OPEN: Tom and Joe had been high school buddies, but when they grew up, Joe left town to find his fortune. He became a very successful salesman, but never married. One day, he returned to his hometown and met Joe in a local restaurant. They exchanged stories of how their lives had changed over the years and Tom explained that he too had been successful, had married and had 3 kids.
“That’s great,” Joe said. “I’d like to come over and meet the family.”
“We’d love to have you,” Tom responded. “I tell you what, we live in a Condo over on 3221 High Street. You just drive around back to the parking lot, come up to the main door and kick it open with your foot. When you get to the elevator, push the button with your left elbow and come up to the 2nd story. That’s where our apartment is.”
“That’s great,” Joe said. “But I’m a bit puzzled. Why would I want to kick the door open with my foot and push the elevator button with my elbow?”
Tom looked astounded: “You’re not coming empty handed are you?”
This past Christmas, I drew my brother’s name for our family Christmas gathering. My brother is kind of hard to buy Christmas presents for. He has just about everything he needs and what he doesn’t have, he can pretty well afford to buy.
What could I buy this Christmas that could possibly mean anything to him?
Then I remembered a story that had been told in our family several times in the past. When Jack was a young man, he had owned a compact car - an Austin Healey Sprite which he had taken apart, moved down to his basement and cleaned up. Then he took all the parts back up stairs and reassembled the entire car in his front drive.
He only had a couple of parts left over.
That gave me my idea. I began to search for a model car replica of the Sprite. I finally found one on the Internet for about $5. And I wrapped it up for his Christmas.
When I bought it, I knew I had found the perfect gift for the man who had everything.
APPLY: Why would I think that’s the perfect gift? I mean it wasn’t an expensive present. It wasn’t even a particularly impressive model car. And my brother could easily have afforded to purchased it for himself. BUT I knew he would like it. Why? (pause) Because I gave serious thought to the gift. In that gift I declared that he was important enough to me for me to THINK about what he would like.
I. We are entering the Christmas season, a time when we buy gifts for our loved ones
But Christmas… isn’t there a special reason for this season? Isn’t this season supposed to be a special birthday celebration? Whose??? (Jesus) Well, if it’s a birthday celebration for Jesus… don’t you usually get presents?
What Christmas present did you have planned to give Him this year?
AND what could you possibly give to Jesus that He doesn’t already have. What do you get for the God who has everything?
II. Well, back in the Old Testament – they gave Him sacrifices
Now, there were sacrifices you HAD TO give (required of you) and there were sacrifices (or gifts) you gave because you wanted to. One of those voluntary gifts was called the grain offering.
This was different than most of the sacrifices God received because this one was NOT an offering of a sacrificed animal.
Instead, it was an offering of fine flour mixed with oil & incense. If it was cooked, it was NOT allowed to have yeast in it. A portion of the offering was burned up before God and the rest belonged to the priests.
ILLUS: One scholar (Treasury Of Scripture Knowledge) has noted that the Hebrew word for “grain offering” was “minchah” which meant it was a “reciprocal gift.” In other words, the offerer was “reciprocating” or paying God back for His blessings.
(pause) But of course you couldn’t really “pay God back” anymore than I could have bought my brother a gift he couldn’t afford. But this “minchah” was a way of saying to God – “I know what you’ve done for me, and I want to show you a small token of my love and gratitude for you.” It was - in essence - a thanksgiving offering And THIS was the kind of gift that pleased God immensely.
III. Now, we’re no longer Old Testament people
We don’t live under the Law. We’re not required to offer sacrifices and special offerings at the temple. And so offerings (like the grain offering) wouldn’t be appropriate for us anymore
BUT, we can still offer a “minchah” type of offering - a sacrifice that is pleasing to God. And book of Hebrews tells us what those kind of offerings would look like:
Hebrews 13:15-16 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise— the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
So, there are two kinds of offerings that give thanks to God
Sacrifices of praise…
And, sacrifices of sharing with others.
THESE are the kinds of gifts that God has said would please Him. They’re not expensive. They’re not always overly impressive. But, they do require effort and thought.
IV. The grain offering required effort
When I originally read about the “grain offering” I pictured in my mind either a few stalks of grain or a bowl of raw grain that had been plucked off those stalks. But, no – this offering required a lot of effort and expense.
The heads of grain had to be ground down into a “fine flour” and then the offering was to mix in expensive incense and oil.
In other words, you had to put extra time and resources into this gift for God
ILLUS: And, that’s the way it ought to be if we love God and want to show Him our gratitude. A woman once told me of how they felt about the gifts they received from their grandmother one year. When her cousins got gifts, they received brightly wrapped games and toys and even a brand new electric piano… But her brother received “matchbox cars” and she once opened a gift that contained used Barbie Doll clothes one of her cousins had outgrown. Even to her young mind, it was obvious what her grandmother thought of her and her brother.
And so, when we offer our “gifts” to God, they should reflect what we think of Him. The gifts SHOULD require extra effort and time on our part.
V. The sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name.
ILLUS: Last week, I was listening on the radio to the story of how the movie “A Wonderful Life” came to be. Back then, the country was in dark days of WWII and one man wanted to share with his friends and relatives the hope filled message of what Christmas meant to him. He wrote the short story and sent it out in his Christmas cards to close friends – one of which was Frank Kapra. The writer hadn’t intended it to be a movie, or a book or even to be widely read… he simply wanted to share his vision of what Christmas meant to him with his friends, and he ended up influencing an entire nation with his story.
The man who was telling about that short story went on to say that we have a great opportunity to tell the story of Christ to our friends and relatives in our Christmas cards. Because of the season, it’s politically correct and easy to do in a non-threatening way.
He explained that there are many Christmas cards for sale these days that tell the story of Jesus in a powerful way. And even if we bought the generic kinds of cards, a little thought and effort can help us to remind our unsaved family and friends about the love of Jesus.
He said he even used stamps to proclaim his message. The U.S. Post Office sells “Happy Birthday” stamps, and he put them on his envelopes AND wrote underneath – “Jesus”
With a little bit of effort and thought, this man was trying offer praise to His God. AND that’s just one way to do it. Some people do it by putting religious Christmas decorations in their yard.
Others, but religious gifts that for their non-Christian family members. They are all attempting to creatively proclaim and confess the name of Jesus during this season… and with such gifts, God is pleased.
VI. The writer of Hebrews continues: “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16)
ILLUS: A little girl named Abby had opened the refrigerator and grabbed a juice box. As she was about to shove the straw into the box, she noticed it was grape flavored. That made her hesitate. She took the juice box to her sister, handed it to her and said, "Here, taste this, and tell me if it tastes like church."
In His sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
A. What He was saying was: when people are around us, we should taste like church.
Every time you do good as a Christian
Every time you share with some one less fortunate than yourself
Every time you lend a helping hand to someone who is struggling or in need
Every time you offer encouragement to someone who discouraged
Or visit the sick
Or pray with someone who is discouraged or in pain
Every time you do some kindness as a Christian, the people around us should “taste” God.
And when they do… God receives the praise. Those who see your actions, or hear about them, glorify your Father. Can you think of a better gift to give your Father for Christmas?
In other words, every time we get the opportunity we should be pointing at our Savior and God – either by our words, or by our actions – people should see Jesus.
CLOSE: I read about a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. His father met him in the living room and said nothing.
At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father’s full plate and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed.
The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy and smiled at his son.
When that boy grew to be a man, he said, "All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night."
SERMONS IN THIS "CHRISTMAS GIFTS" SERIES
* The Gift of Fellowship
Leviticus 3:1-3:5
* What Do You Get For the God Who Has Everything
Leviticus 2:1-2:16
* God’s Christmas Gift
John 3:1-3:18
