Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Be Prepared for Christ’s Coming with Love
1. God Showed His Love To Us.
2. We Show Our Love To God.
3. We Show Our Love To Others.
Fellow Christians preparing to celebrate our Savior’s birth:
In the well-known play, “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens used three spirits to help Ebeneezer Scrooge understand what Christmas was all about.
The spirits of Christmas past, present, and future worked a tremendous transformation in Scrooge so that he changed from being the most stingy, hateful man alive to being the most generous, loving man around. From then on, he celebrated Christmas like no one else.
As we enter the season of Advent and start focusing on Christmas, we are reminded that we too have been visited by a Spirit. This Spirit made his initial visit at our baptism as infants or at our conversion as adults. This Spirit has led us to understand what Christmas is all about. Of course, the Spirit we are referring to is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit brought us to faith in the Child whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. The story of the three spirits changing Scrooge is fictitious, but the Holy Spirit has changed us in a real way. We went from being enemies of God to being children of God.
To help us prepare for the celebration of Christmas, we need to remember the work of the Holy Spirit. His work gives Christmas real meaning. Before concentrating on the gifts that we give or receive from others, we need to concentrate on the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us. This is what we will be doing from now through Christmas, as our sermons look at the fruits of the Spirit.
These fruits help us to BE PREPARED FOR CHRIST’S COMING. Today we are to be prepared WITH LOVE.
1. God showed his love to us.
Before looking at love as a fruit of the Spirit, we will find it helpful to remember God’s love shown to us. That leads us right to Christmas. The event of Christ’s birth is wrapped In God’s love for the world.
Let’s think about the connection between Christmas and God’s love. The most important gifts we give at Christmas are the ones we give to those we love. God also gave his gift—the Savior—out of love. As the Bible clearly says, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). From creation through the first Christmas, God declared his love for the world over and over again. He showed his love through the beautiful world he created as a home for Adam and Eve. He declared his love when he promised to send a Savior for Adam and Eve after they had sinned. He showed his love to Noah and his family as he spared them from the Flood. He repeatedly displayed his love to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and others throughout the Old Testament, when he told about the Savior who would come to save the world lost in sin.
It was because of his love that God kept his promise. As Paul says shortly before our text, “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law” (Galatians 4:4). The four Gospels are models of effective reporting of how God kept his promise on that first Christmas.
Reporters have a way of gathering their stories around what they call “the five W’s: who, what, why, where, when”; and a careful reporter also adds the “how.”
The answers to these questions with regard to the Christmas account center in God’s love.
WHO? God’s love was so great that the Savior sent into the world was none other than God the Son.
WHY? God’s love was shown so that all could be redeemed—so they could have eternal life through the work of the Savior born that night in Bethlehem.
WHAT? God’s love led to Jesus becoming a man so that he could keep God’s law in our stead and die as our substitute to earn salvation for the world.
WHERE? God’s love caused Jesus to be born in humble surroundings in Bethlehem and to spend his life mingling with lowly sinners in Israel.
WHEN? God’s love brought the Savior into the world at the proper time, a time that allowed this event to be corroborated by eyewitnesses and chronicled by historians.
And finally HOW? God’s love led to Jesus coming to earth through the miracle of the virgin birth. This was necessary so that he could be both God and man, which is what the Savior needed to be.
We can be properly prepared for the coming celebration of Christ’s birth by understanding God’s love, the sacrificial love that sent God’s only Son into this world to die. In love, God the Father gave his own Son so that we would know what love truly is. God tells us, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16).
That is why the Savior came to earth. His birth was the beginning of his mission, a mission that would end in the sacrifice of his life for our sins. This sacrifice was made willingly, out of love. Make sure that your preparation for Christmas centers on that love of God which made Christmas what it is, and the love of God which promises that your Savior will come again on the last day to take you to be with him to enjoy his gift of love to the fullest forever.
2. We show our love to God.
Now that we have reflected on God’s saving love for us, we are ready to examine love as a fruit of the Spirit. Love for God is to flow from the faith that the Holy Spirit worked in our hearts. Why do we love God? We are told that “we love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We love God as a result of all the love he has shown to us.
It is easy to see the affection that children have for Santa Claus. They show their love through hugs and excitement. Why do they love Santa Claus? Because he brings them gifts. God has given us far greater gifts through the birth of his Son. The gift of God’s Son has resulted in our having forgiveness, life, and salvation. Also keep in mind that God’s gifts to us through his Son are not rewards to us for being good. If God had rewarded us for what we have done in our lives, he would have given us only eternal punishment in hell for our sins. No gift under the Christmas tree can even begin to compare with the gift God has given us in his Son—not only what we don’t deserve, but just the opposite of what we deserve. What love God showed us at Christmas!
A popularity contest between the baby Jesus and Santa Claus would probably be a very close contest for many children. Make sure that it isn’t close for you. “Jesus is born” needs to be the priority for this season, not “Santa Claus is coming to town.”
And how do we show God that we love him? The obvious way is by worshiping him. Worship him regularly in our services on Sundays and on the next three Wednesday nights. Worship him at home through personal or family devotions. Worship him in our services on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Make time with God a priority even over time at parties, or time at stores, or time visiting family and friends.
Besides worshiping him, we show God that we love him by praising him to others. As you have opportunity, tell others about the Savior’s birth and what that birth means for you and for them. Invite others who are unchurched to worship with you during this holiday season. In all of your holiday preparations and celebrations make sure that people know that the most important thing for you is the news that your Savior is born. Don’t let Frosty and Rudolph or other secular Christmas characters take top billing in your decorations. Make sure that your Christmas priority isn’t hidden. Let your love for the Christ child be clear to all as they hear your words and see your actions. Let everyone know that Jesus is the reason for the season.
3. We show our love to others.
That brings us to our next point. As a fruit of the Spirit, love is something we display not just to God but also to others. The two really go hand in hand in many ways. When we praise God because of our love for him, we are also showing our love for others. We want them to hear about the Savior’s birth and to be like the shepherds who went to find the child in the manger. We want them to believe and be saved through the perfect life, Innocent death, and glorious resurrection of the Savior born at Bethlehem. We want them to be prepared for our Savior’s return, to be prepared through believing in him as their Savior.
And how do we show others that we love them, besides telling them about the Savior being born? We put our faith into action. Christmas is a time when people give to charities much more than during the rest of the year. The spirit of giving seems to be more alive at Christmas than at any other time. Christians will let their love for the Savior get them caught up in this spirit of giving. We will want to be at the front of the line when it comes to helping out those in need. We will show it through being so concerned about our fellow Christians that we hurt when they hurt, and we try to do something to relieve their hurt.
But real love for others won’t stop showing on December 25. Christian love centered in the birth of the Savior will go on throughout the year. And it won’t be concerned primarily with material needs. Christian love doesn’t just seek to feed the body; it strives to feed the soul with the gospel.
Love is listed as the first fruit of the Spirit. This is appropriate. The other fruits of the Spirit really flow out of proper love for God and others. May we be prepared for the Savior’s birth and for his return with love guiding us through the holidays and always. Amen.
