Are You Looking For the Perfect Gift
Giving presents is always a problem. If you love someone, you want to make
sure you give them something they really want. Ideally, you want to see that
look of joyous surprise when they open the gift and even before they say a
word, you know it was perfect.
What do You Give Someone Who has Everything?
That came to my mind this week as I thought about the question—If I were
going to give Jesus a gift for his birthday, what could I give him that he
would appreciate?
After all Jesus is the Creator of all things (Hebrews 1:2) and the One who
holds all things together (Colossians 1:17). What do you give someone who
not only has everything, but who actually made everything? That’s a tough
question.
II. WHAT GOD WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS:
1. Let’s see if Micah can Help us
Is there anything the Lord would like from me this year? What could I give
him that would bring a smile to his face? Luckily, we don’t have to wonder
about the answer to those questions. The Lord left his wish list for everyone
to read. After all, if you don’t know what to give someone, you should just
ask them, “Well, what would you like?”
The answer is found in the little book of Micah. It’s possible you missed it.
Maybe you didn’t even know there was a book of Micah.
Micah is a book of the Bible written 700 years before Jesus
Micah was a Minor Prophet (so-called because the book are short not
because their messages are unimportant), And he was a country boy from
Moresheth a few miles from Jerusalem.
Micah’s friends were also writers/prophets: Isaiah & Hosea
Micah wrote the famous prophecy,
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the
people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins
are from the distant past. Micah 5:2
A character sketch of Micah would yield the following: straight forward,
direct, no-nonsense. a straight arrow kind of guy. He loved the common
people and hated corrupt politicians. In fact, his book is basically a
condemnation of religious and political leaders who use their position to
take advantage of other people. Micah was a prophet of social reform. Who
gives us some great thoughts for determining, What God wants for
Christmas!
What can we bring to the Lord? What kind of offerings should we give
him? Micah 6:6
Should we bow before God with offerings of yearling calves? v. 6
The people have heard Micah’s words of warning and now they want to
know, “What does God want from us?” Their first answer deals with quality
of sacrifice. A yearling calf was a one-year-old calf. That was considered the
prime age for sacrifice. Perhaps God will be pleased if we give him the very
best that we have.
But the answer is no.
Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive
oil? v. 7a
If it’s not quality he wants, then perhaps it’s quantity. The idea is to impress
God by offering a thousand rams at a time and then creating a river of oil
flowing through the streets. Surely that would make God happy.
The idea is that an extravagant sacrifice would convince God of their
sincerity.
But the answer is no.
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? v. 7b
This is an immoral suggestion. Child sacrifice was forbidden by God, yet
practiced by the pagan peoples around Israel. The people are suggesting
that if they offer their firstborn sons, the Lord would be pleased and would
forgive their sins.
But the answer is no!!! Really now…
It’s so typical of us. We often do the same thing. We say, “Lord, I’ll do
anything you want. You name your price. You want a missionary? I’m ready
to go. You want me to be married or to stay single, I’m your man. Lord, I’ll
be a preacher or a pastor. I’ll be a deacon or an elder. I’ll pray every day and
read my Bible. Whatever you want from me, that’s what I’ll do. I really mean
it, Lord.”
Now there’s nothing wrong with those sentiments. They are good and noble
and proper.
God is pleased when we offer ourselves to him.
So what’s wrong? Those answers only deal with the outside. God wants
your heart. You can be a missionary and have a hard heart. You can be
married or single and have a rebellious heart. You can be very religious and
yet far away from God.
Please NOTE: God rejected every offer made by the Israelites because they
had completely missed the point.
They wanted to make a deal and God wanted their hearts.
And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with
their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Isaiah 29:13
The Right Answer – Micah 6:8
That brings us to the right answer in verse 8. This verse has been called the
heart of Old Testament religion and the greatest verse in all the Old
Testament. It sums up what God really wants from you and me. This is the
kind of verse you ought to commit to memory, write out on a card, and put
it in your mirror so you can look at it every day. It tells us exactly what God
looks for in our life.
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require
of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
How do we show that God has our hearts?
Doing what is Right ! (Justice – mishpat)
The pursuit of justice demands righteous living. They both are reflective of
the character of God, and they are both dependent on each other. Jesus has
come to make us righteous before God, and Jesus has come to call us to
right living. Jesus has come to satisfy the justice of God, and Jesus has come
to call us to a just society. You can’t have one without the other.
The Hebrew word for Justice is mishpat. (MISH POT) Often in the Old
Testament this word is applied to God’s own character. God is just—he is
absolutely fair and righteous in all his dealings. He gives to each person
exactly what they deserve. Justice means “treating people right because you
know God.” In the Bible this concept is applied in some very concrete ways:
caring for the poor, remembering the widows and orphans, speaking the
truth, paying a fair wage, having honest scales, no cheating, no extortion,
and refusing to take advantage of the less fortunate.
For us at Christmastime justice certainly means doing right to the less
fortunate because we know God.
B. Living in Loving Kindness (Mercy – ‘ahab checed)
This speaks of the way we treat others. The Hebrew word for mercy is ‘ahab
hesed (A Hav VA Hesed) , which means loving kindness, loyal love or patient
love. It’s the word sometimes translated “his mercy endures forever.” It
means loving the unlovely even when they don’t love you back. It speaks to
our obligation to care for people who don’t care for us.
Mercy means treating people with love. It is doing unto others as God has
done unto you. How has God treated you this year? Has God blessed you?
Then bless others. Has God forgiven you? Then forgive others. Has God
lifted you up when you were down? Then lift others up when they are
down. Has God overlooked your faults? Then overlook the faults of others.
The word translated “mercy” is elsewhere translated as “lovely” or
“beautiful.” Here is a quality that will make us beautiful to others. I call this
Hope For the Homely. Show mercy and people will think you are beautiful!
They will know we are Christians by our love…yes!!
We all need mercy at Christmastime, don’t we? If God has been merciful to
you this year, be merciful to those around you.
C. Being Humble and Modest (Humility – tsana)
The word “humbly” comes from a Hebrew word tsana (TSA NA) ( that
means “modestly” or “carefully.” It speaks of an attitude that is the opposite
of pride. What is humility? It’s having a right view of yourself because you
have a right view of God. Humility does not mean saying, “I’m a nothing, I’m
a worm, I’m useless.” That’s not humility, that’s self-pity, which is really
another form of pride.
And what is pride? It’s having too large a view of yourself because you have
too small a view of God. When your God is big, you will be small, and pride
will be impossible.
This is humility. “God made me and I belong to him. Every good thing I
have in life is a gift from the Almighty. Some have more, some have less. It
matters not to me. I thank God for what I have and I’m going to do the best I
can with what God has given me, and I’m going to leave the outcome with
him.”
If we live that way, it will save us so much trouble. We won’t have to get
into a power game at work or live in the rat-race or sell our convictions to
get ahead. We won’t get angry at the silly comments people make. Humility
enables us to be who we are in Christ. And we don’t have to worry about
what others think.
III. THE HEART FOR GOD
This is the heart of the gospel: What God requires, he first gives to us!
He came to establish justice, to show mercy, to lift up the humble!
We live it out in 3 phrases: Do Right, Show Love & Practice Humility.
Maybe you haven’t experienced what God has for you…
After 2000 years Jesus still knocks at the door of your heart. Will you make
room for him this year?
He wants your heart. How does he want you to live doing right, showing
love and practicing humility
Maybe He doesn’t He doesn’t have your heart yet…
Perhaps you’ve heard these words by Christina Rosetti.
What will you give Jesus this year?
What shall I give him, Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I’d give him a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I’d do my part.
What shall I give him, I’ll give him my heart.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever given him your heart?
No decision is more important. No one else can make it for you. If you
aren’t ready, then nothing I say or do can compel you to come to Christ. But
if you are ready, then it’s time for you to do business with the Lord.
The Bible says that “To all who received him, to those who believed in him,
he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Have you ever
received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? Would you like to do that
right now
“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the
door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”
Revelation 3:20
C – Confess – Romans 10:9
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.…
A – Accept – Colossians 2:6a
…Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord,
R – Repent – Matthew 3:2
Repent of your sins and turn to God…
E – Engage – Colossians 2:6b
…continue to follow him.
John 3:16-17 (New International Version)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
world through him.
Matthew 25:40 (New International Version)
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Although many people exchange or simply give gifts at Christmas time, most
of us aren’t really sure why we do so. Is it custom? Certainly. But it did not
start with Christians or Jews for that matter. The most ancient cultures
display evidence of gift giving. So no one can credit Christians with inventing
the act.
In our present culture when a birthday is celebrated, the gifts go to the
birthday boy or girl. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus of
Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ, the One sent by God the Father to rescue
all of humanity from its worst possible fate – life and eternity apart from the
one true God, (who has revealed himself in the Bible as Elohim, Jehovah,
Yahweh, “I AM WHO I AM,” and) who is the Source of all that is good, right,
and beautiful.
This makes Christmas a birthday celebration (and no, it does not matter that
historically speaking Jesus was most likely born in the spring – celebrating
his birth in December is a choice to remember it – much like celebrating
Communion is an act of remembering his death). So why give gifts to each
other instead of giving them to the birthday boy?
The answer lies in the scriptures above. While there is much history behind
how we arrived at exchanging gifts on Christmas day, the main reason is
this: when we do so we are emulating God.
God gave the world the most precious gift in the person of Jesus Christ. God
The Son laid aside his glory, humbled himself to become a human baby, to
be born of a woman into poverty, to live the life of a peasant, to be rejected
by the very people he came to save, to die a brutal an agonizing death on a
cross, and to rise again in triumph over sin and death. Jesus’ sole motivation
in coming, dying, and rising again, was to reconcile a lost world back to God
the Father through himself.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus said. “No one comes to the
Father but by me.”
We love because God first loved us. We give to each other because God
gave us the best gift of all. Christmas is a season of sharing, giving, loving,
and helping. Why is that? It is because at Christmas we take the time and
make the effort to acknowledge our fellow man in the manner that we
should all year long. This is particularly true as it relates to the poor, the
hungry, the oppressed, the sick, the weak, and the disenfranchised.
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did
for me,” is Jesus’ reminder.

We give to each other and especially to those who have less, because in
doing so we are not only emulating God’s generosity, but we are giving to
Jesus, the birthday boy.