Unopened Gifts - Part One: Victory

Unopened Gifts Pt One:  Victory

It hasn’t happened much in my 42 years but it has happened more than once.  It’s after Christmas and all the presents have long been opened, the day has come and passed, and just as you get ready to take down the tree there’s a single present hiding in the back.  Like I said, it doesn’t happen too often but it does happen.  Unopened gifts are an interesting thing.  People give gifts in order for the recipient to enjoy them, to use them, but what’s the point of a gift never being opened?

I know Christmas is several weeks away, but gift giving season is upon us and I thought it would be useful for us to look at some of the gifts God freely gives us that can often remain unopened, unused, forgotten by those whom God has blessed with the greatest gifts of life.  What if we’re simply leaving God’s gifts in a corner of our lives and missing out on some of the greatest gifts of life?

One of those gifts, one I’d like for us to look at today, is a tricky one.  If you see a TV preacher who for a small amount of money will bless you in some financial or physical way, you’ve seen how this word can be misused.  The word is victory, and it is a powerful, meaningful word in a Christian’s life.  That victory is alluded to if not spoken of in a particular place in 2 Corinthians, specifically chapter 4, verses 16-18

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The unopened gift of victory is manifested clearly by the promise of eternity budding and growing in our lives.  But what does victory look like to a Christian?  How do we open and truly use the victory we have been given in Jesus?

Victory is assured

·         We don’t always have a lot of assurances in life, but victory in Christ is one of them that remains:  We know the outcome of our lives, if not the particulars:  Cowboys on Thanksgiving

·         If we know we have victory at the end of our lives, why don’t we feel victorious?  Because we’re not living like we’re going to Heaven:  2 Peter 3:11-13

¹¹ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? ¹³ Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

·         If our victory is assured, we should be bold and confident in our faith:  Disney movies, the good guys are going to win in the end

Victory is Inward

·         One of the great misconceptions we have about success and victory in life is that it is confirmed by what happens to us outwardly:  What does a successful person look like?

·         When we understand where victory comes from, that it starts inwardly and works its way out, we won’t be fooled by a false image of victory:  Romans 7:24-25

²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

·         Once we learn how to grow inwardly, what’s happening outwardly can no longer threaten our victory:  The Crooked Man

Victory is Eternal

·         The thing about the gift of victory is that it never expires, it never grows old, and it only gets better with age:  What we lose with age

·         When our victory is eternal instead of temporary, we no longer have to chase down a temporary goal to find lasting satisfaction.  Our goal is clearly set before us:  Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the ^[a]author and ^[b]finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

·         We open the gift of victory when we lay down our lives for our goal:  Christmas “spirit”, a far better Spirit in Christ

God Bless,
Michael