin, and their shame. Listen to what he says. "Who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a sermon, being born in the likeness of men." Right? So he takes and sets aside his glory, and he picks up those things that define us. In Hebrews, you see this contrast so clearly. In the very beginning of Hebrews, the very first verses began with the glory of who Jesus is. Long ago, in many times and in many ways, God had spoken to our fathers through the prophets, but in these last days has spoken to us by His Son, through whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. And so who is Jesus, right? He is the one to whom all creation owes its allegiance. All power, all glory, all goodness, He upholds our very world through the word of His power. It's hard for us to comprehend that level of greatness. Hebrews will go on to say that Jesus is greater than the angels. He's greater than Moses. He's greater than the prophets. He's greater than the sacrifices in the temple. And then in the very next chapter, He'll say this: "Since therefore the children," that's you and I, "share in flesh and blood, He likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil,

and deliver those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery, for surely it is not angels He helps, but the offspring of Abraham. Therefore He had to be made like His brothers, in every respect that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation, to pay the price for the sins of the people, for because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted." Do you hear the words of what Jesus picked up? He picked up our flesh and blood. He picked up our suffering. He even picked up temptation. Hebrews 5 will say something startling. "Although He was a Son," Jesus, the Son of God, "He learned obedience through what He suffered." Now, it's not saying that Jesus was disobedient and He had to learn how to obey.

That's how we learn obedience. But Jesus learned obedience in this way, right? We talked earlier, it's one thing to know something, it's another thing to do something. Jesus knew obedience. It's another thing to understand that through actually going through it. In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. What the writer of Hebrews is saying is Jesus knows what it's like to obey God through the midst of suffering. As He goes to the cross, remember what He prays for in the garden? "If it's your will, let this cup be taken from Me." When it says He learned obedience, what it means is He understands what it's like to suffer deeply.

He understands what it's like to hurt. And as we see Jesus step into our world, one of the things we see, He steps into the middle of a family that if we're honest looks a lot like ours. There's brokenness and there's sin from generation to generation. And as He gets older, it doesn't help because as He begins to preach, His family actually comes and says He's not speaking things that make sense, and they come and get Him and take Him home. Jesus knew what it was like to be tired after a long day ministering to people, feeding them both spiritually and physically. He falls asleep in the middle of a boat. He knew what it was like to be opposed. And in John 11, you have these two remarkable words in verse 35. It says, "Jesus wept."

What that means is that Jesus stood at the side of a grave of His friend and surrounded by the grief of His family and friends. He understands what it's like when we stand at the grave of someone we love and we weep. You see, Jesus has walked the same road that we have walked, and the amazing thing is that He did not have to. You see, Jesus didn't just lay aside His glory. He picked up all of our brokenness and all of our experiences. The third thing we see in this is that the love of Jesus takes our place. Right? It's very easy for us to take the place of someone when it benefits us, right? So we're happy to accept the discount that a friend may extend to us that they deserve or we get.

We're happy if you ever borrowed somebody's Costco card, right? We're taking the benefits they deserve. You and I are very happy to take what somebody else has when it benefits us. Jesus takes our place when it leads to suffering. Look at Philippians. Being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Even death on the cross. We're in Isaiah 53. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one of us, to our own way. And the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Or in Luke 23, if you need to see this very clearly. When they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified Him. And the criminals, one on His right, and one on His left. You see, Jesus doesn't just set aside all of the glory that He deserves. He doesn't just pick up all of what it means to be human. But then He goes to the cross, and He stands in the place, and He takes the punishment that we deserved. If you want to know what love truly looks like, the best place to see that is in Jesus. The one who doesn't hold on to what He deserves. The one who picks up what He doesn't have to. The one that stands in the place of a broken, rebellious, wicked people. You see, when we talk about the love of Jesus, what we find is not a generalized word that can kind of mean anything.

It's what we see in the incarnation, in His life, and in His death, very clearly demonstrated as He gives us what He deserves, His righteousness. He picks up what He doesn't deserve, our sin, when He takes our place on the cross. Now, I don't know about you, but there's things that I struggle with because they feel, for me, distant. There's a kind of love that, for us, I think is kind of a distant love. It's a love that is sort of out there. So a hurricane comes to Florida, and we're happy to send a donation. We love them, we're going to send them a donation. Well, they're down there. Earthquake hits on the other side of the world. Well, send a donation to help. There's a love and a good feeling for people that are at arm's length.

And we may not even know the people we're helping. And if you and I are truly honest, sometimes the love of God feels to us like it is a sort of general kind of love. Yes, God loves humanity. What you need to understand from Scripture is that it's not a general love. It's a love that is specifically for you. That He knows you, and in all of our brokenness He loves you, and at the cross He saved you specifically. Yes, He saves in general, but He also saves specifically. And so one of the things that the love of God does that we generally don't is the love of God does not hold us at arm's length. All right, so we have three kids. My sister has a couple kids. We've got nephews. We've got friends with kids.

And now that our kids are old enough to not wear diapers, one of my favorite things is when one of them, one of our nephews or friends, you know, you pick up, the little guy comes running over to see you, and you go, "Something doesn't smell right in this scenario," right? We've probably all experienced this. One of the things that I love to do, especially to my sister, is pick him up at arm's length and go, "I think this belongs to you," right? What I love in all the brokenness of our sin, all the foulness of our rebellion, Jesus doesn't pick us up and go, "All right, let's go clean you off," right? Jesus, the Son of God, who sets aside His glory, who picks up humanity, who stands in our place at the cross,

He does not hold you in all of your hurt and all of your brokenness at arm's length. I want you to see this, right? We see it in the manner of His arrival, right? In humility and in poverty without a room. We see it in the leper that Jesus doesn't just heal, right? He could have held that guy at arm's length and said, "Yep, you're healed," but He doesn't do that. He goes and it says He touches him. We see it with the woman He deals gently with who is caught in adultery. We see it when all the children, loud and distracting, are crawling around and seeing Jesus and the disciples come to reprimand Him. There's this wonderful picture that all the people that so many times we look at and say, "They're difficult and there's so much trouble." Jesus doesn't hold them at arm's length.

And you know what that says to us? That He holds me not at arm's length. He holds you not at arm's length. In all of our difficultness, in all of our struggles, in all of our brokenness, Jesus doesn't hold you at arm's length. You see, in love we see Jesus set aside all that He deserves, picks up all that He doesn't, takes our place, and He loves us. Not distantly, but close. And our immediate response, maybe your immediate response, is maybe this doesn't apply to me. You don't understand how broken I am. You don't understand how hurt I am. You don't understand how far I've gone away from God. In the birth of Jesus, the message that I love so much is that this is for all people. You see, John the baptizer's parents, who are very old. Mary, who is very young.

The shepherds, who are sort of social outcasts. The wise men, who are rich and powerful, but they're outsiders to the Jewish religion. You see, the righteousness of Simeon and Anna in the temple, and what I love about how Jesus steps into our world, is that you have the old and the young. You have men and women. You have rich and poor. You have outsiders and outcasts. And God welcomes them all. It's a temptation for us to say, "You don't understand me." I may not understand you, but God does. He knows you deeper. He knows you more deeply. He knows your brokenness more closely. And He comes to save you. And He doesn't hold you at arm's length. The end result for us, as we begin to glimpse this truth, should be rejoicing. In fact, that's how it ends in Philippians 2, "Therefore God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." This picture of Advent love. The arrival of love. Not an imitation, not something that just looks like it, but love that truly wants you, that sacrifices for you, that comes close to you. That's the love that Jesus has for you. And so in a moment, we're going to sing the first Noel, and I would encourage you, especially if you've been a Christian forever, be reminded Jesus saved you. He loved you. If you're not, I'd love to talk to you about that. If you need somebody just to pray for you, we'd love to do that as well. So we're going to stand and we're going to sing the first Noel. This is an interesting song.