The Best Gift Giver
Romans 8:28-32
December 25, 2015
Well there’s really no doubt about it…our world is changing.
And you probably have your own thoughts about what those changes are
And whether you think they are for the better or not.
The one thing I see changing our world more than anything else
Is the rise of social media.
It’s not that people have become more opinionated in recent years,
It’s just that it’s much easier for people
To broadcast those opinions for the world to see.
You no longer have to go to a beauty shop or farmer’s co-op to get the latest news.
It’s really easy today for anyone to air their opinions about everything.
Proverbs 18:2 “A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.”
Or you could follow the common secular proverb I often heard growing up, “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought of a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it.”
POINT BEING we live in a world
Where we are constantly bombarded by people’s opinions.
• Opinions on politics
• Opinions on refugees
• Opinions on religion
• Opinions on sports and movies, etc.
And this time of year we get bombarded with
People’s opinions on Christmas.
It started out with whether or not Starbucks
Should put “Merry Christmas” on their cups.
And I’m sure you’ve run across several on your own.
But this year there were two posts that I ran across
That caused me to stop and think a little more.
One was a blog from a lady who wrote “Becoming a Christians Ruined My Love of Christmas”
Now, I should say that the lady made great points in her blog
About the real meaning of Christmas, which is of course the coming of our Savior
And how she had to learn to focus on that.
But in the middle of the blog she made this statement.
“The rank materialism became too much to bear, and the Christmas season morphed from being a time I savored into something I tried to survive each year. Santa Claus, Christmas trees, the holiday jingles—they all felt like pagan oppression. When people complained about a war on Christmas I often smirked and thought to myself, Where do I sign up? Honestly: When a sale at Crate & Barrel gets entangled with the birth of Jesus Christ, something has gone horribly wrong.”
So it was obvious the shopping and consumerism of the season
Genuinely bothered this woman.
I then ran across another post from a lady who basically wished Christmas was over. She lamented that “They’ve already started decorating from Christmas in the stores…it’s sickening!”
She went on to lament how Christmas was nothing but a pagan holiday that was merely hijacked by the church so that they could feel good about buying each other presents.
In her mind Christmas had nothing to do with Jesus.
Her family instead celebrated Hanukah.
(which oddly enough isn’t Christian either)
I even happened to run across an older lady in Lowe’s who asked me if I’d seen Rudolf yet. I responded, “I don’t know, I guess”. To which she sneered at me, “It’s just a pagan holiday” as she pushed on down the aisle.
But I have to admit that with all the joy surrounding Christmas
That I was getting bombarded with
It did at least cause me to step back and do some thinking.
See, I love giving gifts.
I love receiving gifts.
If you’ve ever read the book by Gary Chapman “The Five Love Languages” then you’ll understand when I tell you that “Gift Giving” is one of my love languages.
I love it.
But now I’m starting to feel guilty for wanting to do it.
• I’m starting to feel guilty for wanting to grant the desires of my kids.
• I’m starting to feel guilty for wanting to make someone happy through a present.
• Did that sort of thinking just make me out to be a pagan?
• Was I just using Christmas as an excuse to gratify the flesh?
• Have I missed the point?
And I’ll tell you the answer I came up with.
NO
• The desire to give and receive gifts does not make me a pagan.
• Finding joy in giving someone what they desire does not make me fleshly.
• Enjoying a time of year where people give gifts to one another doesn’t condemn me for failing to understand the true meaning of Christmas.
In fact, I realized that those desires were put in my by God Himself.
Do you know why?
GOD IS GENEROUS
Now look I’m not saying that it’s ok to seek earthly wealth or treasures…
I’m not saying greed isn’t a sin; even called idolatry…
I’m not saying that our happiness can be found in stuff…
Obviously not
But the desire to give gifts to people is not pagan.
That is how God operates.
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “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 what is good to those who ask Him!”
God is a generous giver.
Listen to James:
James 1:16-17 “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
Every good thing given came from God.
Listen to the Psalmist:
Psalms 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
He gives us the necessities of life.
He gives us good things to enjoy.
He pours grace upon grace.
In fact Paul even says He gives spiritual gifts.
Ephesians 4:8 “Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”
What is more the Bible says that
God loves it when people are generous like He is generous.
2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
And Jesus said that being a generous giver
Actually makes you more like God.
Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”
Certainly you get my point.
There’s no reason to let a “grump” during the Christmas season
Make you feel “unchristian” simply because
You delight in giving good gifts to people you love.
That is exactly who God is.
God is generous.
God is gracious.
He continually gives undeserving people far more than they deserve.
And incidentally, not everything He gives is overly spiritual.
Matthew 5:44-45 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
• There the gift is just “sun” and “rain”
• He gives “seed” to the sower
• He gives children who are called “a blessing from the Lord”
Yes God is far more concerned about the spiritual than anything else
But that doesn’t mean He never gives anything else.
GOD IS GENEROUS
And without a doubt the pinnacle gift God ever gave was His Son.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
That is a tremendous gift.
There’s never been another like it.
You’ll never give a gift to anyone in this life
That even comes close to equaling the value
Of the gift God has given to you.
Ephesians 1:3-8 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.”
Wow! Listen to the working.
• “blessed us with every spiritual blessing”
• “predestined us to adoption as sons”
• “grace, which He freely bestowed on us”
• “the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.”
I mean there’s no way around it.
God is generous
He gives great gifts
He’s not a “Ba-Humbug” who sat up in heaven
Bemoaning the fact that people like to be good to one another.
God set the standard for what it means to give gifts to people.
God has outdone us all!
So when it comes to the Christmas season, I decided:
I’M NOT GOING TO SUPRESS THIS DESIRE TO BE GENEROUS – I’M GONNA EMBRACE IT!
I love that God is generous
I love that God is gracious
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”
God’s generosity was what caused Him to give me salvation.
God’s generosity was what caused Him to send His Son for me.
And certainly we celebrate that on Christmas.
And THIS MORNING I just want to take this to a NEW LEVEL.
I want to show that God’s generosity not only causes us gratitude,
BUT IT ALSO GIVES US HOPE.
Yes, God has already been generous and we should be grateful.
But it is also the generosity of God that gives us hope for the future.
Consider your kids.
My kids almost drove us nuts for two weeks shaking presents under the tree. All they could talk about what not being able to wait for Maw-Maw (who we all know is the real Santa-Claus) to get here.
WHY?
They anticipated Christmas because they know that
Their parents and grand-parents will be generous.
They DON’T just sit around and say, “We are so thankful for that one Christmas were we got all those gifts, even though we know we’ll never get another good one.”
They’re grateful, but they are also excited,
Because that when you are dealing with a generous person,
The best is yet to come.
And that is precisely what I want you to understand about God.
No, God doesn’t owe us another thing in this life.
If all we ever got was Jesus, that’d be more than enough.
BUT GOD IS GENEROUS
And so we also have this anticipation
Because we know the best is yet to come.
Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 8
(READ 28-30)
I just read those verses to put you back in the mind-set of chapter 8.
Paul is simply reminding you of God’s glorious plan for you
And reminding you that God’s plan never fails.
God is the engine behind redemption.
God isn’t just a God of good intentions, God is a finisher.
Those who are called end up glorified.
That then caused Paul to ask a very familiar question:
(31) “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
It’s a good question to ponder.
And then you’ll remember that Paul goes in to another series of questions
TO REITERATE HOW SECURE OUR SALVATION IS.
I just want to focus a little on the first one he asks.
(32) “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
Do you catch the point?
• We aren’t dealing with a stingy God.
• We aren’t dealing with a hesitant God.
• We aren’t dealing with a frugal God.
We are dealing with a generous God who goes over and above
When it comes to giving.
And Paul here asks people who have already received the gift of His Son.
(We’ve already opened that one)
Paul asks those people: “How will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
Think about it.
Based upon what you know of God,
Is there any doubt in your mind whatsoever
That He’s going to start withholding good from you now?
ABSOLUTELY NOT
He is a God so generous that He gave His Son.
I can’t wait to see what He gives next.
And I have hope because I know He’ll give it.
This Christmas I simply want you
To feel the love and generosity that God has for you.
He is a good and gracious and generous Father.
He already gave the best Christmas gift you ever received
When He sent His Son.
And because of that we know that
He will also “freely give us all things.”
Luke 12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”
Enjoy the generosity of God.
And when you have the opportunity,
Demonstrate that generosity to others.
Merry Christmas!
