It's All About Love

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 18th of December, 2016, the 4th Sunday in Advent.  Today’s service included the installation of a new Elder and Deacon.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

The day we’ve waited so long for is drawing closer and closer.  The Messiah promised way back when mankind first disobeyed God is coming soon.  But He’s not coming as man expects, as a mighty conqueror to do battle with Rome.  He’s coming as a mere baby, born of a young virgin, in the poorest of settings.  He’s coming to us like one of us, because it’s all about love – God’s love.

The Apostle Matthew tells us of the days leading up to the coming of our Savior.  Listen and follow along to Matthew’s Gospel account, the 1st chapter, verses 18 through 25…

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.

--Matthew 1:18-25 (NKJV)

This was all foretold to us by the prophet Isaiah, speaking the words God gave him, in the 9th chapter of his book of prophecy, verse 2 and verses 6 and 7…

2 The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.

6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

--Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, in just seven days we will be celebrating the birth of Your Son and our Savior Jesus.  Some of us are still in the rush of the season, buying and wrapping last minute gifts, finishing the decorations, preparing meals, getting ready for relatives and friends to come visit.  Settle us now, Father God, so that we might better hear Your message this morning.  Calm our hearts and minds and remove all distracting thoughts.  Speak to us through Your most Holy Spirit.  In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.


A wealthy old man was very enthusiastic about his lovely young bride, but sometimes wondered whether she might have just married him for his money, so he asked, “If I lost all my money, would you still love me?”

She retorted, “Don’t be silly!  Of course I’d still love you!  But I would miss you.”


Last week I mentioned a word about worship from author James Packer.  Here’s what he has to say about love, from his book, Your Father Loves You:

One of the Greek words for love, agape, seems to have been virtually a Christian invention -- a new word for a new thing.  Apart from about twenty occurrences in the Greek version of the Old Testament, it is almost non-existent before the New Testament.  Agape draws its meaning directly from the revelation of God in Christ.  It is not a form of natural affection, however intense, but a supernatural fruit of the Holy Spirit.  It is a matter of will rather than feeling, for Christians must love even those they dislike.  It is the basic element in Christ-likeness.


I want us to think about that…  The kind of love that Jesus commands His followers to show and give is the love that takes it meaning directly from God revealing Himself in Jesus!

Unto us a Child is born!  Unto us a Son is given!  The people who for so long have walked in darkness can now see a great light!  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!  And of His rule, and of His peace, there will be no end.


Joseph and Mary were betrothed.  In Jewish tradition, they were married in every way except that they had no sexual relations together.  Mary was a virgin and was expected to stay that way until the actual day of their wedding.  But then Mary showed up pregnant.  Joseph knew that he had nothing to do with the baby growing inside her!  Under Jewish custom and law, he had every right to denounce her and demand she be punished.

But Joseph was a good man and he loved Mary, so he wanted to spare her the humiliation and the punishment.  He decided to have her sent away instead, where she could have her baby in a place no one would know or question her, and he could go on with life there in his village.  But an angel came to him in a dream and told Joseph not to be afraid to accept Mary as his wife.  This meant he’d also have to accept the child as his own!  In fact, the angel even told Joseph what name to give the child: Jesus.

Since all this came in a dream, Joseph could easily have ignored the message and gone on with his original plans.  But no, he did just as the angel commanded and took Mary as his wife, staying chaste with her until Jesus was born.  For Joseph, it was all about love.


A quick digital search of the New King James Version of our Bible shows that the word “love” is mentioned over 500 times and in both the Old and New Testaments.  In the Old Testament, the vast majority of those mentions are of the type of love between husband and wife, between parents and children, between relatives and close friends, or sometimes just as a showing of intense pleasure or liking, such as for food.

But in the New Testament, the word love takes on a whole new meaning.  Now it expresses more than caring about those who care about us.  Now it isn’t concerned any with things, but with people.  Now it is about how God revealed Himself to us, how He showed His great love for us.

Love: unconditional, sacrificial, given not that love might be returned, but that the love of God might be revealed!  God so loved the world that He didn’t want to see any of us perish, so He gave us His only Son, that we might be saved if we only believe in Him!


It’s all about love.  And especially this time of year when love is seemingly in the air and in everyone’s hearts.  We’ll be spending more time with family and friends that we love so much.  We’ll open gifts that were picked out with love and eat meals that were prepared with love.  We’ll love on each other here at church and especially during our Fellowship time and at our concert tonight and our candlelight service on Christmas Eve.  And when someone breaks in line ahead of us at Walmart or stalls the “12 items or less” line at the grocery store with their buggy full or cuts us off in traffic as we rush to get all the last minute things done…  well, we’ll love on them too, won’t we.  Won’t we?

It’s easy to love those who love us in return, but not so easy to love those who aren’t considerate of us or others around them.  But that is exactly what Jesus commands.  We are to love everyone, even those who hate us and would prefer to do us harm than to do us good.  No matter their background, no matter their skin color, no matter their place of birth or political leanings or religious beliefs, we are to love them with the same love that Jesus loves us.  Because He loved them all, and in doing so showed that God loves us all.  And it’s all about love.


Love one another as God loves us.  Love unconditionally, sacrificially, on Christmas Day and every day.  For unto us a Child is born, a Son is given, and we have seen a great light.  Because it’s all about love.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, You revealed Yourself to us through Your Son Jesus.  Through Him, You let us see and experience Your love.  Because You love us so much, You sent Jesus to earth as our Messiah, to offer us eternal salvation if we would only repent of our sinful ways, believe in Him, and follow His commands as our Lord.  Thank You, Father, for keeping Your promise made so long ago.  Thank You for loving us that much.

Hear us now, Father, as we come before You in silence, crying out from our hearts, offering our repentance, our thanks, our love to You…

Lord Jesus, we will very soon now celebrate Your birth, when You came to this earth as a mere baby, yet as our Savior, bringing us salvation from the second death and everlasting torment.  In You, all that You said, all that You did, all that You continue to do, we can see our heavenly Father God and His great and ever abiding love.  Help us, please Lord, to do His will, to obey Your voice, to truly accept You as our Lord and Master and joyfully do everything You would have us do.  Help us show others God’s love by loving them.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Master, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.