W. Davd Phillips

Saturday night, I talked about the gifts we would give Jesus as well as gifts He would want us to give to others. I used a section from a Len Sweet sermon where he talked about “Out of the Box Gifts”. He said, referring to the gifts of the Magi:

Gifts that only have worth “out of the box” are the kind of gifts we should be offering this Christmas season. For only “out of the box” presents are worthy of being given to the Christ child.

If this is Jesus’ birthday, and we should be giving presents to him, what kind of “out of the box” presents should we be giving him?

We know the kind of gifts that Jesus would like to receive, no matter how hard we try to pretend we don’t. We know. We know.

The Gold Gift of Love:
Call it the Golden Rule, the Platinum Rule, or the Titanium Rule, we name it after a precious metal because of its undisputed value. To love, to love others even as we have been loved and valued, to love others as Christ has loved us, to love even our enemies, this is the gift of gold we can give each year to the Christ child. Perhaps a better name for the church might be “LOVE, INC.”

The Myrrh Gift of Compassionate Care for Creation:
The compassionate care that “blooms” and expands until it fills the whole earth is the myrrh gift. Even as the cycle of creation involves life and death, myrrh was used as a life-giving force and as a burial unguent. Care for newborn life, honor in death, Christ’s saving presence in both life and death is found in the pungency of myrrh.

The Frankincense Gift of Joy to the World:
The mission of Jesus, the message of Christmas, is all about joy put into action. Feeding the hungry, offering liberation to prisoners, healing to all who suffer, that was the gift of the Christ child. Whenever we participate in any of those activities, we are wafting the fragrance of frankincense around the world.

The Door

I was just about to this section in the sermon when a lady comes in the back. I knew what she would be asking for; there were obvious visible signs of it. And while I was preaching I kept thinking – yes, I can do two things at once sometimes – this is the perfect sermon illustration. We are about to give these kinds of gifts to someone right here, and right now.

We took an opportunity for prayer requests after I was done, and she shared that she was depressed, tired, and worn out trying to care for a mother who had complications with breast cancer. So we prayed for her, and then people came up and gave her cash to get some food. I know sometimes people scam church folks, and I was weary of that. But what could we do? I had just preached on ministering to the poor, working to overcome brokenness in this world, and compassion for others. So we gave, and simply trusted God with the money we gave her.

Sometimes God does interesting things in your midst. Saturday night, be brought the message to us.