Title: “The ultimate Gift”
Text: Matthew 2:1-11
Date: 12/28/2007
Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist Church
Introduction: Wednesday night, while visiting with my family in Calvert City we watched a movie starring James Garner entitled, “The Ultimate Gift.” In the movie Garner plays the part of a Rich Billionaire who dies leaving an estate worth billions of dollars. As you can imagine his sons and the rest of his family was eager to get their hands on his money. In order to get the inheritance that his grandfather wanted him to have, a young man named “Jason” played by actor “Drew Fuller” had to learn a few lessons. His grandfather referred to these lessons as gifts. He learned about the gift of work, while working on a ranch in Texas. He learned the value of friendship when he met a little girl and her mother in the park. Later, he learned the lesson of giving when he found out that the little girl had Leukemia and her mother was behind on her bills because of the daughters medical bills. In order to meet His grandfather’s requirements, and learn the lesson of giving his grandfather wanted him to ‘give away the $1,600 he had earned on a ranch in Texas to someone who needed it worse than he did. Even though it was the only money he had, he saw their need and paid the woman’s debt fulfilling the requirement, but more importantly he learned the lesson that His grandfather had wanted him to learn. It was the same lesson that Jesus told his disciples when he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Giving was also an important part of the Christmas story. In the 2nd chapter of Matthew verse 11 we find these words…,
“On coming to the house, they (talking about the wise men) saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of Frankincense and of myrrh.” Matthew 2:11 (NIV)
I. FIRST OF ALL, LET’S TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO EXAMINE THE GIFTS THAT THE WISE MEN PRESENTED TO JESUS.
These were expensive gifts, gifts that were truly fit for a King. Unlike some of the gifts you may have received at Christmas there was nothing cheap or gaudy about the gifts Jesus received from the Wise Men. Not only were they very expensive but they were also very appropriate gifts. You see each of them tell us something about who Jesus was and what He would do.
A. Gold of course was a gift fit for any King.
B. Frankincense was incense, which was often used by priests around the altar in the Temple.
C. Myrrh, was a perfume or spice that was often used to embalm a body.
The Wise Men were looking for a king and the star led them to an infant named Jesus. He was a King but He was radically different than any King that had ever seen before and was certainly not what they had expected to find, when they began their journey.
Later in Life, when Jesus was standing trial before Pilate, Pilate asked Him, “Are you a King? Jesus replied by saying, “You are right in saying I am a King. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”
Yes, Jesus was the King of the Jews, In fact He is the “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords,” and He is much more wonderful than the Wise Men could ever have imagined.
Jewish priests used Frankincense as incense when they were offering sacrifices to God. The priests were seen as the middle men between God and His people. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement the High Priest of Israel would enter into the Holy of Holies and offer an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus became our High Priest, and presented God with the ultimate atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world when He willingly laid down his life on the cross of Calvary. It was Jesus our Great High Priest who was able to ‘bridge the Gap’ between God and His people. No other priest could have done that. So the gift of frankincense was much more appropriate than the wise men could ever have realized.
Myrrh was an appropriate gift for Jesus because He was a person who was born to die. It is somewhat ironic that Jesus died only 15 miles from the little town of Bethlehem, where he was born. His death was redemptive and reconciling in a way that other deaths could never be. Jesus accomplished more for the Kingdom of God in His death than the wise men could ever have understood. Therefore, the gift of myrrh which foreshadowed the death of Christ was certainly an appropriate gift.
Illustration: An artist by the name of Holman Hunt once painted a famous picture of Jesus. Jesus was still a boy and was standing in the doorway of Joseph’s carpenter shop at the close of a long hard day. He had been working hard all day, so as He stood in the door way He did what many of us would do. He stood up, and stretched out His arms like this. When he did, the setting sun cast the shadow of a cross on the wall of the carpenter’s shop. Mary, who was standing in the background of the painting, caught a glimpse of the cross on the wall. When you look at the painting, it’s easy to see the fear and apprehension in Mary’s eyes. Perhaps it was a vision, or just a mother’s intuition, but when she saw that cross Mary knew what the future held for her son. Yes, He was and is God’s only begotten son, but He was born to die. In fact it is His death that makes His Birth so significant in the first place.
II. NEXT, WE NEED TO REALIZE THAT GOD’S GIFT TO THE WORLD WAS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE GIFTS THE WISE MEN PRESENTED TO JESUS.
The reason we give gifts to those we love at Christmas is not because of the gifts the Wise men gave to Jesus, but because of the ultimate gift that God gave to us in the form of a baby born in at stable in the town of Bethlehem.
It was at Christmas that ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.”
The Apostle Paul said it like this: “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”
God gave us the “Ultimate Gift” or the “Greatest Gift of All” because of His unconditional love for us. Unlike in the movie the “Ultimate Gift” God didn’t require us to “learn any lessons” or “grow up” or be a become a better person” before He was willing to give us the “Ultimate Gift” of His only Begotten Son.” In fact He was well aware of our faults. He knew how childish, broken, sick and sinful we are. But because of His great love for us He gave us His son anyway.
God was like the father in the story Jesus told about the prodigal son. The boy, friendless and penniless, finally came home looking like a homeless person. His robe which had once been beautiful was dirty, ripped, and tattered. He had no shoes on his feet, and no rings on his fingers. But the father didn’t look at him and say, “Well, you’re going to have to prove yourself to me for the next 6 months and then I’ll decide whether or not to accept you back into the family. No, he didn’t say anything like that. Instead the Father immediately and unconditionally accepted Him back with no strings attached. He turned to one of his servants and said, “Quick bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Luke 15:22-24.
Christmas is perhaps the Best example of God’s matchless Grace. God has offered us a gift that we are not worthy to receive and is beyond our ability to earn. Real life begins when we humble ourselves before God, confessing that our righteousness is like filthy rags, when compared to Him. We come with empty hands, wishing that we had something of value to give to God, in exchange for His marvelous and indescribable gift. But despite the fact that we are empty handed before God, He does something wonderful. He looks at our empty hands and says, “You don’t need to bring anything. You couldn’t buy your salvation if you had all of the money in the world. It is a gift of grace.
The Apostle Paul understood all about God’s Amazing Grace. In Ephesians 2:8-9 he wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.”
and in Romans 6:23 Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death, but the ‘gift of God’ is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Without a doubt, the birth of Jesus Christ into a dark and sinful world was the “Ultimate Gift.”
III. FINALLY, LIKE JASON IN THE MOVIE “THE ULTIMATE GIFT,” WE NEED TO LEARN THE LESSON OF GIVING.
From this passage of Scripture today, we can learn that giving is one of the secrets of life. It is a basic clue to the meaning of life. The Wise Men gave their gifts to Jesus and God in turn gave us the “ultimate gift” in the form of his son.
In the movie I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, “Jason’s grandfather tells him that “you haven’t really learned to enjoy life until you have learned how to give.” What a profound statement. (re-read).
Our Director of Missions, Wilbur Powell gave me a book recently entitled, “God in My Corner,” which was written by former Heavyweight champion of the world, George Foreman. Even though you may know him better as the spokesperson for the George Foreman, “lean mean grilling machine,” Foreman, who won the Heavyweight boxing title 2 times, has been the pastor of a small church in Houston, Texas for the past 27 years. It has been a very interesting and inspirational book and I have enjoyed reading it. One of the chapters in the book is about ‘giving.’
In it Foreman says, “If you’re only receiving and never giving, you’ll end up spiritually stagnate and life will be boring. If that describes how you feel, and you want to be rejuvenated, reverse the process and start giving.”
He then goes on to tell the story of his first lesson in giving. Foreman says before He became a Christian he bought whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted and never even thought about using his money to help others. He admits that he was consumed with “getting instead of giving.” But he says after He became a Christian his attitude changed dramatically. He writes, “Instead of accumulating more for myself, I wanted to start sharing with others.”
Forman decided to go back to his old neighborhood in Houston where he had grown up in extreme poverty and look for opportunities to help out some of the people in that area.
One of the first people he saw when he got back to his old neighborhood was his cousin James Carpenter. James was walking down the street, so George pulled his car over to the side of the road, and asked James if he wanted a ride. His cousin had been in prison for a few years, but was doing his best to turn his life around and had just applied for a job that he felt sure that he would get. George said, ‘that’s great James but how are you going to get to work without a car?” James told him that he would have to catch one bus, and then transfer to another bus that would then take him to his job. At that point, Foreman felt compelled to give his cousin James a brand new car that he had just recently purchased. He said, “James how would you like a car of your own? It won’t cost you a penny.” You can imagine his cousin’s surprise. He said, “you’ll give me a car, that’s great, that’s exactly what I need.”
Foreman says, “The thrill of giving James that car and seeing his reaction – along with the satisfaction of knowing how much it helped him – was one of the greatest feelings that he had ever experienced.” He went on to say, “The joy of giving that car away far exceeded the happiness that he felt when he bought it.”
The Bible tells us that a grain of wheat cannot produce life unless it dies.
Environmentalists tell us that a stream cannot remain fresh and sustain life, unless it gives of itself.
Scientists tell us that the atom cannot release its great power unless it is split.
In the same way, we as Christians cannot live the full and abundant life that the Lord wants us to live until we give of ourselves and until we are willing to share with those who are less fortunate.
On the other hand, selfishness is like cancer. When a person is afflicted with it the consequences are often devastating.
That’s why it is so important for us to learn and practice the gift of giving. We learn to be generous much the same way we learn to love. We cannot learn to love unless somebody loves us first. Of course as most of you already know we know what Love is because of the example that Christ set for us.
The Apostle John says it like this in 1 John 3:16-18, He says:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Well it’s the same way with giving. The only way we will ever learn to give is to have first been the recipient of a gift. We have to know what it’s like to receive a gift before we can give one. Of course as I have already said, “we as Christians are the recipients of ‘the ultimate gift.’ God gave us the best he had, in his son Jesus Christ, and in return we ought to be willing to give him our best. That includes our time, our talents, our money, but most importantly it means our lives.
The Apostle Paul described it this way in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.”
Like the Wise men we should bring our gifts to the Lord. Then he will take those gifts, bless and multiply them just as he did the 2 fish and five loaves and will use them to bless a multitude of other people with them. Just as he has done in the case of George Foreman and many other people who have learned the lesson of giving.
Jesus said when we are willing to share with those in need that it is just as if we were helping him. In Matthew 25:40 he says, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”
When we give a homeless person some money to buy something to eat, or help a teenage girl who has run away from home because she’s pregnant, or an elderly man or woman living on a fixed income, “Jesus says to us, “You did it for me.”
Conclusion: Martin of Tours was a Roman solider, but more importantly he was a soldier of the cross. He was a believer. One cold winter day as he was entering a city a beggar stopped him and asked him for some money. Martin didn’t have any money, but Martin noticed how cold the beggar looked, so he took off his worn and frayed soldier’s coat, cut it in half and gave half of it to the unfortunate man. That night Martin had a dream. In it, he found himself in Heaven, surrounded by angels and in the midst of them was Jesus. But there was something strange about the Lord’s appearance. He was wearing half of an old frayed Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels asked Jesus, “Master, why are you wearing that old worn out coat? Who gave it to you? And Jesus looked at Martin and softly said, “I’m wearing it because my servant Martin gave it to me.”
Saint Francis of Assisi once said, “For it is in giving that we receive.” Someone else once said, “You can’t outgive God” and that has proven to be true for thousands of years. I believe the lessons that we need to learn this Christmas are the importance of giving to others, especially those less fortunate than ourselves, and the importance of giving our lives completely to Jesus Christ. If you have not yet done that I encourage you to do it today.
