Look What We Got For Christmas

Text: John 3:16-19

In the absence of Pastor Durham, Associate Minister Michael Woods delivered a very timely word to our congregation. Teaching from a very familiar passage of scripture, John 3:16-19, the title of the lesson was “Look What We Got for Christmas”. Minister Woods reminded us that Christmas for the Christian is every day of the year.

God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. Beginning in verse 16 of this passage, Minister Woods described 4 gifts that God gave all of us for Christmas. The first gift he described was the perish gift, which represented death. This is the gift no one wants. But Minister Woods reminded us that Jesus had to die so that we could live. If it had not been for the birth of Jesus (Christmas), everyone would be living beyond the arc of safety, beyond the church doors. Of course everyone has sinned, but people on the perish road love their sins (v.19). Even taking this back to the days of Adam and Eve, we know that good people do bad things. The perish gift represents the “greatest problem”.

The next gift that was described was the love gift. God is love, and John used the word “love” 36 times in this book. It is no secret that God loves us. He hates sin but loves the sinner. This love that God has for us is undeserved and unearned. As shown in Matthew 10:30, He even knows how many hairs are on our heads. This gift represents God’s “greatest passion”.

The third gift brought to our attention in this lesson is God’s son. What greater gift could a father give than His only son? Jesus was God in the flesh. The two are one in the same. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make up the Trinity. With that being said, if you don’t believe in Jesus, you don’t believe in God! Minister Woods used the parable of Jesus healing the crippled man to illustrate how God must have felt watching His son Jesus doing such a great work. He painted a mental picture of God smiling down on Jesus saying, “That’s my boy!” like any proud father would. Jesus represents God’s “greatest gift”.

The final gift God gave to us was everlasting life. Even though this was the last gift mentioned, it’s certainly not the least. This gift represents God’s “greatest promise”. Everlasting life is not easy to get, but it’s surely worth the struggle. Wide is the road to destruction, and many will be on this perish road. Very few will be traveling on the narrow road leading to everlasting life. Which road will you choose?

 

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