Presents

Introduction

The countdown to Christmas is almost over. Two more days and a wake-up, that’s it. I hope that throughout this December so far, you have found it easier to focus on Jesus rather than on the stress. If anything, this series has reminded me several times to focus on what is most important in this time. I have caught myself several times in the beginning stages of stress and worry, but I’ve been reminded that the goal of the season is not to always be happy or for everything to be perfect, the goal for me this season as a Christian, is to rejoice in the fact that God sent His only begotten Son to this world to be born so that we could be forgiven and enter into a relationship with God as our Father.

The goal for this series is to help each of us to continue to remember the true meaning of Christmas throughout this season, and to help us communicate that with our children, our families, and those that are in our other circles.

In this series, The Trappings of Christmas, we have looked at several things that are very typical of this season, and pointed out ways that they can be used to remind us to focus on different aspects of Jesus and to help us communicate the Gospel with others during this season as well.

The Trappings of Christmas

Decorations and Music - Just like they serve to remind us that Christmas is coming, they can help us to remember not only that the day that we set apart to celebrate the birth of our Savior is coming, but also to remind us that He is coming back for us someday.

The Christmas Tree - The most iconic of all the Christmas decorations. The Christmas tree helps us to remember that there is everlasting life in Jesus Christ. It also tells us about Jesus Himself. Just like the tree does not belong in the house, Jesus, who belonged in heaven, came to this world where he was not in a welcoming environment. He came, however, to show us the Father, but ultimately to die on a cross and take upon himself the curse and punishment of our sins so that we could then be reconciled with God the Father through His sacrifice. The tree reminds us that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and that God as God in the flesh, He suffered for our sins.

Christmas Lights - Then last week we briefly saw that the lights of Christmas represent Jesus being the light of the world. Can you imagine Christmas time without the lights? It’s crazy to think about. It’s the same with Jesus. The world without Jesus is a dark, dark place. We were lost in our sins without Him, but he came to show us the way to the Father. Light reveals. Jesus, as the light, revealed to mankind the character of God in an experiential manner. When you read the stories of the Old Testament, you can see God’s character at play. But we see those things after already being familiar with the New Testament. This is what often gets people stuck on God’s character - those that do not know the Bible, read stories of the Old Testament and think of God as mean and vengeful and unloving in His dealings with mankind. But as we study the whole context, and as we look at Jesus revealing in more detail God’s character through His life, we can look back at the Old Testament and see God’s dealings with Israel and every other nation as God being king, merciful, loving, long-suffering, holy, just, good, and righteous.

Jesus as the light revealed the personality and character of God the Father to the world, but He also revealed the way to salvation from sins. As Jesus taught, he showed that he would be the sacrifice for sins, and as He hung on the cross, dying for the sins of the world, that light was lifted up so that all could see that there is salvation in none other than Jesus Christ.

++Presents - And now we get to the last thing. Presents! Who doesn’t like presents? There are a few people, I’m sure, but that is the exception, not the rule. Since the beginning of time, the act of giving gifts has been used as a sign of love, care, respect, and/or admiration to others. On the flip side, the act of refusing someone’s gift is a sign of disdain, disrespect, and/or ingratitude toward the giver.

Presents, gifts, have been a part of Christmas since the fourth century when December 25th was established as the day to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Again, this is just a day chosen to commemorate the event of jesus’ birth, not His actual birthday. Before this time, there was a practice in ancient Rome of exchanging gifts during the feasts of Saturnalia. This was a pagan celebration that took place on December 17th. By the time Jesus came to earth, the celebrations lasted not only a day, but had been expanded to last until the 23rd of December. This festival of holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, a false god that the Romans worshipped, and then a public banquet followed by private gift giving. This celebration, as it evolved, turned into a carnival type atmosphere. There was continual partying throughout the holiday and social norms were overturned. Gambling, which was publicly frowned upon, was permitted during the feasts, and during this time, masters would serve food to their slaves, and slaves were allowed to disrespect their masters without fear of repercussions. Freedom of speech was permitted during this time to both freemen and slaves. One ancient Roman philosopher wrote, “December is the time of freedom.”

Because of these practices, there have been many that say that we should not give gifts during Christmas. In fact, there are some that even advocate never celebrating Christmas because of this festival.

To that, I have a couple of things to point out, things we can dive more deeply into in the Life Groups, if needed. We celebrate Christmas VERY differently than the celebration of Saturnalia. And because it is, for Christians, a celebration of the coming of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and not a celebration of selfishness and pleasure seeking, we have no reason to be doubt whether celebrating Christmas is a good thing for us to participate in or not.

So, in our practice of Christmas, what do we do it for? If we celebrate Christmas for the Lord, then do it, and go all out without doubting whether or not we as Christians should celebrate something that might remotely be connected to a pagan feast. Why? Because our celebration points to and worships Jesus. We remember Jesus when we cut down the tree and bring it in the house. We decorate it and make it the center piece of our Christmas decorations. We sting lights and lighted decorations around the tree and around the house. Lights that point us to remember that Jesus is the light of the world and that we are little lights, lighting up the world with the Gospel wherever we go.

Some may put an angel upon their tree, remembering it was the angels that first announced Jesus birth to Mary, to Joseph, and to the shepherds. Others may top their tree with a star, remembering that it was a start that led the caravan of wisemen to the city of Bethlehem to worship Jesus and bring Him gifts.

If you have questions about it, I encourage you to stick around for Life Group time where we can enter into a discussion about it a little bit further. For now though, let’s jump into our last topic in this series, The Trappings of Christmas.

Presents

We give gifts, presents to others during this time. Not symbolizing the offerings or sacrifices that some false god was worshipped with, but in remembrance of the gifts that God gives us on a daily basis, but mostly remembering the gift of salvation that we have through the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

While others may bemoan the Christmas enterprise, we as Christians have much to remember when it comes to the practice of giving and receiving presents, even in the wrapping or presenting of gifts.

Today, for the time remaining, I want to look at how presents can remind us about Jesus and about God the Father.

In the months of October and November, we went through a series called “Teach Us to Pray.” This series, so far, has taken us through most of what is commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer. And in case you had forgotten, we still have not finished that series, and we will pick it back up on January 5th.

But the first thing that we learned as we study the Model Prayer, is that Jesus instructs His disciples to refer to and approach God as “Father.”

Later in the Sermon on the Mount, which the Model Prayer is a part of, Jesus says this:

Matthew 7:9–11 (KJV 1900)

9 What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

One of the things that we must realize is that all blessings, all gifts come from God.

All Blessings Come from God

One of the characteristics of a loving and caring father is that he gives gifts.

Look at James 1:17.

James 1:17 KJV 1900

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

EVERY good and perfect gift comes from God. We sing a song called 10,000 Reasons, but if we were to count every little thing that sustains us throughout the day we would exhaust 10,000 reasons by noon just by counting each breath. For those doing quick math out there, that should inform you that the average person takes 20,000 breaths a day. EVERY BREATH is a gift from God, every bodily function, every time we blink our eyes and open them to see that we still have sight. Every time our eardrums vibrate and those messages are sent to the brain that interprets them as sound, every blessing is a gift from God. If we are to have the heart of the our heavenly Father, then Christians should be the most generous people in the world!

Every time we pray and God gives us peace, and direction, and joy, and strength, we need to see those for what they are - gifts; presents.

God’s Gifts throughout the Bible

I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon that since the beginning of time, gifts have been a way of showing love and care to others. I was not exaggerating at all. A while back ago we studied together the book of Genesis. We saw some amazing things in the very first chapter alone - God creating the world and all that is in it. But then, in chapter 2, we see the very first gift for man. God creates again, this time on a smaller scale. He makes a beautiful garden in which every tree that is good to eat from is placed, and there in the Garden of Eden, God places Adam. Adam’s first responsibility is to name all the animals, and as he is naming these animals, he realizes that though the animals may be amazingly created and some of the very majestic, none of them are suitable to be his mate. So three in the garden, God gives Adam a second gift, divine anesthesia! Just kidding, but not really, God does put Adam to sleep and does it for the purpose of surgery. God takes from Adam one of his ribs and around that rib, God forms the first woman, Eve, God’s second gift for Adam.

This gift was more than a gift of a spouse, this gift was the gift of a friend, the gift of relationship, the gift of a family.

God gives the first marriage the gift of His friendship as well, walking regularly with them throughout the Garden.

God also gives this family another gift - the gift of boundaries. God instructs Adam and Eve that they can eat of whatever tree they want except one, the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

And in chapter three, Adam and Eve cross that boundary and sin enters into the world. They are condemned to die spiritually because of their sin. They are separated from God, who is holy, and their relationship with Him suffers. They are ashamed, filled with guilt.

But when God comes to confront them about their sin, God gives them another gift - the gift of a promise of redemption. This gift is in the form of a prophecy that one day, God would send His Son to be born of a virgin, and that Son would die and shed His blood. His body would be broken and His blood would be spilled out to not only cover, but take away the sins of the world. In making this promise, God killed a lamb so that Adam and Eve could cover the shame of their nakedness with its skins.

The gifts kept on coming. God chose an old man named Abraham with the gift of children. These descendant of his would become a nation, the nation of Israel, and it would be this nation that God would use to accomplish the promise that He had given Adam and Eve at the beginning. A young virgin girl named Mary would one day be born into this people, and it was she that gave birth to Jesus.

And in giving us Jesus, God gave the gift of salvation.

The Gift of Salvation

And Salvation through Jesus is the ultimate gift from God. John 3:16

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Why do we need salvation?

That is a good question, and one that needs asking. Why do we need salvation? From what do we need saving?

We notice that in John 3:16 it says that there are those who are “perishing,” but who is perishing? Well, that answer is given in the next few verses. John 3:17-19

John 3:17–19 (KJV 1900)

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

[“Saved from what?” you might ask…]

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

[And again, you might ask, “Why is there condemnation?”]

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Well, the reason there is condemnation is because of our evil deeds. Another word for that is “sin.” The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned, and I do not think that there is one, single, honest person that would disagree with that.

Romans 3:23 KJV 1900

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

We’ve all sinned. And because of our sin, we fall short of God’s glory. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they had regular walks with God in the Garden of Eden. They fellowshipped with Him and had His companionship. The reason they were able to do that was because they were sinless and righteous, just as God was. They were clean, and could stand in God’s holy presence without fear.

But the moment they sinned, they fell short of that standard. They fell from that position. They lost their innocence, and they lost their standing with God. It broke their relationship. Sin caused them to not be able to be in God’s presence anymore. And sin entered into the world because of Adam, and passed on to every person since then. We are all sinners who fall short of God’s glory.

Because of that, we deserve to be separated from God. Sin deserves a punishment, and since God is a perfectly just God, then He is obligated by His nature to deal out justice to sinners. What is the just payment for sin?

Romans 6:23 (KJV 1900)

23 For the wages of sin is death;

[Death, separation from God for all eternity, paying a price of punishment for our sin, and that price is an eternity in a lake of fire.

But today we are talking about presents. Today we are talking about gifts. Look at the rest of that verse.]

but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God gives the gift of eternal life - salvation from the eternal death in the lake of fire.

The Wrapping

There are some people, like me, that don’t give a lot of thought to wrapping paper. To others, it means a lot. The presentation of a gift is an important part of that gift. As a kid, you probably did not care how a gift was wrapped. As soon as Christmas came and the presents were handed to you, that wrapping paper became a thing of the past. The only time you cared about wrapping paper as a kid was if someone had used that horrible kind of wrapping paper that doesn’t tear easily.

Normally, I do not care to really wrap presents. I think gift bags are the greatest thing ever! But more and more I am appreciating the wrapping of a gift. When you are handed a gift and the wrapping is crisp and neat, and there is a hand made bow tied onto it, if you are me, part of you wonders why someone would go through all that trouble for something that is just going to get ripped apart, and the other part notices it and thinks, “Wow, somebody really cared enough to go through all that trouble to make this look nice.”

Well, as we read a while ago, the gift of eternal life comes wrapped up in something very special. It comes wrapped in Jesus. “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The gift of salvation comes wrapped up in a very special wrapping and that is Jesus.

And to reveal that gift, Jesus had to be ripped to shreds.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to earth as a baby boy born to a virgin girl named Mary. There was no room in any of the inns, so he was born in a stable in the city of Bethlehem. There, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. This was the gift of God for all mankind. This was the gift of eternal life. In Him, in Jesus, is life, and the life was the light of men.

IN Jesus is where life is found. But for that life to be able to be accepted by men, the wrapping had to be torn, had to be ripped apart. And that is exactly what happened with Jesus. Around the age of 33, Jesus was falsely accused and arrested. He was sentenced to die even though he had committed no crime, even though he had never even committed a sin. The whole host of heavenly angels were at His command, and at anytime Jesus could have called thousand upon thousands of them to rescue Him, but He did no such thing.

Instead, he quietly listened to the lies that were told about him and only answered a few questions. Then, he was beaten and whipped so severely that his flesh began to be r=come off his body in ribbons. He was taken to a place called Calvary, and there, Roman soldiers nailed him to a cross. The Bible tells us that at that point, he was barely even recognizable as a man.

As he hung there on that cross, he suffered physically for the sins of man, but he also took upon himself the wrath of God for the sins of all mankind, past, present, and future. There, the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV 1900

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Jesus, as much as He was God in the flesh, became sin in the flesh. And upon Himself rained down the wrath of God. God, being a just God, cannot let sin go unpunished. For Jesus to be able to offer forgiveness of sins, someone had to pay the cost of God’s wrath, so Jesus did. So that we could be made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.

Right before He breathed His last breath, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” The payment was complete, the cost had been covered, the debt for mankind’s sin had been satisfied.

And there on that Cross, Jesus died. He was taken down and placed in a tomb. And three days later, Jesus, God in the flesh, demonstrated that He is God and that He does have power over even death, and rose again from the grave. He is the ONLY way to salvation. Salvation comes wrapped in nobody else but Jesus.

Acts 4:12 KJV 1900

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

The Conditions for God’s Gifts

As soon as Thanksgiving Day ends, a phenomenal thing happens in the kids that believe in Santa Claus - they begin to worry about their behavior in a way they have not worried about it in nearly a year. They have to be as good as they can to hopefully outweigh the bad days that they had throughout the last year. And why is that? Because Santa has a naughty and nice list, and if you are good enough, you will make it onto the nice list and get the presents that you asked for.

It is a little different with God. God does have a naughty and nice list too. And as we saw earlier, we are, all of us, on the naughty list. The people on the naughty list do not get a lump of coal, however. As we also saw earlier, they are punished forever in a lake of fire. And since nobody can meet the conditions of perfection on their own, God sent His son, Jesus, to pay the price of sin.

There is no behavioral condition for this gift of salvation. Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8 (KJV 1900)

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

There is no way we can receive this gift by our behavior. Ephesians 2:8-9

Ephesians 2:8–9 KJV 1900

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

But there is a condition to receiving this gift of salvation.

The condition of acceptance

The condition is that you accept His gift through faith. John 1:11-12

John 1:11–12 (KJV 1900)

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

God gives man the ability to choose. God, being all righteous and all just, does not force Himself on anyone. He invites all men to repent and to be saved. It is about believing in Jesus as God who came in the flesh and died for your sins, rising again on the third day. It is about repenting of your sins and turning to Jesus, and Jesus alone, for the forgiveness of sin. And it is about asking Him to save you and forgive you.

When you do that, the Bible tells us that “Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

This is what Christmas is all about - God sending His only begotten Son to be born so that He would grow up as a man, and then take the sins of all people upon himself and pay for that price so that the world through Him might be saved.

Invitation

Life Groups

How many have heard that we should not celebrate Christmas because it originates from pagan practices?

Saturnalia was a time to worship a false god. The celebrations were raucous and with much drinking devolved quickly into chaos - entertainment and pleasure being the key focuses during that holiday. Christmas, though celebrated in proximity to the time that Saturnalia took place, at its core is a worship of the one, true God who gave His only begotten Son to save mankind from sin and set them free.

The second thing is something that the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the believers in Rome. In Romans chapter 14, Paul addresses some very important things.

Romans 14:1–2 (KJV 1900)

1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

[Paul instructs the believers in the church at Rome to receive other believers that may not have as strong of a faith as them. He calls these believers weak in the faith. And he instructs the church to receive these believers, but not to be argumentative with them.

If we read that verse alone, we might wonder, “Why would there be arguments between weak and strong Christians?” Well, we see an example of it in the next verse.]

2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

Paul is addressing in this chapter what to do when sincere Christians disagree about personal practices.

Paul recognizes that in each congregation there are strong/mature believers and weak/immature believers. These two groups often disagree on how Christians are to live.

One of the things that was problematic was that at the markets where you would buy food in Rome, most of the meat had been sacrificed to idols. There were some Christians that bought this meat, took it home and consumed it with their families without a second thought about it. But for others, it was problematic. They knew that it had been sacrificed to idols, so they did not believe that it was right for them to partake of such things. After all, didn’t Daniel and his three friends abstain from the king’s meat in Daniel chapter 1 because it had been offered up to idols? Yes, they did. So these believers, being surrounded by meat that had been sacrificed to idols, chose just to not eat meat at all and become vegetarians.

But I want you to note that it is this group of believers that Paul calls “weak in the faith.” It is the group of Christians that eat of the meat freely that Paul calls “strong in the faith,” and he would include himself in that description in Romans 15:1.

Because this is not a sermon on the depths of this amazing chapter, I want to fast forward to verse 14 and give you Paul’s reasoning of this and then turn it and apply it to our current study.

Romans 14:14 (KJV 1900)

14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Paul is not speaking about his personal beliefs that he made up. He has this belief and teaches it in this manner because he has been convinced by the Lord Jesus that in and of itself, no single thing is unclean. He holds to this because he writes in verse 9 that Jesus died and rose again and is now the Lord of both the living and the dead. “However,” he continues, “If you esteem it to be unclean; if you are uneasy about participating in something that seems like you shouldn’t, then don’t.”

Paul has two general rules to determine whether Christians should partake in something or not. The first is, “Am I doing this to the Lord?” Romans 14:6

Romans 14:6 KJV 1900

6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Am I doing this to the Lord, for the Lord’s glory? That is test one. Can I honestly say that God is receiving the glory when I participate in this celebration or if I eat this food?

Test number two is, “Will this stand the test of Jesus’ judgment? Romans 14:10b-12

Romans 14:10–12 KJV 1900

10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

When I meet Jesus and stand before Him to give an account of what I did with my life, will this pass His judgment?

To determine that, you need to have personal conversation with God. Because everything that we do (including eating and drinking), according to 1 Corinthians 10:31, should be done to the glory of God. So if I am not sure, I should pray about it and seek God’s council on such things.

There is quite a bit more to this chapter, including the motivations of faith, selfishness, spite, and our influence over other Christians, but all those would fall under one of these two tests.