Sermon on Christmas day

 

The Gift You Can’t Return: Grace on Christmas Day

 

Introduction: The Day After

Grace and peace unto you, and Merry Christmas. Many of us know this scene: Christmas early morning, wrapped presents under the tree. The tearing of paper, the shouts of joy, the gratitude. But maybe also this: that one gift… that just wasn’t right. The blouse that doesn’t fit. The gadget you’ll never use. And in the back of your mind, you’re thinking, “It’s okay. I can return it.”

This morning, on this Christmas Day, our text from Titus chapter 3 speaks of a gift that has been given—but it is a gift of an entirely different order. It is a gift that doesn’t come in a box, can’t be earned, and must not—cannot—be returned. It is the gift of God’s own kindness and love, wrapped in human flesh, laid in a manger.

Let’s hear these words from Titus 3:4-7:

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

I. The Gift That Appeared: Kindness and Love in a Manger

The apostle Paul writes, “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared…” Christmas is the appearing. It’s the moment the invisible became visible. The abstract became concrete. The distant God drew near—not in a pillar of cloud or fire, but in the soft skin and hungry cry of a newborn.

Look across to Luke’s Gospel this morning. What do we see? An overcrowded town. A weary couple. A makeshift bed in a feed trough. Shepherds keeping watch. This is not the grand, dramatic entrance the world might expect for a Savior. There’s no fanfare in the palace, only angels in a field. No royal decree, only a mother’s pondering heart.

This is how kindness and love appear. Not as a general principle, but as a particular person. Not as a force, but as a face. The kindness of God has a name: Jesus. The love of God has a heartbeat, swaddling clothes, a mother’s embrace.

The shepherds were told, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Titus calls this same child “God our Savior.” The manger in Bethlehem is the stage for the greatest appearing in history: the appearing of divine kindness and love, walking among us.

II. The Gift You Didn’t Earn: Mercy, Not Merit

Now, notice carefully why this gift was given. Titus is stunningly clear: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”

Christmas dismantles our economy of earning. We live in a world of exchange: you work, you get paid. You behave, you get rewards. You give a gift, you expect one in return. We even subtly apply this to God: if I’m good enough, maybe God will favor me. If I clean up my life, then I’ll be acceptable.

The angel’s announcement to the shepherds shatters that logic. The news is of a gift given to you: “A Savior has been born TO YOU.” Did the shepherds earn it? Were they the most religious men in Judea? No. They were on the night shift, socially marginal, ceremonially unclean from their work. Yet the birth announcement came to them first.

This is the heart of the Christmas gift: it is all mercy. It is all generosity. You didn’t buy it. You can’t deserve it. You were not even “in the right spirit” to receive it. God’ kindness and love appeared precisely when we could not make ourselves presentable.

Perhaps you came here today feeling unworthy. Christmas says, “Of course you are. That’s why he came.” The gift is for the undeserving. The Savior is for the sinful. The joy is for the weary. It is because of his mercy.

III. The Gift That Transforms: Washing, Renewal, Inheritance

But this gift does not leave us as we are. It’s not a decorative trinket to put on a shelf. It is a transformative gift. Titus says God “saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

The baby in the manger is the conduit of God’s Spirit. His birth leads to our rebirth. His incarnation leads to our renewal. He doesn’t just give us a teaching; he gives us a bath—a washing that cleanses our deepest guilt and makes us new from the inside out. This is the “new and glorious morn” the carols sing about—a new morning for the human soul.

And why? For what purpose? “So that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

An heir expects an inheritance. Christmas is the down payment on an eternal future. The baby born today is the one who dies for us and rises again, securing for us a place in God’s family forever. The manger points to the cross, and the cross points to an empty tomb, and the empty tomb points to a hope that will never fade.

The shepherds went back to their fields, but they were different. They were “glorifying and praising God.” Why? Because they had seen the gift. They had received the news. They were transformed from the inside out by a grace they did not earn.

Conclusion: Receiving the Unreturnable Gift

So, on this Christmas Day, here is the question: What will you do with this gift?

You can’t return it. You can’t exchange it for a different model. You can’t re-gift it. You can only receive it or reject it.

To receive it is to do what Mary did: ponder these things in your heart. It is to do what the shepherds did: go and see, and then worship. It is to admit, “I have nothing to offer you, baby Jesus, but my need and my thanks.” It is to believe that the kindness and love of God appeared for you.

Maybe you’ve spent this season giving gifts. Today, God invites you to stop. To be still. To receive. To let the magnitude of his mercy wash over you. To be renewed by his Spirit. To live today, and every day, as an heir of eternal life—because of Christmas.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, on this Christmas Day, we thank you for the gift we could not earn, the Savior we did not deserve, and the kindness that appeared in the manger. Help us to receive him afresh with the wonder of shepherds and the trust of Mary. Renew us by your Spirit, and fill us with the sure hope of our inheritance. For we pray in the name of the newborn King, Jesus Christ. Amen.