Word of Salvation – Vol.04 No.49 – December 1958
Gift Of God To Us
Christmas Sermon by Rev. G. Van Groningen on Luke 1:31-33
Liturgy:
1) Call to silent prayer
2) Call to worship and salutation
3) Sing 346:1-3
4) Apostles Creed
5) Sing 348:1,4,5
6) Scripture reading: Luke 1:26-35; 2:1-20
7) Prayer
8) Offering
9) Sing 351:1-3
10) Text Luke 1:31-33
11) Sermon
12) Prayer
13) Sing 343:1-5
` 14) Benediction
Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Hark! what mean those holy voices,
sweetly sounding through the skies?
Lo! the ‘angelic host rejoices,
heavenly hallelujahs rose.
Listen to the wondrous story
which they chant in hymns of joy:
Glory in the highest, glory!
Glory be to God most high!
Peace on earth, good-will from heaven,
reaching far as man is found
Souls redeemed, and sins forgiven;
loud our golden harps shall sound.
Christ is born, the great Anointed;
heaven and earth His praises sing;
O receive whom God appointed
for your prophet, priest, and king.
Hasten, mortals, to adore Him;
learn His name, and taste His joy;
Till in heaven ye sing before Him,
glory be to God most high!
What means these heavenly voices?
What means all this rejoicing?
Why the chanting hymns of joy?
Why this: Christ is born –
the great anointed
He who was by God appointed.
Yes indeed!
The Father did give His promised gift to us. This Christmas day we will meditate on the:
GIFT OF GOD TO US
Two truths we will deal with:
The Personal Content of God’s Gift:
The Redeeming Purpose of God’s Gift.
This gift we received from God is a unique one: a very unusual kind of a gift. In the month of December we are all gift-minded to a certain extent. Our thoughts then are on material things. Six year old Johnny thinks of trucks, sixteen year old Henk of a bicycle. Mother quite likely dreams of a beautiful electric frypan and of that new shirt she hopes to give to father. And when gift opening time arrived the questions were excitedly asked, “What is in it? What is it?”
At such a gift buying and receiving time we seldom ask, “Who is in it? Who is it?” We don’t think in terms of a person when we think of gifts. Who would give a person as a gift? Why, who could even do that? And yet, in December, specifically at Christmas time, we think of a person given us as the greatest and most wonderful gift of all. For God gave us a Person His own son Jesus Christ.
Yes, this gift is a person. That is quite evident. Mary was told she was to conceive and give birth to this gift of God to us. Things are not born; they are manufactured, creatures, people, persons are born. And Mary did conceive: Mary did give birth to a child; thus Isaiah’s prophecy (9:6) was fulfilled: Unto us the Son was given.
We should realize that this gift of God was just an ordinary person; He was not exceptional as a human being. He was not born in rich surroundings, in high estate, but as a commoner, as an everyday person”. Had he been born amidst earthly splendour, attended with unheard of pomp and ceremony, it is quite unlikely that He would have been considered the poor ordinary human person that He really was.
Yes, God’s gift to us is just a plain human being. Born of mother Mary in fear; preluded by doubt on the part of Joseph; brought forth in a stall as any poor wayfarer might have her child born. And when this child grew up, no one doubted that He was “just a boy”. All saw Him as such; knew Him as such. He was called the carpenter’s son, the son of a fellow woman, a brother of regular men.
This person is truly our brother in the flesh; one with us. He can really stand with us and in our place. Thank God! We have a human Jesus Christ given us. Now more must be said. This ordinary person was at the same time a very unusual person. None was, or ever shall be, like Him. So God’s gift to us is indeed a very special gift. A few indications of His uniqueness will be enough.
This child brings favour to His mother.
“Grace to you,” Mary; special favour from God. All the special events surrounding His wayfarer’s birth point to His unique ness. God sent heaven’s highest and most important messenger to announce His birth to both Joseph and Mary. Then when He was born, first one angel (most likely Gabriel again) announced it to the shepherds, and then the hosts of angels sang, verifying the announcement.
More important yet, as proof of this gift child’s uniqueness, is His conception. This is a great miracle indeed. Scoffers laugh and ridicule; but Joseph was most serious, he was deeply troubled. Was his sweetheart untrue to him? Joseph was reassured by God that Mary was most virtuous. That baby she was to give birth to was “fathered” by God Himself. The Holy Spirit had enshrouded Mary as a mountain top is by a low hanging cloud. God Himself in a miraculous, powerful, wonderfully wise way, caused this gift to come to us as an ordinary child.
A unique child this gift of God is – none is like Him. He brings special favour to His mother, announced by angels, conceived by the Holy Spirit and note this also: He had been promised for so long. To Eve, to Abraham, to Judah, to David had the promises come. Now on Christmas day we commemorate the keeping of the Covenant promises of God that a child was to be born. How do we explain this uniqueness of Jesus Christ in view of His being such an ordinary human person? The answer is: He was fully and completely God. God’s gift to us is the Personal God!
God gave us Himself as a special gift to us! God the Son, who was God, veiled Himself under and in our full human nature. He took the likeness of man, the form of a servant, yet He remained Almighty God.
The lowly Jesus is Almighty God. That is why the angel said to Mary, “He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest God.” The angel did not say lowly Jesus was to grow out of lowliness to highness; rather, in His lowliness men shall see indeed that He is the Great One, they shall be faced with this fact, “This gift child is indeed the Son of God.”
ABSOLUTELY GREAT… this gift is. Mighty John the Baptist, whose birth also was foretold by the angels, whose father became dumb for a time because of unbelief, this important John does not deserve to kneel before this gift child and touch His sandal straps.
Great! Magnificent! Unbelievably wonderful is God’s gift to us. A PERSON! A man child! A man! He has the form of a servant lowly, so ordinary! Yet He has the bearing, the power, the authority of a king, yes, of the King of heaven and earth.
This gift is the Divine Person. God gave Himself to us! God gave his BELOVED SON to us!
Well indeed it is that we voice our adoration and thanks to God for such an unusual gift.
Love divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling;
All Thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.
Notice we sing: ‘visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart.
And that rightly so, for the Father and Son loved us so that Jesus came to save us May it be true then the words of the song:
‘ I love to tell the story
which angelic voices tell
How once the King of glory
came down on earth to dwell,
I am both weak and sinful,
but this I surely know:
The Lord came down to save me,
because He loved me so!
This love gift from God redeems me! This gift is not something for me to play with; to enjoy; to have as an ornament or only as a help in time of need or when I wish to use it. This gift is my Redeemer! He is my Saviour, Lord and King.
This gift child redeems me? Buys me back? Delivers me from sin? Satan? Hell?
Yes! Indeed!
His name is proof – His name is JESUS SAVIOUR. Yes that name Jesus does mean Saviour. And to have that name means He does just what His name means. He saves. This name Jesus has always meant Saviour. Moses’ successor, who led Israel from the wilderness into the Promised Land, who made real the external land contract attached to the eternal covenant promise, was named Hoshea, the Old Testament name for Jesus. Hoshea, Joshua, Jesus – all one name – all mean: ‘Jehovah saves’.
Mary has no choice; no alternative. There is only one name she can give to this child. Likewise with Joseph who took the noble part of legal father, protector, provider of this child. God had informed him also – that child must be named Jesus. And Joseph and Mary did just that. They had no choice. For this gift child is to save His people (that is, to those to whom He is given and who were first of all given to Him) to save them from their SIN.
Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna in the temple and you and I today must get this thought well fixed in our minds. God’s gift – the Person – comes to save, and He cannot SAVE unless He SERVES. He comes to work; to slave, to do His utmost on behalf of others who are in such dire need of it.
Mary… Joseph… – call Him Jesus. John, Betty, father, mother, “call Him Jesus.” He is given to serve you. He came to serve us by stepping in our place having become sin for us, and lifting us from the pit of sin and lifting from us the punishment of hell. He is fully able to do this for He is just an ordinary man – as we are – yet He is fully and completely God.
But – what a wonder. How unexplainable from our human point of view. The great one, God the highest Himself, stoops down to the lowliest of humble circumstances to thus be able to serve you and me. The wonder of God’s grace is beyond our explanation. The love of God is indeed immeasurable.
Christmas is today; call that gift of God, “Jesus”. Joseph and Mary did on His birthday. And the remainder of the day, and for the remainder of our lives, let us by all means remember to call God’s gift ‘Jesus’. And – never, never forget what that name means. Forget that name and you forget the love of God. Forget to call God’s gift to us Jesus: Saviour, servant, and you cast aside the joy and peace that God intends for those to whom the gift is given.
“Call Him Jesus” for He shall save His people from their sins. “Call Him saving servant”. You have to. You must. You need to be saved. You can’t help yourself. You need the full service of God. “Call Him Jesus” – He saves you, me, us – from ourselves – from sin – from Satan – from hell.
God gave His gift to us to redeem us. Jesus means Saviour – thus we know He saves. But Redeem means more than to save and serve; it also means to bring back into the possession of God. God gave us His gift then to buy us back to God. In other words, Jesus came to serve and to rule us.
That Jesus came to rule is clearly evident from what Mary was told before Jesus was ever conceived. “He shall be given His promised throne, the throne of David, and He shall reign forever.”
This is the Father’s will. Thus He planned it. So He decreed. The throne of father David was to continue forever; the Father in love for us sent His loved Son as a gift to us, thus fulfilling His promise to brother David and all our Old Testament fellow believers. Thus salvation comes. Thus we become the rightful possession of God Himself.
But – on this Christmas day are you ready to claim this Personal gift as a Master? Many men and women, boys and girls are prepared to call God’s gift “Jesus” Saviour, but to call Him “LORD, MASTER, KING OF MY LIFE”, well, that is quite another matter. That involves surrender and submission. That means men must follow Him, obey Him, keep His Covenant, carry out His will.
But, dear friend, you cannot call Him Jesus and ignore God’s gift as your King – the master of your life. For He is given to serve, thus saving you – and – saving you He brings you back into the fold where all saved ones willingly serve their Saviour King. “Call Him JESUS.” “Call Him King.” Do it today but not just for today.
This gift of God to us is the eternal King. There will be no end to His kingdom. Once under His rule always under His rule. There will never be another to serve you and for you to serve.
– – – –
Have you consciously considered this gift of God? Are you happy with it? Many people are commemorating the GIVING, few in comparison are actually happy in receiving the gift of God as a Person who saves persons so that He may indeed rule them?
Consider again the announcement as it came to Mary. It prepared her for the first birthday of the child to be born, the Son to be given by God to and for sinners. It contains the whole Christmas story – all of the blessings – and all the requirements for us. Outstanding in this however is the demonstration of God’s love who gave His gift to us.
May we never tire of hearing about it – of telling about it!
How wonderful the story:
He who shared His Father’s throne
In the highest glory,
Came for sinners to atone!
How wonderful the story:
Peace on earth, goodwill to men,
Unto God be glory;
God with man restored again!
God with us forevermore,
This our consolation,
Though the storms around us roar,
He is our salvation.
Saints redeemed, your carols swell,
Giving God the glory,
This is our Emmanuel;
Wonderful the story!
Amen
