CHRISTMAS
DAY
December
25, 2012
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Matthew 1:18-25
“CHRISTMAS GIFTS!”
1.
God’s
Gifts.
2.
Joseph’s
Gifts
3.
Our
Gifts
Matthew 1:18-25
(NIV 1984)
“This
is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be
married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with
child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband
was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had
in mind to divorce her quietly.20 But after he had
considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because
what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to
give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”22 All
this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 “The virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”24 When
Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took
Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with
her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”
There’s really no getting around it,
is there? You can’t separate Christmas from gifts. It’s firmly entrenched in
the American psyche that Christmas is a time for gift giving and gift receiving.
From a secular standpoint businesses and the economy depend on Christmas gift
buying to increase sales and boost profitability. For many people receiving
gifts fills an emptiness in the heart with some temporary happiness. We Christians
wouldn’t want to separate Christmas from gifts either. If we wanted to act like
little kids we would point to God and say, “He started it! He did it first!”
God started this whole Christmas giving with His gift on Christmas Day. So let’s
join the Christmas fun by looking at all kinds of different Christmas gifts
suggested to us by what might be called the secondary Christmas story, Matthew’s
Gospel account rather than Luke’s.
And as is only fitting we start with
God’s gifts at Christmas, the ones He gives. “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.” We can stop right there. There is the first gift. Jesus Christ.
Christ means “Anointed One,” the one chosen to do a special job. Jesus is the
name given to the one who will save us from our sins. That’s a gift that lasts
into eternity. Sadly, it’s a gift we often have to work at appreciating. Maybe
some imagining will help. Recently Chris and I saw the Rep’s production of “A Christmas Carol.” If you are familiar with
the story Scrooge is taken by three ghosts to see Christmas past, present and
future if things did not change. It’s not a pretty sight. Our past is done. We
are at the present. But what would our future be without Jesus? The wages of
sin is death in Hell. Have you had the funeral of a loved one recently? Have
you had to attend a loved one as they died recently? Imagine doing that knowing
they were headed for eternal pain and torment! How awful. Imagine as you get
older and older in years starting to dread every cold and cough instead of
treating it as no big deal. Is this the one that sends me to Hell? But we don’t
have to think that way. Our funeral gatherings for believers in Jesus get to
have sorrow over missing someone mixed with happiness for their happiness in
heaven because God gave us the gift of Jesus who has saved us from our sins.
He
gave more gifts at Christmas. “His mother
Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she
was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.” Mary received the gift
of being the mother of the Savior of the world. Can you imagine? What an honor.
What a privilege. How nice to see her receive that gift with humility and
faith. Joseph received a gift too. “Because
Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public
disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.20 But
after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your
wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to
give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”
Oftentimes people separate gifts into the kind they want and the kind they
need. While we could say that God’s gift to Mary was in the want category, God’s
gift to Joseph was definitely in that need category. Can you blame him for not
believing Mary? She’s pregnant. Has this whole angel and miracle story all
worked out. Who does she think he is? He wasn’t born yesterday. There’s only
one way she got pregnant. She cheated. But she hadn’t. Joseph needed to know
that. God made sure he did. An angel in a dream. Today too, brothers and
sisters, God continues to pour out gifts on His people. Some are like Mary’s,
an honor or privilege. Maybe things always seem to go your way or you have some
abilities the world fawns over. Receive them with humility and faith. Take care
of them like Mary did. Like with Joseph, God also gives the gifts you need. Whatever
God asks you to go through He will give you what you need to get through it.
But
God wasn’t done yet. Another Christmas gift. “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the
prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with
child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which
means, “God with us.” The way everything happened was also a gift.
All was done deliberately by God to fulfill prophecy so that generations of
people who have lived after the first Christmas get to know that in Jesus we
have the real Savior who is God with us.
But
God wasn’t the only gift giver at Christmas. Joseph gave gifts too. He gave gifts
to the people around him. He cared about them. He cared about the impressions
he left. He is described as a righteous man, someone who cared that the way he
lived reflected on God. That’s why he couldn’t go along with the out of wedlock
pregnancy. He didn’t want people taking wrong impressions. He had no desire to
embarrass Mary either so he wasn’t going to make a big deal. He wouldn’t take
her to her father’s house or before the synagogue elders and demand the payment
for adultery which was death. He cared. By so doing Joseph gave a gift to us.
It’s cool to care how you live, to think about impressions you might give and
how that will reflect on the Lord. It’s righteous to be concerned about
humiliating other people.
Joseph
also gave a gift to God. He obeyed. “When
Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took
Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with
her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”
Willing obedience to the commands of God is the most meaningful way to show
love to God. It’s been that way since the Garden of Eden. Joseph’s careful
obedience showed his love for God. He did what God commanded even though people
would talk. In so doing Joseph gave to the world the gift of his service. He
had not asked for this role. God gave it to him. We can be sure Joseph spent
the rest of his life being the best father he could be to Jesus.
Now
we’ve had God’s gifts that we have received. We’ve had Joseph’s gifts we have
received. There’s this thing that goes around at Christmas. You don’t just get
gifts. You give them too. What gifts could we give this Christmas? We can’t
give God’s type of gifts. Only He can give that. But we can give Joseph’s type
of gifts. Let’s start with obedience. Did you have any trouble finding a gift
for someone this year? You know the type where they already have everything
they want. What do you get them? What do you get for our loving Father in
heaven? He has everything He wants, or does He? What God wants is our hearts.
When He has our hearts He gets our willing obedience. We can sharpen our
consciences by looking at the 10 Commandments and then out of love for God
strive daily to obey them. He’d like that. We can give the gift of example to
the people around us, caring about the impressions we give. This week one of my
friends is going with some other WISCO football coaches to watch a Cincinnati
Bengals game as guests of WISCO alum and Bengal 1st round draft pick
Kevin Zeitler. Some of them will stay at Kevin’s apartment. Some will stay at
his fiancee’s. Did you get that? They are not living together without being
married. That’s righteous. Can you imagine how that stands out in the NFL star
world? He’s like Joseph. We can do that too. We can each have our own way of
caring about impressions and being an example of righteousness in an
unrighteous society too. And then there is the gift of service. What is God
asking you to do right now? What role has He given you? By filling it to the
best of your ability you give the gift of service to God and people around you.
And
why not? It’s Christmas. Christmas is all about gifts. As we once again receive
God’s gifts and respond with our gifts to Him and others we’ll find that unlike
the secular world our joy will not be temporary. It will stay with us for this
life and last into eternity. Thank the Lord for that. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment