Gift Exchange

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  April 20, 2025

Click here to listen to the service 
 
Read Romans 6:19 – 23 (NIV)
 
Today is Easter Sunday or as it is also known... Resurrection Day. 
 
This is the day that we celebrate the good news that Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and burial are not where the story ends.  Today we praise God that because of Jesus’ resurrection... this is only the beginning... the beginning of eternal life that is ours because of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf... because of His willingness to give His life in exchange for ours.
 
And so, with that thought in mind, I want to invite us to reflect on the subject: GIFT EXCHANGE.
 
Let me ask... how many of you have ever participated in a gift exchange with members of your family or on your job or perhaps as part of an organization that you belong to? 
 
If you have participated in a gift exchange before, you know that typically the names of all the participants are written on little slips of paper and put into a hat or other receptacle such as a box or a bag... and then everyone draws the name of someone else in the group that they are then supposed to buy a gift for. 
 
Sometimes, the participants are asked to list several things that they would like... providing the gift givers with different options to choose from... but there are other times when the gift givers are only provided with a dollar amount or price range... causing them to do their shopping based on instinct or intuition... which results in people receiving gifts that they may or may not like.
 
Now, traditional gift exchanges can be somewhat of a challenge if the price range set for the gifts is above and beyond what some members of the group can afford... resulting in feelings of shame or embarrassment and potentially causing that person not to participate.
 
But this morning, I want to talk about a different type of GIFT EXCHANGE... one that I would dare say is the GIFT EXCHANGE of a lifetime... one that we have all been the beneficiaries of...
 
It began back at Calvary when Jesus went to the cross... taking on the punishment our sins deserved... literally exchanging His life for ours... because as the text this morning reminds us, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
 
As you have likely heard me say before, Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we could not pay... and because of Jesus’ unconditional love for us, we are all the beneficiaries of the greatest GIFT EXCHANGE anyone could have ever imagined...
 
But it is a GIFT EXCHANGE with a very different twist than what we may have become accustomed to... because Jesus didn’t just pull one name out of a hat or a box or a bag... He pulled each and every one of our names and gave us the gift of eternal life... in exchange for us letting go of our life of sin... in exchange for us letting go of our guilt and shame... in exchange for us letting go of our doubts and fears... in exchange for us letting go of all that and so much more.
 
And it is in the letting go that we are able to open our hands, open our hearts, and open our spirits to receive such an amazing gift... the gift of our salvation and the promise of eternal life in the kingdom of God.
 
Now, there is another type of GIFT EXCHANGE that takes place at some parties...
 
With this GIFT EXCHANGE, you don’t pull names ahead of time, but everyone is expected to bring a gift that will go into a pile and people will have the opportunity to pick whatever gift they want... sometimes these are white elephant gifts that are intended to bring a little humor to the GIFT EXCHANGE... but they can also be nicer gifts.
 
But how many of us have gone to a gathering where a GIFT EXCHANGE is taking place, and someone shows up without the gift they were supposed to bring? 
 
Or perhaps that someone that came without a gift was actually us...
 
Whatever the case may be, that scenario could play out in a couple of different ways... the person who arrives empty-handed can simply hope no one notices that they did not bring a gift, but they still take a turn in order to receive a gift for themselves (shame on them!).
 
Or they could honestly admit that they had forgotten to bring a gift... and simply sit back and watch as everyone else picks a gift.
 
Or perhaps the host or hostess was rather insightful, and proactively planned for the possibility that someone would arrive without a gift... so they made sure to have a couple of extra items on hand... just in case... desiring that no one should leave without a gift.
 
Well, I want to let us in on a little secret... all of us come empty-handed to the GIFT EXCHANGE with Jesus... because there is nothing that we could bring that would ever compare to the gift that Jesus has for us...
 
But here is the good news... Jesus desires that none of us would leave without receiving the gift of God that is eternal life.
 
And that is the essence of what grace is all about.  There is nothing that we can give in exchange for it... nothing that we can do to earn it... and definitely nothing that we have done to deserve it.
 
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
 
And that, my friends, is at the core of the Easter story... Jesus dying on a cross to take on the punishment that our sins rightfully deserved... giving His life in exchange for ours... because “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
 
Now, the good news is that the greater love that Jesus has for us is an everlasting love... if we were to look back at the Old Testament, we would find these words in Jeremiah 31:3, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.’”
 
And the even better news is that there is absolutely nothing that can ever separate us from the everlasting love that the Lord has for us.  In fact, if we were to read just a couple of chapters further in Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:38 – 39), we would find these reassuring words:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Or as it reads in the Message Paraphrase:

I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

This reminds me of a song that was recorded by Cory Asbury back in 2017 that I just heard at a service I attended on Good Friday. 
 
The chorus simply says:

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, you give yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
(Songwriters: Ran Jackson, Cory Asbury, Caleb Culver; 2017)

The fact of the matter is that when we think about the lengths that God was willing to go to for us... it can feel a little overwhelming to think that it is a never-ending, everlasting love... and some might describe God’s love as reckless... considering in spite of all that we have ever done and will ever do... God still gave us the gift of eternal life through Jesus’ death on that cross.
 
And although God’s love may have been nailed to that cross at Calvary... the best news for us today is that it did not die there.  God’s love is so powerful that not even death could defeat it... and that is the love that we can cling to in good times and in bad.
 
Now, I think it is safe to say that we are in living in the midst of some challenging times right now... however, we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus has promised to be with us always... and that includes even in our times of suffering and sorrow. 
 
And rest assured, Jesus was no stranger to suffering.
 
After all, He was born in a stable surrounded by smelly animals.  He kept company with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes and had no real place to call home.  He was imprisoned without ever having committed an actual crime.  He was brutally beaten and tortured.  And He was crucified on a cross at Calvary... giving His life in exchange for ours in the ultimate GIFT EXCHANGE.
 
And the truly amazing thing is that He did all of that on our behalf, despite knowing that we would still fall so far short. 
 
So, why would Jesus endure such suffering when He did not deserve any of it?  Why would He go to such great lengths to take on the punishment that we did, and still do, deserve?  Why would He willingly agree to what amounted to a one-sided GIFT EXCHANGE?
 
That’s easy... because He loves us... always has and always will. 
 
And so, on this Resurrection Sunday, as we prepare for our time at the Communion table... we are reminded yet again of the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross... offering His body and blood as payment in full for our sins... setting us free to live life to the full (see John 10:10) ... all as a result of the supreme GIFT EXCHANGE Jesus made for us at Calvary.
 
And if you are grateful to have received such an amazing gift, I want to invite you to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: Alas and Did My Savior Bleed? (vs 1, 2, 4) #204.
 

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