Don’t Wait To Open Your Presents!
James 1:17
With the passing of Thanksgiving, we have officially begun the Christmas season.
I do not know how many of you overachievers have already bought your Christmas presents – I doubt very many.
Perhaps some of you picked up some of those can’t miss Black Friday deals.
Some of you, no doubt, will wait until Christmas Eve as stores are beginning to close to rush around and see what you can grab and act like you had it for weeks.
One of the hardest things about Christmas is the wait to open presents.
For me, it is not hard because I want to open presents.
I get excited when I come up with a great gift for someone and I want them to open it NOW!
You can ask Becky – I am always asking her if she wants her presents early.
The better I think I did, the sooner I want them to open it!
Now of course I remember back in “ye olden days” as a child the anticipation was not the giving but the getting.
Mom would wrap presents and put them under the tree just to torture us.
When she wasn’t around, me and Kari would shake and feel the presents to figure out what the good ones were.
Leading up to Christmas we would do our best to convince mom and dad to let us open just one present.
That is why the scouting was so important – you didn’t want to open up clothes if you got to open anything early.
Sometimes she would relent, but not enough to suit me.
Our kids have had the same struggle which I am sure has scarred them for life.
My wife’s family had a tradition that we carried over.
The day before Christmas Eve – known to highly cultured folks as “Christmas Adam” – they would be allowed to open one present.
We have usually done that, then opened presents from each other on Christmas Eve, then Santa – a.k.a. Pawpaw – would have presents for everyone on Christmas morning.
Those presents usually come from whatever helpful elves have their shops open on Christmas Eve.
Now, I am all for tradition and that is basically what we have worked out.
Others are sticklers for not opening a single present until Christmas morning.
I always think of the classic Mickey Mouse cartoon where he and Pluto accidentally chop down the tree that Chip and Dale lived in.
After all the mayhem that ensued as Pluto tried to get those chipmunks, they all make up in the spirit of Christmas.
The final scene has them singing a Christmas carol together.
Pluto begins to howl along, and Chip and Dale put a sticker over his mouth that says, “Do Not Open Until Christmas”.
I wish that worked in real life!
Thinking about the season, the giving of gifts, and the anticipation of opening presents, I remind you of our text:
Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
There is no greater giver of gifts than our God.
He gives to us out of His great love for us.
He gives us more than we could ever deserve.
He gives us what we need and more beyond that.
Matthew Poole wrote on this passage:
whereas men sometimes give good gifts in all evil way, and with an evil mind, God’s giving, as well as gift, is always good; and therefore when we receive any thing of him, we should look not only to the thing itself, but to his bounty and goodness in giving it.
In context, these gifts are received by FAITH:
Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
These gifts are contrasted with the sinful struggles that are born from self.
Jas 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
These gifts are contrasted with the penalty and consequences of sin:
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
You see, our great God knows that we are helpless without Him.
We would have no hope of salvation!
We would have no hope of living an overcoming, victorious Christian life.
Can we save ourselves from the penalty, the power, or the penalty of our sin?
Absolutely not, save the wonderful grace of God.
He has given us gifts to overcome sin.
These have nothing to do with our merit and or our goodness, but they are bestowed upon us by God without favor.
I implore you this morning – do not wait to open these gifts!
They do not say “Do not open till Christmas” – they say “open immediately”
God knows we need them and has provided them to us.
I. Gift of Salvation – Romans 6:23
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is the most important gift and must be opened first.
I recall one Christmas at my grandparents house that I opened a present that had bbs and pellets in it for a bb gun – which I did not have.
I was genuinely puzzled until they told me to open another present, which was a Daisy bb gun, then it all made sense.
Friends – God sent His only begotten Son to reveal His great love for us.
We could not bridge that chasm that separates sinful man from the Holy God, but God could.
Christ came to be the sacrifice for our sins – was crucified, buried, rose again, and ascended back into heaven.
He purchased the gift of salvation – it is not a reward for our good actions.
There is nothing we could do to merit this favor from God.
Christ paid it all and offers it to all.
If you have not received this gift by faith this morning, Christ is offering it to you and calling you to come and receive the greatest gift.
II. Gift of Spirit – Acts 2:38
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
This is the gift of God for every believer today.
The Old Testament saints did not have this like we do.
It was only made possible because of Christ’s victory over sin and death.
There is a lot of confusion today about what this gift of the Spirit looks like.
The loudest voices today about the work of the Spirit are the Pentecostals and Charismatics, who believe the Spirit empowers the Christian into a superhuman like state.
They claim it will make you talk in unknown tongues – which is strange because every case of people speaking in tongues in the New Testament has someone speaking a known language that was unknown to the speaker.
They claim it will make you prophesy or reveal hitherto unknown truths – which is stranger because the New Testament appeals to SCRIPTURE for truth.
They claim it will make you lose control of yourself and make you gyrate around like one of those inflatable men at a car dealership – which is strange because the New Testament teaches the Spirit works to bring order and one of its fruits in Galatians 5:23 is temperance or self-control.
The gift of the Spirit is the counter we have to the power of sin.
The Spirit guides, directs, and convicts.
The Spirit empowers the believer to overcome.
The Spirit magnifies and exalts the work of Christ.
Joh 16:13 …for he shall not speak of himself…
Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me…
Too many Christians today are miserable and defeated because they do not make use of the gift of the Spirit.
Go read John 15 and 16 – let those lessons from Christ soak into your mind and heart.
Strive to be filled and controlled by the Spirit.
III. Gift of Supplication – Philippians 4:6
Php 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Billy Graham said: “Prayer is a gift from God’s hand and He’s given us the privilege of prayer because He loves us and wants our fellowship.”
God does not just save us from sin and He does not simply leave us alone to find our way in the Christian life.
He has given us Scripture to guide us – that is a tremendous gift that I will only mention in passing.
But think about this – The Scripture is God’s will and mind revealed to us.
While it is wonderful that He has tells us about Himself, PRAYER allows us to reveal our heart and mind to Him!
Some will say, “Well, if God knows everything why do we have to tell Him and ask Him anything?”
Simple – it is because prayer is an extension of the relationship between God and man.
It is the difference between listening to a radio and talking on a telephone.\
How sublime is this gift that we have access to God, to bring our cares and burdens, our needs and our desires, and lay them humbly at His feet!
Joseph Scriven described it as well as anyone when he wrote:
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Friends, do not neglect the gift of prayer!
Open it up today and put it to use!
Conclusion
- God never promised us a peaceful life.
- Trials and heartaches will come.
- But He has gifted to us the means whereby we can have peace in the storms of life.
- If you are struggling this morning, take stock of what you have.
- It is my experience and I believe the testimony of Scripture that God often has already provided the solutions to our problems.
- Perhaps you need to root yourself deeper in the Word, perhaps you need to get active in service, perhaps you need to give some burden over to the Lord in prayer – whatever the case may be, I think you will find God’s provision is ready for your need.
- Do not neglect the gift of salvation.
- All other gifts make this life harder to bear.
- The gift of salvation is the only one that grants eternal life.