What’s the MOST POPULAR Gift?
Did you know that one of the most popular gifts every Christmas are gift cards?
They say that every year, over 100 billion dollars are spent on gift cards? That’s a LOT of money!
But what I find even more surprising is this: They say that every year more than 1 billion, yes, that’s billion with a B, more than 1 billion dollars in gift cards are never used? That money is never spent!
Just think about that.
Companies are essentially selling you a cheap plastic card that cost them next to nothing to make knowing that many people will NEVER reclaim the value of that card.
Some people won’t use them at all. Some people will forget about them or loose them. Other people will only use part of the value of the card.
It’s a sad reality when that card goes unused by the person it was given to.
The Real Tragedy of the Christmas Season
But that’s not the real tragedy of the Christmas season. The real tragedy that I think we face has even greater consequences.
Every Christmas, one of the greatest tragedies is that so many people turn their eyes to the greatest Gift ever given but we fail to open it.
Here’s what we do, so many of us, every Christmas. When you see a gift under the Christmas tree, when no one else is looking, you start investigating. You pick it up, see how heavy it is. You shake it, see if it makes any noises. You want to learn all you can about it so maybe you can guess what’s inside.
This is what we do this time of year as well when we talk about Jesus, the greatest GIFT ever given. We think about the Gift, we talk about the details of the Gift. Some of us get upset when people don’t talk about the Gift the right way or get the details of the Gift mixed up.
Some of us just want to understand the Gift. We want to know all about it. Give us all the facts. Let’s make sure we get the facts of the Gift straight.
Others of us are truly excited about the Gift. We are so grateful for the Gift.
But here’s the tragedy… after all that effort we’ll leave the Gift unopened.
We sit the Gift on the shelf & we forget about it.
The Gift, like unused gift cards, will collect dust.
We received the Gift, but we didn’t open the Gift.
We took the Gift, but we didn’t use the Gift.
We looked at the Gift, but then we walked away from the Gift & forgot about it.
And because we never opened the Gift, because we never used the Gift, because we walked away from the Gift the power of the Gift was never realized in our lives!
It never had the chance to do what it was intended to do in our lives. We’ve got the Gift, but it’s still wrapped in pretty packaging. It’s there. But its powerless in our lives because it’s still in the wrapping paper.
The Gift
This would have been the greatest tragedy the world had ever known, except that God went to extraordinary steps to make sure the world knew that night in Bethlehem, something happened. Something changed.
A GIFT was given and God didn’t want people to miss this moment. Because this moment literally changed human history for all time.
Luke tells us that the night that Jesus was born, an angel came to announce this good news.
“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified…” – Luke 2.8-9
Here it is again in the Christmas story… FEAR. The shepherds are filled with fear ar the sight of an angel. Fear is present for every person present in the Christmas story.
[Tweet “Fear is present for every person present in the Christmas story. @coreytrevathan”]So what does the angel say? The same thing that almost every angel says when they appear to humans…
“…but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” – Luke 2.10-12
What was the sign?
You don’t typically see newborn babies hiding out in caves, lying in feeding troughs wrapped in rags. SO… you find that you’ve found the Messiah.
Probably not the way they thought the Messiah would be born, probably not the sign they would have been looking for, but there was only ONE baby in Bethlehem that fit that description that night. You find that baby, you’ve found the Savior of the world!
“Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” – Luke 2.13-15
The shepherd’s response?
Let’s GO & let’s SEE!
It’s not enough to know about the Gift.
It’s not enough to receive the Gift.
We’ve got to open the Gift!
Let’s GO & let’s SEE!
So…
“They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.” – Luke 2.16-20
[Tweet “”After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened…””]After coming, after seeing, after opening the Gift, what did they do? They shared their experience of what they had seen & heard.
They received the gift, but they couldn’t keep the gift to themselves.
Come and See
The shepherds came and they saw. What they saw & heard in Bethlehem that night forever changed their lives. They went from that place telling everyone what they had seen & heard.
And this is the same thing I believe God wants FOR US…
To COME and SEE.
Come and see this Jesus we’re talking about. Come and experience His goodness. Come and know His kindness. Come and see His love for you.
Come and behold this wondrous mystery… that God moved from Heaven to Earth, that He became a child, that He lived and dwelled among us.
Come and see that the story is TRUE! That THIS HAPPENED. Come and see that there’s nothing you could ever do to make God love you less!
Come and see!
THEN….
GO and TELL.
You can’t keep this to yourself. When you’ve not only received the Gift, but when you’ve opened the Gift, you can’t keep what you’ve seen and heard to yourself. You have to go and tell others. You have to share what you have seen and heard!
You have to be a part of sharing the GOOD NEWS of Jesus, the GOOD NEWS of the GREAT LOVE of God!
This is what we’re called to do over & over again throughout our lives.
Come and See. Then Go and Tell.
Something happened in Bethlehem that night some 2000 years ago that has forever changed the trajectory of our lives.
When you come and behold what God has done, you have to go and tell others what you have seen and heard.
And here’s the promise for you today… if you come searching, you will find. If you knock on that door, it will be opened to you.
Maybe the greatest gift you could give someone this Christmas would be just to share with someone your personal story of the GIFT you’ve been given. To share what you have seen and heard. Of what you’ve seen God do in your own life.
The Beginning of the Story is like The End
Jesus’ life began and ended in much the same way. He was wrapped in strips of cloth when he was born, and wrapped in cloth again when he died. He likely arrived in a cave, then he was buried in one. Then there was no place for him when he was born, and He was placed in a borrowed tomb when he died.
The beginning of the story points to the end of the story. Jesus would temporarily leave this world the same way he came.
Then, He would rise up out of that tomb, that grave, take off those grave clothes, and when people came to look for him this time… he was nowhere to be found.
Why?
Because He had been resurrected by the power of the Living God.
But they would find Him. And those that found Him, those that saw Him, those who experienced the resurrected Messiah… their lives were forever changed.
And they went around the world telling everyone what they had seen and heard! In fact, we are here today because they could not keep quiet about what they had seen & heard.
May we too, like those first disciples, not keep quiet about what we have seen and heard. May we go and tell this good news to the world around us.
Jesus has come. Jesus is here.
[Tweet “Like those first disciples, may we go and tell this good news to the world around us. @coreytrevathan”]
