ADVENT 2013
God's Favorite Things
God's Favorite Things
God IS Love.
John 3:16
New International Version (NIV)
1 John 4:8
New International Version (NIV)
Love is a tricky thing.
Does anyone really understand what love is? Of all the areas of our human existence is there anything more perplexing or troubling than trying to figure out how to love? And, is there anything more trying to our souls than hoping and seeking for someone who will love us in return?
We live in a society of seeking for that special someone to make us 'whole'. eHarmony and Match.com have taken a corner market of simplifying the process and scientifically making it possible for someone to find the perfect person to 'complete' them. The right one to spend the rest of our life. It is my personal feeling that these sights take all the fun out of the process. As hard as it is to find that special someone, its too simple now. I recall what it was like just a short 14 years ago when putting a personal ad up on the internet involved more telling your own story, putting it out there and simply waiting for the responses.
NOW, there is an hour's worth of questions to answer, and then they search for you to see if their system can find someone who perfectly matches up with all the answers to your questions. It all sounds just a bit too good to be true. How can we know if that person will actually work out? If you have ever used one of those sites to find someone to date, you might find yourself in the same mess you'd be in had you just done it on your own. Love is still a tricky thing.
And, then, in this world of extremes, there are still places where an arranged marriage like that of Joseph & Mary still can be found. Mary, betrothed to Joseph, our scriptures say. Bought with a price. There are customs, still in practice in our world today, where a groom would offer an amount of money to the father of a bride and ask for her hand, an arrangement between parents that was made, in some cases, upon their births into this world. A boy to this family. A girl to that family. Two families get together and decide for their children what path they will take. In a situation like this, love is, most definitely, a tricky thing.
How do you know whether that person will actually love you? But, in the way of freedom where you seek your a love in your own way; is there any assurance that the person you state your future on will love you? Either way, love is a risk. We put our hearts and souls on the line because we want to be loved in return.
Of anyone who knows what is involved in the extremes of our lives, God understands.
The most famous line for our scriptures says that He loved the whole world.
He put everything he had on the line and risked it all in order to find people who would love him in return. John's gospel tells that famous line. John first letter or epistle would also tell us a very provoking line. Anyone who does not love does not know God. God is love.
Do we actually know what love means?
In my time here have I actually looked up the word to see what it means?
I think there was a message earlier this year, but its worth another look...
Definition of LOVE
noun
1 a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties love
2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion <love of the sea>
3 a : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration love
4 a : unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1) : the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2) : brotherly concern for others
b : a person's adoration of God
5: a god or personification of love
6: an amorous episode : love affair
7: the sexual embrace : copulation
8: a score of zero (as in tennis)
9 capitalized Christian Science : GOD
Its a noun. It's used as a thing and general in a possessive sense. A thing we seek to own or possess.
But, there is an unseen pretense in the above definition. A sense of investing. A sense of giving. In order to have strong affection, you have to show strong affection. In order to have an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another, you have to give that out. You hope you get it in return. In many cases, you don't get it back.
And, nobody knows this all better than God.
In the midst of a conversation about eternal things with a man named Nicodemus, a leader of the ruling council, a teacher of Israel, Jesus reveals one of God's favorite things. God loves. He loves the world so much that he gave his only Son, all he has. So, that anyone who would believe in His Son might have eternal life. Is there anything that strikes us funny as we look at that scripture and then look back on what we have been covering this morning?
God isn't expecting anything in return.
God would send his only son, completely defenseless and in swaddling clothes into a world full of sin and deceit and strife. He would send him in with the hope that mankind would come to believe in him. And, with no concern with what he would get in return.
Does God want us to give back to give him? I'm sure he does.
Scripture would again and again tell us that our lives are not our own. Our lives belong to God.
But, he doesn't demand it. He doesn't give his only Son with some stipulation.
He hopes we will discover that as we learn to believe. As we grow and become the child of God we are intended to become. Whether we were set up to be apart of this life through our parents action when they baptized us at 6 months old, not unlike the arranged marriage, or whether we claim to have found Jesus on our own through our searching and longing for someone or something to fulfill us, the simple message is this...God loves us.
What was that thing the Apostle Paul said about love?
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
God's favorite thing is love.
God favorite thing is you, and he loves you. He loves you so much that he would send he one and only Son into this world, born as a baby, to grow up and take this whole world upon his own shoulders, our sins, our shortcomings and sicknesses, our weaknesses and faults, because of one simply ideal. He loves us.
Do we have a better idea of what love is now? Do we understand what God wants?
We are supposed to love others, because God is Love. And, what did we say about God's Love?
He loves without expecting anything in return.
And, so, here is my Advent challenge to you, in the midst of this Christmas season.
There are several names on slips of paper here at the front of sanctuary.
Not unlike what we did with the envelopes during our "Bags of Gold" parable experiment, I'm asking you to come, take a name, and do something to show God's love to the person whose name in on that slip of paper.
It's a risk, I know. You have no idea how that person might respond. Do they want to be loved? Are they looking for love? Anytime we get to know people and move out in an effort to show someone more than the simple nod to their existence and go deeper to deal with the issues of the soul we run the risk of making someone uncomfortable. But, you should remember what you've been taught here at the comfort food table. It is necessary to go through the uncomfortable to get to the comfortable.
And, God did the most uncomfortable thing in the giving of his only Son.
And, if we claim to know God, we need to love as he did.
But, there is an unseen pretense in the above definition. A sense of investing. A sense of giving. In order to have strong affection, you have to show strong affection. In order to have an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another, you have to give that out. You hope you get it in return. In many cases, you don't get it back.
And, nobody knows this all better than God.
In the midst of a conversation about eternal things with a man named Nicodemus, a leader of the ruling council, a teacher of Israel, Jesus reveals one of God's favorite things. God loves. He loves the world so much that he gave his only Son, all he has. So, that anyone who would believe in His Son might have eternal life. Is there anything that strikes us funny as we look at that scripture and then look back on what we have been covering this morning?
God isn't expecting anything in return.
God would send his only son, completely defenseless and in swaddling clothes into a world full of sin and deceit and strife. He would send him in with the hope that mankind would come to believe in him. And, with no concern with what he would get in return.
Does God want us to give back to give him? I'm sure he does.
Scripture would again and again tell us that our lives are not our own. Our lives belong to God.
But, he doesn't demand it. He doesn't give his only Son with some stipulation.
He hopes we will discover that as we learn to believe. As we grow and become the child of God we are intended to become. Whether we were set up to be apart of this life through our parents action when they baptized us at 6 months old, not unlike the arranged marriage, or whether we claim to have found Jesus on our own through our searching and longing for someone or something to fulfill us, the simple message is this...God loves us.
What was that thing the Apostle Paul said about love?
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
New International Version (NIV)
8 Love never fails.
God's favorite thing is love.
God favorite thing is you, and he loves you. He loves you so much that he would send he one and only Son into this world, born as a baby, to grow up and take this whole world upon his own shoulders, our sins, our shortcomings and sicknesses, our weaknesses and faults, because of one simply ideal. He loves us.
Do we have a better idea of what love is now? Do we understand what God wants?
We are supposed to love others, because God is Love. And, what did we say about God's Love?
He loves without expecting anything in return.
And, so, here is my Advent challenge to you, in the midst of this Christmas season.
There are several names on slips of paper here at the front of sanctuary.
Not unlike what we did with the envelopes during our "Bags of Gold" parable experiment, I'm asking you to come, take a name, and do something to show God's love to the person whose name in on that slip of paper.
It's a risk, I know. You have no idea how that person might respond. Do they want to be loved? Are they looking for love? Anytime we get to know people and move out in an effort to show someone more than the simple nod to their existence and go deeper to deal with the issues of the soul we run the risk of making someone uncomfortable. But, you should remember what you've been taught here at the comfort food table. It is necessary to go through the uncomfortable to get to the comfortable.
And, God did the most uncomfortable thing in the giving of his only Son.
And, if we claim to know God, we need to love as he did.
