12-28-2025 The Real Gift of Christmas

Text: I John 5:1-5

                   Christmas day has come and gone.  Many people will be focused on the things they got (or maybe didn’t get).  And they will be remembering the fellowship they enjoyed with family and friends.  No matter what your experience has been this year - or in any past and future years to come – it can only be true and meaningful when you have a sincere love of God.  That is what allows the day to be a true celebration of God’s gift of love to mankind who is Jesus Christ; and it’s this love that is made clear through us.  It’s this love that is a true expression of one’s faith in Jesus.

                   Our text this morning is found in I John 1:1-5 where he wrote:  “ (1) That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life;  (2) For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that Eternal Life, which is with the Father, and was manifested unto us;   (3) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have a fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.  (4) And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.  (5) This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”

                   John was writing to a church that has been infiltrated with Gnostics.  Gnostics are those who claim to have superior knowledge of spiritual matters and believe the world was created by powers or agencies that came from the Godhead.  But remember the Bible tells us that the world was formed by the hand of God.  They also denied the identity of Jesus and the Christ meaning they denied the individual whom the Christian Church knew by the name of ‘Jesus’ is also ‘Christ,’ which means He is promised the Messiah.  Because of these beliefs, the church was being influenced to challenge the deity of Jesus.  But John addresses this immediately and begins his letter of I John by explaining “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, seen with our eyes, looked upon, and our hands have touched.  Like God, the Father, Jesus always was and always will be.  And for a period of time, He took on the form of a human man.

                   In verse 1 and 2 tells us that God’s gift of Love to us is His Son Jesus.  That’s why we have Christmas.  When we accept this gift we do so believing that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins, and this belief a sign that we are saved.  Our sincere love for God leads to a true celebration for God’s gift to mankind, who is Jesus Christ, and it’s this love that is then shown through us.  It’s this love that is the true expression of faith in Christ.  The decision to continuously and  willfully demonstrate love and concern for the Father only occurs when we allow ourselves to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit.  This leads to our belief that Jesus is the very nature of God.  See Jesus and you See God.  Then we express His love for us by having compassion for all of God’s children.  And we remain close to Him by studying our Bibles and carefully guarding it in our hearts and minds. 

                   Verses 3 to 5 tell us how God’s Gift of love is experienced through His Word – our Bible.  God serves the needs of our lives and empowers us to serve the needs of others.  When we make it a habit to study His Word often than putting what we learn into practice, we’re it guarding in our hearts and lives from outside influences.  This isn’t considered as something that’s too hard to do for true believers.  Continuous study is necessary to provide us the strength and ability to keep His commands and equips us with that powerful and ability that will make us victorious against the actions taken by Satan to pull us away from God.

                   John goes on to tell us in I John 4:2-4 that when we firmly believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is the Son of God, and has overcome those who would destroy Him.  When we make the choice to believe this, then we are of God because when Jesus is in us, we are greater than Satan who is in the world.  This is the real message that Christians must accept with strength and true belief.  The true test of whether a person is saved or not is based on their beliefs about the deity of Christ.  John stresses this as the center of our relationship with God, which results in a relationship with others and is the power that leads us to overcome the difficulties and problems of living is this sinful world. 

                   Whoever choses to live with full faith and confidence that Jesus is the true Messiah is declaring their salvation, as we see in Romans 10:17.  By this action alone, believers are showing the depth of their care and concern for the Heavenly Father.  As a result, they are automatically going to demonstrate the same love and concern for the Son.  This then leads the believer to love other believers because they are committed to guard God’s Word as we are taught in Matthew 22:36-40; I John 2:3-6 and 4:7-14. 

                   The commitment to persevere in keeping God’s commands doesn’t turn out to be a burden because of the powerful work of the Holy Spirit dwelling in true believers.  It allows them to have continued victories in the sinful world.  The person who overcomes the world is a believer who truly and with deeply held beliefs, trusts that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God as evidenced by their faith.

                   God’s gift to us - the real gift of Christmas - is His Son.  He truly came in the form of a human being.  He wasn’t a phantom.  He was fully God and fully man as we see in I John 4:2.  This gift is experienced by us through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.  Without this gift being truly and completely accepted, there is no experience of God’s presence in a person’s life.  God’s gift of Christ to us is a precious, and once we experience this precious gift our love for others will never die, no matter how difficult the relationships may become.

                   The true gift of Christmas is Jesus.  And we must make Him a treasured gift by the way we keep His commands.  When we do that we’re transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2, 8:5-9) and are protected and preserved from the sinful influence of the world.  Keeping His Word stimulates the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit so we walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, or our former sinful selves (Galatians 5:16-24).  When we aren’t held back by our sinful human nature, we can show love and care to anyone, and the precious gift of Christmas is experienced all year long.  Because we are all sinners, condemned to eternal death, our loving, just, and kind God offered up His Son to pay the price for our sins – if we ask Him to.  This is our Christmas gift from God.

                   As believers we demonstrate an appreciation for the gift, no matter what difficulties we experience throughout our lives.  This happens when we commit to habitually live out His Word.  We bring the gift of God, His Son, to life, by the way we love others.  So our gift to others is a result of our daily experience of God’s gift to us.  

                   Until we meet again, may God bless you and keep you, may He shine His light on you, show you grace, and give you peace in all the days ahead.