Reading: 1 John 4:7-5:5
Intro re exchanging gifts with each other - a big part of Christmas. Last Sunday night someone on TV prompted the thought for me - isn't it strange that we celebrate the birthday of Jesus by giving each other presents? Imagine how you would feel on your birthday, that instead of people giving you presents they gave them to each other. It does seem a funny way of celebrating the birthday of the most special person ever to have lived on earth - by not giving him a present. Of course Jesus isn't here in physical form to be able to actually give him a gift like we have to others over Christmas. So how can we really acknowledge the birthday of Jesus in a meaningful way that will truly give him the joy and pleasure we experience on our birthday.
What can we give him that is even remotely appropriate to recognize who he is? He was not just a good man who went around performing miracles. People still talk about him 2000 years after his death whether they believe in him or not. He is so much more.
Jesus is our Saviour and Lord. He is the one who said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" - "No one comes to the Father except through me." He is the only hope we have for life eternal - a life that will know no more suffering or sorrow - only joy.
What can we possibly give someone so deserving? What do you give to someone for whom material possessions count for absolutely nothing, yet who is the one who deserves the best gift we could possibly give? Jesus who gave his life so that we can live life in abundance and have the opportunity of doing that for eternity with him? What can we possibly give?
For such love there is only one gift worthy………
It is our utter and complete devotion to worshiping him. Jesus was very clear on this. He said -
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matt.22:37-38 NIV).
There is a song we sometimes sing that leaves us in no doubt of what our gift should be. The last two verses are………
See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were an offering far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.
What does that mean for us? Demands my soul, my life, my all? Is this saying we are to give all we have to Jesus - to give our lives? Well - yes it is actually. Jesus said………"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
Does this literally mean dying for someone else - like Jesus died for us? Well of course it has been known for people to sacrifice their life to save someone else. We remember the man who went to protect a stranger in Auckland 2 years ago – a modern day Good Samaritan - but who was stabbed to death in his effort to save someone else.
I can still remember hearing as a boy about 5 missionaries who were murdered by the Auca Indians in Ecuador. The news shocked not only the Christian community but the whole world. Why did it happen? I don't know the real answer. What I do know is that the wife and children of one of the martyrs went back to that community later to tell them of the love and forgiveness of Jesus. As a result a strong Christian community grew among the Auca Indians - including those who had carried out the murders.
Is this what Paul was meaning when he said………."Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. (Rom.12:1)
Well - no it's not necessarily what he meant. I don't think it is the way Jesus was saying we should give up our lives in worship. He came to show us a new way - to give us a new commandment that showed us a new way of living out the original 10 commandments. "A new Commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will all men know you are my disciples, if you love one another."
LOVE is the key. Lets look at our epistle reading again - 1 John 4:9-12. It's all about love. John says everyone who loves has been born of God. Everyone? Well it is what constitutes love that makes the difference. We are talking here about a love that is not just a feeling. It is a love that is a deliberate choice and action. It is a love that has its source in God. 1 John 4:8 says God IS love. That is the difference. That has been the revelation for me over the past 5 or 6 years - the revelation of God's love in my heart. He is love. I know it isn't just a feeling - I would fail time and again if it depended purely on how I felt at a particular time. But when it is of God, it causes us to have a different attitude to others. We still have work to do on this - constantly - but God's love does make the difference.
When Jesus said - "greater love has no one than this, that they give up their life for their friends" he was meaning to forget about yourself. Don't get so obsessed with your own life that your needs are all you are really concerned about. It means to put others first. Go out of your way to help those in need. We need to give our lives in love in response to the fact that Christ first loved us and gave his life for us. When we do it out of love for him, as in our epistle reading, if we say we love God the only way for us to show this love for him is by loving others. John said in his epistle - 1 John 4:20 almost brutally - that we can’t love God if we don’t love those around us.
But if we do so with the right attitude we are doing it for God. Read Matt.25:37-40. That I believe is the gift that will give Jesus and his Father by far the most pleasure. That we reflect his love to others by giving our life up for others - in love.
I have been speaking about the gift Christ's followers should be considering giving to him this season and not only this special season, but as an ongoing commitment to him. However, before you even get to that point - there is a very special gift Jesus most longs for………that is your heart.
Jesus came to earth as a baby as we have just celebrated. He spent 30 years living a normal life of the times so he could experience all that we do today and so be able to understand and sympathise and empathise with us. He was also preparing for the ultimate purpose God sent him to earth - to die for our sins and to give every person the opportunity to receive eternal life. Jesus even wanted to get out of it, the thought was so painful. But he was willing to do what His Father wanted. And so he did die for our sins. He did rise from the dead. And he did ascend to heaven to be living with his father now.
Surely the greatest gift we can offer him in return is to accept him into our life - and to offer our life completely to him.
The Bible says all we have to do for this to happen is to believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is the Son of God, and we will have that promise of eternal life with him. It really is that simple.
As we reflect on Christmas and perhaps think now about the gift we could have given to Jesus on his birthday. As we enter into a New Year I wonder if that gift, the one truly worthy of giving to Christ - I wonder if that shouldn't give the over-riding shape to any New Year resolution or determination concerning our vocation.
Every one of us has a vocation. A vocation is defined as a regular occupation, it is what we do - it is a calling. The greatest calling on our life is to worship God - it is our vocation. So whether we are at school - in a professional career - a homemaker - or retired - we all have this particular call on our lives. And no matter where that vocation or calling is, it must be our first and foremost consideration.
We often separate our Christian lives from our regular vocational lives don't we. That is one of the reasons we started the PALS ministry to business people - to encourage Christians to live out their faith in their busy business worlds and not separate work from worship. So even if you don't make New Year resolutions we still need make a determination to give Jesus that very special gift - our life, whether for the first time or as that commitment of love to him forever so that we consciously seek to live a life that is pleasing to him wherever we are.
Are you willing to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Son of God - and so let him be your Saviour?
Or if you have committed your life to Christ are you willing to truly make him Lord of your life? To be fully obedient to him - to love others - with the love that flows from him.
Are you willing to make one of these commitments - not just because it is the time of year when we do these things, but because God's love compels you to do so? If you are - you will give Jesus the greatest gift he deserves.
I encourage you to reflect on this and determine to make an appropriate commitment to live your life fully for Christ. It really is the least you can give as your gift to Jesus.
