Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the Poor in Spirit"

                Before we begin our look at the Beatitudes, a series that will take us through the end of February and right up until our Easter season, it’s important for us to know what the Beatitudes even are.  Now, we’re going to discuss and discern what all eight of them individually call us to do as we go along, but what are they as a whole?  What are they designed to do as a group?  Well, part of the answer lies in their context.  You see, these are the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest sermon ever preached.  This was Jesus’ sermon (although it is thought to have been more like a conference that took several days) to the crowds that gathered around him shortly after the beginning of his earthly ministry and after calling the first of his disciples (Read 4:23-5:1).  Now, I want to be sure and say before beginning this series that my goal is to not reinterpret the words of Jesus, but to seek the fullest meaning of his words before the crowd gathered there.  I know that there is nothing that I can add to these words of Jesus that will increase their meaning.  It’s worth noting that of all the books of Scripture that the great reformer John Calvin wrote about, he never wrote any commentary material about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount since he didn’t feel that was in any position to seemingly alter the exact words that Christ used.  He preached on it, but never wrote a commentary about it.

                There are many out there who will say that the Beatitudes are the New Testament version of the Ten Commandments.  They will tell you that they are they New Testament equivalent to that famous list of ten words from the Old Testament.  Well, the answer is both yes and no.  While not an exact replica of the Ten Commandments, the answer is yes in that they are both given by mediators of God to tell God’s people how they are to live holy lives.  They are very similar in that regard, but they are not an exact match.  It’s one of those comparing apples and orange types of things.  Sure, both of them might be ripe with truthful wisdom and their delivery may have certain similarities, but that does not make them newer/older versions of the same thing.

                One of the more fascinating aspects of the Beatitudes is the ironical or contradictory nature that each of them contains.  Now, we’re going to work through each of them in the coming weeks, beginning with the poor in spirit today.  We will see that a statement that on the surface makes no sense (at least to us) actually makes complete and total sense once we are able to see past the words themselves as we find them today and look to the meaning that they had coming from Jesus himself.  We have to remember any time that we look at the words of Jesus that his view is much greater than ours and typically the meaning of his words pertains to something on a much grander scale.

                “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Now, like I said, on the surface this really doesn’t make any type of sense.  However, when we begin to unpack these few words, we begin to see it in an even more contradictory light.  The word translated “blessed” is the Greek word makarioi (makarios), which means to become larger and more filled by God, to be in a time of prosperity and provision due to faithfulness to God.  This is more than a simple happiness that comes over us when something goes our way.  To be blessed with or by something is much greater than to be happy with something.  Think about it for a second, if I told you that I was blessed by my family then that would sound much greater than being happy with my family.  If I were to say that I’m happy with my situation in life, then it wouldn’t give the impression that I am as excited about things as it would if I said that I was blessed.  Being happy (while not a bad thing) carries with it a sense of merely contentment and still having something missing, whereas blessed gives the impression that there is nothing that could be added in order to improve things.  (Now, just so you know, you might as well file that word away because we’re going to come back to it each week during this series)

                The second word that I want to look at is the word that is translated as “poor” (ptochos).  This word literally means to be destitute and spiritually lacking.  It means to be completely lacking resources in a particular area.  They are poor, needy, and the only means that they have of survival is to beg.  This isn’t just some other word for describing a lack of what we want, but it speaks to a lack of something that is needed.  The college football bowl season has started to get into full effect.  I had someone ask me over the holidays if I was going to Miami to watch my bulldogs play.  I laughed and told them that I was too broke to afford a trip to Miami right now (plus I don’t think Amy would allow me to go and leave her behind with all 3 kids while she is on her break).  Now, the irony of that is that I’m not broke at all.  Instead of spending money and going to the game, I’m going to sit in my nice comfortable chair in my nice comfortable house and watch the game on my television without any interruptions (hopefully).  That’s not the type of poor that this word ptochos has in mind.  This is a completely and utterly bankrupt type of poor.

                So, with the words that we’ve looked at thus far, let’s sort of rewrite this verse, this statement:  “Greatly fulfilled are the ones who are completely empty in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Well, that’s sort of taking the irony game up another notch isn’t.  And the question naturally arises as to how in the world we can be greatly filled when we are completely empty.  To answer this we really have to figure out what it means to be poor in spirit; what does it mean to be completely empty in spirit.  Well, it means that we must be humble in our understanding of our spiritual wealth.  We have to understand how spiritually bankrupt we are.  We have to understand just how unworthy we are of salvation because of our own efforts.  In other words, when we come to God, we must realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty.  We must not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts, thinking we don’t really need God.  In essence, it is a warning against spiritual pride.  It’s a warning against having the mind of the Pharisee when he prayed, “God, thank you that I am not like other men” in Luke 18.  After being asked about pride years ago, Billy Graham responded, “Pride can take all kinds of forms, but the worst is spiritual pride.  Often the richer we are in things, the poorer we are in our hearts.  Have you faced your own need of Christ?  Do you realize that you are a sinner and need God’s forgiveness?  Don’t let pride or anything else get in the way, but turn to Christ in humility and faith—and He will bless you and save you.”  You see, this blessing and saving are one in the same really.  God’s gift, God’s blessing, is the gift of eternal life that we have in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  We must recognize our need for it and the fact that without it we are completely broken and empty.

                Now, I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t at least mention one thing before leaving this passage.  As I’ve said already, we have to realize the destitution of our spiritual status in order to see how much we are in need of a savior and turn to him in order to be given residence in heaven.  However, the question often gets asked, “Wouldn’t it be better to be spiritually rich than spiritually poor?”  After all, Jesus does say later on in this very same sermon (6:19-21) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  The question that arises from this verse is how we are to go about being poor in spirit while still laying up for ourselves in heaven?  Well, I think the answer to that lies in understanding that there is a difference here between being poor in the spirit and laying up treasures in heaven.  In other words, laying up treasures in heaven is not the same thing as being rich in spirit. 

                Think back to what it means to be poor in spirit; that it means that we are completely destitute of anything (spiritually speaking) that makes us worthy of salvation. That may be true, but Jesus is not.  Jesus is completely and totally righteous and worthy of salvation.  You see, by faith, through the work of the Holy Spirit, the righteousness of Jesus is imparted to us.  Well, Jesus is that treasure that we are to lay up in heaven.  “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  In other words, Jesus is to be the thing that we seek the most in this world.  Jesus is to be the way in which we judge ourselves as rich or poor in this world.  We don’t judge by earthly things.  Jesus said just prior to our need for laying up treasures that men who use all of their efforts in gaining praise among men have already received their reward.  We are to seek Jesus and grow in our relationship with him.  The more we come to know Christ and the more we grow in our relationship with him the richer we become.  Also, while becoming richer and richer in this sense, we grow to see how poor we really are from a spiritual standpoint.

                Keeping with the college football theme, one of my father’s favorite stories to tell is about the Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX in 1980 between Mississippi State University and the University of Nebraska.  Mississippi State was riding high after a successful 9-2 season under second year coach and offensive innovator Emory Bellard.  Many of the Bulldog faithful felt that Mississippi State was on its way to arriving on the stage as a nation power and they were going to make a statement against traditional power Nebraska.  The Cornhuskers, coached by future hall of famer Tom Osborne, had the same record as MSU, but had much higher expectations leading into the season.  My father and several of his friends left late Christmas night and drove to El Paso for the game.  The whole way there they talked about how they had always heard how big Nebraska was and how they couldn’t wait to beat this national power.  Upon arriving at the stadium, my father and his friends went into the gates and watched the teams warm up.  After some time, they really couldn’t tell a difference between the size of the Nebraska team and their Bulldogs.  However, about 30 minutes before kickoff, the Nebraska linemen came out of the tunnel.  My father and his friends immediately had a different outlook on the game.  The game, which wasn’t as close as the 31-17 score indicated, proved to the Bulldog fanbase that they still had a ways to go in terms of reaching the level of a Nebraska or any other traditional power.

                Now, you may be wondering how a lopsided football game relates to our being poor in spirit.  Well, like I said, the more we come to see how great something is, it helps us to see more clearly what we aren’t.  Seeing that Jesus was the standard by which we are to live in order to gain our salvation shows us just how far we are from deserving it or being able to gain it on our own.  That’s one thing that the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes have in common, they both show us the vast chasm that exists between where we are and where we ought to be.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  In other words, blessed are those who realize that their own righteousness is unable to earn them eternal life, for in their recognition and faith in the one and only Savior Jesus Christ, they have found the only means by which they may enter into the kingdom of heaven.

                Y’all, I know we live in a world where none of us want to be poor when it comes to anything.  It’s so contradictory to our nature to think that we want to be poor.  However, to be poor in spirit is to recognize that it is impossible for us to be saved through our own efforts.  I laugh every time I hear someone say that they think they or anyone else is going to heaven because they are a good person.  Well, they may be a good person, but that’s not how we get to heaven.  We get to heaven through the sacrifice, grace, and mercy of Jesus Christ.  We are saved by the righteousness of Christ being imparted to us by the Holy Spirit.  We find salvation through the sacrifice of Christ covering the multitude of our sins.  We inherit the kingdom of heaven by realizing that despite how good we are, how much Scripture we know, or how faithfully we pray, study, tithe, or anything else, we are completely and totally empty of anything worthy of heaven, and we are in need of a Savior.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Ephesians 2:8-10 "Given By Grace"

                Every Christmas season, we get reminded of something from a Christmas gone by.  This year, as Amy and I are really for the first time doing much in terms of getting our kids gifts and as we’ve been working through an Advent series about the ultimate gift, I have done a lot of thinking about past gifts that I have received at Christmas.  One of them that comes to mind is a gift that I never actually got, but that I have heard a great deal about.  My parents got me what were called “Rock’em Sock’em Robots” when I was a little.  They were these little robots that fought and punched until one of them lost and their head sprung upward.  It was the “it” toy of that year apparently.  However, upon trying to assemble this particular toy late at night, my father broke the thing and it never made it to Christmas morning.  Apparently it wasn’t that big of a deal because I don’t ever remember being disappointed that I didn’t get that particular toy.  I’ve always tried to be (sometimes more successful than others) focused upon what I do have than what I don’t have.  I’ve been very fortunate to receive so much in my life as I’m sure that many of you have as well.  However, there is one Christmas gift that stands out to me over all other gifts that I have ever gotten.  Several years ago, my sweet wife bought me tickets to a country music concert that was coming to MS during the state rodeo competition.  Now, the tickets weren’t expensive and the band (although one that I liked and still do like) wasn’t someone that you would find on my bucket list of folks to see in concert.  So, what made that gift so special?  Well, the truth of it is that this was during a season of financial strain for our family.  It was a time in which we were waiting to hear God tell us where to go, but at that moment we were feeling directionless in the silence.  It was a time in which Amy and I had seemingly completely shifted from being husband and wife to mom and dad (a dangerous transition for many couples).  And despite all the reasons to find dissatisfaction and unhappiness in our marriage and our situation in life, my wife was telling me that all she wanted was to spend one evening with no one else but me.  You see, many times we forget the magnitude of a gift.  We easily forget how much a gift really means to us or to someone else.  Until now, Amy had no clue what her gift meant to me. 

Think about how God created the world.  He created it completely perfect and without any flaws.  However, our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned and shattered that perfection and flawlessness.  Once that perfection was gone, we no longer deserved anything from God nor could we ever work to being worthy of anything from Him either.  Like a shattered mirror, we could never restore things to where there was no evidence of the damage that had been done.  Much like what we saw last Sunday, that’s where we stood hopelessly desperate and in need of something much greater than ourselves.  We needed a Savior; we needed Jesus, and he came.  Christ came into this world as James Boice says, “which was weeping in its failure and sin.”  And when he came, he changed everything.  Jesus didn’t attempt to simply put the shattered pieces of perfection that we call humanity back together.  He didn’t come and try to help us put the broken mirror back together, but he came to recreate us.  He came so that we could be regenerated and reborn.  Look at some of the words that Jesus spoke as to how we are in him.  John 3:7, “You must be born again.”  Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”  Friends, that is the grace of God.  We’re not something that is old polished up to give the appearance that we are new.  No, we are entirely new creations in Jesus Christ.  Charles Spurgeon once wrote of God’s grace saying, “Because God is gracious, therefore sinful men are forgiven, converted, purified and saved.  It is not because of anything in them, or that ever can be in them, that they are saved; but because of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy and grace of God.”

                “For by grace [we] have been saved through faith” says our text.  “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Now, we talked a great deal last Sunday about the fact that this gift of eternal life in Christ was a gift that was free to us but not God.  We talked about how it cost God a great deal to pay the debt that we owed and to achieve for us salvation.  It cost Him dearly to restore the sort of balance of perfection and flawlessness that once existed.  Now, obviously we are not made perfect and flawless.  All of us have flaws, all of us have imperfections, just because we don’t notice them or acknowledge them doesn’t mean that they aren’t there.  If you’re married, go ask your spouse; they will help to identify your flaws and help you find new ones that you never knew you had.  No, we’re not flawless, but because of God’s grace, we can receive the flawlessness and the perfection of Jesus Christ.  It is not our own, but Christ’s.  Our text concludes, “It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” 

                One of the most infuriating things for those who do not believe Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior is the notion of faith.  Faith, as the writer of Hebrews states in Hebrews 11, “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  They’ll ask, “How can you believe this stuff?  Even you have to admit that it doesn’t make any kind of logical sense.  One minute God’s giving Moses the Ten Commandments and says that we shouldn’t murder and then He turns around and tells Joshua and the rest of Israel to go kill this group and the next minute Jesus is condemning murder and telling us that it’s wrong.”  Well, that’s setting aside that there is a stark difference between killing and murder, but I don’t want to go down that road today.  What I want all of you to do is to think of why in the world it is that you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.  Despite all the flaws that we find in ourselves and all of the reservations that we may have with Scripture or the way that we read the Bible and quite honestly have whole entire sections (even books) of it that just don’t make sense to us; despite all of that we still believe in God and we believe in Jesus Christ.  Why is that?  Well, it’s faith.  You can’t explain it in a way that makes sense to someone that doesn’t have it and some of us probably can’t even tell others when exactly we got it but that one day we just sort of realized that it was there.

                I said a moment ago that Amy didn’t know that that gift had meant so much to me until today.  The truth of the matter is that I didn’t realize how much that simple gift of concert tickets meant to me until just recently as well.  All throughout the days and weeks leading up to that concert I didn’t really know what it meant to me.  During the concert, after the concert, and even a couple of years after it I still didn’t see the ultimate meaning behind the gift until, one day, it just sort of dawned on me what she had really given me all that time ago.  You see, our faith is like that many times as well.  We don’t really realize what a wonderful and precious gift it is that we’ve been given, until one day we are just sort of thinking about all that God has done for us and we are astounded.

                I think that this text is a beautiful summation of sorts of the entirety of our Advent series on the True Gift of Christmas.  We’ve talked about the fact that Jesus is the one true gift of Christmas when we looked at James 1.  Well, here it is again.  We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  If we were to rewrite this verse in its fuller sense (and no I don’t really like getting into the business of rewriting Scripture), then it would read something like, “For you have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone who is the gift of God.”  Notice that article “the.”  Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, doesn’t right a gift, one of the gifts, or even the most important gift, but the gift.  Jesus Christ, the Son, the Savior, the Messiah…is the gift of the Father.

                The second text that we looked in our series was that of 1 Peter 4 and we saw how we are to be faithful stewards of this good and perfect gift from God.  Well, we need only look at the final verse of our text to see that displayed.  “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  We are reborn, recreated in Jesus for good works.  We’re created to do the things that God calls us to do.  What are good works?  Well, they’re those things that we were made to do in service of God.  We talked about that feeling that we get when we help someone in need or when we do something to aide those less fortunate.  We talked about how it just warmed our hearts for reasons that we can’t explain other than we were just created that way.  Well, God made us that way.  He made us for the purposes of (as WSC 1 says) glorifying Him and enjoying Him always.  In other words, we were created to proclaim God’s name in service, speaking, and worship while rejoicing in the fact that we find ourselves in Christ.  We share the gift of Christ by proclaiming the gospel, whether it is with our mouths or with our actions and the way we live our lives.

                Finally, we saw last Sunday the magnitude of the gift.  We’ve already mentioned that we talked about the cost of the gift of God that is Jesus Christ; a cost that God paid and then gifted to us.  “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Like we said last Sunday, we are saved not because of anything good that we have done or anything good within us, but because of God’s love for us.  We’re not saved because of who we are but because of who God is.  We talked about how while we can outwardly say that it cost Him his one and only Son, inwardly we really have no clue how great that cost really is.  Y’all I am a fairly confident person, especially when it comes to my faith.  I’m not one of those folks who get swayed back and forth questioning God’s love for me.  I know some who do and really there’s nothing wrong with it per-say, it’s just one of those things that some people experience that others don’t.  Now, do I question the methodology of God at times?  Do I question God’s sovereignty and timing and provision for me?  Well, sure I do.  I’m not proud of that fact, but I will openly and honestly acknowledge that it does happen.  However, I never for one second think that God doesn’t love me.  I never for one second think that God doesn’t love all of His children.  After all, He sent His one and only Son to die in our place.  There is no greater act of love that God could perform to display how great His love is for us.  Now, love doesn’t mean no discipline.  Love doesn’t mean no accountability or no hardships whatsoever (at least real love doesn’t).  I love my children very much, but I’m sure that there are times when they would tell you that my sole purpose upon this earth is to discipline them.  You know what?  Sometimes, that discipline or punishment or hardship or whatever you want to call it is an expression of my love for them.  I love them; so I help guide them to where they ought to be, and sometimes it isn’t always pleasant for them (or me either for that matter).  However, my love for them never diminishes, and only grows stronger over time.

                So, as we bring this series to somewhat of a close today (with only a few remarks to come on Christmas Eve), we know that by God’s grace alone through faith alone in the good and perfect gift of God that is Jesus Christ we find our salvation.  We find it not because of anything that we have done but because of who God is, since He is the only one with the ability to pay the price for the debt that we owe.  And He paid it by willfully sending His Son to this earth to die in our place and achieve the forgiveness of our sins.  Friends, we’re only a few days away from celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  We’ve all got those little nativity scenes placed around our homes or offices or yards that depict what truly is an amazing scene.  We know how precious a moment it is when a mother gives birth to her child and the child is surrounded by family for the first time.  We know that it must have been an even more precious moment that night some 2000+ years ago.  There wasn’t just family there, but magi, shepherds, livestock, and a beautiful starry night celebrating the fulfillment of at least 4000 years of prophecy.  It truly must have been an amazing scene and an emotional moment.

                Now, I want to end by asking you this, and it’s going to hit really close to home if you have had kids before.  Imagine Mary looking in the eyes of her newborn child for the first time (mind you this is her firstborn).  Think about all of the emotions that flowed through her in that moment.  Think about how you felt when you first looked into the eyes of your first child if you’ve had kids.  Y’all it almost brings me to tears to think back to the thoughts I had when I looked into Ashby’s eyes for the first time.  Now, imagine that the purpose of that baby born all those years ago was to die.  Imagine as God looked down upon the scene that night and saw the joy and the celebration and felt the love that He had for His Son.  However, God loves us so much that He was willing to send His Son to this earth to die for us.  He sent him to die for you and for me.  Friends, there truly is no other gift that can ever compare to the gift that we have been given in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Facebook, Twitter, and....the Book of Acts?

                I couldn’t help but laugh the other day when my wife took a picture and couldn’t move fast enough to get it instantly uploaded to Facebook.  After getting it loaded and putting a little comment about what the picture was, she began to check back periodically to see how many “likes” her picture got.  I remember thinking to myself how foolish we have all become (and by we, I mean all of us and not specifically my wife).  Our current age of social media and blogs and instant access has created monsters…US.  We are the monsters; craving nothing but more access and information as fast as we can get it.

Look, I’m just as guilty of it as anyone else.  I check my social media accounts on my smartphone far too often.  We had a guy come in to church the other day and after talking to him and finding out his name I got on Facebook and Twitter and typed it in…nothing!  What do you mean no Facebook?  What do you mean he doesn’t have a Twitter account?  How and I going to find out more about this person without a little social media stalking?  Well, it turns out that going to lunch with him and actually having a conversation was a pretty good way of finding out who he really is and what he’s all about.

You know, when you really sit back and think about the social media phenomenon and all that goes with it, it’s quite amazing.  The problem is that many times it’s amazingly bad.  We all know that girl who got fired over posting inappropriate pictures on Facebook.  Some of us even have a friend that called in sick to work and was then caught "tweeting" from Florida when he was supposed to be home in bed.  We’ve seen friendships ruined over misinterpreted status updates, relationships shattered over incriminating picture tags, and arguments started over reactionary responses to current news stories.  So, I ask myself quite often, “With all of this bad, what good actually comes from social media?”

Well, for starters, it’s a great way to stay connected.  We live in a world that is moving further and further apart.  Generations ago, it was unheard of for more than a handful of folks to leave a hometown and never return.  Now, we move so often it’s hard to remember which place we actually call our hometown.  Social media is also a great way to share positive stories, discuss social matters (to an extent), and reconnect with friends we thought we would never see again.  It’s also a great way for us to show off our kids and families to our friends that they most likely will never meet.

However, of all of the things that I have found things like Facebook and Twitter to be good at, they have been the best at allowing me to fulfill Jesus' instructions to his disciples in Acts 1:8, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  You see, I don’t know where the end of the earth is, but I’m pretty sure that I may never actually make it there in person (yes, I know that spheres don’t have ends).  However, through the technology of social media, smartphones, blogs, etc., I can reach out across the world with my words.  I can post a blog article here in south Louisiana and someone in Russia find it and be encouraged by it (which has happened).  I can post a status update quoting the inspiring and convicting words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer while waiting for a fish to bite my line only to have a friend in Turkey be renewed by my post.  I can randomly throw out a text of Scripture speaking to the gift of marriage and have it help someone to see that they are neglecting their spouse.  You see, there are numerous good things that can come about through our use of social media.  The question with social media (as with anything else in life) is how we are going to us it.

Sure, we could run around spreading hatred and bigotry (which contrary to what some folks think, that is not the goal of Christians).  We could post nothing but insults and messages of anger (with the occasional happy birthday message thrown in).  However, we can also use it to proclaim God’s Word.  I can’t tell you how many articles I find “shared” on Facebook or "tweeted out" that have been of tremendous blessing to both myself and my ministry.  Yes, I’m well aware of the fact that when we look at Facebook that we find someone who one day posts videos of a laughing cat and the next day has figured out the best way to run the country.  I’m well aware of the fact that Facebook is only a step below Wikipedia in the reliability department.  However, I also know that through the use of the internet (websites, blogs, social media, etc.), that we stand at a point in time of endless possibility.  There is no excuse for our not taking the gospel outward.  After all, you never know when something that you post today that brings glory to God won’t be the thing that leads someone else to see that glory at another time and in another place.

Romans 6:23 "Free Doesn't Mean No Cost"

                As I sat down in my office this past week and began to compile of all the various things that I had read about our verse for today, it dawned on me that I had missed a very important piece of information.  A few weeks ago we talked about the gift of Jesus that we have received.  Last week we talked about how we are to share that gift with others.  However, there’s something very crucial to our study of the True Gift of Christmas that I have completely overlooked.  I’ve overlooked the concept of what a gift is; what is a gift?  A gift is something given to someone without payment.  It’s a present.  Another definition of a gift is a natural ability or talent.  In other words, it’s something that you’re not owed, but you’re given anyway.  It’s something that you didn’t earn, but you still received.  Y’all, I had a hard time when we first moved down here because I have always referred to someone getting older as them turning a certain age.  For example, here in about a month and a few days my daughter will turn six.  However, down here, y’all (and unfortunately some in my house have started to say this too) will say that she made six.  I have to admit that that always throws me off, because saying that someone made a certain age almost sounds like they did it themselves.  To make something implies that you create something or that you cause something to exist that didn’t previously exist.  Well, Ashby didn’t have a thing to do with her coming into existence.  The only thing she has really contributed is staying alive (and she constantly tests that reality every day).  I guess it’s one way of phrasing it so that receiving and giving presents at birthdays seems to be in celebration of some accomplishment.

                Now, obviously, I’m just having a little fun with y’all about the language barrier exists, which the longer I’m here the wider I find it to be.  But I want us to turn back to the concept of a gift being something that we are given and not something we earn; a gift being something that we receive or have received without any payment on our behalf.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  In other words, what we should get because of our sin is death, but what God chooses to give us as a present, something that we don’t pay for, is eternal life.  Just let that sink in for a second.  Let that one float around in your mind as you try and comprehend the magnitude of that verse.  What we deserve is death, but God gives to us, free of charge, eternal life.  However, it’s not really free of charge is it?

                Well, to us the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ is free, but to God it most certainly wasn’t free.  You see, there was a debt that was owed because of the sin of mankind, and that debt had to be paid somehow.  The biggest problem for us is that we, as fallen human beings, stood totally incapable of repaying that debt.  Only God could pay the debt, and that’s exactly what He did in the death of Jesus, in the death of His Son.  In other words, God paid God for a debt that was owed to Himself.  Notice that I didn’t say that He absolved that debt, but that He paid it.  Tim Keller in his book King’s Cross, which is a wonderful look at the gospel of Mark, does a beautiful job explaining the substitutionary atonement in the death of Jesus upon the cross.  Keller uses an analogy of someone breaking your lamp.  The breaking of the lamp creates a need for a replacement so that light can be restored to an otherwise dark room.  Now, there are two options for how that lamp is to be replaced.  Either the person who broke the lamp replaces it, thus costing them something, or you replace your own lamp, which costs you something.  Now, even if you were to replace your own lamp, there is still a cost.  The person who broke the lamp doesn’t pay anything, but the restoration of light to the room isn’t free.  It cost the offended party instead of the offending party, but there’s still a cost.  Friends, that is exactly what God did for us in Jesus Christ, the good and perfect gift that we looked at in James 1 a few weeks ago.  God provided the means by which light could be restored to the dark room that was our standing with Him.  It costs us nothing to have that relationship restored; it was a free gift from God.  The wonderful relatively new Christian hymn In Christ Alone points out this substitutionary nature of Christ’s death upon the cross perfectly:  Til on that cross as Jesus died; The wrath of God was satisfied; For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.

                Now, I want to take a second and clear up what I mean by the word free for just a moment.  German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book The Cost of Discipleship, makes the distinction between what he refers to as cheap grace and costly grace.  Now, I don’t have enough time to read you the entirety of what he says on this distinction, but I want to give you a few bullet points on this.  Bonhoeffer says that cheap grace is the enemy of the Church.  Cheap grace is grace without price, without cost.  Cheap grace is the notion that because Christ has paid the price, that we are left to run up as big of a tab as we would like knowing that our sins are forgiven.  Cheap grace means “the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs….Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”  In other words, cheap grace is that view of this gift of eternal life in Christ in which our debt was simply absolved and not paid, and paid in full.

                Bonhoeffer goes on to describe costly grace by saying, “Costly grace is the gospel…the gift that must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.  Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.  It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son…and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.  Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.  Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

                Far too often, we use the concept of grace and sayings like “justified by grace alone” as excuses to do whatever it is that we want to do.  We very casually throw out the notion that we’re all sinners and so it’s okay to sin.  Now I’m not denying that we’re all sinners, but our response to this gift of eternal life in Christ cannot simply be to go about our lives as if it is some trivial matter.  There has to be some change, some transformation, some acknowledgement of that gift on the part of the recipients.  Imagine if you would, that you had the ability to give someone who was completely broke a life-changing amount of money.  You were able to give them so much money that it was virtually impossible for them to spend it all in their lifetime.  Imagine if after giving them that money, that person went out and spent it on frivolous things without any recognition of what they had been given.  Imagine them acting as if it was their right to have that money without so much as a thank you to the one who had given them that gift.  Imagine them spending their money the same way in which they did before being given this life-changing gift, buying everything they wanted and have no self-control when it came to their spending.  Why, we would find this absolutely apprehensive and appalling.  So, why is it that we live this way when it comes to God’s grace?  Why is it that we use the gift of grace as an excuse to sin instead of responding to it by trying to imitate Christ?

                Several years ago, when I was in seminary, this verse became the center of a disagreement between myself and the church that I grew up in.  The pastor of my parents’ church, who came well after I had moved away, wrote me a letter with this verse as the theme.  Without going into too much of the details of the disagreement, I was supposed to preach at the church of my youth one Sunday, but because of some circumstances that existed between that church and the church that I worked for at the time, I was unable to fulfill my agreement to preach.  In the letter the pastor of that church wrote to me he stated that he found my backing out of preaching to be a poor reflection of my character and he quoted to me that “the wages of sin is death.”  Now, y’all know me.  I don’t typically do things without good reason, and there was a very pointed reason why I couldn’t preach at the church of my youth.  Y’all also know that I don’t tend to take kindly to attacks at my character, especially when they are unfounded.  In a moment of weakness, I wrote a response to that pastor which read:  “First off, I’m sorry that I cannot preach on the agreed upon Sunday, but the denominational strife between our two churches might place my current church’s status of moving from the PC(USA) to the EPC in jeopardy.  Secondly, just so you know, while the wages of sin is death, the gift of God’s free grace is eternal life in Jesus Christ.  While I do not see my actions as being sinful, I’m thankful that even if I cannot recognize my own sin that the death of my Savior is great enough to cover the price that is owed for my indiscretions.  If your copy of God’s Word does not contain the second part of Romans 6:23, I suggest that you rush out and buy yourself a newer Bible.  If you don’t have the money for it, I will be happy to take care of it for you.”  Like I said, it was a moment of weakness, but I felt it important to point out that this verse cannot be divided in half.  Yes the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ.

                Now, really quickly, I want to point out one more really amazing thing about this verse as it pertains to our relationship with God.  We’ve well established that while this eternal life in Christ is a free gift of God as far as we are concerned, that it cost God dearly.  It cost God His one and only begotten Son.  Now, we can relate to sacrifice.  We maybe can’t relate to a sacrifice of the same magnitude as we’re talking about here, but we understand sacrifice.  However, we tend to hold on to the cost a little bit more than God does.  Let me explain what I mean by that.  You see, we tend to remember exactly how much any gift cost us.  Y’all I can go down the list of things that I have bought for people over the years and I can almost tell you within a few cents how much it cost us.  I’m not bitter about it, I just have a mind for numbers and it’s one of those weird things (one of many) about me.  My kids are going to get Christmas presents from Amy and I and I’m going to watch them play with them and be excited that they love them so much.  However, when the first one of them (probably Thomas) turns something into a sword that wasn’t made to withstand collisions, I’m going to remember how much it cost us as parents and I’m going to have that moment (all be it brief) of thinking of my son as an ingrate.  “Don’t you know how much that cost me and you’re just going to break and destroy it by using it how it’s not meant to be used?”  Well, actually, no; he doesn’t know how much it cost us, because he doesn’t really have an accurate concept of money at four years old.

                The funny thing is that we’re like kids in that regard when it comes to the free gift of God that is eternal life in Christ.  God could look down upon us and say to us, “Don’t you know how much that cost me?  You’re just going to destroy it and use that gift how it’s not meant to be used?”  And you know what?  Our response would be that of a child.  No, we have no clue what it really cost you.  We can say that it cost God His Son the same as my own son could tell me that something cost me $20, but do either of us really know the extent of that price?  But here’s the amazing thing.  I’m sinful; I’m fallen.  There’s a chance (and pretty good one) that I’m going to hold my son’s breaking of his new toy against him.  I’ll think twice before I buy him something else.  I won’t forget it.  However, when it comes to our sin and our deserving death, God forgives.  God won’t withhold that gift of eternal life in Christ from us because of our misusing it.  Once He grants to us that gift, then it is everlasting.  Once we have truly been claimed by God then nothing can separate us from Him.  Once we are found in Him, He does not hold over our heads what we deserve.  “If you don’t start acting right then I’m going to give you death and not the free gift of eternal life.”  This isn’t some simple punishment or threat that we use to get children to act appropriately.  This is the gift of eternal life in Christ, a gift that cost God dearly. 

                So, as we get ready go out into the world, how should we respond?  Well, walking back through our Advent series, we know that Jesus is the gift, that we are to share that gift, and that we have received that gift not because of who we are but because of who God is.  We’ve been given the gift of Jesus to both cherish and share with others by God at a great cost to Himself, yet it cost us nothing.  Friends, when you think about the gift of Christmas this year and you think about all of the wonderful things that you enjoy, think about the cost.  Think about the price that God paid.  Think about what this table represents before us.  Think about the fact that you have been given this gift not because of anything good within you but because God has chosen you as His own possession.  Think about what a wonderful gift we have in Christ.  And think about the fact that we have a God who loves us so much that He willingly sacrificed His one and only Son on our behalf.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1 Peter 4:10 "Faithful Stewards of the True Gift"

                Last Saturday as I was driving back from Mississippi, I was listening to the radio and had on the pregame show prior to Mississippi State’s annual game against Ole Miss (which I am still trying to repress from my memory).  During the pregame show, they would play little commercials of local sponsors for MSU’s football team.  One of the sponsor commercials was from a big car dealership out of Brandon, MS, Gray-Daniels.  Their ad started off by saying, “At Gray-Daniel Ford we know that it’s better to give than to receive, and that’s why we’re giving away a $100 dollar gas card for every new Ford truck bought during the month of December.”  Now, I remember thinking to myself, “How does that equation make sense?  So someone comes and gives you a whole lot of money for a new truck and you give them a $100 in return.  Well, that doesn’t really sound like complete giving does it?  It sounds like Gray-Daniels is receiving a pretty good bit in this equation to me.”

                We’ve all been taught that little saying of it’s better to give than to receive.  We didn’t believe it as children, but as we’ve grown older we’ve seen that there’s a lot of truth to those words.  Like anyone else, I enjoy getting things.  I love it when my wife or kids surprise me with some little gift or experience.  However, I get an even greater sense of joy being able to do the same for them.  I don’t know why it is, but I get much more concerned about not giving them enough than I do about me not getting enough.  You see, there’s something in us that longs to give to others.  Now, some of us keep it well hidden.  It’s buried amongst the earthly, selfish desires.  Some of us have a tough time remembering the needs of others because the world teaches us that we are to be so focused on ourselves that many times we start to hear only that message.  However, after those moments when we do give to someone there’s a certain feeling that we get that’s hard to explain.  It’s a good feeling, but it’s hard to put into words why it’s a good feeling.  You know that sense of euphoria of sorts that you get after serving at a soup kitchen, making a donation, or helping someone in need.  There is something in our DNA, I believe, that longs to give to others, and especially those in need.

This text that we’re looking at today is about being good stewards of what God has given to us.  Now, this text is more commonly interpreted and applied in a different manner.  Most often, it’s used when teaching on the concept of Christian giving.  I know that several years ago when I preached a series on being faithful Christian stewards, this was one of the texts that I used.  I talked about investing the things that God has blessed us with in service of His kingdom.  However, I want to take a little bit different approach this morning as we look at this text as part of our True Gift of Christmas series.  I want us to not focus so much upon the monetary side of things, but on the being faithful stewards of that gift that we talked about last Sunday, the gift of Jesus Christ.

                “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”  This is where typically I would go into talking about the gifts that God has given to us and how we are to use them in service of His kingdom.  Now, all that is completely true and I don’t want to give the impression that it isn’t.  If you have certain gifts, it’s because God has given them to you and the right response is to use those gifts for the building up of His kingdom and the spread of the gospel.   However, last Sunday we said that the good and perfect gift that God has given to all of us is the gift of the Son, Jesus Christ.  So, the question that I’m going to ask and then hopefully answer today is, “How can we use the gift of Jesus to serve one another and be faithful stewards of God’s grace?”

                Now, I’m going to admit here at the onset that this approach to this verse and this questioning of this text is a bit odd and I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not I’m reaching a little too far here, but I think I’m in the clear.  I don’t think that I’m reading something into the text or pulling something out of it that isn’t there; so let me make that clear.  First off, how can we serve others using the gift of Jesus?  Have you ever stopped to think about when it is that we live?  Think about all the wonderful technologies, medicines, and inventions that we enjoy; why is it that we get to enjoy them? Well, the short answer is because we’re living during a time of their discovery.  Many of the things that we enjoy (and in some cases rely upon) weren’t in use in the past simply because they hadn’t been invented yet.  We could even say that their existence hadn’t been revealed yet (see where I’m going?).  I know that my father who grew up working for his dad in the construction business sees some of the tools of today and just marvels at the amount of time that it would have saved him years ago.  Things that once took hours of precise work now take only minutes and the finished product is just as good if not better.

                Several years ago I was walking around our old church in Madison, MS when one of the kids in Amy’s children’s program stopped me and asked if I would answer a question that they didn’t want to ask in front of everyone else.  Well, since I was kind of seen as second-in-command when it came to theological matters, this was nothing new.  However, this was the first time a little child had wanted to ask me a question so I was a little nervous because you never know what kids will say or ask.  He asked me, “Did Moses know about Jesus?”  In an effort to stall for time so that I could craft an answer that he could understand, I responded with, “Why do you ask that?”  The little boy said, “Well, if Jesus came after Moses then wouldn’t it be impossible for Moses to know who Jesus was?”  Now, to fully answer that question takes much more time than I have today, but I want you to think about it for a second.  Obviously, something of the Son was known by Moses; how much we can’t be sure.  We can look to texts like Deuteronomy 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” for evidence that Moses knew of the coming Messiah.  But the reason that I tell you about this little boy’s question is that it is very likely that you and I know more about Jesus than Moses did.  You and I know more about Jesus than really any of the Old Testament figures (at least during their earthly lives).  Isn’t that astounding?  Now, why is it that we are able to know so much about Jesus?  Quite simply, it’s because of the time in which we are living.  We know so much about him because we live in a time after his earthly ministry was completed.  We live in a time after the Apostle Paul and others explained his work so thoroughly.  We live in a time in which God’s Word has been translated to nearly every common vernacular.  We live in a time in which the Bible is so readily available due to the invention of the printing press and digital media that many of us can’t even begin to guess how many copies of Scripture we own or have access to.

                Getting back to my original question, “how can we serve others and be good stewards of God’s grace using the gift of Jesus?”  Well, the answer is really simple when we think about it.  It is better to give than to receive.  In other words, we share the gift of Jesus.  Friends, make no mistake, we have been given the ultimate gift in Jesus Christ.  We talked last Sunday about how we have been given the gift of the only thing in this world that is worthy of our lives being built upon it.  However, we are not to simply take that gift and root ourselves in it and build our lives upon it, but to help others to root their lives in him and built their lives upon him.  You see, everyone is out there looking for the meaning of life and it’s as if we have the answer already.  What’s the meaning of life?  Jesus is the meaning of life.

                A couple of weeks I shared a story with the worship team about my freshman semester at Mississippi State.  It was the week before the final exams, and somehow copies of the final exam for the freshmen algebra class got leaked out across campus.  The longer they were floating around, the more people ended up with a copy of the exam in their hands.  Someone would get a copy and want to share it with a friend and then they would share it and so on and so on.  Now, I will confess that I too (mainly in an effort of self-preservation) got my hands on a copy of the exam and fell into the temptation of going ahead and working the entire thing ahead of time so that I knew that I could solve all the equations.  I’ve long since owned up to that little episode and I don’t want the main thing that you take away from this sermon to be that your pastor cheated on a college math exam when he was a freshman.  What I want you to see is that when we have something that can be of life-saving news to us (and when you’re in college a copy of an exam is life-saving), then we would never just want to keep it for ourselves.  So, why in the world are we so reluctant to share the gift of Jesus with those around us?

                “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”  The Apostle Peter went on to write, “whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”  This is where that notion of using whatever gift you have in Christian service comes from.  If you can speak, then speak about God.  If you can serve, then serve for God.  If you can play an instrument, then play for God.  If you have a platform, use it for God.  One of the Tight Ends for the Saints, Ben Watson, made national news recently for his comments in the wake of the chaos in Ferguson, MO.  He took to social media and started talking about how it isn’t a race issue or society issue or a class issue, at least not at its core.  Watson said that at its heart, it’s a sin issue.  Watson’s statement made national news and he was invited to appear on CNN and talk about his statement.  And I want to read just a portion of what Watson had to say.  He said, “It’s not the skin, the issue is sin, and I firmly believe that the issue is that internally, we are flawed.  Internally, we need salvation from our sin.  Internally, our sin makes us prideful.  It makes us judgmental.  It makes us prejudiced, which leads to racism.  It makes us lash out at people that don’t look like us.  It makes us look past evidence to protect people that look like us.  It makes us do all those things.  It makes us lash out in anger.  It makes us point fingers.”  The anchor tried to interrupt him, but to no avail.  He continued on, “Our sin that’s in us makes us do those things and the only salvation for this sin is the gospel.  The only way to really cure what’s on the inside is understanding that Jesus Christ died for our sins.  And so for me, on a micro-level, it’s under –” and the feed went dead.

                Friends, that is using the gift of Jesus Christ.  That is using the power of the gospel to try and shine a light on sin in the midst of such a horrific tragedy.  We all may have our thoughts about what happened, but are we looking at it through the lens of the gospel or the eyes of the world.  The true gift of Christmas is Jesus, we’ve well established that.  The question at hand now is:  are we using that gift?  Hardly any of you would fathom the thought of taking one of those presents that you’re going to get for Christmas and leaving it in the packaging and just letting it sit there unused.  No, you want to use it and enjoy it and share it with others.  So, why in the world don’t we do that with the gift of Jesus?  Why?  Sure, maybe you use it and enjoy it yourself (whatever that means), but why don’t you share it with others?  Being a faithful steward of the Father’s gift of the Son is all about sharing the gospel. 

                Folks, I can promise you that you’re going to be presented with more opportunities to share the gift of Jesus this Christmas than you can imagine.  Maybe it’s just asking someone if they know the true meaning of Christmas.  Maybe it’s comforting the brokenhearted and suffering.  Maybe it’s reminding someone who has become so overwhelmed with the concept of giving presents that it’s really about the gift that we received.  That gift, born 2000+ years ago in a manger to a family that was traveling and no room to sleep in; that’s the gift that we are called to share this Christmas, and every other day that we have upon this earth.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

James 1:17 "Every Good and Perfect Gift"

                I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving this past week.  I hope all of you had a chance to stop and think about the ways that God has blessed you.  I know that as Amy and I sat with our families and talked about all that has happened over the past few years on both sides of our family, we all realized that we have been very fortunate to be where we are.  Sure, we’ve had our times of struggle.  With my family, we lost our matriarch.  We’ve seen the joy of an engagement turn into the mess of a broken engagement and the perceived embarrassment of a marriage falling apart ending before even getting started.  We’ve also seen some estrangement from other members of our family.  As for Amy’s family, we’ve seen the further decline of her grandfather’s health, her grandmother’s health suffer as a result of that, and an uncle struggle through a season of hardship I wouldn’t wish on anyone.  Several others have found great difficulty in dealing with their situations in life as well.  However, despite the numerous reasons that we may be able to think of to be disheartened at our situations, we all know that we are joyous and thankful to be right where we are.  It may not be where we want to be, but it most definitely isn’t where we could be (and it’s nowhere near where we deserve to be).

                You see, we often forget about what we actually deserve.  We think in terms of something be fair or unfair, but little thought is really ever given to what is actually deserved.  In all honesty, our concept of something being fair has morphed into everyone being given the same exact thing without variation and that being readjusted along the way.  Fair would be God putting every single one of us in the exact same starting point and giving all of us the exact same thing throughout the duration of our lives.  According to many, fair is when one person tends to show more success or promise in one area, they have to loss some of that so that they aren’t above another person.  Fair would be all of us having the exact same talents and abilities and setting things up so that the only reason for our situations being different from someone else’s would be the amount of effort given.  However, there are still those who would claim that it’s unfair for some to have the gift of motivation and other to not have it.  But, that’s not the way that we start off, and I for one am thankful.  I’m thankful that I was born into a two-parent, Christian household.  I’m thankful that my family doesn’t have some type of genetic-predisposition to some crippling condition.  I’m thankful that God let me find my bride at a young age instead of later in life.  I’m thankful that I have three kids who were absolutely perfect at the time of their birth.  I’m thankful because I know where the source of all of that is found.  I know that, just as James wrote in our text for today, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.”  And I know that those gifts have been given to me not because of anything special about myself, but because of the love of God in heaven.  Remember, fair is all of us standing condemned and separated completely from God.  However, He gave us the ultimate perfect gift in Jesus; the gift that healed the gap between God and His people.  Jesus is the only reason why any of us aren’t condemned for being the wretched sinners that we are.

                Now, this text that we’re looking at today is part of a much larger text about our faith being tested and encouragement for one who is in the midst of a particular trial or hardship.  It’s a larger text about being both rooted in and built upon Christ (Colossians 2:7).  Notice those two words, rooted refers to something like a plant or a tree; built upon has something to do with construction.  Some we are to anchor ourselves in Christ like roots, and then we are to build ourselves upon the foundation that is Christ.  If we are rooted in and built upon Christ, then the storms of life and the winds of temptation won’t blow us down and cause our lives to fall into utter chaos.  The larger text where these verses that we’re looking at today are found even says that we are to test God in faith so that we will strengthen our own relationships with and confidence in Him.  However, largely due to a planned series through James in the near future, I’m not going to go into the entirety of this chunk of text, but focus upon these few verses (and primarily verse 17).

                During my training for both a career in education and pastoral ministry, I have studied the fields of psychology and sociology.  I’ve learned a bit about what we think, why we think that way, and how certain things tend to cause changes within the way we think.  One of the more puzzling phenomena (on the surface at least) is the psychological effect of the holiday season.  Look, I love Christmas.  I love gathering together with my family, seeing the looks on my kids’ faces Christmas morning, and especially the season of worship that comes with Christmas.  However, Christmas, psychologically speaking, is considered to be the most depressing day of the year, and that just doesn’t seem right does it?  However, when you really begin to think about it, it starts to make a little bit of sense.  You see, mixed in with all the joy of Christmas is all of the sadness of years gone by.  For those who are without a family to gather with, that point is magnified on Christmas.  For those who have recently lost loved ones, Christmas reminds them of what they’ve lost.  I know that several of you have either recently gone through this or will this coming year.  As I said earlier, my family will have Christmas for the first time since the passing of my grandmother and I’m sure that there will be a tear or two shed at some point during the day.  So, although we are grateful for the holiday season, there tends to be other factors at play as well.

                As I said a second ago, we have a tendency to focus upon the negative instead of the positive.  What one person views as a motivational thought, another views as a depressing insurmountable image.  Now, I’ve been convinced for years that Christians are just happier people.  We’re happier because, as I stated earlier, our roots aren’t in earthly things and our lives aren’t built upon fleshly desires.  I think that we Christians are able to see the bigger picture sometimes and not focus upon the minutia that many people fix their eyes upon.  Even the best of earthly things still are not what we are to build our lives upon.  Families are great, but we can all think of times where at least one member of our family let us down.  Friends are great, but we can all agree that building our lives simply upon our relationship with other folks is a good way to ensure an unstable foundation.  The only thing worthy and strong enough for us to build our lives upon is Christ because he is the only one who at some point won’t falter.  God is the only one who doesn’t have anything less than perfection found anywhere within him.  Remember, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.” 

                I’m going to say something that may confuse some of you this morning:  God doesn’t cause bad things to happen in your life.  God doesn’t cause you to lose your job.  He doesn’t cause you get sick.  He doesn’t cause fires to burn down houses and winds to blow us away.  He allows those things, but He doesn’t cause them.  On a more personal level, God doesn’t cause you to seek after something immoral.  He doesn’t cause you have that addiction.  He doesn’t cause you to lean towards sinful actions.  I’ll be perfectly honest with you and say that folks who excuse away their behaviors by saying that God just made them that way don’t really know God.  You see, God wouldn’t (and didn’t) create us to sin.  When we were first created in the Garden, we were perfect.  It was our own pursuance of selfish desires that caused sin to enter into our hearts.  It’s that same pursuit of selfish and sinful desires cause us to fall into temptation today.  God doesn’t tempt us; we tempt ourselves away from God.   Saying that God would create us to sin is to say that there is sin found within God, and that just isn’t true.

                Now, I could go off on a tangent about this subject and spend much more time than any of you want to today talking about it, but I want to turn the focus back not upon what we can and do give, but on what God can and does give.  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.”  There is nothing that God gives us that isn’t perfect, even when we don’t understand the gift or situation.  Even when we don’t understand why God is calling us to do something or why He’s allowing us to go through a particular trial, there is a perfection to be found in that gift.  For Christmas this year, I bought both of my both lifetime hunting and fishing licenses.  Now, neither one of them are going to understand what that gift means when they open them.  However, just because you don’t understand the meaning of a gift, an experience, or a season, doesn’t mean that it isn’t exactly what you need.  Sometimes it takes a little difficulty for us to listen.  Sometimes God has to let us walk through those rough waters so that we focus ourselves back on Him instead of something else.  But that’s the thing isn’t it, we end up in the rough waters because we’ve focused upon earthly things.  Debt issues usually come because we’ve overextended ourselves seeking happiness in earthly possessions.  Depression after breakups comes as a result of our attaching ourselves more another person than to God.  So you see, the hardships that we faces many times are a direct result of our own sinful thoughts and desires of putting something in the place of God in our lives.

                However, despite this sin, despite our wandering from God, despite our continuous straying from His will for us, He loves us.  He loves us so much that he sent his one and only begotten Son to die upon the cross for us.  As I said earlier, Jesus is the ultimate good and perfect gift.  He is the gift of the Father to His children.  He is the gift that we in no way are worthy of or could have gotten for ourselves.  Only God could have given us such a perfect gift.  Only Jesus could have lived a life that was completely in line with the will of the Father.  Only Jesus could so willingly climb upon the cross and bear the sins of all mankind.  Only Jesus could mend the separation that existed between God and fallen mankind.  Only Jesus could pay the price that was owed to satisfy the wrath of God, a wrath that was incurred because of our sinfulness.  Only Jesus could make salvation a possibility for people like you and me.  And it’s Jesus that we celebrate at Christmas.  It’s Jesus that is the true gift of Christmas.  Sure, the presents, family, vacation, and all the other things are nice, but they are absolutely nothing compared to the true gift of Christmas.  They’re nothing compared to the good and perfect gift that is our Savior Jesus Christ.  For it is in the gift of Jesus that we find everything good in the life.  Those other things are wonderful, but we don’t build (or shouldn’t build) our lives upon them.  Jesus, the true gift of Christmas, is the only thing stable enough to build our lives upon.  Remember what we said earlier; that lives built upon all these other things were sure to crumble at some point.

                I want all of y’all to do me a favor this Christmas season.  I know this is going to sound strange, but just try it out if you would.  As you go through you holiday preparations thank God for the gift of His Son.  Thank God when you’re buying gifts for the ultimate gift.  Thank God during your decorating that you are decorated in the righteousness of Christ instead of the falleness that we deserve.  Thank God when you’re sending out those Christmas cards that He has called out to you and that you have heard His call to turn to Him in faith.  Thank God when you’re running to the grocery store or cooking for folks that one day we will dwell in a room that has many rooms and tables with a feast laid out upon them.  In other words, thank God every step of the way this Christmas for the gift of Jesus Christ.  Thank Him because apart from Jesus Christ all we have are fleeting and momentary gifts, but in Jesus we have every good and perfect gift.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.