The pile of presents sits before you, untouched. Each present is beautifully wrapped, adorned with ribbons and bows. There are gifts of all shapes and sizes, all arranged carefully: alluring, tempting, inviting.

Each gift has your name on it. The name tags couldn’t be clearer. These are all gifts from a loving heavenly Father, provided to each of His children from a generous heart. There is no lack, no scarcity. (James 1:17)

But the gifts lie untouched, unopened, unwanted.

It’s not that they are not needed. They are – desperately. Inside these packages are all the resources needed for a victorious, successful life.

Here’s the gift of peace, available to every child, regardless of circumstances. (Is 26:3, Phil 4:7)

Here’s the gift of love – unfailing, unending, faithful, constant and true. (1 Cor 13:4-8)

Here’s the gift of acceptance, meeting your deepest need for belonging. (Rom 15:7)

This parcel contains joy that doesn’t need alcohol, drugs, money, relationships or pleasure to feed it. (John 16:24, John 17:13)

This one has strength (Ps 18:32); this one has contentment (1 Tim 6:6); this one has hope that casts out all despair. (Rom 15:13)

Yet these gifts, while untouched and unopened, can do nothing. They are powerless unless unwrapped and owned.

God says, ‘O my child, why turn your back on these gifts, freely given? Why run to the world for its Poundshop trinkets when all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge sit before you?’

Why not come and unwrap all that God has for you?

To be jealous is to feel or show an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions, or perceived advantages. It’s often connected to coveting (yearning to possess something which belongs to someone else) and is closely connected to resentment.

James says, ‘What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.’ (James 4:1-3)

We are jealous when we are insecure, when we don’t fully trust God to look after us and provide for our needs. We are jealous when we live solely for the now and don’t keep the long view in sight. When we are truly sure that God loves us, cares for us, provides all we need and wants the best for us, we can let go of jealousy.

I wasn’t a popular child at school. My mother was one of the teachers there, so that instantly set me apart and my studious quietness wasn’t particularly liked. All my skills were in the academic side of school, so when it came to PE and team games, I was always the last one to be picked for any team (and rightly so in terms of my athletic prowess!) That made me feel very awkward and left out, and I can still remember the hollow feeling of not belonging or being wanted or being included.

I’ve spent most of my life feeling an outsider, even though I have a loving family and very good friends, so the news that we serve a God who is all-inclusive is good news indeed. The fact that God welcomes all sorts is not something trite or just for children. It’s a reminder that we can all belong; we are all invited to be part of God’s family. We can all be included; there is no one who needs to feel misunderstood, unwanted or rejected.

We want to be a church that welcomes all sorts and accepts everyone, just as Christ has accepted us. (Rom 15:7) It’s not always easy to do this, for we have our own preconceptions and notions as to what God’s family should look like. It’s not easy to cross boundaries and get to know people who are completely different to us, as we are discovering in our Bible studies as we see Peter breaking the habits of a lifetime in order to see the conversion of Cornelius. (Acts 10-11) But if we don’t show acceptance, welcome and love to people, or if we only love those who love us, we are not reflecting God’s selfless love.

God accepts us as we are, but then there is often the challenge for us to change and become more like Him. We don’t change in order to earn God’s favour; we are the lucky recipients of grace and love without having to do anything at all to merit it! But there is then a journey of faith where God, the master sculpter, works on the statue of our lives to shape us into His image. As we travel on this journey, we do so from the place of assurance that we already belong and we are already included. God welcomes us, accepts us, loves us and transforms us.

We had our first March birthday to celebrate tonight!

Last month, Garry talked about choices and gave us the opportunity to choose between white, milk and plain chocolate. That got Julie thinking about all the other kinds of chocolates there are (such as Celebrations, Quality Street and Heroes) and the children found out which were the most popular for us…

However, it seemed restrictive to only think about chocolates, so we also thought about Liquorice Allsorts & Haribo sweets!

The confectionery business is full of variety… and this is really a reflection of the variety we see all around us in creation (think of all the flowers, trees, animals, birds and fish God made!) God loves colour and vibrancy and vitality and makes beautiful things… including people who are infinitely varied and all unique. We can be sure that God welcomes all sorts!

Jesus got into trouble with the religious leaders of His day precisely because He welcomed sinners and ate with them (Luke 15:2). He went out of His way to befriend Zacchaeus, a tax collector hated by many. (Luke 19:1-10) Welcome and acceptance need to be part of our everyday lives (Rom 15:7). It doesn’t matter what our racial identity, gender, religious background or intelligence is. We are all welcomed by God into His family; there are no outsiders to His love.

Dave spoke this morning from Phil 1:3-6. Paul wrote many letters to specific churches such as this one, but the letters were probably also widely circulated to other churches and have relevance to us all nowadays. The letter to the Philippians, written while Paul was in jail, is a letter of joy and delight and carries with it the assurance that God who has begun a good work in us will carry it on to completion!

The author of this good work is God Himself. God uses people, but He is the one who has begun a good work in us. No church is a club run by people; it is the creation of God who gathers people together, fills them with His Spirit and moves in their midst. God was the one who began the work in Philippi; He is the one who has begun a good work in Goldthorpe too!

We needn’t be afraid that God will start a good work and then give it up. Unlike us, God has perseverance and stickability! He is in sovereign control and will carry on to completion the work He has started. This work is in us. He works within people to bring about regeneration. He’s not interested in surface improvements, but works on us from the inside out (see 2 Cor 5:17). He gives us a new nature and new interests and chips away at all that is not of Him until we are re-created in His image.

The work of salvation is ongoing, to be completed when Jesus Christ returns again to restore all that was lost through sin’s curse. We can be sure that God is still at work in our midst and therefore do not need to be downhearted and depressed. God has promised to do many wonderful things in our area and we long to see the fulfilment of His promises. Zech 4:10 reminds us not to despise the day of small things. As we celebrate 10 years of being in the building at Market Street, as we celebrate the many ways we are working together with other local churches, we can see that God is continuing to do a good work in our area. We can thank God as Paul did, praying with joy and thanksgiving as we look towards the ongoing good work of God in our lives.