Sermon
12-15-13 Christmas Extravagant love john 3:16 kjh
16 For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life John 3:16.
INTRO
I
already don’t like this sermon. Its Christmas time and you have not used
a Christmas scripture. Where is mary and joseph, and the baby?
Yes
churches have used john 3:16 as the consummate scripture on salvation.
We
have even made a formula with it.
But
listen to this. God so loved the world, that he gave his only son.
God loved the world, he gave his son. God loved the world, he gave his
son! God loved the world, he gave his son!
If
that isn’t Christmas, I don’t know what is
Here
is the latest episode of jesus vs santa…………
VIDEO
When we love people we give them things. Hugs.
Kisses. Time. Our commitment. A dvd. A tie.
Cologne. We Spend time with them.
Sometimes
the occasion matches the size of the gift
Not
always-
But
sometimes, there is a gift that fits the occasion
An
engagement ring
Dec
31, 1999
And
so at Christmas God has show his love for us
By
giving us a gift. The gift of his son
This
is amazing, extravagant love.
Amazing
love. Unbelievable love. Sacrificial love
Rejection – we all know it – that is why we
hope to be loved
Country
song – “Check Yes or No” – George Strait
"Do you love me, do you wanna be my friend?
And if you do
Well then don't be afraid to take me by the hand
If you want to
I think this is how love goes, check yes or no"
And if you do
Well then don't be afraid to take me by the hand
If you want to
I think this is how love goes, check yes or no"
everyone wants to know that they are
important to someone
We
create emotional layers and defense mechanisms to protect us from rejection
Adam
& Eve hide in the garden – if they really knew me, they would reject me
Christmas is different – God is coming
to be with us
– He knows our limits, our faults, yet he comes
The
people who walked in darkness have seen a great light
Not
the good people. Not the ones walking in the light
The
people who walked in darkness have seen a great light
God made us in his image. He
looked at creation and said it was good
Yes
we are part of a great love story and Christmas is a turning point.
In
Jesus God says, no matter what you do- I will show my love for you.
John
3:16
16 For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.
Nothing is held back from or for us.
Remember the woman washing Jesus’ feet – luke 7
Not only is God’s love extravagant, it
is sacrificial.
What we are unable to do for ourselves, God offers on our behalf.
Remember Abraham and Isaac.
Jesus given for us
STORIES
I
hope you have a love story in your life.
All
of us at least know of love stories
There
is an amazing love story in the bible
Hosea
and gomer- god told him to take a wife to himself that was…!
He
buys her back
Hosea
goes to find Gomer – yes we have gone astray, but God is out looking for us
Hosea
story is beyond our understanding
God
loves us enough to enter our world
that reminds me of - famous story by Paul Harvey the man and the birds
The
man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent,
mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other
men. But he just didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches
proclaim at Christmas Time. It just didn’t make sense and he was too honest to
pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming
to Earth as a man.
Shortly
after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the
window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to
his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was
startled by a thudding sound…Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or
a thud…At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his
living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found
a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm
and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large
landscape window.
Well,
he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the
barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter,
if he could direct the birds to it.
Quickly
he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He
opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He
figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched
bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted
wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread
crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching
them…He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his
arms…Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted
barn.
And
then, he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a
strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them
know that they can trust me…That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help
them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them.
They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared
him.
“If
only I could be a bird,” he thought to himself, “and mingle with them and speak
their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them
the way to safe, warm…to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them
so they could see, and hear and understand.”
At
that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above
the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells – Adeste
Fidelis – o come all ye faithful – listening to the bells pealing the glad
tidings of Christmas.
And
he sank to his knees in the snow.
Christmas is a love STORY
It
is the greatest love story ever told
8 But God demonstrates
his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us
Romans 5:8
Here’s
the story-
A
man loaned his son to us for 33 years. We borrowed him, abused him and At
the end of that time, we killed him and returned him to his father.
What
kind of a father allows this?
God so loved the world.
Here
we are again talking about god loves the world
But
do you know that god loves you?
Do
you know that you were worth the sacrifice?
CONCLUSION
There
were two soldiers
, Joe and Carl, who were close
friends. It was war time and their platoon was engaged in an fierce firefight.
Outnumbered, they started to suffer heavy casualties, their commander ordered a
retreat.
, Joe and Carl, who were close
friends. It was war time and their platoon was engaged in an fierce firefight.
Outnumbered, they started to suffer heavy casualties, their commander ordered a
retreat.
Joe
apologized before he disobeyed the order and ran back to the battlefield.
Minutes later he came back carrying Carl’s dead body. As he put down Carl’s
body, the commander saw that Joe himself was mortally wounded now. The
commander furiously told Joe, “I told you not to go. You foolishly endangered
yourself, and now I risk losing another man. What a waste, Joe!”
These
simple words convey the meaning of one of the deepest graces of our faith and
our hope. We know God will always be there for us.
So
again we are presented with the invitation to return God’s love.
To
respond to God’s overtures. To choose him
Today
you are invited to say yes to God. To check yes.
To
be being swept up in his amazing transformational love
In
our worst moment, when we needed him the most. God did not hold back.
But
we knew he would come. He is just that kind of a god.
Jesus
- Immanuel – god with us
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