Christmas is almost here. In exactly one week the day we’ve all been waiting for will have come. We’ve been singing and listening to carols as we have been awaiting its arrival. We’ve been making all sorts of plans for travel or parties or programs as we prepare for that day. And it’s so close we can almost touch it now. Christmas is only one week away. And I can’t wait.
But I have a feeling that there is a group of people here this morning that, at this point of the season, you are dreading Christmas day. Not just because you have to spend it with the in-laws. Not necessarily because you don’t like Christmas. But you are dreading Christmas day because you still haven’t gotten your Christmas shopping done. Are there any procrastinators in our midst?
I like Christmas. I like the tradition of giving and receiving gifts. But you know, sometimes Christmas shopping can be very difficult. There are some people in my family that are extremely hard to buy for. Even though my very organized sister has everyone write down what they would like for Christmas and then emails that full compiled list to the whole family, there are a couple people for whom I still don’t know have a clue what to get. Christmas shopping can be hard sometimes.
There was a guy that bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for Christmas. When he told one of his friends what he got, his friend responded by saying, "I thought she wanted one of those sporty 4-Wheel drive vehicles." "She did," he replied. "But where am I gonna find a fake Jeep?"
Guys, did you realize all the rules that had to be followed when it comes to buying your wife a Christmas present? Yeah, here they are. I’m sure you’ll appreciate them. 1. Don’t buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian. 2. Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999 times. "Do I look like a size 16?" she’ll say. Too small a size doesn’t cut it either: "I haven’t worn a size 8 in 20 years!" 3. Avoid all things useful. The new silver polish advertised to save hundreds of hours is not going to win you any brownie points. 4. Don’t buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She’ll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that’s she’s overweight. 5. Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn’t want. 6. Finally, don’t spend too much. "How do you think we’re going to afford that?" she’ll ask. But don’t spend too little. She won’t say anything, but she’ll think, "Is that all I’m worth?"
Giving gifts at Christmas time can be difficult. It can also be very entertaining. I remember several Christmas’ ago, we spent the holidays with my mom’s parents. That’s always fun because there are tons of people there. My mom is one of five kids, and all but one of those have families of their own. Many of the grandchildren at this point also have a few kids themselves. This particular Christmas was the first one that my aunt and her new husband and his daughter had joined us. To put it kindly, my uncle is sort of an odd character. Well, to try and make this story a little shorter, my grandmother loves to do the white elephant gift exchange where there’s a pile of gifts and you go around the room and either take one from the pile or steal from someone else. Some of those gifts are very nice. That particular year I got a really pretty antique chair that’s sitting in my guest room right now. Some are very nice gifts. But, given that it’s my grandmother we’re talking about, some are just silly gifts.
Well, as we went around the room it came my new uncle’s turn to choose. And he decided to take a gift from the pile of unwrapped gifts. Not a very good idea, at least for him. Because as he opened up this nicely wrapped, big box, he pulled out of all things a chamber pot. And it wasn’t a nice, new one. It was the one that my great-grandmother had used before she died. And he was not very happy. I can still see him. “I don’t want this. This is stupid.” He really was upset about the whole thing. Well, eventually my dad was kind enough to “steal” his gift from him and give him some nice tools in return. I guess in an attempt to appease him.
Gift giving. It can be quite a job. Sometimes you have a difficult time finding the right thing to give. Sometimes you give or get something that isn’t really wanted, like a fruit-cake, or a chamber pot. But really, what’s it all about? Why do we exchange gifts in the first place? Is it just because a guy by the name of Nicolas went around giving some gifts to poor children years ago? Is it even just because the wise-men came and gave gifts to the baby Jesus? No, I don’t think so. Those things have probably added a sense of tradition to it, but I don’t think that’s why we give gifts. I believe the reason for giving gifts at Christmas time is to commemorate the first Gift of Christmas. I believe that the purpose of giving gifts to our loved ones all started on that first Christmas when the world received the greatest Gift ever given.
There’s a verse that I want to draw your attention to this morning that may seem as overused to some people as the Christmas story would. Just like we can be tempted to just skim over the Christmas story before we open up gifts, or to grin and bear it as the story is recited at a Christmas pageant, I believe it’s easy for us to miss the significance of John 3:16. But I want to try and help us to really understand the amount of substance that verse carries with it this morning. Why don’t you say this beautiful verse with me? For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Now you may be looking at me this morning, and you may be thinking, “What’s he preaching from this verse for on the Sunday before Christmas? This isn’t a Christmas text.” But I would have to disagree with you. For I believe that this is the greatest Christmas text ever preached. Because I believe it tells us of the greatest Christmas Gift ever given. And I believe there are three things about this Gift that make it that way. And I share those with you this morning.
I. The Measure Of His Giving
The first thing I want to point out to you from this verse is the measure of the Father’s giving. Have you ever given someone a gift that was extremely valuable? When I was in high school most of my class mates and I were jealous of a friend of mine named Jared. It wasn’t because he had a girlfriend that we wanted. It wasn’t because he was better at sports than the rest of us. The reason we were jealous of Jared was because on his sixteenth birthday his dad took him out and bought him a brand spanking new Chevy Camaro. A couple years later his sister was given a brand new Ford Explorer. Those are some pretty valuable gifts, don’t you think?
But really, I’m not talking about something that’s necessarily valuable in monetary terms. When I say valuable I mean have you ever given someone something that was valuable to you? Have you ever given something that carried great meaning to someone? Have you ever given a gift that took some deep sacrifice to part with?
I love the story by O. Henry called “The Gifts of the Magi.” No, it isn’t about the three wise men. Incidentally, someone has said that things would have been much different if it were three wise women. They would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts from Baby’s-R-Us, including diapers, wipes, bibs and formula.
But this story is not about the three wise men or women. It’s about a married couple that was not financially wealthy in the slightest. In fact, the husband and wife only had two possessions of which they could be proud. One was the husband, Jim’s, gold watch that had been handed down from his grandfather to his father to him. The other was the wife, Della’s long, beautiful hair.
The story is set on Christmas Eve, and Della only had $1.87 with which to buy her husband something for Christmas. She looked at her hair which reached below her knees and through a few tears decided what she would do. She put on her coat and hat and went to a wig store. There she was able to sell her hair for $20. For the next two hours, she looked through store after store trying to find the right present for Jim. Finally she found it. You see, Jim’s prize watch was held by an old leather strap, but she found a gold chain that was perfect for it, and would even make the watch more glorious. $21 that chain cost her, but she ran home, excited about the gift she would be able to give her husband this Christmas.
When Jim got home that night, he was extremely disappointed that Della had cut her hair off, not because she was less beautiful, not because he couldn’t love her without her long hair, but that was something that she had been very proud of. And not only that, he had went out and bought her a gift that day too. Do you know what that gift was? It was a set of combs that Della had seen in a window shopping outing that she had fallen in love with. And now she didn’t have any hair in which to use the combs. But Della pulled out her present and handed it to Jim, and as he unwrapped the chain his wife had bought him he sat down on the couch and a smile came to his face. You see, there was no longer a watch to go along with that beautiful gold chain. For Jim had sold his prize watch in order to be able to buy Della those combs for Christmas.
You know, some of the best gifts I have ever received haven’t been the ones that cost a lot of money. But they’ve been the ones that I knew meant very much to the person giving them. And about 2000 years ago God the Father wrapped in swaddling clothes the most precious Gift ever given and handed Him to mankind. And no, it didn’t cost Him a lot of money. But it was a Gift that bore great significance and meaning in the heart of the Father. It was a Gift that demanded a deep sacrifice on His part. For He was giving His only Son, Jesus.
And don’t tell me that that was easy for God to do. I think any parent would consider it a great sacrifice to have to give their child to someone else, even if they knew that those receiving their child would treat him/her very well. There are a lot of things that I may offer you, but my daughter is not one of them. My wife, maybe. My daughter, no. There’s just something that ties a parent and a child together. We don’t want to let go of our children. To do so would be an ultimate sacrifice worse than death itself.
But He was willing to give His only Son to mankind. And God didn’t give us this great Gift from the impression that we would take good care of Him. He didn’t give Jesus thinking that He was going to be a Gift that was received with great joy and love. No, He’s God, and He knows the end from the beginning. He knew that if He were to allow His Son to walk in the shoes of a man that those steps would take Him right up a hill called Golgotha. He knew that His Son would be crucified.
If I had to choose a way to die, crucifixion would be last on my list. Someone has described being crucified like this: The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. The cross is then lifted into place.
The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain--the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet. As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.
Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over--the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level--the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues--the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through is tissues… Finally he can allow his body to die.
What an awful way to die. And God sent His Son to that? He allowed the King of Glory to become that Lamb that was slain on such a cruel cross? He gave His Son to be crucified? The answers to all those questions is a resound “Yes.”
He knew what giving that Gift meant. He knew the suffering that Jesus would bear. He knew the rejection that He would face. He knew all about the wounds that would be inflicted. He knew all about the blood that would flow. He knew all about the spit that would land on Jesus’ face. He knew all about the nails and the crown of thorns and the spear. He knew about the agony that Jesus would feel that would cause Him to speak the words, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” He knew about all those things. And yet He still offered His only begotten Son as a Gift. It was a Gift that came out of deep sacrifice. It was a Gift that bore deep meaning.
II. The Motivation For His Giving
So I guess the obvious question to ask would be, “Why?” If God knew all the evil things that would be done to His Son; if He understood everything that was going to happen beyond the manger; if He knew all that, why was He still willing to allow His Son to go through that? Why was He still willing to take those rags and wrap up that Gift and lie Him in a manger? What was it that caused Him to do that? What was His motivation? We see the answer to that question in the beginning of this verse where Jesus said, “For God so loved the world.”
You know, we give gifts at Christmas times from many different motivations. Sometimes we give because we feel obligated to do so. Someone else has given us a Christmas gift or a Christmas card and so we feel like it’s only right that we give something back to them. Someone is a member of our family and so we have to give them a gift at Christmas. Sometimes people can give gifts trying to smooch up to someone. They give because they want something in return. Some people may give gifts because they are trying to make up with someone. Maybe they’ve done something that they shouldn’t have done, so they try to make up for it by buying some sort of wonderful present for that person. We have different motivations for our giving.
But God did not give His Christmas Gift out of a feeling of obligation. He didn’t give it expecting to get something in return. And He didn’t give it because He needed to try and make up for something that He did. God’s motivation for giving was love. His motivation for sending His Son from the throne to the manger to the cross was love.
God gave this precious Gift knowing exactly what was going to happen to Him because He loves you. He allowed His only Son to walk up that hill and lie down on that cross because He knew that that was the only way that you could be reconciled to Him; and He loved you so much that He was willing to do it. He allowed the skin of His only Son to be torn to pieces and ripped apart because He knew that it was only by His stripes that you could be healed; and He loved you so much that He was willing to put His Son through that. He gave His only begotten Son because He loves you.
Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The greatest story ever told can be summed up in three words… God loves you! And that love was undeniably demonstrated when He sent His Son to die on a cross for you, even when He had the knowledge of who you were. That’s unbelievable to me. That’s beyond my wildest imaginations. That God knew me, and yet He loved me.
So often our love for the people around us is conditional. I tease Cora sometimes because every once in a while I’ll be really nice and do something special for her, like clean the house while she’s gone or something. And when she realizes what I’ve done she can’t seem to tell me that she loves me enough. Or maybe she’ll ask me to do something and I’ll do it for her and she’ll say something like, “You’re such a good husband. Thank you.” And I tease her that as long as I do what she wants I’m a great husband and she’s so in love with me. But when I don’t, man, am I in trouble. There’s no love left.
Now I know that my wife loves me all the time, even though sometimes it’s easier to say it than others. But I think many of us do probably base our level of love upon whether or not that person is doing what we want them to do. Our love is conditional sometimes. But God’s love is unconditional. He saw my sin, and yet He loved me. He saw that I would reject Him and rebel from Him, yet He still loved me. He knew that I would go against everything He wanted for me and from me and yet His love never wavered. That kind of love is so illogical. It’s beyond reason. That God would love me in spite of my rejection to Him? That He would love me in spite of my wickedness? It’s inexplicable.
A man named JJ Packer wrote this. “There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery can disillusion Him about me… There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see, and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself. There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.” God knew everything about me. There is nothing that has surprised Him. And yet that didn’t stop Him from loving me. His love has never wavered. His love for me is constant. And He proved that by sending His only Son to die in my place.
A medieval monk was asked to preach one evening on the topic, “The Love Of God.” He agreed to do so and on that day, as the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lit a candle and carried it to the crucifix hanging on the wall. He illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chapel. Not a word was spoken. None was needed. The indescribable love that sent Jesus to the cross was enough. God’s love for us is a love that is beyond comprehension.
No wonder the song writer found the inspiration to write:
The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair, bowed down with care. God gave his Son to win; His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from this sin.
When years of time shall pass away, and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall, When men who here refuse to pray, On rocks and hills and mountains call, God’s love so sure shall still endure, All measureless and strong; Redeeming grace to Adam’s race The saint’s and angels song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.
O love of God how rich and pure! how measureless and strong! It shall forever more endure. The saint’s and angels song!
To think that God would send His perfect, pure, and precious only Son to die a cruel death for a wicked, perverse, and vile sinner like you and me is unbelievable. But He did. He sent His only begotten Son. Why? Because He loves me. God loves you, this morning.
III. The Meaning In His Giving
So maybe the next question that is logical to ask is, “What good did it do?” What does the fact that God loves me so much that He gave His only Son to die for me mean? What is the meaning in His giving? The answer to that question can also be found in this verse when Jesus said, “That whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I don’t want to talk for too much longer, this morning, but I do want to let you know that God loved you so much that He gave His only Son to die your death so that you could have life. The meaning of the God’s Gift to mankind is that through Jesus’ death on the cross you don’t have to go to hell. You don’t have to perish, but you can have everlasting life.
And it doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or what you haven’t done. It doesn’t matter what’s in your past. It doesn’t matter what’s in your present. It doesn’t matter what has you bound right now. It doesn’t matter how often you’ve rejected Christ before. The Bible says, “Whosoever.” That means God’s Gift is for everyone. No one is excluded. No one is left out. Jesus died on the cross for every soul to ever walk the planet. He died for you. He died so that you could have life.
John 3:17-18 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned.” If you believe in Jesus Christ and accept His Gift you will be freed from the condemnation of hell. All you have to do is believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior. All you have to do is accept the Gift that God has offered to you. If you accept that Gift you can have life. If you accept that Gift you can have forgiveness and pardon.
But the Scripture goes on to say, “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” God’s Gift is no good to you if you don’t accept and receive it.
Back in 1830 a man by the name of George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was quickly sentenced to be hanged. But for some reason, President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson. He was willing to let this thief off. He was willing to clear his name and give him life. But George Wilson refused to accept it.
When other judges didn’t know what to do in a case like this, the matter went before Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. He wrote, "A pardon is a slip of paper, the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged."
I’m here to tell you this morning that the Gift of God’s pardon was paid for 2000 years ago when Jesus hung on that cross. But that pardon is no good if you don’t choose to accept it. That pardon doesn’t mean anything if you don’t believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to have your sins forgiven. And so this morning, on this Sunday before Christmas, I want to give you an opportunity to accept that pardon. If you haven’t received the Gift of Christmas, if you haven’t accepted it, and you would like to right now, I invite you and plead with you to come and accept it right now…
