Love One Another

Love One Another

John 13:34-35

Good morning!

Today my message is entitled “Love One Another!”

The theme for today is “Love”, and I want to look at God’s love for us and what God wants us to do with His love.

We are following the Advent theme this month and today is the fourth week of Advent, in which we celebrate Love. On Christmas Eve, we will celebrate Christ’s birth with the music and message titled “Did You Know?”

This morning we have had several special presentations on what Christmas is about. I want to thank each person who came forward to share with us and especially the children for their song.

It is so easy to get busy with the festivities and hype of Christmas and forget why we celebrate in the first place. The video we watched tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ from the book of Luke 2:1-14 in your Bibles. In particular, I am looking at verses 10 & 11.

Luke 2:10-11 NIV

10 But the Angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

11 Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.

Jesus is born! Into a world that is confused, lost, messed up and far from God.

Into a world that would mistrust, hate and crucify Him! Why would God bother to come down from His heavenly place, into a manger, to be part of an ordinary family, to die?

This is why! God loves all the people in this world He created. God’s love is on us all, and all we need to do is except it.

Leonard and Adina read several verses from the Bible. I will touch on each as we look at God’s love for us. First, let’s look at:

1 John 4:9 NIV

9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

So, God showed His love by giving us Jesus, by giving us life if we accept Jesus, and promising to live with us forever.

John 3:16 NIV

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.

So how do we get this eternal life? First, Jesus had to die for the punishment meant for our sins – that is God’s love in action.

Rom 5:8 NIV

8 But God demonstrates His own love for us, in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Then we need to accept and believe that Jesus came and died for us to give us the gift of eternity with Him. That will make us God’s child.

1 John 3:1 NIV

1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

A gift from God that gives us family and the opportunity to live forever with God. What do we do with this gift from God?

This brings us to the most important part of the Christmas story, of the birth of Jesus Christ and the love God showed us. We need to live that love in our lives so others will see God in us.

John 13:34-35 NIV

34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Another word we could use for disciples is “Ambassador”. Webster’s Dictionary says that an ambassador is “the highest ranking diplomatic representative of one country to another.”

When we become part of God’s family, we become God’s ambassadors to the rest of the world. This is an important position and requires that we represent God in every aspect of our lives.   The most important aspect is in our love for the people God has created. God loves them and so should we.                                  

I started today’s message with “I want to look at God’s love for us and what God wants us to do with His love.” Hopefully, we can leave here today knowing God’s love and be ready to share that love with those we meet, especially over this Christmas season!

Let’s pray!