What will I preach tonight? That was the question I faced many years ago when I was the Dean of St Peters Cathedral in Armidale, New South Wales. I had been the Dean of Armidale for several years up to that time and wondered what short message I could give to the congregation in a Christmas Eve service that would go past midnight.  The words of the Hymn came into my mind. “Tell my people I love them;
tell my people that I care.
When they feel far away from me, tell my people I am there.” Today I  heard a lovely version of that song on this link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ybT3Me6i50

I remember feeling quite free as I preached such a  wonderful liberating truth. We all need to be reminded that we are loved. I had the privilege and the joy of having a beautiful attractive woman in my life who began telling me she loved me after I had confessed that I had fallen deeply in love with her. Mind you, I did initially express it in highly romantic terms, “I think I’m beginning to like you very much.” When she seemed to appreciate that initial outburst, it made it much easier to say, “I love you very much!” We kept telling each other how much we loved each other for the 54 years of marriage before the Lord took her home just 4 years ago. And yes, I do deeply miss hearing those words from her lips. 

I was surprised to see a message taped to the rear window of a utility vehicle being driven in front of me, as I drove home from church today. In large lettering was written this message, “You are Loved!” I thought what a great positive message that was to share with the world. Some people might feel threatened by such a message if their own relationships were fragile or broken. But for someone like me who had experienced the love of God through a fellow human, it brought comfort. As St Paul wrote about the love of God, “and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5. For over 50 years I had experienced that love of God through the love of my Spirit-filled wife Carole. 

Today as I write, it is Christmas Eve. I don’t have the opportunity to preach a sermon at midnight, but I can share the truth that I, you, we, are loved. Many will hear over Christmas, the words of the “gospel in a nutshell” from John 3:16,  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Others might hear these words from St Paul, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. His birth at that first Christmas led eventually to His death for us, as He the righteous one died for all guilty sinners so that they might be saved by His grace. And the wonderful truth we read about the love of God, is this, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39. The message on that utility vehicle is true, “You are loved!” By God Himself!

What God in His love has done for us and how He now sees us. Ephesians 2:4-7

• He made us alive together with Christ. Eph 2:4  “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”
• He raised us up together with Christ. 2:6  “and raised us up with him 
• He seated us together with Christ in the heavenlies, “and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” God tells us how He sees us right now as being now in the place of honour,  acceptance and authority. We can never be more acceptable to Him than we are right now. More useful, more available to Him for sure, but never more acceptable. We are fully accepted in the beloved. 

Why God has done that for us in His love 

• 2:7  “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

God has shown us so much of the riches of His grace in accepting us in Christ and promising that nothing can ever separate us from His love. But He has so much more in store for us in His love. The word “immeasurable” is from [hyperballō; ὑπερβάλλω] which means to throw over or beyond, to surpass or excel and occurs in Ephesians in 3 of the 5 references in the New Testament. 

Paul prays that his readers in Ephesus might come to experience more of God’s power and love. Eph 1:19  “and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.” AND Eph 3:19 “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” If the immeasurable riches of God’s grace can lead to being filled with all the fulness of God, then there can be nothing beyond that incredible experience. And that is what God has for us in His love for us. 

The first Christmas Day was the day the Messiah, the Son of God entered this world to begin the whole process of redemption and salvation. May this Christmas Day be the day millions throughout the world accept this Christmas gift of salvation in Christ and give their lives over to live for Him!

Blog No.509 posted on Sunday 24 December 2023