God Didn’t Give a White Elephant Gift for Christmas
Various Scriptures
December 19, 1999
(Updated and revised December 10, 2005)
Introduction
Recently I received an invitation to a Christmas party where we were to bring a white elephant gift.
You know what a white elephant gift is, don’t you? Something cheap or weird that you own because someone gave it to you, or because you actually bought it during a time you had taken leave of your senses.
You know what I’m talking about - pink flamingo boxer shorts, fluorescent socks, coffee cups honoring the inventors of Post-it notes or Velcro, anything from Ronco or K-tel - you know what I’m saying.
Well, white elephant gifts have the same purpose as most fruitcakes: to get rid of them! The goal is to give it to some unsuspecting soul, preferably an in-law.
A white elephant gift is a 2nd or 3rd rate gift. An outcast gift. A thrift store reject. The kind of thing you only see this time of year make in countries you can’t pronounce the names of.
Usually they are given as a joke at those Christmas parties for the office and such. Sometimes they are given, because, quite frankly, you can’t afford a "real" gift, so you give something like that hoping the humor of the situation will cover your inability to get something on a more expensive scale.
At times while I was growing, and even in the recent past, we used to draw names for gift-giving, because the family was just too big for everyone to buy gifts for everyone.
Anyone else do that? I think it’s a great idea.
I’d like you to imagine for a moment that you were drawing names, and you drew the name of the one family member you were hoping NOT to get. Maybe some distant cousin or something.
This person has treated you badly in the past. Maybe this person spread lies or rumors about you. Maybe they stole something from you or wrecked your car. Or maybe they hurt someone you love.
What kind of gift would you give that person? Would they be a candidate for a white elephant gift?
Now imagine that a new rule was introduced this year. The person whose name you drew is allowed to request anything they wanted, and you are required to give it to them.
And it just so happens that this person has demanded your most prized material possession in the whole world.
Maybe it’s your boat or car, or horse, or dog. Maybe it’s your Kirby Puckett autographed baseball and rookie card. Maybe it’s a precious heirloom passed to you through generations before you. Or maybe it’s just a picture of you and your dad holding your first fish.
Could you give it to them?
Well, today we are going to look at God’s gift-giving pattern and see what we can learn about how to appreciate and reflect Him during this time of gift-giving.
And as you can tell from the title of the message, we’re going to focusing on the fact that God’s way of giving never included second or third-rate gifts.
Ready? Let’s first look at the fact that...
God gives different kinds of gifts.
What are some of God’s gifts to us? Let’s just review some of them in a sample list, okay?
* Eternal life.
Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
* Peace.
John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
* Grace and faith for salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
* Wisdom for the trials of life.
James 1:5 - If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
* Daily provision for needs.
Matthew 6:31-33 - So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
* Other blessings.
John 1:16 - From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
God has a style of giving.
* His gifts are good.
Listen to James 1:17 -
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Question: do any of these gifts we looked at earlier qualify as a white elephant gift? I don’t think so. They’re good gifts. Worth having and worth desiring from the hand of God.
Second...
* His gifts are generous.
Ephesians 1:3 -
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
He makes us heirs, not with Bill Gates or the Rockefellers, but with Christ. Now how’s that for thinking big?
The point here is that if we want to reflect God’s gift-giving pattern, we need to think not of "What can I get away with?" But rather, "How can I bless this person?"
His motivation for giving is love.
It’s ironic during a time when we are in more of giving mood, we often find ourselves with the dilemma of giving something to someone out of obligation instead of a desire to bless that person.
You know what I mean - someone gave you a gift, and you feel obligated to give them one.
Did you realize that God does not have to give us gifts? We don’t deserve them. If we deserved gifts, they wouldn’t be gifts, they would be wages.
A real gift is something given out of a desire to bless the person receiving the gift, not out of obligation.
Scripture contains about 330 references to blessing, and over 300 of those refer to God blessing His people.
And what is his motivation for showering His people with blessing? The bottom line is His love. His love for each and every one of us, for the whole world.
John 3:16-17 -
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
The Father loves to give to His children.
Think about that for a minute. Why do we give gifts to our family at Christmas? Yes, there is tradition, but the bottom line is our desire to see our kids’ face light up when they open the gift to find something they like, right?
And it breaks our hearts when we can’t do it as well as we like.
A number of years ago I found myself in a position where I could not provide for my family very well.
We were on all kinds of government assistance for food and medical care. I was working full time, but bringing home less than $800 per month, with a wife and a baby girl, and one on the way.
Thankfully, the baby, Dani, was easy to please. I got her an empty box wrapped up real nice. I figured she would just play with that more than any toy I would have gotten her any way. Just kidding!
I don’t remember what I got her that year, but what really hurt was that I couldn’t do something special for my wife. I don’t remember what I ended up getting her, but it sure wasn’t what I would have liked.
My wife, being the awesome lady she is, didn’t complain; she was wonderful about it.
I simply could not afford to give her what she deserved. I still can’t. Not because of anything financial, but because her worth increases in my eyes all the time. They don’t make gifts good enough for her, and that’s the fact, Jack. So I’ve decided to just give up and not give her anything this year...Just kidding!
Other times, I could not give enough to my kids, but they never knew the difference, and God always seemed to make up what we were lacking.
Here’s the bottom line here: I wanted to give gifts to my kids and wife for no other reason than that I loved them!
My kids don’t deserve gifts, especially on certain days like this last Thursday, when they...No, I won’t go there!
I just wanted to give gifts. All of you with children know that feeling. Well, magnify that feeling countless times over and you might get a sense of how God wants to bless His children.
He wants to bless us. He wants to give us gifts. He wants to shower His love on us!
Jesus mentions that even evil fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, and how much more does our Heavenly Father desire to give good gifts us!
That’s not a promise for material wealth, but for His provision of everything we need to live in Him and for Him.
What a great God we have! He loves us and it drives Him to bless us with countless gifts.
Have any of you either read the book or seen the movie, Mommy Dearest? It chronicles the bitter relationship between Christine Crawford and her mother, actress Joan Crawford.
One of the most memorable parts of both the book and movie for me is where a film crew is at the their house when Christine was young.
Joan was already a famous movie star, and this crew was there to interview Joan, her husband, and the kids about their Christmas celebration.
When the interviewer asked Joan about the children opening the gifts given by their parents and adoring fans, the answer was shocking, at least to me.
She said that the children had to earn the gifts before they could receive them.
Doesn’t sound much like a gift, does it? I’m sure the gifts themselves were enjoyable, but the thought of earning a gift kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? I think so.
And requiring someone to earn their gifts certainly doesn’t reflect the character of God.
Conclusion
Application:
1. Receive the gift of God for yourself.
I mentioned John 3:16-17 earlier:
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
God gave us His Son so He could give us eternal life. The Bible tells us that eternal life is a free gift from God.
But you know what? There’s something interesting about a gift, not only is it not earned, it is also not automatic.
What do I mean by that?
For a gift to really matter to the person it is intended for, it has to be received by that person, and that person has to take possession of it.
It cannot be earned. No amount of good works will do it. Think of the most awesome person in the world who has done the most good, in your opinion.
Can you think of someone? I can. In fact, I can think of a number of people in a number of different fields, and some are not even Christians.
But the question is this: does all their good get them to heaven? Not according to God, and since he’s the one who makes the decision, then we need to listen to him.
The Bible says that all our personal righteousness, all the goodness that we have and do on our own, is nothing but filthy rags to God, and they don’t get us to heaven.
Earlier we read Ephesians 2:8-9.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.
Only the person who has received the gift of Jesus gets to heaven. If a person could earn his way to heaven, then the death of Jesus was unnecessary, and the words of Jesus were worthless.
But here’s the bottom line: The Bible says that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. It’s that simple. You either have Him or you don’t.
Jesus says that those who don’t believe in him are condemned. But the good news is that he came so we could spend eternity in heaven.
Have you received God’s best gift? If not, won’t you open your heart today and ask Him to give it to you? It’s yours for the asking.
The Bible says that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, and that means you, and it means me.
2. Offer the gift of God to others.
Why would I spend time talking about the way God gives gifts? Not just because it’s Christmas time, because God’s gift-giving isn’t limited to Christmas.
It’s because I’m of the opinion that we should imitate the gift-giving of God in our own lives.
Give different kinds of gifts, give good gifts, give as generously as you can, motivated by love for people.
You might not be able to afford fancy gifts for people. And that’s okay. The issue for us isn’t the price tag. The issue is that we reflect the love of God to people.
I want you to think back to the introduction where I asked you to think of something you hold dear, and how you would react if the person whose name you had drawn wanted that very thing.
I said that that person had hurt you before, had neglected or even stolen from you. Remember?
Folks, hold onto your hat, here, because I need to tell you that each one of us is that person.
WE have sinned against God Almighty. WE have turned our backs on Him. WE have lied to Him. We have cheated and stolen.
How can you say that, PB? James says that if we keep the whole law yet stumble at just one point, we have broken all of the law.
And I would venture that there is nobody in here who hasn’t broken at least one of God’s laws in their lifetime.
Yet we have the audacity to ask Him for eternal life. And what does He do? He gives it to us!
What did it cost Him? His most prized possession. His Son, Jesus Christ.
God didn’t give a white elephant gift. He gave us the very best he had to offer - to sinners like you and me.
And so why not look for opportunities over the next couple weeks to talk to someone about how they can have the free gift of forgiveness and a home in heaven?
Not out of obligation, but out of love for God and love for those God loves - everyone.
Pray.
