The Gift of God

Text: Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 12:1

Prop: a gift bag with a piece of paper or cardboard marked “GRACE” in it

Summary: God’s gift of grace is for us to receive. We cannot earn our way to heaven; we must trust Jesus to save us.

I know you are excited now that Christmas has come. Did you get any gifts this year? [listen to responses] One of the songs we hear played this time of year is The Little Drummer Boy. In the song we learn that the little boy did not have anything special to give to the baby Jesus. He could only give of himself so he played on his drum for the baby Jesus. Today I want to tell you about the gift of God.

God decided long ago that he would send us his Son Jesus. He came as a baby in a manger. God loves us so much that he gave us a gift. Let’s look in this gift bag and find out what he gave us. [open the bag and pull out the paper marked “GRACE”] What does this say? Yes, it is GRACE. Grace is a word we hear a lot in church but sometimes we don’t know what it means. Grace means we have been given something we don’t deserve because we cannot do anything to earn it.

The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. 

When Jesus was grown he died on the cross to pay for our sins or badness. We could never be good enough to get to heaven on our own. Jesus loves us so much he wants us to go to heaven when we die and be with him forever. We have a gift we can give to God. Just as the drummer boy gave of himself we can give ourselves to God and serve Him.

In Romans 12:1 it says I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. That means our gift is giving ourselves to God. We can do that when we trust Jesus to be our Savior and follow Him all through life on earth.

©2000 by Jim Kerlin. All rights reserved.