Re-gift the greatest gift | 1 John 4:7-14

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

For a couple of years, I was part of a Christmas Eve service and I gave a special presentation. The first year, the theme was “Jesus Is Better Than Socks!” The second year, the theme was “Let the Presents Remind You of the Gift.” Of course, both of these presentations were about the best gift at Christmas being the gift of Jesus Christ’s birth.

This year I’m not doing a Christmas Eve service, but I still have a special message for you. It starts with a funny story about re-gifting (watch the video to hear the story).

We probably all have re-gifted something or received a re-gifted gift before. Re-gifting isn’t bad at all. Sometimes re-gifting can be a great way to give the right gift to the right person. This year’s Christmas message is about re-gifting.

Every believer should be a re-gifter, and not just of any gift. You need to re-gift the greatest gift. At Christmas, Jesus was the gift given. The greatest gift of all was the gift of Jesus Christ. God loves us and the expression of that love is Jesus. God showed His love toward us by sending His Son Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:8 says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

1 John 4:14 says, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

Read 1 John 4:7-14 and you will hear the theme that Jesus is the expression of God’s love. The gift of Christmas is love and it is expressed through the work of Jesus Christ.

The idea of re-gifting the greatest gift is this: we have received Jesus Christ as our savior; we have trusted what He has done on the cross to forgive our sins. In this, we have received the greatest gift and we don’t keep that gift for ourselves. We re-gift that gift. We re-gift the greatest gift of love through Jesus Christ by sharing the Gospel with others.

My wife, Andrea, and I have a podcast about gift giving https://www.lifewiththebrowns.com/blog/why-is-gift-giving-so-hard-some-ideas-to-keep-it-simple-conversations-with-the-browns
I struggle sometimes with gift giving. These days Christmas seems to be more about getting stuff rather than celebrating Jesus. There is nothing wrong with gift giving, but Christmas is more than the material gifts. The gifts should not become idols in our lives. When we get gifts for people, let it remind us of the real gift. Giving gifts can be an expression of love and of the greatest gift, Jesus Christ.

During this gift-giving time, let us remember to re-gift the greatest gift of Jesus to those around us. Let’s share the story of Jesus’s birth and even His death. Jesus’s birth had a purpose and at Easter we remember Jesus’s death and resurrection. All of this together is the gift and expression of love that God gave to us.

The reason Jesus was born was to live a perfect, sinless life and be the propitiation for our sin. When Jesus died on the cross, he satisfied the full wrath of God for our sins. He paid the sin debit in full. That is a picture of love shown throughout Jesus Christ’s life.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Every day, let’s re-gift the greatest gift, the gift of love through Jesus Christ.

“Helping you connect faith and life.”