Sermon for Sunday December 14, 2003

A Christmas Story by Chris Santasiere

Matthew 2:9-11

“Christmas Classics”
A CHRISTMAS STORY
Matthew 2:9-11

Introduction
When I was a little kid, from about the age of 8 until the age of 10 my Granny would keep a jar for me in her kitchen cabinet. Whenever she had an extra dollar or a little extra change, she would put it in that jar for me. Around the end of November I would go over to my Granny’s house and count the money in the jar. I’d roll all of the change and take it to the bank to exchange it for paper money. Usually I’d end up with about $50. Then I would take that $50 and go to the mall in search of the perfect Christmas presents for my family. I’d buy presents for my parents, brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles. The majority of my money was spent at places like the Dollar store. I never got my family big, fantastic presents, but I took a lot pride in shopping for them. I thought about each person as I bought their present hoping that they would like it. I wanted to give each of them the perfect gift.

The perfect gift. Everyone wants to give their loved ones the perfect gift. A recent poll out of Britain said that the average Briton spends $630 a year on Christmas presents, gives up to 15 hours shopping for the gifts and walks over 20 miles in stores all in search for the perfect gifts. What was intriguing though, was that in the same poll, what ranked as the perfect gift for people was to spend time with their loved ones over Christmas. That is the perfect gift for many.

God delights in giving the perfect gift. The Bible tells us in James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above,” Jesus tells us this about God’s gift giving in Matthew 7:11, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Tonight, we continue our message series on Christmas Classics. Last week, we viewed a clip from “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and compared the heart problems of King Herod and the Grinch. Tonight, we will view a clip of my favorite Christmas movie and the movie just voted as the best Christmas movie of all time: A Christmas Story. A Christmas Story is a movie that allows us to look inside a family Christmas from the late 1930’s, early 1940’s era. It’s main plot has to do with an obsession the main character- 10 year old Ralphie – has with what would be his perfect Christmas gift: a Red Ryder Bee Bee Gun.

Our main text for the message will be from Matthew 2:9-11, “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

Tonight, I want us to see that God is the source of every perfect gift. He’s given us many. But I also want us to see that God can make a heartfelt and sincere gift into the perfect gift as well. We see this as we first look at:

I. THE MAGI’S PERFECT GIFTS.
“Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” Matthew 2:11

What made these gifts of gold and incense and myrrh perfect? I believe that there were two reasons why the Magi’s gifts were the perfect gifts:

A. Their gifts were symbolic.
John Stott writes, “Gold is the gift fit for a King. Frankincense was in constant use by the priests in the temple. Myrrh was used to embalm the dead. In those three gifts we see who he is, what he came to do, and what it would cost him.”

The Magi had no idea how symbolic their gifts were. But they were symbolic as well as being extremely appropriate. These were the perfect gifts for Jesus. What also made the Magi’s gifts perfect were that:

B. Their gifts were helpful.
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says this about the Magi’s gifts to Jesus: “The gifts were simply expensive and not uncommon presents and may have helped finance the trip to Egypt.”

Remember, that soon after Jesus was born, Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to protect the child from King Herod. It is expensive to travel and these gifts served as support for their trip and stay in Egypt.

The gifts of the Magi were the perfect gifts for the occasion of the Lord’s birth. They were both symbolic and helpful. But now I want to turn to the gifts that God has given us as we look at:

II. GOD’S PERFECT GIFTS.
The word “gift” as it is used the majority of the time in the New Testament refers to “a gift of God” (BAG), “always with an implication of grace” (TDNT). The word also stresses that these gifts of God are “free, stressing God’s gratuitous nature” (Vine’s).

Since we know that God delights in giving the perfect gift, let’s take a look at some of God’s perfect gifts that he has given us.

First we see:



A. The abundance of spiritual gifts.
The Bible tells us that God has gifted each person with at least one special talent or ability. I Corinthians 7:7, “But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.” What makes these gifts so perfect is that God has given us gifts to complement one another as we work together as one body in Christ.

Several years ago, two students graduated from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. The highest ranking student in the class was a blind man named Overton and, when he received his honor, he insisted that half the credit should go to his friend, Kaspryzak. They had met one another in school when the armless Mr. Kaspryzak had guided the blind Mr. Overton down a flight of stairs. This acquaintance ripened into friendship and a beautiful example of interdependence. The blind man carried the books which the armless man read aloud in their common study, and thus the individual deficiency of each was compensated for by the other. After their graduation, they planned to practice law together.

We have been given spiritual gifts by God in order to accomplish His work and to be of help to others. I Peter 4:10, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.”

The second of God’s perfect gifts that we see He has given us is:

B. The gift of the Holy Spirit.
After Jesus had been raised from the dead he had this to say to the apostles in Acts 1:4, “On one occasion while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised,’”

The Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers us and transforms us, building us up so that we are more and more like Christ. He is with us always so that we are not alone. The apostles feared being with Jesus as he talked to them about his departure from them before his death. But he encouraged them with the promise of the Holy Spirit. John 14:26, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

I recently read James Packer’s view of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He has a unique take on it comparing the Holy Spirit’s role to floodlights on a building:

When floodlighting is well done, the floodlights are placed so that you do not see them; in fact, you are not supposed to see where the light is coming from; what you are meant to see is just the building on which the floodlights are trained. The intended effect is to make it visible when otherwise it would not be seen for the darkness, and to maximize its dignity by throwing all its details into relief so that you can see it properly. This perfectly illustrated the Spirit’s new covenant role. He is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the Savior.
Or think of it this way. It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder on to Jesus who stands facing us. The Spirit’s message to us is never, "Look at me; listen to me; come to me; get to know me", but always, "Look at him, and see his glory; listen to him and hear his word; go to him and have life; get to know him and taste his gift of joy and peace."

Some of God’s perfect gifts to us are spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit itself, now we see another of God’s perfect gifts:

C. The gift of salvation.
Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Bible is clear that salvation is a gift to man from God. There’s nothing we can do to earn it, buy it, or deserve it. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-.”

This is the gift that meets all of our needs. It frees us from sin, guilt, shame and judgment. It brings us back into the relationship God intended us to have with Him. It satisfies God holiness and justice and yet extends to us His compassion and love. It’s a perfect gift. It’s our homecoming to the Lord.

Just this week in the news, there was a story about a woman who had been wandering around on the streets for eight years homeless, who is now reunited with her family and is home for Christmas. After a painful divorce eight years ago, Alice Perley just snapped. She left a commercial flight at the Nashville airport and began living in the woods, on the streets and in shelters. She walked into a brokerage firm in Nashville this past week and remembered that she had stocks with that company. After looking up her portfolio, the company confirmed that she did have stock with them and that she had been missing for eight years despite an exhaustive search by her family. Her brother came and picked her up a couple of days later in a very happy reunion.

Conclusion
The most perfect that God has given us is His Son, Jesus. The baby that we celebrate at this time of the year, came to bring about our homecoming. To bring about our redemption. To bring about our salvation. God delights in giving the perfect gift. I can only imagine the feelings God had when Jesus was born; the happiness, the excitement that here was His own Son that was being given as a gift to all of mankind.
What completes the perfect gift? Accepting it. Have you accepted God’s gift of Jesus? Have you accepted God’s gift of salvation? They are yours…if you want them.