The Birth of Christ Love and Hate

The Birth of Christ

Love and Hate

Both love and hate are real

They bring great emotion

Both love and hate have their place

Our problem is properly handling love and properly handling hate

Jesus did not come to the world to condemn it but to save it John 3:17

Don’t let your hate get in the way of love that covers sin

And gives others the chance to repent and change

Jesus came to give all of us the opportunity to have our sin labels changed

If we repent His mercy forgives

The Birth of Christ is a message of hope

Hope that we can be born again

Hope that others, whatever their sin label is, can be born again

Change from being hated to loved

That is a gift Jesus gave to all people, every ethnic group

Love and Hate

Both love and hate are real.

They bring great emotion.

Both love and hate have their place.

Our problem is properly handling

love, and properly handling hate.

If love is not handled properly,

 love can become lust.

Love can become more of something

we want and take than something we give.

It is sad to see a person who

expects and even demands love.

When the focus of love is selfish

rather than being others focused.

When we look at what we can

get rather than what we can give.

Hate is very difficult to handle.

We hate what we do not like.

Many times we hate what is different.

In the church we may hate some

styles of worship because we have

grown to like other styles of worship.

We can hate others just because

they are different than we are.

We can hate what is not in our comfort zone.

Hate, like love, must be used properly.

We should all hate murder,

stealing, lying, child abuse.

These are just a small sample

of things we should hate.

Although we can say we hate

murder, stealing, lying, and child abuse

these things take a person to do them

in order for them to be real.

So if I hate murder, I hate a murderer.

You cannot separate the sin from the sinner.

What we do, labels us.

God does not just hate sin,

He hates the sinner.

"The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes;

 Thou dost hate all who do iniquity."

Psalm 5:5

"The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,

and the one who loves violence His soul hates."

Psalm 11:5

"Moreover, you shall not follow the customs

of the nation which I shall drive out before you,

for they did all these things,

and therefore I have abhorred them."

Leviticus 20:23

"There are six things which the Lord hates,

yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:

 ¹⁷ Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

 ¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that run rapidly to evil,

 ¹⁹ A false witness who utters lies,

 and one who spreads strife among brothers."

Proverbs 6:16-19

"All their evil is at Gilgal; indeed, I came to hate them there!

Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of

 My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels."

Hosea 9:15

  

So where does this put

us when all have sin?

Do we just accept sin

because we all do it?

Do we hate everyone and

live a life of rejecting others?

The Bible says…

Hatred stirs up dissension,

but love covers over all wrongs.

Proverbs 10:12

Above all, love each other deeply,

because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:7-9

It seems hard to think that God hates us

because He has shown so much love to us.

But look at how God’s love changed lives.

In Jesus, we see hate and love.

His love always wanted the best for everyone.

But your best can never be achieved if you

wear the label of Liar, Child abuser, Murder, etc.

Jesus’ love gives mercy.

 

Jesus did not come to the

world to condemn it, but to save it.

John 3:17

Don’t let your hate get in the way

of love that covers sin and gives

others the chance to repent and change.

Jesus came to give all of us the

opportunity to have our labels changed.

If we repent, His mercy forgives.

The Birth of Christ is a message of hope.

Hope that we can be born again.

Hope that others whatever their

sin label is can be born again…

Change from being hated to loved.

That is a gift Jesus gave to all

people, every ethnic group.

Scripture Reading

Proverbs 10:12 NIV

2 Hatred stirs up dissension,

but love covers over all wrongs

1 Peter 4:7-8 NIV

7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

John 3:16-21 NIV

 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.   19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."