God’s Gift of …

Over the past three weeks, we learned that Christ is the gift of: a light, confronting our ignorance of God, exposing our rebellion against Him and shattering the power of death over us. a King who reigns and rules in a complete way over all things. a High Priest who institutes a better covenant, a better law, a better temple, and a better sacrifice through His death and resurrection.

Any guesses on our theme? Our theme this morning is the new and everlasting life gifted to us by God through Jesus Christ. The distinction between ‘eternal’ and ‘new’ life Eternal life is most often understood as referring to the concept of the endless life that we will one day be ushered into through faith in Christ when He one day returns again. New life refers to a different kind of life – based on a different foundation and of a different quality – that we are given when we place our faith in Jesus and can be experienced in the here and now.

Two Ways of Interpreting Romans 6:23 God’s gift to us is eternal life and it comes through Jesus – in this, Jesus is kind of like the box that contains the ‘real’ gift. God’s gift is in fact Jesus Himself and in Him we also find eternal and new life. If the gift is eternal life, then once we’ve received it, we have no more use for the box that ‘carried’ the gift. If Jesus is actually the gift, then we’ve got this ongoing Jesus thing to work out. Is the gift eternal life through Jesus or is the gift Jesus himself with eternal life as a by-product of relationship with Him?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16) “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him”. (1 John 4:9) Note that both verses indicate that: God gave us something, His Son this gift of Jesus to the world begins with God’s love and results in eternal or new life. Very simply, it is through faith or belief in Jesus that one is gifted this eternal and new life; Jesus is the gift and eternal life, the by-product.

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent”. (John 17:3) If eternal life is all about knowing Jesus Christ – eternal, unobstructed relationship with Him – then it is through eternal life that we realize the full extent of the gift God has given, Jesus Christ. Paul’s Beautiful Rant in Philippians 3:7-11 Attaining eternal life is only possible by knowing or gaining Christ. Eternal life is only worth it, if it’s spent in intimate relationship with Christ. The real gift of God is that we can right now know Jesus; understanding that one day we will eternally and completely know Him.

FINAL EXERCISE Over the next month, I seriously encourage you to unwrap the present that is Jesus Christ … take some time to get to know Jesus on an even more personal level. Let us enjoy relationship with Jesus now and forever and, as the Apostle Paul states in 2 Corinthians 9:15, may “thanks be to God for his indescribable gift”!