Sermon Title: Christmas is For Giving
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
I like receiving Christmas presents. I especially like receiving presents from Nancy, my wife, because she seems to get me exactly what I need, though I don’t always realize it. For example, one year she got me a new extra large coffee mug because I was complaining how small our coffee cups were. Now that’s something I would have never thought about getting for myself, but Nancy knew that it was something I would use and appreciate.
God’s gifts are like that. We may not know exactly what we need from God, but He always gives to us we really need from Him. In fact, we often don’t even know what to pray for. Romans 8:26 tells us, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” Our God knows us better than we know ourselves – He gives us what we need, when we need it.
Christmas reminds us of this. It tells us that God had a plan to save humanity and that plan worked through the affairs of humans through the centuries and eventually through the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Christmas also reminds us that God not only knows us, but He also loved us so much that He gave His only Son to become human, so that through His perfect life and death we could have the forgiveness of our sins and a relationship with God the Father. This is the greatest gift we could be provided and offered. This coming Sunday we will talk about receiving this gift as we continue the sermon series, “Good Times.” Hope to see you then!
