Monday, Dec. 2
John 3:16
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.
Have you noticed that all of a sudden it’s Christmastime? Maybe it’s just me but doesn’t it seem like the Christmas season came early this year? Like, way early!
You can tell it’s Christmas time by the lights popping up all over your neighborhood.
You can tell by the music playing at Walmart or wherever you shop.
And you can tell by the commercials you see on TV.
There’s one ad, in particular, that starts running every year about this time; and every time I see it I think, “Who does that! Who buys that and leaves it in the driveway?”
You know the one; it’s the “Lexus in the driveway” commercial where a husband or wife comes out on Christmas morning to find a brand new $50,000 luxury car sitting in the driveway with a huge red bow on top.
I mean, who does that?
“Merry Christmas, I just got you a $700 per month car payment!”
Just out of curiosity I did a little research and found out that, contrary to what I expected, a lot of people really do buy cars for Christmas; more than you would ever think!
Lexus began running those commercials in 1998 and now they sell more cars in December than any other month of the year.
A marketing company estimated that 57,000 new and used cars were given as Christmas gifts last year. One Lexus dealer in Florida alone sold 50 last December and delivered 25 on Christmas Eve.
One industry expert said it this way: “It’s the notion of extravagance that makes the commercials memorable; extravagance is the whole point!”
That brings us to the story we celebrate this time of year. We all know the basic details; how a young virgin named Mary was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit; how her fiancé Joseph was instructed by angels to take her as his wife anyway; how they were told to name the child “Jesus” for he would save his people from their sins.
We know the story of the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night when the “Heavenly Host” appeared to them and glory of the Lord shone around them.
We know the story of the Magi, the Wise Men, following the star to worship the newborn King.
We know the story and we’ll celebrate it again this advent season, but this week I want to focus on the nature of the gift itself; a gift that beautifully and completely demonstrates the extravagance of God.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...
We don’t often see this as a “Christmas text” but it’s really the whole Christmas story rolled into one verse! Just as we give gifts at Christmastime to those we love, notice that when God wanted to express his love for the world, for each one of us, he gave a gift. The difference, of course, is that God gave a gift far more extravagant than a nice car!
God loved; God gave; and the gift God gave was more extravagant than we could ever imagine!
Just as Lexus executives know that their commercials work because we all want to give or receive an extravagant gift, God wants us to know the extravagance of his love through the gift he chose to give.
The gift was Jesus; who is the extravagance of God!
Pastor Brian Coffey
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