This year our Midweek Advent Services will have the theme, "Lord Jesus Come to me." This evening we will pray "Lord Jesus Come to Me - With Your Love." As Pastor Keller stated on Sunday, the word advent means "come." And in this season of Advent we celebrate three comings of our Lord. The first is that our Lord Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and came as a baby, born in the city of Bethlehem and later died on the cross of Golgotha. The second coming we celebrate is the coming of Jesus in his Holy Word to us today. The third coming is the coming of our Lord Jesus on the Last Day to take us to be with him.

During this season of Advent, we will want to prepare ourselves for the coming Savior. Like the season of Lent, the season of Advent is time of reflection and repentance. And like Lent and Easter, each week of the Advent season builds up to the joyous celebration of Christmas Day. Let us respectfully observe this season and let us repentantly pray, "Lord Jesus Come to Me." And tonight we will ask that the Lord Jesus comes to us with his love.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is a beloved tradition this time of year. The cartoon version of the story is almost 40 years old. It seems that grown-ups and children alike love this story. And I have to confess that I too own the cartoon version and the movie version of this classic tale. I also have to admit that every time I see that little dog with the antler on his head trying to pull the big sleigh down the hill I think it is hysterical. Over the course of my life, I have probably seen it around twenty times and every time I laugh.

But you know what, as I get older and I watch it, it amazes how close Dr. Seuss comes yet it is so far away. Supposedly, the Grinch learned what the true meaning of Christmas was because of the power of love. Dr. Seuss tells us his tiny little Grinch heart grew three sizes that day. The good doctor comes so close to getting it right, yet he is so far away. The true meaning of Christmas is revealed to us in the power of love, but it is not the love of the Who's down in Whoville that makes our hearts grow three sizes. It is the love of God. Only through the love of God can we get a true right appreciation of the joy of Christmas and the coming of Jesus.

Now some of you might be saying, "Don't be so hard on Dr. Seuss. It is just a story isn't it?" Yeah it is story. And it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy. And it makes us laugh. And I don't think Dr. Seuss was trying to make a doctrinal statement with the Who's in Whoville or the Grinch. But this mindset of the meaning of Christmas pervades the culture of America. And sometimes we can get sidetracked when we are pondering the idea of love during the holidays.

Thankfully God shows us what real love is. In the lesson for this evening, it says that God show us how to truly love. It is written: "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." This is love that God would send his Son to this sinful world, a world that turns it back on God daily. This is love that God would send his Son to this world for you and me, who are just as guilty. And who are we anyway that God would do this for us. We are nobodies. And if you think you are somebody that God should have done this for you, take a minute to reflect on your life of sinfulness. Browse the Ten Commandments in your mind. As you see for yourself, God did not owe us this love.

But God sent his Son. At this time of year, I always think of the scene at heaven's gates on the first Christmas Eve. I think of the Father standing there and sending his Son off to earth. I think of the Father lovingly looking down on the manger in Bethlehem on Christmas Day, pleased with his Son. I think of the Father, contemplating the events that would take place three decades later, his only Son hanging on the cross for the sins of the world. Then I think about how much God loves me. For Jesus' death on the cross means that my sins are forgiven and I have eternal life. It means the same for you.

The Son mirrored that love shown by the Father. He showed that true love was not self-seeking in the least. The Son gave up his place in heaven to be born a human being. He allowed himself to persecuted and put to death. He sacrificed himself for you and me and all mankind. This is true love; to put everyone else above yourself and make the sacrifices God wants you to.

It is not the warm, fuzzy feeling that Dr. Seuss wrote about, the love that fades away soon after the roast beast leftovers have been polished off. It is a deep love of conviction. It is God's love and Christ's sacrifice paired together. That is what we pray for when we ask "Lord Jesus Come to Me With Your Love."

We ask with repentant hearts that the Holy Spirit would move us to respond in love toward one another. For that is what God's Word reminds us to do this evening. Look at the words, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." We are inspired by God's unfailing love for us and so we act in the same way.

Let us respond to God's love in our words and actions. It is all too easy to love one another when we know that we will get something in return. We usually don't want to invest anything if we know that we won't get anything back. But what did God get back from us. Was God making an investment in us? Could we possible give anything back to God for our salvation? No God simply acted out of love and made the ultimate sacrifice.

It is also easy for us to love one another when we know that it will make us look good. This is self-seeking, isn't it? Sometimes we mask our selfishness by claiming that we are taking the high road. But we are in essence claiming that the other person is taking the low road and isn't as good as you. There was no selfishness in the sacrifice of Jesus. Let us pray that the Lord Jesus would come to us with his love and show us how to love one another.

Sometimes it is also easy to only love when it is convenient to love. For we never want to inconvenience ourselves. In fact, we sometimes think that it is wrong if we were to be inconvenienced for someone else. Well, if we ever are tempted with that thought, consider how convenient it was for God to send his only Son to earth, and think about how convenient it was for the Son to die on the cross. Let us trust in that forgiveness won on the cross and let us learn from the example of his love.

Our main reason for loving one another is stated clearly, because God loved us first. However there is another way God uses our love. These words from I John say that when we love, others see God in us. And so we are encouraged also to love others so that they may see the true God. As we pray this Advent season that the Lord Jesus would come to us, may we also pray that he would come to others through us. Let us take the message of the Savior born in a stable on Christmas to the little children. Let us share the message of the coming Messiah with those that we meet and greet this season. The greatest love that we can show someone else is giving them the gospel. For that is the one thing that everybody needs this season, this year and always. The Lord Jesus has come to you with his love. Take that love to others.

Now back to the Grinch. Once again we can say that we shouldn't read anything into the tale by Dr. Seuss. It is just a whimsical story about good overcoming evil. But we can learn something. All the who's down in Whoville could never change the sinful heart of man. Only God's love could do that. God's love is real. It is powerful. It is effective. God's love saves us from sin, death and devil. God's love also motivates us to love others. So this Advent and Christmas, pray the Lord Jesus would come to you with his love. AMEN.