Love

Merry Christmas, church.

It's great to see everybody here this morning.

I want to welcome those that are worshiping with us online.

So glad that you guys are with us and so thankful for the blessing of being able to be online all year this year during a difficult season.

It's great for those of you that are room to have you with us and to physically be in a room.

There's nothing like being able to be physically together.

I'm thankful for online, but there's just something about the connection.

And so I look forward to the day that we don't have to worry about a pandemic and we can all be together again.

And so anyway, my name's Russ.

Finally, I had a chance to meet you, and I'm one of the pastors here at Church that Grow.

I grew up in a family probably that would be considered a little bit of an average American, middle class family.

You've shared and you bear with me as I share all of my family stories, but uh many of you know I didn't grow up going to church every Sunday.

I had some people in my family that were believers.

My grandmother loved Jesus, my mother professed Christ.

My father was not a believer until later in life.

And so, but we we still celebrated Christmas, probably like most American families celebrate Christmas.

As a kid, I anticipated getting up on Sunday uh on Christmas morning and and walking into the den, you know, where a special person had magically brought all these gifts.

And so I say special person because a lot of parents get really mad if I tell all the details about Christmas, and so we'll keep we'll keep that, we'll let you, you know, deal that uh with your kids.

And so I knew that somebody was bringing me some gifts.

And so we had some family traditions, and so we would eat breakfast with some part of our extended family, and then we would make visits, just like you do, to go see some friends and some family members.

And so as a kid, um, when I would see these family members, or when I would go back to school, here's the same, everybody would ask me the same question.

And some of you know what that question is.

Does anybody want to guess at it?

What did you get for Christmas?

That's that's just what everybody asked.

That's what it's what people still ask.

And so let me shorten the question a little bit and emphasize one word.

What'd you get?

That's what they would ask.

What'd you get?

And so for many of us, that's that's what Christmas is about.

It's what we get.

For the person who doesn't know the Lord, it's about what you get.

And so, even for those of us that profess Jesus as Lord of our life, and we understand the Christmas story, and we've trusted Jesus, and we we have eternal hope, and and and we understand uh you know, hope and and and joy, and today we're talking about love.

We understand all these things, but we we still we still kind of fall back into what'd you get?

And so what if we flip the script and the common question would change instead of what you get?

Hey, what'd you give this Christmas?

What'd you give?

Because love is about giving.

And that's what we're talking about today as we are moving forward in our Advent series.

Today we're talking about love.

We we talked a couple of weeks ago as we closed this 23rd Psalm series, The Goodness of God, and we entered into the Advent season.

We we said hope has a name, and that his name is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

And last week we said joy has a name.

Joy has a name, and his name is Emmanuel, it's God with us, Jesus.

And so today we're saying love has a name, and his name is Jesus.

And so many of us would feel emotionally we've experienced a difficult season this year, and we would feel like, man, the world has taken so much from us.

As a matter of fact, I would I I would admit to you, confess to you, that I have felt that way.

I would say, I would say, if we focused on the negative, if we focused on the problems, if we focused on the pain, the question we might ask is, man, look at everything that's been taken from us this year.

I mean, some people that don't don't know God or or maybe they're they're exploring faith, they might even shake their fist at God and say, Why have you taken so much from me?

But but but can I tell you this, that there's really nothing new about pain and loss and hurt and brokenness.

It has been a part of the equation since Adam and Eve rebelled against God and his plan.

As a matter of fact, I mean, some of you, some of you have had experiences long before through 2020 where you've experienced pain and hurt and loss and and you've had to deal with with a sudden um discovery or announcement or or bad news or a or a diagnosis.

And you feel emotionally something has been taken from me.

And I understand that.

I don't want to make light of that.

Those emotions are valid, they're real.

And even this year, 2020, we've experienced a pandemic.

Our culture in America and around the world has experienced racial tension and things that are sad and and wrong and um unjust.

We've gone through the tension of an election season, and so we've experienced a lot, a lot, a lot of emotional pain.

And I don't want to make light of that.

That's not even counting.

If I talk to each one of you, you would each share stories about something in your family, something in your life, related to job or related to your finances or related to something else, where something, you feel like something's been taken from you.

But can I tell you this?

That God is not a taker.

God is a giver.

And when we experience what's being taken, that feeling, maybe, and we feel broken in anger and we feel like something's been taken from us, we we are realizing what is wrong with this world.

God is not a taker.

God is a giver.

God created this world as a gift to us.

He wanted us to be in relationship with him.

And so what does he do?

He gives us something that is eternal.

It's beyond a Christmas present.

It transcends a gift that can be wrapped.

What does he give us?

He gives us eternal love.

He gives us eternal hope.

He gives us eternal peace, is what we share and talk about during this Advent season.

God is a giver and not a taker.

And he has given us the greatest gift we could ever experience.

And the gift was given 2,000 years ago, and his name is Jesus.

History is divided by that first Christmas experience, that first Christmas morning when Jesus was born in a humble stable.

And it defines God's heart more than anything else that's ever happened in history.

And so, in the midst of pain or in the midst of difficulty, you listen, we need to be reminded of this.

The gospel needs to be something we preach to ourselves every day.

God is a giver, not a taker.

He gives us the gift of eternal love through Jesus Christ.

And we go to Scripture and we go take a journey back in history to see how God brought all of the specific details together at the perfect time to reveal Himself in the Christmas story.

We talk about how the this little young teenage girl, expectant mother, but but a virgin, and she's betrothed to be married to this young man named Joseph, Mary and Joseph, and in the middle of what would be called the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, that they are called by Caesar Augustus to travel back to their hometown for a census.

And so the Romans had built an elaborate road system and travel system that for that day and in the days of antiquity that was pretty sophisticated, that provided for people to travel.

The peace of Rome provided people to travel freely around the world.

And so people came all at one time to their hometowns and they go to Bethlehem and they can't find a place to stay.

And so where they end up, they end up in a stable.

And all of the prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled perfectly in that moment to reveal that love is from the heart of God for you and for me.

God is a giver, he's not a taker.

And that he provides us an eternal love.

The most familiar verse to many of us is John 3.16.

And it says this, for God so, say it with me, loved.

God so loved.

He so loved the world.

See, God has not abandoned the world.

The world is experiencing the effects of sin, the effects of brokenness, the effects of rebellion.

But God has not abandoned the world.

God created the world, He owns the world, He's in charge, He's sovereign.

And so God has a plan for your life and my life.

He's got a plan for this world.

If you're a believer, hopefully you know that God loves you.

If you're not a believer, if you're not a follower, can I just tell you that he loves you and he loves you unconditionally?

And he wants a relationship with you.

And so he tells us John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave, he gave his only son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have eternal life.

And so we we've got this hope that's found right in the middle of that first verse that is so familiar.

And we listen, it's it's a great verse to memorize, but it's also a verse that we need to really let resonate in our hearts.

It's important to know that giving is what love does.

Giving is what love does.

That's the natural response to love, is to give.

God is a giver, he's not a taker, and giving is what love does.

That's how love is expressed.

And you know this, those of you that are married, those of you who experience the beauty of love, and you know that giving and serving and and and giving to one another.

It's how love, it's one of the ways that love is expressed, even in our personal relationships.

In the ancient world, um uh many of you have heard of uh of the ancient myths of how there were many gods in Greek and Roman culture.

And in those ancient myths, humanity was created not for the love of these gods, but for us to be human slaves for the benefit of all of these false gods.

And so, in the midst of all of that, the story of a nation arises, a nation called Israel, a nation that God would have as his own, a nation that was called to be a light to the rest of the world and to the other nations.

And so humanity is not seen as slaves and servants to those gods, but humanity is created to have a relationship with the true God.

And so he loves us, and so he gives to us.

He's been giving from the beginning.

This whole book is about the love of God and how God gives.

Here's what James says in verses chapter 1, verses 16 and 17.

He says, Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

And so the key word in this verse I want you to focus on is every, every, every, every good thing, every good gift, every blessing you have, it comes from God.

It comes from the heart of a giver, it comes from the heart of a loving father.

So every good thing that you have, it comes from God.

God is a giver.

He's given us this world as a playground.

And some of you that like nature and you like to enjoy the outdoors, and you you maybe like to travel.

I'm not, I don't consider myself a world traveler.

Many of you probably traveled to many more places, but but I've been to a few places that have taken my breath away.

I remember in 1994, um I went with a group of men to an event called Promise Keepers in Colorado, and we flew into Denver.

And we drove from Denver to Boulder, which would be like driving from Atlanta to Athens, and and and the whole way, the Rocky Mountains were right in front of us.

Now, see, I'm a Georgia boy, so I'd grown up in Georgia, so I've I I grew up with an appreciation and a love.

My wife and I would say we love the Georgia mountains, but I had never seen anything like the Rockies.

I mean, I kept finding myself like trying to reach out and touch them because they were so big and so right there in front of you.

It's God's playground as a gift to us.

God is a giver.

Jill and I had the pleasure and the blessing of going to Hawaii back in January.

And so in one day, in one day, we're spending a part of the day at the beach, at the beautiful beaches of Hawaii, in perfect weather, enjoying God's creation, and just a few hours later, we're having to put on jackets because we're 3,000 feet above sea level, overlooking what's called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, the Wyamea Canyon, on the island of Kauai.

And on the same day, we found ourselves in a rainforest hiking, seeing God's playground, looking at waterfalls, and seeing the beauty of what God's created.

So I've seen some of the places that where God has provided, and some of you have memories of God's creation.

God has given us every gift, He's given us this world as a gift, and He has provided for its redemption.

God is a giver and not a taker.

God gives lavishly and continually.

He wants to keep giving, he wants to be a continual giver in your life.

That's how much he loves us.

The famous William Osler, who's known as the father of modern medicine, he's speaking at a Yale commencement graduation, and he shares back in the day when it was acceptable to quote Scripture in a speech like that.

And he encourages all the students who are graduating to recite the Lord's Prayer every day.

To recite the Lord's Prayer every day.

And he said this key verse, the key statement, he said, this verse says, um, give us this day our daily bread.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Because God could have written in there, give us this week our weekly bread.

If it said, give us this year our yearly bread.

I mean, somebody needed to read this verse to all the people in March that were buying up all the toilet paper.

You don't need all that at one time, hopefully.

And so, you know, our human nature, we we want to, we we want to know what's happening way down the road, and God says, no, give us this day our daily bread.

I'm gonna take care of you.

And so it's this idea in Jewish culture, in Jewish life, this idea that there are 24-hour compartments where God provides for our needs as we navigate life.

And and he says, pray this.

And it's a reminder that God wants you to depend upon him every day.

Not just to know that everything's taken care of out in the future or in the past, but hey, it's in the present.

God is a God of the present.

Give us this day, our daily bread.

And he says, we want, I wrote down in my notes here, we want God to provide more so we can trust him less.

Now we don't say that, but that might be an accurate reflection of our heart on occasion.

But God wants much more than that.

He wants a daily dependence and a daily relationship with us.

And I know I'm I'm I'm talking about Bible history, and some people may not know what manna is, but when the Israelites were in the wilderness, God provided this heavenly food.

What was the expiration date on the manna?

One day.

You know what the deadline on your anger is?

He says, Don't let the sun go down on your anger.

See, God is a God who gives and he provides, and he wants us to depend on him.

He is continually giving.

God's mercies are made new when every morning.

How often are you told to take up your cross daily?

And when are we told to rejoice?

Always.

See, it's it's it's every day, continual giving and loving that God provides.

A relationship is what he wants.

He's always giving, he's always providing, he's always giving.

God is a God of giving.

And so it's it's like this.

When he gave Jesus, God outgave himself.

There's nothing that could top the gospel, there's nothing that could top God giving Jesus.

It was it was the the apex of his compassion and generosity, is when Jesus was born at that Christmas, so we would have hope and have eternal love.

And so when Jesus began his ministry, he grew up in Jewish culture and and he grew up without any sin in his life, the only human being that's lived perfectly righteous.

And so at 30 years old, he goes public with his ministry.

But if you read the gospels, you'll notice very often he would he would perform a miracle, he would cast out a demon, he would, he would, um, you know, he would feed thousands of people, all these, all these things, and then he would tell his disciples what.

Especially early on, he'd say, hey, don't tell anybody what you observed, don't tell anybody what you saw.

There's a reason for that.

It's because that there had been this concept, this Jewish messianic idea that had been prevalent, that the Messiah would come one day.

But the Messiah would come not as a servant born in a humble stable, but the Messiah would come as a as a as a military leader and someone who would free Israel from Roman oppression.

That's what they were waiting on.

And so the Messiah certainly wouldn't be born in a humble stable, messiah would be born in a palace, the Messiah would be born in some place like a hospital, like we were all born, that was perfectly sanitized.

And so this concept of the messianic secret was so Jesus could take three years and deconstruct what they thought the Messiah was going to be, and he could reconstruct God's biblical understanding of what the Messiah was.

And he came to be a servant.

He didn't come to be a military liberator.

He came to die.

He came to be buried.

He came to rise again.

He came to bring healing and redemption and to restore the relationship that was broken between humanity and a heavenly father.

And so Jesus is born.

I mean, it'd be one of those, it'd be one of those things that in modern day, it would just be something you'd see all over Instagram and your Facebook or TikTok or all the social media.

There'd be ad after ad on like the political ads.

Anybody tired of political ads?

I mean you get tired of, but but God would announce that, hey, the Messiah has come, right?

But no, there was no big announcement.

Who does Jesus, who does God go to to announce that the Messiah has been born, the Messiah has come?

He goes out to a group of shepherds with his heavenly choir of angels and and he announces it to the shepherds.

Now let me tell you why he announced it to the shepherds, because he knew that when if they if they scattered and said, hey, the Messiah is born in a barn in Bethlehem, nobody would believe the shepherds.

Because they were like the lowest on the social ladder.

They were they were probably considered unclean, uh mentally uh, you know, uh ill, or whatever.

Nobody would believe shepherds, but here you find in scripture a whole sky full of angels singing to these shepherds.

God is a giver, not a taker.

Giving is what love does.

That's the announcement.

That's why that's why we're seeing this series.

Hope has a name, his name is Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus.

Joy has a name, and his name is Emmanuel.

God with us, Jesus.

And today, love has a name.

And his name is Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus.

Love has a name, and his name is Jesus.

So I'm gonna light the candle hope from a couple of weeks ago.

And I'm gonna light the candle.

Joy from last week.

Very unusual for my whole family to be in the building.

And they are in the building.

Caleb is working back in the broadcast room.

And so Abigail and Josiah and Jill are gonna light that candle, the candle, the love candle.

And while they're doing that, I'm gonna read some scripture over you.

Matter of fact, can you close your eyes just for a second?

Just listen.

Zephaniah 3.17 says, The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.

He will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you by his love.

He will exult over you with loud singing.

The Lord, the Heavenly Father.

This verse is saying that our Heavenly Father sings over us.

Jesus writes in John 15, 9, he says, As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.

Abide in my love.

John 15, 13, he says, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

And Romans 5.8, the Apostle Paul says, But God demonstrates his love and shows his love in this way that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us.

Now you can look back up here.

That's the good news that God is a giver, God is not a taker, God has has given us.

And there's this principle we see throughout scripture, it is more blessed to give than to receive, right?

What if we flip the script instead of saying, hey, asking the question, what'd you get?

What'd you give?

What'd you give?

Let's make it practical.

Let's let's get it down to the nitty-gritty.

What is it?

What's the natural response?

I used to tell the story as a youth pastor, and I really don't think it's true, but but I used to tell it almost like it was true.

I'm a recovering youth pastor.

That's what youth pastors do.

And so it was about this how to catch a monkey.

It's this story about how to catch a monkey.

You want to know how to catch a monkey?

You would take a jar that was just barely had an opening big enough for a monkey to stick his hand in, and you put something in the jar that the monkey wanted, like a toy or banana or something the monkey liked.

And then you would tie a rope to that jar, and the monkey would put his hand in the jar, and he would wrap his fist around that banana or that toy or whatever little gadget it was, and he would grip it.

And because of his fist holding on to that object, he couldn't get his hand out of the jar, and then you would just pull the rope and in, and that's how you would catch a monkey.

Because the monkey would never let go of what he was obsessed with.

Now the reality is the monkey would take that jar and probably hit you over the head, so that's why I know that story's not true.

And I don't even I don't even know if if if there's any truth to it at all.

And I don't know about monkeys, but I know about myself, that I attach myself to things that cause me to lose sight of the greater gift that Christmas offers us.

And that God is a giver, and that we are never more like Jesus than when we are giving.

To me, that reflect and contrast these ideas, and they each one of them came to Jesus privately.

The first one is the rich young ruler.

He came to Jesus and he said, How might I inherit eternal life?

And Jesus gave him an answer.

He said, Go sell everything you have, give all your money to the poor, and you come follow me.

And so this rich young ruler, he had his hand in the jar and he did not want to let go.

And so it says he walked away sad because he was not willing to let go of what was inside the jar.

He walked away from the love of God.

He walked away without experiencing the new birth.

He walked away from the good news.

He walked away obsessed with everything that he had in this earthly life.

The other person that comes to mind is Zacchaeus.

Now, Zacchaeus was a tax collector, which would have been a person who was hated, a person who was the lowest on the social ladder in Jewish culture.

He was a Jewish man who had turned against his own people to represent oppressive Rome and to collect taxes.

And he became rich because what he would do is he would collect what Rome required, and then he would collect even more.

And so Zacchaeus was a very wealthy man.

And so he comes and he inquires of Jesus, and he asks in the same kind of way that the rich young ruler asks.

But here's what happens: a miracle takes place inside of Zacchaeus' heart.

And it's called a new birth.

It's called redemption.

It's being born again.

It's when Jesus comes and lives inside of you.

It's when you fully trust and depend and put your faith in what Jesus did in his life and his death and his resurrection.

And Zacchaeus's life has changed.

A miracle happens.

And here's what he says: He says, I'm going to go, I'm going to go pay back everybody that I've taken money from.

And I'm going to pay back four times what I've taken.

And then I'm going to come back and I'm going to give half of everything I own away.

And that's what we're talking about when we understand the significance of the love of God.

And so how do we apply that?

Today is December 13th, right?

So how do we we've got two weeks left, roughly, in this year.

A very short time until Christmas.

And so we're known for forgetting.

Can we flip the script and make it about what we give?

Because we're never more like God.

Never more like Jesus than when we give.

And God is a giver, He's not a taker, and He has shown us by His love, by His love, His heart of generosity.

And love has a name.

And the name is Jesus.

And so here's a question: How could we flip the script and make a difference in this Christmas season?

You know, I can point to things that we do as a church, like Shop with a Hero.

This week there's another Shop with a Hero event taking place Wednesday and Thursday nights in Monroe.

It's not really put on by us, but it's put on by the Walton County Sheriff's Department and a couple other organizations, and they've asked us to come gift wrap because we're famous for gift wrapping in Loganville.

We're famous.

We're famous for it.

That's what one of the captains said at the Walton County Sheriff's Department.

He said, that church knows how to do it.

And so they've asked us to sign up for Wednesday night or Thursday night.

It's on our Facebook page if you want to sign up and just wrap gifts.

They've got 80 kids, plus 80 plus kids they're sponsoring to help.

And so why don't we partner with them?

Because we asked them to partner with us, right?

Maybe there's somebody in your neighborhood you could bless, somebody in your family you could bless.

A group of my neighbors came and to support one of our neighbors.

We've got a neighbor, Jill and I have a that we've known since we lived in the neighborhood, and he's a Vietnam vet that has struggled all of his life post-Vietnam with PTSD.

And he's just a he's got a tender heart.

But he just a few months ago was diagnosed with cancer.

And so he's going downhill pretty fast.

And so one of our neighbors said, Hey, why why don't we get some people together and decorate his house for Christmas?

And let's let's kind of meet some of his needs and try to take care of him and let's show him some love.

I thought, man, I what a great idea.

That's practical.

That's how we can be a giver.

That's what represents the loving heart of our Heavenly Father.

Would you pray with me for a second?

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the truth of Scripture that teaches us your heart for us.

And that regardless of how we feel, how we feel, that maybe this year has taken from us that in reality there's a grander story.

And that you are a giver.

You're not a taker.

And so, Father, we ask that you would move in hearts, and you would do the same miracle in the lives of people that are in this room and maybe watching online that you did in Zacchaeus's heart, which is to provide for salvation, for for the new birth, for redemption.

So, so I pray for you.

If you've never taken that step, put your faith in Christ.

This morning can be that morning that you cross the line of faith and that you say, you know what, I am going to trust in what God gave in the life of Jesus and his death and his resurrection, that what he provided was for me to have salvation, and it was enough and it was sufficient.

And I am turning and putting my faith in Jesus.

And I want him to be the Lord of my life.

So if that's you this morning, I want to encourage you before you uh leave this room, before you log off.

I want you to I want to encourage you to text the words start to follow to 9700.

Start to follow to 9700 to let us know if you've taken that first step of salvation, whether you're in the room or online.

And I want to encourage you to consider how blessed we are and how the Lord has provided for us.

I had a friend text me right at the end of the first service, this verse out of Job 1, he said, where Job says, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave and the Lord is taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

And so God promises that regardless of what is being given, what is being taken, that he will use all things for the good to those that love him and are called according to his purpose.

And so, Father, we come to sing right now to you how great is your love.

We believe that your love is great.

We believe that it comes from your heart to give to us through Jesus Christ.

And so, Father, as a response back to you, we sing back to you this morning.

How great is your love.

God, we love you.

We pray that you be glorified and honored in our response to you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close this time, reflecting and worshiping?