Don’t Reject the Gift
Romans 5:15-17
December 23, 2007
Introduction
Before we get started I wanted to give you the top five most overheard comments regarding bad Christmas gifts…
5. Hey, now there’s a gift.
4. If the dog buries this, I’ll be furious.
3. I love it – but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.
2. To think – I go this on the year that I vowed to give all my gifts to charity.
And the #1 comment regarding a bad Christmas gift…
1. This is a perfect gift, for wearing around the basement.
(SermonCentral.com. Contributed by Andrew Hoover)
I was tempted to not preach at all today, given what I knew about the kids program, but I wanted to take a few moments to take a look at the gift that Jesus brought us.
It won’t be real long, I promise. Besides, the Vikings game isn’t until 7:00 tonight, and the kickoff won’t be until about 7:30 anyway.
We tend to think of Jesus as the gift, and that’s true. But there is way more to it than just a little baby.
What that baby came to give us is what I want to talk about today.
God: Romans 5:15-17 (NLT) –
15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.
16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.
17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Reasons people reject the gift:
1. They don’t like the wrapping.
They see the outward trappings of religion and not the fact that while the wrapping is imperfect, the gift itself is perfect.
They see imperfect Christians – some of whom are just Christians in name only, but don’t really believe in Him, to love and serve Him, and others who are just stumbling along the best they can – and they think that if this is what I can expect from Jesus, I don’t want it.
They see people who love Jesus on Sundays and treat their customers and employers and co-workers like the devil the rest of the week.
And believe me, I see it, too. In my work outside the church I see things that not only make others and me cringe, but that must make Jesus cringe, too.
All sorts of things can get in the way of seeing the gift through the wrapping, and so because they don’t like the wrapping, they don’t want the gift, even though the gift itself is wonderful beyond description.
A second people turn away from the gift is that…
2. They don’t like the giver.
And I’m not talking about your cousin from across the state who loves to give sculptures he makes from dryer lint.
The giver here is God. And because some people are angry or disappointed with God for any number of reasons, they don’t His gift.
Maybe He didn’t answer a prayer the way the way a person wanted.
Maybe they look around and see all the evil and war in the world and think God is incapable of doing anything about it, so they don’t want any part of a weak God.
Or they think He’s unfair as they see the corrupt person flourishing and the good people suffering.
I’ve had some of the same questions. And yet God is able to help me through those questions and the tough times that come my way.
Folks, let me tell you that in spite of what it looks like through our human eyes and emotions, God is all-loving and all-powerful, and His plan and purpose will ultimately prevail. Jesus – the gift is part of that plan and purpose.
A third reason people don’t want the gift is because…
3. They prejudge the gift.
They have all sorts of ideas of what it means to be a Christian and follow Jesus.
They think it means giving up all their fun, or having to live by a ton of rules and regulations that take away their freedoms.
Or they think that no reasonable person could believe the Bible, so they reject the possibility that it could actually be true, even though the evidence is overwhelming for the reasonable person who actually looks at it.
Or they see how Jesus is portrayed in whatever setting - as a weakling or as a leader of weak-minded people who ended up getting killed for His troubles.
They don’t see the Son of God who rattled the cages of the religious elites of His day and raged in righteous anger when His Father and the Spirit were insulted.
They don’t see the all-powerful King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who purposely laid down His life so we could look forward to an eternity in the presence of God Himself and to having His presence and help with us as go through the here and now.
I didn’t hear much about that Jesus while I was growing up. I wish I had – I might have been more willing to give my life to Him earlier in life.
They take other people’s opinions about Him instead of checking Him out for themselves in His own words and the words of those who lived with Him during His ministry.
There are lots of reasons people reject the gift of Jesus and what He came to bring – forgiveness, righteousness in our lives, and a home in heaven.
I’ve only touched on three, but here’s the bottom-line:
The gift is too valuable to pass up. Get past the other stuff and look at Jesus for real and you’ll see that He’s worth it.
I’m not saying that people don’t have real issues. They do. I’m just saying that if you can look past those and look at Jesus as He is described in Scripture, you’ll find yourself amazed at Him. And you’ll want Him for yourself.
You: There are basically two types of people here today:
Those who have the gift and those who don’t. It’s pretty much that simple.
And I want to ask questions of both types as we get ready to open the presents on Tuesday.
The first question is for any here who don’t yet have the gift – you’ve never taken Jesus for yourself by faith, asking Him to give you forgiveness of sins and the assurance that one day you’ll be in heaven:
What is your reason for not accepting the gift of forgiveness and eternal life in heaven?
Maybe you have one of the reasons I talked about today. Maybe you have other reasons. Or maybe you just never understood that you need to take Christ for yourself because you’ve been told that “religion” isn’t necessary or that your parents had enough for all of you.
Whatever your reason, let me just invite you to take the gift today.
You may not totally understand what it’s all about yet. That’s okay. None of us has it all figured out yet. But we go along in faith, reading His Words written down by eyewitnesses, and we trust Him to help us get it, which He does, as we allow Him to.
I won’t promise that God will give you everything you pray for or that life will always be rosy. In fact, I’d be lying to you if I told you that.
Jesus wants to be the center of your life, impacting every area of your life, and sometimes that means surrendering what we think is the good for the sake of the best God has to offer us.
Take the gift. To do it you can simply pray a prayer with me, that I’ll be praying in just a moment or two, and you can take the gift for yourself, leaving here today with the knowledge that all of your sins, no matter how great or small, are forgiven, a you have a home in heaven when you leave this earth.
The second question is for those who do possess the gift:
What are doing to make the gift more available to those who don’t have it?
Are you doing all you can to help people see past the wrappings of your own life, imperfect as it is?
Are you doing what you can to let people see the grace and goodness of God in your life, in spite of the hardships you encounter?
Are you demonstrating that following Jesus is a reasonable and reasoned thing to do, because we love God and are actually studying His Word so we can have a positive impact on the world around us?
Or are you hiding the gift by refusing to actually live for Christ and/or not being able to point someone to Him?
How about if we commit ourselves to being people who do our best to present Christ in wrappings that aren’t tainted by hypocrisy and ignorance?
How about we look to next year as a great opportunity to really reflect Christ. Lord knows we could use more people like that.
Help people see that the gift is more than the wrappings, more than the perceptions of the giver and the gift.
The gift is too valuable to pass up. But they need to see the truth of that in us.
May it be so – from this point on. Let’s pray.
