Summary 

The title 'Son of David' attributed to Jesus carries profound theological and historical significance. It signifies the fulfillment of God's promise to David, as stated in 2 Samuel 7, where God assures David that his throne will be established forever. This promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, who is both the Son of David and the eternal King. However, we live in a period of 'already but not yet,' where God's kingdom has been inaugurated but not fully realized. This teaches us to trust in God's timing and faithfulness, even when His promises seem distant. David's life, marked by both triumphs and failures, serves as a vivid example of the human experience blessed by God. When the New Testament refers to Jesus as the Son of David, it highlights the rich, vibrant, and sometimes messy journey of faith. We are encouraged to trust in God's promises and embrace our unique journeys, knowing that God's faithfulness endures. sus.

Transcript

Lets pray. Lord, thank you for the gift of song and for the gift of your word, for these things that lift up our hearts to you. Lord, we pray that as we contemplate a little gift, a little bit, the gift that you are for us, that we would desire you more than honey or the roasts around the Christmas table, or find you as more desirable than gold or silver or much refined gold or whatever toy we're hoping might be unwrapped in the morning. God, that you would be the object of our desire and our greatest delight. The gift of your life for us would shape us into those who are gift givers.Lord, move in us in this time as we pray. Amen.

Okay, so when I was a little child, I think around the ages of 8 to 12, mid age child, I guess I'm now just middle age, that's like a mid age child. Someone had the bright idea of putting VHS tapes in our stockings. Maybe this was Buddy the Elf, maybe it was somebody closer to home.

Tomorrow will be the first day of my parents 48 years of marriage where they are going to be waking up with nobody else in their house. The first couple years before they had my older brother, they spent with their parents. But when I was growing up, well, I actually still have six siblings and so I have no idea how my parents did Christmas. It's like, you know, how does Kevin's parents have that huge house and send everybody to Paris? We're all scratching our heads at that, right?
I don't know how my parents did Christmas because I know for the most part they stayed up most of the night and they were just hoping that we might sleep in a little while, maybe make it a little while so they could get some rest. And so somebody had this brilliant idea of putting VHS tapes in our stockings, which for you who are younger than me, that's like a movie that you put into something and you press the button and it showed you a movie. It was like this amazing invention, right? Anyway, there was one year that I distinctly remember waking up at 2:30am and waking up my older brother and my younger sister. And we kind of made our way down the stairs of our house and we watched multiple movies.
I think one of them was the man from Snowy River. And I think it was the same year that my parents had the generosity of giving me a bullwhip. If you know that movie, you know how appropriate that gift is. Anyway, my parents were thoughtful in their gifts. They were timely in that gift.
It was much needed and I think it was rather extravagant. Given that there were seven of us children, let me tell you a little bit of a different thing. So a friend shared a video with me last week, and I honestly, quite honestly, thought, I've got to figure out how to share this on Christmas Eve. So you're hearing it, you're hearing about it. So this video is a news anchor interviewing this man.


His name is Josh Blumenthal. And he. He's been doing this thing for, he says, a number of years. And he has a problem with people coming up to the front porch of his house. He lives in Salt Lake City and taking packages off of his front porch.


I know people in our neighborhood here have some of those problems. And so he has now given away 113 boxes from his front porch. And he said he has number 114 already prepared. And often he actually has all these videoed because, like so many people do, they have video cameras that you can watch on your phone now of your front porch. And so here's what happens.
These people come up in their cars and they jump out and they run up to the front porch and they grab the package and then they run back to their cars, and then they drive off. And it's been driving Josh a little bit nuts. And so he thought these thieves needed a thoughtful, timely, and maybe a little bit of an extravagant gift. And so he takes boxes, and he takes his cat litter box and he opens up the boxes and he just, as he does this motion, dumps them all in litter, pee, poo, all of it. And he boxes it back up and he tapes it and he puts a label on and he puts it on the front porch.


He's given away 113 of these.
As he says, I just pick it up and dump it all in. He says, I also have a dog and I just have fun with it. I have to pick it up and put it in the garbage anyways. Might as well put it in a box and have some fun with it. I've had multiple people repeats that come and look at the package and weigh it and look at the label.


If it doesn't have a label, they'll put it down. One guy actually opened it up while I was watching it live on my phone.
And I watched, he opened it up, he stuck his hand in and it was like.
And I spoke through the camera, I'm going to call the cops. And the guy said, do it. I'm going to tell them you're mailing crap. I'm not mailing it. It's just there.


Gifts, timely, needed Thoughtful extravagance.
We all know that gifts really can be something that adds to the chaos, that distracts us from entering into actually the story of what God has done right at Christmas. We all know that's true. God actually coming into this world. God, the one who created all things, actually becoming part of his very creation. One of us in this world, with us and for us.
And the wonder of that really can be absolutely clouded by the obsession of what we might get, right, what we might give. That's all true. But we all also know just the power of a gift well given.


Let's admit it, Christians can make for good Scrooges. You know, bah, humbugging around town, wagging our fingers. Because even though I think a lot of us know that X is actually the way you would abbreviate Christ in Greek, we better keep that Christ in Christmas. We can make good Scrooges. But Scrooge's miserly ways in Dickens, A Christmas Carol is transformed because he is given life.


And what does he do when he is given the gift of life? But he becomes a gift giver, generous to the poor, you know, sending a meal to the Cratchit family. The gift of life changes him into a gift giver. We all know the power of a gift well given.


I returned an awful lot of sweaters and shirts from my aunts growing up. I think they knew that I did that because they always included the receipt in the gift box. But they didn't know me too well, even though I think they truly loved me. But we didn't live nearby necessarily, didn't spend an awful lot of time with them. But how good is it really to receive a gift when it just seems, just for you, the person gave it to you and you thought you saw me.
You saw what I love, you saw what I need, and you gave of your means on some level to give me joy. I mean, a gift well given is a real delight, something that's really thoughtful and timely, right for where you are in life, Right, kids, you want toys this year, not sweaters. I'd take a sweater. You would? All right, take note.


Frances will take a sweater or two this year. It is actually freezing outside and sometimes in here.


But these are real treats, right? To be seen, to be known, and to have someone meet that knowledge and that need with a great gift. One of my favorite songs around Christmas is the song the Friendly Beasts. Maybe you know it. It was written in France around the 12th century, was actually known as the Song of the Donkey for A long time.
But it tells about how the animals give of themselves and what they have and actually their own ability to meet the needs there of Mary and Joseph and Jesus, right? The donkey, Shaggy, carries them to Bethlehem. The cow, white and red, gives his manger for Jesus bed. The sheep with curly horn gives his wool for a blanket warm the doves from rafters high, coo him to sleep. They give of who they are and what they have and their being and their ability to care for the holy family.


They're gifts given in love, gifts that see and care and are generous. Which I think is why actually, if. If you know Johnny Cash's masterful album, his Christmas songs, which I think has gone to the wayside a bit because it's not peppy enough for a lot of Christmas, but it's so good you ought to listen to it. But he titles that song not the Friendly Beasts but the Gifts They Gave, highlighting this fact that they are giving of themselves to care for the holy family. Now, the Christmas story has a couple of gift giving episodes.


That's, of course, the origin of the Christian practice of gift giving I mentioned earlier, but we didn't hear it in the Luke passage.
But the Magi come, right? And we oftentimes read that text actually around Epiphany, which is, you know, the 12th day of Christmas. But the story of the Magi is this remarkable story that has to do with gift giving. These Magi come from the east, from a. From a different nation they come.


And it's told about in Matthew chapter two, and it tells us this, that when they come and they see Mary, Joseph and the baby, they fall down and they worship. And I mentioned how that word fall down. And actually worship is very similar in the Greek there. And Matthew's doing a lot in this story. He's telling us of sort of the universal nature of what Christ is doing.


It's not just for one kind of people, it's for all people. And all people are actually called to fall down and worship this true God that became man. And part of that's an invitation for you this morning, wherever you are, to come and fall down and worship Jesus. But it's also telling us to worship Jesus. Actually, it's really interesting in the Greek too, it says they fall down and worship him.
You don't need to always put that him there. It could be implied, but it actually uses the word him as a way of saying, you know, they're not falling down and worshiping Joseph, they're not falling down and worshiping Mary. They're not, you know, falling down and worshiping the mysterious and miraculous stars that drew them to Jesus. They're worshiping Jesus, this humble child born in the manger.


But then, very interestingly, Matthew emphasizes, and he doesn't just sort of mention that they gave things, but he really emphasizes that they brought gifts. This is what Matthew chapter 2, verse 11 says then, opening their treasures, they offered gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Something that probably you've heard, you know, year in, year out, as you've gathered together in churches like this on this day. But here's what you have to consider. Matthew could have just said they fell down and worshiped and they gave offerings to him.


They fell down and worshiped and they gave him a gift. They fell down and worshiped, and they had with them gold, frankincense and myrrh that they left with Jesus. Right? There's other ways that Matthew could have told that, but Matthew sort of goes to pains in that little bit to emphasize it. They open their  treasures, for they gave them these gifts. Oh, let me tell you exactly what gifts they are, because they are extravagant gifts, very costly gifts, gifts that would have demanded a great deal of them to, to acquire. You know, they're laying down before Jesus this great gift of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Matthew's trying to draw us into this fact that these people are falling down, worshiping, giving a themselves. And when people are drawn to and find and fall down in worship, one of the things that we find is that they are always bringing to him, offering to him, giving to him their finest, their first fruits, their gifts.


Gift giving to our Lord, offering ourselves to him, bringing our offerings to him is a. It's a necessary and it's always connected to the idea that we've truly received what God has given to us in Jesus. It's the Scrooge shift. He's been given life and he's got to give. So there's another detail that hints at gift giving, and it's more related to this idea that God himself is the great gift giver.
And our gift giving is simply a reflection and an outworking of that. And we heard that actually in the text that Jay read for us from Luke chapter two. So the shepherds are out in the fields, right, keeping watch over their flock at night. And the angels come upon them and they say to them, fear not. Which of course, they were full of fear, because that would be scary.


But they say, fear not. For behold, I bring you good News of great joy that will be for all people. And then it says, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who's Christ the Lord. And the heavenly hosts sing glory to God in the highest and on peace and on earth peace among those with whom he's pleased. And you know the story, you heard it.
The shepherds make their way to Bethlehem. They find Mary and Joseph and the baby. And. And then it says that they made known the saying. They made known the things that had happened to them.
And then there's a real kind of interesting thing that happens in the details that are after that. So they make known what had happened with the angels coming and declaring that in this one, peace on earth be brought. And it says that many just wondered at these things. And I mean, I wonder. I'm kind of questioning, maybe that's what some of you are doing.


You're just wondering, what is this God in the flesh Jesus thing? What are we doing at Christmas? You're just wondering. You haven't really received it as God's gift to you, but you're kind of questioning. You're considering, you're wondering.


But then it also says, but Mary treasured it up in her heart. What a word. Mary treasured it. Which is to say Mary received it as gift. She said, wow, for me, for us, God, the Savior of the world, who will bring peace on earth for me.
The great, great gift. I mean, Mary received the gift. She received the gift of God for her. She treasured these things. God so loves the world that he gave. And Mary said, I'll take that. I'll treasure that. She received the gift of God. Thoughtful beyond measure, timely. We read later in Galatians, it was when the fullness of time had come that God sent his son.


Born of a woman. It's needed is to be called Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. It's utterly extravagant. The whole host of heaven seem they need to come down and say, do you understand what's happened? Let me sing it for you.Glory to God in highest. For he's done these things.


Friends, I know that all of the lights that we place around trees help us enter into the festive season. They can sometimes shine brighter for us than the light of Christ. We know that we can get so into sort of the fanfare of things that we miss Jesus. I know that wrapped gifts have the potential to become our focus and our obsession. Shaking it.
Is it. More Legos, please.


But they can also do something totally different, right? The lights can be that thing that shines and guides us to the one who shines in the darkness. And the darkness doesn't overcome it. The gift can be received as just a picture of the gift of God himself. It's to be treasured over all other things.


Gift of God for you. If there's ever a reason to stay up late wrapping or to get up early to celebrate, it is to remember what we are remembering right now, in this very hour. God has given Himself for us. He is the great gift giver. And because he has done so, you have life.
And that changes everything. It's Scrooge, right? Going, what? You've given me life. I don't have to die.


It too can be a reflection of the great gift giving God, offering what I have to the blessing of others, to the joy of the world. I want to encourage you. Enter into the lights and the unwrapping and the joy. Don't be the curmudgeonly Christian. God has given Himself for you and he invites you to live in the joy and the glad tidings of his gift of his life.
Amen. Amen. Let me pray. Lord, would we be in awe these days, this season of thanksgiving and joy? Certainly by the beauty of things like our sanctuary being lit with candles, the wonderful lyrics of the hymns we sing, the joy of singing them together. Would we be in awe of this? But God, would you use all of these in this sacred kind of sacramental way of drawing us into a greater sense of you, who you are, what you've done, the gift of God for the people of God, God so loving this world that he gives God in this time. Would we be like Mary, treasuring all these things up, being in worshipful wonder of God for us?
Hear this prayer. Receive our worship. Amen.

Previous Page