Unwrap Jesus And See The Gift Series

There are many ways to look at Christmas, depending on who you are and where you are:

1. For the retail merchant, it looks like up to one-third of his annual income.

2. For the atheist and agnostic, it’s a time for parties—revelry--fun and games and the escape from the drudgery of life’s routine.

3. For the church groupies—the unsaved religionists that populate so many of our churches, it’s a time to flaunt their religion without personal commitments beyond the holidays.

4. For the believers—those one who truly know Jesus as their personal savior… and those who know him as a guide and source of life, morality, and ultimate satisfaction—to us, Christmas is a time to reflect on the greatest gift that has ever been given: Eternal and abundant life, free for the taking… all paid for by…

• A God who loves us enough to die for us;

• A God who was not satisfied simply to take our sin away, but also

• A God who wrapped us in his own goodness—his own righteousness—just so he could fully embrace us in his love… and continue to bless us beyond belief.

That’s the real Christmas.

And it didn’t start in Bethlehem.

That was just the public announcement—the delivery of a promise made so long ago.

It started in eternity past—before God laid the foundations of this earth.

As the New Living Testament expresses it in Ephesians 1:4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us… and chose us in Christ to be holy—(set aside and dedicated to him)--and without fault in his eyes.

5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

Just think; God took great pleasure in giving us salvation through Jesus as our Christ.

To God, the abuse, the suffering, the cruel death of Jesus on the cross, was worth it all, because through it he adopted us into his own family—forever!

Some years ago, a missionary in a small coastal village in East Africa was explaining to kids, who never had anything of their own, why believers give gifts to each other on Christmas day.

"The gift,” she said, “is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other."

When Christmas came, one little boy brought the teacher a unique and a very beautiful seashell.

She asked, "Where on earth did you ever find such a beautiful shell?"

”There’s only one place,” the lad said, and he named an isolated bay several miles away.

So taken by the beauty of the little shell and how far the child had to go to get it, she finally stammered: "Why ... why, it’s gorgeous ... wonderful, but you shouldn’t have gone all that way to get the gift for me."

His dark eyes brightened to match the beam of his smile as he explained, "Long walk part of gift."

Each step of the way, the child anticipated the joy his gift would bring as he trudged the many miles to bring it back.

God, also delighted to make the long trip from heaven to Bethlehem—

• From the splendor of paradise to a dingy, dark manger;

• From that hay-filled stable to a cross;

• From that rugged cross to a borrowed tomb;

• And from that grave back to heaven.

And we ask, "Why all this trouble, God?"

And our ever-loving Father replies, "Long walk part of gift."

Since God has gone to all of that trouble, how much effort have we made…

• To explore this gift that he has given,

• To find out what all it means to us,

• To ingest it… digest it… and invest it in our own lives?

Or, is your gift still wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger?

Let’s unwrap this gift and see just what we have!

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past (in the Old Testament) to the fathers by the prophets,

Back then, each generation had to have a new revelation. Like an unassembled puzzle, God revealed himself a piece at a time gradually putting his picture together.

2 has in these last days (in the New Testament) spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

God is fully revealed in the person of Jesus our Christ.

There is no need for, nor will there ever be, any other revelation… other than what we have in Jesus himself. Why? Read on:

3 who being the brightness (the flashing forth from the very source of light) of His glory and the express (or exact) image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,