ADVENT - LOVE

Dwayne Pederson, Westhills Site Pastor

The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival”. This Sunday we’ll be lighting the fourth candle of Advent as a reminder of God’s love for us, which we can experience in a fresh, new way through the coming of Jesus, our Savior.

Christmas reveals to the world a deep love that is far beyond the kind of love we typically think of. In the world changing event of Christmas, the God of the universe came to be with his creation. We call this incarnation, which means “to put on flesh”. God reveals his heart to us in that, though he created us and does so many things for us, all of this stems from his desire to be with us. Immanuel means “God is with us” and that is what we celebrate this season.

As we trace the story of God’s people through the Old Testament, we see God’s loving plan begin to unfold. God promised Abraham that he would make his descendants a people who would bless all people. God foretold the coming of a Savior, born of a virgin, who would free the captives, bear our transgressions, suffer in our place, and redeem God’s people.

Generation after generation, God remained faithful to his people - even when they doubted him, questioned him, and turned away from him. Witnesses of God’s loving faithfulness, like Nehemiah, testified, “You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love…” (Nehemiah 9:17).

Revisiting the big picture of God’s love for his people during Advent helps us understand the significance of that very first Advent when Jesus came. For this precise reason, Matthew starts his gospel with Jesus’ genealogy, tracing his lineage back through King David to Abraham. Matthew wants us to understand that this major event is connected to God’s bigger story of love and redemption. Love, incarnated in the form of a tiny baby, came to fulfill a promise God made centuries before.

Paul explains, “He (Jesus) gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being” (Philippians 2:7). And he did this because, “God loved the word so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). This is Advent love, “not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Today, we look back and remember that first Advent. We see God’s promise of redemption fulfilled through Jesus. But what are we called to do now as we wait for the second Advent of Jesus? The answer is simple. We are to do what Jesus does - love.

When his critics tried to test him, asking which commandment is the greatest, Jesus answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39). And so this Advent, let’s think about how we can love God and love our neighbor more fully, so that we may fulfill the call of Jesus, our Savior:

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.” 1 John 4:7-12