Gifts For a Lifetime: Eternally
Study Guide, December 22, 2024
Pastor Clay Olsen
Each year during our Christmas Family service we get to open presents and then talk about what we find inside. And we imagine that our setting here is like a big living room, and a little more interactive and festive. So if yaou are ready to open presents…and who isn’t…let’s go.
First…
Comfort and Joy! That comes right out of a familiar Christmas Carol. You know the one that’s entitled: ‘Divine Naps for Festive Fellows’! What’s that? That’s the alternate title for what Carol? God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
Speaking of Alternative Titles: How about we guess the actual names to the alternate titles of some other Christmas Carols?
- Eight P.M. until Six A.M. without Noise! – Silent Night!
- Listen, Aerial Spirits are Announcing! – Hark the Herald Angels Sing!
- Befell During the Transparent Bewitching Hour! – It Came Upon a Midnight Clear!
- Hollowed Post Twilight! – O Holy Night!
- Exuberance Directed Toward the Planet! – Joy to the World!
- Homosapien of Crystallized Vapor – Frosty the Snowman!
- Adorn the Vestibule! – Deck the Halls!
- Cherubim Audited from Aloft! – Angels We Have Heard on High!
- Awesome Hibernal Acreage! – Winter Wonderland!
- Senior Flattened by a Cloven Aviator! – Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer!
- Enquiry about Mutual Auditory Perception! – Do You Hear What I Hear?!
- Yonder In a Hayrack! – Away In a Manger!
- Spritely Venerable Benefactor! – Jolly Old St. Nicolas!
- Royal Eastern Trio! – We Three Kings of Orient Are!
- Commencement of Yuletide Complexion! – It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!
- Perambulating Through a December Solstice Fantasy! – Walking in a Winter Wonderland!
That’s some kind of fun! And just another reminder that Christians have more reason to rejoice than anything else! That was even part of the Angel’s announcement to the Shepherds:
Luke 2:10-11- “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” NASU Even in the midst of their hardships and trials, something else had come into their midst…Someone else had come into their midst – Jesus, the Messiah, Lord of all, and Savior to everyone who would receive His gift of life, forgiveness, and…joy!
And what about ‘comfort’? We know that Hope is really a Person. We know that Truth is really a Person. We know that Peace is really a Person. But did you know that Comfort is also really a Person? Do you remember what Jesus said when He was about to ascend to Heaven? John 14:26- “But the Comforter, (even) the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.” ASV How wonderful to know that even one of the names of our God the Holy Spirit is ‘The Comforter!’ The Holy Spirit is our Comforter. Just think: Comforting you and me is one of the Holy Spirit’s ministries to us. And the Holy Spirit indwells God’s children as well. So not only is God the Holy Spirit seeking to teach us, and guide us, and empower us…He is also seeking to calm us, and quiet us, and assure us, and bring peace to us…to comfort us. We just need to let Him. Let God do what He wants to do in your heart and mind and life. Comfort and Joy…yes, Thank you Lord!
Second…
Grace and Peace! Talk about great gifts! Did you notice in your Bible readings that nearly every letter that Paul wrote he always started it by saying, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!” He said it over and over! And one reason he started his letters with grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is because everything good in our life starts with grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything good in our life is because of God’s grace. Paul also put that this way: 1 Cor 15:10- “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” NASU
And guess what? By the grace of God you are what you are, as well! You see, even our ability to labor, to do good works and such, are because of God’s grace to us. The talents that we have and the gifts we use – mentally and physically, all of our abilities to do good, to seek good, to make good…it’s all because of the grace of God given to us and working within us. Yes, we put forth the efforts, we choose to toil, we put our diligence into motion…but the talents, gifts, and abilities that we have are all from God and His grace in giving them to us!
And grace has been described as ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense!” Even in our salvation we need to remember that although our salvation is free to us, it cost Jesus everything. Even though we are not saved by our works, we are saved by Christ’s works. As has been put: The Christian faith rests upon the twin pillars of the Person and the Works of Christ. Jesus earned our salvation for us with His own sinless obedience and His own sacrificial death. God’s Riches to us at Christ’s Expense…exactly!
Even the ‘peace’ that we have is born out of the ‘grace’ of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 5:1- “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” NLT
We have both ‘peace with God’ and we have the ‘peace of God’ because we have found favor…grace, in the sight of God through Jesus our Lord and Savior!
Third…
Light and Life! Praise God for the light and the life He has brought into our lives. You know, the Christmas Story has been told many ways, but it’s never been told quite like this…from these kid’s special telling of it…and we thought you’d enjoy it today. So let’s take a look: (‘Christmas According to Kids’…on You tube)
…never heard it quite like that, but kids have a great way of saying most things! But there we have it…in a different light…but anyway, again, we find that Light, too, is a Person, and Life…life is a Person. Jesus is the Light of the World and the Source of all life! Which means, without Jesus, this world is dark and life-less. Note how the Apostle Paul identifies this world: Col 1:11-14- “May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” NLT
So, yes, our world basically is – ‘a kingdom of darkness’. And the only thing that changes that…the only One who changes that is Jesus. And Jesus did that on His mission, His ‘rescue’ mission. That’s the essence of Christmas, remember…Christmas is Christ’s ‘rescue mission’. A Christian then is one who has been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of light…the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. So even though you and I live in this world, this kingdom of darkness, we belong to another Kingdom…we belong to the Kingdom of light and the life that we now have is a life that is shared with the very source of life, Jesus Christ.
Plus, not only do you belong to the Kingdom of Christ, but you are also even a royal son or a royal daughter of the King of the Kingdom of Light. That makes you an actual Prince or an actual Princess of the King and His Kingdom. And we’re not talking about being a Prince or a Princess from like the story of King Arthur, or something like that, because every born-again son of God is a Prince, and every born-again daughter of God is a Princess of the King of kings and Lord of lords. And you will always be so in Christ’s Kingdom that is coming! How’s your sense of significance feeling now?!
And now we come to the Fourth present…
Love and Lord!
So here we go again…we know Hope is a Person, Truth is a Person, Peace is a Person, Comfort, too…a Person, Light is a Person…and now, Love is a Person. As the Apostle John said: 1 John 4:15-16- “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. NASU God is the source of true ‘love’.
Just think: The reason that God came to Earth…the reason Christ became Jesus Christ…the reason Jesus was on this ‘rescue mission’, was because of this: 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.” NASU
“For God so loved…(Your name)…that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” NASU
Christmas is not only Christ coming into our world. It’s Christ coming into this world for you…He was coming for you and for me…and for all who would in return come to Him and be saved by Him. God has always known that He would come into this world for you, long before you even came into this world. He even loved you long before He even came for you, because He knew you even before the foundation of the world. So remember – you don’t have to convince God to love you, for God loved you even before there ‘was a you!’(that has kind of a Dr. Suess sound to it… ‘was a you’). God has both known you and loved you from eternity past. Now, that’s a love story! All you have to do is to let Him…let God love you. And the way that you let God love you is by loving Him in return. Love Him as He is…He is your Lord and your God, for your Savior is also your Creator. And as your Creator, God knows what is best for you…just like these gifts that God has for you. And these gifts are not just for Christmas, they are new every morning, like His lovingkindness and mercies…they are new every morning. And we are to use them every day in our worship and service of our great God and Savior who came to give us the ‘gift of Himself’…for Jesus is the greatest gift of all!