For You... With Love... -God
Advent 2021 • Sermon • Submitted
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In a Dennis the Menace cartoon, Dennis is shown rushing into the room with this big box, and as his mom turns around her mouth drops open as Dennis says, "Mom, we’d better tell Santa Claus to forget about the train that I asked for. I just found one exactly like I want on the top shelf of Dad’s closet."
Oh Dennis.
Well, it is that time of year again, when stores hope that the gift buying season will turn their leggers from red to black. Shoppers seek out sales to try to stretch every dollar to get gifts for friends and loved ones. And children begin the count down to the big day when they can open the bright and shinny packages under the tree.
As for me, every year there is one Christmas gift that means more to me than any other. Every year I get the same thing. It doesn’t come in a shiny box, nor is it delivered by Amazon.
My favorite and most precious Christmas gift is God’s love expressed through the giving of His Son- Jesus.
Read with me 1 John 4:9 (NIV),
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
Christmas is celebrated often with the sending of cards and the giving of gifts, and as Dr. David Jeremiah shares,
“Christianity itself is all about receiving and giving gifts. God is full of grace. He always is bestowing gifts. Jesus is a gift, all wrapped up in swaddling clothes. Salvation is not something we have to earn or deserve, it's a gift, all wrapped up in the empty grave clothes of Jesus Christ. And the Christian life in the world is also about God's gifts…”
Friends,
1. This Christmas, may we appreciate God’s expression of His love for us through the gift of His Son.
You know, one of the travesties of formalized religion is how often people go about its rituals and traditions without ever personally experiencing God’s love. This book, (hold up a Bible) is not a manual for formalized religion. It is a love story. God’s love story. The story of how He lovingly created humanity, His children, and this beautiful world for us to live in. How we chose to disobey and turn away from His love to pursue our own selfish and sinful agendas. Our sin separates us from God’s goodness, but driven by His great- immense- immeasurable love for us God crafted a way back.
In Jeremiah 31:3 He declares,
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love and drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
And so God revealed His plan to restore our relationship with Him. He gave us promises through the Old Testament prophets. Like in Isaiah 9:6 (NIV),
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
And then in Isaiah 7:14,
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
And so in John 1 the love story continues as God’s plan unfolds with the incredible gift of Emanuel- God with us.
John 1:14, 16-18 (NIV)
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.
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
That first Christmas- God revealed His love for the world in spectacular fashion. The indescribable God became one of us. So that he could one day suffer and die and pay the eternal consequence for your sin and mine. Because the indescribable creator God, who knows each star by name, also knows your name and loves you passionately. He loves you completely.
Watch this (play spoken word piece I played for the youth group – https://youtu.be/3s01D6_514c)
{Or if you don’t want to use the video you can add this instead… (or do both)
And so, because of His passionate love, Jesus- Emmanuel- God with us, chose to die on the cross for you and for me to give us the free gift of salvation as Ephesians 1:6-9, 2:8 reveals,
to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
“To the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ…
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”
What a gift!}
I pray that you may come to fully appreciate God’s love this Christmas as you celebrate Emanuel- God with us.
We must however, do more than just appreciate God’s love…
2. This Christmas, may we also accept God’s gift of love.
I heard the following story about a pastor from Kansas who while driving passed a station wagon that had luggage tied on the top of it.
“As he was nearing the station wagon, one of the pieces of luggage fell off. The pastor stopped to pick it up. But by the time he had gathered up the luggage, the car that had carried it had already passed out of sight, and he wasn't able to track it and catch up with it. He took the suitcase home, and opened it, hoping to find a clue as to who it might belong. But the only thing in the suitcase that had any markings on it was a little white box with old rubber bands around it, and inside that little box was a $20 gold piece between two layers of cotton. On one side of the gold piece were the words, "Twenty years of loyal faithful service". And on the other side, it read, "Presented to Otis Sampson by Northwestern States Portland Cement Company".
Well, the preacher who had found it decided that he would track down the owner. So he wrote letters to 75 cities in the northwest, seeking to find out who this particular person might be. Finally, he got a letter back, and the letter said that Sampson had formerly been employed, but had recently retired, and he was given his address. The preacher wrote to Mr. Sampson and told him that he had found the suitcase, and he got an immediate reply. Sampson told the preacher to dispose of all the stuff in the suitcase, with the exception of the gold piece, and he asked if he would send the gold piece back to him, for it was his most precious possession.
The preacher answered his letter, enclosed the gold piece, but also used the opportunity to tell him of his most precious possessions. He told him how his family had become so dear to him, how precious life had become to him because he had been brought up safely from the war. And then he went on to say in this letter that while those things were precious, the most precious possession that he had in his life was Jesus Christ. And he told a whole story of his relationship with Jesus Christ, mailed the letter to Sampson with a stamp on the outside and a prayer on the inside.
Almost a year later, at Christmas time, the preacher received a box. Inside this box was a little white box. Surrounding that little white box was a rubber band, and inside this little white box was the same $20 gold piece, and a letter from the man who owned it. And this is part of what that letter said. ‘Last Sunday, my wife and I were baptized in a little church here in Colorado. We want you to have my gold piece to carry with you at all times. We are two old people, and you are the first one to tell us of Jesus Christ. Now, he is our most precious possession.’”
Is Jesus your most precious possession? When we see a nativity scene we are reminded for a moment about God’s gift of love. We may think about it, hear it sung on the radio, and even listen to a Christmas sermon about it -for what seems like the hundredth time in our lives- but do we live as though Jesus- Emmanuel- is our most precious possession? Do we really act like it? Do we worship Him, do we allow God’s love and passion for us to ignite our love for Him?
As Dr. Jeremiah asks,
“Do we ever worship him, and let him know that he means more to us than anything we have, anyone we know? He is our most precious possession. Christmas is about anticipating the gift and appreciating it. But more than anything else, it's about accepting the gift. How many of you know that a gift unaccepted is not a gift? The gift of God in Jesus Christ only becomes a gift when you receive it, when you accept it.”
The beauty of this gift of God’s love is that it is even better when it is shared.
3. This Christmas, may we share God’s gift of love with those around us.
God’s love story for humanity doesn’t end with the final “amen” of this book. It continues in us. It continues through us when we share His story with others and pass on His gift of love with those around us.
I want to leave you with the following thought, found in an adapted rendition of 1 Corinthians 13, also known as the love chapter,
" If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny balls; but do not have love, I’m just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime; but do not have love, I’m just another cook.
If I work at a soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity; but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels, and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir’s cantata; but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love does not envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love does not give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who cannot. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails.
Toys will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust; but giving the gift of love will endure.”
Let us pray.