God’s love gives His greatest gift.

                                                                                                                       Sermon for Christmas Eve, 2019

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and His precious Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

1 John 4:9-11  This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him.  ¹⁰ This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  ¹¹ Dear friends, if God loved us so much, we also should love one another. (EHV)

God’s love gives His greatest gift.

Beloved children of God,

            Though we are all God’s children, many of us here this evening are also parents or grandparents, so I was wondering, have you ever put great effort into finding, purchasing, and wrapping the perfect gift for your little child or grandchild, only to see that after the momentary excitement of unwrapping the gift, the child was more interested in playing with the box, or the wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows?  And no matter the age of the recipient, how often do we soon see those great presents, that we sacrifice so much time, money, and effort to give, sitting forgotten on a shelf, or carelessly tossed aside?

This evening, as was gaze back into that manger in Bethlehem, we see our heavenly Father’s Christmas gift to a world of sinners.  The new-born Child in that lowly bed is a gift so precious, because that Baby is the Only-begotten of the Father—the Only One; there is no other Savior, no other natural-born Son of God, so what we learn, as we observe the Baby Jesus who Mary and Joseph so raptly adored, is that God’s love gives His greatest gift.

I need to ask, though, do we ever act like those little children around a Christmas tree?  Have you received that greatest and most precious gift with excitement and joy, only to leave Him sitting on a shelf somewhere, long forgotten?  If new friends should find out that you are a Christian, do they have to look hard to see where you have Jesus in your life?  Is there a Bible in your house, but you are not quite sure where it is, or how long it’s been since you opened it?  Are you glad your parents gave you the wonderful gift of Jesus way back when you were little, but today, you would rather play with the box, ribbons, and bows?

Sadly, even we Christians can be found looking back at the great gift of God’s love, the forgiveness and salvation we have in Christ, yet be guilty of thinking “Well, yeah that’s pretty good, but what I really wanted was a better husband, a nicer girlfriend, a better job, more money, the state championship, or for my friend, mother, father, or my child to recover from cancer; I wanted the end of disease, war, poverty, and hatred in this world.  Jesus, yeah, I’ve got Him up on my shelf here somewhere.”

St. John wrote to his beloved friend, “This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him.”  That we might live through Him; that’s what Christmas is really all about.  Every one of us is guilty of sin, even guilty of enjoying the ribbons and bows of life in this world far more than spending our time with the great Gift of our Savior.  For our sins, we deserve eternal death—we know that—but God sent His dear Son to be the end of death for you and me. 

Dear friends, when you were connected to Jesus through Baptism and through faith, you were connected to His eternal life.  You have eternal life right now given to you through God’s gift of His only-begotten Son, who lived for you, died for the guilt of your sins, and rose triumphant over death and the grave so that you, too, may live.  “This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 

Tonight again, we remember and celebrate Jesus’ birth in thankfulness for God’s gift, but also so that we never forget what God gave us when He came to live for us in perfect humility and holiness.  Because Jesus sacrificed His spotless, flawless, obedient, humble life on a cross, our sins no longer stand between us and heaven.  Looking forward to what God’s gift of love would do, Isaiah wrote, “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)  Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)  We celebrate Jesus’ birth, because He came into this world to lay down His life so that you and I can truly live.

Now, perhaps you are wondering why, as we celebrate Jesus’ birth, I am taking you to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but there is no Good Friday or Easter Sunday to celebrate without the Baby in that manger in Bethlehem, and there is no reason to celebrate Christmas without Good Friday and Easter morning.  We celebrate this great gift of God’s love, because it is complete.  There is nothing to add to what Jesus brings us, because He has done everything needed to reconcile you with God the Father.  For Jesus’ sake, all your sins are washed away, even the guilt for our neglect has been removed forever.

This Christmas, again, bring Jesus down from your shelf, out of your back closet, and repent of any neglect in your love for Him.  Turn away from anything that you might treasure more than the gift you have in Christ.  Once more, put your trust in Jesus for the forgiveness He won for you and for everyone.  Remember that all the sin of your neglect, and all of mine, was remedied by Jesus’ perfect life and faithfulness to His Father’s will.  Peace be with you!  All of your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.

God’s love gives His greatest gift.  Of all the presents you might give, this year or at any time, remember that the greatest gift you can give to your loved ones is the gift of God’s great love for us in Christ.  Tell your loved ones what Jesus has done for you and for them, and make sure that the good news of Jesus never gets pushed back into the storage shed of your daily life, not for even a moment.

St. John wrote, “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)  God’s love for us put Jesus in that manger bed.  Jesus’ love for you and me made Him walk to the cross carrying all our sins, and His love for you was clearly shown when He suffered the penalty of death you deserved so that you could live forever with Him in heaven.  All the tinsel and trinkets, ribbons, bows, and wrapping paper of your daily life can’t compare to and won’t substitute for Jesus.  Celebrate tonight, and for the rest of your life, that God’s love gives you His greatest gift.  Amen.