Advent 2: Journey Toward Love

December 10, 2017                    NOTES NOT EDITED

Advent 2017:  Journey to Love

Luke 2:1-7, et. al.

SIS—Love is a powerful thing—God’s love is the MOST powerful thing.

As you all know, I spent my time in the Navy aboard a nuclear powered submarine.  I was technically stationed in Hawaii, but the submarine ported in the harbor on the island of Guam.  Guam is the closest land mass to the deepest part of the ocean:  Challenger Deep on the southern tip of the Marianas Trench.  Challenger Deep is 6.8 miles below the surface of the ocean.  If Mount Everest was placed on the ocean floor of the Trench, it’s peak would still be one mile below the surface.

I’ve been in that Trench three times, once over 1000 feet deep.  As a sonar operator, I spent many hours listening to the sounds from these eerie depths.  I’ve heard it said that “more is known about outer space than we know about these depths.”  Such depths are simply, “unfathomable.”

God’s love is like the Challenger Deep—unfathomable.  One of the most beautiful passages in the Bible describes the love of God this way: (Eph. 3:17-18)

I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love.

The Christmas Story is the “Ultimate Love” story.  It far surpasses the dark love of Romeo and Juliet or the human love of Robert Redford and Ali MacGraw in “A Love Story.”  God’s love is the “ultimate transforming power” in the universe.  The depth of God’s love is beyond human comprehension.  We can experience it, but never fully comprehend it.  Let’s read of that love in the Christmas Story.
READ LUKE 2:1-7
The most remarkable aspect of God’s transforming love is that it

1.  makes us VALUABLE
Christmas is the story of the Birth of Jesus, but it says as much about “us” as it does about Jesus as God’s Son.  Consider the essence of Christmas for a second . . . God, Himself, Jesus, came to earth to abide with man.  This demonstrates what God thinks of us.

Think of the “stuff” in your life.  The stuff that you love the most has the most value.  Unfortunately, many people love the “stuff” in their lives more than they do the people in their lives.  But that’s another sermon.
God’s love makes us valuable.  In fact, the Bible says this about how valuable we are to God:

God loved us so much that he showed it in this way:  He sent His only Son to die on the cross in our place. (John 3:16, paraphrase).

That’s a pretty special demonstration of how valuable God thinks you are.  I don’t think many people make the connection these days between Christmas and Easter, but they are two sides of the same coin of God’s love.  This reminds me of the verse:

Greater love has no man than this,
but to lay down his life for a friend. (John 15:13)

When I think about how God’s love makes people valuable, I think of the shepherds in the hills that night.  Look at verses 8-15 again:

⁸ In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord  stood before  them,  and the glory of the Lord  shone around them, and they were terrified.  ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid,  for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:  ¹¹ Today a Savior,  who is Messiah  the Lord,  was born for you in the city of David. ¹² This will be the sign for you:  You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.” ¹³ Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: ¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest heaven,  and peace on earth  to people He favors!  ^v

We’ve heard that story so many times.  I don’t think we in this modern industrial age, separated from that Bethlehem night by over 2000 years, really appreciate just how marvelous this part of the Christmas story really is.
The contrast between what the world thought about shepherds and what God thought about them is a contrast of cosmic proportions.  Shepherds were part of the lowest rung of society in the first century.  They were held in such contempt that they were not even allowed to be a witness in a court of law.  They were considered, “shady characters with very low morals.”
Also, the Jewish community held shepherds in particular contempt because not only were they “shady citizens,” but their occupation made them ritually unclean because of their constant contact with animal waste, as well as dead and sick animals.
The shepherds were outcasts in society.  Nobody in the community valued the shepherds.  But God valued them.  God valued them so highly that they were not only “witnesses” to what happened, they were the first witnesses.  And, God not only told them what had taken place, but God treated these lowly shepherds to the most glorious choir that had ever given praise on earth.
Perhaps God valued them because He understood that shepherds would have a keen insight to what it meant for Jesus to be, “the Lamb of God sacrificed for the whole world.”
This is a truly remarkable part of the Christmas Story and proves that God’s love makes a person VALUABLE.
2.  God’s Love Makes Us PURPOSEFUL
Every soul that enters this world is created with PURPOSE. It doesn’t matter whether you are born rich or poor, famous or obscure, or whether anybody outside of a few close friends or family ever know you existed—you have a God-given purpose for being born.
Consider Joseph and Mary.  I’m not sure you could have found a more ordinary couple in all the world.  Joseph was a hard-working carpenter and Mary was a teen-ager probably not more than 16 or 17.  They were from a very obscure village called Bethlehem.  This place is so small and obscure some scholars doubted it even existed.  But, of course it does.
I doubt when Mary was born that her parents thought:  “one day, Mary will give birth to God!”  Now, I know parents can have great hopes and aspirations for their children—and parents should have great hopes and aspirations for their children—but, “giving birth to God” probably never crossed their minds.
And, what about Joseph.  He was just a lowly, blue-collar, dirt under his fingernails craftsman.  Do you think his parents said when he was born, “One day, he’ll be the step-father of God!”  Wow!  I get chills just thinking about that.
Not only does the love of God make you “valuable,” but it makes you “purposeful.”  Everything we know about the universe demonstrates that it is “highly designed.”  Everything has a purpose, especially human beings.
Everything about Christmas demonstrates the highly purposeful, greatly detailed plan of God at work.  Joseph didn’t meet Mary by accident.  It was all part of God’s plan before the “foundations of the world were even created.”
Ephesians 2:10 spells it out clearly,   For we are His creation, created  in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time  so that we should walk in them.
Did you catch those words, “prepared ahead of time!”  I have a little sister named Becky.  She is the baby of the family and, according to my Mom, she came as quite a surprise.  Many children come as a “surprise” to the parents, but I want you to know that “nobody comes as a surprise to God.”
Every person on earth is created to fulfill a unique purpose.  Do not forget that.  God makes this clear to Joseph in a dream because Joseph was having a little trouble with Mary’s story.  Let me give you Mary’s story in a paraphrase.  One strategic moment Mary came to Joseph and said, “Joseph, I have something very important–and very strange to tell you.  Please hear me out.  Please don’t get angry.”  Everything we see of Joseph in the Word of God (which is not much) indicates that he was a very kind and gentle man. Joseph replied, “Yes, dear.  What is on your heart?  You can tell me anything.  I love you more than life itself.”  Mary continued, “I’m pregnant.  But, it’s not what you think!  I’ve not been unfaithful.  I’m still a virgin.  This is God’s child.  It’s a miracle.”
Well, for a devout young Jewish man, this was devastating news. How many men would have bought Mary’s story?  Not many I suppose.  So, God intervened to reassure Joseph that all this was according to the purpose God had for Joseph’s life.

Mat 1   ¹⁸ The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  ¹⁹ So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man,  and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.  ²⁰ But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit.  ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus,  ^b because He will save His people from their sins.” ²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:  ²³ See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

Christmas is about the transforming power of God’s love.  God’s love makes us purposeful.  God had a purpose for Joseph (and everyone else in the Christmas Story), and God has a purpose for you.
3.  God’s Love Makes Us Worshipful
Some of the most interesting characters in the Christmas Story are the Three Wise Men, or the Three Kings from the East. 

Matt. 2   ¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem,  ² saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Quite a bit of folklore has arisen in regard to these strange travelers.  They have even been given names.  "according to Western church tradition, Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia, Melchior as a king of Persia, and Gaspar as a king of India."   Of course, this is nothing more than folklore.  The Bible doesn’t name the Wise Men.  In fact, the Bible doesn’t even say there are three of them.
Most scholars feel that “from the East” refers to Persia, or modern day Iran.  There is a very old tradition that these “Wise Men” (magi, in Persian) came from Chaldea, or modern day Iraq.  The Israelites had at one time been captives to both these countries. 
Regardless of the exact homeland for these travelling men of influence, they travelled very far.  By the time they arrive in Bethlehem, Jesus is no longer a “brephos,” or infant, but a “paidion,” or toddler.  The Holy Family is no longer in a stable but in a house.  So the journey was very long.
Whatever their origin, the reason for travelling to Bethlehem was crystal clear.  Verse 2 says the Wise men, “came to worship him who was born the King of the Jews.”
Worship is a translation of the word, προσκυνῆσαι, which means to “bow in honor or adoration.”  Worship is not so much something we do, but it is an attitude that we have toward God.  It is an all-consuming desire to interact with and work for Almighty God.  I define worship as the attitude, “All of me, for all of Him, All the time.”  True worship is something only a true believer can give.  It transcends “religion” and involves a deep and abiding relationship with God because of Who He is—the King of the Jews, the Christ, or the Messiah.  All these terms refer to Jesus Christ as being Almighty God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
When someone comes to recognize Who Jesus really is, that person cannot help but want to worship. A desire to interact with God and serve Him becomes the all-consuming passion of those who come to realize that Almighty God loves us.
The transforming love of God makes us Worshipful.  The power of God’s love as demonstrated in the Christmas story makes us valuable, purposeful, worshipful, and most importantly of all:
4.  God’s transforming love makes us ETERNAL
Let me first qualify that statement.  By saying God’s transforming love makes us eternal, could be misunderstood in two ways:  1) that some people are eternal and some are not; or 2) all people will have the same experience in eternity because of God’s love.

In regard to number one:  all people are eternal.  Every person that has ever lived will live forever.  Death is not the end of existence.  Death is a separation.  Death separates the soul from the body, the essence of life from the container of life.  The Bible describes death as separation in many places, for example, Ecclesiastes 12:7:

⁷ and the dust [body] returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

This verse speaks of the separation in regard to a person who is a follower of God.  The Bible also speaks of the separation of those who have not been transformed by God’s love.  Daniel 12:2 says,

² Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to shame and eternal contempt.
Matthew repeats this same description of the eternal nature of every person (25:46): “And they [non-Christians] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
So, we see that the second misconception about eternal life has to do with the idea that all people will have the same eternal experience.  Not so.  All people are eternal, but all eternities are not the same—they are as different as heaven and hell.

God’s transforming love makes us eternal—but not just eternal—but it means we live in His love for all eternity—if . . . and this is the dividing line, we respond to His love and offer of eternal life.  That’s the essence of Christmas—Jesus is God’s gift to mankind. 
For most people, in America especially, Christmas is just a date on the calendar and an occasion for fun activities.  But, Christmas is more than lights on the tree, treats baking in the oven, or even the annual presentation of a church Christmas pageant.
Christmas is about Christ.  This may shock you but Christmas is not so much about the “birth” of Jesus as it is the “death” of Jesus.  Unless one comes to understand “why” Jesus was born, then Christmas loses the most important aspect of it’s wonderful, transforming love.
Christmas is not about a baby being born, but it’s really about you being “born-again.” Look at Luke 2:11:

Today a Savior,  who is Messiah  the Lord, 
was born for you in the city of David.

The angel could have identified Jesus in many ways:  Teacher, Healer, Miracle-Worker, or Prophet, among others.  But, in the inaugural message of Jesus’ birth, Jesus is identified as “Savior.”  There is no article (a, or the) in the original text, which is a means by which Greek puts an emphasis on a noun.  More importantly, this passage combines three titles for Jesus not found anywhere else in the N.T. – soter, Christos, kurios—savior, Messiah, Lord.  (Christos Kurios is found in Lam. 4:20 or the LXX).  Jesus is not just “any” soter or Savior, but a very special one.
The word, “savior,” from “soter,” refers to someone who delivers others from peril.  It was often used for medical workers in the first century, doctors if you will, because they delivered people from disease.  It was even used of philosophers who would deliver people from ignorance.  The most often employment of the word was for a military general who would deliver people from an enemy.
In the Christmas sense, it is used of Jesus who would, as John the Baptist would later say, “be the Lamb of God Who would die to take away the sins of man,” that is, “rescue man from sin.”  He is a rescuer, but also God, the Messiah.  He is not only an anointed Savior, but also the Lord who has the power and authority to save.  You might say Luke was describing Jesus as, “Super Savior!”
I’m sure there are a lot of things you think you need this Christmas—and you are probably correct.  But your greatest need cannot be filled with anything material, or temporal, or of this world.  Your greatest need is “Eternal.”  God’s transforming love makes you Eternal—that is gives you eternal life.
In a sense, everyone is “eternal” the moment one is born.  Everyone will continue forever.  Death is the end of the body, but not the soul.  Everybody will be going one of two places after death—an eternal heaven, or an eternal hell.
Christmas is about God’s plan to give you eternal life.  That first Christmas God gave us all the most important gift He could ever give – The Savior.  We are all condemned by our sin.  We are all in bondage to sin.  We need a Savior, a Deliverer, A Rescuer, a Messiah.  Jesus is that Savior, Deliverer, Rescuer, and Messiah.
Christmas is about a lot of things I suppose, but right up at the top of the list, Christmas is about the Wonderful Love of God.  I’m afraid that within a week, for most people, Christmas will be boxed up and put away for another year.  That is a great tragedy.  Christmas is not about a “day,” but about a Wonderful, Loving God Who came to earth to invite us to heaven.
On Sunday, December 22^nd, on the last day of work before Christmas break, Carnell Taylor was working on a crew repairing the Interstate 64 Bridge over the Elizabeth River in Virginia.  The road was icy, and a pick up truck slid out of control striking Taylor and knocking him into the icy river. His pelvis and several bones were broken.  Joseph Brisson was the captain of a river barge that was on the river that icy day.  Brisson saw Taylor get hit and knocked into the river and made a split second, life or death decision.  He knew Taylor would die quickly in the swift, icy waters.  Brisson dived into the water fighting the current to swim to Taylor.  He grabbed Taylor and said, “Don’t worry buddy I got you.” The current was too strong to swim to safety and eventually the cold caused Brisson to lose his grip on Taylor.  So Brisson wrapped his legs around Taylor’s waste to keep him afloat in the current until a rescue team in a small boat could reach them.  It took thirty minutes for the rescue team to reach Brisson and Taylor.  The team pulled the two into the small boat.  Taylor was hospitalized for broken bones and Brisson was treated for hypothermia.  A loving act saved a dying man.
This story illustrates the Christmas Story not just because it happened at Christmas time, but because it demonstrates the truth that we are in peril and God acted in a loving, selfless love to send us a “Soter,” or a rescuer, deliverer, Messiah. 
The sacrificial, loving act of sending Jesus, His Only Son, to earth changed everything for anyone who would accept that Christmas Gift.  The Love of God changes everything.  Join us in Our Journey to Love this Christmas season.