Heaven Came Down: Love Came Down
Love Came Down
Pastor Torry Sheppard | Heaven Came Down | Week 4
On the final Sunday before Christmas, Pastor Torry invited the church to slow down and reflect on what Advent is ultimately pointing us toward—not just the arrival of a baby in a manger, but the restoration of something deeply broken in the human heart. Throughout the Advent season, the church had already explored areas where life often feels deficient—peace, joy, and hope. This week, Pastor Torry turned the focus to what sits beneath them all: love.
He began with a relatable picture many families know all too well—putting together a Christmas gift late at night, only to realize at the very end that something isn’t quite right. The pieces fit almost perfectly, but a small misalignment causes ongoing frustration. The object works, but never the way it was designed to. Pastor Torry used that image to describe the way many people experience love. On the outside, things may appear fine, but internally something sticks, rubs, or creates tension. Life requires constant workarounds because love itself has been misassembled.
Pastor Torry explained that most people don’t struggle because they reject love. We believe in love. We want love. But the problem is that the version of love we learned—often shaped by parents, relationships, wounds, absence, or unmet expectations—was distorted. Without realizing it, those early experiences formed the lens through which we now view friendships, marriage, family, and even God Himself. That’s why hearing the words “God loves you” can stir up complicated emotions rather than comfort. Those words are filtered through our lived experience of love, not God’s definition of it.
He went on to describe common ways love becomes misaligned: performance-based love that must be earned, romanticized love that fades when feelings change, transactional love that never feels secure, and wounded love shaped by pain or betrayal. Pastor Torry was careful to acknowledge that these patterns often come from real hurt. The issue isn’t that people feel this way—the issue is allowing a broken experience to define love instead of allowing God, who is love, to do so. As Scripture says, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
From there, Pastor Torry emphasized why Scripture places such a high priority on love. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 13 and Colossians, he reminded the church that love is not an optional virtue—it is the foundation that gives meaning to everything else. Without love, obedience feels restrictive, forgiveness feels like loss, generosity feels risky, and covenant feels confining. With love, those same commands become life-giving and freeing. Love is what integrates faith, obedience, and spiritual maturity into something whole.
This set the stage for the heart of the message: Jesus did not come to invent something new—He came to correct what had been distorted. Much of His ministry focused on restoring clarity to truths people already believed but had learned incorrectly. Over time, God’s good gifts— like the law, worship, or marriage—had been filtered through culture and imperfection. In teachings like the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly said, “You’ve heard it said… but I tell you…” revealing that God has always been after hearts shaped by love, not mere external compliance.
But Pastor Torry reminded the church that hearts are not transformed by information alone. Love isn’t primarily taught—it’s caught. Which is why Christmas matters so deeply. Love didn’t stay distant. Love came down. In the incarnation, God moved close enough for us to experience His love firsthand. Jesus healed the sick, welcomed sinners, forgave failures, loved enemies, and ultimately went to the cross—not just to show love, but to save.
At the cross, Pastor Torry explained, God demonstrates the fullest expression of His love. Christ takes what is broken and gives us what is whole—not because we earn it, but because He gives it. That love doesn’t just forgive the past; it offers a new future and a new life that begins now.
He closed the message by pointing to Peter’s restoration after denying Jesus. Jesus didn’t shame Peter or revisit his worst moment. Instead, He asked one question—three times: “Do you love me?” Not to condemn him, but to restore him. Pastor Torry emphasized the central truth of the message: love doesn’t start with doing better. It starts with receiving Him.
Because when we receive God’s love, we can love Him back—and that love becomes the foundation for how we love others.