GOD’S GREATEST GIFT
A. Christmas can be a STRESSFUL time of year, especially if you, like many of us, wait until the last minute to BUY your GIFTS.
1. The song says, "Tis the season to be jolly," but have you been to WALL MART?
ILLUSTRATION:
My family and I have gone Christmas SHOPPING at several STORES in Danville and Champaign over the past few weeks. The PARKING LOTS were FULL. People were BUSTLING here, there, everywhere frantically looking for BARGAINS or trying to FIND the right GIFT. And you wouldn’t believe the FROWNS, the GRIPES, the YELLING; and that was just from my FAMILY. You should have seen the REST of the PEOPLE. It was BRUTAL!
2. Where’s the JOLLY part?
ILLUSTRATION:
I heard about a lady who was Christmas SHOPPING with her daughter. The CROWDS were awful. She had to skip LUNCH because she was on a TIGHT SCHEDULE. Now she was TIRED, HUNGRY, her feet were HURTING, and she was more than a little IRRITABLE.
As they left the last store, she asked her daughter, "Did you see the NASTY LOOK that SALESMAN gave me?" Her daughter answered, "He didn’t give it to you, Mom. You had it when you went in."
B. With all the CHAOS that comes with the Christmas HOLIDAY, we often forget about the TRUE REASON for the SEASON- Matthew 1:23- "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him ’Immanuel’,which means, "God with us.’"
COMMENT:
I grew up in a CHURCH that taught it was WRONG to CELEBRATE Christmas as the BIRTH of Christ, and I really MISSED OUT. Whether you do or not, I believe you will AGREE that Christ’s COMING to this EARTH in the form of a tiny, helpless BABY is the GREATEST GIFT that anyone has ever received.
ILLUSTRATION:(By: Max Lucado)
The night the Son of God was BORN, there really wasn’t much FANFARE. Other than a few people, some lowly SHEPHERDS and traveling WISE MEN, and, of course, Mary and Joseph, there was no one else who knew that God had ENTERED the WORLD as a tiny, helpless BABY.
Yet, what an unusual place for the Son of God to be BORN in a STABLE. Whatever you have seen in BARNS, this was no DIFFERENT. God didn’t SANITIZE it before His Son was BORN. It was just a DIRTY, SMELLY, CRAMPED place.
Lying in a filthy FEEDING TROUGH streaked with ANIMAL SALIVA is Jesus, the Son of God. Joseph is COMFORTING his wife, Mary. They were both WEARIED from the long way they had TRAVELED from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be COUNTED in the CENSUS demanded by Caesar. And now the LONG, TEDIOUS, and PAINFUL process of giving BIRTH made both Mary and Joseph EXHAUSTED even more. Yet, the EXCITEMENT of the MOMENT kept them ALERT.
Undoubtedly they are ASTOUNDED by the fact that Mary has just given BIRTH to the Son of God. Mary looks into the FACE of her BABY. Her SON. Her LORD. Her SAVIOR. He looks like anything but a KING. His face is PRUNISH and RED. His CRY, though strong and healthy, is still the HELPLESS and PIERCING CRY of a BABY. He’s totally DEPENDENT upon his mother.
Although Mary didn’t really know what is in STORE for her BOY, she knew that He was SPECIAL, the Son of the Living God who would become the GREATEST GIFT to the WORLD.
MESSAGE:
I. GOD’S GIFT OF LOVE
A. "For God so LOVED the world that He GAVE His one and only Son . . ."- John 3:16a.
1. You talk about a GIFT of LOVE.
COMMENT:
We run all over TOWN going from STORE to STORE trying to find that one-of-a-kind STRAND of PEARLS or POWER TOOL to PROVE our LOVE to that special someone on Christmas morning. And it does feel good to GIVE a nice GIFT to the people you LOVE.
2. The ones that God LOVES is you and me, and to PROVE how much He LOVES us He sent His Son Jesus to this EARTH to LIVE among us and ultimately sent Him to the CROSS to DIE for us.
COMMENT:
The BABY lying in the MANGER is God’s way of saying to each of us, "To show you how much I LOVE you, I’m giving you my very BEST. You don’t have to SETTLE for what the world OFFERS. Accept the GIFT of my LOVE. Walk in it. Glory in it. Share it with others. You are WORTH to Me the GIVING of my one and only Son."
B. How does God feel about GIVING such a PRECIOUS GIFT?
1. There is absolutely nothing like GIVING out of LOVE.
ILLUSTRATION:
When my son Steven was 5 years-old, he wanted a Ghost Buster Proton Pack for Christmas. I don¡¦t think the MERCHANTS in the small town of Bowie, Texas where we lived even heard of such a thing. So Brenda and I drove 55 miles to Wichita Falls, Texas in search of this gift for Steven. We went all over that CITY trying to FIND that TOY, but it was SOLD OUT. We returned home EMPTY-HANDED.
Since Christmas was quickly APPROACHING we went ahead and bought Steven other GHOST BUSTER stuff hoping that might APPEASE him. But we knew deep down that his little HEART was set on the PROTON PACK, and that he would be deeply DISAPPOINTED on Christmas morning when everyone got what he or she WANTED except him.
I got on the PHONE and started calling STORES all over North Texas. Finally I found a TOY STORE in Dallas that had a few of them in stock. I asked them to HOLD one for me, but they wouldn¡¦t„oit was first-come-first-serve. So Brenda and I got in the car and drove over 80 miles one-way to East Dallas hoping that TOY would still be there. There were TWO left.
We did a lot of TRAVELING and spent a lot of MONEY to find that $20.00 toy, but to see Steven’s face light up on Christmas morning when he saw the Ghost Buster Proton Pack under the tree made it all WORTH IT. We GAVE out of LOVE.
b. Although God made the GREATEST SACRIFICE by giving the GREATEST GIFT, the JOY He feels when one humbly ACCEPTS the GIFT of His Son is INDESCRIBABLE.
COMMENT:
Each time a person, through FAITH, is BAPTIZED into the BLOOD of Christ, it takes God back to the CROSS where He WATCHED His precious Son DIE that HORRIBLE DEATH. But with each NEW BIRTH our heavenly Father SMILES with DELIGHT to see another SOUL UNWRAP the GIFT of LIFE that He so FREELY GAVE out of LOVE for us.
II. GOD’S GIFT OF JOY
A. With the BIRTH of Jesus came JOY.
1. The ANGEL said to the SHEPHERDS: "Do not be AFRAID! I bring you good news of GREAT JOY that will be for all the PEOPLE."- Luke 2:10.
COMMENT:
IMMANUEL--God coming to this EARTH in the form of Jesus is REASON to REJOICE. Let’s not BELITTLE the JOY that people EXPERIENCE this time of year. Let¡¦s not DAMPEN their SPIRIT by arrogantly pointing out that we do not KNOW when Jesus was BORN. Let¡¦s not JUDGE others because they like sending RELIGIOUS Christmas CARDS or DISPLAYING a NATIVITY SCENE.
2. If the ANGEL of the Lord felt that the BIRTH of Jesus was time to CELEBRATE and REJOICE, that¡¦s good enough for me.
ILLUSTRATION:
On an ICY winter’s night two weeks before Christmas, 1987, a PREACHER was impatiently waiting at the O’Hare Airport in Chicago. All FLIGHTS has been CANCELED due to FOG and FREEZING RAIN. The TERMINAL was in BEDLAM. Thousands of people were CLUSTERED at the TICKET COUNTERS demanding projected DEPARTURE times. Others were sitting silently FUMING at the DELAY of their FLIGHTS. Children were CRYING, the PA SYSTEM was BLARING, and the DEFEATED were BELLYING UP to the BAR. The PREACHER was TENSE and APPREHENSIVE. He was on his way back HOME to Texas after holding a week-long REVIVAL.
Sitting directly across from him was a middle-aged Hispanic woman with a child CRADLED in her ARMS. She was LAUGHING! The preacher thought to himself, "The world is COLLAPSING, thousands are STRANDED, O’Hare is a shrieking SNAKE PIT, and this woman is LAUGHING." She started PLAYING with the CHILD making GOO-GOO sounds, and then LAUGH some more.
She looked up and caught the preacher staring,
"Ma’am," the preacher said, "every other person here TONIGHT is RATTLED and MISERABLE. Would you mind telling my why you’re so HAPPY?" "Why sure," she said in BROKEN ENGLISH. "Christmas is COMING and that BABY Jesus„oHe makes me LAUGH."
The PREACHER, who was with the non-instrumental Church of Christ, the same fellowship I grew up in, commented in a SERMON that he had been so DESENSITIZED by Christmas, teaching and preaching how WRONG it is to CELEBRATE Christmas as the BIRTH of Christ, that he had forgotten the JOY of KNOWING that Jesus came into this WORLD as a REAL PERSON with PHYSICAL and EMOTIONAL needs and not merely as a SACRIFICE on a TREE. He said that he had taken LIFE much too SERIOUS!
3. How about us? Have we gotten too SERIOUS about LIFE?
COMMENT:
Do we find JOY in our CHILDREN or GRANDCHILDREN anymore? Do we have difficulty with LAUGHING at ourselves? Are we more ANGRY and IRRITATED than we are HAPPY? Do we COMPLAIN more than we COMMEND? Do we FOCUS more on the NEGATIVE than we do the POSITIVE? Is our RELIGION more BINDING than FREEING? Is LIVING just another word for ENDURANCE?
B. God wants us to ENJOY life!
1. When God told Abraham and Sarah that she would BEAR a son in her Old AGE, "she LAUGHED in disbelief"- Genesis 18:13.
COMMENT:
God had the LAST LAUGH. A SON was BORN to them in their OLD AGE and the human LAUGH of DESPAIR turned into a Father’s LAUGHTER of LOVE! In fact, Abraham and Sarah even named their son Isaac, which means "LAUGHTER."
Isaac, son of the PROMISE made to Abraham, was a PROPHETIC shadowing of Jesus in whom the PROMISE is FULFILLED. Jesus is God’s final LAUGHTER! Laughter in the CELEBRATION of the VICTORY we have over PAIN and SORROW, HOPELESSNESS and DESPAIR, SIN and DEATH.
2. "IMMANUEL" (God with us) brings JOY to the BROKENHEARTED.
COMMENT:
The BIRTH of Jesus, God coming into this WORLD in the form of a human being, is a FAITH-EXPERIENCE that enables us to see beyond the TRAGEDIES and HARDSHIPS and PROBLEMS of life. Jesus is our LAUGHTER and our JOY. His BIRTH, His LIFE, and His DEATH is the "GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY" that the Angels SANG about in the HILLS of Bethlehem almost 2,000 years ago.
Maybe we have taken LIFE much too SERIOUSLY! Like the woman in O’Hare Airport we need to learn to LAUGH even when LIFE seems HECTIC, and to PONDER the awesome MYSTERY of the MESSIANIC Son of God in DIAPERS!
III. GOD’S GIFT OF PEACE
A. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth PEACE to men" the angels said PRAISING God at the announcement of Jesus’ BIRTH- Luke 2:14a
1. An interesting story comes out of the CHAOS that happened amid the HORRORS of World War I.
ILLUSTRATION:
It was Christmas eve, 1914. All was quiet on France’s western front, from the English Channel to the Swiss Alps. TRENCHES came within 50 miles of Paris. The war was only 5 months old then, but already 800,000 men and women had DIED or been WOUNDED. Every soldier wondered whether or not Christmas day would bring a new round of fighting and killing.
But something happened. British soldiers raised "Merry Christmas" signs above their TRENCHES, and it wasn’t long before CAROLS began to float across the no-man’s-land of BARBED WIRE and MINES. The SONGS came from German and British TRENCHES alike.
Christmas day DAWNED to find UNARMED soldiers leaving their TRENCHES, though OFFICERS on both sides tried to stop it. The men picked their way across the distance that SEPARATED them to exchange SONGS and CONVERSATION. Small GIFTS were exchanged. Christmas day passed PEACEFULLY along miles of the front.
In some places the SPONTANEOUS TRUCE continued into the next day as neither side was WILLING to FIRE the first shot. Finally, however, the WAR resumed as fresh troops arrived and the high command of both sides ordered that further "informal understandings" with the ENEMY would be considered high TREASON.
2. I find it interesting how the CELEBRATION of Jesus’ BIRTH can even STOP a WORLD WAR and make FRIENDS out of ENEMIES--at least for one DAY.
B. The PEACE that Jesus, the PRINCE OF PEACE, came to GIVE is much more than the CESSATION of WAR--in fact Jesus said "There will always be WARS"- Matthew 24:6. (This divine TRUTH hits HOME every time we WATCH the NEWS.)
1. Jesus’ coming into this world in the form of a tiny, helpless baby is God’s PEACE-OFFERING
between Him and man--the CREATOR and the CREATED--because of SIN.
COMMENT:
Little did Mary know that this PRECIOUS infant that she had CARRIED for nine-months, this BUNDLE of JOY that she CRADLED in her ARMS, would one day be HANGING from a CROSS bearing the SINS of MANKIND.
She was told by an ANGEL that one day this HELPLESS baby would sit on the THRONE of David and be the SAVIOR of the WORLD, but there was no way that she could fully COMPREHEND that it would take the DEATH of her PRECIOUS SON to accomplish both. But God did, and sent Jesus to this earth anyway.
2. Jesus is God’s GIFT of PEACE to us. Think about that!
COMMENT:
I don’t know what goes through your MIND when you see a NATIVITY SCENE in someone’s front yard during the Christmas SEASON.
When I see a MANGER SCENE, it reminds me of the GREAT SACRIFICE God made for somebody as undeserving as I. If I was the ONLY PERSON who ever COMMITTED sin on this earth, God still would have sent Jesus born of a virgin to die for Me. And the same goes for you.
No, I don’t believe that December 25th is the actual BIRTH of Jesus. But I am so THRILLED that God sent Jesus so He and I can be at PEACE, that I don’t CARE!
CONCLUSION:
A. I love this time of YEAR, but the month of December hasn’t always brought HAPPINESS to my family.
ILLUSTRATION:
On Christmas Eve 1992 I helped preach my Dad¡¦s funeral. Four years later my niece Julie died from breast cancer on December 20th just two days before her 36th birthday, leaving behind her loving husband and 3 small children that were 5 years, 3 years, and 2 months-old. Needless to say, those were SOMBER Christmas CELEBRATIONS.
Undoubtedly that is true of many of you in this congregation. This year has been one of the most difficult I have experienced in my 25 years of preaching in ministering to and caring for those of our church who have dealt with SICKNESS and the DEATH of LOVED ONES. Since July of this year I have preached 8 funerals. I have held the HANDS of the DYING. I have seen the TEARS, heard the CRIES, and witnessed the HEART BREAK of those who have LOST a dear FAMILY MEMBER. Now they have come upon their first CHRISTMAS without their LOVED ONES being part of the CELEBRATION. I know from experience, that is difficult to bear.
B. But I also know that if you focus on GOD¡¦S GREATEST GIFT, He will SHOWER you with LOVE,JOY, and PEACE not only this Christmas season but EVERYDAY of your LIFE.
