1. I put a question on the church’s FB page: “What is one of your favorite Christmas memories?” Responses had to do with family and with gifts (Santa stories).
2. The coming of Jesus represents God’s ultimate gift to us (John 3:16-17)
a. Response to receiving a gift is to give a gift in return
b. Jesus’ love is the key – 2 Corinthians 5:14a For the love of Christ controls us,
3. The wise men presented gifts to Jesus possibly 2 years after his birth (Matthew 2:1-12)
4. What gifts(s) God wants from us – Micah 6:6-8
I. God Wants More Than Our “Stuff”
A. I’m at a New Stage in Life – No More “Stuff”
1. Cleaning out Linda’s collections and now mine
2. Doing Life Over
An older man, looking back on his life during his later years, declared, “If I had my life to live over again, I would try to make more mistakes next time. I’d relax, I’d limber up, and I’d be sillier than I’ve been on this trip. I’d take more trips. I’d be crazier: I’d climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets. I’d eat more ice cream and less beans! If I had to do it over again I’d go places, do things, and travel lighter: if I had my life to live over I’d start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the autumn. I’d ride on more merry-go-rounds. I’d pick more daisies.”
B. God is Not All That Interested in Our Stuff
1. He owns the Cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10)
2. ALL is His! Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,
3. He is interested in MORE!
II. What DOES God Want?
A. Simply, God Wants US!
1. His MO is to seek us – Luke 19:10 from Ezekiel 34:16 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
2. We seek and find Him with WHOLE HEARTS – Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
B. How Do We Know When We Give Ourselves to God 100%? – Micah 6:6-8
6 “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
1. We Do Justice
a. There seems to be little justice in the world – POTUS Actions: Andrew Jackson and Trail of Tears; Abraham Lincoln suspending Habeas Corpus ( a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought to a judge to secure release UNLESS lawful grounds are shown for detention); FDR and Internment camps for Japanese descent; Hitler and Final Solution;
[Old Joke: “Steal $10 and go to jail; steal $Million and get elected to Congress.”
b. “Justice is more than court systems; it is acting in a just, righteous way – living up to the words we say we believe
c. When we give ourselves to God, justice is part of the package as the prophets speaking for the poor, widows, fatherless i.e., PURE RELIGION (James 1:27); speaking for people without a voice
2. We Love Mercy
a. God’s desire = Mercy over sacrifice (Matthew 9:13; 12:7 cf. Hosea 6:6)
b. Easier to offer externals than to embrace the internals, especially mercy – we like our grudges
c. Kingdom is about internals – Romans 14:17; Luke 17:21
d. Ever feel unkindly mistreated? Treated Kindly? Jesus’ treated people with kind compassion and drew crowds [Healed outcast lepers to return them to community AFTER they were healed and showed the priests
e. When we give ourselves to God we learn to practice Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
3. We Walk HUMBLY with God
a. Jesus came into an arrogant world with humility (Matthew 11:28-30)
b. A prized quality to God (Moses = Meekest man on earth)
c. When we give ourselves to God we wrap ourselves in humility – “Not my will by thy will.”
d. Walk WITH God, not just before Him or after Him
1. A woman broke open an alabaster box of ointment and poured it on Jesus – he accepted the gift because it came from the heart.
2. Another woman dropped 2 small coins into the temple treasury and Jesus was pleased because she gave all she had from the heart.
3. First, we give ourselves to Jesus; then all else will follow.
4. Have you given your greatest gift to God for giving His greatest give to you?
5. Romans 12:1 (CJB) I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him;
