That Very First Christmas Gift
by Max Frazier, Jr.

From the November 2009 Philogian

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

Christmas has always been one of my favorite seasons of the year.  It has always been a time of reflection upon the great demonstration of the love which God had for us.  Christmas is not, as many describe it, a “holiday.”  It is a “holy day.”  Christmas does not mean Santa Claus, Christmas trees, holly, mistletoe, feasts, and presents – although those certainly are part of the Christmas Season.  But Christmas means Christ, for Christ is Christmas. 

It is a comfort to know that the world cannot destroy Christmas for the believer because it is something which is felt inside; Christmas is an attitude.  Poverty cannot dim the sacredness of this time because, as believers, Christmas is a time of priceless blessing.  And even time itself cannot wither the meaning of Christmas for Christmas belongs to the eternal.  I was once asked if I thought that we would celebrate Christmas in heaven.  I thought about it for a moment and then replied, “Why, yes, I believe we will.  I think we will celebrate the birthday of the One who came to bring us salvation and eternal life.  His may be the only birthday that is celebrated, but what a celebration it will be.”  Now, I could be wrong about that heavenly celebration, but Christ’s birth certainly was planned in the eternity past even before the earth was founded.

Friends, Christmas, not the Fourth of July, is the birthday of freedom.  Some build upon the hope of materialism.  Some build upon the hope of secularism.  Others build upon the hope found in humanism.  Still others build upon the hope thought to be in permissiveness.  But, as the hymn writer so wondrously expressed it, “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”

The heart of the Christmas message is found in one of the most familiar Scripture verses – John 3:16.  I would have us notice six important truths about this wonderful love-gift which God sent to that manger in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago.

God is the Giver of the Gift: “For God…”
The resources of the donor, along with his ability to use those resources, usually gauge the value of the gift.  You certainly would not expect a pauper to buy you a fur coat or an expensive car.  Nor would you expect a millionaire to give you a ten-cent pencil or a candy bar.  We would expect God to give the ultimate in gifts.  Paul, in writing to the Romans, described the gift-giving ability of God with these words: He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

The most valuable gift which you can give to another person is the gift of yourself in a personal relationship.  The story is told that during the height of the Vietnam War, a young bride tried to mail herself to her husband for Christmas.  Another young boy asked his father, who had returned from that same war, not what his father had brought home for him, but instead said, as he hugged his Daddy, “Oh, this is the best Christmas present I’ve ever had.”  Friends, God gave us Himself.  God gave us His Son.  He did that so he might enter into a personal relationship with you and me.  Wow!  What a gift! 

Let us ask ourselves, “Am I interested in presents or in the presence of Christ in my heart and home?”  Are we more interested in the trinkets, glitter, tinsel and gifts?  Have we lost the real meaning of Christmas: God giving us Himself?

The Motive of God’s Gift: “For God so loved…”
Christmas tells us that God loves us.  God is a God of love.  Paul declares it this way: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).  Friends, God loved us even when we did not deserve His love.  It is easy to love someone who deserves love.  It is very easy for me to love Marlys – I have been doing that for over 40 years now – and it gets easier every day.  And it is very easy for me to love my three children and their spouses.  And it is very easy to love those seven precious grandchildren.  I don’t even have to work at it.  It just comes naturally.  But it is another thing to love the ones who do not deserve my love.  Yet God loved me even when I did not deserve His love. 

The Receiver of God’s Gift: “For God so loved the world…”
When I give a gift, it is usually my habit to write the person’s name on a card and place that card on the gift.  I want to make sure that the right person receives the proper gift. 

What was the gift tag that God placed on the Lord Jesus Christ that very first Christmas?  It was marked: To – the world; From – the Father.  God is no respecter of persons.  God sent His Son to those who are full of heart aches and disappointments.  God sent His Son to those who are joyful and carefree.  God loves the hard-working farmer just as He loves the wealthy businessman.  God loves the teenagers addicted to drugs and sex as much as He loves the All-American athlete or scholar.  God loves the Russians and the Chinese as much as He loves you and me as Americans.  It is the whole world that God loves and He loves that world today in a very special way. 

Friends, no one is outside of the reach of God’s love, or of His special gift of that love.

The Value of the God’s Gift: “…He gave His one and only Son…”
Several years ago, the management team at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company paid three million dollars to a guerilla group in Argentina for the ransom of one of their kidnapped workers.  The life of that man was worth three million dollars.

Let me ask you, “How much is your life worth?”  We often jokingly state that we might sell our children for two cents, or that we would take millions for our wives.  (I do remember when I was in Israel back in 1979, that our tour guide told us that on one tour a young American, while on the Mount of Olives, was offered ten camels by an Arab nomad for his wife.  Now that would indeed have been a high price.  Beware of camel jockeys!)  So, I guess I could ask you, “How many camels is your husband or wife worth?”

Jesus challenges our thinking about worth and value with these words to His disciples: What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36).  One soul is worth more than the entire world!  Your life is priceless in the eyes of a loving God.  I remember visiting with a pastoral colleague of mine who had returned from a trip to San Francisco.  There he and his family had toured the famous Hearst Mansion.  They were overwhelmed by the opulence that they saw there.  Yet, as we talked, we wondered if Mr. Hearst today would gladly trade it all away in order to know Jesus Christ in a personal way.  Friends, this Christmas Season – and always – you have value to God!

And this value was demonstrated in the sending of His only Son.  God gave everything He had.  When God sent Jesus, He had no one else to send.  It is impossible for us to estimate the value of the gift which God gave.  May mind simply cannot comprehend it.  All I know…and praise God that I can know…is that God loved me so much that He sent Jesus to die for me!  To that fact all I can say is “Amen!”

The Personalization of God’s Gift: “…that whoever…”
Marlys and I enjoy receiving Christmas cards.  We especially enjoy getting those from friends and family we have not heard from in a year’s time.  And it is always a joy to get those that have a personal note attached to them.  “Just thinking of you,” or “Wishing you a blessed Christmas,” or “God bless you” bring encouragement and joy. 

When God sent His gift that very first Christmas, He made it a personal one.  Billy Graham once said, “I am convinced that Christ would have died on the cross if I had been the only sinner in the world.”

We are living today in a world that deals in terms of mass communication and mass production.  It many ways it has become a very impersonal world.  We talk to each via text-messaging or twittering.  Cell phones have almost become a fifth appendage.  We have learned the skill of texting our friends while doing research on the computer for that project that is to be completed next week. 

I am glad that God’s message of love is still a personal one.  God loves me as an individual, not as a Social Security number or a tax exemption.  I remember telling my parishioners that they could take out the word “whoever” in John 3:16 and insert their own name and they would capture the entire essence of what Christ was saying.

Remember the words to that old Sunday school chorus: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  This Christmas Season know, once again, that Jesus loves you!

The Receipt of God’s Gift: “…that whoever believes in him…”
A gift does not become a gift until it is accepted.  Marlys and I often do some of our Christmas shopping well in advance of that special day.  The gifts will sit on a closet floor awaiting the time when they can be put under the tree with a gift-card for one of our children or grandchildren.  And, when that special morning arrives, I don’t think I can ever recall having a gift not be accepted.  Nor do Marlys and I have to coerce anyone to take the gift.  We offer no bribes.  The gift is simply accepted.

God never forces anyone to accept His gift.  He does not bribe you to take it.  He simply asks us to receive it by faith as a completely voluntary act.  If you refuse this gift, you are lost eternally and condemned to hell.  The greatest sin that a person can commit is to refuse God’s gift of love!  However, if you accept this gift, you are saved eternally and accepted into God’s glorious family.

My friends, I trust that you have received that precious gift that God sent to you that very first Christmas.  Take a moment, right now, before you read anything else in this Philogian, to recite John 3:16 – you remember it well.  But, instead of using the words “world” and “whoever”, insert your own name.  For me it would be: For God so loved Max that He gave his one and only Son, that Max believes in him Max shall not perish but have eternal life.

Several years ago I cam across this poem titled “Rejoice!”  Its author is a man by the name of Cooper; that is all I know about him.  But, the words of his poem speak powerfully:

            The Wise Men rejoiced On that long ago day,
            When they saw the bright star O’er the place where Christ lay.

            The shepherds rejoiced In the field that night,
            When an angel appeared In a bright shining light.
 
            The angels rejoiced And praised God again,
            Saying, “Glory to God And good will to men.”

            Today many rejoice At this holiday season,
            But too few rejoice For the real Christmas reason.

            Will YOU rejoice In the birth of the King,
            Or just in the “things” This Christmas will bring?

 

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