THAT ONE SPECIAL GIFT

Christmas is a pretty neat time, isn’t it?  It’s almost magical in a sense.  Even shopping seems to be more fun at Christmas.  But it has always been a mystery to me as to how we go about choosing those gifts we buy for others.  See, we buy somebody a gift based on what – we desire.  

Diana is always saying, “I don’t think they’ll like this or I can’t buy them that.”  I keep telling her that just because she doesn’t like it doesn’t mean they won’t like it.  So all she needs to do is buy something and if they don’t like it, they can exchange it.  And, of course, she ignores this manly advice and keeps on shopping. 

But it is almost like we go out and spend a lot of our money trying to buy presents for people who are just going to exchange them for what they really like anyway.  I guess the old saying is true after all:  “It’s the thought that counts.”

But there are those rare times when we receive that one special gift that is the perfect gift and the timing in which we receive it is perfect, too.  That is the kind of present I used to try and find for Diana.  I once bought her a huge bouquet of flowers once just to be told that flowers really aren’t her ‘thing’.  I tried to get her several ‘things’ that I knew would just dazzle her, but none of them succeeded.  But then I realized that her ‘thing’ was just a simple gift of love; nothing spectacular or flashy. 

So, I decided to buy her gifts based upon four criteria.  They must be:

• Personal

• Practical

• Permanent

• Purchased

If I can find a gift that meets those four requirements, I get it, for I know she will treasure it.  And knowing she will appreciate the gift, and me for getting it, has often reminded me of what the Apostle Paul wrote.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:15 – (New Life Version)

‘Thank God for His great Gift!’

Let me talk a little about each one of those criteria and how that also relates to our spiritual lives today.

1.     THE PERSONAL GIFT

Since I stopped buying her what I want her to have, I have ended up buying her things she really likes.  Notice the emphasis has shifted from me to her.  Now, I buy her something that is only for her to enjoy; not to help her clean or cook or do some other chore, but something strictly for her to enjoy.

I think the greatest present anybody could ever get would be to finally understand that God knows each one of us on a very personal level, and that He wants us to know Him on that same level, too.

I like the way PSALM 139:2-4 explains it.  (New Life Version)

‘You know when I sit down and when I get up.  You understand my thoughts from far away.  You look over my path and my lying down.  You know all my ways very well.  Even before I speak a word, O Lord, You know it all. 

That is mind-boggling to say the least.  God, the power behind everything; the Creator of all things; thinks we are so important, He has decided to know each one of us personally.  But He knows we are incapable of understanding Him on His level, so He relates to us on our level.  Because He loves us, He made Himself smaller so we could grow bigger.

Have you ever put you finger in a tiny baby’s hand?  If you have, you know the baby will grab on and when it does, it also pulls at your heart, doesn’t it? 

The scene at the manger was a tiny hand reaching to us from a bed of straw.  And when we grab hold, our hearts are pulled back to God.  God, invisible in His nature chose to become visible in our nature – all because He thinks we are that important.

A young father, whose wife had just died, took his daughter on a cruise to begin the recovery process.  As they huddled together on the deck of the ship, the little girl asked her father, “Daddy, does God love us as much as Mommy did?”

At first, the man didn’t know quite what to say.  But he knew he couldn’t evade the question, so pointing across the water to the distant horizon, he said, “God’s love reaches farther than you can see in that direction.”

The man then looked up at the sky, and said, “God’s love is higher than the sky, too.”  Finally, he pointed down at the ocean and reflected, “And it is much deeper than the ocean, too.”

After hearing her father speak, the girl responded: “Just think, Daddy, we’re right here in the middle of all that love, aren’t we?”

Sometimes it takes a child to help us understand the nature of our Father’s great gift.

God’s gift began when Jesus was born as an infant in the manger, but it didn’t end when He was buried in the tomb.  Jesus arose from the dead in three days, and it was this resurrection that opened the door for all of us to live forever, too. 

And this magnificent gift didn’t end when Jesus ascended into Heaven, either.  As Jesus entered back into the kingdom of Heaven, the Father sent us the Holy Spirit to be with us in Jesus’ place.  And since this Spirit is the Father’s Spirit, it draws in into intimacy with God.  This is what the Bible means when it says that Jesus will be called Emmanuel, or “God With Us.”  From the moment Jesus was born, until the day we enter our eternal dwelling place, God has been with us, first in the form of His Son Jesus, and then in the form of His Spirit.

And in that, we find the most personal of all gifts:  The gift of God’s amazing love.

Now, lets talk about the

2.     THE PRACTICAL GIFT

A wife wanted to help her husband pick out the perfect gift for her for Christmas, so she wrote her request out and stuck it to the refrigerator door so he could see it every day.  She kept it very simple, just asking for something to make her slim and attractive.  So, trying to be the best husband he could be, he bought her an exercise book.

Did you hear the news a few weeks back?  It is official.  Australia has banned their Santa Clauses from saying, “HO, HO, HO” because it might be offense to some women.  And to top it off, they have banned overweight Santas. 

This shows that what we sometimes believe in is open to change at the drop of a hat.  And if something can change that drastically, at somebody else’s whim, is it really important enough to believe in anyway?

I personally believe that there is nothing more absurd than a skinny man dressed up in a red and white suite, yelling out, “Hee-Hee-Hee!”

But God has provided us something that will not ever change.  No matter what mankind can say about it, and we have tried our best to discount it, the gift of forgiveness never changes.  It is always there.  It is always available to us.  All we have to do is make a decision to take it.  That’s all!  How much more practical can a gift be? 

As I was writing this sermon, I overheard Diana on the phone calling her hairdresser to make an appointment to get her hair done.  Now, I don’t blame Diana for that.  If I had hair, I’d probably want mine done too.  But I couldn’t help but think that most of us do things like that as we get ready for Christmas.  We run around sprucing up, cleaning up our homes, and much more.

But we do those things to get ready for which Christmas?  We do them to get ready for a material Christmas.  We should also spend time sprucing up the inside of our hearts for the most important Christmas; our spiritual celebration of a Savior. 

Jesus isn’t at all interested if you have a dirty pair of socks lying around your living room, but He cares passionately if there is any dirt lying around in your heart.

MATTHEW 5:8 says (New Living Version)

‘Those who have a pure heart are happy, because they will see God.’

Every person who has ever lived will have an eternity.  There are only two places to go; heaven or hell.  One will be with God and one will be without God.  Do you plan on having God in your eternity?  If you do, spend some time doing some spring-cleaning in your heart.

But remember; you cannot clean your heart by yourself.  Your responsibility is to just let the One who can clean it have access to it, and He will clean it up for you – starting from the inside out.

PSALM 51:2 & 10 say:  (New Living Version)

2.  ‘Wash me inside and out from my wrong-doing and make me clean from my sin.’

10. Make a clean hart in me, O God.’

All of our hearts are stained with the sins of our past, but through the acceptance of Jesus Christ, we are offered a spotless future. 

So, God’s gift is personal, in that He literally gave us His Son.  And that gift is practical as it helps us prepare for Heaven.

I read about a man who bought his son a tree house for Christmas.  It came in a big box that required assembly.  I don’t like those because it seems like either the instructions are written in a foreign language, or those that are written in English were written by someone who doesn’t understand our language.

But he went about the job of assembling the tree house.  Several hours into it, he realized the box said Tree House, but the parts were for a small boat!  The next morning, he shot off an angry email to the company, telling them of the mix-up.

Two days later, he receives a reply that says he should focus on the more humorous aspects of the situation.  It said that there is a person out there somewhere in the middle of a lake who is trying to stay afloat in a tree house.

So practicality becomes a very important part of this gift.  But the gift also has to be …

3.     A PERMANENT GIFT

We are talking about giving gifts, and the different types of gifts that are given.  I was once told that if the wise men had been wise women, the differences we would have noticed would be that they would not have had to stop and ask for directions, they would have arrived on time, they would have helped deliver Jesus, and then they would have had time to clean the stable and prepare some kind of a casserole for the family.  But the gifts would have been more “baby-friendly,” too.  They would have included diaper wipes and formula for starters.  And even though these would have been very good gifts, none of them would have been permanent in nature. 

The gift God offers us is the most permanent gift of all.  It will last forever and ever.  And we will never have to get it “tuned-up” or “repaired.” 

But we must be willing to take what is offered.  If we choose to ignore it, we will pay the consequences of our choice.  Imagine for a moment you see one of your children dart into the road to retrieve a ball.  Then you see a car coming around the corner. 

You start running to them as fast as you can go, but you know you aren’t going to make it in time.  What do you do?  You start yelling at the top of your lungs, for them to run quickly.

At this moment, it is not important whether your child understands what is happening, or the reason you are yelling.  The only thing that matters is that he trusts you enough to just do it.

Likewise, we are like children, standing in the way of immediate and permanent danger.  That little child was on the verge of losing his physical life.  We are on the verge of losing our eternal, or spiritual lives.  And still, people will not heed the warnings unless they first understand the reason for the warning!  And not only understand it, people today are so hard-hearted against God, they must agree with it before they heed the warning.

God knows the peril we are in, even if we don’t.  That is why He sent Jesus.  A man fell overboard from a ferry once.  He could not swim.  He said all he could think of to do when he hit the water was to yell for help.

He said someone threw him a lifesaver within moments, and that lifeline saved his life.  Do you think when he saw that lifesaver, he needed to understand its inner workings before he grabbed hold of it?  Absolutely not.  The only thing he needed to know was that it would help him. 

There is no place in the Bible that tells us we must understand all there is to know about Jesus.  When Jesus was on the cross, he did not tell the thief beside Him that since the thief understood, he would be in Paradise.  Jesus said he would be in Paradise because He believed.

What would your reaction be if I had on heavy rubber gloves, and was holding a funny looking rock?  I would get your curiosity up, wouldn’t I?  Now, what would be your reaction if I explained that if this rock touched human skin, it would immediately burn it off?  This time, your curiosity would be really intrigued.

But what would your reaction be if I said, “Let me show you.” And then I began walking right to you?  You would shy away from it.  It would not matter if you understood the chemical compounds, and it would not matter if you agreed with my assessment or not, would it?  The only thing that would matter to you is your immediately safety.

And that is what God offers you.  Immediate safety that will last forever without changing or running out on you. 

JOHN 5:24 says, (New Living Version)

‘For sure, I tell you that anyone who hears My word and puts his trust in My Father, will have life that last forever.’

Life without Jesus is utterly hopeless.  Life with Jesus is full of eternal hope.

But I said the gift would have to be …

4.     A PURCHASED GIFT

God’s gift was purchased.  In fact, it was purchased with the highest possible price.  It certainly did not come free.  But mankind always seems to come up with ways to try and cheapen it.  In some cases, the gift, as priceless as it is, has been discarded as if it meant nothing at all.

When lifeguards rescue someone who is struggling in the sea, they will swim out to them and tread water.  They don’t grab onto someone who is drowning.  If you try to save someone who’s frantically trying to save themselves, they will pull you under, too.

So instead, a lifeguard will wait while the struggling person tries to save themself.  When they finally realize they cannot save themself, they give up, and start to sink.  That is the only time a lifeguard will reach in to grab them.  That is the only time the struggling person is willing to be helped.  And at this time, the lifeguard will take them back to shore, saving their lives.

So many people are busy ignoring the One who was sent to help us.  They focus on their own works, as if their works were good enough to gain entry into Heaven.  Or they come up with all kinds of other ways they ‘think’ might help them, all the while fighting off the only One who can help.

If we refuse to let Jesus help us, there is nothing else God can do for us.  He has given us the freedom to call our won shots, and if we call them wrong, we reap the consequences.  If we call them right, we reap the rewards. 

Scripture tells us that if we do not accept Jesus as our Savior, we cannot have access to God.  And that is all there is to that argument. 

Let me wrap this up by telling you about the entire gift of God in just a few short sentences.

God knew we were in trouble and headed for hell.  He also knew we were not aware of this.  And from His great and unending love for us, God sent a personal gift that was practical.  That gift could actually save our eternal souls.

That gift was His Son, Jesus Christ.  But we have to accept Him into our hearts.  If we don’t, we deny the gift and there is no more help for us.  If we do accept Jesus into our hearts, that gift becomes a permanent and ever-lasting gift.

But like I said earlier, the gift must be purchased. This gift was.  Jesus Christ purchased, our bought all of our sins, for the price of His earthly death.  And it was in His death, that He purchased our souls so that if we choose, we can be reunited spiritually with our Creator once more.

God’s gift is universal – he freely gives it to ‘the world’ and it’s available to all – but each of us must believe for ourselves.  We cannot have what Jesus offers without first having believed in Jesus.

In JOHN 1:12 it states,  (New Living Version)

‘To those who received Him, He gave the right and the power to become children of God.’

There was a professor who had never been married.  He wrote a book about love.  He went to the proofreader before he went to the publisher to make sure there were no grammatical errors in the text.

To his amazement, he found the proofreader to be the most beautiful woman he had ever gazed upon.  As their eyes met, he could tell that she felt the same way about him.  As they talked, they found they had so much in common it was as if they were actually one person.

And as they read his transcripts together, he began finding all the errors he made by writing about something he knew nothing about.  But she helped him correct them and everything was fine in the end.

Jesus comes to us from Heaven.  But until we look Him in the eyes, we will never know the fullness of the love He brings with Him; we will never understand the depth of the forgiveness; and we will never realize just how wrong we had been.

And that is the gift that is personal, practical, permanent, and purchased – God’s redeeming love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The way I see it, you are now faced with a decision.  Nobody can make it but you.  But there is so much riding on this decision, how can you glibly ignore it or refuse to face it?

INVITATION

[1] References and Sources