Regifting: Sharing is Caring

Build Connection

Can I be honest with you all and let you know that I have already lost one of the gifts I was given for Christmas.

I also have to admit that it is only because I am not the best golfer!

Have you ever recieved a gift that you thought “what am I suppose to do with this?” I’m sure we all have. I am also sure we have all recieved a gift that we were excited to receive but kept it to ourselves, we didn’t share it with anyone. My parents, when I was young, gave me socks and underwear in my stocking, something I didn’t share with anyone!

But the best gifts are the one’s we can share with others. Not one’s we brag about to others, but one we share with others.

Create Tension

We have all recieved a gift that we are suppose to give to others. Not because we don’t want it anymore, but because it is too valuable to keep to ourselves.

Provide Solution

I am finishing up my series “Unwrapping the Gift” but this final message is not so much about the gift we have been given but about what we will do with it! Some gifts are to be shared.

Ephesians 2:8–9

“8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

Here we see salvation is a free gift.

Every Christmas the church gives it’s deacons and ministry leaders a gift. It is a free gift in that they don’t have to pay for it, but it is given to them because they have served our church in many ways. Unlike the gift we give to our leaders, what we get from God is not a result of the good things we have done!

Consider it this way, it’s more like you giving your best gift to your enemy!

Romans 5:10

“10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.”

The gift of salvation was given to us, not when we were his friends, but while we were his enemies!

When was the last time you gave a valuable gift to someone you considered an enemy?

Yet this is what God did,

God gave his most valuable gift to his enemies in a desire to make them his friends!

Colossians 1:19–21

“19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.”

God wants to win over his enemies, and he wants his friends, who used to be his enemies, to help him!

You have a job to do, what is that job?

2 Corinthians 5:11–21

“11 Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Verse 20 says “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us!”

Because we are Christ’s ambassadors we need to ask a couple questions.

What is an ambassador?

An official representative assigned to a foreign country that works for the benefit of their home country.

As a follower of Christ you are an official representative of Christ to a world that is not our home.

1 Peter 2:9–11

“9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” 11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.

While we are on this earth, we are foreigners, this is not our home. So we are ambassadors!

What does an ambassador do?

An ambassador simply promotes the values and advances the cause of his home country.

Hebrews 13:14 “14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.”

Philippians 3:20 “20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.”

This world is not our true home, if we are citizens of a different place, we should be working to promote the values and advance the cause of heaven!

If you are serving the values and cause of where you now live, you are not serving the values and cause of Heaven!

An ambassador’s first priority is how to serve the best interest of their home country.

It is not how to make the country they reside in more comfortable.

Vs 18 says, And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.

We have a task as an ambassador to reconciling people to God!

This is done by seeing they are separated from God by their sin and he has the free gift of salvation for them!

Encourage Change

Do you see yourself as a resident here on earth?

Do you see yourself as a foreigner but nothing more?

Do you see yourself as an ambassador with work to do while you live apart from your native home?