Opening illustration: Play the Jesus Gift video
Introduction: Long before we took our first breath, our Creator showed Himself to be a great giver of everything a man or woman could ask for. Today, He still wants to give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37: 4). As the Father of heaven, He is behind “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1: 17). When we say that “the best things in life are free,” it’s a way of acknowledging that when God gives life, and friendship, and laughter, He is showing that no one can give a better gift than He can. Yet His best offer is so priceless and so perfectly suited to our needs and happiness, many think it’s too good to be true.
1. What gifts did the Father give to us?
(a) Immanuel (God with us) Isaiah 7: 14; Matthew 1: 23
God packaged His perfect gift in thousands of years of fulfilled predictions, widely observed miracles, and breathtaking rescues. Then after centuries of anticipation, the Lord of heaven visited a young Jewish woman named Mary and, in the greatest of all miracles, wrapped Himself in her womb. In the years that followed, He surrounded the gift in the irony of obscurity, the affection of unlikely followers, the envy of religious leaders, and the crushing disappointment of death. When all seemed lost, God wrapped His gift in the excited reports of witnesses who announced an unexpected resurrection from the dead. For a final touch, the Creator gave His gift of salvation a colorful bow of diversity - people from every nation on earth whose hearts and lives have been changed by His love (Revelation 5: 9).
Immanuel - God with us; God dwelling among us, in our nature, John 1: 14. God and man meeting in one person, and being a mediator between God and men. For the design of these words is not so much to relate the name by which Christ should commonly he called, as to describe his nature and office. The name is designed to denote that God would be with the nation as its protector, and the birth of this child would be a sign or pledge of it.
(b) Salvation (Blood & Death of Christ) 1 Thessalonians 5: 9
In most areas of life we work hard to earn respect and the right to be trusted and promoted. But God’s perfect gift of salvation is different. It comes not by merit but by mercy, not by trying but by trusting, and not by working but by resting. In the words of the apostle Paul, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8-9). In another of his New Testament letters, Paul added, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3: 5).
It is as of one saved out of a general wreck, when all things else have been lost: so of the elect saved out of the multitude of the los. The fact of God’s “appointment” of His grace “through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1: 5), takes away the notion of our being able to “acquire” salvation of ourselves. Christ “acquired (so the Greek for ‘purchased’) the Church (and its salvation) with His own blood” (Acts 20: 28); each member is said to be appointed by God to the “acquiring of salvation.” In the primary sense, God does the work and it is His undeserving gift to man.
© Eternity (Reign with Christ) Romans 6: 23
The gracious Gift of God. And even this gracious gift comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. He alone has procured it; and it is given to all those who find redemption in his blood. A sinner goes to hell because he deserves it; a righteous man goes to heaven because Christ has died for him, and communicated that grace by which his sin is pardoned and his soul made holy. The word οψωνια, which we here render wages, signified the daily pay of a Roman soldier. So every sinner has a daily pay, and this pay is death; he has misery because he sins. Sin constitutes hell; the sinner has a hell in his own bosom; all is confusion and disorder where God does not reign: every indulgence of sinful passions increases the disorder, and consequently the misery of a sinner. If men were as much in earnest to get their souls saved as they are to prepare them for perdition, heaven would be highly peopled, and devils would be their own companions. And will not the living lay this to heart?
Death - Temporal, spiritual, and eternal. Is the due wages of sin; but eternal life is the gift of God - The difference is remarkable. Evil works merit the reward they receive: good works do not. The former demand wages: the latter accept a free gift.
2. What gifts did the Magi’s give to Jesus?
Introduction: After God the Father, whom we don’t recognize very often, the wise men started it all. When I talk about starting it all, I’m talking about gifts. Giving gifts, receiving gifts … In fact, I would like you to note a of couple things about this simple story just as a way of introduction. I guess I’m impressed by the fact, first of all, that their gift was personally given … not mailed or sent through a courier. These were wealthy people. They were from an Eastern nation. They could have sent the gift. I guess I’m impressed by the fact that they really felt that they were on a mission and they personally wanted to bring these gifts to the Christ child. In fact, when you read the Magi’s story, the personal touch in the narrative pops out at you. Apparently when you have a closer look at the nativity scene, the gifts the Magi’s brought for Jesus don’t seem to be appropriate … how would you respond if someone gave you an inappropriate gift? Let us go about unpacking these gifts and learn more about them …
(a) Gold (acclaim Christ as King) Matthew 2: 11a
The gift of gold has always been symbolic of wealth and royalty, and was an appropriate gift to honor a king. Since the Christ child was also the Son of God and the King of Kings (Rev. 17: 14) gold was a fitting gift for the Magi to offer the Lord Jesus as they worshipped him. It's believed that this gift of gold financed Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt.
It’s interesting that when God was structuring the nation of Israel in the wilderness under Moses, He told them to build a tabernacle in which He could "dwell among them" (Exodus 25: 8). When he gave the pattern that they were to follow in building the tabernacle and its furnishings, many things were either made of gold or overlaid with gold.
When King Solomon built the temple to replace the tabernacle, there was also gold everywhere (1 Kings 6: 2-22). However, as beautiful and meaningful as they were, the tabernacle and the temple were only types of God's future home among His people. The heavenly city and its streets, the New Jerusalem, will be completely fashioned of pure gold (Revelation 21: 18-21).
(b) Frankincense (acclaim as the sweet aroma) Matthew 2: 11b
Frankincense was highly valued in Israel as incense and a perfume (Song of Songs 3:6; 4:6). Made from the dried resin of Boswellia trees, the first mention of frankincense in the Bible is found in God's instructions for the priestly services of the tabernacle (Exodus 30: 23-34).
As the smoke of the burning offering ascended up from the altar, so the people believed their prayers would ascend to God with it, as a sweet savor to Him (Psalm 141: 2). This typological meaning of burning incense as prayer rising up to God is also seen in the Book of Revelation. John saw "golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints" (Revelation 5: 8).
In the Old Testament, the High Priest served as the intermediary, but in the New Testament our relationship to God is through Christ: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2: 5; see also Hebrews 7: 1 - 8: 6).
Therefore, the Magi’s gift of frankincense to the little child in Bethlehem is symbolic of sacrifice, Christ’s sweet savor, and His heavenly role as our eternal High Priest.
© Myrrh (validate Christ’s death and redemption) Matthew 2: 11c
The third and final gift of the Magi is myrrh, a valuable gum resin which oozes from gashes cut in the bark of the Commiphora tree. The resin hardens into tear-dropped chunks and is powdered to make medicinal ointments and perfumes. (The gashes are poignant reminders of the wounds Christ received when flogged by Roman soldiers.)
Its first mention in the Bible would suggest that the definitive use for myrrh was in the holy anointing oil. The priests were to be "anointed" with a special oil, the main ingredient of which was myrrh. This type of special ritualistic anointing was also applicable to kings and prophets (1 Samuel 10: 1; 16: 13; Psalm 89: 20). God told Elijah: "Elisha ... shalt thou anoint to be prophet" (1 Kings 19: 16).
Myrrh was also used in the embalming and anointing of the dead, and came to represent mortality, suffering, and sorrow (John 19: 39). Myrrh had medicinal properties too and was used for cleaning wounds and sores, and as a treatment for coughs, colds, indigestion, gum disease, and worms. Therefore, the Magi’s gift of myrrh signifies Christ’s mortality, his Passion, and his roles as Prophet, the Great Physician-Healer, and Suffering Savior.
3. What gifts did you bring for Christ?
Introduction: By now you very well know what I’m talking about. Every one of us has done this before. It’s the gift for a gift, gift. And, basically, what the gift for a gift, gift is that we get a gift from somebody and so we kind of figure out how much it was and so we go down to Wal-Mart or some department store which no one has ever heard of and we buy a gift of about the same kind of a price and it’s a gift for a gift, gift. And every one of us has given a gift for a gift, gift for gift!
At times it’s the kind of person that we say, “Oh, my goodness we’ve got to get a gift because they gave me a gift and I wonder how much it costs. And I hope this is about the same cost.” Kind of a tit for a tat. Just kind of meshing together. The same way with Christmas cards, by the way. Every time you get a late Christmas card, it’s probably because the person that you got the late Christmas card from just didn’t expect you to give them a card! Nothing’s worse than getting a Christmas card on Christmas Eve from somebody that wasn’t on your list. “Oh, my goodness. What do I do?” It happens every year. We do it. It’s called a gift for a gift, gift. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all know that we’ve done that.
Now, I take that term, obviously, from God through his son, Jesus Christ, who loves us so much he gives us eternal life which is a gift of God and it’s a grace gift and we don’t work for it and we can’t work for it and we could never, ever, repay it. And so when we think of God, we think of grace and we say, “There’s no way I could ever repay Him!” So what do we do? Have you considered …
(a) What about your HEART? Romans 10: 8-10
For with the heart - Not the understanding only. Man believeth to righteousness - So as to obtain justification. And with the mouth confession is made - So as to obtain final salvation. Confession here implies the whole of outward, as believing does the root of all inward faith in Christ. When we make that heart-full confession and articulation, we are literally surrendering and giving our heart to Christ. Have you considered doing that?
(b) What about your LIFE? Matthew 16: 25-26
That is, shall wish to save his life - at the expense of his conscience, and casting aside the cross, he shall lose it - the very evil he wishes to avoid shall overtake him; and he shall lose his soul into the bargain. See then how necessary it is to renounce one’s self (life surrendered to Christ)! But whatsoever a man loses in this world, for his attachment to Christ and his cause, he shall have much more made up to him in eternity with Christ.
© What about your ALL? Luke 14: 26-27; John 12: 25-26
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion - those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (1 Corinthians 3: 10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work. He asks for our all!
Application: Apparently the best gift was found in the most inappropriate places - a manger.
