The gift can look deceptive…
As a farewell present to thank you for your company with us this evening, I have a gift here for you to share, at first glance the gift won’t look much, as its wrapped up in news paper But as you take the trouble to unwrap it find a beautiful box of Terry’s all gold chocolates So on the outside it didn’t look up to much but once opened up we see that these chocolates actually come with a pedigree.
Have we any chocolate fanatics out there? I imagine you feeling rather happy at the thought of biting into the chocolate if so go ahead bit into it and enjoy but if you still need convincing lets look at a few facts about Chocolate.
• Power point facts: Chocolate is a wonderful substance Taste and see its very good.
1. Chocolate was First drunk 3,000 years ago in Guatemala and Northern Brazil
2. The Greeks called it the food of the gods
3.It is renowned for its medicinal purposes
4. Chocolate contains vitamins and iron. Serious walkers and climbers swear by it. To give them that extra get up and go!
5.Children just love it as a soothing comforter in childhood stress.
6.They say smiling releases endorphins into the blood stream apparently so does chocolate. So providing you don’t eat to much chocolate and be sick you can be guaranteed an endorphin Christmas.
7.Women with PMT would kill for it somebody once told me that there is something in a woman’s body that NEEDS Chocolate
8.Samuel Pepys who is famous for his diaries about the plague and the great fire of London, drank chocolate to relieve migraine and ease biliousness It is renowned for its medicinal purposes
At this point you might be asking, "what on earth has chocolate got to do with the Christmas message tonight?". Nothing much..
But in the eyes of the world, the gift that God gave 2000 years ago didn’t look much either, rather a bit like our tatty gift-wrapped choclate in newspaper. A child born in abject poverty in some back of beyond town of the Roman Empire called Bethlehem, in the Middle East born to an unmarried teenage girl and delivered in a stable in a food trough, alongside animal excrement is not exactly appealling is it.
But if…You unwrap this present a little and look beyond the first impressions you’ll find something which is absolutely out of this world! So much so that when the shepherds first saw the baby they were so gobsmaked that they ran out shouting "Good news! Good news!"
This was because this was no ordinary baby, even though there’s no such thing as an ordinary baby there all extraordinary but here was an extra ordinary baby, born at an inopportune moment in squalid conditions who would change the course of world history and eternity forever.
Other visitors came also to see this extra ordinary child wise men from the east, bearing gifts for this Christ child. The time line is not exactly accurate in many peoples minds, but come they did bearing some amazing gifts which if not unwrapped we will fail to see the significance of the Christ child.
So let’s unwrap these gifts together...
1. The gift of Gold represents Jesus as King.
Why should these wise Magi bear gifts at all to some child born in abject poverty?
Because they knew that this child born was in fact the King of Kings (Studied OT Prophecies) Have you ever traced your family tree - my Father always said we belonged to the bloodline of Russian princes.
Jesus had a top notch family tree. Both Mary and Joseph both came from a line of Kings traced right back to King David. More importantly through God the Father - Jesus lineage is far greater than that it spreads right back to eternity to the High King of Heaven itself!
The wonderful truth this Christmas is that King Jesus came to establish His kingdom in the hearts and lives of people who seek Him. Unlike earthly kingdoms established by force his Kingdom is established in the hearts of people through love and he gives us all the opportunity to become part of His Kingdom.
So friends you like me may not belong to a blood line of Russian princes, but we all have the opportunity to belong to the blood line of t he King of Kings whose Kingdom rules in our hearts and lives.
This type of gift can be deceptive because no –one can see it Jesus said – Luke 17:21 the Kingdom of God is within you. But be assured this Christmas you can experience it! John 11-13read
1. The gift of Frankincense: This Christmas thousands of pounds if not millions will be spent on perfume for loved ones as gifts to each other (Drop a hint: I’m hoping for some Jazz)
Frankincense was a perfumed incense used in the worship at the temple it was burnt in Gods presence. In giving frankincense to Jesus they proclaimed Him as God. The Bible says Notice that the Bible says that these wise men told Herod Matt 2:1 We have come to worship Him. And on finding Him MATT 2:11 they bowed down and worshipped Him.
You see Jesus is part of the trinity of God Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 7:14 The Lord Himself will give you a sign the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (God with us) Jesus also on many occasions claimed to be God (John 10:30 - 33) and proved to be God after his resurrection. (Jhn 20:28) Thomas said, “My Lord and My God!”
So like these wise men who came to worship Jesus the Son of God , today wise men/women will be found worshipping Jesus the Son of God. Do you worship Him? If not what do you worship?
Scientist Sir John Horton says “ that the general evidence is that human beings alone give divine worship.” People meet here every Sunday to worship God, YET YOU can go to the Amazon Rain forest people worship spirits or even to the Walkers stadium people who say they have no faith worship something it may be their demi-gods running around in shorts kicking a spherical ball. Even to washing the car religiously can become a form of worship.
But real worship is the submission of all my nature to God It is the quickening of my conscience by His holiness; The nourishment of mind with His truth; The purifying of the imagination by His beauty; The opening of the heart to His love; The surrender of will to His purpose; And all this gathered up in adoration.
There is an old story of a young boy who saw the 3 wise men coming to worship the baby Jesus. He watched in wide-eyed wonder as they presented their gifts of gold, frankincense & myrrh. Oh, how much he wanted to worship the baby, too. But he had nothing to give, no gift worthy of the little king.
His eyes filled with tears as he turned & began to walk away. But just then an angel appeared to him, saying, "Give what is dearest to your heart." The boy thought for a moment, & then following the angel’s advice, laid a faded blue bag alongside the gifts of the wise men.
Inside his bag was a forked stick used for a slingshot, a ragged rope to help climb high trees, & a seashell that, when held to the ear, echoed the roar of the sea. He gave what was dearest to his heart, & thus was privileged to stand in the presence of the king.
2. Myrrh was embalming fluid- not the kind of gift you would expect to be brought to a child nowadays. But this was a prophetic gift looking to His future death. Myrhh was used in the embalming of the body with the grave clothes wrapped around, You see Jesus was born to die upon a cross and to take up our punishment upon himself for this world that includes your sins and mine….So that we might have peace and be put right with God.
Jesus is a special delivery from heaven a parcel of love being delivered to your home with your name upon it for salvation and nothing in the world could stop the arrival of His parcel of love - not the world - not Satan - not death - not hell because it was signed sealed and delivered at Calvary But one thing we have to do with a special delivery when it arrives on our door step you have to sign and recieve it.
If you take time to personally check out the GIFT OF JESUS further for yourself in a more personal way, you will find something much richer than few endorphins being released from the Terry’s Chocolate. The Bible says Taste and see the Lord is good. Jesus said that people will not live on bread alone or chocolate presumably.
We all have a spiritual side which needs to connect with God, there is a God shaped void in our hearts, a missing peace in the jigsaw of life and nothing but God can fill it completely.
That’s why if you ask Jesus into your heart this Christmas you will find his presence, his peace will be with you always, releasing you from the emptiness you so often feel being without God. Jesus brings wholeness, healing, purpose and new life…
Conclusion: In the overall scale of things its irrelevant what you do with the gift we give you tonight. You can eat it, give it away, or even throw it away, if you feel inclined.
But what you chose to do with Gods gift is far more crucial. The choice you make will affect your life forever into eternity. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain Why not unwrap this Christmas the greatest gift imaginable. Why not taste and experience the Lords goodness this Christmas for your life.....
