The Perfect Christmas Gift
Luke 2:10-17
Let me ask you a question... Is there any such thing as, "The perfect Christmas gift?"
Have you ever thought for months, planned for weeks, gotten everything together, for what you knew would be the perfect gift for so-and-so’) You were so excited that you could hardly wait for them to get it. But maybe you didn’t turn out just perfect!!!
Like: You plan to have a photograph of all of the grand kids, in their most precious Christmas clothes... it will be the perfect gift for Grandma. But when you go to have the photograph made little Johnny will not sit still... Andy has pulled the bow out of his sister’s hair... the one you paid $16 to have the beautician weave into her hair... you promise Johnny things you have no intention of giving him if he will just sit still for one minute, you get the bow back in Betty’s hair but you have to settle for a pony tail., and all is going well when, just before the photographer’s flash goes off the baby throws up!!!!
Doesn’t it sometimes seem like Christmas is as much work, and pain, as a two pound chicken laying a three pound egg?
Maybe it is just me! Maybe I am the only one who ever thought... Boy, that ring looked bigger in the box or you look at the chair where your wife’s gifts are and you think "It sure doesn’t look like very much stuff now, but it sure seemed like a whole lot when I was paying for it." Maybe I’m the only one who ever walked through every store in the mall, four times, and still had no clue as to what to buy. Maybe I am the only one here who has been promising himself for 10 years "Next year I will not wait til December to start shopping."
How do you know the perfect gift when you see it? What requirements does it have to meet? Does it just have to meet a certain karat weight? Does it just have to come from a certain store or have a certain designer’s name on it? And who decides it is the perfect gift; the giver or the receiver?
This morning, I want to talk to you about The Perfect Christmas Gift.
You’re sitting there thinking "You just told us that you have no idea what a perfect gift is... and now you are going to preach about what one is?
That seems like listening to Mickey Rooney pontificate about the dangers of being tall or Roseanne speaking on morality Michael Jordan giving a seminar on How To Survive on A Limited Income, Bill Clinton on Honesty... or Frank Gifford on Marital Fidelity.
Now, before you get testy and negative I want you to know I am not speaking from personal experience of from my own wisdom.
I have expert advise in the choosing of the Perfect Gift
Who is my expert source???? God.
You may be thinking; I know the bible does not tell how to choose the perfect gift.
Oh, contraire!!!! In fact, the scripture gives us a great guideline all we have to do is to learn from the Master.
Seriously, there are four principles we can learn from Examining God’s Perfect gift Jesus.
If you want to give the perfect gift; it should be...
1. A PERSONAL GIFT
"For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son... "John 3:16
Now, you can wait until the last moment before you get your wife a gift. But when she opens that team logo, refillable coffee mug... she’s going to know that you went to 7-11 at 10:30 pm on Christmas Eve before you got it. And you knew that you could not fool her with that card... when you scratched out Happy Birthday and wrote in Merry Christmas.
If a gift is going to be appreciated... if it is really going to be a bell ringer… it takes some thought. It needs to take into consideration the person, their likes, their dislikes, their personality, their needs, their interests.
I could not just run to my closet and pullout a new box of golf balls to give as a gift for... say, Virginia Settle. She wouldn’t use them.
It reminds me of The Beverly Hillbillies Mr. Drysdale invited Jed to go golfing and had a new set of clubs delivered to Jed’s mansion. Jethro asked Jed what they were for and Jed said that Mr. Drysdale wanted him to go hunt golfs. Jethro asked what golfs were and Jed said, "Don’t rightly know. But they must be terrible mean varmints., if you have to beat them to death with these clubs. Granny came up and said "Tough, tough" Why you ain’t got any idea. I’ve been boiling these golf eggs for two days and I still can’t crack ’em."
A gift needs to be personal reflecting their personality... or maybe giving something of yourself. This saw horse was a personal gift. Harvey Carlton knew that I needed them, he knew how I liked to do carpentry. And They are hand made, Harvey’s own sweat and labor in them. Now that is a personal gift. Of course... their might have been some selfishness involved too you see, Harvey was tired of me borrowing his horses and sawing them in half.
And when God sent his Christmas gift... it was personal. It was God’s own personal Son, His only Son, the Son that He loved.
But it was more than that it was God himself... in the flesh.
And it was tailor-made for you personally. He came to die for YOUR sins... the sins that YOU PERSONALLY committed.
And he came to bring PERSONAL FORGIVENESS PERSONAL SALVATION PERSONAL PEACE...
God did not just pull an angel off the shelf and send it saying, "Well, I just feel like I have to give them something."
NO!!! God spent time considering our personal needs, our sin, our separation thinking of the best way to save us. And he came up with this idea I WILL GO TO THEM PERSONALLY AND PAY THEIR PRICE PERSONALLY.
Jesus was the Perfect Gift and the perfect gift is a personal gift.
2. Practical Gift
"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God... The wages of sin is death. " Rm 3:23/6:23
What did the bald man say when he received a comb for Christmas? NO! He said, "Boy, when they handed out brains you were in the back of the line, weren’t you?
For a gift to be any good it has to be USEFUL.
It has to be something that the receiver would like, will use.
The more useful, the better.
******* I would give DWAYNE a gift certificate to any place that serves food...
But I wouldn’t give Debbie Corbin a Dallas sweatshirt.
You wouldn’t give me tickets to the Ballet.
Have you ever gotten a gift so out of character for you, so un-like you that you immediately thought, "Another one for the gift pile I’ll give this away at the earliest opportunity.
Sometimes they are totally useless but you try to find a use.
Like the Beverly Hillbillies and the pool table where they served dinner on the table and used the pool cues for "pot passers”
When God sent His Perfect gift it was Practical.
There was nothing we needed more.
Romans 3:23 and 6:23 say that we had all committed sins and the result was that we were all separated from the love and mercy of God and were on our way straight to Hell... Do not pass Go, Do not collect $200.00, go directly to Hell. We were trapped in the swamp of our sin, unable to help ourselves, and we were dying a slow death.
God knew just what we needed. What we needed more than anything else, and that is what he gave us.
Not another ritual, not another commandment, not another prophet.
We needed a redeemer, someone to come and buy us back from hell, someone who could pay our price so that we would not have to. There was only one gift that could "fill-the-bill".. Jesus!
I thank God that He took the time to consider my needs, to care about my needs, and then, that He loved me enough that he was willing to give past the point of comfort, past the point of ease he was willing to give a gift that cost him dearly.
Jesus is the perfect gift because
HE IS A PERSONAL GIFT
HE IS A PRACTICAL GIFT
3. A PLEASING GIFT
"For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness." Ps 107:9o
The perfect gift is one that satisfies a person.
There is a longing in the heart of every person… saved or free… to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Some have called it a “God-shaped hole.”
Nothing can fill that hole… except Jesus Christ.
God sent just the right gift… His only begotten Son… to fill that hole.
He is the perfect gift because he is
A Personal Gift
A Practical Gift
A Pleasing Gift.
4. A Permanent Gift
"... I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Heb 13:5
I remember some gifts that did not make it through Christmas day...
Like a remote control car that made one trip around the room and then "died".
Or Walkie-talkies that never spoke a single "Roger, over and out."
A model car that was missing a tire
GI Joe whose hand fell off
Some others lasted longer but eventually broke or rusted or wore out.
Still others lasted a long time, they never had a problem. I just outgrew them!!!!
My monkey
a tricycle
Tonka truck
Then others they just got" antiquated... out of style and out of date
bell bottoms
leisure suit
albums
The perfect gift would be one that would never break, never be outgrown or outdated, one that would always be needed, always be satisfying and desirable, one that would last as long as we do.
There are few gifts like that jewelry, furniture, paintings, etc. I When God sent His Perfect Gift it was permanent.
He sent his love, his forgiveness, his mercy, his presence, his strength, his help, his guidance, etc
And it was not temporary...
Til until we messed up
Til He grew tired of us
Til He found someone new
Jesus Christ is an eternal gift God will never take it back even if we are un¬deserving or un-grateful.
Even if we blow it... even if we abandon Him
God is not an "Indian Giver." When He acts it is eternal.
We are eternally saved eternally His. ...eternally... forever no end.
How many gifts have you ever known that fit all four requirements?
A Personal Gift
A Practical Gift
A Pleasing Gift
A Permanent Gift
How many of the gifts that yon have bought this year will fit all four? Probably VERY FEW!!!!
Well, when you are shopping for gifts this week remember these requirements of the Perfect Gift.
And then, when you are thinking of a gift to buy someone maybe you will be reminded of one of these four Characteristics of the Perfect Gift from God.
If you do, just whisper a little prayer... And say thank you for the greatest, the most perfect gift YOU ever got.
Evangelistic Invitation
I will gladly share a powerpoint for this sermon. Contact me at rhpendleton57@gmail.com
