The world's stingiest man went Christmas shopping, but everything he saw was too expensive except a $50 vase that was on sale for $2 because the handle had been broken off. He bought it and had the salesman ship it by mail so that his friend would think he had paid $50 for it and that it had been broken in shipment. A week after Christmas, he received a thank-you note from his friend. "Thank you for the lovely vase," his letter said, "It was so nice of you to wrap each piece separately!"

As Christmas draws near, are you looking forward to the giving and receiving? Are you Looking Forward to…the PRESENTS? As you are thinking of your "Christmas lists" and humming carols, are you "getting into the spirit of giving"? Or are you dreading what has become one of the hardest things to do at Christmas: buying presents? Isn't that so sad? Christmas is the best gift in and of itself because we are given Jesus Christ. So why, then, do we make giving so difficult?

The answer is easy. We have defined "giving" and "receiving" during this season by material gifts. After all, how does one wrap up "peace" or "joy" or "hope"? You get the picture. We take the joys of Christmas and try to relate them to a material gift. Unfortunately, so has Walmart, The Bay, The Future Shop, and Zellers! Except they all have full-color brochures, catalogs, TV ads, and inviting department stores to lure us away from what is really most important about gift giving and receiving. This morning, we are going to ask God for a few insights to help us properly look forward to Jesus-like giving and receiving this Christmas!

We will start by talking about the JOY OF RECEIVING. Do you take joy in receiving gifts? Receiving seems to be the easiest part of the gift-giving traditions of Christmas. Even if it isn't something you wanted or could use, someone gave you something. And that, in itself, is a wonderful gesture! It truly is the thought, rather than the gift itself, that counts! Remember that as you receive gifts this year!

What was the most special gift you ever received at Christmas? I want you to think about that right now. Then answer for yourself WHY it was the most special gift. What about it brought you such joy and why? Has anything ever come close since? And what gave you the joy? Is the joy from the gift itself? Because it was what you wanted? Or did you get joy from knowing who gave it? When you examine your heart of hearts, do you find that even in receiving gifts, you wished for something else? Do you see that sometimes we can even mess up the thing we would consider to be the easiest part of Christmas - Receiving Gifts?

Maybe we can do better with giving then. Let's talk about the JOY OF GIVING. You have probably heard this verse from Acts quoted before: "In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" It's really better to give than to receive, isn't it? By the time you hit adulthood, I think most of you would agree with that. It's a real blessing to be able to give someone a gift. So do we always do this right or can we mess this up too?

Well, it depends on your motives for giving, right? Sometimes the motive for giving robs us of the joy of doing it! Do you find yourselves in any of these examples? You get that gift because it's expensive so they are bound to appreciate it because of the cost. You get that gift because every other parent is giving their child this "latest toy." You get that gift because it will mend a broken relationship. You get that gift because any gift will do and you just have to get it "over with." Or, you get that gift because it will make him or her like you more... Can any of these things be said about the motives with which you have given a Christmas gift before? We don't always get it right, do we?

So let's take a look at GIVING AND RECEIVING - GOD'S WAY! Let's take a look at our Bible verse for this morning, where Jesus is teaching his disciples something about his Heavenly Father: "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Jesus starts out by calling us evil! Evil! How many of you like to be called evil? You didn't come here to be called evil, did you? But guess what? We are. Compared with how holy God is, you and I are evil, bad, naughty, imperfect. We don't deserve a thing. And then Jesus says, "Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children…" He doesn't even say we know how to give good gifts to others, just our children. At least we will have the right giving motivation and know-how to provide what is best for our children. He assures us we can do that in spite of the fact that we have failed to love and give of ourselves to all people.

But if we can do that, Jesus says, think how awesome a gift-giver God is to you and me! If you think you have provided fairly decently for your children, think how well God, who is perfect and not evil like you and me, will give us everything we need that is the very best for us!

Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler. One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left. Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, "I am your king!" The king thought the poor man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn't. Instead he said, "You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the course food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!" Friends, the Almighty God gave Himself to you and me! The Bible calls Him, "the unspeakable gift!" Even though you and I, the sinful children who have been naughty, have not deserved a single thing, God gave us the most wonderful gift at Christmas - Himself! He gave us that gift lovingly, sacrificially, and selflessly!

That is what giving is all about! Here are the presents God put under our tree: The forgiveness of our sins. Matthew 1:21: "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Peace with God! Isaiah 9:6-7 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end…" And He gave us Salvation! John 3:16 "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." And these are just a few - there are more: hope, love, the creation around us, life, etc…

God's gifts are so much better than any other gifts. Not only are they given unselfishly with the perfect loving motives, not only do they last forever unlike anything else on this earth, not only do they come to us completely undeserved, but He also made them pretty easy for us to receive! A pastor from Louisville sent his parents a microwave oven one Christmas. They were excited that now they, too, could be a part of the instant generation. When his dad unpacked the microwave and plugged it in, literally within seconds, the microwave transformed two smiles into frowns! Even after reading the directions, they couldn't make it work. Two days later, his mother was playing bridge with a friend and confessed her inability to get that microwave oven even to boil water. 'To get this darn thing to work,' she exclaimed, 'I really don't need better directions; I just needed my son to come along with the gift!'" When God gave the gift of salvation, He didn't send a book of complicated instructions for us to figure out; he sent his Son!

How do we receive God's gifts? John 1:11-13 tells us how: "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." We receive God's gifts simply by believing in them. Faith is the hand that receives the gift! We receive forgiveness, peace, hope, and salvation simply when we believe God has given those to us as a free gift through his Son!

What wonderful gifts! Remember what your parents always told you to say when someone gave you a gift at Christmas? "Thank you!" And so, even more, shouldn't we be saying "thank you" to God with the way we use his gifts and give to others? Warren Wiersbe said in his autobiography, "If life is to have meaning, and if God's will is to be done, all of us have to accept who we are and what we are, give it back to God, and thank Him for the way He made us. What I am is God's gift to me; what I do with it is my gift to Him."

God gave humanity a beautiful gift at Christmas! With that love motivating us and guiding us, we will look forward to giving to others to show our thanks to God! A man named Paul received a new car from his brother as a pre-Christmas present. On Christmas Eve, when Paul came out of his office, a street kid was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. "Is this your car, mister?" he asked. Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy looked astounded. "You mean your brother gave it to you, and it didn't cost you nothing? Boy, I wish…" He hesitated, and Paul knew what he was going to wish. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said shocked Paul, "I wish," the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that." Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively asked, "Would you like a ride in my car?" "Oh yes! I'd love that!" After a short ride the boy turned, and with his eyes aglow said, "Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?" Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again.

"Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked. He ran up the steps. Then in a little while, Paul saw him coming back. He was carrying his little polio-crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, sat beside him, and pointed to the car. "There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas, and it didn't cost him a cent. And someday I'm gonna give you one just like it. Then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about." Paul got out and lifted the little lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride. That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when He said, "There is more happiness in giving." This year, you will look forward to the presents, when your giving and receiving them is an expression of thanks for the present God gave you at Christmas! Amen.

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