Like A Gift
Ephesians 2:8-10
In Ephesians Chapter 2, beginning at verse 8, God’s Word says:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
I. Introduction
I don’ know about you, but I hate this time of year. Please don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean that I hate Christmas and I don’t mean that I hate the celebration that we have of Christ. What I mean is that I hate the commercialization of Christmas. I hate the fact that it has become just a gift buying and a gift giving frenzy. And that does seem to be what it has become. We get so caught up in the gift giving that we almost miss the importance of the season.
One author wrote about the gift giving time of year like this (and I think it captures what so many of us go through): We must buy Grandma a Christmas present, but what can we get her? One of her daughters says, "I know what I’ll get her. She has worked so hard all her life that I’ll get her a nice recliner that she can sit in." So they get her a recliner for Christmas.
Another daughter says, "Well, I know what I’ll get her. If she’s going to have a new recliner to sit in, I’ll get her a new color TV so she can sit back and watch her favorite television program." So they get her a color TV for Christmas.
And a third daughter say, "If mom’s going to have this recliner and color TV, I’ll get her a microwave oven so she can pop some fresh popcorn to enjoy while she is watching TV as she sits in her new recliner." So they get her a microwave oven for Christmas.
And all the time all Grandma wanted was a subscription for a large print edition of Readers Digest.
Now, I’ve got my own philosophy about shopping for Christmas, and I’ve shared it with you before, but I want to emphasize it again. Because of the time that we live in, because of the day that we live in, if we want something we go out and get it. Wal-Mart is right down the road. Or if we need something we go out and get it. So, if we are going to get a gift for someone we have to get them something they don’t want or something they don’t need!
But this year, just for a few moments, let’s not think any more about the frenzy of the secular gift giving, but let’s focus on the greatest gift giving that ever occurred, and that is when God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, as a gift to us.
And I know that this passage of scripture is not what we typically think of as a Christmas Story. But I think that Paul sums up, for us, the fact that what God did was give us a gift. We all like the idea of receiving gifts and Paul said, by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God.
Now I want us to consider the gift just for a few minutes; we’re going to end our service real short this morning (and those of you who don’t think that I can, just haven’t been to the Nursing Home with me because I can cut these things down to about 10 minutes!). So I want us to consider some aspects of gift giving that may help us to understand the greatness of this gift that God gave us. And the very first thing I would share with you this morning is that . . .
II. This Gift Is Given, Not Earned
And to illustrate that I’d like to use a passage of scripture from the book of Matthew. Over in the 19th chapter of Matthew we have an account of a young man who come to Jesus with a very important question. He comes to Jesus and asks him, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" (Matthew 19:16).
You see he had examined his life and he knew that there was some shortcoming in his life. And he knew that the eternal life that Jesus taught, that Jesus preached, was something that was lacking in his life. And he wanted to know from Jesus exactly how he might EARN that eternal life: "what good thing shall I do?"
And the truth of the matter is that’s the way many of us approach salvation. That’s the way many of us approach this great gift that God has given us. Jesus looked at the man and asked him point blank, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God," (v. 17).
Now, Jesus wasn’t doing that to confuse the man. Actually what He was doing was testing his heart. He wanted the man to look inside his heart and see if there was a real reason that he called Jesus good. Then He said, "but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," (v. 17).
Now some of us would question is Jesus saying that if we could live our lives by keeping the commandments we wouldn’t need salvation? And I believe that theoretically that is correct: if we could keep God’s laws we would not need a savior. But it has been proven that we cannot keep God’s laws. Our nature is to be a law breaker and since we are a law breaker we need a savior.
But Jesus told this young man to keep the commandments. And he thought, I’m certain, "I’ve been doing that. I keep all the commandments." So he asked Jesus what commandments should I keep. And Jesus said don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your mother and your father and love your neighbor like you do yourself. And probably, for a split second more, he thought, "but I’ve done all these from the time I was a little child."
But the man lacked on thing. And he already knew that. That’s why he questioned Jesus, "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" (v. 20). I’ve been diligent to ensure that I keep these commandments but deep inside there is something missing. And I know that there is something missing and there must be something that I can DO, some way that I can EARN this eternal life.
Jesus said, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me," (v. 21.)
You know the rest of that story. He didn’t. He left. I think maybe he was a bitter man after that. I think that he was an angry man. Because what Jesus did in that short encounter was to prove to him, and to prove to us, that salvation, the gift of Jesus Christ, is a gift that is given and not earned.
Another aspect of gifts that I want you to consider this morning is that . . .
III. This Gift Is Given, Not Bought
And there are two passages of scripture that illustrate this for me. The first is found in the Old Testament book of II Kings, chapter 5. One of my favorite accounts in the Bible. It’s about Naaman, the leper. It’s about Elisha, the prophet of God, and Gehazi, the servant of the prophet. And I know that you are familiar with this story, but let me just briefly go back through it.
Naaman was the commander-in-chief for the Syrian army. But he had leprosy. And the people that worked for him, served him, the people that were in his household loved him so much that they wanted him to be healed. And this little maiden, who came from Samaria, who had been captured and taken off, went to the mistress of the house, Naaman’s wife, and said, "I just wish to God that my lord could go to Samaria where there is a prophet of God who could heal him."
Word got around to Naaman, and Naaman took word to the king, and the king sent him to Samaria. So Naaman went to Samaria. In Samaria he went to the king who didn’t have a clue of how to go about healing Naaman, in fact He thought the Syrians were using a ploy to have reason to start a war against Samaria. But word got to the king to send the Syrian Captain to the prophet Elisha.
Naaman went to Elisha, had certain expectations that Elisha didn’t live up to, and he almost missed the blessing God had in store for him. But after a little bit of tug-of-war, after a little bit of wrestling, he became obedient to God, he dipped in the river Jordan seven times as he had been instructed and he was cleansed. His skin became like that of a little baby.
And he was so excited that he went back to Elisha and insisted that he pay for this cleansing that he had received. And what a great price he was willing to pay for it. He offered to pay 10 talents of silver and 6000 pieces of gold and 10 changes of clothes, that is 10 real nice suits. And the prophet said, "As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none," (II Kings 5:16).
He would not take anything for the work that God had done. And he is making it very clear to us that the gift that God gives to us cannot be purchased. I think there is another illustration in the New Testament that kind of brings that point out as well.
If you’re not familiar with the story, this afternoon when you have some time go in your Bible to the book of Acts chapter 8 and read the account of Simon, the sorcerer. And Simon was a sorcerer. In time past he had practiced sorcery and had deceived people and they thought he was a great man. They thought he was the power of God. He knew it was all deceit, he knew it was all deception, and when Phillip came into Samaria, preaching and teaching Jesus, and people were getting saved, Simon saw that. He saw a great change in peoples lives. He saw miracles of God unfold and God began to live through the live of men. And then word came back to Jerusalem that Samaritans were being saved, and the apostles got together, Peter and some others, went up there so that they might lay hands on these believers that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
And Simon, who had begun to follow Phillip around, and where ever Phillip preached and he taught, Simon observed what happened. And when Peter came and laid his hands on folks and they received the Holy Ghost, Simon thought this is something I don’t have, and this is something I want. And he went back to Peter and he offered to pay for the ability to lay hands on people so they might receive the Holy Ghost.
Peter was extremely offended by this and he looked old Simon right in the eye and said, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money," (Acts 8:20).
Well, you know folks, there are people today who think that you can buy salvation. There are people today who think that you can earn salvation. Some folks think if I just go to church enough, if I just read my Bible enough, if I just live my life right enough, if I just give enough money to the church, then I can have salvation.
But the scripture makes it very clear that this gift cannot be earned no matter how good we are, no matter how many good works we do, no matter how sincere we are. And it is clear that it cannot be bought, no matter how much money you have. You can give all your money to the church, you can give your body to be burned, as Paul said, you can give your whole life to the church, but you cannot buy your salvation because Jesus Christ has already paid for it!
Now there’s another aspect of gifts this morning that I want you to think about. And I believe we can confirm this with scripture, as well, and that is . . .
IV. This Gift Is Given, Not Taken Back
Now you know that there are a lot of people who will teach you that this gift of salvation that you receive from God can be taken back. I feel that scripture clearly refutes that. We can go back to that simple verse, that verse we learned as little children, John 3:16, and recite that, and I don’t believe there is a scholar, or theologian in the world that can refute the eternal security of the believer. There isn’t a person who can accept John 3:16 and think that God could take back that gift of salvation; that a person could lose their salvation.
But I think there is a more practical example in scripture that confirms that God will not take back this gift that He has given.
What would ever cause the Lord to want to take back this gift? Maybe if a person were to turn their back on Jesus. Maybe if a person denied Jesus and said He’s not my Lord and He’s not my Savior. Maybe then God would take that gift back. Is that a possibility?
If you were here during our revival when Bro. Charley Shrum, from First Southern Baptist Church in Malden, Missouri, preached for us you remember that one night he preached to us from, I believe it is, John chapter 21 where we have the account of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the command that He gave to the women at the tomb to go tell the disciples, and Peter, to meet Him at the Sea of Galilee.
So Peter and the other disciples were at the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus is on the shore, and He prepares breakfast for them. He fixes them some bread cakes and some fish, and they come and fellowship with the Lord, the risen Savior! And all the while I’m sure that Peter is going over in his mind the night when he denied Christ, not once, not twice, but three times.
Literally hours after he swore that he would go to his death for the Lord Jesus he denied him. Here’s a man who had denied Christ, and denied Christ in front of men. So we have a setup for a great confrontation. Here is a man who had received that gift from God and now we can watch God in the flesh and see how He responds.
Do you remember what Jesus did?
Jesus did not tell Peter what Peter later told Simon the sorcerer. After Peter told Simon that his money would perish with him, Peter told Simon to repent because his heart was not right with God.
But Jesus, you would think, after Peter had denied Him three times, would come before Peter and say, "Peter, it’s time for you to repent. It’s time for you to be saved again." But, no! That’s not what He did.
Do you remember what he did?
He said, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" (John 21:16). And Simon said, Lord you know I do. Then Jesus said, "Feed my sheep," (v. 16).
Jesus didn’t tell him it’s too bad you’ve lost the gift; it’s too bad I’ve got to take it back. Instead, do you know what Jesus was telling him? Jesus was telling him you’ve got a gift that’s been given to you and now I want you to use that gift to minister to others.
These three aspects of gift giving are important in our understand of the gift that God gives to us. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," (Ephesians 2:8-10).
V. Conclusion
For many, I think, Tuesday is going to be a very interesting day. Tuesday is going to be as busy in the malls as the day after Thanksgiving was. I don’t think they will be going on a shopping frenzy. I think they are going on an exchanging frenzy because they will receive gifts today and tomorrow that just don’t fit them. And they will take them back and find something that fits. Maybe it is an article of clothing that does not fit them; or maybe it’s a gift that just does not fit their lifestyle. They will exchange it for something that’s more useful; something that fits them better.
Years ago, my youngest daughter, Marilyn, and I went shopping for Connie. It’s hard. You wives, it’s hard for a man to shop for his wife because we don’t know what you want, and we don’t want to get that for you, anyway.
But Marilyn and I thought we had found the perfect gift: a nightgown. You can always use a nightgown. It’s something that you use every day. This one was very special. It had a tag on it that said One Size Fits All. Connie opened it up, and you know what? That tag was right. It fits all! It would have fit me and her and Marilyn and the other two girls all at the same time!
My point is simply this: if there ever was a gift that was given that is so large, and so great, that one size truly fits all it’s the gift of eternal life; the gift of forgiveness of sins; the gift of salvation that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now, I ask you this morning, have you received this gift from God? Have you accepted the gift that God offers? Now, pay close attention, you see, because if you’ve been trying to earn it, you haven’t received the gift. If you’ve been trying to buy it, you haven’t received the gift. If you’ve been holding back because you are afraid that He’ll try to take it back, you haven’t received it.
When God gives you this gift, He GIVES it to you. And He gives it to you for all eternity.
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Preached at Patterson Baptist Church
12-24-00
