I find it difficult to accept gifts! What's wrong with me? Mostly, it is a pride thing, I suppose. I am not, by nature, an effusive person. Too many times to remember, I have disappointed my wife or kids at Christmas or birthdays when they presented me with some gift they had plotted and planned to get to me without my knowledge only to have me say, "That's nice. Thanks." They want excitement! I try, but whooping and yelling are hard for me. So, rather than disappoint anybody, I just say, in advance, "No gifts." When the church has a Pastor Appreciation Day, I worry about the same thing kind of disappointment for those who are trying to show their love for me, too. I am deeply touched by the expressions of thanks, but find it hard to show the proper emotion of joy! What have come to realize only of late is that when I wave off gifts or refuse to accept someone's thanks, I am robbed of a blessings and, even more significantly, I rob them of joy. So, I counsel myself, "Get over yourself!"
In Leadership, 2008, an article about one of God's great gifts to us appeared. It is from the pen of Tony Campolo. "Sitting with my parents at a Communion service with my parents when I was very young, perhaps 6 or 7 years old, I became aware of a young woman in the pew in front of us who was sobbing and shaking. The minister had just finished reading 1 Corinthians 11:27 - "whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 11:27, NKJV) As the Communion plate, with its small pieces of bread was passed to the young woman before me, she waved it away and lowered her head in despair. It was then that my Sicilian father leaned over her shoulder, and in his broken English, said sternly, "Take it, girl! It was meant for you. Do you hear me?" She raised her head, nodded - and then she took the bread and ate it. I knew that some kind of heavy burden was lifted from her heart. Since then, I have known that a church that could offer Communion to hurting people, offers a gift from God."
I want you, Believer, to take two thoughts with you today.
The first is that God's salvation is not meant to exclude, but to include! We sin terribly when we use the words of the One who is Love Incarnate, the One who came to build a bridge to our Father for us in His Body, to create barriers for those we deem unworthy of our acceptance. Jesus reserved His most angry condemnation for the religious elite who made it hard for hurting, sinful people to find their way to God. "They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden." (Matthew 23:4, NLT) Jesus offered grace to the worst, the scandalous, the outcasts and said that they would enter the Kingdom of God ahead of those who were too proud to accept God's gift, because those who were most broken understood their need better and were therefore receptive to His Gift.
The second is that God's gift of salvation is for YOU. You're not too bad, too good, too broken, too undesirable, too far gone to accept Him or to be accepted by Him. He counseled us to forgive others 77 times when they offend us. Do you somehow think He holds Himself to a different standard? His grace is amazing. The Enemy of your soul wants you to see your sins and failures written in bold capital letters. He wants you to feel the awful unworthiness as long as you will stay focused on self. For then, you will fail to see the Cross with the marred form of Jesus, with His arms extended wide in symbolic embrace of the world. "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!" (Romans 5:8-9, NIV)
Don't allow some mistaken sense of self-reliance keep you from receiving the Gift! What you cannot do for yourself, God has already accomplished in full, at His own expense, and He offers full rights of sonship, an eternal inheritance, to you freely. Yes, maybe, you, like me on Christmas, wonder, "what if I fail to show proper appreciation?" Get over yourself! It's not about YOU, it about Him. Like Campolo's father, I say, "Take it. It was meant for you."
"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." (John 1:4-5, NKJV) "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:10-13, NKJV)
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We will be celebrating our Great Savior and His gift with Holy Communion this Sunday, May 4, at the Assembly. I welcome you to worship with us at 10:15 AM.
If you cannot be there in person, you can join worship virtually and live on the Internet at http://www.washingtonag.com/
Just look for the live streaming globe and click on play.
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