Third Week of Advent (Love) - Part 2

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. What people do need to be reminded of is that love is a choice. Love is a choice. And because it is a choice, we can choose to love the wrong things.

And we often do. Look at 1 John 2, verse 3. Now by this we know that we know him, if what? We keep his commandments. That's a very similar statement from the scripture reading from John 14, 15. You remember what Jesus says?

If you love me, do what? Keep my commandments. So if somebody goes out and steals this afternoon, that's a choice. If somebody bears false witness, that is a choice. If somebody is loving the wrong thing, that is a choice.

If you hate somebody in your heart, that is a choice. And John continues in 1 John 2, verse 4. He says, he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. And he who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as Christ he walked. So what do we see here?

That in order for the love of God to be perfected, in order for it to be made complete, we must make a choice to follow Christ. And that's not just a feeling you have, okay, I'm doing this. Well, no, it's a choice.

It's something that we determine, that we believe what he says, that we follow him in what he says. Loving Christ in that sense, following his word is good. But oftentimes we determine, we say we will go, we will follow you.

And then we make the choice of not to follow through. And that, of course, is bad. Remember, the object is what matters. What you love, what you don't love, whether it's good or not good, the object is what matters.

Love is good when we love and do the right thing. Loving God is good. Look at 1 John 2, 9. Loving people is good. Look at what he says. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now.

He who loves his brother abides in the light. And there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

And this is another thing that you don't really need to preach because people know that it's wrong to hate your brother. So it's not one of those passages that really needs to be emphasized. Christians are to be merciful, forgiving, long-suffering.

We don't walk around all day hating people. And I know that's the slander that comes against Christians many times, but simply not true. It is true, however, that Christians, while we don't hate people, we do hate certain things that people do.

That's true.

We do hate certain behaviors, and if we're to be honest, we would have to admit that we hate our own behavior sometimes. Sometimes we say and do things that we are not proud of. And that's when we need to ask God for forgiveness.

Hopefully, that should keep us humble. It's kind of like Paul. Was it Romans chapter 7? The things I want to do, I don't do. The things I don't want to do, I find myself doing. But to go back to this idea of hating your brother, maybe to reset on the subject of hate.

Okay, love is not always good. And you say, well, hate. We know that hate is always bad. If I said hate is always bad, I'd probably get a few amens. But hold on a minute. It depends on the object. Sometimes, expand some people's thinking, sometimes hate is good.

How can you say that, Pastor? Aren't we supposed to hate sin? In Hebrews chapter 1, verses 8 and 9, God the Father is speaking to the Son. He says, you have loved righteousness, but you have hated lawlessness.

God hates lawlessness. The Bible commands us, we are to hate sin. The Bible says, the bloodthirsty man, the Lord abhors. So to keep within the writings of the Apostle John, just to emphasize this point, in the book of the Revelation, chapter 2, the Lord says to the church at Pergamos, thus you also have those who hold to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

Things which I, the Lord Jesus, hate. You say, well, what is that, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans? Well, whatever it is, the Lord hates it. We know that. So we are, here's the key. We are to boil everything down this morning, here's the key.

We are to love what God loves and hate what God hates. Most of us are not quite there yet. All of us probably are not quite there yet. Love what the Lord loves. Hate what the Lord hates. God loves people.

He hates things. There's a lot of things that he hates. Just one comment on this doctrine of the Nicolaitans. It is generally understood that the Nicolaitans, from Nicholas, he was teaching what people call license or antinomianism.

He was against the law of God. The law of God is irrelevant. So basically, and I think this is what John was dealing with in the first epistle, 1 John. He's dealing with antinomianism. License. This is basically like, hey, it's all good.

It's all fine.

We're open to anything. Jesus died for your sin. So go out and live it up. I mean, they probably wouldn't have said that. They wouldn't have said, yes, go out and sin, it's fine. But that's basically how they lived and what they were taught.

It's no big deal. Where sin did abound, grace did abound much more. So the more sin, the more grace. It works out. God's law is irrelevant. That is what the Nicolaitans believed. It's what many Christians believe today.

It's just love, love, love, love, love. You know what Jesus says? I hate that. Now, listen, obviously we don't condemn sinners. Because in doing so, we would be condemning ourselves. We don't even condemn unbelievers.

We have no need to do that. Because in John chapter 3, the Lord says they are condemned already. Just as we were. It is our job to share the good news. The love of God. The gospel of Christ. That he paid a high price for your sin.

If you understand the high price that the Lord paid, you're not going to be following after the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Things which the Lord hates. Now flip over to 1 John chapter 4. So hopefully this helps us to reset a little bit.

Love is always good.

No.

Hate is always bad.

No.

Loving people is good. Loving this world and the ways of this world, that is not good. And since it's the third week of Advent and Christmas is what's on a lot of people's minds, I suppose we should spend a few minutes talking about this.

Presumably everybody in this room knows the true meaning of Christmas. But later on, on the radio, online, there could be someone who listens who doesn't know the true meaning of Christmas. All they've ever heard is Santa and the reindeer.

And they know about Christmas trees. Or as the world likes to call them, holiday trees. That never made a whole lot of sense to me. Are they still doing this? Do you still hear stuff like this? Holiday trees?

I used to work for a company that will go nameless years ago. They used to make a big to-do about putting up their holiday tree. And they had a Christmas village right there in the store next to it. I didn't understand why they would call it a holiday tree.

But that's another story. But what's the holiday all about? What is Christmas? You know the word holiday comes from the term holy day. It's a holy day tree. At least you call it that then. But this verse sums it up, 1 John 4, 19.

In this, the love of God was manifested toward us. That God has sent his only begotten son into the world. That we might live through him. That sums it up. That God has sent, because of his love, he has sent his son into the world.

That's what Christmas is all about. It is about the incarnation. That God sent his son into the world because of his love for the world. Not the ways of the world, not this hunk of rock that rotates around the sun.

The people of this world made in his image. And because of that, because of God's love, skip down to verse 19.

What does it say?

Because of God's love, we love him.

Why?

Because he first loved us. So love is from God. Even our love, the love that you have, the love that you feel, the love that you express came from God. The objects of our love to pattern after God, it should be relational.

We love God first. We love one another. That love is to be eternal. You know, the love of this world is what? Superficial, it's temporary, it's here one moment, gone the next. Christian love lasts forever.

Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter.

What does he say?

And now abide faith, hope, love. These three, but the greatest of these is love.

Why?

Because love is the only thing that lasts. In heaven, in eternity, there will be no need for hope. Everything we hope for is there. There's going to be no need for faith because we will see God face to face.

The only thing that will abide out of those three is love. We will love God, love one another forever. So as we approach December 25th, let me ask, what is the object of your love? Enjoy the music, enjoy the food, enjoy the lights, enjoy the shopping.

I can't relate to you if you enjoy the shopping, but you know, some of you do.

It's fine.

It's good.

I think these things are good to enjoy the things that go with the season.

But what do you love though?

Going back to the verses we started with, God so loved the world. One of the things about Christmas, it's a good excuse to do nice things for people. I know that might sound strange. You don't really need an excuse, but that's the way it often works.

If it were not for Christmas, a lot of families wouldn't get together if it wasn't for Christmas. If not for Christmas, people wouldn't take the time to do those nice little things. Like send someone a card or make a phone call.

So God so loved the people of this world. And Christmastime is a great opportunity for us to show our love the way God showed his love. And certainly people are more kind around the holidays. I think I say this every year, but people will say, well, I'm making an effort to be more nice, to be more kind, to be more generous this time of year.

You should keep that going the rest of the year, not just for this season. So this is the verse, God so loved the world. That is the people. And we should do that. We should keep it going. Then the other verse, God does not say that we should love the world or the things in the world.

And you know, there's a lot of unlovely things going on in the world right now. A lot of unlovely things that we do not love. I hate those things. This year is almost over. This is, again, a good opportunity for a reset.

A lot of people are saying this year is almost over. Thank God 2020 is almost over. But you haven't seen 2021 yet. But here's the good news. Either way, God still loves the world.

Amen.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Corner Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornerChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.