Christmas is the Gift that Keeps on Giving

Today I want to share a word about Christmas is the gift that keeps on giving, as I comment on Matthew 12:1-12.

This passage reads,

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him”  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’’’ Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.  He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”  After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

A SEASON OF GIFTS REFLECTS A GIVING RELATIONSHIP:

A big part of Christmas is the giving and receiving of gifts, but some aspects of Christmas gifts have been lost over the years. Take, for example, the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” What we miss about that song is that the first day of Christmas from the perspective of that song is actually Christmas Day. The song follows an old custom in some Christian churches of giving gifts during the season of Christmas, which extends almost two weeks past Christmas day. If you added in the season of Advent before Christmas from which we get the custom of Advent Calendars, we actually see a season of giving gifts which last well over a month.

Truthfully, Christmas is a gift that keeps on giving. What we see here is a model for our whole lives.  We receive from God (the baby Jesus) and we return gifts to Him (in this case, Gold Frankincense, and Myrrh). The giving of gifts a Christmas is not just a seasonal event.  In fact, receiving from God and returning blessings to Him must go on all year long.  Truly, Christmas is the gift that keeps on giving!

Today I want us to consider about some very specific areas in which we receive from God and in which we need to return blessings to Him.

FIRST, WE RECEIVE AND RETURN LIFE:

John 1:1-5 tells us:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

God is the author of all life. He created this world for us as an expression of His love. It all belongs to Him and yet He has given it to us. Psalm 50 says that the cattle on a thousand hills belong to God. I like to say that not only the cattle on a thousand hills, but the hills, the gold under the hills, and the oil under the gold under the hills all belong to God.

Sadly, we received life from God but retuned death: Adam and Eve rejected God’s blessings and each and every human continues to do that. We have ruined God’s creation and spoiled it.

Imagine, what if someone borrowed your new car and trashed it? How would you respond to them? What would that do to your relationship? We trashed God’s wonderful creation yet, God did not give up on us. In fact, He doubled down on His investment in us!

He sent His uniquely begotten Son to save us, and He continued to give, to us despite our rebellion. In fact, He has even given us the ability to overcome our rebellion. Our only proper response is to return life to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:20 says: “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”

Colossians 3:3 says: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Galatians 2:20 says: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Our best gift to God is very ourselves!  This is why God’s uses marriage as an analogy for our relationship with Him.

NEXT, WE RECEIVE AND RETURN RELATIONSHIP:

John 1:12-14 tells us:

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Sadly, we often treat God the way we treat our families. We have to work to support our families and we also have to work to support our churches and ministries. Work, however, is no substitute for relationship. One study showed that for every additional $10,000 made by a father, the time spent with their children decreased by 5 minutes each day. We are so busy “doing” we have no time to “be” with each other like the couple I knew who was always at church  but who later divorced.

Can you imagine it?  God’s desire is to relate to us! God came to the Garden, and He walked in the cool of the day with Adam & Eve. .  God met with Moses on the mountain and Moses’ face shown. God hid Elijah in the cleft of the rock so that He could reveal Himself to Him. This, however, was not enough. Jesus came as a baby and lived among us, and He gave us the right to become God’s children! How powerful is this truth!

I am often amazed by the fact that my wife loves me and wants to relate to me. I often just think . . . wow! And yet, how much more powerful it is that God was to come into my life and be with me!

Our response must be to return that relationship to God! We need to converse with Him and share our lives with Him. Children love to hear their grandfathers’ stories even when they have heard them before we need to spend time with Him! With God, we need to spell love “T.I.M.E.”

If God came all the way to your house to visit with you, wouldn’t you want to spend time with Him?  Well, He has, and we should!

WE ALSO RECEIVE AND RETURN SPIRITUAL GIFTS:

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12:1, tells us: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant”

Since God is a Spirit, He give us Spiritual Gifts. We must remember that  talents are not spiritual gifts.  I once knew a welder who told me he was so good that he “could weld the crack of dawn if you could hold it for me." He was a talented welder, but that was not his spiritual gift!

The word “gifts” here is not in the original texts. Originally, this verse said, “Now concerning spirituals . . .” Yet even the issue of spirituality involved receiving gifts. We know these as “Spiritual Gifts” and they are found in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4. 

By giving us these spiritual gifts, God empowers us to do things in ministry and life that we can’t do in our own power. Every Christian has at least one of these and they vary as to the way they are manifested. None are more important than the other and each one is to be used for God’s blessing.

1 Peter 4:10-11 says:

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Do you see the pattern? God gives us a blessing; we use it and are blessed by it. We use it to bless others and to build God’s church and we return it to God as we cause His people to bless Him.

  

We’ve been given tremendous gifts and talents by God, and we must return these to Him by using them in His church!

FINALLY, WE RECEIVE AND RETURN THE WORLD:

Our perspective is often too narrow. We tend to focus on the tasks at hand like mules with blinders on, seeing neither left nor right. This can cause paralysis in our lives, the way a jet fighter wingman can follow his leader into the ground. 

We must realize that we are part of a huge enterprise. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that, “God is not willing that any should perish but that all shall come to eternal life.”

The Great Commission is great because the task is huge. God wants all people in all places to come to Him. He wants to eradicate all sin and all darkness, and He wants each of us to have a part in that work.

We need to take ownership of our responsibility. We didn’t ask for this responsibility, yet we must step up to the plate. If we don’t, someone might die and go to Hell that didn’t need to.

The Lord deserves our best efforts as we fulfill our part in His global plan.

CONCLUSION:

Christmas is the gift that keeps on giving. Because Jesus came to us, we receive from God and return to Him:

Life

Relationship

Spiritual Gifts

The World 

Are we giving as good as we are receiving? We should be!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt