Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
Christmas Eve, 1994
2 Corinthians 9:15
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I. Christmas is a time of getting.
A. Most children emphasize this aspect.
Question for Daniel - "What is Christmas?"
"Christmas is lots of presents.
How long till we get to open them?"
(I began hearing this four months ago.)
B. Gift-giving (and receiving) puts people in a good mood.
1) (comment by Rabbi Soffin on noticeable holiday spirit)
C. Our giving is often driven by ulterior motives.
1) Usually related to who gave to us the previous year.
2) We spend as much on them as they did on us.
a) Are we excited when an acquaintance gets us something
nice?
b) No - we feel like a jerk.
D. Gifts can even get us into trouble.
Adlai Stevenson was a much-respected politician who ran against
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower for the presidency.
When Stevenson was working in the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration, he wrote a marketing agreement for the
walnut industry.
That Christmas the industry thanked him by sending him an
enormous gunnysack full of packages of walnuts.
This generous gift came at just the right time because Stevenson
had not done his Christmas shopping.
Happily he took these packages of walnuts and sent them to all
his Washington friends.
Then he made the awful discovery.
In each of the individual packages was a little card saying,
"Merry Christmas from the walnut industry to Adlai Stevenson."
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II. At first Christmas, only Jesus received gifts.
A. The wise men didn't pass around the frankincense and myrrh.
1) Mary and Joseph didn't get anything.
2) Only the baby Jesus did. After all, it's HIS birthday!
a) (Lutheran church ad...)
B. Jesus was the focus of all attention.
1) God was visiting them.
2) We give honor and praise to those we acknowledge as greater.
C. Things are the opposite today.
1) Jesus could be erased from Christmas celebrations and they
would be just as fun.
2) He has been replaced by Santa and Rudolph.
3) More of an ethnic holiday.
III. What will you bring to Jesus?
A. What can you bring to him?
1) Jesus doesn't need cologne, cheese rolls or ties.
2) What can you give someone who literally has EVERYTHING?
a) He doesn't need our sacrifices.
1> Psalm 50:10 - bulls on a thousand hills are mine.
b) Yet he accepts our sacrifices and gifts.
1> They portray a grateful heart.
2> Ironic that offering tonight may be only gift he
gets from us this Christmas.
3) Example of gifts that please Jesus.
The Campolo family decided to teach their kids about the
Kingdom ethics of Jesus.
Instead of spending a fortune on Christmas gifts, they would
buy only one gift for each, and give rest to charity.
They chose a school in Haiti.
The kids resented it at first, but as the years went by they
got used to it.
When they were teenagers, they visited Haiti.
As they approached the school, dozens of children rushed out
to greet them.
His son turned to him and said, "Dad, this is the best
Christmas gift anyone could ever have."
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B. Jesus wants more - he wants our lives.
1) Not lip-service, but a committed life.
a) Gifts must be given freely and cheerfully.
b) Commitment to obediently following God's will.
2) Discipleship shown by acts of love more than tithing.
IV. What Jesus offers you.
A. In a sense, Christmas has always been two-way.
1) The wise men brought gifts, but Jesus brought salvation.
2) Jesus is the "indescribable gift." 2 Cor 9:15
Pastor Clifford Stewart of Louisville, Kentucky, sent his
parents a microwave oven one Christmas.
Here's how he recalls the experience:
They were excited that now they, too, could be a part of the
instant generation.
When Dad unpacked the microwave and plugged it in, literally
within seconds, the microwave transformed two smiles into
frowns!
Even after reading the directions, they couldn't make it work.
Two day later, my mother was playing bridge with a friend and
confessed her inability to get that microwave oven even
to boil water.
'To get this dumb thing to work,' she exclaimed, 'I really
don't need better directions;
I just needed my son to come along with the gift!'"
When God gave the gift of salvation, he didn't send a booklet
of complicated instructions for us to figure out;
he sent his Son.
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B. Have you received the best gift of all?
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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