THE GREATEST GIFT EVER GIVEN

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Christmas is a time of the giving of gifts to express love and appreciation for friends and relatives. Unfortunately the traditions that formed the foundation of Christmas have eroded over these many years. For many today Christmas is nothing more than an opportunity to spend beyond one’s means to accumulate more than they would ever need. But for Christians, Disciples of Christ, Christmas is still a time to celebrate the greatest gift, God sending His Son to pay the penalty for sinful mankind, to redeem them so that an intimate relationship can be formed with their Creator.

 

While the Bible is full of scriptures describing this act of love by our Heavenly Father, one particular verse probably sums up this selfless act of love more than any other. It is also undoubtedly the most familiar and beloved verse in all of Scripture. It is the verse Billy Graham would always quote when doing a sound check at any interview or crusade event. Many technicians would ask him why he quoted this particular verse at each sound check and he would say, “Because that way, if I am not able to communicate the gospel clearly during the interview or crusade, at least the cameraman will have heard it.” This verse was John 3:16.

 

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

 

Let’s look at this short verse and see how full it is with not only the love of God, but overflowing with gifts that are eternal and everlasting.

 

John 3:16   

“For God so loved – the world,…

 

God’s Love is Intensively Expressive in its Action and Extraordinary in its Choice!

 

The first part of John 3:16 communicates to us the depth of God’s love. The word for “loved” here is a form of the Greek word, “agape,” which is selfless, deep, committed love. It is the most eternal and permeating love that can exist and is an eternal characteristic of the God we love, serve and worship. The word “world” is a nonspecific term for humanity in a general sense. While God loves humanity in general, He cannot have intimate fellowship with anyone in the world unless they are pure and holy. Because God so deeply loved the world He provided a way that people could be cleansed of their impurities and purged of the sin that separated them from Him. It meant a great sacrifice would have to be made, for no human could ever pay for their own sins. The only way possible that God could fellowship with men and women, would be if a perfect and pure sacrifice could pay the penalty for the sins of mankind. No such personal sacrifice by mankind existed. So our Heavenly Father with the willingness of His only Son and the approval of the Holy Spirit decided that His only son would take on human form to live like men and women, die for their sins, rise from the grave to demonstrate God’s love and power over sin. God’s motive for giving the most indescribable gift to us is His DEEP love for us!

 

Romans 5:6, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

 

…that He gave His only begotten Son,…

 

God’s Love is Expansive in its Sacrifice!

 

This expression of God’s Love was a dramatic sacrificial act. As Disciples of Christ we know that God is triune; Father, Son and Spirit. The Father, Son and Spirit have been in intimate fellowship with each other FOREVER! They have never known separation from each other…at least not until the Son, Jesus, took on human form and chose willingly to die for our sins. When Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the world this eternal fellowship with His Father and the Spirit was momentarily fractured. There was no other way for the sins of mankind to be perfectly and completely paid for in every measure. This gift from God is why we celebrate Christmas. But, there is more to the story than our sins simply being forgiven so we can have fellowship with God.

 

 “We serve a God who created our humanity, weeps at the fall of our humanity, became our humanity, and is redeeming our humanity.”

Glenn Stanton

 

…that whoever – believes in Him – shall not perish,…

 

God’s Love is Extensive in its Offer, Exclusive in its Bestowment and Exceptional in its Work!

 

The opportunity to accept Christ as one’s Lord and Savior is open to anyone and everyone. God places no restrictions on who can accept His Son’s loving sacrifice for their sins. God stands with arms wide open ready to receive anyone who desires to repent of their sins and accept His Son’s loving sacrifice. The benefits of God’s overwhelming love if Jesus Christ is accepted as one’s Lord and Savior is not just fellowship with God during their life. It also means that this fellowship will never end. It means that death of the frail body we live in is not the true end of our life as His disciples. Such rewards are open to everyone but only given to the few who accept His loving sacrifice. Such overwhelming and exceptional rewards include fellowship with God and transformation of their entire person.                                                             

 

“but have eternal life.”   

 

God’s Love is Eternal in its Blessedness!

 

As Disciples of Christ we ultimately will never perish. While our fleshly body will die, our spirit will live on and eventually we will receive a glorified body that will exist for eternity as we continue to fellowship with the Father, Son and Spirit. The permanence of God’s love is also guaranteed by the Holy Spirit for we are sealed by Him at the time of our conversion. (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13, 4:30)

 

What an amazing and overwhelming truth this short verse engraves on our hearts. It is the essence and substance of Christmas; that the most perfect and pure gift is given to those who are totally unworthy to receive it. It truly is beyond comprehension that our holy and pure God would take it upon Himself to sacrifice His only Son for our sins and that His Son would so willingly die for our sins and be separated from His Father and the Spirit whom He had always known. It also beyond comprehension that in addition to such overwhelming love that the Father and Son would send the Holy Spirit to live within us when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior! YES… I mean take up residence within us to guide, teach, comfort, empower and convict us to live holy lives so that we could live in constant fellowship with God. This is the true meaning of Christmas and it is told in this one short verse that is so well known.

 

Max Lucado in his book, “A Gentle Thunder” states, “There are many reasons God saves you: to bring glory to himself, to appease his justice, to demonstrate his sovereignty. But one of the sweetest reasons God saved you is because he is fond of you. He likes having you around. He thinks you are the best thing to come down the pike in quite a while. If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. And the Christmas gift he sent you in Bethlehem? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you!”

 

 1 John 4:19-20, “We love, because He first loved us.”

 

1 John 4:7-8, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”

 

A gem dealer was strolling the aisles at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show when he noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over, then, as calmly as possible, asked the vendor, “You want $15 for this?” The seller, realizing the rock wasn’t as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10. The stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind.

 

It was appraised at $2.28 million. It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire’s worth. It took the Lover of Souls, the Lord Jesus Christ, to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like us. The love that God has for us is summarized in a nutshell in this well-known verse of the Bible.

 

John 3:16 is the magnifying glass of God’s love for mankind. If there was one verse that summarized the heart of the Bible, this would probably be the verse. All of the highways of divine truth meet in this metropolis. John 3:16 is the hub of revealed truth. For this reason it is one of the first verses translated into other languages of the Bible.

 

 

A Christmas Poem

 

“Because One Child Is Born…”

 

More light than we can learn,

More wealth than we can treasure,

More love than we can earn,

More peace than we can measure,

Because one Child is born.

—Unknown