Just a few days before Christmas one year, a postal worker at one of the main sorting offices found an unstamped, handwritten, messy envelope addressed to God. Curious, he opened it and discovered that it was from an elderly woman who was in great distress because all of her savings – $200 – had been stolen. As a result, she wouldn’t have anything to eat for Christmas.
The man went to his fellow postal workers and took up a collection for the woman. They all dug deep and came up with $180. Putting the money in a plain envelope, with no note or anything, the postal workers sent it by special courier to the woman that very day. A week later, the same postal worker noticed another unstamped letter that had been addressed to God in the same handwriting. In it, he found a brief note:
Dear God, thank you for the $180 that you sent me for Christmas, which would have been so bleak otherwise. P.S. It was $20 short, but that was probably those thieving workers at the post office. (www.SermonCentral.com)
Poor guys. They try to help, and they get blamed. Their generous gift was not fully appreciated.
I wonder if we truly appreciate God’s gifts to us this Christmas. Last week, we saw that the Holy Spirit gives us the supernatural ability to serve, spiritual gifts, that allow us to have a significant impact on the lives of others (Romans 12:3-8).
This week, we’re going to explore the Son’s Gift to us this Christmas, and what a gift it is! The Bible says that God richly “pours out” the Holy Spirit “through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:6). The Holy Spirit is Christ’s generous gift to you if you choose to accept Him, if you choose to receive Him by faith.
Do you know what that means? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Romans 8, Romans 8, where we find out what it means to have such a wonderful gift, the Son’s gift of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (ESV)
Oh, dear friends, please trust Christ with your life, and accept the gift of His Spirit, who sets you free!
RECEIVE THE SPIRIT WHO DELIVERS YOU.
Welcome God’s Spirit into your life, who liberates you from the law, who releases you from a legalistic trap that could only arouse your sin and condemn you for it.
What a wonderful gift Christ has given us in His Spirit. If you choose to receive Him, you are no longer trapped and condemned. Instead, you are free to live and be all that God intended for you to be.
Oswald Chambers once said, “The Spirit of God is always the spirit of liberty; the spirit that is not of God is the spirit of bondage, the spirit of oppression and depression. The Spirit of God convicts vividly and tensely, but He is always the Spirit of liberty. God who made the birds never made birdcages; it is men who make birdcages, and after a while we become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on one leg.” (Oswald Chambers, “The Moral Foundations of Life,” Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no.13)
That’s where a lot of people are today. They feel cramped and trapped, because they are trying so hard to “be good”; they are trying so hard to please somebody they know they could never please – whether it’s a parent, a spouse, or a god who is always frowning on them.
It’s like they’re trying to be good, so Santa Claus will bring them some nice presents. You know how the old song puts it:
You better watch out! You better not cry!
Better not pout, I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He's making a list and checking it twice;
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He sees you when you're sleeping.
He knows when you're awake.
He knows if you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!
Santa is very performance oriented. You better be good, or else you might just get a lump of coal for Christmas.
Well, God is NOT like Santa Claus. God does not base His gifts on our behavior. No! God has already blessed every believer with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). So the believer lives out of the abundance of God’s blessing, not with a need to earn His blessing.
No believer EVER has to fear ANY condemnation whatsoever. That means God will NEVER punish ANY believer for his or her sins, because God has already punished Jesus Christ His Son for their sins. There is no double jeopardy with God. The believer’s sins are already paid for. Jesus paid for them on the cross. So you are absolutely free from the penalty of sin if you have put your trust in Christ.
But not only that, you are also free from the power of sin in your life. God’s Spirit not only absolves you from all sin, because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, He gives you the ability to do what's right.
Romans 8:3-4 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (ESV)
The law could not make you righteous. The law could not make you a better person, because your weak, sinful nature could not keep the law. So God had to intervene. That’s why He sent His Son to die on a cross for your sins – that takes care of the penalty for our sin. And that’s why God sent His Spirit to live in every Believer – that takes care of the power of sin in your life.
You see, you become a better person, not by operating in your own strength, but by operating in the strength of the Holy Spirit provided to each and every one of us, who depends on Christ.
[Pull a glove out of pocket and place it on the pulpit.] Tell me, can this glove pick up this book? Perhaps, if I speak real nicely to the glove, it can. “Glove, please pick up that book.” (wait)
Hummm. Maybe I need to spell it out a little more clearly. “Glove, put your thumb on top of the book. Put the rest of your fingers under the book. Squeeze together, then lift. Understand? Now, go pick up the book.” (wait)
“Why aren't you listening to me. I SAID, PICK UP THE BOOK! DON'T YOU HEAR ME, PICK UP THAT BOOK!”
Now, I can scream and yell at that glove until I'm blue in the face. I can give it all kinds of instructions, even a list of do's and don'ts. I can suggest all kinds of principles for picking up a book, but is that going to help the glove at all. NO!
How in the world is that glove ever going to pick up that book? Very simple. It's going to happen only when I put my hand in it. Then when my hand is in the glove, that glove can do many things. [Pick up the Bible on the pulpit.] (Corrie Ten Boom in “Each New Day,” Christianity Today)
That's the way it is with people. We tell them, “Be good,” and then wonder why they aren’t. So we give them practical principles and procedures we think might be helpful. Or we might even try screaming and yelling sometimes, but none of it does anybody any good, does it?
That’s because a list of principles never made anybody a better person. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. So if you want to become a better person, more like Jesus Christ, then live your life in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, not yourself. Every day, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you, as a hand fills a glove, and let Him do His holy work in and through you.
That’s Christ gift to you this Christmas and all year round. Please, just accept it. Welcome the gift of the Holy Spirit who sets you free. Receive the Spirit who delivers you from the penalty and the power of sin in your every-day life. More than that…
RECEIVE THE SPIRIT WHO DWELLS WITHIN.
Accept God’s Holy Spirit who lives in you as a believer in Christ. Welcome the One who makes His home in you.
Romans 8:5-9 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)
Everyone who belongs to Christ has the Spirit of Christ. If you have trusted Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in you! Literally, He makes His home in you. So welcome Him, and gain a different attitude about life. Receive a different mind-set.
Those without the Holy Spirit have their mind set on things the sinful nature desires, on things that can only destroy us in the end, on things that don't please God. But those who have the Holy Spirit have their mind set on the things of the Spirit, on things that bring life and peace, on things that DO please God.
Muriel's childhood crippled her emotionally. So much so that she started entering hospital psychiatric wards in her teens. By her late forties, she had seen dozens of counselors, therapists, and psychiatrists. She was on a cocktail of psychotic medications so potent it could have subdued a blue whale. She had logged no fewer than 61 rounds of electric shock therapy, but nothing really helped.
People had done cruel things to her – malicious things, godless things – and it really messed her up.
Then one day she walked into the office of a new therapist. Muriel was cynical. She had low expectations. The therapist heard her story, and simply asked a question: “How would your life have been different if someone had come alongside you when you were 14 and showed you your strengths instead of telling you that you were sick?”
“In all those years,” she said, “I'd never considered that. And then I saw it: I wasn't stuck in my life as I knew it. My life could be otherwise. I decided there and then to live it otherwise. I changed my mind about who I was, which allowed me to change everything almost instantly.” (Mark Buchanan, “Thy Kingdom Come,” Leadership, Spring 2010, p. 98; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s what the Holy Spirit can do for you if you let Him. He can come into your life and change your mind about who you are, which allows you to change everything else. He tells you that you are no longer a victim, stuck in a self-destructive lifestyle. And He shows you all that is possible as you depend on Him.
I like the way P. T. Forsyth once put it: “Unless there is within us that which is above us, we shall soon yield to that which is about us.” (P. T. Forsyth, quoted in Men of Integrity, March/April 2001; www.PreachingToday.com)
The Holy Spirit from above, if He dwells within, keeps you from giving in to the negativity all around you. So welcome Him, and gain a different attitude about life.
More than that, welcome God’s indwelling Spirit, and gain the assurance of a different destiny, a different future.
Romans 8:10-11 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (ESV)
Not only is your spirit alive because of Christ, but one day the Holy Spirit will give life to your mortal body. Your dead and dying body will be changed. It will raised from the dead with a new life that will never end.
In his book, Our Greatest Gift, Henri Nouwen imagines a set of twins – a brother and a sister – talking to each other in their mother's womb:
The sister said to the brother, “I believe there is life after birth.”
Her brother protested vehemently, “No, no, this is all there is. This is a dark and cozy place, and we have nothing else to do but to cling to the cord that feeds us.”
The little girl insisted, “There must be something more than this dark place. There must be something else, a place with light where there is freedom to move.” Still, she could not convince her twin brother.
After some silence, the sister said hesitantly, “I have something else to say, and I'm afraid you won't believe that, either, but I think there is a mother.”
Her brother became furious. “A mother!” he shouted. “What are you talking about? I have never seen a mother, and neither have you. Who put that idea in your head?
The sister was quite overwhelmed by her brother's response and for a while didn't dare say anything more. But she couldn't let go of her thoughts, and since she had only her twin brother to speak to, she finally said, “Don't you feel these squeezes every once in a while? They're quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful.”
“Yes,” he answered. “What's special about that?”
“Well,” the sister said, “I think that these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face-to-face. Don't you think that's exciting?”
The brother didn't answer. He was fed up with the foolish talk of his sister and felt that the best thing would be simply to ignore her and hope that she would leave him alone. (Henri Nouwen, Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring, HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, pp. 19-20; www.PreachingToday.com)
He had no hope, no hope that the pain of his world could ever lead to something far greater. And that’s the way it is for any unbeliever without the indwelling Holy Spirit. They have no hope!
Before he died of cancer six years ago (December 15, 2011), Christopher Hitchens expressed the hopelessness of his life. Hitchens was a popular author and a well-known atheist, but listen to the despair in his words in a Vanity Fair article published a year before his death (September 2010).
“I am badly oppressed by a gnawing sense of waste,” he said. “I had real plans for my next decade and felt I'd worked hard enough to earn it… To the dumb question, ‘Why me?’ the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: ‘Why not?’
“I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient. Allow me to inform you, though, that when you sit in a room with a set of other finalists, and kindly people bring a huge transparent bag of poison to plant into your arm [his chemotherapy treatment] and you either read or don't read a book while the venom sack gradually empties into your system… You feel swamped with passivity and impotence: dissolving in powerlessness like a sugar lump in water.” (Christopher Hitchens, "Topic of Cancer," Vanity Fair, September 2010; www.PreachingToday.com)
How sad. How hopeless. But that’s the attitude of those without the Holy Spirit. They have no hope. You, on the other hand, know that there are better days ahead. You have the Spirit of God within, who assures you that the pains of this life are but birth-pains pushing you into a far greater life ahead (cf. John 16:20-22).
What a wonderful gift Christ has given you this Christmas. It’s the gift of the Holy Spirit who delivers you from the penalty and power of sin. He also dwells within to give you a different attitude and the assurance of a different destiny.
Please, receive Him today. Receive the Spirit who delivers you. Receive the Spirit who dwells within. And finally…
RECEIVE THE SPIRIT WHO DIRECTS YOU.
Accept God’s Spirit who leads you. Welcome the Holy Spirit who guides you every day.
Romans 8:12-14 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (ESV)
The Spirit leads you to “put to death the deeds of the body.” In other words, he helps you to stop sinning. So let Him assist you to live for God.
Several years ago, there was a headline in The Chicago Tribune which read, “Sober Companions Shadow the Stars.” Under it was an article that described the “sober companions” movie companies or concert promoters sometimes hire to stay with movie and rock stars who have drug or alcohol problems. They want to be sure a movie or concert isn't scuttled by an out-of-control star.
Also known as “minders” or “clean-living assistants,” these “sober companions” stick to the stars like glue. They are there to make sure the stars are never alone or accessible to anyone who might slip them drugs or drink. One sober companion, Tim Tankosic, explains, “The point is to be a rock, a friendly face, a reminder of recovery, a safe person.”
The article explains that “on a typical movie location, Tankosic lives with the celebrity in a home far from the hotel that houses the rest of the cast and crew. In the morning, he rises with the star and they meditate together. After breakfast, he accompanies the star to the set, and then to a support group meeting. During off-hours, Tankosic said, he tries to make sure the star has fun, although he steers him or her clear of ‘slippery places’ – any locale where drugs or alcohol are available.” (Rachel Abramowitz and Dana Calvo, “Life In Hollywood: Sober Companions Shadow the Stars,” Chicago Tribune, 4-2-02; www.PreachingToday.com) My friends…
That’s what every believer has in the Holy Spirit – “a rock, a friendly face, a safe person,” who steers them away from trouble. All you have to do is depend on Him. He is always there, like a “sober companion” to keep you from sin. Receive the Spirit who directs you, and let Him assist you to live for God.
Then let Him assure you that you belong to God. Listen to Him as He tells you that you are God’s child.
Romans 8:15-17 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)
The Holy Spirit leads us to call God, “Abba” or “Daddy.” It’s a term of endearment that speaks of the intimacy we can have with our Heavenly Father.
If you call me “Pastor Phil,” chances are you might know a little about me. You know what I do. You’ve probably heard me speak a few times, and you're familiar with my up-front personality. But your use of my title likely means that you don’t know me very well.
Some of you call me “Phil,” and that means you know me personally. My friends call me Phil. We're closer than those who know me just as “Pastor Phil.”
“Then there are those who possess exclusive rights to a few specialized, far more intimate forms of address. They are three beautiful people who are very dear to me. When they were little, I allowed them to climb up in my lap. They rubbed their hands on my face and said things like “You need to shave” and “You're the best” and “Can I have some candy?” They call me “Daddy.” The name reveals the intimacy.
“What do you call God? Your answer may be a clue to how well you know him. Or don't. (Adapted from Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist, Zondervan, 2010; www.PreachingToday.com)
The Holy Spirit within wants you to know God intimately. He leads you to call God, “Daddy,” and assures you that you are indeed His dearly loved child.
So please, welcome Him into your life today. Receive Christ’s gift of His Spirit, who delivers you, who dwells within, and who directs you to know God intimately. Let the words of our closing song be your prayer today and every day.
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.
Melt me. Mold me. Fill me. Use me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me. (Daniel Iverson)
