John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

They call it Black Friday. It’s not because of any disaster or stock market slide. In this case, it’s a good day. Black Friday is what some call the Friday after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. It’s black because on that day many retailers get back “in the black” after operating “in the red” during the previous months. December 23rd generally has a higher sales volume, but Black Friday nevertheless has the greatest customer traffic for most retailers.ⁱ It’s when millions of Americans begin their quest for the perfect gift for the people in their lives.

How many of you started your Christmas shopping this weekend? How many of you avoided Christmas shopping this weekend? How many of you have finished your Christmas shopping already?

One little boy had been asking for a watch for Christmas. He asked, and he asked, until finally his dad said, “If you mention that watch one more time, you’re not getting it!” It was a Christian family, and that night around the dinner table, his dad said, “Let’s all share our favorite Bible verse.” When it came to the boy, he said, “My favorite verse is Mark 13:37 ‘What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch.’”

Between watches, shirts, ties and toys, we spend a lot of time and a lot of money searching for the perfect gifts. Total holiday retail sales are expected to hit $435 billion this year.ⁱⁱ

Christmas shopping is big business. Christmas is big business.

It is amazing to me that so much of our culture and so much of our economy during the last six weeks of every year revolve around this one day, this one event. It’s especially amazing when you consider that it all got started because of the birth of one baby in a backwoods town, to a peasant girl, in a little stable, halfway around the world, more than 2000 years ago. God’s Son came into the world as a tiny baby born in Bethlehem. As we launch into the madness of the Christmas season I want us to start out by getting back to the core of what the season is all about: “God so loved the world that He gave his only Son.”

Now I know that this verse from John is one of the most familiar verses in the Bible. It’s the one you see some guy holding on a poster behind the goal posts at football games. I’ve never preached on this verse before, and yet it’s been said that the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of the Gospel According to John is the entire gospel in miniature. The core, the heart, the soul of the Christian message is encapsulated in these few words. Because he loved us so much, in Jesus Christ, God came to earth. He was born the same way we were born. But He was no ordinary baby. He grew up and He taught people about God, and he healed people with the power of God, and he spoke with the authority of God, because he was the Son of God. And then he gave his life on a cross to become our Savior. As the angel declared to the shepherds, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). He went from the cradle to the cross to become our Savior.

Well, some might ask, “So what? Even if Jesus was God, and he was born 2000 years ago, and even if he died on a cross, what difference does that make for me today?”

I want to be as simple and as straightforward as possible today. In Jesus Christ, God has given us a gift. What difference does that make? Because of that gift, there are three things that happen in your life and my life that I’d like us to think about today. They have to do with out past, our present, and our future.

1. Because Jesus Christ came, I have forgiveness for my past.

Romans 3:23-24 (Living Bible) “All of us have sinned yet now God declares us `not guilty’ of offending him if we trust in Christ who freely takes away our sin.”

I hope I don’t have to convince any of us that none of us is perfect. I don’t measure up to my own standard, much less God’s. We all have regrets.

I talk to a lot of people as a pastor, and my sense is that many people carry an awful lot of guilt. Guilt has a devastating effect on our lives. It robs us of happiness. It causes depression. It can make you physically sick. Guilt does all kinds of things to us because we don’t know how to get rid of it.

People will do anything to relieve guilt. They’ll take drugs or go to therapy. Some seek thrills; others become workaholics and stay busy all the time—anything to avoid the pain and cover up the things they wish hadn’t happened in their life. Sadly, some people avoid going to church because they think that they’ll just be told again how guilty they are.

But when it comes down to it, there’s only one solution to guilt. And that’s forgiveness.

The good news is God wants to forgive us. God wants us to have a clear conscience. God wants us to be set free from those chains. God loved the world so much He gave his Son to make it possible.

I believe there are some here today who need to hear that message again. You need to know that when God forgives a person, first of all, it’s instant. He doesn’t make you wait to be forgiven. You don’t have to wait through a long period of pennance before you’re forgiven. It’s instant.

God’s forgiveness is also undeserved. You’ll never earn it. You can’t work for it. You can’t bribe God for it. The $435 billion we spend on holiday shopping can’t pay for it. It’s undeserved.

And God’s forgiveness is complete. I John 1 says that when we confess our sins, God forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Not a little bit of it. It’s not like a little bit of spot cleaner. It’s the whole thing. God’s forgiveness is so complete that Jesus said earlier in John 3 that it’s like being born all over again. It’s like being given a whole new life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). In other words, when it comes to our guilt, Jesus didn’t come to rub it in, he came to rub it out.

And that’s good news. That’s something that changes our outlook and our attitude today. If you came in here today with any lingering guilt, you can leave it right here, and walk out that door today with a clear conscience, because in Jesus Christ God has forgiven you. That’s good news in itself, but the good news of Christmas and the reason that it’s so important, the reason billions of people celebrate it, is not just because it takes care of our past but...

2. Because Jesus Christ came, we also have strength for the present.

I meet more stressed out people in the weeks before Christmas that at any other time during the year. I don’t know if it’s the extra events on the calendar, or the shopping and the crowds, or having to deal with all the extended family, or what, but folks can get stressed out, wound up, and worn down during the holidays. For some, it’s because they’ve lost loved ones and the holidays are especially painful and difficult.

The good news is that the Christ who came at Christmas doesn’t just offer us forgiveness for our past, but he gives us strength to manage our present problems. Often, when we hear that God gave his Son so that those who believe in him shall inherit eternal life, we think only of heaven. We think eternal life is something that happens only out there, after we die.

But the word “eternal,” as used here, refers not only to the duration of life but also to the quality of life. Eternal life is a deepening and growing experience. It can never be exhausted in any measurable span of time, but it introduces a totally new quality of life.

The eternal life in John 3:16 is contrasted with the word “perish.” It’s not just about going to heaven versus dying; it’s about living life now with the fullest blessings God can bestow versus living in futility, without purpose and alienated from God.

Because Jesus came into the world, we can have eternal life; but we don’t need to wait to get to heaven to begin to enjoy the blessings of that life now. Part of the blessing of life in Christ is that Christ gives us the strength to live life today. He doesn’t only forgive us for our past; He gives us the power to manage our problems in the present.

Philippians 4:13 says, “I have the strength to face all conditions by the power Christ gives me.” Whether it’s illness, loss, a struggling marriage, job changes, difficulties with your kids—whatever you face today, Christ can give you the power to face it.

One of the titles given to Christ is Emmanuel, which means what? God with us. Jesus came to earth as God-with-us, but he promised that even after he died and was raised, he would send his Spirit to be our counselor, our comforter, so that God would continue to be with us, to stand with us in whatever we face. That’s why Paul, who faced incredible hardship and persecution, could say with confidence, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In Jesus Christ, God offers us forgiveness for our past. He offers us strength for the present. And…

3. Because Jesus Christ came, we have a guarantee for our future.

When thinking about this section I first used the word, “hope.” We have hope for the future because Christ came. But today the word “hope” has become so watered down. In the biblical sense, hope referred to a certainty, an assurance of what was to come. Today, we use hope to mean more of a wish-dream, as in “I hope I win the lottery.” Well, there’s really not much chance of that.

But because Jesus Christ came, I don’t just have a blind hope; I have assurance for my future. We have a guarantee for our future with God.

Hebrews 2:15 says Jesus became like us to set free “those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” The fear of death is a universal problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, educated or uneducated, white, black, brown, whatever, we’re all going to face death. It is an inevitable fact of life. In fact, the mortality rate in America is 100%. We haven’t made any progress on that one at all.

Since we’re all going to die, it seems foolish to go through life unprepared for something you know is inevitable. So it makes sense to be prepared for it.

Yet people don’t like to even talk about death. Why? Because they’re afraid of it. Why? Because they’re uncertain about what’s going to happen. They’re uncertain about what’s going to happen when they meet God. You’re going to meet God someday. You can run from God throughout your earthly life, but then you can’t run any more.

But God doesn’t want us to fear death. Jesus came to set us free from the fear of death. Why? If you already know where you’re going, and you already have a relationship with God, and God has already forgiven you for your past, and God is giving you strength in your present, then you’re not worried about what’s going to happen! You’re going to be with the one who loved you so much he gave his Son so that those who believe in him could spend eternity together with God. Because Christ came we can have the guarantee of our eternal future with God.

As we begin the Christmas season, one word we’ll be hearing a lot is the word, “gift.” Everybody’s worried about getting the right gifts. We spend a lot of time and money searching for those gifts.

Have you ever received a gift within a gift? Sometimes when you receive a new wallet or purse, there’s a penny or a dollar tucked inside—it’s supposed to be good luck or something. Or sometimes you receive a book, and there’s some money tucked in the front cover.

God has some gifts for you at Christmas time this year. There are three gifts, but they are wrapped up in one big gift, Jesus Christ. When you receive Jesus Christ, the gift, you get those gifts inside: The gift of forgiveness for your past; the gift of strength for your present; the gift of a guarantee for your future.

You’ll notice several things about these gifts:

• They are very personal. They come in a person, in Christ.
• They are practical. They are exactly what you need. They take care of your past, your present, and your future.
• They are priceless. They cost Christ His life. They cost God His Son. That’s how much God loves us.
• They are permanent. I’ve received a lot of gifts that didn’t last till New Years Day. These are gifts that last forever.

Americans will spend billions of dollars on holiday shopping this year. But as you do your holiday shopping, remember that the greatest gift is one you cannot find at Amazon.com. You won’t find it in the Sunday paper sale fliers. You don’t need to wait in line to get it. You don’t need your credit card, because it’s worth more than you could ever possibly pay.

This Christmas, you don’t need to run around trying to find the perfect gift. It’s already been given to you in the person of Jesus Christ. All we need to do—all we can do is believe it, receive it, and give thanks to God—for the perfect gift.

Amen.

ⁱ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29
ⁱⁱWaco Tribune-Herald, Sunday, November 13, 2005. http://www.wacotrib.com

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