What gifts did you get this Christmas?
I want you to think about the gifts you received this morning. Did you get what you wanted? Did you get what you expected? Gifts are funny things. They come wrapped in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Each gift is held back and kept hidden until just the right time. Then the gifts are placed under a tree for safekeeping. But gifts are funny things.
When the people of the nation of Israel contemplated her salvation, they had specific expectations as to how things would look and be. They didn't understand God's timing, and they didn't understand why he seemed so far away and silent for so long a time. And when salvation came near, it didn't appear as anyone imagined. No one imagined that God's salvation would come wrapped in cloth, lying in a manger.
But that is what's funny about God. He isn't bound by our expectations and desires. He acts freely, and gives generously according to his set purpose and foreknowledge, according to his infinite wisdom and grace. He gives what's needed, and not always what's desired.
Sometimes we're not very excited about the gifts we receive. It's true. "Oh boy! A flashlight... more socks... another Christmas sweater!" Sometimes we get bitter and quietly stew, "I deserve more!" Other times we get jealous. "He got something better than I did."
Often we just get sad. "I thought this gift would make me happy. I thought this gift would change my life." The worst is when we flat out reject a gift. "I hate it. I don't want it. Where's the gift receipt?"
This morning, I want us to contemplate a single verse. Ephesians 4:7-8 (NIV) says, "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: 'When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.' "
Every single one of us has been given grace.
When Christ ascended he,
"gave gifts to his people." Think what a valiant effort you've made to give everyone you know a gift. Our church worked hard to buy gifts for everyone we knew of who was in need. Even the United States Marines marshaled all their might to provide toys for tots.
What
Ephesians 4:7-8 teaches is that God has given every one of us gifts. No one has been left out. God's gifts are available to all who would believe, and to all who would receive them. Think about that!
John 1:12 (NIV) says as much.
"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
John R. Rice said, "You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father's face and tell him you have received his Christmas gift."
But we've been given not just one gift, but many!
First, Christ himself is a gift.
John 3:16 (NIV) says, "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." Romans 6:23 (NIV) says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Corrie Ten Boom said, "Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that he gave his only Son. The only requirement is to believe in him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life."
Second, God's Spirit is a gift.
In John 4:10 (NIV) Jesus is explaining the gift of the Holy Spirit to the woman at the well. Her life had been ravaged by her own sin and by the sin of others. Jesus says to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
So many of our gifts wear out, or break, or rust. Most of the gifts we've gotten through the years have been put in storage or buried in landfills. But God's gifts are everlasting. God gives us eternal life and the forgiveness of sin. When God gives his Holy Spirit, it isn't some fleeting drink of water. His Spirit is like living water, ever-lasting water; a drink that restores and renews and invigorates us for all eternity!
In
Acts 1:4 after Christ ascended into heaven, we find the Church waiting to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In
Acts 2:38 (NIV) Peter preaches,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
In Christ, God forgives us our sins and grants us eternal life. But by the power of God's Holy Spirit, he transforms our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. Though outwardly we waste away, inwardly God is renewing us day by day with ever increasing glory, so we will be like him. We will be holy and righteous, without blemish and fault.
The gifts we exchange fail to change us, but God's gifts change us for all eternity. Forgiveness of sin through the Son. Freedom from the power of sin through the Holy Spirit! Eternal life for all who believe.
Third, God also gives us spiritual gifts.
He grants us special abilities and talents with which to serve one another. I suspect many of you gave some pretty good gifts this morning, extravagant gifts, generous gifts. But one of the greatest gifts you can give others is yourself. It's not how you spend your money, it's how you spend yourself.
In 1 Timothy 4:14 (NIV) Paul tells Timothy, "Do not neglect your gift..." In 1 Peter 4:10-11 (NIV) Peter tells the Church, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."
You are God's gift to others! You are part of the body of Christ! We have the capacity to put the grace of God on display by what we say and do. How amazing is that? We can be forgiven in Christ, we can be transformed by the Spirit, and we can be God's gift to others as part of the body of Christ, the Church!
The essence of Christmas is that Christ wants to lead us and to be Lord over us.
Ephesians 4:8 describes Christ leading captives in his train. This is the essence of Christmas, that Christ wants to lead us! He desires to be Lord over all our heart, mind, body, and soul. He desires to govern our relationships. He desires that his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Christmas isn't just about the birth of a savior, it marks the birth of a movement of the kingdom of God, the Church of which we're all a part.
Some of the gifts you unwrapped this morning won't matter a month from now. But the gifts of God, and the gift we are to be to others, will matter for all eternity.
Vance Havner said, "Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man– his unspeakable gift of His Son... (but it's also about) the gift of man to God– (as) we present our bodies as a living sacrifice."
This is our spiritual act of worship! That we'd give ourselves freely to God as he has given himself to us!