Love Was When God Became a Man

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This is a sermon that was preached for the Third Sunday in Advent on the theme of Love. It emphasizes the love of God demonstrated in the Incarnation of Christ.

Written Excerpts:

Love Was When God Became a Man

1 John 4:9-10 (NKJV)
⁹  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. ¹⁰  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

John 3:16-17 (NKJV)
¹⁶  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Introduction:

As you already know from the lighting of the Advent Candle earlier, our theme today is the topic of Love. I want to speak to you for a while today about God’s love for you and me.

Some of you might recognize the fact that I have chosen the words of a gospel song for the title of my message: “Love was when God became a man.” I am intrigued by these lyrics and I believe they convey a message that we need to be reminded of often. These lyrics convey the truth of the passage I read earlier in 1 John 4:9, "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." (NKJV)

During the next several minutes I want to attempt to describe God’s love in coming to this earth as a man. The incarnation of love in human flesh.

I. Love is defined in the incarnation.

I don’t know if you have thought of love in this way or not, but the phrase from the song that I have used for the title has made me ponder and compare the demonstration of love shown by the incarnation and the love shown by the crucifixion.

The Apostle John says that the love of God was manifested in God sending His Son into the world.

The Apostle Paul says God’s love is commended in that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)

Certainly we all agree that it was a tremendous display of sacrificial love for Jesus Christ to willing surrender his life to be scourged and abused and crucified. We evaluate all the physical pain he endured and conclude that it was the highest quality of love that made him suffer all that for us; for our salvation; for our restoration, and it certainly was love in the highest degree. However, the more I think about it, I’m convinced that the willingness of the Father to send the Son, and the willingness of the Son to come from the Father is a love that is higher yet in degree.

Why?

Because the distance from Bethlehem to Calvary and the Garden Tomb is a finite distance, but the distance from heaven’s glory and the glory of the Divine Godhead (Trinity) down to earth is an infinite distance. When Paul describes the humility of Christ in Philippians chapter two, he describes an unimaginable distance of descending from the throne room of Divine Sovereignty to the lowliest place a person could be born and enter the world of humanity.

Philippians 2:5-7 (NKJV) ⁵  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶  who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant…

Listen to the same verse from a couple of newer translations.

Philippians 2:5-7 (NRSV) ⁵  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶  who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷  but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness… 

Philippians 2:5-7 (NLT) ⁵  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. ⁶  Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. ⁷  Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being… 

II. Why would God love humans so infinitely?

What would motivate the Father and the Son to do what they did?

We carry His image within in us.

Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJV) ²⁶  Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness… ²⁷  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The Bible clearly teaches us that God did not send His one and only Son to the earth to save the planet. He did not send Him to save the animals. He did not send Him to save the forests. God sent His only Son down to this save human beings who were created in His own likeness and His own image.

The divine image includes many things perhaps, but it at least includes these things: personality; intelligence and wisdom; spirituality; moral righteousness; and free will.

“…the "image" does not consist in bodily form; it can only reside in spiritual qualities, in man's mental and moral attributes as a self-conscious, rational, personal agent, capable of self-determination and obedience to moral law.” (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.)

(Concise Theology, J.I. Packer) “The scope of God's image in man is not defined in Genesis 1:26-27, but the context makes it clear. Genesis 1:1-25 sets forth God as personal, rational (having intelligence and will, able to form plans and execute them), creative, competent to control the world he has made, and morally

admirable, in that all he creates is good. Plainly, God's image will include all these qualities… The human capacity for communica­tion and relationship with both God and other humans, and the God-given dominion over the lower creation… thus appear as farther facets of the image.”

The image has been marred by sin, but it is still present.

III. What does this love include?

Some theologians believe that there are at least three essential principles in love. (See H. Orton Wiley)

A. Self-communication (Revelation; manifestation)

B. Fellowship (Relationship)

C. A desire to possess the object loved (Jealousy)

Conclusion:

Let me close by reading the lyrics of the song “Love Was When”

Love was when God became a man,
Locked in time and space, without rank or place;
Love was God born of Jewish kin;
Just a carpenter with some fishermen;
Love was when Jesus walked in history,
Lovingly He brought a new life that's free,
Love was God nailed to bleed and die
To reach and love one such as I.
Love was when God became a man,
Down where I could see love that reached to me;
Love was God dying for my sin
And so trapped was I my whole world caved in.
Love was when Jesus met me, now it's real;
Lovingly He came, I can feel He's real!
Love was God, only He would try
To reach and love one such as I.

There is a wonderful story of God’s love in the incarnation. Let us stand and sing the closing song, “Wonderful Story of Love.”