Wrapping Up Christmastide (Luke 2:1-18)

Advent Week 5

For those who have known me for a long time, I am well known for my famous "Christmas light" sermon that I share often. This post is not that message, instead, as we gather to Celebrate the birth of Christ I felt that it was right that I talk to you about Christmas “wrappings.” There is much that is said about God's gift to us, especially at Christmas and I would like to take a little bit different approach and consider the Great Gift in light of how God has wrapped it up for us.

As we begin, perhaps we should think back to some of the best gifts we have unwrapped at Christmas. What are some of your favorite presents? What are some of your favorite gift-wrap jobs? Have any stood out? I can think of several. Do you have any family traditions regarding the wrapping of presents? Do you save the paper or shred it and throw it away? My family did both. One year would be a “saver" year and the other would be a "shred" year after the paper was worn out. The “saver” years were tough because we had to share THE Knife.

Today we will consider God's great gift of Salvation and its benefits and how it came metaphorically wrapped in four special but often overlooked packages. It is through these simple Christmas wrappings that we may see His gift to us in a fresh way.

I)    A Bag—For Our Sins (Job 14:17)

"My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity."

Job uses the image of a bag to convey the thoroughness of God’s containing and removing Job’s iniquity. In our culture, a bag may not inspire confidence because some bags easily tear and break, while others are tough. If we are to capture the meaning of Job’s imagery, we might say that our sin is…

A) Sealed up in a Hefty Cinch Sack, not a wimpy Dollar Store bag

"You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes." (Haggai 1:6).

The wimpy bag with holes in the Book of Haggai represents our own self-efforts at meeting our needs before obeying God; of trying to earn our own salvation and putting ourselves first instead of trusting the Lord. If we were to think of our sin as radioactive waste we would want it sealed up in a lead-lined container and covered forever and so it is.

B) Removed Far from Us.

"He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him." (Psalm 103:10-13)

I have always been comforted by the choice of east and west instead of north and south. You can get to the north and to the south, but east and west are relative with you never able to get there. Our sins are removed so that we can never get to them again, nor can they get to us.

C) Buried in The Sea

"Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:18-19).

This image is symbolic of complete purification. That which was cast into the depths of the sea was irrecoverable. Today with our deep-water submersibles, sonar, and scanning technology perhaps this metaphor loses some of its power, but the promise doesn’t. Perhaps our metaphor might be sending our sin out into the irretrievable depths of space and collapsing into a black hole. The point is that it is not coming back. What a gift!

D) Forgiveness Is Complete and Thorough Upon Confession.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

This gracious forgiveness and this cleansing mean that we can stop carrying our sins and the sins of our family around with us (e.g., We don't need to keep reminding them of their failures.) That baggage we used to carry around with us—the baggage that kept us from getting close to God and others—has been lifted from our shoulders and in its place, has come the gift of grace. What a joy it brings!

As we consider the gifts we place under the tree, it is customary to label them so that they get to the right person and so that they know who it is from. Do you remember checking all the packages to see which ones were yours? Do you still do that? God’s gift wrapping comes with a label as well. The “from” part of the tag is the same as my Mom’s classic handmade card she likes to include with a gift that says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love… (Jer. 31:3b).” But what about the “to” part of the tag? God has that covered with the second wrapping…

II)   A Book—For Our Name and For Our Days (Phil. 4:3)

The scriptures speak about God writing our name in a book, specifically the Book of Life. The Apostle Paul speaks of his fellow workers in the gospel as those "whose names are in the Book of Life. (Phil. 4:3)" What book could I use to illustrate this for us this morning? I remember the large book my family used as a booster seat 50 years ago—the LA County Phone Book—but phone books have passed from the scene. I don’t own the stereotypical family Bible with everyone’s names written in it. The best that I can do is this large Strong’s Concordance. It holds every word in the scriptures linked to the original Hebrew or Greek words. Nothing is left out, and if the internet shuts down tomorrow I can still use it to study God’s Word. It may not be as fast as BibleGateway.com but I don’t need Wi-Fi to use it. Why does God use the imagery of writing our names in a book? In ancient times, the only things recorded in books were those things considered very important. God was, in essence, saying, “I have made your name important and precious enough that I will write it permanently in my book of life!”

A) It is an Assurance of Life Everlasting (Rev. 3:5).

"He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."  (Revelation 3:5)

Our name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life as a sign that we have been adopted into God's family. Writing names in the big family Bible might have indicated that one was part of the family. The difference is that Jesus’ book in heaven is permanent. He paid the price for us—once and for all (Heb. 10:10).

B)   It is an Assurance of God's Care Over Every Aspect of Our Life Here on Earth (Psalm 139:16).

"Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

    And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

    When as yet there were none of them."

God saw us from before we were even conceived. He knows all our days, the end from the beginning. This life and the next have been written for us according to his wisdom and love—though we may not understand either as we should.

While a book is a fairly safe place to keep something, our earthly books can be damaged, lost, or even eaten. But the thing about this book, the one with our names in it, is that it is safely kept in heaven.

C)   It is an Assurance That the Records Won't Be Lost (Luke 10:20).

"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

This verse that speaks of our names being written in heaven uses the Greek perfect tense (a completed action with continuing effects.) that points us toward the permanent nature of this writing. It helps us to focus on the realities that will last. The rights of citizenship in Heaven are given to us in this book!

Some other verses to consider: Revelation 13:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27

When we give a gift we give it for the good of the recipient, upon considering their needs and desires. Our gift should show our care to them. God’s gift shows his compassionate care for us.

III) A Bottle—For Our Tears. (Psalm 56:8)

"You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?" (Psalm 56:8)

This Christmas is the 51^st Anniversary of the Charlie Brown Christmas TV special. It is a very low-tech production by today’s standards but it has stood the test of time. I was recently reading an article about the Charlie Brown Special by Stephen Woodworth, and he pointed out how discouraged Charlie Brown was...

The dialogue is melancholy bordering on depressing. The opening lines find Charlie Brown lamenting, “I think there must be something wrong with me… I don’t feel the way I am supposed to feel … I know nobody likes me.” “I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus.” And then there’s the cringe-worthy attack, “Boy, are you stupid, Charlie Brown.”

    And its truth is not merely found in the fact that Christmas can bring about a period of depression for many, but also in the fact that too often our commonly shared expectations about family, joy, and community fail to come to fruition at this time of year. Charlie Brown’s Christmas is a sincere Christmas that refuses to hide behind glazed hams, perfectly trimmed trees, or the plastic smiles on a greeting card. It is an honest Christmas that speaks to the reason why the very first Christmas was so utterly necessary. 

Perhaps you are a bit like Charlie Brown this year. You may be lonely, discouraged, or feeling disconnected from others. Maybe this year was hard because of the loss of someone you loved dearly, the loss of a job, the loss of your home, or a serious decline in health. In any case, God knows your tears and has “saved them in a bottle”. What is the point of his capturing our tears? I can think of at least three important things it reveals about who he is. It points to the fact that…

A)   God Knows And Remembers Our Every Sorrow (Psalm 56:8-11)

"All day they twist my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather together, They hide, they mark my steps, When they lie in wait for my life. Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God! You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me. In God (I will praise His word), In the LORD (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

He remembers our sorrows and our pain so we don’t have to. I can let go, even of my deepest pain and grief for he will not forget it, nor fail to make it right. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary adds that “The record and the collection of tears serve as an assurance to the psalmist that the Lord will vindicate him. He rests his case with the assurance that the Lord will hear and respond in justice.”

B)   Jesus Is Himself a Man of Sorrows and Well-Acquainted with Grief (Isaiah 53:3,4).

"He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:3,4)

This passage means that he understands suffering, having experienced it himself in his humanity.

C)   He Heals the Brokenhearted (Psalm 147:3-5).

"He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite." (Psalm 147:3-5)

Advent teaches us to wait in hope. In our family, when we give Christmas presents, it is important that as far as possible, the present is a surprise. That means there is no such thing as peeking—in fact, to peek would be to spoil the present. But on Christmas morning, at just the right time, we open our packages. Similarly, Galatians 4:4-5 says,

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

I have noticed that the gifts that are most appreciated are those that indicate a costly, sacrificial love — that does not mean monetarily expensive—but a labor of love. God’s gift to us was planned before the creation existed, and Jesus spent about 33 years working on it between that first Christmas and the cross. Why? Because he chose to love us and to make us part of his forever family.

The most expensive gift I ever received was a new car during my senior year in high school. It was more surprising since we were not wealthy and my father had told me that he would never give me a car. Yet it was awesome! The car was well-used for many years, but it has been gone for many more. However, I still have the velvet-lined, wooden box he made to present the key to me that Christmas morning. Some special wrappings last as long or longer than the gift itself. God's gifts to us, in the bag, the book, and the bottle, all indicated great care and concern for us but they are double-wrapped together in the ultimate show of costly love,

IV) The Baby: God Wrapped in Flesh & wrapped in swaddling cloths (Luke 2:12)

"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 9:6)

The shepherds were told that the sign that this child was the Messiah of God was how he was wrapped—a baby wrapped in strips of cloth to swaddle (or snuggly comfort) him. This humble birth of the king of kings points to his counterintuitive approach to the world. His physical body, the incarnation, was not a temporary wrapping job to be discarded when his work was done on the cross. He still has a body today and that should encourage us, for he will never cast off the creation but will bring its redemption and restoration to completion.

A) Jesus Came Clothed with Humility (Phil. 2:5-8).

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."

Adoration of the Magi,
 by Murillo

The humble birth and then the prophetic foreshadowing found in the gifts of the magi speak to the mission of Jesus—to save his people from their sins—by his living a sinless life and dying a sacrificial death. They arrived sometime after his circumcision on the eighth day and brought gold for he was the king of kings and frankincense for he was our great high priest, and myrrh to honor his great sacrifice on our behalf. It is likely that such gifts also sustained them as refugees in Egypt until they returned to Nazareth. But in his very humble birth, the pattern of his life was set—he came to seek the lost, heal the sick, and set free the captives! 

We should realize that Christmastide was not just a one-day event. What began in the waiting of Advent and was celebrated on Christmas continued through Epiphany twelve days later in remembrance of the Magi's visit and recognition of Jesus as the Messiah for all people.

B) Jesus Came to Serve Not to Be Served (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45).

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I remember the first year my grandmother wasn’t physically able to get out to shop for our Christmas presents. It was before the internet, but she was able to do some catalog shopping from Land's End. When her packages arrived in the mail, they were plain brown boxes. My mother wanted Grandma's gifts to be presented in the right way, to honor her gift and the recipients of her gifts, so she wrapped them beautifully. My mom was not after credit for herself, but seeking to serve Grandma and those that Grandma loved. It turned out that all the gifts inside the brown boxes were gift-wrapped already so that year all our presents from Grandma were double-wrapped and twice as much fun to open!  So, how do we present God's gifts to our spouse? To our kids? To others? Does his gift come double-wrapped in our enduring love, humble service, tender kindness, gentle healing, and contagious joy?

C) Jesus Is Concerned With what concerns us:

• What we are—Sinners or Saints? He comes to separate us from the burden of our sin and make us new (2 Cor. 5:17).
• Whose we are—Death's or Life's? Jesus who is light and life itself claims us as his own (John 5:24; Rom. 8:2; 2 Tim. 1:10).
• How we are—Hurting, or Comforted and whole? He is near to the lowly and contrite in spirit and desires to turn our sorrow into joy (Psalm 30:5, 11; Rom. 15:13)
• How it can be made right—God came in the flesh to die in our place and set us free from the fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 says,

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

V)  Jesus' Christmas Gift-wrappings Reveal Something About Him

We not only praise God for His unspeakable gift of love but also for the way in which Jesus wraps His gifts to us. His wrapping job shows us something about Him that we ought to do our best to let others see working in and through our lives. They show us His great:

• Kindness—that He would free us from the tyranny of our own sin.
• Kinship—that He would write our name in His book.
• Compassion—that He would sympathize with our sorrows and heal our broken hearts.
• Commitment—to do whatever it takes to show us His love, even if it meant that He would have to come into this world as a human being, even born as a baby, born to die for our sins.

Let's experience this Christmas clean and whole… childlike in heart, happy with even the wrappings of the gift we have in Jesus Christ!