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INJ
Every Good and Perfect Gift
James 1:16-21
Morning Service
Cantate, 14 May 2006
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
For one more week we share this Easter greeting as we, the Lord's church, continue to share with each other the joy of the Lord's resurrection and life. He is risen from the dead and He overcomes all of our enemies, He conquers for us to give us every good thing, gift upon gift.
His gifts, this is what makes us His own dear children, because He has freely give to us life and salvation and forgiveness and His name and kingdom, as we heard in the Epistle reading from the 1st chapter of the book of James, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” [James 1:17]
Dear saints, this is what I would like to consider with you this morning, this text and especially this one simple word: gift. If we understand this one word, we are well on our way to understanding all of theology and the whole of the Gospel. That's a lot to say about one word, especially one so simple that even a child knows what it means, but in this word we will learn how God wants us to think of Him.
Well, what is a gift? It is something given. The most important thing to know about a gift is that it is not earned. A paycheck is not a gift. You don't write a thank you note to your boss, thanking him for your wages. Why? Because you earned them; you put in the hard work and dedication and long hours and your boss gave you the money that you had agreed upon. Wages come by work and earning and deserving. Gifts come freely, apart from works and deserving, no matter if you are naughty or nice.
Gifts have no strings attached. A gift with strings is not a gift, it's a bribe. If I give you a wonderful gift, and then expect something in return, it is no gift, but a payment. A gift is given freely, with no thought or expectation of repayment.
Because gifts are given freely, with no strings, and because gifts are never deserved or earned, gifts are always a surprise. “For me?” This is the response that gifts create, surprise and delight and thankfulness, “Is this really for me?” And this is exactly how it is with God our Father, who gives us every good and perfect gift. “It this really for me?” His gifts always come to us as a delight and a surprise.
Well, what are the gifts of God? What does God give to us?
Today we especially remember the gift of our mothers. Mothers are certainly gifts from God, we did nothing to earn or deserve our mothers or any of our family. Our mothers, in fact, did most of the work, giving us birth and life, and with our fathers protecting us and sheltering us and raising us, giving up so much to care for us and give us all that we need. Truly mothers are a picture of giving gifts, for motherly love thinks nothing of itself, but only of the child. It is God who has created and ordained our parents, and given them to us freely, and so today, on Mother's Day, it is good to give thanks to God that He has seen fit to give each of us the wonderful gift of a mother.
This certainly is more than we deserve, but there are more gifts. With God there's always more. Not only did He, through our mothers, give us birth and life, He has, through His Son, given us new birth and eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that He gave...” as a gift, “He gave His only begotten Son, so that who ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus is given to us as a gift, freely. We did not earn Him or deserve Him, He does not come because of our own will and desiring. Jesus is the gift of the Father to us, and how do we respond? “For me?” With surprise and delight, “Jesus' death is for me?”
His death brings salvation, and this, too, is a gift, unearned, undeserved. “The wages of sin is death.” That's what we've earned and deserved, that's our pay check. “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The gift is eternal life, and that gift is ours by faith, eternal life, life without end, in the glorious face of our Lord Jesus.
This faith comes by the hearing of the Lord's Word. This, too, is a gift. We do not deserve to have the Lord's Word, and yet He causes it to be preached and published abroad, freely, that all could hear it. So it is as we heard, again in the Epistle reading from James, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” [James 1:18]
Just as our first birth is a gift from out mothers, so our second birth, our re-birth, our being born from above into salvation and eternal life, is wrought by God and His life-giving Word. “He brought us forth by the word of truth.” By His will, not ours; by His word, not ours; by His work; not ours. Everything comes from the Father, as a gift. “Every good gift and every prefect gift comes down from the Father of lights.”
So how does this understanding of the word “gift” help us to understand theology and the Gospel? Just this, every thing that we have comes from the hand of God: our family, our mother and father and children and grandchildren, our homes and our jobs, our food and drink, and everything that we have to support this body and life, all is a gift, it all comes without any merit or worthiness in us. And more, all that we have for our eternal life, Jesus and His death and resurrection, the Gospel and the promise of forgiveness, the Holy Scriptures, and Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and the joy and comfort and discernment and a good conscience that all come from the Holy Spirit, all of this comes to us as a free gift, without any merit or worthiness in us.
This is how the heavenly Father wants us to know and recognize Him: He is the one who gives us gifts. We, His children, receive those gifts with joy and surprise and delight. All that is left for us is to give thanks, thanks to God the Father who has brought us forth through His word of truth and made us His own dear children. May God grant us all His Holy Spirit, that we rejoice in His gifts, and find in them our life and salvation and the forgiveness of all of our sins. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church
Aurora, CO