Recovering Christmas Week 1
Tom Shrader opens the Recovering Christmas Advent series by challenging the congregation to spend less on consumer gifts and redirect those funds toward tangible needs, including wells, a physical therapy center, and earthquake relief in Morocco. Drawing from John 4, Romans 6, Acts 2, 2 Timothy 1, and Ecclesiastes 3, he outlines five gifts God has given to followers of Christ: living water, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and the capacity for contentment. He closes by calling believers to respond to these gifts with gratitude and generosity, both in their giving to others and in their posture toward life.
“God has given you much, you're a giver — time, energy, effort, money. You're Christ-like. That's what it's like.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Christmas
Recorded: 2008 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 50 min
Themes: generosity, christmas, contentment, giving, advent, gratitude, living water, consumerism, feeling materialistic, struggling with contentment, parent, young adult, new believer, navigating finances, family during holidays, small group member
Scripture: John 4:7-14, Romans 6:23, John 10:10, Acts 2:37-38, 2 Timothy 1:6, Ecclesiastes 3:11-13, Philippians 4:11, 1 Corinthians 16, 2 Corinthians 9:25, Romans 11
Theological Themes: pneumatology, holy spirit, soteriology, eternal life, spiritual gifts, sanctification, grace of god, incarnation
Full Transcript
Introduction: Rethinking Christmas
We want to capitalize on that thought. We are going to do something we have never done before at this church — take these four weeks leading up to Christmas and really have an Advent season. We got together as a team. In that room would have been Tyler and Tim and Neil and myself, and we began to think about what it is we wanted to do.
We became more and more convinced that we wanted to respond to what I can remember, really almost all of my adult life, being a criticism: it seems like Christmas has become too commercial. It seems like every year I get the same thing, and then people email me these pithy little stories and articles, which is terrific. But we thought, rather than just lament the commercialism attached to Christmas this year, we would challenge you to do something about it — and obviously ourselves at the same time. We want to challenge you to do something about it as individuals, maybe as a small group, maybe as a family, and then us as a church.
The Advent Conspiracy
In our process of thinking this thing through, one of the things we were exposed to is this Advent Conspiracy, and that lit up our minds with a whole bunch of possibilities. That video has two major points to it, and I want to emphasize them.
The first point is: let's spend less on gifts. It does not say don't give gifts, but it says perhaps think in a bit of a different paradigm when it comes to gift giving. Rather than just buy a shirt and say, "Here's a shirt," and then the person has to move a thousand shirts out of the way to make room for it, why not do something — and I love this — like what you did when you were a kid? Make a card. Give a picture. Rather than give somebody a gift card to go eat, you go with them to eat. You develop relationship. You take them to a game.
I am not being critical at all, but going to a professional sporting event is just really expensive. Take a friend to a high school basketball game for three dollars. Rather than give them tickets to the Phoenix Open, go and spend the day with them. And maybe if you really want to cut back, meet them at the commons and have coffee — or, if you are less godly, at a Starbucks. You get the point. It is not about whether to give gifts; it is about giving gifts of a different kind, much more relational. Things that mean a lot more to the person on the other end, and it will only deepen the relationship.
My assumption would be that if I am giving a gift to somebody, it is because I have some relationship with them — although we will see there are exceptions to that in a minute. Giving in a more relational way is only going to deepen that connection.
Giving What You Save
Now, with the money that you save, let's do something with it. Let's give it in a different place — and that is the second part of this. We want to help you in this. You may have your own causes; fight for them, go get them, that is great. But between Ponte Vita and Angel Tree, coupled with the monthly work we do with M25, there is a tangible way for you to impact your community in a significant and meaningful way.
Here is what we have decided to add as a special twist for us. We are going to challenge you to be creative about this. You start today — whether it is as an individual, a small group, a bunch of friends, or your family. Start to set aside that money. Start to figure out now what you were going to spend. If you were going to spend forty dollars on a sweater and instead you spend five dollars on a cup of coffee, we are going to ask you to take that thirty-five dollars, save it, and bring it all in here on Christmas Eve.
So you do not think this is self-serving, none of it is going to stay with us. We have looked at our approach to world ministries, and here is what we discovered: the world is really big and there are a whole bunch of needs out there. What we have decided as a church — and that does not mean it is for everybody, but it is for us — is that we are going to focus on one geographic location. The principal effort, the majority of our time, energy, and money in world ministries, is going to be targeted at Morocco. That is where we already have an impact. We already have a crew there, people who are on the ground and positioned to go.
Morocco: Three Areas of Impact
All of the money that you give on Christmas Eve is going right to Morocco in one of three ways.
First, there are literally wells that need to be dug. We do not know exactly how they figure all of it out, but if those statistics are true — and we know the one is — we will spend about $450 billion on Christmas. That is an amazing number. To think that $10 billion wipes out or solves the clean drinking water problem for the entire world is an amazing thought. If we as a country had tithed off what we gave at Christmas, we would have $45 billion right there.
Second, the funds will go toward a physical therapy center. This is not just theory — a man came up after the first service, almost in tears. He said, "I want to stand up and shout amen." He said, "I am a physical therapist who has been over there twice, and this is a tangible way to have an impact on the people there."
Third, there is an area in Morocco that was devastated by earthquakes, and there are homes that need to be rebuilt.
Recovering the Heart of Christmas
To be rebuilt — and that's part of what we're doing as well. The Muslim population by and large does not do outreach, does not meet needs in that way. And we come in, and God is doing an amazing thing in Morocco through the people who are there and living as Jesus would have them live. You can be part of that. The majority of us are not going to Morocco, but you can have an impact there.
So I want you to be processing that. We are going to keep that video, or ones like it, in front of you for all four of these Sundays and Christmas Eve as well. So join with us. I meet a lot of people, and I can be Bah Humbug — and that's just the way it is. But I think rather than one more year of whining about it, you can do something about it. So we are inviting you to join with us, to at least get that mindset. Even if you think, "I don't want to do Morocco, I'm going to do something else" — perfect. But do something.
A Resource for the Season
Now, against that backdrop, we are going to take these four weeks leading up to Christmas Eve and focus our minds on the coming of Christ. Brenda just found a wonderful little book that would be a perfect tool for you to use individually, as a family, or as a small group leading up to Christmas. The title is *Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus*. Nancy Gunthery has gathered together 22 authors, and the longest chapter in here, I think, is seven pages — so virtually anybody could do this, reading just a chapter a night.
Let me give you just some flavor of the authors included: George Whitefield, Martin Luther, John Piper, Tim Keller, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, St. Augustine, J.I. Packer, John Calvin, Alistair Begg, Randy Alcorn, John MacArthur, Francis Schaeffer, J.C. Ryle, James Montgomery Boyce, R.C. Sproul, Ken Hughes, and Joni Eareckson Tada. That is a pretty good list — I did not see my name in there anywhere, but it is a very impressive list. This is a wonderful tool, and one of the things that so often happens is we want to do something meaningful in a season like this and we just need the right tools. This is a great one. They are available over in the commons — go pick one up. And when I say pick it up, I mean buy it.
Where We Are Headed
If you have Bibles with you, we are going to end up in the Gospel of John, chapter four, so you can turn there now. If you do not have a Bible, there is a pew Bible in front of you. If you are over in the conference center, there are people walking around with Bibles. The Gospel of John is in the back third of that book — page 73 in the pew Bible.
As we talk about Christmas and what Jesus did as part of God's plan — not just for redeeming His people, but for demonstrating His love for us — we come to that great truth: "For God so loved the world." Here is the evidence of it: He gave His only begotten Son. That is what we want to drive toward in these four weeks. We will talk about the events surrounding the birth of Christ, especially in the next two weeks. On the twenty-first, the Sunday right before Christmas Eve, we are going to look not at the Grinch who stole Christmas, but at how Satan actually had a plan — detailed in the book of Revelation — to stop Christmas, to steal it entirely. And then on Christmas Eve, we will look at that birth event specifically. So this is going to be a great time as we, as a church, as families, as individuals and small groups, turn our attention again to what this season is really about. Be creative as you approach it.
The Gift-Giving Dilemma
What I want to do as I launch this series today is talk about something that is as much a part of Christmas as the birth of Christ itself — and you got a hint of it in that video — and that is this whole idea of gifts and gift-giving. Let me just say this upfront, because not all of you are as discerning as others: periodically I can be cynical. It is not a regular event, but periodically I can drift into it, and this time of year tends to pull that cynicism right to the surface for me. So I am going to guard against that.
Here is how I know Christmas has arrived: the minute you see the first ad for an electric razor. You do not see them all year long — apparently nobody needs to shave until right after Halloween — and then they start advertising electric razors. That launches the Christmas season for me. And with it come all these gifts, and with the gifts come a whole set of decisions that are surprisingly hard to make. Decisions like: What do I get? For whom? And here is the big one — how much do I spend?
Because in essence, this is not really gift-giving, is it? It is gift-trading. If you are going to spend twenty-five dollars on me, my reputation demands I do not spend fifteen on you — but I am not going to spend fifty either. So I have to anticipate not just who is going to get me something, but how much you will be spending. This becomes a very difficult issue. Now I want to pause here, because I do not want to rob —
The Spirit of Christmas
My daughter Sarah loves Christmas. She would put up the Christmas tree on the 4th of July if they would let her. And I will admit, I have a fondness for Christmas myself. One of the vehicles that God uses a lot for me is the music. When I hear Amy Grant sing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," I love it. Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Paul McCartney's "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time" — I love all of that.
And then the absolute guarantee for me is Karen Carpenter — anything she sings. I asked some women the other day who their favorite female singer was. They were so busy answering the question themselves that they neglected to ask me what I thought. But that's all right, and they were stumped for an answer — because clearly Karen Carpenter would be at the top of that list, especially at Christmas.
I love the memories associated with Christmas. I love the foods, the smells. My mother every year would make oyster stew, and to the best of my recollection, no one ever took a bite. You would start with a bowl, and then when she wasn't looking, somehow you gathered it up and threw it in the sink. No one liked it. But her mother had made it, and her mother's mother had made it. We were delivered in our family from the bondage of that oyster stew — that tradition will die with my mother.
But it's the smell. It's the candle. It's the things that make me think of my grandmother at Christmas. And this gets back to the larger point: almost never is it related to a thing, a gift. It's a moment. It's a fragrance. It's a song. It's a memory.
Seven Reasons We Give Gifts
I've been thinking about this, and it's something we actually put together almost twenty years ago. I went back and dug it up again, thought about it, added to it, and changed it a little. I came up with seven reasons that we might give gifts.
The first is out of duty. It's expected of you, it's demanded, it's almost a requirement — so you give out of duty. The second is to appease or satisfy an enemy, either to win them over positively or at least bring them to neutral. They're angry at you, so you give them something and hope everything will be fine.
The third reason is to obligate somebody — like the Godfather. "Maybe someday you can do a favor for me." You're putting them in your debt. The fourth, and this is a subtle difference, is to influence a decision. When I was back in Iowa selling paper products and chemicals, we would at Christmas go to the buyers at these corporations and give them gifts. We would say we weren't looking for anything in return. But I noticed that once a buyer left that position — though they continued to be a perfectly nice person — I never gave them anything again. So there may have been a connection there I was unaware of.
The fifth reason is to honor a person — someone special whose significance you want to mark. That is close to the sixth reason, which is to mark an event: a birthday, a graduation, a wedding. You give a gift to acknowledge that something meaningful has happened.
Giving to Meet a Need
Now think for a moment about another reason to give a gift. How about this: because there is a need. In the sixteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth telling them to take up a collection and get the money ready. Why? Because there is a need, and he doesn't want to deal with the hassle of organizing it when he arrives. Getting that money together because there is a need is a genuinely important thing.
So whether it is Ponte Vita, or Angel Tree, or something in Morocco, there are legitimate needs around you. And part of what you and I can do is use our time, energy, effort, and money to meet those legitimate needs. You are going to feel a challenge here — if you miss it, then I am a poor communicator, because the challenge should be clear.
I was talking to a guy the other day at his church, and they had just started a program to feed hungry people. The whole point of their approach was to feed people a meal and then present the gospel to them. Now I am all for the gospel — put me down for it, yes. But here is the thing: our primary reason for feeding people who are hungry is because they are hungry. That alone speaks volumes, and it will even initiate a conversation.
A New Way of Leading
One of the things that has happened here — and it is a subtle thing I have talked about before, including on Anniversary Sunday — is something you have all been a recipient of, even if you are unaware of it. About a year ago, after spending roughly a year trying to figure out how to transition my role, I arrived not at finding someone to replace me, but at coming to a new way of leading the church — one driven more by a team than by a single person.
There are four of us who serve on a leadership team: Tyler, Tim, Neil, and myself. As a result, this church is so much better off now than it was a year ago. A team, when its members can get along with one another, brings a whole different kind of strength — and the four of us get along well.
The Gift of God
I want to take a turn here and ask a question that seems a little unusual — not what gifts you are going to give, but what gifts have you received?
Just a couple of minutes ago at communion time, whoever was leading probably said something like this: there are two groups of people in the room right now — those who know Christ, whom we invite to join us in communion, and those who don't, who either have no idea what we are talking about or who do know and reject it. And then we would say we don't do this to isolate you; we do this to drive home the point that God calls those of us who know Christ to celebrate communion. I want to continue that thought here.
I want to talk to those of you who took communion. If you didn't, I want you to listen closely, because these are the gifts that are available to you if you will come in repentance and faith. To those of you who are followers of Christ, there are at least five gifts — and there are probably more; you can find them and email them to me, and I will just build this list for later on.
Gift One: The Gift of God Himself
The first gift is found in John chapter 4. John chapter 4 is the story, at the beginning of that chapter, of the woman at the well. She is a Samaritan woman.
John chapter 4, verse 7 — page 73. Jesus says, "Will you give me a drink?" Then in verse 9, the woman said, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman?" — for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. We talked about this a bit last week.
And Jesus responded — listen to this, this is perfect for the day — "Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God...'" There it is. Circle it, underline it, put a box around it: *if you knew the gift of God.* He is talking about Himself.
She goes on to say she would love to have this living water because she is tired of coming to that well every day. Jesus tells her He will give her water she will never thirst from again — she will be thirsty no more. She is thinking in physical terms, but He is speaking of something far greater.
Getting Out of Yourself
Before we go further, I want to say something I said in the first hour, and nobody complained, so let me say it again here. Most of us — me too, but if I say "me" we lose the effect — most of us really need to meet people with problems. Not to minimize your problems, but so much of what we carry is simply part of life, and there are ways we have to cope and deal with it — I understand all of that. But one of the ways through it is to get out of yourself.
For those of you who have a funk at Christmas, I will tell you how to get out of it: just think about somebody other than you. We do not have to go through another season of whining about the commercialism of Christmas. If you are still complaining about it at the end of this Christmas, it is because you decided not to play — you decided not to get involved. There is a concrete way to do something, and it does not have to be through us. We are just trying to make it as easy as possible, but you need to be doing something.
God Stories: Making the Invisible God Visible
Here is what the staff was talking about the other day. There is a small group that has in their neighborhood a family who are not Christians but have a huge need. The small group has started to meet those needs, and here is what has happened: every person they serve says the same thing. Every time, without fail, that person says, "I don't know why you're doing this for us — you don't even know us." And to their amazement, every member of that small group has answered the same way: "I know Christ. I love Christ. We are called to come and to learn and to serve, and this is our expression of that." That leads you right into the gospel.
Do you see that? They were not going in with a plan to share the gospel in a formal sense, but they are making the invisible God visible. And because of that, they have a chance to speak the truth boldly. You give gifts because there is legitimate, real hurt and pain around you. That is why we are calling you this year to think of something bigger than yourself.
Tuesday morning staff meetings have become a significant time in my spiritual life because of moments like this. Tim runs the staff meeting now, and the majority of it every Tuesday morning consists of two components: God stories and prayer. The God stories are amazing. One of the challenges I have given to our media team and to Tim is to ask how we get those stories in front of you, because this stuff is happening all around you — and you are part of it, even when you are unaware of it. These are huge things that would absolutely transform your life.
One of the things I have learned from all of this is straightforward: if you are cycling down into the Christmas blues, one of the most helpful things — and I know there is a lot to unpack here — is simply to begin to see other people.
The Deeper Need We Keep Trying to Fill
Jesus is saying that you can't satisfy your deepest need with a person, place, or thing. That is human nature, but you have a deeper need — a crucial need. You were designed to commune with the Creator God of the universe, and no person, place, or thing is going to satisfy that. But you keep trying to cram other stuff in there. He says, "I've got the gift of God that will satisfy that need for your whole life."
The Second Gift: Eternal Life
The second gift is found in the book of Romans. Turn to the right, to Romans chapter 6 — it's page 122 in the pew Bible. Paul has built this amazing case, an indictment against mankind separated from God, and shown how God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Romans chapter 6, verse 23 serves as a kind of summary: "For the wages of sin is death" — and here is our phrase — "but the gift of God is eternal life." Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly."
Let me read that to you again. We looked at it last week — it's John chapter 10, verse 10. Jesus says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I come that you might have life and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd." He contrasts the Good Shepherd with the hired hand. The thief in that passage is not Satan — the thief is religion. The thief is the false shepherd. Jesus comes so that you can have life.
Even in the midst of hurt and pain, God is at work. At the Thanksgiving Eve service, it was story after story of people saying God has done incredible things in their lives — through their families, their neighbors, their small groups, area ministries, the church. Not to glorify Valley Bible Church, but simply to say this is how God works. And He has done that through hurt and pain.
I am more and more convinced that when we talk about God causing or allowing pain, pain and suffering are a major part of how God takes us, crafts us, molds us, and shapes us into the people He wants us to be. Those are the tools He uses. It lines up with my experience, and it lines up with empirical data we have read recently — that our moments of greatest spiritual growth come in those difficult times.
This is what eternal life looks like. God takes this world, this life, these experiences, these difficult times — times we may want to push away entirely, which is completely understandable — and says, "No, it is through those that I am going to work in your life in a significant way." That is eternal life, and it is not just about heaven.
When we think of eternal life, my fear is that we reduce it to simply dying and being with Jesus. My birthday was this week, and I got an email from someone doing the typical routine — the numbers are adding up, you're getting older, but it's better than the alternative. I emailed back and said, "Come on, pray. Every day, the alternative becomes more and more appealing to me." I do not for a second think that the alternative to physical life is worse than this. This is as close to hell as I am ever going to be — and so are you, if you know Christ.
Eternal life does not start when you die physically. Whoever believes has eternal life now. There is a way in which this life itself is enriched — you begin to experience and see life differently, see people differently, see circumstances differently. That is the gift of God.
The Third Gift: The Holy Spirit
The third gift is found in the book of Acts. Turn to the left, to Acts chapter 2, page 93 in the pew Bible. Peter has delivered this amazing sermon. Acts chapter 2, verse 37: "When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'What should we do?' Peter said, 'Repent and believe — each one of you — be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin, and you will receive'" — there it is — "'the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
Those of us who know Christ have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. That is why Jesus could say to His disciples — and it is an amazing statement — "It is to your benefit that I go away." I cannot imagine anything being better than Jesus being physically present, but He said, "No, no, no — it is to your benefit that I go away, because another Helper is coming." The word "another," by the way, means identical — not one like Him, but identical, the same substance. It is God the Holy Spirit who comes. "I will not leave you as orphans," He said.
The Holy Spirit's Work in You
The Holy Spirit of God indwells you and me and is at work in our lives. He seals us for the day of redemption. He guarantees that the work God started in our life, He will continue it. He convicts us of our sin. That is why, as a follower of Christ, when you sin, though there are moments of exhilaration in it, by and large it is a downer — that is God convicting you.
He also becomes your guide. I have offered this answer more and more recently. I will sit and talk to somebody and they will say, "I am trying to figure out X," and my answer has become more and more like this: go with your gut. Now, I am not talking about moral issues — the Bible is clear on those and you know what they are, you can list them. But as you are trying to unpack life, feel things through, think them through, and make decisions about where to live, where to work, what to do, you have the Spirit of God in you.
God speaks to you through His Word. God speaks to you through other people. God speaks to you in your gut, in your spirit. There is something in you that says, "I just think this is the right thing to do." It is okay to say, "I am going to do what I want to do," because I am open enough to think that God has put that want in you. As a follower of Christ, He has changed your wanter — you are no longer just wanting what you would humanly want, driven by human instincts and the way the world thinks. All of a sudden you are thinking in a different way, and it is okay to go with that gut.
Kindling the Gift of God
The fourth thing is found in 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 6. By the way, as I hear the pages shuffling — and I love that sound — many of you seem to think it is less spiritual to use Bible tabs. It is okay to buy tabs and put them in your Bible. Some of you think, "I don't want a tab, that's cheating." I have got them all over mine, and they are incredibly helpful. Tab that Bible up. There is nothing embarrassing about that.
Paul is writing to Timothy and he says this: "For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of hands." We do not want to get hung up on the laying on of hands, but the point is that you have received a gift of God — one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God has provided you a gift. It is a special enablement to perform a function in the body of Christ with ease and efficiency.
This is incredible: it is something you would want to do and be good at. I had a guy who was in one of our studies about twenty years ago. He would just assume responsibility for the room — he would get there early, set it up, get everything going. He called me one day and said he would like to get together for lunch. In the old days I would never ask why, but now I do, because so often I am not the person someone wants to talk to. So we sit down, we order, and he said he wanted help figuring out what his spiritual gift was.
I had been thinking about it on the drive over and I had a clear answer, because I had watched him get to the service. I told him he had the gift of service. He said he did not have the gift of service. I said he did. He said he did not. I took him through exactly how he set up the room every week, and he still insisted he did not have the gift of service. Finally I asked him why he was so sure, and he said, "It can't be that, because I enjoy it so much."
A Good Pooped
That exchange reveals our mindset: we think that doing something for God is going to be awful, that we will regret it, that it will be a burden — but we will do it anyway because it is for Jesus. That is not how it works. There are things He allows you to do so that at the end of them, though you are pooped, it is a good pooped. Tonight, for example, I did not get much sleep, but I will get a little nap, get something to eat, and come back. When I get home at eight o'clock I will be pooped — but it will be a very satisfying pooped. If you told me I had to go do filing or accounting, I would be drained and hate every minute of it. That is the difference.
It is a special enablement, and it can apply to anything. You can be out there directing traffic, filling communion cups — if you have the gift of service, you need to get out and use it. We have needs here and you need to serve here as well. For us to have this many mature Christians in a room, the numbers do not balance out well. You may be out there directing traffic when it is 110 degrees, sweaty and smelly, but at the end of it there is something deeply satisfying in it — because God has gifted you for exactly that.
Contentment as a Gift from God
There is a gratification to that, so that you find yourself constantly saying to people, "I could never do what you do." And they say, "Well, I could never do what you do." That is because God has gifted us differently.
I want to give you one more of these and then tie this together. We are going to go to the Old Testament, to the front two-thirds of that book. If you have a pew Bible, it will say page 478 — the book of Ecclesiastes. We were there in a study not terribly long ago. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 begins with something that Solomon wrote about time: a time to give birth, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to grow, and so on. Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 11: "He has made everything appropriate in its time." Verse 12: "I know there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime. Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor, it is a gift of God."
God has given us the ability to be content, to be satisfied. The world will not let you do that, and I understand that. There is a certain discontent that I think I should have — but that discontent is that I should want more and more of Christ, not more and more of stuff. Paul says it this way in Philippians chapter 4, verse 11: "I have learned to be content." That is an incredible phrase, because it tells me contentment is not a natural response. A natural response is to want more and more and more.
I understand there is tension here, and I feel it every time I talk about it. It is not a call to be apathetic. It is not a call to be mediocre. But it is a call to accept some level of satisfaction in life — in my circumstances, in my giftedness.
Accepting That Most of Us Are Average
I got off on this the other day during a study, and I think it is really important. Most of us are simply average. I am so tired of this quest to be the best. You are not going to be. You cannot be. Seven billion people cannot all be the best. It is like Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, where every child is a gifted child. By definition, most of us have to be average. Just accept it. It was designed that way.
I do not even need to finish the line — all I have to do is set it up. Michael Jordan and I were born, and then you fill in the blank. We are not equal in every way, and athletics brings this out clearly. After the Super Bowl, the losing team says, "We really believed we could do it. We really believed in ourselves." I am so tired of that. Just be the best you that you can be, and then be satisfied with whatever that is.
I am never going to have the musical talent that Aaron, or Matthew, or Tim, or any of the Maughan family has. I said this morning, half joking — am I ever going to go to a worship service that a Maughan is not leading? Between all the boys and Tim, there is so much giftedness there, and I admire it deeply. But I am never going to do what they do. I cannot. I can work and work and work, and I am never going to be naturally organized. I am never going to have everything in its place. I am never going to change my own oil. If one more person tells me it is really easy to do, I am going to say, "Perfect — come over around ten and you can change it yourself." Just be who you are, and then be satisfied.
That contentment touches every area of life. It means being content if you are single, being content with the spouse God has given you, being content with the children God has given you — and it goes on and on. That is a gift, because the world cannot do that. The world wants more and more and more. And even when people in the world deny themselves, they are proud of their denial — they feel good about it for its own sake, not because it points to something bigger than themselves.
Responding to God's Gifts: Gratitude and Generosity
Now, with a totally inappropriate balance of time remaining, here is the question: how do you respond to all of this? If you have been exposed to the reality that you have been given these gifts, how do you respond? Two things — gratitude and generosity.
My grandson Braden is just learning and growing right now. He has been potty trained recently, and Skittles were a big part of that process. I went to the bathroom during an Iowa game and came out, and he wanted to know what happened, because you either get three or five Skittles depending on the occasion. So when I give him something — a piece of pizza, a book, a ball, whatever it is — one of his parents is right there. They say to him, "What do you say when somebody gives you something?" And he says, "Thank you." It does not carry a lot of weight just yet, but he is learning — and that is exactly where we are headed.
Responding with Gratitude
What do you say when you have been given the gift of Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of eternal life, the gifts of the Spirit for special enabling, and a gift to enjoy life — none of which you deserve? You say thank you. Paul illustrates this perfectly. Writing along through all the doctrine of Romans 11, he reaches the end and simply breaks out in doxology. He cannot contain himself: "To God be the glory, forever and ever and ever, amen." All of a sudden your whole life becomes an act of worship — the whole process of saying thank you, not to pay Him back, not to manipulate Him, but simply acknowledging what you have been given.
Second Corinthians 9:15 captures it well: "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift." That word — indescribable — says everything.
Responding with Generosity
The second response is generosity. Freely you have received, freely you give. You ought to be a giving person — with your time, energy, effort, and money. That is what it looks like to be Christlike. You look for opportunities to become a blessing to the people around you, because God has given you much and you are a giver.
When we talk about gifts, it is almost always easier to give someone a gift certificate than to take them to dinner. But giving your time is what matters most. That is what your kids want and need from you. Far more than needing a $150 sneaker, they need you there to tie the shoe. It means way more to be present and available.
There are people in my life I would call friends, and on my birthday I received three text messages from them. Those three text messages meant far more to me than another shirt or a sleeve of golf balls — though, to be honest, golf balls are always welcome. But the point stands: presence and personal investment matter more than stuff.
Generosity in Difficult Times
Recently I was with a group of pastor types, and the conversation was the same one everyone is having right now: what is the economic situation going to do to giving? I will say this, and I am probably wrong to say it boastfully, but we are right on budget. Do you know what that is a testimony to? It is a testimony to God transforming lives and people understanding this principle.
Times may well get tough. If your income has dropped, the size of the gift may change — but the posture of giving does not. And if things have gone to zero financially, you still have time, energy, and effort to give. That is how you respond.
This is not about manipulating God. You are not giving to Him so it comes back a hundredfold, pressed down and shaken together. He is not an ATM. He is God. And He may give you back something far more valuable than money — a sense of impact, the knowledge that He used you as the vehicle to change someone's destination. That is worth far more than any gift certificate.
Rethinking Christmas
So what are the gifts you have received? We have listed them. And how do you respond? With gratitude and generosity. For the next month, you are going to hear us say it: really rethink Christmas. Rather than whining and complaining, as we do every year, about the commercialism of Christmas, we are at least going to eradicate it in our own lives. We invite you to join us on that journey.
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*Father, help us see these amazing truths. God, thank You for so much that You have given us — the gifts we highlighted today, and the simple things, like this book with its twenty-two reminders and tools to prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus' arrival. Help us not to keep Him in the manger, but to celebrate Him on the cross and in an empty tomb. God, thank You for loving us. Thank You for the gifts You have given us. Thank You that in a world that is chronically dissatisfied, we can be content. We pray to You in Christ's name. Amen.*