Because He Is A Gift Giving God (Why Christmas part 2 of 4)

What is your favorite part of Christmas? If you ask most children, and even many adults, you're going to get the same answer: the favorite part of Christmas is the gifts. I mean, of course, it's presents. I don't know about you, but I remember as a child that was what I was anticipating. That was definitely what I was looking forward to as Christmas was approaching.

Sure, we got time off from school, and that was always nice, but do any of you remember, maybe as a kid or with your own kids, making those long chains with pieces of paper leading up to December 25th? You would cut a piece off every single day. The anticipation was not for a Christmas ham, stuffing, or turkeys. The anticipation was that on Christmas morning, you'd wake up, and there would be at least one gift, and hopefully many gifts, waiting for you on that day.

If you're anything like me and my siblings, we would look under the tree as Christmas approached and count the gifts that had our names on them. Then we'd compare who was the favorite based on the number of gifts. My mom, being very cunning, decided she would try to trick us. I remember one year, she wrapped each individual child's gift with different wrapping paper and didn't put tags on them. The only problem was that Christmas morning came, and she forgot her code. She was trying to remember, "Here, open this one." No, that's not for you; that's for your sister.

I was thinking this week back to childhood again and Christmas Day. I remember that somewhere around September or October every year, something special would come in the mail: the J.C. Penney Wishbook Catalog. Do you remember that? I even punched it into Google and found that there are some people on Amazon auctioning off mint condition Wishbook catalogs from 1981, 1983, 1986, and 1989, all 600 pages of gifts.

As a kid, I would go to the section that had all the toys. I would take a ballpoint pen and circle a number of different things that I was hoping my mom would notice as she flipped through the catalog. I wanted her to say, "Well, obviously, that's what he wants." Sometimes it kind of worked. But that's what many people look forward to on Christmas: the gifts. They anticipate getting a gift, receiving a gift.

Even as you become an adult, some aspects of that anticipation remain true, although there is a slight change. As you mature, it's not necessarily the receiving of a gift that brings joy, but the giving of a gift. Look with me at a biblical truth found in Acts chapter 20. In verse 35, the Apostle Paul is speaking to a group of Christians, reminding them of something Jesus said, although it is not recorded in the Gospels. This saying of Jesus is found here in Acts 20:35. Paul says, "I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support those who are weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Those words are most certainly true, in the sense that Jesus spoke them and spoke truth. We recognize the truth of that statement because we can identify with it. It is more blessed to give than to receive. It is such a blessing to give a gift, especially when you have found the perfect gift for that perfect someone.

You know what it's like. You have someone in your life, perhaps your spouse or your kids, someone you love and know very well. You understand the things that bring them excitement and joy. As you go out to find a gift for them, whether for their birthday or for Christmas, you look for that very gift that will bring them joy. Your enjoyment increases as you see their joy rise. You identify the perfect gift and think, "I know that he is going to love this. I know that she has wanted this."

And so you buy it, anticipating that they're going to have great joy. No, guys, I'm not talking about the time you bought your wife a vacuum cleaner. If you did that this Christmas, you still have time to exchange it for something that she's really going to like. I say that because I would be that guy who did that once. I'm kidding.

You identify the perfect gift and bring it home. If it's for a birthday or for Christmas, the next thing you do is wrap it. You wrap it to conceal what it is, knowing that there's an appointed time when that gift is going to be revealed. What is concealed will be revealed. There is a heightened sense of enjoyment the first time that they see it.

We experienced this just a couple of days ago because our younger daughter, Evangeline's birthday, was this last Friday. Her grandparents had bought her a little scooter, and we had bought her a little tricycle. We put these things together and had them waiting for her when she came downstairs. She was so excited that she was speechless, which for Evangeline is an amazing thing. Just the look on her face the first time she saw it was priceless. I'm not interested in the tricycle or the scooter, but watching her brought enjoyment.

The giver experiences great joy in seeing the perfect gift given to that person. However, there's something else about giving a gift that is a source of great joy. Gift givers here in this room will recognize this: when you find the perfect gift and get it ready for the person you're giving it to, there's such joy in them receiving it that if the day they're going to receive it is delayed—if you bought it today on December 8th and now you're waiting until December 25th to give it to them—you want them to have it so much that you begin to leave hints along the way about what it is.

I see this in my wife in a big way. My wife loves to give gifts. If she had the means, that is, the money, she would give gifts every single day and probably several times throughout the day. Sometimes I have to say, "You don't need to buy this for them," because she'll walk past something and immediately think of someone who would love it.

Them and go, "Oh, this would be so great for so and so." So we should, no, no, you can't afford it. But then when she gets a gift ready, and I've experienced this for the last seven, almost eight years with my wife, when she gets a gift for me or several gifts for me, she'll put them under the tree. They're ready there, and she'll say, "You're going to love the gift that I got you so much. Do you want a hint about what it is? Don't you want to guess what it is?" I drive her nuts because most of the time I'll say, "No, no, no, it's okay."

As December 24th approaches, I can guarantee this will happen. On Christmas Eve, she will say to me, "Don't you want to open one of your gifts tonight? Don't you just want to know?" Now, she's not really interested in the gifts that I got for her. She's interested in the gifts that she got for me, and she's excited about this. She's leaving hints along the way. Because she loves this game so much, sometimes my wife will even try to trick me. If it's a small gift, she'll put it in a big box. If it's a big gift, she will hide the big gift and get a small box. She'll draw a picture of whatever that gift is and put it in the small box, but she still wants me to try and guess what it is.

You see, I believe this is one of the ways in which we are created in God's image. We saw in our study last time in the book of Genesis that God created us in His image. We bear His likeness in many different ways. The fact that we love things that are aesthetically pleasing and the fact that we like to invent and create things shows that He is creative. He's created us to be creative as well.

He is the gift-giving God. He loves to give gifts, as we saw in the opening of our series last week, and He has created us to also love to give gifts. He reveals this truth in Acts chapter 20: it is more blessed to give than to receive. We know that this is true. He, being the gift-giving God, has created us also to be gift-givers. When we give gifts, we want to leave hints along the way about what that gift is. Did you know that God also, as He looked upon the broken world, as we opened our series last time, we talked about why Christmas?

Well, the world is broken. As God looked upon the broken world, a world that He loved so much, He found and knew the perfect gift for it. He had an appointed day, an appointed time, when that perfect gift, which would be concealed, would be revealed. It would be opened and given to this broken world. That day was in the future, delayed for a long period of time.

The gift-giving God, who loves to give gifts, along the way, provided hints about that gift. Did you know that in the Scriptures, especially throughout the Old Testament, there are hundreds of hints that the gift-giving God gave us about this perfect gift for a broken world? These hundreds of hints are called prophecies. The first one is given to us back in Genesis chapter 3, where we left off last time.

Turn in your Bibles to the book of Genesis again, specifically Genesis chapter 3. We will see there that God, the gift-giving God, as He looked upon this broken world—a world that He created, a world that He spoke into existence—Genesis chapters 1 and 2 record it for us. We saw last time that as He looked upon His creation, seven times it is recorded for us in the first chapter of the Bible that God said, "It is good." In Genesis chapter 1, verse 31, He looked upon all that He had created and said, "Behold, it is very good."

Then, on this great earth that He had made, He created a garden. In that garden, He placed trees that were pleasant to the eyes and good for food. He gave that garden as a gift to man whom He had created. Of all the trees in the garden, He said, "You may freely eat. They are pleasing to the eyes and good for food." But of the tree in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He commanded, "You shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die," as stated in Genesis chapter 2, verse 17.

Then, in verse 18, God looked upon His creation and recognized the first negative. It says, "And God saw all that He had made, and He recognized that it was not good that man should be alone."

And so God created another gift for man whom He had made, and He brought this great gift to Adam, this woman whom Adam called Eve. There was this couple, given this great creation, given everything that they needed for food and for shelter in this garden.

In chapter 3, a serpent came along, and we saw in our study last week the deception of the serpent. The world was broken because of a question that the serpent introduced into the mind and the heart of God's creation: Is God really a good gift giver? Is He really providing for you everything that you have need of? Based upon that question, we see that humanity was deceived, and man fell, leading to a broken world.

However, this creation, this world that God had made and loved, was not without hope. As He looked upon that broken world, He knew He had the perfect gift. He gives the first hint of that perfect gift in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. As He speaks a curse upon the serpent in verse 14, He then says this in verse 15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He, the seed of the woman, shall bruise or crush your head, and you shall bruise or crush His heel."

This is the first hint about God's perfect gift for a broken world. Although it's masked in poetic language, it's wrapped in such a way to conceal perfectly what it is. God gives a hint. He says to the serpent, "Behold, the seed of the woman," meaning the offspring of a woman, a man, is going to come forth. This man is going to deliver a death blow, a crushing blow to the head of the serpent.

He is going to destroy the dominion of the serpent, even though in the process, this offspring of a woman, this man, will receive a wound. The serpent will crush His heel, delivering a superficial wound to this great one who is going to come, but He will deliver the death blow to the dominion of the serpent. Ultimately, He will overthrow the serpent.

But that's not the only hint that God gives. Remember, He is the gift-giving God. He loves to give gifts, but He also loves to give hints about those gifts.

Turn from Genesis chapter three to Genesis chapter twelve. The hints continue. As you come to Genesis chapter twelve, the story now focuses on a descendant of Adam, a man by the name of Abram. Later, he would be called Abraham, but here, his name was Abram. And God speaks. The gift-giver speaks to this individual.

In Genesis chapter twelve, verse one, we read, "Now the Lord had said to Abram, 'I want you to get out of your country and from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.'" Later on, He says, "I'm going to give you this land." The gift-giving God says, "Here, I'm giving you the gift of this land."

But not only that. In verse two, God says, "I will make you, Abram, a great nation. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to give you great gifts. I'm going to make your name great. Not only will I bless you, but I'm going to bless you so that you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you, notice this, through you, all the families of the earth are going to receive a blessing."

The first promise, the first hint about this gift for a broken world, is given in Genesis chapter three, verse fifteen. We know that this gift is going to come not as a thing, not as an it, but as a man. It's going to come as a person, the offspring of a woman.

But here in Genesis chapter twelve, God gives another hint and says that not only is this great gift going to come from the offspring of a woman, but it's going to come through the family of Abraham. It's going to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

But the hints continue. In Genesis chapter seventeen, God reveals to Abraham that this gift, the perfect gift for a broken world that is going to come as the offspring of a woman, a man from the family of Abraham, is going to come through one of Abraham's sons, although he had more than one. It's going to come through his son, Isaac.

Then you fast forward years from there.

To Genesis chapter 25. Now, Abraham is out of the picture, and his son Isaac has grown. Isaac's wife gets pregnant with twins, and there are two sons that are going to come. God says to Isaac that this gift, this perfect gift for a broken world, is going to be the offspring of a woman, a man from the family of Abraham through the line of Isaac. It is going to come through Isaac's son, Jacob.

We fast forward a little bit more. Jacob is now an old man, and he has had twelve sons. His name has been changed from Jacob to Israel. In Genesis chapter 49, Jacob is speaking, inspired by God, and he reveals that this perfect gift from God for a broken world, which will come as a man, the offspring of a woman through the family of Abraham, through the line of Isaac, and on through Jacob or Israel, is going to come through one of his twelve sons. We are told about it in verse 8.

In Genesis chapter 49, verse 8, Israel says to his son Judah, "You are he whom your brothers shall praise. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's children shall bow down before you." This means that your brothers are going to praise and bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp from the prey. "My son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion, as a lion who shall rouse him."

In verse 10, it states, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh, or until peace comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the people." Although it's masked in poetic language and wrapped in imagery, the gift, the perfect visual of the gift is concealed. God says that this gift for a broken world is going to come as the offspring of a woman through the family of Abraham, the line of Isaac, and through Jacob.

Through Jacob's son Judah, we read about the lion of the tribe of Judah. The gift-giving God promises a gift.

For a broken world, the perfect answer has been given. Many hundreds of years later, the family of Abraham has grown and multiplied. They have come to inhabit the land that God promised to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, again in Genesis chapter 15, and once more in Genesis chapter 22. They are now dwelling in the land of Canaan.

As they grow and multiply, there comes a point when this group of people, now called the children of Israel, says, "We want a king to rule over us." Ultimately, God gives them a king, who happens to be from the tribe of Judah. His name is David. Now, David is advanced in years and coming to the end of his life. God speaks a promise to King David in chapter 7 of 2 Samuel.

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 7. Interestingly, 2 Samuel comes after 1 Samuel, so we are looking at 1 Samuel and then 2 Samuel chapter 7. The king that God identified for the nation, for the people, is David. God gives a promise to this king in verse 12.

In 2 Samuel chapter 7, verse 12, God says, "David, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers," that is, when you die, "I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom." God declares that the next king on the throne of the nation of Israel will be David's son, and He will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, referring to King Solomon.

God continues, "I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever, and I will be his father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men; but My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you."

Notice this in verse 16: "Your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever." This is a wonderful gift, a perfect gift for a broken world, from the God who is the good and great gift giver.

God is going to come as a man, the offspring of a woman, through the family of Abraham. This lineage includes Abraham's son Isaac, his son Jacob, and his son Judah, continuing down the line. God promises King David that this gift will come through David's line. He will be of royal descent here upon the earth and will be the king forever.

About 300 years later, God gives another hint through the prophet Isaiah. Turn in your Bibles to the middle and go right. The largest book of the prophets is Isaiah. Go to chapter 7, Isaiah 7. This is a verse that is often seen on Christmas cards and greetings around this time of year. Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14 states, "Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel." A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel.

I received a call from my wife the other day. In our house, we have a little wood carving, a nativity scene of Joseph and Mary, with Mary holding a little baby. Ethan, our oldest son, looked at it and said, "Mom, this is just like you and Dad when you first had me." Andrea replied, "Well, it's a little bit different because Mary was a virgin." As she said it, I thought, why did I say that? Of course, Ethan then asked, "Mom, what's a virgin?" She smiled and said, "She was very special, Ethan. Ask your dad when he gets home." Thankfully,

By the time I got home, he had forgotten his question. It's for another day.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and he will be Emmanuel. Some of your translations may actually translate what that word Emmanuel means: God with us. You see, this perfect gift for all humanity, for a broken world, is not a mere man; he is God incarnate. He will come by miraculous means, the seed of a woman, the offspring of a woman, through the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, through the line of King David. But he will be a miraculous one. You shall call his name Emmanuel. The gift-giving God has the perfect gift for a broken world. The awesome thing is that the great gift-giver becomes the gift; he becomes the gift himself.

Well, right around the same time that the prophet Isaiah was speaking and writing these words, God spoke through another prophet, the prophet Micah, in Micah chapter 5. He gives us another hint about the coming of this great gift for a broken world. He tells us not only who he will be and where he will come from, the line of his birth, but he also tells us the location in which he will be born.

Micah chapter 5, verse 2 says, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, even though you're just a small city among the tribes of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting." He is the everlasting one because he is the everlasting God. He will come as the offspring of a woman through the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, through the line of David, and he will come in the city of Bethlehem.

I'm convinced that God loves Christmas because God loves to give gifts. The fact that we love to give gifts stems from the fact that he loves to give gifts, and we are created.

In His image, but like so many earthly gift givers, our God, the great gift giver, leaves us hints along the way about what that gift is. Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets declare hundreds of prophecies, telling us who He will be, where He will come from, the city of His birth, and also revealing His character. What will He be like?

As we prepare to close today, I want to look at one last hint given to us in the book of Isaiah, specifically Isaiah chapter 9. Turn there if you would. Isaiah chapter 9 is a passage, with two of the verses often found on Christmas greetings this time of year. However, I want to examine the first seven verses of Isaiah chapter 9.

Isaiah 9:1 begins, "Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun." This is speaking about a specific region in the land of Israel: the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. Afterward, He more heavily oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before You according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and the garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel of fire. The prophet Isaiah, again in poetic language, conceals the gift, but God is giving a hint here about the coming of this great gift. This gift, who would come as the offspring of a woman from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah through the line of David, is identified by Isaiah as inspired of the Lord.

This gift is going to do a great work in the area of the Sea of Galilee. He indicates that certain things will accompany this gift as He performs this great work among the people of Galilee.

To bring light upon those who were in darkness, verse 2 states that they will see a great light. Those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a great light will shine. This great gift, when He comes, will bring light to a dark world.

But not only will He bring light to a dark world, look at what verse 3 says: "You have multiplied the nation, and you have increased its joy." Not only does He bring light to those who are in darkness, but He also increases their joy. What kind of joy? The prophet Isaiah tries to articulate what this joy is like. He says it is like the joy of the harvest.

When Isaiah wrote these things 2,700 years ago, most of the people reading these words were farmers. They understood the joy of the harvest. However, as I look out here this morning, it is highly unlikely that too many of you are farmers. If we were to express this in our language, we might say it is like the joy when you receive a Christmas bonus, when you bring in the fruit of your labor. But Isaiah says it is even greater than that. It is like the joy that men experience when they divide the spoil.

We have a saying: "To the victor goes the spoil." The one who is victorious in battle is the one who reaps the rewards. If we were to update this into our language, it would be like the joy that the winning team experiences after the Super Bowl—something that the Chargers may never experience. But it is that kind of joy.

Isaiah continues, stating that this gift will not only bring light to those in darkness and joy to those who had none, but verse 4 says this gift will also bring a release from oppression. "For you have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian." This gift is going to bring freedom to those who are under oppression, to those who are in captivity, just like in the day of Midian.

When the prophet Isaiah mentioned the day of Midian, the people who read this in his time would have understood it perfectly. It would be as if we said "freedom like on D-Day." The day of Midian occurred during the time of the judges when Gideon was the judge of the nation of Israel. They had been under the oppression of the Midianite peoples, and God set them free by miraculous means.

And so, he says this one will bring light to those who are in darkness. He will bring joy to those who had none, and he is going to set the captives free. But who is this one? What is this gift that will bring this?

Well, look at verses 6 and 7 of Isaiah 9. Verse 6 states, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Well, tell us about him, Isaiah. Okay, I will. The government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful. Now, we're not identifying him by this name, Wonderful; we're saying these are the character traits of this one who will bring light to those in darkness, joy to those who had none, and set the captives free.

He will be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, he will order and establish it with judgment and justice from this time forward and even forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it.

God, all the way back in Genesis, when the fall happened and the world fell into brokenness, said, "I have the perfect gift for a broken world." That which, in fact, would become the very first Christmas gift and the greatest gift ever given. It would not be a thing; it would be a man—the offspring of a woman through the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, through the line of King David, born in the city of Bethlehem. He would bring light to those who were in darkness, joy to those who had none, and freedom to those who were captive.

Turn in your Bibles to one last verse, the Gospel of John, chapter 3. Yes, you likely know where I'm going because it is the most translated verse of the Bible. Its address, if you will, is seen just above the end zone of many a football game: John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever..."

Believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Why Christmas? What's the point? Yes, it's true Jesus is the reason for the season, but we don't understand the point until we understand that the world is broken. God is a gift-giving God, and He knows the perfect gift for a broken world.

For God so loved the world that He gave. For unto us a Son is given; a child is born. He brings joy to those who had none, light to those who are in darkness, and freedom to those who are captive. He's the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

You see, we have a great opportunity every year at this time of year, this season, to introduce people to the Prince of Peace. He is the one who multiplies joy—greater joy than winning Super Bowls, greater joy than bringing in Christmas bonuses. It is the joy of freedom from captivity, a joy that extends into eternity. It's not temporary, although every gift that you will receive on Christmas has a very temporary value of joy. It lasts just about as long until the credit card bill comes, and then the joy ceases abruptly. But not the joy that Jesus brings. Amen.

Would you stand with me? Let's pray. Father God, I thank You. I thank You that You are the great gift-giver and that You have given the greatest gift, which is a demonstration of Your love. Lord, I pray that You would stir our hearts, those of us who know and follow You, to take advantage of the opportunities of this season to share that gift with others.

Lord, I pray for anyone here today who is still walking in that darkness, captive and lacking joy. I pray, Jesus, that they would see in You that You are the gift that brings light, increases joy, and sets us free.

Free and, like with any gift, they would just freely receive that. Today we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. To others and love too, thank you.