Ephesians 2:1-10
“The Perfect Gift”
By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN
Have you ever just watched people as they shop during the Christmas season?
I was out at the mall this past week and watched people as they shopped for gifts and bargains.
I was also out in other parts of town and saw some other people who were pushing empty shopping carts along the street or pushing some carts piled high with an assortment of stuff.
A thought occurred to me that all these people were shopping…
…shopping, perhaps, for hope and peace…
Many of the folks in the mall were shopping, perhaps, for the perfect gift for their dear loved ones.
This past week, Mary Ellen wrote a letter to Santa Clause.
Of course, her pre-school teacher did the writing, but Mary Ellen dictated.
“I want a baby doll, a toy Tinker Bell, a Princess doll, a Dora, and that’s all,” the letter read.
Not only are people shopping for the perfect gift, but lots of people are hoping for the “perfect gift” to appear under the Christmas tree this year.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, but as Christians, we know that the “Perfect Gift” can not be found in a store, or the streets.
The “Perfect gift” which will bring peace and hope can not be bought nor sold.
The “Perfect gift” is free!!!
The “perfect gift” is not one which is unwrapped, played with for a few minutes and then forgotten about and perhaps, eventually thrown away.
The “perfect gift” doesn’t come from Santa.
The “perfect gift” comes from God through Jesus Christ our Lord…and it lasts forever!
God paid the ultimate price in order to present it to us!!!
It is the gift of grace and faith!
As Paul tells us, “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.”
It’s amazing and awesome that the gift of salvation through Christ not only is a free gift from God…
…but faith is as well…the ability to believe!!!
There is nothing we can do to earn the “perfect gift” which brings us hope and peace!!!
And boy, does that put everyone on an even playing field?
When Jesus was beginning His earthly ministry, He went to the synagogue, and read from the Prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened to on him, and he began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”
How many of us are feeling poor this evening?
It’s been a tough year for
many.
Perhaps you are stressed because you haven’t found that “perfect Christmas gift” yet.
Or maybe, you are stressed because you can’t afford it.
But, behold! The perfect gift is bought and paid for!
“Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Maybe some of us are imprisoned.
We are prisoners of our sins, of substances, of abuse, of poverty.
Perhaps some of you feel oppressed.
Maybe you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.
Maybe guilt from past mistakes are loading you down and making this life nearly unbearable.
Fear not!!!
The Scripture has been fulfilled!!!
God has come to this earth in the Person of His Son.
God has come to set us free.
In Luke Chapter 6 Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”
How can this be?
What are we, who live in 21st Century affluent America to make of this?
What are we, who live in a culture which is constantly telling us, in effect, “Blessed are you who are rich, you can afford to eat out in restaurants several days a week.
Blessed are you who are rich, you can afford a couple of cars and the price at the pump for your great big SUV!
Blessed are you who are rich you can buy a new plasma t-v…you can build McMansions for yourselves…
Blessed are you who are rich, you can go on lavish vacations and waste tons of dough on things you don’t need.
Blessed are you who are rich, you don’t have to live in the slums.
Blessed are you who are rich, you can pay for your own health care.
You don’t have to worry so much about gangs.
You can walk through your neighborhoods at night without the fear of being killed.
Your children can attend the best schools…blessed are you!
You will be served, rather than having to serve…blessed are you!
You can buy every Christmas gift the stores have to offer…YOU are blessed!!!”
What are we to make of what Jesus has to say to us tonight?
Blessed are the poor?
Blessed are the hungry?
To be envied are those who weep?
This makes little sense to us, does it not?
But, Jesus makes no bones about what brings happiness.
It has been said that Jesus promised His disciples 3 things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy and in constant trouble.
The challenge for us this Christmas season is: “Will we be happy in the world’s way, or in Christ’s way?”
Why is it that in the face of so much unprecedented prosperity, so many of us feel so discontented?
Everywhere it is clear that material advantages can capture the heart.
What they cannot do is nourish the soul!
In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that when Christ calls us, He calls us to come and die.
So He does.
But the greater truth is that in doing so, Jesus bids us to come and live!
“Follow me,” Jesus said.
The disciples followed, because it was an invitation to live!
They learned along the way that taking up the Cross was part of the package, that receiving life also included the relinquishing of life.
Yet we have no record of the disciples complaining about what they had left behind to follow Jesus, because the gift of the Kingdom is so stunningly good that what they gave up pales by comparison!
I was away at college, it was my first semester of college when I accepted the “Perfect Gift” of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
And it transformed my life.
This past Thanksgiving, when I was away from the table doing something else, my dad, as I am told was telling a few folks “the story of my life.”
My dad likes to talk…imagine?
Anyhow, he described to these folks how when I returned home from college for Christmas Vacation, I was a completely different person.
He could hardly believe it!!!
When a friend told me what my dad had said, I was really taken aback.
I didn’t know he had noticed.
Or maybe I had forgotten a bit.
But I received the perfect “present” that year…
…and as a result, everything else pales in comparison.
I had left for college poor…I returned rich.
I left hungry and came back satisfied.
I went off weeping and returned with laughter.
And life has never been the same since!!!
Are you shopping for the “perfect gift?”
Are you waiting for the gift which will bring peace, hope and happiness into your life?
There is only One source through which that gift can come.
Paul reminds us in our passage from Ephesians, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live…
…but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead…
…it is by grace you have been saved…
…through faith—and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God…”
This Christmas season, we need not shop for the “perfect gift.”
This Christmas season, we need not look under the tree for what will bring hope and satisfaction.
We need not spend a fortune or stress about the price tag on a certain toy, or doll.
Instead we can share the Good News.
We can spread the Joy!!!
We can be transformed and let others know that there is a Way offered to us and it is offered without price.
We can say, “yes” to the Lord of life!...
…and thus to the needs and opportunities that surround us.
Have you received “the perfect gift?”
Are you offering “the Perfect gift” to others this holiday season and throughout the entire year?
In doing so, you will be blessed beyond measure!!!!
