Date: December 17th 2006
Title: Unwrapping The Gift That Lasts!
Bible Text: Various
Subject: How do we truly unwrap and appreciate/use/enjoy/embrace/participate in/demonstrate the real gift for all humankind so as to embody Christ’s holiness during the holiday?
Complement:
Main Idea:
Intro: Gifts are exchanged with tremendous regularity during this time of the year. One thing that is interesting to see in this society that is so saturated with stuff is how some of the gifts we give are received.
Let me ask a question. “When is a gift really received?”
Is it when we offer it and a person reaches out their hands and takes it? What if they never open it? Did they really receive it or are they just holding onto it till their next office party to pass it on to someone else? Or do you feel they received that gift when at next years Christmas party you see someone else opening that same dish, or gadget as it is “re-gifted”.
Isn’t it really received when you see it in use the next week? And I should add, it’s proper use. Giving someone a tie that you picked out for them and a couple of weeks later when you are over at their house you see the tie being used as a rope to hold something together in the garage…well, that’s not what you had in mind and most people would be thinking, “Wow, I guess they didn’t really like my gift if they are using it to tie something up.” Or even if it’s used but not according to its real value. Imagine giving someone a signed autographed baseball or football from some sports star, an item that needs to be in a glass cabinet and when you are over to visit you instead see the kids playing catch with it in the mud in the back yard or Bone Crusher the dog is chewing on it.. Throwing the ball and letting the dog play with the ball falls within the realm of what it was designed for, but the real value is not appreciated.
No, we sense that a gift has been received when it is accepted, opened, and then used according to it’s designed purpose and value.
So here is the question for today, “How do we demonstrate holiness in keeping with the purpose and value of the ultimate gift that last for ever?
I. Some People See The Gift Being Given To Them And Reject It.
1. The Bible addresses the whole issue of gift giving and receiving.
2. Several places in the Gospels, we have the telling of the parable of the farmer sowing seed.
a) In the parable, the seed is referred to as the message about how a person can enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 13:19)
b) The seed is the ultimate gift that one person can give to another.
3. The parable is really a story about gift giving and receiving.
a) It speaks to the issues of a person’s heart when they accept a gift from another person.
b) It speaks to the nuances regarding when a person just accepts a gift and when they truly receive it!
4. Jesus describes different types of soils that seed can potentially fall on and He compares these soils to the receptivity of people’s hearts as well as the capacity of people to receive, that is “own for themselves” this wonderful gift.
Trans: People have several negative responses to the greatest gift ever given.
A. People Reject The Gift Because They Don’t Understand it.
1. One response Jesus shares are those who are like a hardened path.
a) Hard, packed down, beaten down with weeks and months and years of people treading on it.
b) This soil represents those people who see the gift but say, “Oh, no thanks!”
c) Even though you tell me it’s free, I know that there will be a price attached.
d) I will have to give up the lifestyle I have become accustomed to and have come to enjoy.
2. These people just don’t fully understand the value of the gift offered and so reject it.
a) They have in their hands the solution to so many of their problems in life.
b) But they say with a shrug, “Uh, no thanks!”
3. The Bible has Jesus describe it this way, “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.” - Matthew 13:19 (NIV)
B. People will reject the gift because they aren’t willing to make the commitment required to see results.
1. The Bible describes this heart condition and this type of person as one who has a heart that is like rocky soil.
The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. - Matthew 13:20-21 (NIV)
2. These are the people who receive the gift with joy!
a) This reminds me of those people who are so expressive when getting gifts.
b) They say in a loud voice, “Oh, thank you so much!” and they exhibit great joy in the fact that you gave them a gift!
c) They marvel at the wonderful wrapping paper and the ribbon and the bow.
3. This phenomenon is similar to the exercise equipment gift.
a) We receive with great joy and expectations of bronzed, toned bodies like the people pictured on the advertisement for the product.
b) But, after a few weeks or months, we lose interest and the work involved in being committed causes our commitment to wane.
c) The next thing they know, the treadmill makes a wonderful clothes holder.
4. The gift no longer is used as it was designed to be used and so it is devalued.
a) The gift is set aside and soon forgotten.
b) Just as handy as the tie, or the shirt, or the scarf that you received years ago and you never took it out of the box.
c) Today you can’t even remember what became of it!
C. People reject the gift because they are unable to comprehend the Supernatural. (Matt. 13:22)
1. This is the person who lives for the here and now.
a) And all they see are problems and worries and obstacles.
b) They say, “Who has time for all this spiritual “mumbo jumbo”?
2. This person rejects the gift because of all the thorns in life strangle hold any understanding of the fact that there is more to this life than just what we see.
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. - Matthew 13:22 (NIV)
3. This person receives the gift and again takes it into their hands, perhaps they even shake it a bit, but they never open it.
a) They never really receive it.
b) This person, unlike the previous one, doesn’t even show any joy in receiving the gift.
c) They just thank you and then set it aside.
d) Why, because they are too burdened by life and all the worries of life to really open the gift and appreciate what it is they have been given.
4. Again, they just plain don’t understand the gift given to them because they never really opened it.
TESTIMONY – Mike Kucek
Trans: So these are some of the responses some people have when they are shown this gift and it is handed to them. They just don’t understand it accurately. They have some of their own ideas, but they never really receive the gift.
So how do we know when someone has truly received and opened the gift? What are some of the tell tale signs?
II. We Prove We Have Opened The Gift As We Use It To Reflect Holiness.
This means other people see the gift being used in our life according to its designed purpose and value. How do we do that?
A. Take the gift out of the box and try it on!
1. We prove to someone we really like their gift when we take it out of the box and wear it to work the next day!
a) They know we enjoy it as they see us use it!
b) If they bought us a nice new coat to replace our ugly threadbare one and we come to their house the next day wearing the old coat, they are going to think we didn’t want the new gift.
c) The Bible uses similar language regarding putting on “the holiness of Christ!”
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephes. 4:22-24 (NIV)
2. We are told to take off the old way we used to go through life and put on the new us as we are created in the image of Christ!
a) Verse 25 thru 32 speak all about the details of how this would and should look.
b) We are to speak truthfully, without being angry, not stealing or speaking unwholesome words, we are to demonstrate compassion and forgiveness.
3. We need to “wear” these new “clothes” out in public so other people can see the new us!
4. In other words, the first sign that we have opened the gift is that we obviously appear different than before we opened the gift.
Trans: So people should see us with our new character, our new demeanor, as we clothe ourselves in the precious gift that lasts for ever and never wears out or gets thread bare. The second thing that clarifies whether we have truly received the gift of eternal life or not is,
B. We become identified with it. (Acts 4:12 &13)
1. People see us coming and because of our reputation and our constant effort to live lives of holiness, they immediately identify us as those who have opened and received the gift!
2. There is a story that illustrates this in the Bible.
a) Peter and John had been brought before the academic elitist of their day.
b) Pretty intimidating crowd with their brightly colored robes that screamed, “I’m important!” to everyone around them.
c) These two guys had just spent the night in a jail cell with the rats and the smell of human excrement and now they were taken before this auspicious group called the Sanhedrin.
3. Instead of being demoralized and shamed into silence for fear of what could happen to them, Peter spoke firmly and with authority. He said:
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (NIV)
a) Where in the world did this simple fisherman from nowhere get this kind of boldness and certainty about what he believed?
b) It was obvious to all those gathered that something had happened to these men.
c) They had experienced something but what?
d) The next verse tells us what. It tells us that they had received the gift and opened it, and clothed themselves in it!
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13 (NIV)
4. My friends, we are to take this precious gift and put it on and wear the holiness of Christ where ever we go!
a) So much so, that people identify the gift with us.
b) No closet Christianity where we hide our acknowledgement of the gift.
c) Instead, we, “wear it on our sleeve”, for everyone to see.
5. The bottom line is that no one will have to guess whether or not we have opened the gift from God and put it into use.
a) It will be self-evident as we live our lives in keeping with what would please our new Lord and master.
b) As we speak the truth, as we show love and compassion to others. As we strive to do what is right and honoring to God in all circumstances.
Trans: Lastly, we can clearly show that we have opened the gift and truly received it as people see us…
C. Pass the gift on to others.
1. The parable of the soils helps us gain some momentum in getting our brains wrapped around this idea of life lived with the ultimate gift from God.
2. After all those people who seemed, at first glance to receive the gift and after we looked closer we realized they hadn’t really received it at all.
a) Then the Bible tells us what it looks like when a person truly accepts and opens the gift and uses it as it was designed to be used.
b) Jesus tells us how we will know!
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." Matthew 13:23
3. The first point to ponder is that the previous individuals really never comprehended what the gift was really about.
a) Oh, they had their ideas and perceptions as to what opening such a gift would be like.
b) But they never really knew the true eternal value of what they had in their hands.
4. So, they put it aside and forgot about it, or figured they’d go dig through the back of the closet and find that gift if the need ever arose that they really needed it.
5. Sort of like fire insurance that you decide to buy when you start smelling smoke.
6. But the person who truly receives the gift is the one who genuinely “gets it!”
7. There may be some question about whether someone we know really has Christ living in them.
a) It is possible to fake people out and to fool them.
b) Looking at someone and trying to determine if they really “get it” and understand is not always easy.
8. Jesus, when trying to explain to His followers how to determine those who have truly received Him as the gift of eternal life, told us we need only look at the fruit.
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:15-16 (NIV)
Trans. We will know a tree by its fruit and so the true test as to whether or not someone has really received the God given gift is their fruitfulness, their productivity!
The second point to ponder is the idea of productivity.
9. According to the Bible, the final way to see if we have opened and embraced and “owned” the gift from God is whether or not we value it enough to share the good News with others!
a) Producing a crop hundreds of times over what we have received.
Conclusion: So here is the bottom line for you and me.
Are we reflecting the holiness of Christ these days?
Are we clothed in Christ as we go through our day?
Do people identify us as Christ-followers?
Are we openly sharing the gift with others?
Promo – Walk across the room, 7000 in 2007?
