The Perfect Gift

It’s Christmas day and for the past day, people all across the world have gathered around trees adorned with ornaments and gifts covering their trunks. It is this time of year, every year, when people universally pause to do something unique—they pause their lives and open gifts.

So, what exactly is a gift? This seems like a simple question, but it is one that has been on my mind a great deal as of late.

A gift, I’ve concluded, is something that does not have to be given. A gift is given out of love. Rather than a need, which can be met out of love and/or compulsion, a gift can only be the product of love.

A gift is also something that causes the giver to sacrifice something. This can be money, time, resources, or creativity, but a gift must cost something.

So these are the two qualifications for a gift:

1) It must be given out of love.

2) It must cause some form of sacrifice for the giver.

With these two qualifications, is it possible to say there is one gift that stands above the rest? Is it possible for there to be a perfect gift, one given out of perfect love and bought with a perfect sacrifice?

It may be cliché to say, but Jesus is THE perfect gift. God did not have to save humanity and reconcile us to Himself, but He chose to do so because of His great love for us.

Romans 3:23-24 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a GIFT, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Paul continues this theme of God’s grace being a gift in chapter six. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the FREE GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It’s not a stretch to say that Jesus is the perfect gift—THE BIBLE SAYS SO!

Jesus is the gift that we should never deserve, yet God gave Him to us regardless.

God loved the world, as John 3:16 tells us, that He SACRIFICED His son so that we could be reconciled to Him.

Crazy.

Beautiful.

Love.

Sacrifice.

Jesus is the perfect gift and God the Father is the perfect gift giver.

Merry Christmas.

My Personal Creed on the Doctrine of Christ.

I believe:

Jesus Christ is fully and completely divine (John 10:30). He is also fully and completely human (Gal 4:4). His divinity and humanity are distinct natures (John 1:1) that are fully united in His person (Gal 4:4-5).

Jesus Christ is fully and completely divine:

He is eternally divine (John 1:1, 8:58), lacking no divine attribute and possessing every such attribute fully. Jesus spoke about God’s law authoritatively because He is God and it is about Him (Matt 5:18, 7:28-29). Jesus is God and therefore deserves to receive worship (John 9:38; Matt 28:17). Jesus is the Son of God (Matt 3:17), a person of the triune Godhead who was present during creation and had an active role in it (John 1:1). Jesus himself was not created (John 1:1) and is therefore equal in essence to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. His deity affirms that people can have real knowledge of God (John 1:18, 14:9). He needed to be divine because salvation is from God alone (Jonah 2:9).

Jesus Christ is fully and completely human:

He is God Incarnate (John 1:14). He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) and born from Mary who was a virgin (Luke 2:7). Just as any other person, He lived (Luke 2:52), breathed (Luke 23:46), grew (Luke 2:40), thirsted (John 19:28), hungered (Matt 4:2), walked (Luke 5:27), talked (Luke 8:9-15), learned (Luke 2:52), grew tired (John 4:6), and slept (Luke 8:23). Jesus was tempted (Luke 4:1-2; Heb 4:15), but He never sinned (1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5). Because of His humanity, he was fully capable of sinning (Eph 2:1), but because of His divinity He was fully able to resist sin (Heb 4:15). He was persecuted and died a criminal’s death (John 19). When He died, God poured our His wrath on His Son (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus, who did not sin, took on the sin and punishment of all people for all time, past, present, and future. He had a human body, which was broken for the sins of His human brethren (Luke 22:19-21). When He rose from the dead, His body was perfected, assuring the elect that their bodies will also be perfected (John 20:1-23). He ascended to heaven in His human body where He remains in human form today and forevermore (Acts 1:1-6). Christ’s humanity reaffirms God’s creation of man being good (Gen 1:31; 1 Tim 6:17).

Jesus is the true and perfect prophet (Deut 18:14-22; Matt 21:11), speaking God’s truth because He is God’s truth. Because of this, His followers are to represent Him in prophetically in the world (2 Cor 5:20). Jesus is the true and perfect high priest (Heb 4:15). As the high priest, He atoned for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). Not only did He offer the perfect sacrifice for sin, but He himself was that perfect sacrifice (2 Cor 5:21). As high priest, He also intercedes on the behalf of believers, praying for His people based on the work He accomplished through the atonement (Heb 7:25). Jesus is the true and perfect king (Phil 2:10), ruling over His creation. He will judge all people from all time (1 Cor 15:24).

In Christ’s work consists of phases of humiliation and exaltation. Since the beginning of time, He was in heaven in His pre-incarnate glory (John 1:1). Next came the incarnation (John 1:14) and His earthly life (John 13:1-17). He was then crucified (Acts 3:15), resurrected (Rom 6:5), and then ascended (1 Tim 3:16) to be at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33) where He will be until His second coming (Rom 8:34). When He comes again, He will slay evil and Satan forever and reign as the true king (Rev 18-20). He will be glorified forever (Rev 5:9-10, 12).

Asking the hard questions.

Accountability is so important. As Christians, we know that we will be tempted by Satan to do what is wrong and not honoring to God. Sin caused our separation from God. Even though Paul tells us in Romans 8:1 “there is…no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” we will still be tempted and still face trials. Sin can completely destroy an individual’s reputation and example as a Christ follower. It is to this end that we must hold one another accountable in all we do.

In 1738, theologian John Wesley drafted four questions to be asked of every small group meeting he had. These questions were:

1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
2. What temptations have you met?
3. How were you delivered?
4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which, you doubt whether it be sin or not?

I LOVE THESE QUESTIONS!

I need to be asked these questions.

I need to ask these questions of others.

Accountability is important for all believers. We need to hold one another honest and accountable. The problems that surface in the Church come about as a result of a lack of accountability. We internalize our struggles, our trials, and our temptations. We hide them inside only creating more room for them to grow. I know this to be true in my own life. It is easy for me to not share my struggles and try to rid them all on my own. We have to understand that this doesn’t work. We need to have others that will keep us accountable for the actions and choices we make. A weed needs to be cut at the first sign of life. It’s not enough just to trim it down, but rather we MUST dig up the root. The tough thing is that we often want to keep the root. While we know sin is wrong, we are content with cutting parts of it so long as we are able to keep some of it. Accountability is huge. We need other believers to ask us the hard questions. Without them, are weeds will continue to grow.

My Personal Creed on the Doctrine of Humanity.

I believe:

God is the creator of everything (Gen 1:1-31). He is unique from His creation (John 8:23), yet actively involved in creation (Ps 139:7-10). He created man (Gen 1:27) and gave man dominion over the rest of His creation (Gen 1:28-30). God had no need to create man, for He is self sustaining (Job 41:11; John 5:26), but He created man because He desires a relationship with people (Jer 9:23-24; John 17:3) and wants them to bring Him glory. Man exists to glorify God (Isa 43:7; Eph 1:11-12). God does not need glory (Acts 17:24-25), but people are to glorify God in all they do (1 Cor 10:31).

Man was created in the image of God (Gen 1:26). This does not mean that men are demigods, but that they are like God and represent Him. Man is not God and is therefore not identical to Him. Man, however, is a reflection of God (Gen 5:1) and is the pinnacle of His creation. Man is most like God in God’s moral, mental, relational, and spiritual aspects. Man’s created nature means that he is dependent on God (Rom 9:21), was created with a purpose (Eph 2:10), and that he is accountable to God (Matt 25:13-40). While man is in fact created, he is also uniquely a person (Gal 6:7-8), not a thing, having the ability to be relational and to think.

A person is defined by his essence (Gen 9:6), not his function. This is why all people are equal in God’s sight (Gal 3:28). Everyone, men and women, are created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). While everyone is equal in God’s eyes, people do have different distinct roles and functions (Eph 5:25-33). Man’s being is dualistic (Eccl 12:7, Matt 10:28) and is comprised of two parts: the body (Gen 2:7) and the spirit (Isa 42:1). While these distinct parts exist, man is unified in his person (Mark 12:30).

When God first created man, God declared His creation very good (Gen 1:31). When sin entered the world with Adam and Eve’s rejection of God (Gen 3:1-24), mankind became separated from God (Gen 3:23-24; Rom 6:23). Sin is anything moral beings (people and angels) feel or do that is contrary to the holiness of God (James 4:4). Sin is a failure to be satisfied with God and an attack on Him personally (Ps 51:4). God himself did not sin (2 Cor 5:21) and He is not to be blamed for sin (Deut 32:4). However, God did ordain the presence of sin in the world (Gen 3:1-19; Job 1:6-12), even though He takes no pleasure or delight in it. God himself did not create this sin, but rather He ordained that it would come from the voluntary choices of human beings and of angels (Gen 3; Isa 14:12-15). All men are sinful (Eph 2:1). Sin created a separation between God who is holy and people who are not. Man is totally depraved. Man inherits both guilt (Rom 5:12-21) and moral corruption (Ps 51:1-4) from Adam’s original sin (Gen 3:15). Due to this depravity, man is unable on his own to believe in Christ (John 6:65). He is unable to see the kingdom of God (Heb 12:14). He is unable to glorify and please God because he is unable to submit to God’s law (Rom 8:6-8). He is unable to understand God’s truth (Rom 1:25). Sin is not outside or independent of a person. Rather, sin begins in the heart and exists in the person’s very nature (Ex 20:17). The penalty of all sin is death (Rom 3:23). While the committing of one sin is enough for a person to be deemed a sinner worthy of death (Rom 2:11-12; James 2:10), there are differing degrees of sin (Ezek 8:6,13; Luke 12:47-48). God punishes sin because He is righteous (Rom 3:26). Jesus’ death is the means by which we can be saved and made right before God (1 John 1:9).

A Word from Augustine.

"We stand in awe of the ocean, the thunderstorm, the sunset, the mountains, but we pass by a human being without notice even though the person is God's most magnificent creation." - Augustine

Isn't this so true? We stand in awe of everything that God has created (and rightly so), but when it comes to people we are less than enthused. What is it about people that causes us to lose interest? Genesis 1:26-27 says, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." So people are made in the image of God and we don't even think to marvel at how wonderfully God created us? Something just doesn't add up. We look at the ocean and the sunset and the Grand Canyon, and the Great Barrier Reef with a sense of awe and wonder and yet people, who were given dominion over the ENTIRE earth, are just whatever. Has it always been this way? Will it always be this way? What keeps us from truly appreciating God's creation? God made each one of us in His image. If this doesn't radically alter the way we view one another, I don't know what will. Perhaps we use the phrase too loosely or maybe we've become desensitized to it.

STOP.

LISTEN.

THINK.

You are made in the image of God. I am made in the image of God. We are the pinnacle of God's creation. Let us represent God for who He is. Let us truly love one another. I fully believe that if we truly love God we will ardently love our brothers and sisters. James 3:8 says, "...but no human can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord the Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so." It is impossible to love God and not others.

Everyone has been made in the image of God. We were beautifully and wonderfully made. Let's worship God for who He is and for making us the way we are.

Eternity.

Eternity is such a hard concept for me to grasp. Honestly, the idea of eternity kind of freaks me out. I know that it is going to be amazing because it is what God has ordained, but in my finitude, I only know things to have beginnings and endings. Nothing on Earth, nothing that is finite, lasts forever. This is all I know and God’s promise of eternity promises to shatter all my notions of what life is actually like. In my finitude, David’s rhetoric in Psalm 145 is somewhat of a foreign concept for me to attain. It is when I think about this that I remember that when David wrote this Psalm, he himself was a man just like me. He probably wrestled with this topic as I do, but He realized that the only prudent thing for someone who loves God is to praise and bless Him without ceasing. God created everything. Our logical response to God and His love is adoration and praise.

My Personal Creed on the Doctrine of God.

I believe:

There is one God (Deut 4:35,39; Isa 45:5; James 2:19) manifest in three persons (Gen 1:26; Isa 6:8; Matt 3:16-17, 28:19): the Father (Luke 15:11-32; Rom 8:15; James 1:17), the Son (Isa 9:6; John 5:18; Rom 8:17), and the Spirit (Matt 3:16-17; John 15:26; Rom 8:16; Eph 4:4-6). All three persons are equally divine (John 10:30; Acts 5:3-4) yet have distinct roles (Matt 3:8-12; John 3:15-17, 6:38-40; Acts 2:1-36).

God has always existed (Gen 1:1; Ex 3:13-16; John 8:56-58; Heb 11:6). He did not create Himself nor was He created by anything else. He is sovereign over everything (Ex 4:21; Deut 10:22; Ps 47:1-4; Matt 6:30; Acts 17:26; James 4:13-15). He is the creator of all things (Gen 1:1-2:25; Psalm 104:24; Jer 27:5; Neh 9:6; Acts 14:15) and therefore is unique from everything He created. God created everything so that He would receive glory, honor, and praise (Isa 43:7; Neh 9:6; Rev 4:1-11).

God is love (Ps 98:3; 2 Chr 6:14; Hos 11:1; John 3:16-17; Rom 8:39; 1 John 3:1). Everything He does comes out of His love for His creation (Gen 1:31, 2:18, 6:1-9:19; Ps 139:17-20; John 1:1-18).

God does not exist within the confines of His creation. He is completely independent in His sufficiency (Deut 10:14; Ps 50:12-13, 121:4; 1 Cor 10:24) yet still relates to people in a personal way (Judg 2:18; 2 Sam 24:16; Ps 34:15; Luke 7:11-16). He is continually and constantly present in all of creation (Ps 139:7-12; Jer 23:23-24; Matt 18:20). He is all knowing (Num 24:16; Ps 147:4-5; 2 Pet 3:18). Has an interpersonal knowledge of His creation (Ps 139:1; Luke 12:7). God is completely powerful (Gen 1:1-2:25, 11:6-8; Matt 19:26; Acts 1:6-7). He is unchangeable (Ps 102:25-27; Mal 3:6).

God continually reveals himself through His creation (Ps 19:1-2; Rom 1:19-20; Col 1:15). God created all people with an inner knowledge of Himself. Many people deny this inner sense of God and in doing so suppress the truth (Rom 1:18, 3:3-4). God is truth (Isa 65:16; Eph 4:20-21).

Through God’s word and His creation we may and do understand limited aspects of who He is (Phil 3:10; 1 John 4:7-8), but we will never fully understand Him (Job 26:14; Ps 145:3, 147:5; Isa 55:8-9; Rom 11:33-34). Furthermore, we will never be able to fully comprehend any single attribute of Him. Every attribute of God is always completely true of Him (Mal 3:6). His being and His attributes are inseparable (Ex 34:5-7).

God is jealous for His honor and glory (Ex 20:5, 34:14; Ezekiel 20:44; Zech 14:9; Hebrews 1:1-14). He is glorified by the expression of His character in His people (Num 25:10-15).

God did not create anything that is evil (Gen 6:5). By His holy nature (Isa 6:3; 1 Peter 1:15-16) He must stand opposed to all that is evil (Gen 6:6; Ex 34:5-7; Job 34:10).

Our Inability to Comprehend God.

Have you ever thought about the uncertainties in life? I mean really. Have you REALLY pondered why there are so many things that are just beyond our grasp? It seems like every time we find an answer to something we are instantly faced with a million more questions.

How does this relate to our understanding of God?

What do we really know about Him?

I fully believe that we will never know all of who God is. I don't even think we'll ever be able to even fully understand any single aspect or attribute of God. For many such knowledge of our inability to know God can be quite disheartening. Think about it. We are called to seek after and learn about a God who we will never fully (or even mostly) understand. That's a lot to swallow. We learn with the expectation of mastering the subject of our learning. To most this would make the study of God a futile journey.

For some reason, I actually am motivated by the fact that I'll never be able to fully understand God. My inability to nail Him down drives me to study Him more. The more I learn about God the less I realize I know about Him. He constantly amazes me. His greatness is astounding. I can't help but worship Him when my eyes see a God who is far bigger than anything I could ever dream of. I am so small and He is so great.

I think we've forgotten God's holiness. By this I don't believe that we have completely discounted His holiness, but we emphasize His personal aspects so much that we bring Him down to our level, thus de-emphasizing His holiness. The more we learn of Him the greater He becomes in our eyes. We can never become discouraged in our study of God. Our inability to know Him should cause us to fall to our knees in worship.

Let's see God for who He is.

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable." - Psalm 145:3

Passions.

God has placed a passion in my heart to see His name and fame proclaimed with boldness and in truth. A few years ago I felt God’s call into vocational ministry. While unsure of His calling at the time, I decided to trust and obey Him. I could not be more excited for the plans He has for me. I could not be more humbled by this calling. There are so many times that I ask God why He chose me because surely He could have picked someone better, someone more faithful, someone more loving. Every time I think such things, He affirms to me that He is God and I am not. I am ever humbled by His call and ever grateful for His assurance.

I have a passion for seeing the Good News of Jesus spread all over the world. Nothing makes me happier than seeing believers living out their faith and convictions. In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us to be lights shining brightly for Him. If there is one thing that I get more excited about than anything else it is seeing people simply doing what God has called them to do. When we love God and shine for Him wherever He has us we will be beautiful reflections of Him. It is not the pastors and preachers that are the trustees of God’s word. Teachers, businessmen, musicians, athletes, scientists, homemakers, and artists are all preachers in their own right. The way they live their lives and the example they give preaches the Gospel for we are the image of the Invisible. It is to this end that I wish to devote my life to the Church, pouring into the lives of whomever God allows me because most life change actually happens outside of the sanctuary.

I want to experience God work in unimaginable ways. I want to see lives transformed by His love and mercy. I want to see a stagnant Church rise up and truly live out the Faith they currently claim. Imagine what would happen if we simply did what Christ called us to do. Let’s be the Church. Let’s proclaim Christ in everything and be unashamed of the grace that has saved us.

The Glory of God

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

- Revelation 4 (ESV)

Isn't that a beautiful picture of God? I think we often focus too much on the nature of God as our father and friend and forget to realize His holiness. God is holy and incredible beyond comprehension and we need to stop, realize, and recognize His awesomeness. God is truly awesome. I am in awe of Him.

Straining forward to what lies ahead.

I absolutely love Paul’s letter to the Philippians. From the way he begins his letter, referring to himself as a servant of God (the only time he doesn’t refer to himself as an apostle), to the constant theme of humility, this letter is truly special. I spent last week at Hume Lake Christian Camps with the high school students from High Desert Church and in my own time with God, He really impressed upon me Philippians 3:4-14.

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:4-14

Paul had it all. He was the Jew of Jews. I mean, if you could be anyone or have any advantages, Paul was the guy you’d want to be. And yet he considers it all rubbish for the sake of Christ. Paul gets it! He really does! This part of the passage has always struck me in a mighty powerful way, but I’ve always read that and then glossed over the verses immediately following Paul’s powerful declaration. As of late, God has really stirred in me a passion for verses nine through fourteen.

I absolutely love how much Paul emphasizes that salvation is through faith alone. He goes on to say that “righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Woah.

Now that’s devotion. That is the type of faith I long for. I think it can be easy for us to read a passage like this and be quick to say that we want the same thing as Paul (after all, that’s what a good Christian3 should do, right?). I wholeheartedly believe that our response needs to be yes, that we do wish to be like Christ in every way, but the gravity of such a response is so amazing.

After seeing thirty-four students give their lives to Christ last week at Hume Lake and after seeing many more make new commitments to Him, Paul’s comment that each day he has to continually strive to live the life God has called him to is encouraging. Here we have Paul, who we often put up on a high pedestal (and rightly so) and he says that he has not achieved the devotion to Christ he wrote about. He says that it is something he strives after each and every day, to grow closer and closer to Christ so that he would be more and more like Him.

I feel like verse fourteen sums it up perfectly, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

May that forevermore be in my heart and on my lips.