Best gift Ever!
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Do you remember the 12 days of Christmas song?
On the first day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree
1 day of Christmas can be expensive. How about 12 days? It is estimated that in today’s dollars if you were going to try to replicate the gifts given in the song “12 days of Christmas” and give them to your true love, you could spend up to $20k or more.
Six geese-a-laying will cost around $150.
European Turtle Dove: $310.00 each. That is $620.00
11 pipers piping: $1,500.00
12 drummers drumming: If they are union musicians that is another $2,000.00
The price really soars when you get to purchasing 10 lords-a-leaping. We are talking $8,000 for them. I don't know where you would find 10 lords-a-leaping. What exactly are they? You have to assume they are very expensive.
The real message of Christmas is not the gifts that we give to each other. Rather, it is a reminder of the gift that God has given to each of us and has offered to mankind. It truly is the “Best Gift Ever”.
The gift of Salvation.
I want to take some time and point out a few things about this “Best Gift Ever”.
1. This gift is surprising.
When Christmas rolls around, you often try to figure out if certain people have bought that gift you really wanted. Maybe you already know what they bought, because they didn't hide it very well. Or maybe you uncovered it by accident-or maybe not.
*Are family was always a year or two behind with the latest video game consoles. Nintendo/Mario Bros
When the day comes and you open the present, you have to pretend you're surprised. Yet all along, you knew what it was.
God's gift to us, however, was a complete surprise. It was not expected, and as you examine it more carefully, you will realize how great a gift it actually is.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
2. God's gift came to us in the humblest of wrappings.
What would you think if you saw a gift under your Christmas tree that was wrapped in newspaper and tied up with chicken wire? Be honest, you would probably assume that a guy wrapped it.
Is anyone else a horrible gift wrapper? My gift wrapping looks like a old school mob hit where they wrap the body up to get rid of it. Well let me share something with you that should give those of us that are gift wrapping challenged some Christmas cheer regarding our lack of skill.
The Journal of Consumer Psychology finalized a study titled “Presentation Matters: The Effect of Wrapping Neatness on Gift Attitudes.”
They found that a neatly wrapped present can set a high standard for what’s inside — something that can lead recipients to be disappointed when they tear the paper away, because their expectations were so high. The reverse is also true: A sloppily-wrapped present may set up low expectations, making the gift inside seem better.
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
So think about God's gift to us. Jesus was not born in a palace of gold; He was born in a stable. He was clothed with rags. His bassinet was a feeding trough.
This humblest of humble settings helps us realize the great sacrifice God made for us. God's gift to humanity, the ultimate gift of eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ, came in the simplest and humblest of wrappings.
3. We don't deserve this gift.
At Christmas, we give gifts to those whom we care about, who have been kind to us over the past year, or who have given us a gift first. We don't give gifts to the person who has been slandering our name online or to the angry neighbor who never has a kind word to say.
Yet God offered us His gift when we were His enemies. He didn't give this gift to us because we deserved it. In fact, it was just the opposite.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I don’t know how many times I have heard “Pastor J, I will follow God once I get my act together”.
Here is the craziest thing. God wants to offer you His gift while you are still a hot mess and in your junk.
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
4. This gift is free, you cannot earn it.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
5. This gift won’t disappoint.
5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. 6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
6. This gift tells us something about the giver.
16 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
On the first day of Christmas - Jesus birth
My true love sent to me - For God so loved the world he gave
A partridge in a pear tree - Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge, the only bird that will die to protect its young.
Jesus died to offer us the “Best Gift in all of human history”
Will you remember what he has done for you this Christmas?
If you have not accepted the free gift of Salvation yet, today can open up the gift that will change your life forever.