Christmas is for Children. Perhaps you have thought it, heard it, or even said it.

Before I was married and after I was married and we had no children for years longer, I enjoyed the children of our church family, nephews and nieces, especially at Christmas time. Sue and I have since discovered that have children in your home adds a new dimension of expectation to this season. I also sense some of the pleasure some of you receive from your grandchildren and great grandchildren during the holidays.

Is Christmas for children? Certainly it is for the child in each of us, regardless of our age! How wonderful it is to see the children sing, play, and speak for special programs. What a delight it is to see smiles on children's faces as they open special gifts. But I hope there is more to the idea that Christmas is for children in your mind than material gifts, regardless of the age of the children. Of course the focus of Christmas should be on the greatest gift that was ever given, the gift of Christ, the baby born in a manger, the baby who grew to become our Savior.

Christmas is for children because Christ is for children. Don't misunderstand; I am not saying that Christ is only for children. Even though Jesus came into the world as an infant, about 30 years later the disciples didn't want the children bothering Jesus. Of course, Jesus opened His arms to the children and seized the moment to remind His older listeners that we must all enter the kingdom of God as a child.

So each of us should share Christ, the gift of Christmas with children; our own, our grandchildren, our neighborhood children, and our church family children. Extending the imagery of gift giving I want to spend a few moments developing that idea this Sunday after Christmas. Wrapping the gift, unwrapping the gift, and using the gift form my outline.

I speak these words assuming and hoping that it is a deep desire of your heart to give the gift of Christ to your children and other children. Sharing the fantastic Christmas story of the Christ child's birth in Bethlehem to become our Savior provides a wonderful opportunity. So let us proceed with our gift giving. Many gifts we give are one we purchase or make. That is not so with this one since we cannot by or make it ourselves. For that reason we begin by wrapping the gift.

I. Wrapping the Gift

While I can do a fairly decent job of wrapping Christmas gifts I have not always done so. My wife, my children, my parents and my sisters have all received gifts that were not wrapped too well. Some were presented in paper or plastic bags. I started doing this years before I discovered that special gift bags were made. Can any other gift wrappers identify?

Some years I have done a better job. Several years ago I asked Rachael to assist me for a fun father daughter project. She did a super job of keeping her Mom's gifts a secret between us. The last few years Sue and I started wrapping presents before Rachael came home from college.

When I speak of wrapping the gift of Christ I am not thinking of secrecy in keeping the gift a surprise. Of course, I am also not literally wrapping this gift in colorful paper. What I am talking about are our efforts to make the gift of Christ attractive to children so that they want to receive the precious gift of Christ themselves. How do we do this?

The attractive wrapping certainly involves our attitude. Do we really love Jesus Christ? Do we enjoy living a ways that please God? Do our children know this? Do we enthusiastically look forward to coming to worship and Sunday School each week? Do we eagerly read and tell children Bible stories? Often our children can see through us if we are doing Christian activities merely out of a sense of drudgery or duty.

As I say that I think of a pastor I know who was at camp with kids from his church many years ago. He did not want to be there, but he was. One camper said to him, "You don't really want to be here, do you.?" This question of the child caused this pastor to reexamine his faith and was a turning point in his life. Since that time over thirty years ago Pastor Stan has attractively wrapped the gift of Christ and even engaged in a great ministry of Christian camping.

II. Unwrapping the Gift

We wrap gifts with the expectation of having them unwrapped. This is one area in which children excel at Christmastime. Whatever traditions you have developed within your families and extended families for the unwrapping of gifts, children usually await this time eagerly. This is sometimes even true for children past their teens and twenties.

Unwrapping the gift of Christ does not take place just at Christmastime. The groundwork for unwrapping begins with the wrapping I already mentioned. For Sue and I with Rachael the wrapping led to the unwrapping. We have told many of you that we sang to her, read Scripture to her, and prayed with her while she was still in her mother's womb. Of course, we did not have that opportunity with Hannah and Jonathan, but have done these things since they have been in our family. After Rachael was born we continued these practices and as she became more able to understand we tried to unwrap the gift of Christ explaining that Christ was born to become our Savior, that He laid down his life to pay the penalty for our sins, and that we must confess our sins and receive Jesus as our personal Savior.

I was thrilled to come home one night to hear the news that Rachael had prayed to receive Christ as her Savior - a gift Sue and I had both sought to unwrap for her. This unwrapping involved our family, our church, our Sunday School, our VBS, and a special friendsheep children's musical, and other things too.

About that same time I remember a friend of mine in our pastor's prayer group who was excited to report of a camp in which his young son asked Jesus to be his Savior. However, sometimes the unwrapping is easier than others. That is illustrated with a personal story from Kenneth Chafin.

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky. Our house was located on a beautiful wooded lot where I taught young ministers how to communicate the faith. But on this particular afternoon I was not to be lecturing to a class of forty but trying to talk to Nancy, pour twelve-year-old daughter. I must confess that my love for her and my closeness to her as her father created some tensions for me.

Before she was born we prayed for her. From the moment of her birth she had been surrounded by Christian influences both at home and in the church. For several months I had felt a concern about her need to make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Verbal communication is not always the easiest thing in the world between parents and a twelve year old. So, on some trips out of town I had begun to write long letters to Nancy about my love for her, God's love for hr, and my prayers.

This particular afternoon seemed to be the time to talk. Barbara and the two smaller children were not in. I was in the living room alternating between reading and watching some chickadees on the bird feeder. Nancy came in and sat down beside me and just sat there saying nothing.

I started our visit by telling her how she had been on my mind for some time and asked if God had been talking to her about her own commitment to Him. Moisture formed in her big blue eyes and she indicated that she had been ready to take this step for some time. She asked me to help her know how to begin. So we talked together and read again the Scriptures, which are so clear concerning our response to God. There in our living room Nancy took the first step of a personal commitment, which was to make the rest of her life different.

Let's move beyond wrapping and unwrapping the gift to using the gift.

III. Using the Gift

One of our concerns sometimes is will the gift be used? If we have given our children a gift they seem to have grown tired of soon after Christmas we may be disappointed.

When it comes to the gift of Christ, after our children receive this gift we may need to help them grow and mature in the Christian faith. We need to do this not only with our talk, but with our walk, how we live each day. Coming up with a method that is reasonable for having some kind of regular family devotions is important along with ongoing involvement in our church. Using the gift should continue in informal settings too, enjoying the beauty of God's creation and giving Him credit. I think of times with my kids leaning over to smell a flower, canoeing on a lake, or riding a bike. We should be ready to seize the moment to share God's truth, prompted by the situation.

Duane Sayers was a Christian leader with whom I was pleased to serve the Lord for some city wide evangelistic ministry years ago. I remember him talking about having 2 and ½ converts. He was not referring to two adults and one child as some might. When Duane spoke of 2 and ½ converts he had it clear that he was talking about two children and one adult, realizing the children may have a whole long life to live for Christ. How do we really use the gift of Christ and help others do so too? Yes, Christmas is for children, and all who would come to Christ as a child.

Conclusion: "Let the Song Continue Through Me"

Let Your song continue thru me, Lord, Let Your song continue thru me; Fill my hours, fill my days with a symphony of praise, Let Your song continue thru me.

Let Your song continue thru me, Lord, Let Your song continue thru me; I am trusting You - tell me what to say and what to do, Let Your song continue thru me.

Let Your song continue thru me, Lord, Let Your song continue thru me; You have loved, You have cared - these are gifts that must be shared, Let Your song continue thru me.

Let Your song continue thru me, Lord, Let Your song continue thru me; Fill my hours, fill my days with a symphony of praise, Let Your song continue thru me.

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