It is the time of year when  many are exchanging gifts. Some will receive gifts they love and others will not be so pleased. Some will find a unique gift for each individual and others will give everyone the same thing. Some gifts will be expensive and some will be priceless. Some will be given out of love and friendship some out of guilt or duty. Some gifts will not be fully appreciated at first and some will become a disappointment with time. There are many highs and lows when it comes to the giving and receiving of gifts. What is the best gift you have ever received?

If you are a Christian I can answer that question even though I probably don’t know more than a few of the gifts you have been given in your life. How can I be so confident? Because it is Jesus. John 3:16 speaks of God giving the greatest gift that could be given and how he did it because of his great love for us. We looked a few weeks back at Christ as a giver of gifts, but let’s admire him as the most spectacular of all gifts ever given. In 2 Corinthians 9:15 Paul gives thanks to God for Christ and in various translations refers to Christ and the salvation that comes only through him as God’s inexpressible/unspeakable/too wonderful to describe gift. And truly what words could express God’s giving of his own Son.

Giving of some kind or another is so common a theme in the Bible that some form of the word is mentioned over 2000 times in some English translations. But of all the giving that is mentioned, and a good bit of it is mentioning the things God gave, nothing compares to this gift that we as humans can’t fully comprehend or explain. But Jesus was given for us. Unlike many of the things that we give which are limited, God gave Christ for all mankind and everyone can have this indescribable gift. Give thanks to God if you have received this gift which is precious beyond words. If you haven’t received Christ, Why are you waiting? By receiving him you are given the right to become children of God (John 1:12).

As sad as it is there are many who deny that Jesus is God. That is nothing new, many of the Jews of his own day who saw the multitude of miracles he performed did not believe in him. Sadder however is the fact that some who call themselves Christians don’t believe that he is God. They may believe that he was a righteous man or a prophet, or even that he is the Son of God, but still reject him being God in the flesh. 

In the early days of Christianity there were some called Gnostics and Docetists who came up with elaborate theories to explain that Jesus was not really God or at least that the part that was God didn’t die on the cross. There are still many today who reject the idea of God dying for mankind, and I understand it may be impossible for us to understand, but we cannot reject reality just because we don’t understand it. There are many basic things that we deal with every day that we don’t understand. Just consider hundreds of tons of water hanging over our heads in clouds, how? Or that the Earth itself is simply hanging in space (and also moving), how? - Job 26:7-8. 

Jesus made it clear in John 10:30-33 saying, “I and the Father are one” The Jews understood what he meant even if they rejected it. They were ready to stone him to death, “because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus taught the disciples the same thing in John 14:7-9, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”. Even when Thomas fell at his feet proclaiming, “my Lord and my God” in John 20:28, Jesus could have corrected him if this was not accurate, but Jesus honored his statement instead. There should be no question in our minds that Jesus is God, if we believe the Bible.

In John 10 Jesus compares us to sheep and he speaks of the religious leaders of his day as hirelings who will run away at the first sign of trouble. The good shepherd is not like that at all, however. Instead of running away, the shepherd will die to protect the sheep. The hired hand doesn’t care about the sheep, only about himself, but the good shepherd is different. He knows the sheep by name and they recognize him and his voice. 

Of course, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are his sheep. He knows us and cares for us. He was willing to and, in fact, did lay down his life for us. He didn’t throw himself between us and a bear, but in dying for our sins on the cross he did come between us and the roaring lion who is trying to devour us.

Jesus even says that this sacrifice of laying down his life is a reason his Father loves him. Of course, his life would not be laid down permanently because he would take his life back in the resurrection. He also explained that no one was taking it from him. If it had been taken from him by force it wouldn’t have been a sacrifice.

The final thing Jesus told his Jewish listeners was that they were not his only sheep. He explained that he had other sheep that were not part of the nation that had been God’s people. We can be grateful that through Jesus both Jews and Gentiles are able to be part of the same flock of sheep and that we don’t have to depend on hirelings. We must still watch for false shepherds and religious leaders who try to lead us away from our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Don’t let anyone lead you away from the shepherd who died for you.

Did you brave the stores on Black Friday to get deals for gifts? Have you done all your gift shopping? Are there some people for whom it is difficult to buy the right gift? Do you wonder if the gifts will be appreciated? Giving gifts has been a part of human cultures for millennia. I guess the first gift given was not a good one (Eve gave Adam the fruit) and we have been trying to do better ever since. But seriously, God is a giver and since we are created in his image it is natural that we want to give as well.

We know God is the greatest gift-giver because he gave his only son for us, according to John 3:16. Other passages tell us about the things God has given us as well, and as God’s Son, Jesus is also a giver. Ephesians 4:7-8 tells us about Christ’s gifts, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.  8  Therefore it says,’When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’” When Jesus rose from the grave he gave us gifts. Those gifts are available to all mankind and we need to be letting everyone know so they can receive their gifts from Jesus.

In addition to grace that is mentioned in verse 7, what are some of the gifts mentioned in verse 8 where he paraphrases Psalm 68:18? He gave us hope that we could overcome death because he rose again. He gave us freedom from the fear of death that has such a powerful hold on humanity. He gave us confidence that God’s promises are trustworthy. He gave us a pattern to imitate in baptism as a way to show that we are freed from sin. There are more gifts he gave through his loving sacrifice and his conquering the enemy of death. We need to be thankful for all these gifts and share them with others. 

What gifts that Christ gave are you most thankful for? What gifts have you overlooked? Let’s show our appreciation to Christ by living our lives for him every day and giving him our devotion in return.

Friendship is one of the greatest things that a human being can experience. Good friends help us, support us, listen to us, encourage us, correct us, push and pull us, share with us, and confide in us as we do in them. For many people their friends are more important to them than their flesh and blood families in spite of the old saying about blood being thicker than water. 

Even the Bible emphasizes the special nature of this relationship. Jonathan and David had a friendship that was defined as a love that was greater than the love they had for women. Jonathan even risked his life to protect David from King Saul, Jonathan’s own father. Jonathan also supported David even though it would mean missing out on being king himself. Solomon also spoke of friends in Proverbs: friend loves at all times (17:17), Don’t forsake your friend (27:10), and there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (18:24). Some people even think that Jesus is the friend being spoken of in the last verse.

In John 15 Jesus describes how he is changing the status of their relationship. Beginning in verse 11 he says that he wants them to be full of joy. Then he says that they are to love each other just like he loves them. After that he explains how great his love for them is. The greatest love is to die for your friends and that is what Jesus did for them and for us. He assures them that they are his friends if they will obey him and that he is not calling them servants anymore, but friends.

Most of us have never had a friend who died for us, but we do in Christ. Let’s show our love for him by obeying him and loving each other as he commanded us. Truly Jesus is a friend that is closer than a brother.

No audio for Jesus and Personal Evangelism, but the main points from John 4 are in the slideshow below.

The Bible describes Christ in many different ways. Dozens of times in 19 books from Genesis to Revelation God uses imagery related to sheep and shepherding to explain his relationship with his people. We have already seen Jesus as the Chief Shepherd and we will see more of these images later, but in John 10 almost the entire chapter revolves around sheep. 

In John 10 Jesus describes a sheep fold and how it is protected. Of course there is a wall or fence around most of it with only one entrance. At the entrance there is a gate or door that can be opened and closed for the sheep to go in and out. Jesus describes himself as that door or gate. There is also a gatekeeper that seems to simply be mentioned to complete the story. 

Jesus explains that the sheep and shepherd only go in and out at the door and anyone who is trying to get in some other way is a thief. Since Jesus is the door anyone who wants to be one of God’s sheep has to come in through him. In his day there were many who didn’t want to come through him and many false shepherds were trying to steal or destroy God’s sheep. 

We need to remain in the sheepfold where Jesus is our door and he can protect us from those who would do us harm. In verse 9 he says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” Salvation is only available by going through the one door, Jesus Christ. There are many who want to try to be saved in other ways, but Jesus makes it clear that salvation is exclusive to him and none others can offer it. He is not just a door, he is THE door. There is no other.

Have you come to God and been saved by going through Jesus Christ? Are you remaining in God’s fold protected by Jesus, the door?
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