"Did You Have A Good Christmas?"

"Did you have a good Christmas?"  That's the go-to question for the week following Christmas Day.  For that week, it replaces talking about the weather for casual encounters - with the clerk at the Post Office or the bank, with the server at your favorite restaurant, with the people at church the following Sunday.

I stopped asking that question years ago because I realized how DUMB it is.  Just read it and think about it. Go ahead.  Think it through.

What is Christmas?  Right, the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  For Christians, how is it possible to have a bad celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ?

See, it's a DUMB question, isn't it!  (I'm not asking you a question.  See, I ended that sentence with an exclamation point, not a question mark.)

I understand that some people could actually have a BAD CHRISTMAS DAY, a BAD DECEMBER 25th.  I'm know some people experienced terrible stuff like house fires, traffic accidents, deaths in the family, and other negative events.  But for Christians who experienced negative stuff like this on Christmas, all they had was a BAD DAY, not a "BAD CHRISTMAS."

I also imagine that some people ask the question and mean, "Did you get a lot of stuff?  Did you get what you wanted?", like that's the most important thing.

Some people are very lonely at Christmas.  (But in spite of this, it's a MYTH that more people commit suicide than at any other time of year -  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201212/is-suicide-more-common-christmas-time )  Most of us have probably spent at least one Christmas WITHOUT someone we love, or WITH a broken heart over a breakup, or after the recent death of a family member, or in another state because of a move.  We see other families all together, drive ways full of cars from out of town, and a constant barrage of feel-good Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel (where every movie ends just the way you wanted it to!), and we feel an emotional emptiness.  But the truth is, nothing has changed from two weeks before when we were feeling fine.

When we focus on those kinds of things instead of Jesus, it's not just CHRISTMAS DAY that's a letdown!

Here's a good way to answer that question next time you're asked: "Of course I had a great time celebrating Jesus' birth!  Didn't you?"  (Yes, in spite of not getting a new car, iPad, engagement ring, riding mower.  Yes, in spite of this being my first Christmas without ____________.  Yes, in spite of moving to lovely Minnesota.  Yes, in spite of ____________ breaking up with me last month . . .)

*If you live in Minnesota, no offense.  It's the first cold state that popped into my mind.  I could've said New York.  Or North Dakota.  Or South Dakota.  Or Michigan, Ohio . . .)

An Indescribable Gift

My message from Sunday, December 16.  The manuscript is below.

When I talked about never receiving an earthly gift that was truly indescribable, I remembered a picture from Christmas 1978 when I got a Stretch Monster.  It came to me as I was talking, so it's not included in the manuscript.  Here's an old commercial for Stretch Monster .

I haven't seen this picture in over 20 years, but I remember this.  This week I asked my mom about this picture.  She looked through boxes of pictures and found it.  She lives in Indiana, so she took a picture of the picture with her phone and texted it to me.  This is as excited as I ever remember getting, and it's why I included it in my message on Sunday!  Notice the awesome Green Machine in the back.  Here's a commercial for the Green Machine .  Oh how great were the toys in the 70's!

AN INDESCRIBABLE GIFT

2 Corinthians 9:15

2 Corinthians 9:15  Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (NIV)

Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words! (NLT)

Don’t these words sound PERFECTLY CHRISTMAS-Y?  It might surprise you to find that 2 Corinthians 9 is about an offering Paul had been collecting during his third missionary journey for the Jerusalem Christians.  The Corinthians had promised to contribute, but they’d failed to follow through.  Paul was encouraging them to make good on their promise, and he closed his plea by reminding them about GOD’S GIFT TO US, which should’ve been very motivating!

Have you ever received a gift that was too great for words?  The greatest and most expensive gift I ever GAVE was an engagement ring to Kelley.  It was one of the best moments of my life.  But it wasn’t INDESCRIBABLE!  We described it to everybody!  We put it on Facebook!

I got over all the gifts I ever received, no matter how great they were.  I no longer feel the same about the bicycles, video games, guns, baseball gloves, clothing, shoes, tools, TV, golf clubs . . . . But anyone who TRULY UNDERSTANDS what God has done for us CAN NEVER GET OVER IT.  Yes, we can put some words around the significance of the Cross, what Jesus means to us, and what He’s done for us, BUT OUR WORDS ARE LIMITED BY OUR EARTHLY PERSPECTIVE!  We don’t REALLY understand what we’ve been given, and we won’t until we see Jesus in heaven.

Four Reasons God’s gift is INDESCRIBABLE:

1.  GOD’S GIFT IS PERSONAL

Don’t you love those Christmas cards you receive from the car dealership, your dentist, and your insurance agent?  It’s great that they think of their customers at Christmas, but do those card make it to your fridge?  The fridge space is VALUABLE; it’s reserved for people you love, the cards with personal notes and pictures!

Have you ever received an unexpected gift that was JUST WHAT YOU WOULD’VE ASKED FOR? Somebody has to KNOW YOU to give you a gift like that.  They don’t have to give you an Outback Gift Card, AS GREAT AS THOSE ARE! 

When we went to Wears Valley Ranch to hand-deliver Christmas presents to 26 children, it was a PERSONAL experience.  We already knew most of the kids and WVR staff, and they were excited to see us.  We played KICKBALL!  And then we gave every kid a personal card with $100 inside.  As they opened their cards in unison, there was a delayed reaction, and then laughter, smiles, tears, and exclamations like, “I’ve never even SEEN a $100 bill!”  We’d never met one 13-year old boy who hadn’t been at the Ranch very long.  He hugged me so hard it hurt and said, “I just met you but I love you!  Thank you!”

Mailing the cards would’ve been cheaper.  We wouldn’t have had to miss school/work and it wouldn’t have changed the monetary value of our gift, but it would’ve changed the PERSONAL VALUE.  Long after all that money is spent, the memory of that day will remain for all of us.

Try to consider just how PERSONAL God’s gift is.  He gave up His DIVINE Son so that we SINFUL HUMANS could become HIS CHILDREN.  It was PERSONAL for God all the way around!

Galatians 4:4-7  But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. ⁵ God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.  ⁶ And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”  ⁷ Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

2.  GOD’S GIFT IS USEFUL

One Christmas a lady made a short and simple wish list and stuck it to the fridge.  All it said was, “I want something that will make me look slim and beautiful.”  On Christmas morning, she couldn’t wait to see what her husband picked out, hoping it was just the right size, color, and fit.  But the box was really big and when she opened it she found an exercise bike.

God didn’t give us something ORNAMENTAL to sit on a shelf.  He didn’t give us something only to be used for SPECIAL OCCASIONS like Christmas and Easter.  He didn’t give us something for EMERGENCIES only, hoping we’d never even have to use it (like a handgun or flood insurance).

You know how it feels when you find something that used to be important to you, and you didn’t even know you’d lost it?  Like, you discover a pair of boots in the back of the closet, and think, “Man, I forgot I even had these!  They sure would’ve come in handy last year in that snow storm!”  We’ll KNOW that we TRULY have a relationship with Jesus when we stop having that kind of experience with Jesus. 

If Jesus doesn’t affect every day of our lives, we obviously aren’t very close to Him at all.  GOD’S GIFT IS PRACTICAL!  Salvation COMPLETELY CHANGES who we are, how we operate, who we serve, and where we’re going.  If Jesus isn’t DOMINATING your life, are you really comfortable claiming to know and love Him?

3.  GOD’S GIFT IS ETERNAL

Do you still have your favorite presents from childhood?  Do you even REMEMBER them?  Eventually, even our most favorite gifts get forgotten, replaced, outgrown, worn out, used up, lost, outdated, or broken.  But God’s gift is permanent.  Salvation NEVER ENDS.    

Is it possible for Christians to move away from Jesus?  Absolutely.  Every time we sin, we have to turn away from God to do it.  But do our sins SEPARATE us from God?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  When we sin, we break FELLOWSHIP with God, but not our RELATIONSIP with Him.  NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM GOD’S LOVE! 

Romans 8:39a And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.

Hebrews 7:25  Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

Hebrews 10:10  For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.

But what about all those people who claim to be Christians but live any old way they want?  Does THAT prove that we can LOSE our salvation? 

No.  That proves that, JUST LIKE JESUS WARNED, many people who claim to be Christians AREN’T.  The Bible doesn’t teach that believers can move away from Jesus for such an extended period of time that they no longer think about Him or experience conviction.  If that describes you, here’s your safest bet: surrender to Jesus.  If you did something in the past that you were able to STOP, it sounds like what happened was a work of YOU and not a work of GOD. 

God’s gift of salvation begins when we SURRENDER to Him, and lasts ETERNALLY. 

4.  GOD’S GIFT IS COSTLY

I heard about a grandmother who didn’t know what to give her three grandchildren for Christmas.  She decided to send them each a card and a $50 check, and she wrote in each card, “Buy your own gift!”  A few days later she found three $50 checks under the newspaper on her kitchen table.  Her grandchildren were shocked when they received empty cards that said, “BUY YOUR OWN GIFT!”

If a gift doesn’t cost the giver anything, doesn’t it diminish the gift?  The cost doesn’t have to be MONEY.  A perfect gift can be purchased with time, energy, talent, creativity, thought, etc.  For a gift to be MEANINGFUL, we just need to know that the giver was INVESTED.  If Kelley gave me a bag of dirt for Christmas, it wouldn’t mean a thing to me.  But if she said she broke into Sanford Stadium and dug that bag of dirt from the end zone, it’d be the best gift ever! 

There’s never been a more costly gift than Jesus, and there’s never been a more invested giver than God. 

John 3:16  “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Isaiah 53:5  But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.  He was beaten so we could be whole.  He was whipped so we could be healed.

This Christmas, let’s not lose sight of these facts.  And even as we celebrate the BIRTH of our Savior, let’s keep in mind that His birth was just the beginning of His earthly mission: it ENDED with the Cross. 

God always knew what creating mankind would COST Him.  And He created us anyway.

2 Corinthians 9:15  Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (NIV)