The
Greatest Gift of All
By Barbara Sadler
Theme: Giving
Call to Worship:
# James 1:17, or Responsive
Opening Song:
#140, Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne, SDA Hymnal
Closing Song: #572,
Give of Your Best to the Master, SDA
Hymnal
Scripture:
Varied texts about gifts, NKJV used
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The Greatest Gift of All
We
all love receiving gifts. Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, sometimes
unexpected ones just because someone is thinking of us.
The
most memorable gift I received was when I was five years old. With five
children in the family we only just made ends meet and so there weren’t large
gifts at any time. But I was turning five and my mum knew I wanted a doll. Not
just any doll but a special one. My aunt and uncle and their five sons lived
about ½ km up the road from us so it was there we went for my party. I could
see the box under the table as we sat down to eat and I can still remember my
excitement and anticipation as I waited to be given my gift. Eventually I was
given this huge box to open. There inside was “Susan” – a doll the size of a
baby – the most wonderful doll I had ever laid eyes on. I was so excited. She
had on a beautiful yellow dress. It was the best gift I could ever receive. She
even had little front teeth. My brother and I played with Susan for many years.
She was left safely at home while I went to college and then went to live in
It
was 35 years later my brother told me it was too broken to be fixed and there
was no use keeping it any more so threw it away.
A
special gift. One I treasured. Just a doll, but to me it showed how special
being five years old was and how special I was to my mum and dad.
Gifts.
They can show respect, love, thoughts, care—a multitude of feelings—or they can
be given grudgingly because it is expected.
The
Jews once gave gifts to each other and the poor as a sign of a great
celebration. It had been a troubled time for the Jews during the reign of King
Xerxes until Esther had found favour with the king and was able to thwart the
plans of Haman to have all the Jews exterminated. With Esther and Mordecai
acting on their behalf they were given authority to protect themselves against
all enemies.
To
celebrate this great turn in their lives each year they assembled together to
celebrate. Let’s read it in Esther 9:18-22:
But the Jews who were at Shushan assembled
together on the thirteenth day, as well as on the fourteenth; and on the
fifteenth of the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the
fourteenth day of the month of Adar with gladness and feasting, as a holiday,
and for sending presents to one another. And Mordecai wrote these things and
sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of
King Ahasuerus, to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the
fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, as the days on which the
Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to
joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days
of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.
Gift
giving was established to help the Jews remember not only how God had delivered
them but how they were to think of others during these celebratory times. They
were not just to eat, drink and be merry and think only of themselves.
They
gave gifts of celebration to show their joy.
Another
great king gave gifts to show his gratitude and his thankfulness for what had
been done for him.
Daniel
2:46-48:
Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face,
prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and
incense to him. The king answered Daniel, and said, "Truly your God is the
God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could
reveal this secret. Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great
gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole
Why
would a king lavish such gifts and prestige on a hired hand? Daniel had eased
the king’s mind. He had had a dream, a very disturbing dream, that he did not
know the meaning of and no one could interpret the dream for him until Daniel
came onto the scene.
How
could he show his gratitude and relief? By lavishing Daniel with great gifts
and honour.
Gifts
to say thank you – I appreciate what you’ve done.
Some
of the most known gifts in the world are those of “gold, frankincense and
myrrh”.
Matthew
2:1-2, 9-11:
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea
in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to
Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we
have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him….When they heard the
king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went
before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they
saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come
into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down
and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented
gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
These
were “wise men”, astrologers from a far country – come to worship the King of
the Jews. And what did they do? They brought gifts; some of the most expensive
of the time, to give to a tiny babe that they were shown would be a “king”. Gifts to show their respect and their
worship.
When
Jesus was here the people would bring their gifts into the temple but some came
with very different motives. Let’s look at how Jesus viewed the giving:
Luke 21:1-4:
And He looked up and saw the rich putting their
gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two
mites. So He said, Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than
all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but
she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.
Jesus
wasn’t saying the rich shouldn’t put in their gifts, but he saw beyond what
they gave to their hearts, and could see this widow gave ALL she had. Her gift
wasn’t given because it was “expected” or so others would think highly of her.
It was given out of faith and love for her God. And she was willing to give all
she had. A gift given to show love.
How
do we judge what we give – by what is expected or by our love?
I
want us to look at one of my favourite people in the Bible—Mary Magdalene—she
gave Jesus one of his most precious gifts. Let’s read of it in John 12:1-3:
Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came
to
Not
only was the spikenard worth a year’s wage and therefore a very expensive gift
– Mary gave herself. She didn’t care what those there thought of her. She
didn’t care that she would be ridiculed – embarrassed – thought of as “common”
— her past thrown in her face. All she wanted to do was give the gift of
anointing to her beloved Jesus, he who had turned her life completely around.
She not only poured the perfume on his feet, but let down her hair and wiped
them—mingled with her tears of gratitude—to show her love to the one person who
understood and loved her as she was – a sinner.
What
greater gift could she have given? She gave not only a physical gift but she
gave her heart. She gave her all to Christ.
A gift of gratitude and love.
What
are the gifts God gives to us? In the words of Max Lucado:
He
could have given us a world flat and grey.
We
wouldn’t have known any difference. But, he didn’t.
He
splashed orange in the sunrise
And
cast the sky in blue
And
if you love to see geese as they gather
Chances
are you’ll see that too.
Did
he have to make the squirrel’s tail furry?
Was
he obliged to make the birds sing?
And
the funny way that chickens scurry
Or
the majesty of thunder when it rings?
Why
give a flower fragrance?
Why
give food its taste?
Could
it be
He
loves to see
That
look upon your face?
If
we love giving gifts how much more does a God, who is pure and perfect, enjoy
giving gifts to us?
Jesus
asks in Matthew 7:9,11:
Or what man is there among you who, if his son
asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?...If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
We
can only give gifts that will decay or wear out but God gives us something that
will never be destroyed:
James
1:17:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shadow of turning.
God's
gifts put man's best dreams to shame. All He gives is perfect, but I want us to
look at the most precious gift he gave and what it cost—the gift of the tiny
baby whose birth we are celebrating today.
John
1:1-3:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without
Him nothing was made that was made.
Here
was Jesus—one with God and Creator of the world—living in heaven, a perfect
world with grandeur we cannot even imagine. But because we had sinned and our connection
with God had been severed, God sent him down here but not even as a king, not
into a great city, not into an upstanding family where he wouldn’t want for
anything where he could at least have a little comfort. Let’s see who he was sent to –
Matthew
1:18:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows:
After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
A
young girl about 14 years old, a mere child herself, to bear the king of the
Universe. A girl living in a town of
No
clean hospital room for him to be born in, only a smelly stable:
Luke
2:6,7:
So it was, that while they were there, the days
were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn
Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because
there was no room for them in the inn.
He
couldn’t even find a room for them. God had to look down and see his Son—the
King of the Universe, creator—become a vulnerable baby, born in a trough where
the cattle feed with only his parents and some shepherds to welcome Him to the
sin ravaged world.
Imagine
if Jesus were your son and you had to watch him be delivered with only the
animals to watch. And then to welcome him, the local shepherds from the fields
who weren’t probably the most genteel of people, but they were the ones who
could recognise Him for who he was, their Saviour.
But
God couldn’t just keep quiet and he sent a throng of angels to herald the birth,
singing songs of praise. How God must have ached to lift that baby up and hold
him safe to his breast. How he must it must have broke his heart when looked at
everything he would go through and how the ones he came to save would treat
Him.
Yes,
God gave us the greatest gift of all in the baby whose birth we are celebrating
today because He gave His most precious possession– his own Son.
I
would like to parallel what God has done for us with the examples of
gift-giving we looked at this morning:
Thoughts from Esther: A celebration of
deliverance from sin through the gift of Jesus.
Thoughts from Daniel : God honoured us when he
lavished the gift of Jesus on us.
Thoughts from the Widow: When God sent Jesus, He
gave the best He had.
Thoughts from Mary: The love that poured from
Mary's heart, is a glimpse of the love God poured out upon us in the gift of
His Son.
As
we remember the Baby at this time let us unwrap that gift that God so
graciously gave us. The gift of salvation in the form of a tiny baby. Let us
listen to God as we contemplate this gift and we will hear Him say, “Yes, I did
this just for you.”
What
is our Gift to God? What can we give to match this gift God so graciously gave
in the form of His son? The only thing we can give is ourselves, our
selfishness, our loyalty, our hearts.
What
you are is God's gift to you. What you
make of yourself is your gift to God.
About
the Sermon Writer: Barbara
Sadler lives on a small farm in coastal