1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,320 Hello everyone and welcome to Trinity Sermons here at Trinity Church, St. 2 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:13,400 Louis. This is our third Sunday of Advent and our third sermon from the series Advent 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:19,200 Conspiracy. Today we will hear about the third tenet of the Advent Conspiracy which is called 4 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:28,520 Give More. Enjoy the sermon today and God bless. 5 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:35,880 A reading from the Gospel of John chapter 1 verses 1 to 14. In the beginning was the 6 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:43,280 Word and the Word was with God and all the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. 7 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:50,040 Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made. In 8 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:57,440 Him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness 9 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:03,880 and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 10 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:10,880 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through Him all might believe. 11 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:16,880 He Himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light. The true light 12 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:22,160 that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world and though 13 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:28,320 the world was made through Him the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was 14 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:35,920 His own but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed 15 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:44,320 in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent 16 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:53,520 nor of human decision or a husband's will but born of God. The Word became flesh and 17 00:01:53,520 --> 00:02:00,960 made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son who 18 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:07,760 came from the Father full of grace and truth. This is the Word of the Lord. 19 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:14,680 Well, good morning everyone and I want to welcome you to this our third gathering of 20 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:25,880 the Advent Conspiracy or should I say the Advent Conspiracy here at Trinity Streetsville. 21 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:34,640 You know, I was thinking conspiracy theorists around the world or secret societies have 22 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:40,280 been involved in changing the world in ways that we do not know. Some say that secret 23 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:46,240 societies have been pulling the levers of political power for hundreds of years. Some 24 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:53,160 say secret societies have overthrown governments. Some say they have even started wars. It may 25 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:59,720 be impossible to tell all that conspiracy groups and secret societies ever done. Why? 26 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:04,760 Because they're secret, of course, they're secret. That's why you would never know. But 27 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:11,880 here the Advent Conspiracy, we too are trying to change the world. By the way, does everyone 28 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:16,600 remember the secret handshake from last week? Everybody, it's okay, it's secure. You can 29 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:22,440 reveal that you know the secret handshake. A for Advent. Yes, our little movement is 30 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:28,600 a little bit different. We're not trying to start any wars but we are in the middle of 31 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:32,480 a battle, friends. We're in the middle of a battle. What are we doing? We're trying 32 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:38,760 to save Christmas. That's right. We believe that, you know, Christmas for the most part 33 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:44,860 here in Canada and mostly around the world has, well, it's kind of lost its way. It's 34 00:03:44,860 --> 00:03:49,240 basically now about shopping, about spending money you don't really have on stuff that 35 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:56,280 you don't really need. And we want to push back against that. We believe, we believe 36 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:05,240 actually that Advent is the antidote to the modern chaos of the commercial Christmas. 37 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:11,280 And so we have not one, not two, not three, but four core commitments and beliefs that 38 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:18,840 we are sticking to this Advent season in order to resist the influence of the commercial 39 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:23,080 Christmas. You probably remember what they are, but let's just remind ourselves of them. 40 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:29,520 We have vowed to worship fully, which means that just at this time of year, when the world 41 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,840 is speeding up and everyone's calendars are getting jammed up, we have decided that we 42 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:38,160 are going to slow down and we are actually going to declutter our calendars. We're going 43 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:44,800 to decelerate our lives and we're going to de-stress. Why? So that we can put Jesus back 44 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,120 into the center of our lives and back into the center of our Christmas celebration. That's 45 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,960 how it starts. That's number one, worship fully, worship fully. And then secondly, what 46 00:04:54,960 --> 00:05:00,800 we're going to do is last week we talked about we're going to spend less, spend less. Now 47 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:06,480 last week we heard that, you know, King Herod was hungry for power. He was hungry for possessions. 48 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:11,320 Meanwhile, Jesus comes along and he's just trying to serve and he's sacrificing. And 49 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,560 so we have kind of said, well, let's do the same when it comes to our Christmas shopping, 50 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:21,760 especially let's spend less. Let's make a budget. Let's set a limit and let's spend 51 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,920 wisely in all those ways we can spend less. Thirdly, we're going to talk about this one 52 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,440 here today, give more, but let's just fast forward to next week. We're going to talk 53 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:35,480 about loving all. That is what this whole movement is about. We want to love all. We 54 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:41,280 want to make sure that the least and the last and the lost of our world, all of those people 55 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:46,280 who desperately need God and desperately need help at this time of year are actually loved 56 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:52,200 and cared for. And that is why we are taking up a big time Christmas offering here at Trinity 57 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:57,560 streets fail to support our community partners and to support our ministry to those who need 58 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:03,580 it most. So that brings us to today, to today where we are going to talk about what does 59 00:06:03,580 --> 00:06:09,320 it mean to give more? What does it mean to give more? It's a strange thing to say, I 60 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:15,440 must admit because how does one spend less on the one hand and give more on the other 61 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:23,320 hand? Well, here's the thing. What makes a gift special isn't the amount of money that 62 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:29,120 we spend on it because we've all probably spent a whole lot of money on a gift that 63 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:34,000 actually missed the mark. And then other times we probably spent very little on something 64 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,920 and it was, you know, we just hit it out of the park. It was the perfect gift for that 65 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:41,440 person and they're never going to forget it. Let me just give you an example. How many 66 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:46,400 of you here are familiar, by the way, I have to apologize for my voice. I was singing Christmas 67 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:52,240 carols way too loud on Friday night. And so I'm kind of losing my voice a little bit, 68 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,760 but how many of you know that TV show, the big bang theory? Do you guys remember that 69 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:01,080 TV show? Yeah. So in the big bang theory, it's basically about this guy named Sheldon, 70 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:07,160 who is a geek. He's a Star Trek fan. He is, he's actually a theoretical physicist, I think. 71 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:12,680 So he's brilliant, but he has a very low emotional intelligence, you might say. His EQ is very 72 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:17,680 low, especially when it comes to women. And so that's why Christmas is so tough for him 73 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:24,960 because he has a friend named Penny and Penny is an amazing gift giver and Sheldon is puzzled 74 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:30,600 and he's trying to figure out how to reciprocate for her at Christmas. We're going to show 75 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:34,400 you a little clip, but I just want to let you know, those of you who are watching online, 76 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:38,160 because of copyright reasons, we're going to have to mute the clip, but we'll be back 77 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:44,840 and the clip will be found in the chat so you can watch it later. There we go. So that's 78 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:50,840 pretty funny, but let's ask the question. What happened in that scene? Here's what happened. 79 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:56,600 Sheldon just realized that the quality of a gift has very little to do with the price 80 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:03,560 of that gift. The gift that Penny gave him was incredibly valuable to him, obviously, 81 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:08,960 and yet at the same time it was completely inexpensive. It cost her basically nothing. 82 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:17,640 All his gift baskets couldn't compare. And so what Penny did is she actually spent less, 83 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:23,000 but she gave more. And this flies in the face of a lot of conventional thinking these days 84 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:28,460 that says that if you spend more, then you're giving more. And if you spend more, you're 85 00:08:28,460 --> 00:08:36,680 even loving more, but that's not true. Another cultural commentator, Michael Scott, says 86 00:08:36,680 --> 00:08:42,320 this, he says, presents are the best way to show someone how much you care. It's like 87 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:49,940 this tangible thing you can point to and say, hey, man, I love you this many dollars worth. 88 00:08:49,940 --> 00:08:55,840 The reason that sounds so hollow is because it is hollow. It's not true. In fact, I just 89 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,560 wanted to share with you this morning a few of the gifts that I have been given over the 90 00:09:00,560 --> 00:09:05,320 years from mostly from my family. And they're pretty meaningful. I think you're going to 91 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:11,840 see that they're not necessarily that expensive. For one, a few years back, my girls gave me 92 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:17,480 this laminated little book. And in this book is a bunch of pictures of our days when we 93 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,860 lived on the hobby farm before we moved to Toronto and Mississauga. So it's got all these 94 00:09:21,860 --> 00:09:26,500 wonderful memories. They've written their names, they've written little stories and drawn pictures 95 00:09:26,500 --> 00:09:33,360 just to remember our time at the farm. That's a pretty special gift. We've also got an apron 96 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:38,280 that one of my daughters, I won't name them because they probably be thoroughly embarrassed 97 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:43,600 if I told them who was who, but they made me this nice apron at one point, which barely 98 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:50,360 fits me just barely. Here's a here's a t shirt that well, there's a couple reasons why I 99 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,600 probably don't wear this one a lot. First of all, it's a muscle shirt, and I don't have 100 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:59,520 a lot of muscles. And the second of all, it kind of, you know, I don't like to be that 101 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:04,720 noticeable throughout town. But on the front, there's a picture of me holding hands with 102 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:11,640 one of my daughters and on the back, it says homemade. And it says number one dad, number 103 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:15,880 one dad. Yeah. And then over, I'm going to show you another one here. This is a coffee 104 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:20,240 mug. Now when I was given this coffee mug, it said like, you know, in the office, World's 105 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:26,120 Best Boss, it said World's Best Dad on it. And on the back, it had my daughter's four 106 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:30,860 fingerprints that were pressed into it. And they had some hot Mod Podge or something they 107 00:10:30,860 --> 00:10:36,240 had put in over top of it. But trouble was the first time we washed it, all that stuff 108 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:43,000 came off. And so I still keep the mug, because even the mug, of course, is a memory of what 109 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:48,000 they what they gave. And, and then of course, I want to show you this too. This is a little 110 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:53,580 tiny little set of coupons that one of my daughters gave me saying this is this is some 111 00:10:53,580 --> 00:10:58,400 things that I could do for you, dad, I could walk the dog anytime, any day. And that was 112 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:06,320 good for one week. I was also told that she would be my personal stylist, which meant 113 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:11,720 she'd look after my outfits and my hair and my accessories. Again, that was for any day, 114 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:18,720 anytime, coupon for counseling, a whole yard work, there was a whole bunch of things in 115 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:23,960 there. These are pretty special gifts. I'll just show you one more. But this is one Sally 116 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:29,720 can my wife Sally can knit and she she spent a lot of time and energy. She's nipped me 117 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,880 a couple sweaters over the years, but she did me this this sweater as well. And it's 118 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:40,120 of course, very, very special. These are very precious and special gifts for me. Now what 119 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:46,520 makes them such meaningful gifts is the question. And here's the answer. The best gifts always 120 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:55,520 celebrate or commemorate a relationship. gifts are priceless when they're personal. And that's 121 00:11:55,520 --> 00:12:02,120 how you give more at Christmas. You give more relational gifts. Here's another shot of Greg 122 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:09,880 Holder. The counterbalance to that is give more which you're absolutely right in suggesting 123 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:16,920 that that sounds like a contradiction. What we're saying is to give more relational gifts. 124 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:22,480 And what does that mean? Well, let's go back to the story. The most relational gift we've 125 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:29,800 ever been given is Jesus our Savior, who takes on flesh and blood. We can all go to the scriptures 126 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:35,600 for God so loved the world he gave he gave his son. So there's an incarnational aspect 127 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:41,400 to this. And what that means is that we begin to think through how do we give relational 128 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:46,800 gifts. You're going to hear the word relationship a lot during this sermon. So if you're taking 129 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:52,240 notes, just write down relationship and you're done. Because isn't it true that when God 130 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,600 came to provide a solution to all the world's problems, he did not give us some material 131 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:03,040 thing, but he gave us a relational he gave us a relationship with his son Jesus the most 132 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:08,000 personal gift anyone could give. And if you want to dig deep into that, there's no better 133 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,240 place for us to do that that in John chapter one beginning at verse one, which we did read 134 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:18,480 together it's a little complicated, but let's just read through a little more together. 135 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:25,640 Okay, we read that in the beginning, in the beginning, in the beginning, yes, in the very, 136 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:31,440 very, very beginning, go back to the very beginning in the beginning was, was what what 137 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:37,240 what possibly was there at the very, very beginning what we read here, the beginning 138 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:47,400 was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. Now the Greek word logos 139 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:53,200 is translated here as word, but it can also mean thought can also mean truth in the beginning 140 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:58,100 was the truth and the beginning was a thought. But what john goes on, what john goes on to 141 00:13:58,100 --> 00:14:02,360 tell us in the rest of his gospel, of course, is that this word that was there at the very 142 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:09,440 beginning was not some idea, it wasn't some force, it wasn't some philosophy. This word 143 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:14,800 the very beginning was relational, it was personal. He goes on to tell us that in the 144 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:20,480 beginning, there was this living personal being and he even tells us who the name of 145 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:30,720 that being was. It was Jesus in the beginning was Jesus and Jesus was with God and Jesus 146 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:37,020 was God. In other words, if you were to pull back the curtains of the universe and look 147 00:14:37,020 --> 00:14:42,560 deep into where it all came from, yes, you might see a Big Bang Theory, and you might 148 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:48,720 see the physics equation. But really, at the heart of all reality is a personal relationship 149 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:56,120 between a father and a son. In fact, the father and the son are so closely connected that 150 00:14:56,120 --> 00:15:01,160 where Jesus says that if you have seen me, you have seen the father because relationally 151 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:07,480 we are one. And so just kept this with me. At the in the very beginning, in the very 152 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:12,520 beginning, you have the father, you have the son and you have the Holy Spirit, these three 153 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:20,360 beings constantly giving to each other, constantly in relationship with each other in love. This 154 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:24,840 is so important for us to remember at Christmas. I don't know if maybe you've not thought about 155 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:32,360 this, but Jesus is not just the baby in the manger, right? Jesus is also the creator of 156 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:38,720 the universe. He was the one who flung the galaxies into their place. He's the one who 157 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:44,760 holds all the galaxies in his hand. And you might say, well, how can that possibly be? 158 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:51,440 How can it be? It's because Jesus did not come into existence on Christmas morning. 159 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:57,960 Yes, he was born a baby. And yes, he was born in a manger and laid in the cradle. But understand 160 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:04,920 this, he's always existed. He's always existed in perfect relationship with his father. And 161 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:10,400 that brings us to one of the most amazing verses in all the Bible. I think you should memorize this one for sure. 162 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:17,520 The word became flesh. This word became flesh and it dwelt among us. The creator of the 163 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:25,760 cosmos was given to us. He came to be with us, to live with us, to be one of us. Talk 164 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:35,560 about a relational gift. The gift that God gives on the very first Christmas is himself. 165 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:44,480 Did you hear that song we just sang? We said, word of the father, word of the father, now 166 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:50,520 in flesh appearing. I love the way the message Bible translates this. It says, the word became 167 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:57,920 flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. God put on skin and bone and eyelashes and 168 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:03,900 toenails and came out of eternity and gave himself to us so we could feel him and know 169 00:17:03,900 --> 00:17:13,600 him and love him and follow him. Tim Keller says, Jesus wasn't just born, he was given. 170 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:20,200 And theologians have a fancy word for this. They call it the incarnation, carne, carnivore, 171 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:27,680 meat, flesh. So incarnation means that God, the God of all creation puts on meat. He puts 172 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:33,760 on flesh. He's born as a human baby. And suddenly the God of the universe that was out there 173 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:43,160 is now right here. Talk about a relational gift. So here's what I'm thinking. When it 174 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:50,600 comes to Christmas shopping this year, what if this Christmas we took our cue from God 175 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:58,160 himself and gave relationally, gave ourselves to others, just as Christ gave himself to 176 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:05,160 us. What would it look like? Practically, if this Christmas morning you gave a different 177 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:11,720 kind of gift. I want to suggest three practical ways we could do this or think about this 178 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:17,160 that you can give relationally this Christmas. The first way I want to suggest to you is 179 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:22,800 we can make sure that our gifts we give are really, really personal. Right? We look in 180 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:32,160 John's gospel and we read, today in the town of David, a savior has been born to who? To 181 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:39,180 you. A savior has been born to Tracy. Savior has been born to Georgia. Savior has been 182 00:18:39,180 --> 00:18:46,440 born to Chris. Very, very personal. Most Christmas gifts are not that personal. If I were to 183 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,900 ask you to turn to your neighbor, I'm not going to, and say, tell me three gifts you 184 00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:55,880 got last Christmas, most of us would have a very hard time trying to remember. Why is 185 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:00,680 that? Why can't we remember a gift that we got 12 months ago? It's probably because we 186 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:05,640 got another shirt. We already had a closet full of shirts. We all get this stuff for 187 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:12,600 Christmas that is instantly forgettable because it's material and it's not relational. In 188 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:19,680 contrast, relational giving means we pour ourselves into that gift somehow. Let me just 189 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:27,280 give you an example. For this book here that my kids gave me was a very relational gift. 190 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:33,800 Now I will say to you, for you, this book is worthless. This has no value to you. To 191 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:40,560 me, this book is priceless. I would never part with this, right? Because, and I'll tell 192 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:46,000 you why, because it wasn't made for you, it was made for me, very personally made for 193 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:52,760 me. Or what if I was to take the sweater as another example? You know, it's interesting. 194 00:19:52,760 --> 00:20:01,920 Sally actually put a tag on this sweater and it says, for you, Rob, for you with love. 195 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:09,400 Right? Now, first of all, I married up, didn't I? Like that's pretty sweet. I got to say. 196 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:14,480 But most of us, when we were looking at tags on sweaters in a mall, we're looking for a 197 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:18,920 Lululemon or we're looking for Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren or something like that, something 198 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:24,520 expensive maybe. But you're not going to find anything personal like that. But because this 199 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:31,040 is personal, it is priceless. You're never going to find this sweater in Value Village. 200 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:35,200 It's about everything else I own will one day be in Value Village, but this will not 201 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:40,600 be in Value Village. So listen, God's gift to us is very, very personal given to show 202 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:46,720 you that he cares for you. So what if he took some time this December and you didn't just 203 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:52,560 buy something easy from the mall, but you actually gave some creative thought to the 204 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:58,120 other person, who they are, exactly what they care about and give them something personal 205 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:03,120 that speaks to them. That's the first way we can do that. The second way that we can 206 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:11,280 give more is to give our presence. Think about it again. God's gift of Jesus was the gift 207 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:16,560 of his presence. Oh, oops. It says there that a virgin will conceive and give birth to a 208 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:21,560 son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. In other words, it's a 209 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,840 gift of presence. This is a breakthrough. I hope you understand this is a breakthrough 210 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:32,680 in the Bible because I think beforehand, people knew about God and people knew God's name 211 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:37,960 even, but they had never seen God's face. And suddenly in the face of Jesus, God has 212 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:44,360 a face and a voice and a presence. And when Jesus walked the earth, he loved being present 213 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:49,680 with people and people love being present with Jesus as well. So what if this Christmas 214 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:59,560 you gave the gift of your presence, P-R-E, present with a C-E, not a T-S, presence, meaning 215 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:07,280 spending time with those you love. This Christmas, is there someone that you love that is craving 216 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:14,160 the gift of your presence? And just the act of you showing up to be with them would be 217 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,920 the most memorable and meaningful thing you could do for them this season. Again, let 218 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:23,240 me take you back to a couple of these gifts. The gift of this apron kind of reminds me 219 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:27,680 of the gift of presence because every year, actually, we just did this last night, we 220 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:34,600 get together as a family and we bake Christmas cookies and Rice Krispie Squares and haystacks 221 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:39,420 and all that stuff. And so while it's an apron, it's a physical thing, it's actually a symbol 222 00:22:39,420 --> 00:22:46,240 of how we as a family kind of get together and share our presence with each other. Also, 223 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:52,320 even this muscle shirt, which does not get much use, as I said, but it has on the front, 224 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:58,840 I know it's got a picture of me holding hands with my daughter. That is a sign that this 225 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:07,520 is really a gift about how important the presence is to each other. I heard about one family 226 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:14,360 that was doing the Advent conspiracy and the father got really kind of upset because what 227 00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:18,040 he did is they spent a lot of money and they went down to Disney. Now that's not spending 228 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:22,140 less, that costs a ton of money to do that. But the idea was, oh, we'll spend time together. 229 00:23:22,140 --> 00:23:26,200 And so when they got back, the father asked the son, what was your favorite part? Was 230 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:31,840 it Magic Kingdom? Was it Epcot? Was it Animal Kingdom or whatever? And the boy said that 231 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:36,960 his favorite part was the hotel pool, just swimming in the hotel pool. And the father 232 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:41,160 was furious. He was like, I could have, the hotel pool, we could have gone to River Grove 233 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:46,040 and done that, right? We didn't have to go down to Florida. But why did his son love 234 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:51,920 being in the hotel pool with him? Because he got his dad's presence in that time, right? 235 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:58,000 He was off of work. He was fully present spending time with his child. Question, is there someone 236 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:04,040 in your life who is longing to experience your presence this Christmas? Rather than 237 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:10,820 get them more Axe body spray or whatever, brainstorm some ideas about giving them the 238 00:24:10,820 --> 00:24:17,840 gift of presence. Check out this idea again from the Advent Conspiracy. 239 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:23,080 One of the classic gifts, and it's in the book that we wrote that eventually when this 240 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:29,600 really started to take off globally, Zondervan asked us to write a book. And so in the book, 241 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,760 we talk about a young man, I think he was in his twenties, if I'm remembering right. 242 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:41,480 He gives his dad a bag of coffee beans and you're like, okay, I mean, so dad liked coffee, 243 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:48,400 right? Okay. He spent less. No, he gave more because it was a note accompanying the gift. 244 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:54,200 And it said, dad, you're only allowed to grind the beans and to drink this coffee down with 245 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:59,880 me. And however long it takes, however many times we have to sit down as we go through 246 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:05,240 this bag of beans, I want you to tell me stories of how you became the man you are. I want 247 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:13,000 to get to know you at a different level. That's pretty cool. You know, speaking of coffee, 248 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,240 while I was even working on my sermon this week, I was in Tim Hortons and there was a 249 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,440 group of people at the table beside me and they obviously had not seen each other in 250 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:23,960 a long time. They obviously were getting together for Christmas and they were sitting down and 251 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,920 they were just, just for the cup of coffee, for the cost of a cup of coffee. They were 252 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:33,700 giving each other the gift of their presence and they seem to be delighted to be together. 253 00:25:33,700 --> 00:25:38,880 So let's resist buying the easy thing or whatever's on sale and let's think about giving the gift 254 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:44,960 of presence. Finally, God's gift was personal. It was a gift of presence. But thirdly, this 255 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:50,760 is where it gets a little confusing. It was also very pricey. Coming to be with you cost 256 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:56,920 Jesus everything because when Jesus leaves his father's side, look at this, he leaves 257 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:04,420 behind splendor. He leaves behind the majesty of heaven. This is a pricey gift in that sense. 258 00:26:04,420 --> 00:26:10,800 He made himself nothing. It cost him even more if you continue to follow the story, 259 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:16,200 because he ultimately gives his life to you and to me. He humbled himself, became obedient 260 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:23,680 to death, even death on a cross. So what did giving relationally cost Jesus? The answer 261 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:28,240 is it cost him everything. So just understand this at Christmas, when we are saying give 262 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:33,880 relationally, it will also be costly. It's not costly in the sense that you're spending 263 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,080 money, but you're spending yourself, you're spending your time, you're spending your energy, 264 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:42,840 you're spending your creativity. It's a real sacrifice to make a gift more relational. 265 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:47,580 You can't just go to the mall and say, oh, bath bombs, buy two, get a third one free 266 00:26:47,580 --> 00:26:51,520 and you chuck them in your cart, right? If you want to give truly relational gifts, you've 267 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:56,680 got to pay the price with a bit more time. Just case in point, I want to show you one 268 00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:02,280 of the gifts in here. Remember I mentioned that my daughter gave me these little coupons. 269 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:06,940 All of these require her time, especially this one. I want to show you one. She said, 270 00:27:06,940 --> 00:27:14,600 she gave me a coupon that said a free drink, okay, coffee, tea, juice or smoothie. But 271 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:22,400 then on the back, you know what it says? Unlimited, unlimited free drinks, free. So technically, 272 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:29,160 if I were to redeem this, I could redeem unlimited smoothies for the rest of my life. That is 273 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:34,960 an incredibly costly gift when it comes to time and energy. Hey, and if you like that 274 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:40,040 idea, we've actually printed out these blank gift vouchers that you could pick up at the 275 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:45,480 resource table afterwards. And maybe you give one of these this Christmas, you can, you 276 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:49,680 know, with a different act of service, maybe it's for free babysitting or maybe it's for 277 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:54,960 yard work or, or folding laundry or cleaning the garage or whatever the case may be making 278 00:27:54,960 --> 00:28:00,880 infinite smoothies, right? There's a way to give our time. That's very costly. These things 279 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:06,740 all take time. They all take time. And remember time is really the most valuable thing we 280 00:28:06,740 --> 00:28:13,760 have to spend anyways. So there you have it. There you have it. The three ways we can give 281 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:19,760 more this Christmas, even if we spend less. But I know you're saying, Rob, there's like 282 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:24,520 eight days left till Christmas. I've already bought a bunch of stuff. What are you doing 283 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:30,080 to me? And that's okay. That's okay. Just think of it as baby steps this year. Why not 284 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:36,440 try to do this? What I've kind of talked about just for one person this year, say one person 285 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:42,600 on my list, I'm going to give a gift relationally to and next year, maybe it's two and the year 286 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:47,780 after that, maybe it's three. Yes, here at the Advent Conspiracy, our goal is to change 287 00:28:47,780 --> 00:28:52,720 the world this Christmas, but, but that can actually happen little bit by little bit. 288 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:57,800 So please don't be overwhelmed. At the same time, though, I want to say, if you're ready 289 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:03,940 to do Christmas differently and give yourself fully to others, go for it. Give personally, 290 00:29:03,940 --> 00:29:08,000 give the gift of your presence and don't be afraid to give a pricey gift that costs some 291 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,940 of your time and energy. Because when you do this, you know what you're doing? You're 292 00:29:11,940 --> 00:29:19,200 reclaiming the incarnational heart of Christmas. And you are going to leave your friends and 293 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,120 your family and your neighbors with a gift that they'll remember not just next year, 294 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:28,080 but they'll probably remember it 10 years from now. And as we give ourselves, do you 295 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:33,320 know what else we're doing? They're going to get to see Jesus up close and personal 296 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:41,820 in our lives through our presence. And that kind of gift truly is priceless. So thanks 297 00:29:41,820 --> 00:29:43,820 be to God. Amen. 298 00:29:43,820 --> 00:29:48,500 Thanks for listening to our sermon. We are so glad that we can share our message with 299 00:29:48,500 --> 00:29:54,840 you and we hope that you're inspired to put relationships first in your giving this Christmas. 300 00:29:54,840 --> 00:30:00,320 Today's sermon was taken from the December 17th, 2023 service at Trinity Church, Streetsville 301 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:03,480 in Mississauga, Ontario.