Christmas
Day 2015
God's wonderful gift.
Prayer
and welcome.
Think
for a moment about a gift that you have received from somebody who
truly loves you. In many respects it is not about the value but it is
all about the giver and their love towards you and your relationship
to them. I love Christmas, the highlight for me has always been to
sacrifice our needs in order to buy that special gift for our loved
ones. I love to see their faces as they open what has been chosen for
them. What is it about the gift? It is evidence of love, it is the
cost of love and it is the result of love. That is what that day in
Bethlehem was all about. Let us worship the Lord our God for the
greatest gift that the world has ever received. It is not about the
decorations, it is not about the celebrations, it is not about us but
it is all about you Lord Jesus. We are not here to celebrate a baby
in a manger we are here to remember that God the Son condescended to
be born as a man and to live amongst us in order to accomplish
salvation!
John
3:16
“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.”
These
words that we all love are John's record of Jesus' discussions with
the Pharisee Nicodemus. This verse is often referred to as the
“gospel in a nutshell!” In other words it is the gospel in
crystallized or condensed form.
It
is Christmas day today and we are focussing on the gift of God so
very briefly we will consider:
- The reason for giving.
- The gift given.
- The purpose of the gift.
Sing:
Angels from the realms of glory.
The
reason for giving:
The
text tells us directly that it is God's love for the world that
caused Him to give. We are prompted to go to the very beginning of
time to remind ourselves that it was God who created this world out
of nothing by His word alone. His assessment of the newly created
world was that it was good. He finally on the 6th
day of creation made man out of the dust of the earth, observe that
there is a difference from the rest of creation by making man from
the dust but in His own image. That very fact tells us that God made
man unique.
The
world that is spoken of in John 3:16 is clearly the world of
humanity.
In
order for us to understand the enormity of the love spoken of in our
verse we must also remember that Genesis chapter 3 happened. Man
disbelieved God and sinned and from that moment for the rest of the
time that this world exists man is naturally separated from
fellowship with God. In fact scripture refers to
man as enemies of God and dead to Him.
God
due to His holiness and perfection cannot accept or ignore sin. It is
diametrically opposed to His character and so for Him to love sinful
mankind is an amazing feat of His grace.
But
that is exactly what our verse tells us, God does love the world. In
fact His for us is more than simple love it is compound love or
unconditional love the theologian might say.
God
SO
loved the world is what John records!
The
world does not deserve such love but God loves anyway.
What
a marvellous thought for us on this day when we celebrate the the
birth of the Lord Jesus. It is good for us to remind ourselves of the
great Love that God has for us. Paul in his letter to the Romans
chapter 5 verse 8 tells us that God demonstrates His own love to us
and that the way that He does that is in the death of Christ.
Therefore
as we consider the gift of God at Christmas God's love is more
clearly seen on the cross than it is in the crib.
Of
course the birth of Jesus is vital but it is of necessity the road to
the cross.
As
we look at the nativity we need to remember that inevitability it
ends up at the cross. That is why myrrh was brought as a gift to the
baby Jesus it was a sign of His sacrificial death which is the
demonstration of God's own love for the world.
Sing:
See Him lying on a bed of straw.
Arthur
Tink:
The
gift given:
God
gave His one and only Son. The authorised version of the bible says
that He gave His only begotten Son. If you recall our study of the
genealogy in Matthew it was recorded that Abraham was the father of
Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah etc.
Until it came to Joseph who it says was the husband of Mary of whom
Jesus was born. Joseph was the wife of Mary but not the father of
Jesus. Joseph was His adopted father but Jesus was begotten of God by
the Spirit's impregnation of Mary. Jesus was God's One and only Son,
the firstborn of God! John tells us in his prologue to his gospel
that Jesus was from before the creation of the world, that He was in
fact the creator of all things. Graham Kendick puts it this way: “
Hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered.”
John in his prologue clearly declares Jesus to be the second person
of the Triune God! The amazing thing about the gift of God for the
world that He so loved is that He is none other than God the Son
become man!
He
is God of God and Light of light.
Jesus
born of Mary is God with us, He is our Immanuel! Jesus Christ born on
that very morning over 2000 years ago was and always will be God with
us. Of course a gift given must also be a gift received. It would be
hopeless to give a gift to a loved one for them simply to say I love
the wrapping so much that I will just simply adore the looks of the
gift! But that is exactly what many do with Jesus. They love their
pictures of Him, they love Him in a crib, they love His stories but
they do not accept the true gift that He is. His name is Jesus
because He saved and rescues His people from their sin. Have you
received the gift of God or are you simply happy with the wrapping?
Sing:
O come all you faithful.
The
purpose of the gift:
The
simple answer is eternal life but what does that mean? We are born in
the image of God, sin has marred that image and we can no longer be
united with God forever as it was intended. However the soul is
eternal and will live forever. The sinful soul cannot come into the
presence of God in His perfection and so will enter a place where
God's wrath and judgement reign forever. We of course know that place
to be hell but in our verse God offers heaven to all who will
believe. The gift of God is given for this purpose.
This
year two of our daughters requested tools for Christmas. They both
wanted a gift with a purpose. They did not want useless trinkets but
something that would be useful in their daily living.
God's
gift to the world is the most useful gift ever given. It is priceless
and is given simply by a loving Father to a very needy people.
God
said that His gift of His Son for the world would be eternal life.
All that you have to do is receive Him by faith.
Have
you?
Will
you?
Sing:
Hark the herald angels sing.
Pray
to close.
*****
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