Today is the second Sunday of the Advent season. Advent stands between the already but not yet…it’s about expectations…when the Old Testament saints waited expectantly for the coming of the Messiah that occurred when God came to earth in the form of a human on that first Christmas day.
But our focus should not be limited to just the celebration of the birth of Christ… because Advent also means “coming” …that is the ‘not yet’ part …the time we are living in now…an equally important time when we are waiting expectantly on the second coming of the Lord…because He is coming back.
Each advent candle has a special meaning behind it and presents an opportunity for us to think about the Christmas season.
The first candle, which is purple, symbolizes hope…it is sometimes called the “Prophecy Candle” in remembrance of the prophets and the over 300 prophecies that are in direct reference to Jesus that confirms to me how I know the Bible is the Word of God.
When you look at the Bible the prophecies of the Bible leave nothing to the imagination.
The prophecies of Jesus are specific…with names and places identified… there is no guessing about the accuracy of what is written in the Bible.
–Jesus would be born of a virgin [Isaiah 7:14] Fulfilled [Matt. 1:22 / Luke 1:26]
–Jesus would be born in Bethlehem…not His place of residence [Micah 5:2] Fulfilled [Matt. 2:1 / Luke 2:4]
–Jesus would give physical healing [Isaiah 35:5-6 / 42:7-18] Fulfilled [Matt. 11:5 / Luke 7:22 / John 9:6-7 / 11:43-44].
–Jesus would come from the tribe of Judah [Gen. 49:10] Fulfilled [Matt. 21:5]
–Jesus would ride a donkey into Jerusalem [Zech. 9:9] Fulfilled [Matt. 21:5-11]
–Jesus would die by Crucifixion with pierced hands and feet Fulfilled [Matt. 27:31 / Mark 15:20]
It is the historical accuracy of these prophecies that sets the Bible apart from any other book…it is the specific details of these prophecies that gives clear evidence that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
We’re here this morning to lite the second Advent candle…often referred to as the ‘Bethlehem Candle’…like the first candle the color purple is associated with royalty and reminds us that Christ is the ‘King of Kings’ …it also reminds us of the journey Joseph and Mary made to Bethlehem.
Again…proof that the Bible is the inspired Word of God…think about this…what reasonable person would suggest having a women who was 9 months pregnant travel some 90 miles on the back of a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem?…did this occur in December?…December is a winter month in Israel …it’s debatable.
What’s not debatable is the Bible records what seems to be a minor event…a decree by Emperor Augustus to have a census taken of all the inhabited earth… that everyone had to return to their ancestral hometown to be registered.
That event caused Joseph and Mary to travel 90 miles to Bethlehem…since Joseph was a descendant of King David and Bethlehem was the birthplace of his ancestor…it was the place he was required to register for the census…so regardless of what time of year it was…Mary and Joseph had to make the 90-mile trip to Jerusalem.
Do you think it was by accident that Augustus’s decree for a census came when it did?…this was to fulfill the prophecy that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the Messiah…just like Micah, who lived 700 years before Jesus was born [Micah 5:2], said would happen…if it had not been for that decree Joseph and Mary would have never went to Bethlehem.
World leaders may think they mandate laws and control what occurs in the world but they are actually unknowingly fulfilling God’s plan.
Just for a minute I want to talk about Mary and Joseph…in both instances God completely disregarded human freedom and human choice…God made Mary to be Jesus’ mother without her consent…then the angel appeared to Joseph and commanded him to take Mary as his wife.
I’m not aware of any passage where the angel asks Mary or Joseph if this was acceptable with them…God simply told them His plan.
We make a terrible error in our concept of Christianity when we believe that God makes life easy when we are in His will…that if we’re in God’s will everything will be just fine…that life will be without trials or difficulty.
That was the case for Joseph and Mary…God’s plan for Mary and Joseph was going to mean difficulty…consider this:
Gabriel tells a 12-year-old child she has favor with God…that sounds like a good thing…except he then tells Mary she would become pregnant by a miracle which she did not freely consent to.
Scripture records countless times the people who were in God’s will are the ones who suffered the most.
When things don’t go easy…our response is ‘God you don’t understand …that’s not what I wanted to happen’ …so I’m just going to back out.
Though things were difficult…God blessed Mary and Joseph…God blesses obedience…despite the difficulty of the task…when we comply with God’s desire for our lives…God blesses…He always blesses obedience.
God has a plan and purpose for every person in this sanctuary…God’s plan for our lives isn’t always an easy one…it’s something He planned before you were ever born…with a gift so you could complete that purpose.
As your pastor it’s something I want you to pursue…I want you to be a part of God’s plan and purpose using the gift He gave you to accomplish that plan.
As I said…second Advent candle is the Bethlehem candle or candle of LOVE.
It seems all cultures…in all places…at all times have tried to define love.
There’s poetry written about love…music been sung about love…movies made about love…there’s different ways of talking about and thinking about love.
There are countless attempts in every culture to define love…think about our culture…if you watch…listen…and study what we believe love is you’ll have a slanted interpretation of what love really is.
This morning as we light the second candle it represents God’s love for humanity …as with the other advent candle themes, love is easily misunderstood…we often think of love in purely sentimental terms.
When studying the Bible the Apostle Paul makes a point that love is not always what we think it is…our culture operates on a knowledge of what we think love is…that is in contrast to God’s love.
God’s love was defined in the person of His Son Jesus…that’s the ‘already’ part of the fulfillment of God’s love for those who love Him.
The ‘not yet’ part is the time we’re living in now…we stand between the first and second advent…an equally important time when we are waiting expectantly on the second coming of the Lord…that’s the not yet part.
Here’s the problem when talking about God’s love…it’s like worldly hope… peace…and joy…that have been blatantly misunderstood by people…because of our culture we have an understanding of hope…peace…and joy as something that is determined by what we do or how we feel.
Far too often preachers make God’s love too generous…John addressed this very issue in 1 John when writing to those who were making that mistake… believing “God is love” but not believing what the Bible teaches about the rest of God’s character.
In most English-speaking countries they associate the word ‘love’ with particular kinds of human feelings.
When Christians speak of the love of God or say that ‘God loves everybody’ …it’s a deception that is mistakenly believed as Scriptural with no thoughts to the idea that it is not biblical to say that to just anyone.
To talk about the love that God has universally for all people is blasphemy…John 3:16 is not referring to God’s love for people but for His creation…the way it was before sin entered into the world when it was very good.
Romans 5:8 is a better description of God’s love for people.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
There’s nothing wrong with the statement that says, ‘God loves everybody’ …when I hear preachers say that ‘God loves everybody unconditionally,’ I want to say, ‘Wait a minute’…where’s that come from…if that was the case then:
—Why does He call us to repent?
—Why does He call us to come to the cross?
—Why does He call us to come to Christ?’
—Why does He say the path to heaven is narrow?
If God loves everybody unconditionally, then you can do whatever you want and believe whatever you think…but that’s just not true.
God does loves us unconditionally…But…He’s placed a condition on His love…a requirement—He commands all men everywhere to repent of their sins and to come to Christ…if you want to enjoy God’s unconditional love you have to be in Christ.
God offers salvation to everyone who asks…but it’s on His terms…and is restricted to only those who have a belief in Jesus. (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
There’s a difference between worldly love and Godly love…worldly love is based on feeling…how we feel about someone…worldly love does not come close to representing biblical love because Scripture tells us that the world…and people are enemies of God.
Worldly love is selfish love that tells you to do whatever is necessary to get your own way because selfish love has one person in mind…self.
Worldly love is focused only on this life…this is why Jesus at times treated those whose only interest was in the cares of this world in an unloving way…this is seen in how Jesus treated people.
…even though Jesus loved people He wasn’t always nice to them. (John 2).
…even though Jesus loved people He sometimes pushed people to reconsider what they believed about love (Mark 10:17-27).
…Sometimes He got people to admit their mistakes so they could see how much they needed God (John 4:1-42).
…Sometimes He was rude to people to reveal their hypocrisy (Matt. 13:13-29).
Jesus’ response to people was not a reflection about how He felt about people, but a desire to see them change.
Biblical love pushes a person to not do what the world accepts as normal… biblical love sets boundaries…boundaries that are for our own good.
So how does the Bible define love (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)?
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.8Love never fails.
Here’s what important to know about this verse…this verse is in reference to spiritual gifts…Paul is describing how useless, even destructive, spiritual gifts are when not applied from the standpoint of love.
He concludes his discussion in chapter 13 by saying without love…referring to Godly love which is how we act and treat others—without that…nothing else matters.
Something that is comical about this verse is that people who have never darkened the door of a church for anything other than a wedding or a funeral are familiar with this verse.
Because of its immense popularity this verse is read at weddings without either the preacher or the people getting married realizing that this verse has nothing to do with human love or affection for one another…it is taken out of context.
It has nothing to do with marriage…the idea presented in chapter 13 is a carryover from chapter 12 where Paul is describing the use of spiritual gifts…
in fact…Paul goes on to express just how important Godly love is in our everyday Christian walk.
If I have faith to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing…if I give all my possessions to feed the poor but do not have love, it profits me nothing [1 Cor. 13:2]
So the idea that this verse is somehow related to a romantic setting is misplaced.
Peter…agreeing with Paul….includes a list of qualities that Christians should possess…traits that we should add to our character…that define us a Christians.
5 make every effort to add to your faith goodness…and to goodness, knowledge…6 and to knowledge self-control… and to self-control perseverance…and to perseverance godliness…7 and to godliness mutual affection…and to mutual affection, love. [2 Peter 1:5-7]
In 1 Corinthians, Paul lists both the positive and negative characteristics of love:
Negative Characteristics of Love
Love is not jealous (v. 4).
Love does not brag (v. 4).
Love is not arrogant (v. 4).
Love does not act unbecomingly (v. 5).
Love is not provoked (v. 5).
Love does not take into account a wrong suffered (v. 5).
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness (v. 6).
Positive Characteristics of Love
Love is patient (v. 4).
Love is kind (v. 4).
Love rejoices with the truth (v. 6).
Love bears [covers] all things (v. 7).
Love believes all things (v. 7).
Love hopes all things (v. 9).
Love endures all things (v. 7).
Notice…everything that both Peter and Paul list has nothing to do with feelings… because Godly love isn’t a feeling…it’s an action…it’s revealing the characteristics people need to shed from their lives but at the same time revealing what they may be lacking…what needs to be added.
Just looking at that list…wonder how many of those we can identify as being in our lives this morning…either good or bad?
If you have those negative characteristics…get rid of them…if you don’t have the positive characteristics…acquire them…that’s why these verses have very little to do with people getting married.
What is particularly interesting about these verses is it’s not necessarily a description of what God’s love is and is not…it’s more than that.
This whole discourse is focusing on the idea that without Godly love nothing else in your life is relevant…everything in your personal life and in the life of the Church revolves around love…not feelings of love…but in actions…love is about how you behave and treat others.
In Corinthians Paul is addressing the selfish Christians in Corinth…the single greatest problem in the Corinthian church was their lack of Christian love…it was the lack of Christ-like love that was at the center of every one of their problems.
There are those who encourage you to ‘follow you heart’ but the key to finding God is not following your heart…but to follow Him and obey his teachings.
It’s like the people who believe that all you need to know for salvation is to claim John 3:16…everybody…that’s just the start…because love is action…not feelings …therefore Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments…that’s the action.
Here’s salvation 101…the difference between those abiding in Christ and those not abiding in Christ is the difference between those who are saved and those who are the unsaved…has nothing to do with how you feel.
For those who have not been born of God…God’s love is illusive because they do not know God…therefore…they cannot know the love of God.
Abiding in Christ is not just a superficial acquaintance…it’s the result of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of a Christian…The Holy Spirit provides assurance that the people of God belong to Jesus because love is the primary fruit of the Spirit.
The Bible affirms that God sending Jesus into the world was the act of perfect love (1 John 4:8-12)…then to illustrate the importance of love Jesus reduced the entire Tora down from 613 commands to just two: (Matthew 22:36-40).
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ …And a second is like it ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Love is the greatest of all the virtues on the Advent wreath and encompasses Jesus’ entire purpose for being on earth (1 Corinthians 13:13).
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).