The Best Gift on Christmas

Rev Gideon Lee

This morning I want to talk to you about the Twelve days of Christmas. How many of you remember the Song?  On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…up to the Twelve day. Someone actually took the trouble to calculate based on those twelve days and do you know how much it would cost? Someone calculated and it would cost us RM34,000. Christmas can be a very expensive event. If you go to the shopping malls, they're trying to get you to buy stuff. To get you to buy things for Christmas.

I know Christmas can sometimes mean gifts. Take for a moment the presents that you have bought thus far. How much would you have spent? When I grew up, my family was not big on giving gifts. I don't remember getting a gift growing up. But on my wife's side it is very important. But how many of you know the gifts need not be expensive? It's nice but it need not be expensive. Not everyone of us will get an iPhone 6s. Or a Gucci handbag? The real one of course.

The greatest gift is from Jesus, God's one and only son. So it brings me to this point about Christmas. God didn't give much thought about the wrappings. He sent him to a carpenter. A working class person.

If it's me I would have chosen a better family, maybe royalty. But God sent his son to an ordinary carpenter. And not only that he was born in a manger. Joseph almost could not find a place. Imagine if I were the King of kings I would have maybe chosen the Ritz Carlton. Or E&O hotel.

And who announced the birth? Not on the tabloid or TV but by lowly shepherds. Back then shepherds were not important people. They were not rich. Politically they had no power. We always think expensive is good but Jesus' birth was so ordinary.

I need to say that it's not about the cost of the gift but it's the thought that went into it. Please don't misunderstand this, I value every gift received. But the gift that is most valuable are the gifts that have received a lot of thought when you were buying. It's the time you spent thinking about the person.

We think of what the person need for Christmas. And often it need not be expensive but the time spent thinking of it.

I want to share something. I've been married 15 years. And every anniversary, you think what can you get for your spouse. Diamond rings already bought. Wah, Sis Melinda say she has ten fingers! The dress already bought. Some anniversaries you just scratch your head on what to buy. One of those anniversary, I was thinking really hard. Then I thought of something. This is not copyrighted so husbands you can use it. On my wedding I kept everything. The invitation cards, envelopes, trimmings, everything.

My wife is not here so I can say this. I even kept the menus and the vouchers for each table. I'm an OCD. I'm quite sentimental. I had the vouchers from the hotel. I kept. I shifted from Klang so I could have thrown everything. But I kept them. So I thought of doing a walk down memory lane. So I took all the pictures, all the mementos and I went to Tesco without my wife knowing anything about this. I bought an album that you can paste things in.

From page one, I thought of what to put in. The guest list, I thought of everything. More than 20 pages and I wanted a story line. I did it all and the first time was not so nice so you know what I did? I took it out again. But the gum was not so nice anymore. So I went to Tesco again and bought two albums, the same one. Just in case. Oh my wife is here (laughs).

So to cut the long story short, I did everything and on our anniversary I gave it to her. When she first got it, no reaction. No reaction! I said dear, Happy Anniversary. She opened it, still no reaction. Page two, no reaction and she looked through the whole thing and she turned to me and no reaction. She just said thank you dear, close the book and put it in the drawer. Every guy understands what I mean right?

You have just climb the mountain and you would have expected your wife to say at least "I love you". At least a hug la. Thank you dear. I'm not saying this to embarrassed my wife. I know she love me. I appreciate her. I think what I did is not comparable to what she has sacrificed for me. She gave me four children. Your wife deserves the best. If you can give it to your wife. Appreciate your wife. Not only on Valentine's Day. We need to appreciate one another.

I want to talk about the gift the Lord gave us. It did not look impressive but God took time to send his one and only Son. In the fullness of time, God sent his only Son. He thought about each one of us and what we needed and he sent his only Son.

When he was looking at us struggling in our sins, he thought of what he can give us. If you needed riches. He would have sent you riches. If you needed wisdom, he would have sent a teacher. But on Christmas he sent the best, his one and only Son.

We could not save ourselves. He sent the best gift ever. In his coming, it may not look spectacular but he thought of us and sent his only son. He sent the best gift ever on Christmas day.

He sent his one and only Son. One and only Son. He did not have four or five, he sent his one and only Son. It was a very good gift he gave us. That's why we celebrate his birth.

So when you give a Christmas gift, remember that God also thought about us and sent to his one and only Son, the best gift ever. That's why he's Emmanuel, God is with us. God with us. As we celebrate his birth, I want us to remember he is coming back again.

When we look around us we say God please come back soon. When we look at the scripture and we know there is hope in the future. I don't know about you but we don't know what holds for us in 2016. But because of Christmas we can look at it with hope. Because God is with us.

Even as I come to an end, I pray that your Christmas will be a meaningful Christmas. For my children it's their gifts. They can't wait to open their gifts. Jayden just celebrated his birthday and all he was concerned about was his presents. He's asking when can I open my presents? Some of my children bargained with me. They said tomorrow busy so can we open our Christmas now? I said no, wait till tomorrow, Christmas day. They already segregated their Christmas presents.

My prayer is that when it's Christmas we will be like that. Not that we look forward to our presents but to look to the best gift that God gave us. The best present that you can give someone is the gift of the gospel. That the person will come to know the Lord as Lord and Saviour. This is what Christmas is all about. The best gift ever. The best gift that I can give someone. I know you have your plans for today. I'm sure you'll gather together and exchange gifts. May you remember the best gift this morning. God in the fullness of time thought of what we needed and sent the Saviour. So this morning have a blessed Christmas.

I pray you will spend time with your family. It's a time to forgive. The best time, to be reconciled. Remember God sent his only Son so that we can be reconciled back to God.