The Love of God
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to The Well Community Church. If we have not met, my name is Brad. I get the privilege of sharing here on this final week of Advent as we celebrate the birth of Christ in this Christmas season. Welcome to those here in the auditorium, those joining us outside in our theater—bundled up with blankets and chairs and enjoying hot chocolate—and, of course, those joining us in the student center. We are making room tonight to celebrate the Christmas story together.
As we get started, I want to say a special welcome to all the kids and students who are in the house with us across all our gatherings. Here at The Well Community Church, we deeply value the next generation. Most of the time, we have them in our kids ministry, where hundreds of you serve faithfully and do a tremendous job partnering with parents to present the gospel to our children. But every so often, we want all the chaos in here with us, and we are going to enjoy that together tonight.
I hope you have enjoyed this Advent season. Advent may be new for some of you, depending on your church background, but it celebrates Jesus being our hope, our peace, our joy, and the love of God incarnate for us. In this final week of Advent, I want to focus on the love of God. For some of you, this will be a sweet reminder of what Christmas is all about and what Jesus accomplished on our behalf. For others, it will be an invitation—an opportunity to consider afresh what it means for us, as people created in the image of God, to live in a relationship with Him through Jesus.
Where the Story Truly Begins
The Christmas story does not begin in a manger. I know that is where most of us think it starts, but the Christmas story actually begins in a garden in the opening pages of Genesis.
Genesis 1:1 (NASB)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The Bible tells us right from the beginning that there is a God who, out of love, spoke creation into existence and then hand-made humankind in His image.
Genesis 1:26 (NASB)
Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’
This is a beautiful picture of the love of God hand-making you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are handmade on purpose by a Creator who loves you and who formed you in your mother’s womb. You are not an accident. You are not an oops. You did not evolve from some primate generations ago. You are created in the very image of God, which means your worth, value, and dignity come from Him. Our intellect, emotion, and will come from Him. He created every nation under the earth, and every ethnicity comes from Him. As diverse as we are, we find our unity in the fact that we share a common Creator who shaped us in love.
The Brokenness of the Human Condition
Then something terrible happened. Humankind made devastating decisions in those early days. They chose to do life apart from God, and sin entered the world, infecting the entire human condition. All of us—even the wonderful children sitting in these auditoriums with us tonight—are affected by sin. It means we are separated from God and separated from one another.
Because of sin, death entered the world, both spiritually and physically. We inherited shame and guilt. We have an instinctual tendency to cover and hide. Even our toddlers understand that. When they sneak into the Christmas candy and literally have chocolate smeared across their faces, you ask them, “Did you eat the chocolate?” and they will swear they did not. They come by that naturally.
We have also inherited corruption, meaning the image of God in us is defaced. It is not erased, but it is deeply defaced. Something is fundamentally broken in us as human beings, and intuitively we know it. We may not always be able to articulate what is wrong or know what the solution is, but you might find yourself sitting here tonight simply knowing that something is not quite right. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ, you are still separated from God.
Along with corruption, we inherit autonomy: that hardwired, born-with-it tendency to do life alone, on our own, apart from God. The Scriptures tell us that we are sinners by deed and by nature, brought forth in sin and conceived in iniquity. We have inherited that brokenness all the way back from the early pages of Genesis.
The Incarnation of Love
However, there is good news. That is precisely what we celebrate in this Christmas season. Even though apart from Him there is none righteous, not even one; even though our best deeds apart from Him are like filthy rags before God; even though coming to a Christmas gathering at The Well with the best intentions apart from Jesus Christ cannot make us right with God—God did not leave us without hope.
Then came the love of the Christmas story. John’s Gospel shows us that God made a way for us through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
John 1:1-3 (NASB)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
John gives us a glimpse of the monumental event taking place: the full embodiment of God is on display, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The real love of the Christmas story is that God condescended to humanity, clothing full deity in human flesh in that manger. The Word lived the life we could not live, and by His grace and love, He became flesh.
1 John 4:9 (NASB)
By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
The true joy, peace, hope, and love of Christmas is the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 (NASB)
’For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
This is the Christmas story. We can easily get lost in all the accoutrements and distractions that culture brings into the season, but tonight we want to return to the truth of God’s love for you. You may not feel like you deserve love. You may not feel like you have earned it or qualify for it. If that is you, you are in good company—none of us do. But thankfully, it is not about how you feel, what you deserve, or what you have earned. It is offered freely by grace through faith. You do not have to try out to earn the love of God; He simply loves you.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NASB)
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
The good news of the gospel is that in the Christmas season, we see deity clothed in humanity with all the humility and frailty of an infant. God chose to incarnate in human weakness so that He might do something powerful for us: He died on our behalf.
Reconciled Through Christ
We were created by God to be in relationship with Him, and whenever we try to do life apart from Him, everything feels off. But God, by His grace, came to reconcile us to Himself.
Romans 5:7-8 (NASB)
For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Reconciliation does not come through religious endeavors, moral platitudes, or self-determination. Reconciliation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, because He has rescued us from the penalty of sin.
1 John 4:10 (NASB)
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.
When we talk about the Christmas story, we typically talk about Mary and Joseph, the manger, no room at the inn, the shepherds, the angels, and the wise men. All of that is wonderful, but the manger is just the beginning. The manger foreshadows what was coming on the cross.
Colossians 1:13-14 (NASB)
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
And God offers this gift freely to anyone who will receive Him.
John 1:12-13 (NASB)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The love of God this Christmas season is clarified not simply in the manger, but in the reality that Christ offered Himself for us. By placing our faith in His name, our sin is placed on Him, His righteousness is given to us, and we are reconciled to the living God. It is impossible to find true joy, peace, and hope in life apart from Him.
The Assurance of Eternal Life
Some of you have come to the end of 2024 carrying deep burdens. This year may have been extraordinarily difficult for you, and you find yourself wondering if there is hope, peace, joy, or a God who truly loves you. The answer is a resounding yes, because He has given you Jesus Christ.
1 John 5:11-13 (NASB)
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
The gift of the gospel brings assurance. You can know with certainty that you have eternal life. It is not an insecure game of “He loves me, He loves me not,” hoping you end up on the right side of the ledger. It is not a matter of hoping your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds. John says plainly that these things are written so that you may know you have eternal life.
If you are here tonight feeling spiritually hungry, curious, and unsure of what comes next, I encourage you to consider Christ. There is none like Him. In Him, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him we are made complete. He came that we might have life abundantly. He came to seek and save the lost. He reminded us that it is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. He came to redeem a broken world to Himself so that He would be our hope, our peace, our joy, and our love.
The Christmas Narrative
With that truth in mind, I want to read the Christmas narrative. For the kids listening, this story will sound familiar. Think about the nativity set at grandma and grandpa’s house, or the one sitting in your living room with baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. Here is the story behind the season.
Matthew 1:18-21 (NASB)
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ‘She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’
Luke 2:1-7 (NASB)
Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
The Gift Poured Out for You
The Christmas story is not a new story. You have likely heard it many times before. It has no surprise ending or unexpected plot twist. The Christmas story has always been about the love of God poured out for you, so that through Jesus Christ we might have life and be reconciled to the God who loves us and desires to be with us.
The beauty of the story is seen through the humility of a manger, the suffering of a cross, the triumph of an empty tomb, and the future glory of Christ’s return. In this Advent season, we celebrate not only the love of God poured out in Bethlehem, but also the future rule and reign of our King who has promised to return.
If you are here this evening feeling that something is missing in your life, you are right. All the things you have pursued to satisfy the longing of your soul will never fulfill you. True fulfillment is found only in the person of Jesus Christ. When you place your faith in Him, you are reconciled to the God who formed you in love. He will forgive your sins, guide your steps, and invite you into the journey of walking with Him.
As we celebrate this Christmas season, let us remember the gospel. Let us fix our eyes on the beauty of the person and work of Jesus Christ and return to the message of the cross—the highest expression of God’s love for us.
Let us pray together.
Father in heaven, we celebrate the beauty of the gospel this Christmas season. We thank You for the humility of the manger, the triumph of the cross, the hope of the empty tomb, and the future glory of our returning King. Lord, we remember Your faithfulness to redeem a fallen humanity. As a church family, we are so mindful of Your goodness toward us. Thank You that we have the privilege of celebrating You tonight. We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.