Ephesians 4:1-7; 11-16

Wisely Remembering Christmas All Year Long

1-10-10

Good morning.

So what gifts did you get for Christmas?

Do you remember all the gifts you got? Some gifts we like better than others, and will use more.

Have you used all your Christmas gifts or have you forgotten about some of them?

Have you shared your gifts with others?

Let’s talk about gifts for a moment. Do you pay for your gifts? No.

Do you think you deserved all the gifts you got? Probably not.

I have a gift that I would like to give all of you today, and it’s in this box right here. Should I open it? (Yes)

Okay let’s see what’s inside? Help me remove the wrapping. (Remove gift wrapping) Can anyone read what the box says?

Can anyone tell me what the gift of salvation is?

Well when you don’t know what something is by the label on the box what do you do next?

Open it. Right. Let’s open the box. (Open pull out tissue to reveal a cross).

Why would a cross be in a gift box with the label of salvation?

(Prompting) Who was on the cross? (Jesus)

As a result, what gifts did Jesus give you at your baptism? (Pull two out strips of paper)

you for all the sins you will ever commit. That’s big and really important because if He didn’t do that then after this life you would not spend forever with Him in heaven. If you’re not in heaven…the next life will be miserable. And that brings me to the next gift.

It is the best Christmas and birthday gift you will ever receive.

But do we always remember this gift? Not really. We forget it every time we sin or do something wrong.

Now how would you feel if you gave me a gift and I took off all the wrapping and never opened the box? You would feel bad, wouldn’t you?

Sad, right. Now you know how God could feel. There are people who know that God has forgiven their sins and given them everlasting life but they’re (start to yawn) bored with it…and don’t really appreciate it. These are people who don’t feel they sin anymore, and think their good works are more important than Jesus’ gift of salvation. They don’t feel they need confess their sins, and receive God’s ongoing gift of forgiveness, and they don’t feel their faith needs strengthening to defend against the Devil’s temptations.

Or let’s say I opened the box from the gift you gave me, said thank you for giving me these gifts…then put them over in the corner and never used them. How would you feel? Hurt.

God gives us gift of salvation to use everyday to love others through our words and deeds. 3

Have you shared your gift of salvation with others?

How do you do that?

When you invite others to church. When you tell them Jesus died for them and give them eternal life by faith. But there’s other ways and that’s what I am going to talk about you and your parents just a moment.

Okay…you guys have been good. You may go back to your seats and I now talk to the adults for a few moments.

Happy New Year. Grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Are you wisely using God’s gift of salvation?

Have you ever opened a gift box and missed some of the parts of the gift inside?

You see this morning’s text from Ephesians describes your gift of salvation as a calling or invitation from God. You were invited to the waters of baptism, and you’re here this morning, because you haven’t rejected what Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit has given you, but are you using all your gift of salvation?

From prison, Paul is emphatic about his encouragement for believers in Christ to live this invitation or calling to salvation. It’s for everyone in the church.

So how is the text asking you and me to do that?

Verse 2 tells us in general how.

(1) Being completely humble…in other words, always willing to learn more about God

(2) Be gentle in the way we present ourselves to others,

(3) Be patient…and not anxious to get our own way,

(4) Enduring in the faith for your own benefit, so you don’t fall away and end up with eternal condemnation.

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These attributes all point the way to love others, which is the way God always acts towards us, His children.

Whatever the gift when we practice these things, we have unity from God in all that we say and do, and we guard against falling away from our baptism.

You see in this gift of grace given at our baptism the Holy Spirit has graced us with other specific gifts to use in His Church.

Your grace given at your baptism now manifests or shows itself in many different ways as given by Christ. Don’t resist how God is preparing you, gifting you, to serve others by love through the Church.

We use these gifts to serve others in love so others can be saved by God for eternity and to keep others strong in the faith so they don’t fall away from their gift of salvation.

Who prepares us to know and live these gifts? Look at verse 11:

We are here in the church through pastors, Bible study leaders, Sunday School teachers, individual mentors to equip believers for works of service or acts of love, so that the Kingdom of God can grow on earth spiritually and numerically. The more we teach, the more we serve, the more we live our faith, the more tangible it will be, and the more we grow in our faith and grow in numbers.

What are those gifts? They are the tangible ways you are being encouraged to express God’s love to others. In other words, how can you specifically live your faith?

Maybe you’re an artist, poet, accountant, fixer upper, visit the sick, speaker leader, whatever…

When our confirmands wrote prayers for various members and friends of our congregation in need, then made them prayer candles to remind them of Christ’s light in their lives.

When we got last September together for Hullabaloo and raise money for missions like Capestone Ministries in Africa where missionaries like Pastor Dan Smelzer are getting homeless kids off the streets. These kids as young at 8 are addicted to drugs and he is reuniting them with their parents, using the good news of Jesus to speak and show God’s love. 5

When we have members volunteer down at the Scituate Food Pantry.

The Ladies’ Bible study group is considering forming a big sister program to mentor the mothers living at the Ruth House in Brockton. To share God’s Word through Bible study and to mentor these mothers to make positive lifestyle choice to raise their kids well and to live on their own without the help of the state’s welfare program.

Wise actions reflect prayer and planning, and ultimately reinforce God’s love for us as we work to help each other stay strong in the faith. Look at verse 14. Here’s the result of living a life immersed in God’s Word and backed up with loving action.

That’s true fellowship.

We are joined together by Christ’s teachings…God’s Word. But each part of body under Christ does his or her part (based on the gifts given) to build up the faith and the numbers in the church.

The sin here is when we act foolish and do not desire to know or use the gifts God has given us.

Wise use of the gifts can accomplish incredible things. Look at King Solomon. His asking God for wisdom meant that nations of Israel saw its most peaceful and prosperous years. It’s too bad Solomon didn’t live God’s wisdom when it came to his many wives, because they brought him down and drew him away from the Lord with their many religions. As a result God divided Israel into two warring kingdoms after Solomon died.

In our Gospel lesson, look at Jesus and how at age 12, He was wisely learning and using the gifts the Heavenly Father gave Him through the Holy Spirit…all the way to His earthly ministry…all the way up to cross. Look how Jesus’ acts of love have benefited you and me through one God, one faith and one baptism.

Why do we have these gifts? Serve, reinforce, solidify what Christ did for you and me. To weave a wider, stronger web to fight against evil and the Devil. To Increase faith spiritually and numerically.

It’s an encouragement to grow in the faith. Are you using God’s gift of salvation to grow in your faith toward Christ?

One way to view faith is to see it as a muscle. You know over the Christmas holidays I have not been working out so the muscles in my body have become flabby. And experts will tell 6

you that flabby muscles reduce in size and become weaker from non-use. Stronger muscles can defend better against disease and infections. What we do here on Sunday mornings in worship is God exercises you faith to strengthen it and prepare it to better serve others.

Strong muscles on my body enable me to shovel snow, mow the lawn, do house work as acts of service for my wife and family.

What are your gifts? How is the Lord preparing you to serve Him? You know both advent and Epiphany are seasons of light. Advent prepares; Epiphany encourages us to do.

But the key is encouragement…the key is to be reminded: So this morning I am asking the ushers to pass out these yellow ribbons to remind you everyday of the gift of salvation God gave to you in Christ Jesus.