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Theme:

"Hope of Earth, Joy of Heaven

Third Sunday in Advent

Sermon

H e a v e n  o n  E a r t h!

A GIFT FROM HEAVEN!

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”  As Paul is writing this second letter “To the church of God in Corinth,” he is attempting to describe God’s great gift to mankind, and he can’t do it.  And so he says there is no way he can describe this wonderful, this indescribable, gift from God.  God is the first giver.  He selflessly gave Himself to us in the person of His Son, and all true Christian giving is our response of gratitude for this gift that is beyond description.  Paul was in Corinth when he addressed another letter, “to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”  There he spoke of “the gift of God”  which brought justification.  He told them about “God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness . . . through the one man, Jesus Christ.” 

As we reflect on that scripture, we realize that Jesus Christ is a wonderful gift, a marvelous gift, an indescribable gift.  “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).  Our minds go back to Isaiah where he said, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given (9:6).”    As we consider “a Savior has been born,” we can also say, “A Savior is given, and He is an indescribable gift of God to us.”

What single word dominates our thoughts this time of year?  That one word most likely is “gift.”  We’re involved in buying gifts, in giving gifts and exchanging gifts.  It’s the season when we are involved in giving.  And, let’s be forthright, we may be giving some thought to receiving as well.  But let’s look at the giving of gifts at Christmastime, because that’s really what we’re celebrating, the reality of what God has given to us - a  Savior.

1.  THE MOTIVATION OF GIVING

What is the motivation of giving?  Let’s start by thinking about the unworthy motivation for giving.  There are lots of reasons why we give which may not be really good reasons for giving.  For example, we may consider meeting a responsibility as a gift.  A parent could say to a child, “I give you food, and I give you clothing, and I give you shelter.”  A parent could consider that as a gift.  But that really wouldn’t be true.  That’s not a gift; that’s a responsibility.  Have a look at 1 Timothy 5:8: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  So when a parent takes care of his or her  children with food and clothing and shelter, that’s not a gift, that’s a responsibility.  And every good parent will fulfill that responsibility.

We could also look at a gift as a kind of bonus. You come to the end of the year in which you have received your wages, and if you are fortunate your boss will give you a bonus.  Now, is that a gift?  In one sense it is, but in another sense it really isn’t, because you’ve worked all year long.  The bonus is a reward for a job well done; it’s not really a gift.  Romans 11:6 says, “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”  The concepts of grace, working and reward are mutually exclusive.  So a bonus actually isn’t a gift.  It’s a bonus. 

Let’s move from bonus to bogus.  Another way to look at giving, and it’s a bogus motive for giving, is if we give for self-glorification.  Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6?  He said, “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.”  So we don’t want to give hypocritically, so that others in the church will say, “Wow!  Look how much he gave!”  But the Lord says that when you give that way,  you do it to get self-glory, and that’s all the reward you’re going to get.

Another reason we give is because of social pressure.  The boss may put the arm on everybody to make a pledge to the United Way.  Then he can say that 100% of his employees give to the United Way, and a nice plaque goes up on the wall.  That’s a form of social pressure in terms of giving. 

Then there was Ananias and his wife Sapphira.  They were impressed by the example of Joseph whom the apostles called Barnabas.  He sold his land and brought the proceeds for distribution to the needy.  It would seem that Ananias and Sapphira took note.  They wanted to be appreciated in like manner.  But they held back part of the proceeds.  They gave because of social pressure; they wanted to look good.  Their deception cost them their lives.  They were hypocritical in their giving.

Still another wrong motive for giving can be to cover up guilt.  You will recall that King David tried to conceal his guilt from Uriah.  He gave Bathsheba’s husband a gift and then he wined and dined him.  He was trying to cover up his guilty conscience with a gift.

Well, then, what is the true motive for giving?  There is one clearly positive motivation for giving, and that, simply, is love!  What was it Paul said in 1 Corinthians  13:3?  “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 

No matter how much we give or how often we give; no matter how lavishly we give, if it doesn’t come from a heart of love it doesn’t have a pure motive, and it  is not acceptable to the Lord.  The only virtue in giving is when it is done in love.

2.  THE MANIFESTATION OF GIVING

Now then, what is the manifestation of giving?  Whenever we give something to someone, what does it tell about us?  When we give it reveals something about our values.  I suppose we might say that if a fellow gives his bride a vacuum cleaner as a wedding gift, he has a practical value.

What if we reveal our selfish ambition in our giving?  Good old Dad has always wanted an electric train set.  So he buys one as a gift for his son.  But guess who gets to play with the train set?

What giving really is all about is a manifestation of love.  When Paul wrote to the Corinthians about their giving, here’s what he said, “But just as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us - see that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7).  When we give what we give, it ought to prove that our love is genuine.

3.  THE MANNER OF GIVING

Now we come to the manner of giving.  If you want to give properly, there should be at least four components.  First of all, we ought to give freely.  Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8).  What do you possess that hasn’t been given to you?  You may say, “I haven’t just received it; I’ve worked for everything I have.”  Good answer, but where did you get the strength to work for it?  You may respond, “I worked for the food that I put on the table to get the strength to work for it.”  But where do you get the strength to work for the food to put on the table?  When you really think about it, you begin to realize that everything you have is a gift from God.

There’s a marvelous verse toward the end of the book of Revelation.  “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’  And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’  Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”  You see, it’s a gift.  And the Lord says, stop and think about your giving.  If your gift is genuine, it will be given freely, because freely you have received.

The second way to give is to give willingly; to give without grudging.  We can choose to give willingly, in a positive and sacrificial way.  “For if the willingness is there,” wrote Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:12, ”the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.”

Parents receive gifts from their children which are modest in cost, but exquisite in terms of the heart.  Some of our most valued possessions are gifts which have no monetary value.  But the significance is that a child decided that he or she loved Mom or Dad enough to make a gift to give to them. 

A father punished his three-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of golden wrapping paper.  Money was tight, and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box and put it under the Christmas tree.  Nevertheless the little girl brought the gift to her father on Christmas morning and said. “This is for you, Daddy.”  He was embarrassed by his earlier over-reaction, but his anger flared again when he found that the box was empty.  He blew up at her, “Don’t you know that when you give someone a present there’s supposed to be something inside the box?” 

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty.  I blew kisses into the box, all for you, Daddy!”  The father was crushed.  He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her forgiveness.  He kept that gold box by his bed for many years.  Whenever he was discouraged he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.  When we really give, we give willingly.

We ought not to give because we are coerced or because our arm is twisted.  As parents we have been given a golden container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children.  There is no more precious possession.  Children give that way.  They don’t give with devious motives.  They just give because they love to give.

There is yet another way to be involved in giving.  We need to learn to give trustingly.  Paul talks about his ministry in 1 Thessalonians 2:4.  “We speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.  We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.”  Has it occurred to you that God has entrusted you with the gospel?  Can you think of a greater privilege than to be entrusted with the gospel?  If your child has learned to drive and is licensed, you entrust him or her with your car.  We give privilege because we trust them. 

Whenever we give with proper motivation, we give freely, we give willingly, we give trustingly and we give lovingly.  Paul says, in Ephesians 5:2, “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.”  The proper motivation for giving is to give from a heart of love.  You can give lavish gifts, but they are only material things if your heart’s not in the giving.  We need to understand that the greatest gift we can give a loved one is ourselves.  If we learn nothing else from the Bible, we need to know that God loves us, and the reason we know that is because He gave Himself.  And that was the best possible gift He could give.

4.  THE MYSTERY OF GIVING

Finally, consider the mystery of giving.  The mystery in giving is love.  It’s when we love that we give with proper motivation.  It’s really not all that mysterious.  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. . .”  Galatians 2:20 tells us that the Son of God “loved me and gave himself for me.”  All through the Bible we find that when we love, we give.

I’m sure that each of us knows his or her own heart and how sometimes we are unwilling to open up and give love.  How can our hearts become tender so that God can begin to flow through us to others in a giving way?  That can only happen when there is receiving.  So if the mystery of giving is loving, the mystery of loving is receiving.  That means that we receive Christ, and when Christ comes into our lives He floods our hearts with love.

Christian love is more than an emotion.  It’s so much more than a desire to give and receive gifts.  Christian love is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ.  If there is any mystery in giving it is that God would love us and that He would love us enough to give Himself for us.  The motivation, the manifestation, the manner and the mystery of giving are all summed up in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.”  With Christ in our lives we are then able to love as He loved, and we are able to give as He gave.

God’s great gift of love is truly a gift from Heaven!