The Gifts

PRAYER TIME

SLIDE 1 Christmas is over, a New Year has begun, and you survived. Now there are only 352 more shopping days till next Christmas. However, as you can see from the screen, I’m going to preach one more Christmas message. I’ve titled it “The Gifts of Christmas.”

We give and receive so many gifts from each other, but what does the birth of Jesus in a stable mean for us today? This morning I want to look at the gifts we receive because of Jesus.

SLIDE 2 Our text this morning is from John’s first epistle so turn with me to 1 John 1. This is not your typical Christmas passage. It doesn’t mention any shepherds, angels, or even a manger. Yet in this passage we learn an important lesson. What gifts do we receive with the birth of Jesus?

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete. (1 John 1:1-4)

SLIDE 3 The first gift we receive is the ability to see God.

John assures us that the baby born in stable and laid in a manger was God who came in the flesh and John has seen him.

The language John uses in the first two verses comes from the courts. You can picture him as a witness. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” As John sits down he’s asked what he knows about Jesus. To answer the question John starts from the beginning – the very beginning – “That which was from the beginning. . . .” He’s referring to Jesus. The Apostle John wrote this book – 1 John. He also wrote the gospel that bears his name. John describes Jesus in much the at the beginning of his gospel. SLIDE 4

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. SLIDE 5 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)

A little later John writes: SLIDE 6

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus is God who came in the flesh and we can know this because John says he saw him. And it wasn’t only John who saw him, many others did as well.

The shepherds saw him. After the angels left them they went to Bethlehem and found Joseph, Mary, and the baby lying in a manger just as they had been told. When Jesus was seven days old Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple to present him the Lord. While they were there Simeon saw him and immediately recognized who the baby really was. The magi saw him and worshiped him. The disciples saw him. John says they heard him, they saw him, and they even touched him.

Not everyone saw him though. I came across a story about a shepherd who lived two-thousand years ago. The story is about shepherd who was a young boy on that first Christmas night. Many years later as his grandson sat on his knee he recalled that night. “A long, long time ago, when I was a little more than a boy, I was out on the Judean hills one night with some other shepherds, keeping watch over the flock. And an angel of the Lord came upon us and the glory of the Lord shone roundabout us. And we were very afraid. But the angel said, ‘Fear not, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. You shall find the baby in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ ”

When he had said this the old man’s lips quivered and ceased to move and there was silence. Then the grandson turned and looked with wide, puzzled eyes into his grandfather’s face and asked, “But grandfather, is that all? What did you do when you heard the good news? Was what the angel said really true? Was the Christ child ever really born?”

The old shepherd sadly shook his white head and answered, “I never knew. I never went to see. Some say that it is all a myth. Others say they found in him. But for me I could never be quite sure because I never did go to see.”

I don’t know if there really was a shepherd who didn’t go see Jesus, but I do know because the Bible tells us that there were some people who knew of his birth but never went to see him. Matthew tells us that the religious leaders in Jerusalem didn’t go see him. They knew a child had been born and that it could be the Messiah, but they weren’t willing to go and see for themselves.

Every religion claims some sort of revelation from a supreme power. Buddhism depends on the profound insights gained by the Buddha during his moment of enlightenment while meditating under a tree. Hinduism looks to the Vedas passed on to the first man at the dawn of time. Islam says that the angel Gabriel dictated the very words of God to the prophet Muhammad. Mormons claim Joseph Smith found some golden tablets which the angel Moroni helped him translate into English. Christianity however, claims something very different. We didn’t just receive some words from God; God came to us in the form of a man. He was born to a virgin named Mary, did many miracles, was crucified, buried, three days later rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and one day he will return. These are events which took place in public and which are recorded by a number of witnesses – one of whom was John.

Jesus was in the beginning with God, in fact he was God, and all things came into existence through him. And then John tells us the evidence he has for knowing this – John heard him and touched him. John says he saw him. And again, it wasn’t just John; there were other eyewitnesses as well. Jesus appeared and John writes to give testimony to what he has experienced. Jesus is God in the flesh. God has been seen.

SLIDE 7 The second gift we receive is eternal life.

In verse 2 John calls Jesus “the eternal life.” In other words, Jesus doesn’t just have eternal life. Nor is Jesus just able to give eternal life. Instead, Jesus is eternal life. Therefore, if we want eternal life we must come to Jesus. The second gift of Christmas says that eternal life is found in Jesus Christ.

As I mentioned in the first sermon of this series there are some who have a hard time accepting the stories of Christmas. There are so many questions for which there are no answers. How can this young woman who says she’s never slept with a guy become pregnant? Even harder to explain, how can she become pregnant with the Son of God? Where did that star come from that led the magi to Jesus? And how could a star lead the men?

Because of these questions – and many more – some people just ignore these stories or accept them only as myths. They’re interesting stories that teach a lesson, but they don’t present truth we have to believe. They would rather not believe all the teachings and doctrines about Jesus and what they teach about salvation and eternal life. Instead, they’ll say all that really matters is a good life. Forget the doctrine, just live a good life. “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you try hard and live a good life.”

Do you know what that statement is called? It’s a called a doctrine. SLIDE 8 A doctrine is a principle or policy taught by a religion or government. I remember studying the Monroe doctrine in my high school American History class. At Bible College we talked about the doctrines of the Bible and the church. Doctrines help explain what we believe about different topics. This doctrine says that we really aren’t so bad as to need a Savior who will die for us. If we try really hard we’ll be able to do enough good stuff so that God will have to allow us into heaven. However, the story of Christmas says they’re wrong. Christmas says that eternal life is found only in Jesus because Jesus is eternal life. If we want heaven, salvation, and eternal life we must come to Jesus. We don’t have to be good enough. We don’t have to wait till we deserve it. God already loves us so much that he gave us his only Son.

Near the end of his gospel John tells us why he wrote it. SLIDE 9

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

John does the same at the end of this epistle – he tells us why wrote it. SLIDE 10

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

If you want eternal life it’s only found in Jesus.

SLIDE 11 The third gift we receive is fellowship with God.

To have fellowship is to know to someone. It includes a sharing of interests and companionship.

I remember the first time I met Mary Anne. I probably shouldn’t say that she doesn’t remember meeting me. She remembers the weekend, but not the day. We met in the Student Center during Freshman Orientation. We were introduced by Cindy, Mary Anne’s sister-in-law. I saw Mary Anne across the room and knew I wanted to get to know her. Cindy could have told me that Mary Anne was from Kingsport and graduated from Sullivan North. She could have told me that Mary Anne wanted to be a teacher and was going to major in Elementary Education. She could have given me lots of information about Mary Anne, but that’s not what I wanted. I wanted to talk to her and get to know her. I didn’t just want to know about her.

Jesus coming to the earth means that man can have a relationship with God. It means that we can get to know him. It’s more than just learning more about God, it means that we can have a personal relationship with the living God.

There was a church putting on a Christmas program that included a live manger scene. One of the shepherds was a 5-year-old boy. It’s not too hard to imagine the energy this small boy had. He was a handful. During rehearsals he was all over the place distracting everyone. He made the director into a nervous wreck. She was really worried about how he would do during the performance.

During rehearsals they had used a baby doll for baby Jesus, but during the play, the couple playing Joseph and Mary put their own baby in the manger. Only the little shepherd – who wasn’t paying attention – didn’t know it.

During the play, he started edging over to the manger. Suddenly he saw that it was a real, live baby and he shouted out, “He’s alive!”

That’s the story of Christmas. In the manger, in the form of a baby, God came to earth. Because of his birth, his death and his resurrection – you can know God. You can have a personal relationship with the Creator.

This was not the first time God visited people. God visited Adam and Eve in the cool of the day after they’d eaten from the tree of life and they hid. Moses heard God speaking to him from a burning and he was afraid. The people of Israel saw God descend on Mount Saini in the form of dark clouds, lightning, and smoke and they were terrified. After the temple was completed the glory of the Lord filled the temple, but the people weren’t allowed to go in and see.

Every time God visited his people in the Old Testament there were fear and trembling. But that has changed in Jesus. Jesus told the disciples: SLIDE 12

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9b)

Because of Jesus we can have a relationship with God.

Let me close with a story. An old man was excited because it was Christmas and because his grandson was visiting. It had been years since he had seen him. Early one morning as the old man was on his deck his little grandson came over and sat next to him. They talked about all kinds of things (school, baseball, frogs...) and then the young boy turned and asked, “Granddad can you tell me about Christianity?” He was studying it at school in a history class. Unfortunately the child had never heard about it at home. By this time, at least in that part of the world, Christianity was nothing more than a relic of the past.

So the old man began his grandson about Christ. He told how when he was young many churches dotted the landscape. He told the boy about how Jesus was God, and how he came to forgive our sins. And he told him about how people back then talked about having a relationship with God.

The old man told his grandson about how a relationship with Christ not only brought forgiveness of sins, but how it transformed people’s lives. He said, “People who had a relationship with Christ had a living hope inside them that nothing could put out – not even death. They had a joy like you’ve never seen. It was almost a stubborn joy that did not bend no matter what happen. I’ve been told that these people could loose their jobs, watch loved ones die, and even battle disease and still they were joyful. They were somehow able to rejoice in spite of suffering. And they say they had a peace that just transcends this world and passes understanding. The way I heard it told these people never worried anything; about food, clothes, or where they were going to live. They said they didn’t need to because they claimed their Father in heaven knew what they needed and promised to provide.

“They say that this God sent his own Spirit to live inside them and that he gave them the power to overcome sin and beat temptation. And because of this Christ, they were able to be content whether they had a little or a lot, whether they were cold or naked, whether they were living in plenty or in want.

“And anytime they wanted to, through something they called prayer they were able to walk right into the very throne of their God. And they say their God even wrote them a book they called the Bible. In it were the very words of God on how to take hold of life that is really life. They always talked of a place called heaven, some mansion in the sky or something that this Jesus was preparing for them. They said it was a place with no tears, sorrow, pain, death or disease.”

The little boy was on the edge of his seat and eyes were more opened now. “Granddad, tell me, is it true? Could this Jesus really do all that? Could you really have a relationship with God?”

The old man’s face dropped, and look came to face that spoke of lost dreams and tears rolled from his eyes. “I don’t know son. I never did go and see for myself.”

We talk about God, but do you really know God? Are you content to just know about God or do you want to know him personally? Are you content to just know some things about Jesus, or have you placed your faith in him? Too many would rather receive the things God gives us than have God in their lives? Do you know Jesus? Is he your Savior and Lord?