The Gift of Life

Slideshow for this message is available

Introduction
1 John 4

We are in a series leading up to Christmas entitled, “Unto Us a Life is Given.” There are three meanings packed into that title.

Unto us, a life is given. The life is the little life in the manger.
Unto us, a life is given. The life is Jesus’ life given to us on the cross.
Unto us, a life is given. The life is what we receive as a result of Jesus’ work.

Well today we want to kind of bring these three ideas together in Christmas itself.

For many, when we think of Christmas the first thing that comes to mind is gifts. Now the best gifts are always the ones we really need. And that’s why what Jesus gives us in Christmas is the best gift of all. Because it’s something we really, really need.

Now to illustrate why we need this Christmas gift so badly, let’s imagine a situation in which you are applying for a job for which you have no business applying. Let’s say Lead Test Operations Engineer at SpaceX. And by some fluke, quirk oversight in their process you get the job.

Your first day on the job, your boss says, “Hey before we fire this next rocket can you run some models that demonstrate the relationship between hoop stress and longitudinal stress in a cylindrical pressurized vessel. You know, our last models were incorrect and it caused the entire rocket to explode which of course was multi-million dollar mistake. That’s why we hired you.”

How do you feel? You’re a fraud. You’re a fake. And so you do everything you can to hide your incompetency. You answer in vague terms. You stall so you can do a quick google search: what is hoop stress? You’re anxious because you can’t control when your weakness is going to be exposed.

Now here’s the nightmare of nightmares. Imagine if someone shows up on the job site who has all the experience, connections, degrees, skills, and expertise that you know is necessary to do the job.

And they setup in the desk right next to you. What’s your emotion? Fear. The closer they get to you, the more you are revealed as an imposter. Their competence reveals your incompetence. Their knowledge reveals your ignorance. The smallest, most innocent questions are incredible threats. Your insecurities skyrocket. You feel naked. It’s a terrifying thought. It’s just terror to be found out.

That exactly describes the problem we face with God. When God is far away, we are all okay. If God is just out there somewhere, I can manage well enough. But the closer God gets to us, the more we realize what we ought to be. What is Christmas? Immanuel. God with us. Is that a good thing? His perfection reveals our inadequacies and shortcomings. His adequacy reveals our inadequacy. His power reveals our weakness. His holiness reveals our corruption.

It’s why the shepherds in the field were terrified when the angels announced the birth of Messiah. Suddenly God was here. God was punching his omnipotent fist through the fabric of history and he’s suddenly upon us. It’s terrifying. I’m an imposter. I’m going to be exposed. I’m going to be found out. Every person in the Bible who has an encounter like this with God has the same reaction. They are flat on their faces in abject fear. Moses. Isaiah.

The great problem of the human race is that we cannot coexist with God. When we even get close, we instantaneously recognize our inferiority and our hearts are filled with terror. We melt. We are unclean.

You want to know what Christmas is? It’s solving that problem. It’s making a way for you to be in the presence of God without fear. What’s the first thing that the angels say to the shepherds. “Do not fear. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.” I am making a way for you to be in the presence of God without fear. It’s what Zechariah says in his proclamation, “That we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear.” That’s the great gift of Christmas! It’s the inexpressible GIFT that Paul describes. How is that possible? How does Christmas accomplish this? Let’s take a look.

The passage of Scripture that will be instructing us today is 1 John chapter 4. Here we have the Gift of Christmas distilled into two verses. And we are going to start in verse 9.

John is writing to help people understand what it is that really makes a Christian a Christian. And he begins by saying, being a Christian begins with something God does. Becoming a Christian is something that has its beginning outside of anything we chose to do. Being a Christian begins with God breaking into history and giving us a gift.

The giver here is God and the gift here is his only Son, Jesus. And the gift tells us something about the giver, doesn’t it? The gift reveals something about what is in the mind and heart of God. Christmas is about God sending his only Son into the world that we might stand before God without fear. Now for our outline, we are going to think about the gift giving process.

There’s three stages to every Christmas gift: there’s the moment when the gift is pulled out from under the tree and it’s REVEALED that you are being given a gift and then there’s the moment you open it and then thirdly there’s a decision a point when everyone goes home when you decide if you are going to keep it. Different things are discerned in those different stages. Let’s start with the REVELATION. The Gift Revealed.

When you received a wrapped gift, before you ever open it, intent is communicated. It’s an act of kindness. It’s a gesture of affection.

In giving a gift you reveal an otherwise unknown disposition toward a person. I’ve had several experiences in my life, during the holidays, when all of a sudden out of nowhere, I receive a gift from someone. Out of the blue, I get a wrapped present and a card. I mean wow, I wasn’t expecting that!? Without even opening the present, I appreciate something about them. I sense their disposition toward me.

And in a similar way, when God gives us this Christmas gift we learn something about his disposition toward us. It reveals something about God.

And what does it reveal? That God LOVES us.

Notice what the text says. In THIS, the sending of his Son, the love of God was manifest. We did not know of God’s love in this way and then the love was manifest. It went from being unknown to known. That’s what manifest means. It went from being hidden to being seen. He reveals that he loves us by giving us His Son.

So, when the shepherds see the baby laying in a manger, when the wise men see the child and lay down their gifts, they are sensing the special love of God. God is among us in his Son.

Now I want to camp on that thought. Could we have known that God was loving without him revealing himself to us in this way? Could we deduce that God is loving by, let’s say, merely looking at the known world? The answer is no. It’s actually an emphatic no. You cannot look at the cosmos and deduce that God is loving.

Now you might say, “What do you mean. I can look at the created order and see all sorts of evidences that God is loving. Look at these beautiful tulips. Look at the gorgeous African Safari. Look at a beautiful sunset. These are all expressions of a loving God. Okay that’s one way to interpret the evidence. But is that conclusive evidence?

Just because a being loves beauty does not mean he is good or loving. Hitler loved good art. His headquarters were filled with beautiful paintings. So just because a person chooses to create beautiful things or enjoys beauty does not mean that they are loving.

Additionally, isn’t it the case that the tulips, sunset, and safari are cherry picked examples? Why didn’t you pick the example of the antelope hanging out of the lions mouth? Why didn’t you pick the example of the entire population of fish that died at the bottom of a dried up polluted lake because it was sucked dry by greedy industry? Why didn’t you pick the example of the sex trafficked child who has no defender?

You see the world is full of horrific evil. In fact, the strongest argument against the existence of a loving God is the presence of evil in the world. What do you mean God is loving? What world are you living in?

And maybe you are here today with that exact same objection. If God were loving why would he allow my mom and dad to divorce? If God were loving why would he allow my spouse to mistreat me so badly?

Maybe you have a hunch that God exists (because the created order CERTAINLY evidences that) but you are struggling with the question of the love of God. I see that God is powerful. But is he good? Does he love me?

This is the point of Chirstmas. This gift comes crashing in upon us. In THIS, the LOVE of God was manifest, that God sent his Son into the world. You don’t send your one and only Son to just anyone. There’s the GIFT. There’s something in this gift that EVIDENCES love. That baby in the manger says something.

Now we still haven’t opened that gift. What’s inside? In other words, what is this Son going to do? Let’s open the gift.

When you are handed a gift at Christmas you are certainly thankful and feel loved but there’s still a lot you don’t know. Inside that gift could be $5 gift card to Starbucks or a $500,000 check to pay off your mortgage. That’s a pretty big difference.

We know that we are given the gift of God’s only Son? But what is he here to do? Is he going to do a touch and go? Is he here to give us a one time spiritual stimulus check? What’s his reason for coming to earth?

We know it’s an act of love but love can take on a lot of different forms and exists in vastly different degrees.

What’s the Son here to do? Well the next verse tells us:

So much is made clear here. The wrapping paper is falling off. We are starting to see the essence of the gift.

What is the Son doing? The Son is being sent to be the propitiation for our sins. Now that’s a word that is used only in religious contexts. Let’s break it down. Remember Trent covered this word last week and he gave us some great insights into understanding the word. This is the second time John uses it. Do you remember the definition? What is propitiation?

It’s the turning away of the anger of God by the offering of a gift. It describes the change in disposition of the one who has been offended.

Now, in antiquity the word propitiation was used to describe the way pagans would relate to their gods. They envisioned their gods as moody and unpredictable. They imagined their gods easily angered by small missteps. And when the gods were displeased they would retaliate with volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. And so you had to make some sacrifice to appease them. You know the classic, throw the virgin into the volcano as a propitiation. The idea was that the displeasure was averted because of an appropriate gift. The ANGER was turned to SATISFACTION because of SACRIFICE. That’s what the word propitiation means.

Now when we get to our Bible’s we tend to choke when we see that word. Many modern theologians have reacted against using the term in reference to the God of the Bible. Why? Well because obviously God is not like one of these temperamental moody beings who can be bribed into being favorable. Give him enough candy and he’ll be happy. That’s so offensive. And so when these theologians get to the word PROPITIATION they translate it expiation or atonement or sacrifice. They try to find a word that is stripped of this idea that God is angry.

But the problem is, that’s not the root idea behind the word. We must ask the question. Why is the word propitiation in the Bible? Why is it here in 1 John? Because God IS ANGRY at sinners.

We want so much to win people to Christ (which is a wonderful thing) but we do it the wrong way. We try to hide them from the wrath of God. Why? Because we know that our modern world is embarrassed at this idea. The whole idea that God is angry at sinners is an idea that is seriously on decline in our society. Here’s a graph that represents the decline of the word propitiation in our English literature over time.

You can see that over the last 150 years, our society has grown very uncomfortable with an idea of an angry God that needs appeasing. We have no use for this word as a society. And because of that we don’t tell people what the Bible states clearly. We don’t tell people that every moment they refuse to repent they are heaping up wrath for the day of judgment. That our sin has drawn down the anger of God. People aren’t afraid of God because we are out there telling them that God is a cosmic Mr. Rogers.

Now let’s be sure to paint an accurate picture of what that means that God is angry. We need to be VERY careful not to map the sinful anger of man upon the righteous anger of God. Maybe you have experience with a man in your life who has demonstrated sinful, selfish anger. That’s not God. We are told that God is slow to anger. He is not irrational. He is not out of control or moody as is often the case with us. His anger is the certain, settled opposition of his holy nature against everything that is evil. He has a righteous anger, which means his anger is justified. In other words it’s appropriate and right.

Let me attempt to illustrate. If we switch this into financial terms you will likely understand much more readily. Who recognizes this?

This is what a title looks like for a car in the state of Idaho.

Now when the time comes for you to sell the car, at the bottom there’s this little tear off section called the release of liability. And you’re supposed to fill it out and write a check for $3.50 and mail it in. I mean talk about a pain. Well this summer, I sold one of our old minivans and I threw that little piece of paper on top of my refrigerator and promptly forgot about it.

Well, just this week I got this letter in the mail from a collections agency. It was from Nesmith Towing for $1621.19. Merry Christmas. Apparently what happened was the guy I sold it to never registered it in his name. Immediately after he bought it from me, he dumped the car on the side of the road and the car was towed and then stored for 4 months with interest. And because it was in my name during the time of towing, I get the bill.

Now how do I feel? I’m frustrated. I didn’t do that? Is that fair that I have to pay the fee? I could either buy myself a brand new mountain bike or I could pay the penalty for another man’s infraction. I have to pay the fine because of what someone else did? That’s not fair. Would you say to me, “You have no business being frustrated at that. How dare you feel that way?” No that is a justified feeling.

Now you see, in a similar way, the anger of God is justified. We are talking about something infinitely more serious that a bill. We are talking about a direct assault against the maker of all things. Notice in Psalm 7 how the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God is linked to his ANGER, his indignation.

What the Psalmist is saying is that the ANGER of God is 100 percent justified. In the same way that you would say, it’s not wrong that you feel a little bit of frustration that you have to pay that bill, in the SAME WAY, the Psalmist is saying the INDIGNATION of God toward sinners is a RIGHT response. It’s fitting. It’s actually part of what it means to be a RIGHTEOUS judge. An unrighteous judge would be unmoved. A righteous judge would be angry. It’s appropriate. Now listen to what a righteous judge does. This is scary.

What is the picture here? The picture is the God of the universe pulling back his bow and aiming that fiery shaft directly at the heart of those who do not repent. And then letting it fly.

Now I know this offensive. Of course it is. In our modern age. Many will say, “I could never worship a God like that. I won’t submit to a God who is wrathful toward sinners.” Okay, I don’t mean to be rude, but that is the wrong response. The only thing that matters is this:”Is it true?” If it’s true, we have to deal with it.

Who are we to question the divine assessment of our sin against him? I’m in no place to make that call. Is it right of my 8 year old child to say to me, “Dad you shouldn’t be angry at me,” after he ignores my instructions, backtalks, and then in a fit throws my phone on the ground and crack the screen? Who are we to assess our offense against a holy God?

But forget even that. What about just on a practical level?

**Who in their right mind after learning that gravity is a force that if ignored will indiscriminately pull every man, woman, and child to the ground and destroy them, would then open their mouth and say, “I could never submit to a force like that.** That’s so cruel, so rutheless, so barbaric. I’m jumping off the Grand Canyon.” Go ahead and call gravity barbaric. But if you ignore it, you will die. You see this is among the most important questions any person in this life can answer: Is God angry at me? Who cares what the average person in society says? What is the reality? Is it true? How could anyone say that question doesn’t matter?

If the Bible really is God’s book to mankind, you have no choice but to accept that this is true. It’s everywhere in the Bible. It is true. God is angry at the wicked. And that’s all of us. If we are to preach this book accurately, then God is furious at sin. FURIOUS. And we all ought to be terrified of our condition before a holy God.

That’s why Isaiah quaked. That’s why the shepherds fell on their faces and were sore afraid and smashed their trembling faces into the ground. It’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. When God smashes into history, all of a sudden we are exposed. We are naked. Our evil deeds are laid bare before the eyes of him to who we have to do. And we discover that God is not Mr. Rogers.

Listen to how David describes the God he worships:

Psalm 5

According to Psalm 5, things are not looking good for sinners. God hates the wicked. That’s strong language. Now some will say, “Well, God loves the sinner but hates the sin. But he doesn’t send the sin to hell. How can you separate it?” God is angry every day against the wicked and justly so.

David describes this terrible problem of God’s disposition toward the sinner. Who is he describing here? He’s describing himself. If you know the story of his life, you know he’s been deceptive and spoken lies. He’s been arrogant and proud. He’s committed adultery. He’s murdered. David’s got blood on his hands. He’s describing God’s disposition toward people EXACTLY LIKE HIM.

How should we feel right now? TERRIFIED. But look at the next verse. This is the OT version of the angels saying, “FEAR NOT, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people!”

Now what is Christmas? Christmas is God’s way of allowing us to be in the presence of God without fear. Yes, anger is part of who God is. But it’s not all of who God is. And that is the good news of Christmas. That is the GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY! You see, God’s action is rooted in his character. Because he’s holy, he must do something about sin. Because he’s merciful, he wants to do something about sin. Because he’s powerful, he can do something about it, and he does.

David says, “Because of your LOVE I will enter into your house.” It is THROUGH the abundance of your steadfast love that I will enter your house. As water runs THROUGH a hose to get from one place to another, so I go from this place of FEAR AND DREAD OF GOD to standing in the house of God THROUGH the abundance of your steadfast love.

Does that RING a bell? In THIS is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins. It is THROUGH that great love that we stand before God without fear. God sent his one and only SON to be a wrath averting sacrifice. Do you hear that?

God gave us a gift. He would sacrifice his own son so that we could be his son. Jesus was born to die. Jesus would die a death on a cross to save us from our sins. Unto us a life is given. This is Christmas. This is what Christmas is all about.

The gospel is not that Jesus Christ comes to earth, tells us how to live, and then we live a good life and give that beautiful record to God. And then he sees that record and owes us blessing. That would be wages.

The gospel is Jesus Christ came to earth and lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died so when we believe in him, we are accepted, on the basis of that propitiatory sacrifice.

That’s what the son came to do. That’s what the GIFT is. Now there’s one final stage in the gift giving process…

Now in order for any gift to be realized in your experience, you have to receive it. You could be presented with a gift. You could open it. And then, you could decide, nah, I don’t really like this gift. I’m going to return it to TARGET. If you do that, you never get to experience the blessing of the gift.

Many people hear the message of the gospel, they see that’s it’s being offered to them, they open it up, but then they return it. They never receive it. Why would you ever do that? Why would you return a free gift like that? You want to know what the biggest obstacle is? Pride. It’s the same species of problem that occurs when someone hands you a very nice gift, maybe a gift worth hundreds of dollars, and you open it and then realize that this represents incredible sacrifice and you didn’t even think to buy them a present. You have nothing to give in return. And you resist the gift because you want to balance the books. You don’t want to be in debt to another person. Your pride won’t let you simply receive. So you quickly go out and buy an expensive gift to give in return. Why? Because you want to somehow atone for the debt yourself. You want to be no man’s debtor.

But with Christ it cannot work this way. Why? Because we have no resources by which to save ourselves. The only way to enter into the kingdom of heaven is to receive a gift of infinite value we did not earn and could never repay.

Here’s the problem in a nutshell. Without the imputed righteousness of Christ, all we have to offer is filthy rags. If the Lord should mark iniquity who could stand? My only hope is the righteousness of God. This is not an abstact theological doctrine. This is a matter of life and death.

Let’s go back to my towed car. Imagine if instead of just my car being towed and a 1600 bill, there was actually a dead body in there. A murder had taken place. And somebody is going to have to pay for that. Someone is going to have to atone. Justice demands that this crime must be linked to some person who is then going to have to give their life to atone for it.

You want to know what the cross is? You want to know the point of that baby in the manger? Even though I committed the murder. Even though I am the sinner. Even though I committed the crime, the record of debt is not in my name. Christ is responsible for it, not me. Christ says, all that responsibility is transferred to me. Legally, it’s mine to take care of. Legally I am responsible. I’ll absorb it. I’ll own it. I’ll pay for it. This is what Christmas is all about.

Do you realize that this is what Christ did for you?

Colossians 2

Guys, our sins have been forgiven! You want to know what the word preaching means? It means to proclaim. Remember Paul Revere. He rides into the city and he proclaims that the British Forces are coming. That’s preaching. There’s great danger, but if we react quickly and do these things, we can be saved.

That’s what we are doing right now. We are proclaiming a reality. Yes there’s tremendous danger. That’s why the apostle Paul said, “Knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men.” There’s tremendous danger but if you respond appropriately, there is a way to live in the presence of God without fear, with joy. Remember when Zechariah’s mouth is loosed:

Luke 1

But what Christianity, what the gospel of Christmas proclaims is that the God of heaven has done something outside of you in history that’s completely changed the relationship of every human being to God, and now this moment of decision is upon you.

The Christmas gift is here. Will you receive the gift?

How do you receive it? There is something you have to do. Many people will preach a gospel that says, “God loves you unconditionally.” Now it is true that God’s arrow of initiating love is toward us before we did anything good or bad. It is true that the offer is unconditional.

But don’t think that means there’s nothing you have to do.

God has a special love for the redeemed. And let me assure you that love is very conditional. That salvific love of God is not available for everyone unconditionally.

John 3

The Bible says if you want to be saved, if you want that wrath averting sacrifice of Jesus to be applied to you then you need to repent and believe. In other words you need to turn away from what is currently your Lord, you need to believe what he’s done for you, and you need to surrender you life to him and follow Jesus Christ as your king.

And you want to know the experience? JOY. Joy to the world, the Lord has come! Why? Because our sins have been forgiven!

Romans 4

Blessed are those who’s sin have been forgiven. Listen, if you want to hear more about this, there will be people up front here who would love to talk to you. If you have responded to the message today, the next step for you is to be baptized. And we are going to have a baptism service in February and so we’d love to celebrate that with you.

I know with the holiday’s upon us there’s a lot of activity, but come back Christmas Eve for our services, then there’s Christmas Day, then it’s Sunday again. Come back the day after Christmas and we will be introducing our church theme for 2022.