Nov. 27 2016 - Advent - We Experience the Full Wealth of Christ when we Give of Ourselves

Today is the beginning of Advent - It is going to be a little more low-key this year – so I will be doing a more practical look at Christmas. Every year I go through my notes and I feel like I can’t find anything new! We’ll look at how to celebrate Christmas well.
When we think of Advent – we light the candles and pray and mention what each candle represents – there are a few variations on that but we’ll go with one of the primary ones. This is the beginning of the church calendar. This is not a big huge thing for us – but it has been used throughout history. So we look forward to the birth of Christ – and it is about preparing ourselves – to learn to live as Christ lived. We started talking about this a number of weeks ago when we started Mark. When Jesus came – most don’t realize this – but the universe changed. There was this subtle but dramatic change in all the universe. God became Man and entered the world – and His heavenly kingdom now had a base – an outpost in the universe. When Jesus was baptized, the heavens were torn open – permanently.
Mark tells us that this opening remains to this day – so there is not a universe and a heaven – but it comes together.
This may sound sacrilegious – but bear with me here: It is kind of like the trailer of a movie – you will see scenes – only a small part of what you will see eventually. But it IS what you will see eventually! That is what happened when Jesus came to earth – a permanent trailer for what is coming. We are experiencing a portion of heaven now – but only a tiny portion. It is not an issue of getting into heaven after you die – but getting into heaven before you die! Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is at hand – and we look forward to a deeper experience of that someday.
Psalm 33:20 – we wait in hope for the Lord – He is our help and shield.
As we await the coming of our savior – and prepare for the celebration of Christmas – we ask that You would give us hope in a time where there seem to be very little hope – a lot of fear. Thank You for giving us your Son Jesus who has redeemed us and brought us back into relationship with You.
Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
How to maintain the spirit of giving – not only at Christmastime, but always. At Christmastime, we give presents and charities do their best. They do.
God set the example of what it means to give. He gave His son. That is what true giving looks like. He gave the most valuable thing He had – that which was most precious to Him He gave to us.
John 3:16 – you know – the cards they hold up at football games – that is an advent verse! A Christmas verse.
Luke 2:1010 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
God could have just come as a man. But for some reason, He chose to be born. He chose to place Himself in a completely helpless position – an infant – and to place Himself in the care of His creation – the care of His mother and father – and completely dependent on God. A savior had to be born – could not be created – could not be made. No person could save humanity. Only God.
Today – there is no hope for a person to save the world. The only savior of the world is God –and He saved the world through His son.
Paul has several descriptions of Christmas:
2 Cor. 8: 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
He who was rich – He who had everything – Bill Gates is well below the poverty line in comparison to the wealth of God – and Jesus gave it all up – became poor – and it begins for us by knowing that grace. God didn’t just zap us into salvation. He didn’t do magic to make it happen. He came – to become poor and suffered – so that He might bring us in. He gave up everything so that you could become part of his family
It is important that we know God in that way. Jesus, who was rich – gave up everything for you – so that you could become part of His family and become rich. This does not mean you will become financially rich – that may never happen – but spiritually rich. Everyone without Christ is in spiritual poverty – destitute. But when we come to Christ we become spiritually wealthy with true riches.
When we think of possessions – we think about consuming – but when we have heavenly riches – we experience them by following Jesus example of giving our riches to others. Ti is when we give – when we give our lives to others – in so many ways that we can – it is only at that point that we experience the full wealth of what Christ has done for us.
With that as a foundation – I am going to give some principles on giving.
Acts 20:35 In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Helping the weak and needy is not an option – but an imperative – it is not a suggestion! We tend to think of this as a suggestion. We tend to think of all the Bible as a suggestion! Maybe I’ll do this one or that one – but this one is a command with a promise. There is a blessing that comes with giving – not just that it feels good – the blessing is much more than that. It is a spiritual blessing for us to give.
In reality – what He is saying here – people who only receive can never experience the good life. The commercials say that the good life is about getting their products.
He is saying – no, the good life comes as you give. As you share.
What he says here – remember. What he means – keep in mind – at all times – keep this in mind – this is how you should think – here is how you should think when you think about money and possessions – it is more blessed to give than receive. Keep that in mind.
Paul gives an example of what this means – one of these things does not belong:
2 Cor. 8:1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
Extreme poverty and generosity don’t usually go together.
3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much urging for the favor [a]of participation in the [b]support of the [c]saints,
It is impossible to live this way unless you believe it is more blessed to give than receive.
This is Paul’s example to the church.
Verse 5 is the most important –
5 and this, not as we had [d]expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.
That is so important – this is not just about money or helping people with food – although there was a famine going on – people not eating – this desperate need – and desperate needs call for desperate measures – but he makes it clear – this is not just about providing food or money – but about us first giving to the Lord. There are several ways we do this.
All other giving will fade away if we don’t first give ourselves to the Lord. Give ourselves to the Lord in relationship to Him.
As you celebrate advent – I urge you to set aside some time for the Lord – read your Bible and pray. Daily. That means every day – give some time to the Lord at some point in your day. What you are doing in that time is not simply reading your Bible or saying your prayers – but trying to come to know His love for us so that we might know how to love Him in return.
Thomas Aquinas – love is born of an earnest consideration of the object loved and love follows knowledge.
Love is an emotional response aroused in the will by the vision of the good. Contrary to what is often said, love is not blind. It cannot exist without some vision of the beloved. When you look at them – you see beauty – and seeing that beauty causes you to love.
We love God when we see His beauty. When we see and come to know and understand His love for us. We need to learn how to…bring God adequately before the mind and spirit – in such a way that the love for and light in God will be established as the pervasive orientation of the self.
We need to live in such a way as to bring to mind that God is all good and loving.
Psalmist says – His mercies are over all His works. In everything – God is merciful and compassionate. To that extent – we will love God and others.
We give ourselves to the Lord by giving ourselves to others. This begins by connecting – with family – it is natural to do that with families – but it needs to go beyond that. It doesn’t stop there. If it truly us giving to others – it must go to strangers. It could be someone you don’t know at work. Or someone in the neighborhood who is new. Or someone who is strange – to you.
It might mean giving time – and it means giving ourselves – and requires giving up some things we like. We need to love people well – not the way we need to be loved – but the way they need to be loved.
You’ve heard of the five love languages. I like to serve – I love by serving – and that is my love language. My wife’s language is words. They should not have put that one in there. My tendency is to serve – she wants words of affirmation. Ugh! That is the worst! Who does that kind of stuff? Obviously I need to learn. She tells me regularly – That is what it means to love well – the way they need to be loved. We do need to serve – that is important.
I am going to Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
We need to learn to give expecting nothing in return. Their world was even more rigid – you don’t give unless you KNOW they can give back. Give to those who are unable to give back to us.
Proverbs 11:25 The generous man will be prosperous, And he who waters will himself be watered.
Psalm 112:5 It is well with the man who is gracious and lends; He will maintain his cause in judgment.
There is nothing we can give that He doesn’t already have. God still gave. And we need to learn to give just because it benefits us. We tend to be so focused on ourselves – but our focus needs to be first on God and then others.