GOD’S CHRISTMAS WISH LIST
My thanks to Melvin Newland and his sermon titled Three Christmas Gifts To God for being a starting point and an inspiration for this message. – Eric Keller
I. LITTLE DRUMMER BOY VIDEO
A. Show video of drummer boy playing for Jesus (optional)
II. STORY OF LITTLE DRUMMER BOY
A. We all know the story of the little drummer boy
B. Most of us know it because of the song
C. A lovely story to help explain our relationship with the newborn king
D. A young boy has no gifts to give to the newborn Jesus
E. At least nothing of monetary value
1. No money
2. Nothing in a box
3. Nothing that came from a store
F. He simply offers what God has already given him
1. His talents
2. His heart
3. His kindness
G. Illustrations
1. An old proverb says, the only gift worth giving is yourself
2. Perhaps Paul said it best when he said:
SLIDE:
…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. – Romans 12:1
A TIME TO GIVE
A. Solomon (King David’s son) said that there is a time for everything
B. We are in the season of giving
C. It is a time of generosity
D. It also happens to be a time of spending
E. What does it all mean?
F. Illustrations
1. Hold up Sunday adds from the paper
a. These are the ads from today’s paper
b. My wife likes to point out the amount of ads versus the amount of actual news
2. Is this what the season is really about?
a. Getting a great deal on a tv?
b. Going into debt?
c. I see more talk about shopping on the news regarding Christmas than talk about Christ Jesus being born
G. The custom of gift giving has been abused
H. The devil is smart, he is a sneaky one
1. A beautiful custom of gift giving has been transformed into:
a. The best bargain,
b. Black Friday,
c. Spending more than we can afford
I. I love a good bargain!
1. There’s a set of clamps at Home Depot that I’m buying on the 26th if I don’t unwrap them on the 25th
J. But is that what Christmas is really about?
III. THREE WISE MEN EXAMPLE
A. Imagine the following conversation between the three wise men taking place
#1 I got a great bargain on this gold. I bought it months ago when prices were really down.
#2 You don’t say? I bought my Frankincense at an awesome sale
#1 Where’d you get it?
#2 At Frank’s Incense
#1 I thought they were going out of business?
#2 Yeah, it was a clearance item
Number 3 walks up
#3 We’re bringing gifts???
#2 Here take this
#3 What is it?
#2 Myrrh
#3 Well, I guess it’s better than nothing. I’d hate to show up without any gift at all. What do I owe you?
#2 I don’t worry. It was a bogo sale. I didn’t need it but I couldn’t resist the fantastic price
IV. TRANSITION TO SCRIPTURE
A. What are we supposed to bring God on Christmas?
B. Do you think it’s possible that God has a Christmas wish list?
C. I say he does.
SLIDE:
God has a Christmas wish list
D. Let’s read it together.
E. Please turn with me to Micah 6:6-8
SLIDE:
Scripture Reading
V. SCRIPTURE READING
A. Read Micah 6:6-8
B. In this passage shares his wish list with us
C. We are to bring him three things
1. Justice
2. Mercy
3. To walk humbly with him
VI. JUSTICE
A. Justice can be hard to come by these days
B. People have been losing their homes because of corporate greed
C. Some people who have been paying their mortgage have been losing their houses
D. A recent story was in the news about foreclosures being signed without ever having been read!
1. The signers were working on commission
E. People sometimes profit by lying
F. Where’s the justice in all that?
G. What if we wrapped up a little bit of justice and handed it to God this Christmas?
H. What if we promised to bring justice to a world that desperately needs it?
I. What if we promised to stop lying, stop manipulating, to stop taking advantage of others?
J. What if we handed out justice through more social commitments?
K. What if this Christmas we promised to do justice?
SLIDE:
Offer Jesus the gift of doing justice
VII. MERCY
A. Mercy can be a tricky one
B. It’s not always the same as justice
SLIDE:
Book, Holy Sweat
C. In his book Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel talks about being late for a flight
1. This is pre-911 so the rules were a bit different then
2. He asks the stewardess to hold the flight
3. She says she can’t, it’s not fair
4. He says he’s not asking for justice, he’s asking for mercy
D. Sometimes mercy trumps justice
E. Perhaps there is an area in your life that deserves justice
1. Maybe you deserve a raise
2. Maybe you deserve recognition
3. Maybe some owes you an apology
F. Maybe those are opportunities for you to demonstrate mercy.
SLIDE:
This Christmas wrap up a serving of mercy as a present to God
VIII. WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD
A. This Christmas we celebrate the:
1. King of kings
2. Lord of lords
3. The author of life
4. The hands behind creation
5. One who overcomes death
Does it get more powerful than this?
B. Yet this most powerful person was born in the most humble of circumstances
SLIDE:
Birth picture of Jesus
C. He was born in a barn, likely a cave
1. Surrounded by animals
2. Laid to rest in a feeding trough
3. The lower class of society coming to visit him
D. God humbled himself by coming to us
E. He didn’t raise us to his level
F. He lowered himself to ours
G. Sometimes we need to step down from our ivory towers so that we can walk humbly with Him.
H. As a popular U2 song says:
1. To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal
If you want to kiss the sky
Better learn how to kneel ...
(From Mysterious Ways)
I. In other words, in order to know a higher God, sometimes we have to humble ourselves.
SLIDE:
This Christmas, walk humbly with the God who humbly came to walk with you.
IX. CONCLUSION
A. Three gifts:
1. Justice
2. Mercy
3. Humbleness
B. Each of them on God’s Christmas wish list
C. They are the requirements of a Christian lifestyle
1. Not to be confused with a means of salvation
2. Salvation comes through the justice, mercy and humbleness of Jesus’ death and resurrection
D. But these three, justice, mercy and humbleness are what God requires from us
E. They are free to give
SLIDE:
The gifts God desires are free to give.
F. Give them to God by sharing them with the world.
Let’s Pray.
