What Do you Give Someone Who Has Everything
At this time of the year I always have the same problem. What to give my wife for Christmas? I’ve given her clothes in the past, just to see them return because they weren’t the right size or she didn’t like them. I’ve given her jewelry just to have it sit in the box and never worn. Men, giving your wife a new rod and reel or a garage door opener isn’t a good idea either. The one gift that your wife will appreciate more that anything is what the Bible instructs us to give. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her." There is no greater love than the love that Christ has for His church and our love for our wives should be true unconditional love.
With my teenage son, there is no problem. About a month before Christmas he going with us to the stores and pointing out things that he would love to have. Sometimes it seems that he has an endless list.
Let’s look at what God gave us and what we give him in return.
John 3:16
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(NIV)
What greater gift can God give than his one and only Son? He loves us so much that He allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to be born here on this earth. And this is what we are celebrating this Christmas season. God didn’t allow His Son to be born in luxurious surroundings or to parents of great wealth. But He told a young virgin girl named Mary that she would bear the Savior of the World. So Christ was born of a humble woman and in humble surroundings.
Jesus also gave us the greatest gift that a person could give.
John 15:13-14
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
(NIV)
Jesus loves us so much that He was willing to suffer and lay down His life for us. For parents, this is easy to understand. Which one of us wouldn’t give our life, to save the life of one of our children? This is true unconditional love. Jesus knew that He would have to suffer and die on the cross so that we might be saved, but Jesus also knew that He would be raised from the dead on the third day.
John 10:17-18
17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life-- only to take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
(NIV)
Think about what Jesus suffered because of us. Yes, it was our sins, yours and mine, that caused the nails to be driven through his hands. First the one hand and then the other. Have you ever hit your thumb with a hammer or closed a door on your finger? It is extremely painful. Think what it would feel like to have someone hammer a nail through your hand. It definitely would hurt worst than hitting your thumb with a hammer.
And then to have the same thing done to the other hand. Remember all this took place after He was flogged with His back cut and bleeding. A crown of thorns forced on His head causing pain and bleeding. And then having to carry the heavy wooden cross on his back for a long distance. I can’t imagine how much pain Jesus must have been in. I’m sure He must have had a headache too, greater than any migraine that you may have experienced.
After nailing His hands to the cross bar, they then placed his feet together and hammered a nail through both feet. I stumped by big toe before and that was painful, but driving a large nail though my feet would be more than I could endure. But Jesus endured all this pain and never passed out. And then they began to raise the cross up so the bottom would fall into a hole that had been chiseled out of the rock and the cross would stand upright. When the cross was almost vertical, the bottom slipped into the hole with a jarring thump. Can you imagine the pain that shot throughout Jesus’ body when the bottom of the cross fell into that hole? There is no way that I would be able to endure such pain. But Christ loves us so much that He endured all of this willingly.
Luke 23:34
34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
(NIV)
If it had been you or me, there would be no way that we would have been able to forgive the people that were crucifying us, but with Christ all things are possible. He even loved the ones nailing Him to the cross and asked His Father to forgive them. We need to learn from this, that if Christ can forgive His crucifiers, then we need to learn to forgive the ones who offends us.
Matt 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
(NIV)
But the greatest gift that Christ gave us was when He took on our sins, yours and mine.
Mark 15:34
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- Which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(NIV)
At that ninth hour Jesus suffered something greater than any pain that He had endured thus far. Christ took my sins and your sins upon himself. The sins of the whole world past, present and future. With God being a perfectly righteous God, He could not look upon the sin that Christ had taken on. So God turned His head away from Jesus. This is why Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This is the first and only time that Jesus had been out of fellowship with His Father. Sometimes we get out of fellowship with our parents and we have this emptiness feeling inside of us. Christ endured this also when God had to look away because of our sin that He had taken on.
Later knowing that all was now complete, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty"
John 19:30
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
(NIV)
The Greek word for "it is finished" is Teleo (tel-eh-o) which is an accounting term meaning "paid in full". At this time Christ took the list of our sins and stamped PAID IN FULL across the front.
All of this would have been meaningless if Christ had not risen from the tomb on the third day. He now sits at the right hand of God in heaven interceding for us against our accuser the devil. But there is one more gift that God gave us. He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, to comfort us and to lead us in all things.
So doing this Christmas season remember the gifts that God has given us. Gifts that we don’t deserve, but because of His love for us, He gave them willingly and freely.
It is customary to give a gift in return to someone who gives us one. So what do we give someone who has everything? God gave His greatest gift to us, His son. What do we give God in return? Everything in this world already belongs to God, He created everything. So what does He expect in return for His gift?
If you are already saved, then the gift that God expects from you is to obey His commandments and teachings.
Matt 22:36-39
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’
(NIV)
God must come first in our lives and we must love Him more than anything in our lives, even more than our spouse and children. And we must love our neighbors. Our neighbors are everyone in the world. All other commandments and teachings are base on these. We are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. When people see us, they should be able to see the light of Christ in us. To be the salt of the earth is to uplift all that is good in the world and to be against all that is sin. This is where most Christians fall short. We are afraid to speak out against anything that is sin because it may offend someone or may be politically incorrect. On September 11th, terrorist killed over 4000 people. Americans were outraged. But everyday over 4000 unborn babies are murdered by abortionist. Where is the outcry and rage over this? The Bible and prayer has been taken out of our schools and replaced with books on witchcraft, Internet pornography, free condoms and discussion on tolerance of other lifestyles and religions. Where is the outcry? We must put God first in our lives and the hardest of all, follow the will that God has for you. God has a will and purpose for every baby that is conceived. That will is to accept Jesus Christ has their Lord and Savior. Then God has a will for each Believer that accepts Christ. God has called each of us for a purpose and He will let you know what that calling is. But because He created us with a free will, we have the choice of whether we will follow His will or not. I will tell you if you follow God’s calling for you, life will never be dull and you will experience a peace that you have never experience before. What is God calling you to do? Teach Sunday school, tell your neighbor about Christ, feed the hungry, give to the poor, enter the mission fields or something else? Are you ready to commit to it today?
Sometimes my children, when they were little, would ask me what I wanted for Christmas. I would tell them all I want is for you to love me and to obey me. This is also what God wants from His children too. So this Christmas let make that commitment to our Heavenly Father, that we will love Him more than anything in this world and obey His commands.
If you have never accepted Christ has your personal Savior, then the gift that God wants from you is to accept Jesus Christ has your Savior. Admit that you are a sinner; tell God that you are sorry for those sins and with His help you will turn away from those sins. Admit that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He lives today and sits at the right hand of the Father.
Ask Jesus to come and live in your heart and to fill you with His Holy Spirit. If you really mean this with all of your heart, you will have eternal life in Heaven. If you don’t pray this prayer and don’t accept Jesus has your Savior before you die, then you will spend eternality in constant torment in Hell. We don’t know when we will die. Most of us would like to think that we will live to a ripe old age, but the truth is that we could die in the next 5 minutes. So if you have never accepted Christ as your savior, please do it before you walk out the door today. You might not have another chance.
If you are not sure that if you would die today, you would spend eternity in Heaven, then you need to come forward also and make that commitment. Sometimes as young children we may have walked the isle because we thought it was expected of us. Accepting Christ has your Savior is a personal commitment that must be made in your heart. So if you are not sure, make sure today.
