Socks and Underwear Gift Received The importance of how we receive the greatest gift. John 1: 12-13 Pastor Brian Messler December 22, 2013 Prayer: We celebrate you this morning, God for the gift you have given to us. We are grateful, humbled, and joy-filled at this gift. May we never lose sight of what you have done, what we have done, and what Christ has done for us. For you are holy God, and our praise is not enough to say thank you. It is our hope that our lives, all we say and do, give you glory and honor and praise. Amen. Sermon: In this series, Socks and Underwear we ve been underscoring how it is that God gave us what we needed in an unexpected way. Sometimes we think we know what we want, but we don t always know what we need the most. Today, we re going to talk about the gift that we can receive because of that first Christmas, because of Emmanuel, God with us. The passage we ve been looking at in this series comes from John chapter 1. In the very first part of that chapter it talks about how The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In John 1:11-13 John writes, He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband s will, but born of God. This week I want to focus on that phrase which says, Yet to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. You know the only way to celebrate the gift of Jesus is to receive that gift. We receive a lot of different gifts from a lot of different people at Christmas, and when those gifts are given to us the natural response, for each of us, is to open them up and to take them in and to say, Thank you, to those individuals. But can you imagine giving a gift to someone and they never open it? You say to them the next week, Hey did you like what I gave you? and they say, Well, you know what? I haven t had a chance to open it. Oh, really? Well, yeah, yeah. I put a lot of time into that. Oh, don t worry. Hey, I m going to open it this week. Next time you see them, same thing plays out. This goes on month after month and after a while you realize you didn t give them a gift because they didn t receive it. You gave them something you made something available to them but they didn t take it in so it never became something that they could derive the benefits from. And there are a lot of people in this world who have heard about a gift that Christ has given to them, but they ve never received it. They ve never opened it. You know, our parents carefully instructed us in advance how to respond when we opened a present. You d be going to a gift 1
exchange or going to a relative s home and they d say, Now remember you look surprised when you open that up, all right? Or, You be excited. Or, You make certain you act grateful to your grandmother even if it is socks and underwear. And we re supposed to know how to receive a gift. Amy and I have never had to do this with Cayden. I am amazed at my little girl. It is Cayden s natural predisposition to be thankful. Wow, I wish I could say that for so many people, including myself. Cayden, when receiving a gift, is super excited. She doesn t go for the present first, she attacks the card first. She loves to see who the gift-giver is. She then opens the gift and, of course, absolutely loves anything she is given. Her response afterwards is priceless. She goes up the gift giver and gives them a big hug, and thank you. Yes, I wish that we could all receive gifts like she does with love, with appreciation, with total joy. Friends, we have received an unexpected gift from God, an unexpected gift from Jesus how are you receiving those gifts? How do you receive those totally unexpected gifts, the gifts that have caught you off guard? We all can think of some unexpected gift that we were really caught by surprise. And believe it or not, even though the gift of Jesus was foretold and predicted for hundreds of years, when Christ arrived He still caught people off-guard. God gave His Son to this world. The Scripture teaches us how to unwrap and to receive this gift. So the gift of salvation is available. Christ came down from heaven. He became like us. He lived a perfect life. He died an atoning death. He conquered the grave, and because of that, we too, can become heirs to His heavenly kingdom. And for those who believe, they have the right to become children of God. So how should we receive this incredible gift? Well, first we receive it with gratitude, because we didn t pay for it. Do you ever feel awkward because you receive an unexpected gift or you give something to someone else and yet they spend more than you could ever spend in return? Now they aren t expecting a reciprocal gift. They just want to express appreciation for your friendship or for something that you have done for them. Sometimes we look at our bank account or we look at the wrapped gift that we have for them, and you know that your gift isn t even in the hemisphere of what they spent. But it is what it is, and if your gift to them is from your heart, it doesn t matter. So you express to them genuine thanks for their generosity and you thank your lucky stars that you didn t have to pay for what you received; instead it was a gift, so you receive it graciously. Two friends met each other on the street one day. One looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, What has the world done to you, my old friend? The sad fellow said, Let me tell you: three weeks ago, my uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars. That s a lot of money. But you see, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand dollars, free and clear. Sounds to me that you ve been very blessed. You don t understand! he interrupted. Last week my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million from her. Now the man s friend was really confused. Then, why do you look so glum? This week I got nothing! 2
We can often come to the point where we expect to get certain blessings that God never promised us, and when they do not come, it is easy to get bitter. In general, I have found many people to not be as grateful as they should be. I can be like that at times as well. I can get frustrated over the littlest things. When something is not going the way that I want it to go, I can get miffed. I have seen that scenario played out in hundreds of people. We don t like something, we complain, we don t understand something, we complain. We get the wrong information, we hear the gossip, we complain. We complain about the little things and then that heart of complaining, that heart of always looking for the worst in people and the world drowns out the joys of the world. And when we lose that joy, we lose an attitude of gratitude for all that has been done. God did not promise us that we would get everything. God did not promise us that life would be easy. God did not promise us that we would be able to sit in the same pew all our life, that we would always find a parking space, that we would be rich, that we would not get sick, or that the Patriots would beat the Ravens today although I am betting that is going to happen never-the-less. God did not promise those things. But here is what God has promised us a savior God delivered His one and only son to save us, redeem us to himself. I said earlier that the Bible says in John 1: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. On that first Christmas when God took the form of flesh and He left heaven and He came to earth, there is nothing that we can give to God that would impress Him or match His generosity. I mean, after all, the God of the Universe can twitch His baby finger and create a mountain range. He can blink His eye and have a rainbow appear in the sky. Although we can t match His gift, He does want to know that we appreciate the gift, so He is looking for our gratitude and, more importantly, He is looking for our obedience and for our love and devotion. That is the greatest response. So the gift of Jesus is one that we should receive with gratitude. But it also is one that we should receive with humility, because you can t afford it. You see, the gift of Christ motivates us to give. Have you ever noticed that sometimes people have a hard time receiving gifts, especially if they re not accustomed to being on the receiving end of charity? In this economy the past year or two, for many it may be the very first time that they ve ever had to ask or that they ve ever been in a situation where they had to just humbly receive. This past year I have heard several comments about people having trouble doing that and feeling ashamed. Yet it takes humility to come to FCOB to receive a gift. Friends, humility is an honorable quality and we re all called to be like that. It s good practice for receiving the gift of Jesus Christ, a gift that we can t afford either and we sure don t deserve. No money, no wealth, no fame could buy what God gave. I agree with the Apostle Paul when he said in 2 Corinthians 9:15, Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! That is a direct reference to Jesus Christ. The first Christmas was the indescribable the giving of the indescribable the gift of God, Jesus the Christ is indescribable. 3
Now we re like that not just with gifts that are material; we re like that with gifts that are spiritual too. I know some people who, when they first came to Christ, their understanding was very shallow. It was very elementary as it is for all of us. And to them Christianity was kind of something that you do to get your parents off your back or to do what is socially acceptable so your kids can be in some structured religious environment. To them it was just kind of a quick exercise to improve your life. Go to church for an hour, say some prayers and you re good for another week. You get your cup of Jesus and go home. But something happened and, over the course of two years or ten years or twenty years, you began to realize just how important that gift was on that first Christmas. You begin to understand what Christ did for us. You face adversity. Maybe it is an adversarial teacher or coworker. Perhaps it is a major conflict in your marriage. Maybe it is the death of a loved one. Perhaps it is a major struggle in your workplace. And you begin to realize that Christianity is more than a quick fix: it is a way of life. It is putting your trust in someone who can carry you through for decades. It is not just a cup of Jesus here or there, but a feast of Christ that lasts longer than anything this world can give us. Ron Dunn said it like this. He said, You start with Jesus. You stay with Jesus. You finish with Jesus. It doesn t get any better than Jesus. And he s right. Receive the gift of Christ. Receive it with gratitude. Receive it with humility. And, finally, I want you to receive it with joy, because you don t deserve it and neither do I. Look back at our text, John 1:12, Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. This verse is speaking of being not born of blood or of flesh or will of man. The entire sentence is speaking in what we might call adoption language. It is the way that it is worded. It is God choosing us to become His children. We are totally powerless to become children of God, to enter into this intimate relationship with Him outside of Him choosing us and calling us to Him. In order to become a child of God, one must first receive the gift that God has offered through His Son. It is only when one receives Christ that one becomes a child of God. Now I wasn t adopted, but if you were or if you have adopted children and you listen to the wording and the language of John 1, then you probably read it differently than the rest of us because you know what it feels like to be taken in unexpectedly by someone. At the time you were probably small and from a net worth perspective you probably didn t bring a whole lot to the table. It was totally underserved but someone reached out in love and said, We want you in our family. Romans 8:15, The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. Keep that verse up there for just a minute. I want you to notice that phrase Abba, Father. Abba in Aramaic means Daddy. If you go to Israel sometime and you walk the streets you will 4
hear a child hollering out, Abba! Abba! Abba! You ll see them jump into the arms of their dad. That is the relationship that is here. The word sonship that is there your adoption to sonship that word literally means that you have all the full legal rights of adoption. In other words, this is all good. Everything has been taken care of, every t crossed; every I has been dotted. This all makes sense. Everything has been taken care of. There is no question that you belong to God. And we struggle with this concept because we ve been conditioned that we must earn everything. That is why we struggle at times with receiving unusual or generous gifts. We believe that our gifts (or a lack thereof) are the result of us being either naughty or nice. Some translate that if you are poor, you have sinned, if you are sick, you have sinned. If you are without, you have done something wrong. Or on the other side, if you are wealthy, then you must be living an honorable and Christ affirming life, or if you are healed then you must be doing something that honors God. We learn that as a very early age right He s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who s or. We are taught that what we get is based on whether we are naughty or nice, right? How can this be remotely accurate in God s interaction with us? It is pretty simple, if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we spend eternity with God, if we do not accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we spend eternity apart from God. We cannot earn this; we cannot do anything to earn this gift. The Bible says that He gave the right to become children of God. And the word that he uses there, dydimi, is a word that literally means, a deliberate transfer from one to another where something or someone becomes available to the recipient. In other words, Christ is the gift. He becomes available to those who are adopted into the family. God is the giver. The recipients are the believers who receive or accept the gift of Jesus, which, in turn, gives them the right, the privilege, to become children of God, heirs to His kingdom. Yes, we are to be the best people we can be. Yes, we are to honor God in all things. But being good, being nice, even being generous is not going to bring us to God only Jesus does that on our behalf we cannot earn or buy or talk our way into God s presence. And once we accept that, once we surrender to something that only Christ can do, then, and only then, will we be sons and daughters of the King. I have so many good friends who have adopted friends who have traveled halfway across the world and they adopted a child who was destined to a life of poverty and they took them out of a culture where it is very possible that they would have never heard of Jesus or at least not built a strong relationship with Jesus. A couple swoops in and they rescue this son or daughter and they adopt him or her into their family, and now that child has the right to be called theirs. That child bears their name. They are granted all rights and privileges which pertain thereto. So those who are poor and destitute one minute both economically and spiritually in that next instant they become (in a material sense) wealthy, because they have been adopted into a family that has some means evidently, or they wouldn t have been able to fly all the way to the other side of the world. And in time these children are exposed to the teachings of Christ and they begin to realize that the greater benefit isn t earthly treasures but it is spiritual and heavenly treasures. All their rights and privileges change. The child will begin to act on that new 5
identity. They have value. They have hope. And that is what happens for the Christian. When we are adopted in the family of God and we receive that and we accept that, it changes us. That illustration could be a description of dozens of people in this church, hundreds of people who have extended that right by taking someone into their family. Over the years there have been numerous theories and explanations offered up concerning the unique sound of a Stradivarius violin. Everything from climatic effects on the wood from the surrounding forests, to secret molding techniques employed by the master craftsman. One of the more recent, scientifically based explanations is found in the illustration below. Antonio Stradivarius was an Italian violin maker who lived from 1644-1737. His violins are now the most prized violins ever made because of the rich and resonating sound they produce. The unique sound of a Stradivarius violin cannot be duplicated. Surprisingly, these precious instruments were not made from treasured pieces of wood, but instead were carved from discarded lumber. Stradivarius, who was very poor and could not afford fine materials like his contemporaries, got [much] of his wood from the dirty harbors where he lived. He would take those waterlogged pieces of wood to his shop, clean them up, and from those pieces of trashed lumber, he would create instruments of rare beauty. It has since been discovered that while the wood floated in those dirty harbors, microbes went into the wood and ate out the center of those cells. This left just the fibrous infrastructure of the wood that created resonating chambers for the music. From wood that nobody wanted, Stradivarius produced violins that everybody wants. So also, long before we accepted Christ, while we were still floating in the dirty harbors of the world, God was at work within us. His microbes were there, using the trials of our circumstances to eat away at our fibrous infrastructure, creating chambers better prepared to resonate with the sounds of His love and grace. That's why the Stradivarius among us, those who resonate most beautifully with God's love, are seldom formed from treasured pieces of wood, but from discarded, waterlogged, pieces of scrap. That's how the Master violin maker uses wood that nobody wants to produce violins that everybody wants. That s how God uses what seems to be the worthless, the weak, and the lost and transforms them, transforms us into the first, the greatest, and the hopeful. John 1:12 says, To all who receive Him He gives the right to become children of God. Galatians 4:4 and 5 says, But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. That is the story of Christmas! And maybe you re here today and you have never received Him. You have never taken that gift gratefully, humbly, and joyfully and said, Thank You, God. I receive it. I turn my life over to You. You do that by believing that Jesus is God s Son. You confess His name before others. You repent of your sins, acknowledging that you are not 6
perfect but that He is. You humble yourself by being baptized into Christ. You re not immersed into a church; you re baptized into Jesus, the very One who is giving you this gift. Then the Bible says in Revelation, Be faithful to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life. That is how you receive the gift. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the adoption papers are there for you. They ve been there for some time, and you just you just need to sign them. Maybe today it is time for you to receive that gift. So to you I say, Son or daughter, go claim your inheritance. Claim the birthright from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You do not need to be an orphan any longer, you do not need to be alone anymore. Receive the gift of Christ with gratitude, with humility, and with a profound sense of joy for in Christ, God gives you an inheritance. For in Christ, in this little child we come to praise this advent season, God poured out his love, God poured out his hope, his joy, his peace so that each of us can be called sons and daughters of the King. 7