Pastor John Tilton
December 6, 2020 - W2049

"The Greatest Gift of All"

Uncommon Gifts Strangely Wrapped

Pastor John Tilton

December 5 & 6, 2020

Merry Christmas, Everyone!  Mele Kalikimaka! There’s your Hawaiian lesson for today.

"My Grown-Up Christmas List

No more lives torn apart, that wars would never start, and time will heal all hearts.

Everyone would have a friend, that right would always win, and love would never end!" 

This is a beautiful song about hope.  For the past few weeks in our series, Uncommon Gifts Strangely Wrapped, we touched on a different gift.  Today, we will talk about The Greatest Gift of All--The Gift of Hope, Wrapped in the Person of Jesus Christ.

When you think about all that we’ve gone through this year with COVID-19, hope seems like a farfetched dream.  But it’s about perspective. It’s almost Christmas, but it will not be a normal Christmas--many are out of work and things will be different.  Christmas, traditionally, is about gifts and presents; last year, Americans spent over a trillion dollars on Christmas gifts. During the pandemic, Congress has been fighting over 2 or 3 billion dollars to help fund the relief effort.  

Perspective: Is the glass half empty or half full?  This Christmas let us have the right perspective! Yes, celebrations are great; gift giving is great; coming to church will be great--but here it is:

1. Don’t Miss Jesus This Christmas--The Greatest Gift of All!

Not only is He the greatest gift, but Jesus is our only hope, especially in a world of chaos that we are now going through.

Romans 6:23 NLT says: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

Sometimes, we miss Jesus during Christmas by being distracted with celebrations and gifts. Great as they are, Jesus is commonly wrapped. 

2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV says: "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"

Christmas is about Jesus Christ and His birthday; but, oftentimes, our actions and distractions sometimes cause us to miss Jesus!  We may hear about Him and bump into Him in church, but He becomes the commonly wrapped gift left under the back of the tree!  

A. Let’s Recognize That It is Jesus’ Birthday

This Christmas I am challenging you to fall in love with Jesus!

When Jesus was born, the Magi (known as the three kings or wisemen from the East) traveled thousands of dangerous miles to find Him--they did not know where He was, but they knew that He was to be the King and Deliverer of the Jews.   

Matthew 2:1-2 NIV says: "¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² 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.'”

How do we acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ on His birthday? The Word of God tells us everything that transpired (there were no telephones, internet, radio, or television); they went by faith in what the Scriptures had said--we also have the Word in the form of the Bible!

B. Let's Be Intentional to Embrace and Embody Jesus

Matthew 2:11 NIV says: "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."

Gold was always presented to honor a king; by bringing gold, they were acknowledging that He is the King of the Jews!

Frankincense was a fragrance used during worship; they knew they would be worshipping the king of Kings.

Myrrh was a fragrance used for embalming dead bodies. It was God’s plan and prophecy that this gift foretold that Jesus would someday die for our sins.

1.  Embracing Jesus means to enthusiastically accept, affirm, and take action in His birth, death, and His Second Coming!

2.  Embodying Him means to express your belief and faith in Him by responding with the gift that you will exchange with Him this Christmas.  

3.  That we would give Him our hearts in daily relationship through prayer and devotions.

4.  That we would give Him even our sins on a daily basis! 

Advent is the four weeks leading to Christmas.  In Greek, Advent is Adventus, which means coming and going (arrival and coming); that Jesus would come not only in His birth, but that we would be ready for His Second Coming, when He comes to rapture us!  It is important that we reflect, repent, and respond to Jesus this Christmas.  This isn’t a heavy message but a celebratory one--to fall in love with Jesus! 

Two things to challenge you:  

1. What is God asking me to change in my life this Christmas?  My attitude? My actions?  My relationships?  What is God asking me to take a look at?  How we respond is how we fall in love with Him.

2. What can I do better?  What can I do better in my family?  In my work?  At school?  With my friends?

If we take Jesus into Christmas, those are the things that don’t take a lot of time, but we can give Jesus our heart and we can make Him first.

The most amazing thing in our exchange with Jesus is that He doesn’t care how much things cost or the brand names--all He wants is your sins and your heart for Christmas! 

You may think that we must give Him something great; but no, He wants the dirtiest and sinful parts of us that we are ashamed of--because that is what He came for!

Matthew 5:24 NKJV says: "leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

II. We Need to Exchange the Gift of Forgiveness 

Matthew 6:14 NIV says: "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."

Don’t miss Jesus this Christmas.  He wants our heart and our sin; but, before we can do that, we must forgive--it’s absolutely tied together!  When you have unforgiveness and don’t forgive, it becomes baggage--things that will keep you from the love of God!

The exchange of forgiveness is very deep to my wife Lanu (our creative director) and myself.  About 20 years ago, I was at the top of my career with the largest production company in Hawaii, in travel and entertainment.  While at the top, I had the biggest fall, so big that I was losing my wife and family!

Lanu and I had called it quits because of my mistakes; we were going our separate ways.  But God spoke to her very vividly and said, 'I have a plan.”  It was because of her forgiveness that we were able to travel that hard road to reconcile and find trust and love--and be a family again!

What I bring to you today is that because of forgiveness and knowing that God had a plan, that we have the most amazing family--my whole family is in ministry!  Lanu and I were called into ministry years later; we’ve been in ministry 15 years. We have the honor and privilege of serving you--but it started with forgiveness! 

You may be feeling that you’re at the end of your road for what happened, and you want to call it quits.  Today, God is saying, "Don’t miss Me and the gift that I want to offer you this Christmas.  I want to save your life from whatever you are struggling with."  All God requires is that exchange.

I want to share some of my favorite quotes on forgiveness and unforgiveness to paint a clearer picture for you:

- Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

- Holding a grudge is like letting someone live rent free in your head.

- When someone hurts you, go ahead and cry a river--get it all out, but build a bridge and get over it!

- Unforgiveness is choosing to stay trapped in a jail cell of bitterness serving time for someone else’s crime.

- The first to apologize is the bravest; the first to forgive is the strongest; but the first to forget is the happiest.

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

1.   Who is someone you need to forgive this Christmas? 

2.   How can you reach out to end a conflict that concerns you?

3.   What baggage have you been dragging along with you?

4.   How can you let it go?