“Love in Advent”

1 John 4:7-12

1. Introduction: When you pack for a Christmas trip, what do you choose to take with you?
   1. Most of the time we focus on the essentials, but sometimes we pack things to take with us that we shouldn’t
   2. The Apostle John wrote 1 John to 2^nd and 3^rd generation Christians who had a lot of baggage from their upbringing
   3. We tend to carry baggage from our experience
2. Sometimes we pack the wrong things and carry around unnecessary baggage
   1. The early church had adopted several false doctrines they needed to abandon
   2. When we carry unnecessary baggage, we limit what we can pick up
   3. We can discover what we don’t need by focusing on that which we do
3. Sometimes we don’t pack enough of the right things
   1. The church had love because they had God, however they didn’t have enough love because it didn’t affect the way they interacted with each other (So how should we love?)
   2. Love is displayed by sacrifice
   3. Because God sacrificed for us, we can sacrifice for others
4. Sometimes we pack the right things in the wrong way
   1. There’s a right way to pack the right cargo
   2. Doctrine is certainly important but we must be looking at our doctrine through the lens of love
   3. If our doctrine doesn’t point us to love, it is the wrong doctrine
5. Conclusion: When we have God, we have love!
   1. We have to lean into love, when we do, God will show us the things in our lives that are unloving
   2. In order to love, we can’t keep a safe distance from others because God didn’t give us that example
   3. So, do we really want God and the love He brings or do we want to continue to carry around unnecessary luggage?