GIVING: Christmas
And Beyond
Peter
G Kuskie,
By the time you read this Christmas will be
over. Hopefully most would have spent
time giving and receiving not only presents, but also love. It is to be hoped also that we would have
spent time reflecting on the reason for the season.
As I write this I have put in my order for
Christmas. I would like a “pool lounge,”
that is an inflatable devise for floating around on my pool. Also I would like what we call in
While the meaning of Christmas is acknowledged in
our culture it has come to have more to do with getting together with family
and giving and getting presents. This
giving of gifts led me to thinking about giving. Namely what God has given us.
Let’s imagine for a moment it is Christmas
again. Underneath our Christmas tree is
a single present. The time comes for us
to open it. Eagerly we read the label
telling us whom the present is from. To
our amazement the present is from God. Intrigued we un-wrap the gift from God. What are some of the
things the Word tells us that He has given us?
Well one thing
we know for sure is that God is a good God who does not give His children
anything that would harm them.
Matt
11:9-11
“Which
of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a
fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give
good gifts to those who ask him! In fact
“every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17
The
fact is God loves us and wants to give us only what is good for us. Sometimes what is good for us though may come
in disguise, but we must never doubt that God is on our side.
So
we have opened our present and here it is:
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God”
The most exciting gift God has given us
is our salvation. Salvation cannot be
earned. It is a gift of God. Not only could we never earn His favor but
while we remained in our sins we were appointed for wrath. Fortunately God in His mercy provided a lamb
to take our place and to pay the price for our sins for which we rightly
deserved to die. In fact this is in
part, why we are celebrating the manger scene at this time.
Matthew 20:28
“The
Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many.”
Jesus
in the manger is wonderful. Jesus dieing
for our sins and rising victorious over the grave now interceding on our behalf
and preparing a place for us is cause for serious celebration.
God’s gift of salvation is
available to all humanity.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord
is… patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance.” Have you received His gift
of salvation? This gift cost a man his
life. That is how much he loves each of
us. God wants you to accept the gift of
his Son. Invite him into your life
today. It is only through accepting the
gift of God’s Son as your Lord and Savior that you can become who you were born
to be. John
Let us return to our Christmas tree. Having opened our gift of salvation we are
surprised to now see a number of other gifts. Although surprising the truth of
the matter is that as great as God’s gift to us of salvation is, it is merely
the doorway into the other gifts that God has for us.
The
secret to receiving all the gifts God has for us is to remain “in Christ.” 2
Corinthians
Luke
God
has given his people dominion. How is
this outworked?
Ephesians
2:4 “…And
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus.” Friends we are now
seated with Christ in heavenly places.
We share his reign and the power that is at work in us and available to
us is the same that raised Christ from the dead!
I must admit, I
love studying the meanings of words.
There are so many shades to words. Looking at the original often gives
us a perspective we might not have seen in the English.
The word power is mentioned here
twice. The power that is the enemies
means strength or force and includes miraculous power. There is no doubt that the enemy is
powerful. We should never kid ourselves
otherwise. But it is the meaning of the
word power in “behold I give you power” that excites me.
q
POWER: “ability, privilege,
capacity, or freedom.
It reminds me of the way the
centurion saw the authority of Jesus as related in Matt 8:8 “Lord” he said,
“I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my
servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under
authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that
one ‘come,’ and
he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
The power that is available to us is
derived from the highest authority. He
has delegated his authority to us. While
under his authority we have the ability, privilege, capacity and freedom to
claim what is ours and take from the enemy what is his. Praise God!
Hosea
4:6 tells us that “My people are destroyed through lack of knowledge.” Friends never forget - we reign with
Him. No wonder He tells us in John 15:7 “If ye
abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall
be done unto you.”
Ok
but what does that mean for us in our day-to-day living. Everything!
I’ve forgotten who it was that said “most folks when they wake up of a
morning think “oh no the devils after me,” but when I get up of a morning I
want the devil saying “oh no! He is
awake!!”
We
need to rise up and claim our inheritance.
We have been given the keys of the kingdom. Lets use those keys
and the authority we have in Christ. I
John
Luke
Ok,
back to the Christmas tree. It is time
to open another of our gifts from God.
Acts
Have you ever had to put something together without
access to the instructions? It can be
very frustrating. It is possible to get
so far and then discover there is a piece that should have been put in at the
beginning.
Thankfully God has not left us without instructions
as to his ways, our inheritance and our responsibilities. He has given us all things that pertain to
life and Godliness. (2 Pe 1:3) This includes the gift of His word.
The Bible tells us that His word “is a lamp to
our feet and a light to our path.” (Ps 119:105)
I remember one time I was walking along a road at
night with a friend. It was a semi rural
area. We had a torch with us and we
shared holding the torch. When it was my
turn I was inclined to shine the torch into the trees and generally look at
other places besides the road. My friend
insisted that I shine the torch where we were walking in case of snakes. I thought this was a little over the top but
obeyed orders (my friend was a girl).
Besides,
In the same way Gods word lights our path and helps
us to not only know where we are going but to avoid dangers on the road of
life.
I am fond of
saying that sometimes reading the word of God has more to do with what it keeps
us from as much as what it does for us.
There have been times in my life when I was tempted and I believe it was
only that I was faithfully reading God’s word that kept me from falling. I was not necessarily receiving lots of
revelation but I believe that behind the scenes God was strengthening me.
Do we take God’s word for granted? The western world is saturated with
Bibles. The computer program I have on
my computer contains 9 translations plus numerous aids including books,
devotionals, dictionaries, and concordances.
Yet in many countries pages of the word are shared around and
memorized. God’s word is a precious gift
to us. The Psalmist says in Ps 119:162
“I rejoice at your word as one who finds great spoil.” Spoil is booty.
Have you ever found something of value? I remember when I was even younger then I am
now (:o)) my brother and I were at the beach with a
friend. They both saw a long way off a
model boat that had obviously been lost by someone. The beach was all but deserted. I’ll never forget how they both ran to be the
one to claim it.
Matt
One of my favorite verses in the
Bible is Matt 13:52 “…every teacher of the law who has been instructed about
the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his
storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
However knowing God’s word is only half the
story. We need to act on it. “ If
ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John
Matthew
Friends we live in troubled times. Just last night on the news terrorists
stormed India’s parliament and ten more Israeli’s died in an ambush in the
cauldron that is Palestine. You know I
thought this morning, that could happen here.
Not that
Yet God knows the end from the beginning. He does not mean for us to worry. In fact He has another gift for us in these
troubled times. He
has promised us rest. What a wonderful
Savior He is.
God has not promised us that we would not know
trouble. As Job 5:7 says “man is born
to trouble as surely as sparks fly upwards.” No one would suggest that King David had an
easy life, particularly when Saul was pursuing him. Yet David knew that his security was not
found in the absence of conflict but in the midst of it. That is why in the Psalms he so often refers
to God as his hiding place, his strong tower and his refuge. Ps 46:1 “God is
our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble”. Therefore will
not we fear…” No matter what is happening around us
our security is not in money, power, friends or earthly things but in God
Himself. Again think of “in
Christ.”
q REST: “repose; stillness; calm.”
The most vivid example of this can be seen in Jesus
sleeping soundly in the boat while the storm raged around him and the disciples
feared for their lives. (Mark
If
our lives are built upon the rock and we remain “in Christ” then rest or
calmness in the midst of strife is our inheritance and ours to claim.
2
Timothy 4:8
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only,
but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Brothers
and sisters a crown awaits us! Let us
not lose heart or faint in the day of adversity. Paul says in Rom
A
crown is given either as a badge of royalty, a prize in public games or a
symbol of honor generally. Praise God we
will receive it on the basis of all three.
We
are royalty. 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
We
are runners in a race. Heb 12:1 “Wherefore
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us
run with patience the race that is set before us” The preceding verse to 2 Tim 4:8 says “I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Our crown will be given to us for finishing
our course.
I
work at a university. When students
finish a year they are happy. When they
finish their course they are overjoyed.
The bible says “better is the end of a matter then the beginning
thereof” (Ecc 7:8). When we see Him we will know that all we have
been through will be worthwhile.
Finally
Jesus tells us that “if any man serve me, him will my Father honor.” (John
12:26) God is watching us. He knows our going out and coming in. He knows when we lay down to sleep and when
we awake. He knows when we are happy and
he knows when we are sad. He also knows
the position He holds in our lives. He
knows if He is Lord in word only or in truth.
If He is Lord and is first in our lives then on that great day God will
honor us. – Although I am inclined to believe that upon receiving the crown He
gives us we will immediately place it at His feet.
I have only highlighted five of the gifts God has
given us. There are many others. The Holy Spirit wants you to know what other
gifts God is waiting for you to claim. 1 Cor
We have seen that God has given us gifts of far
greater value then any material gift we will receive this Christmas. I trust that upon receiving these gifts we
will not put them in the closet of our heart but will be like Peter who in Acts
3:6 said “Silver and gold have I none; but such as
I have give I thee.” God
does not ask of us more then what He has given us. The Lord asked Moses “what is that in your
hand?” (Ex 4:2) God expects us to
use what He has given us not for ourselves alone but also to fulfill His
purposes in the lives of those around us.
“So
let us purpose in our heart to give out what God has given us; not grudgingly,
or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Cor 9:7
Then
we will be like the people in Luke 8:40 who when Jesus was returned, received
him gladly: for they were all waiting for him.
I
would like to finish by praying an adaptation of the prayer of the apostle
Paul. It is my prayer for all of us in
the New Year.
Eph
1: 18 – 23 Heavenly Father I pray now that the eyes of our heart may be
enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which You have called us, the
riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints, and Your incomparably great
power for us who believe. That power is like the working of Your mighty
strength, which You exerted in Christ when You raised him from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and
authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in
the present age but also in the one to come. And You
placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything
for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in
every way. For this we give You all the praise and glory in the wonderful Name of Jesus,
amen & amen.
2
Corinthians
Bless
you,
Peter
