TD Jakes - The Ultimate Gift
One of the signs of maturity is stability. It's how you know you're growing up. When you're stable, when you're consistent, when I can count on you, that's a sign of maturity. Not when you're here one day and there the next. "I forgot to do it and I didn't do it". No, no, that's not maturity. Maturity is stable, is steadfast, it's unmovable, it's predictable, it's regimented. You can count on it. You can build on it. That's why you can't build with wood that's not aged. It's got too much water in it. It floats too much. You need something that's seasoned enough that it can withstand some things and not change its dimension. It's seasoned. It's settled. Says when I became a man, one of the factors of being a man is I put away childish things, things, things, things. The way that I speak, the way that I speak. Are you still talking like who you were? Understanding has changed. You can't help people that you're not willing to understand. "Don't be quiet this morning, Lord". He says, I put them away. God didn't take them away, I put them away, so the responsibility to mature rests on you. God isn't going to take it away from you.
"Break your fast, get something to eat. That ain't happening. Go on get your piece of chicken. You might as well eat. You're hungry". You're not going to fast away a decision you have to make. Pray till your mouth is dry, but you have a choice. You're a free moral agent. You have a will. God will not make you love against your will. It's a choice. And it's amazing to me, it's amazing to me, thirty-five years of counseling people and pastoring people, it's amazing to me the people who will not change their heart to a heart of love. The Bible calls it a heart of stone, the cold-hearted way. They interact with each other and it fails them and they still keep doing it. That's what's amazing to me. It's not amazing to me that people are hateful. I got a hateful side, too. I match you and raise you 20. What shocks me is not the tenacity with which they are acrimonious and they have accurate remarks at every turn. That's not what shocks me. What shocks me is that you keep failing at life because of it and yet keep doing it. That's what shocks me. That at some point in your life, you don't say to yourself, "My attitude is not working".
So even though I have built this up to defend myself, it has failed to protect me from myself. I must put away what Paul calls childish things. And then he said, "Now abideth faith, hope, and charity". I only read the one verse because the one verse epitomizes all the verses that precede it. The person who has caught up in the gifts is caught up in their faith. The person who feel like they're going to get to heaven because they have given things to other people is caught up in giving hope. So the 13th verse epitomizes all verses that precede it: faith, hope, and charity, and the greatest, the ultimate of the three is love. If you love right, it'll make you believe. Love will make you believe in something or someone that everybody else ceased to believe in. Love will give you some faith. So Paul says if you got to pick one, I want you to have all three, but if you got to pick one, the greatest of these is love, 'cause you can have faith and perform miracles and not be a loving person. You can give hope to people you hate and not want to be around after you encourage them.
So it's not about just saying the right stuff, it's not about writing the check. Your responsibility is not over when you pay the rent. It's the hardest thing in the world, particularly to teach men because men feel like your expression of love is provision. So when you ask a man, "Do you love me"? he'll say, "I paid the rent". I hit something that time. "You ought to see I love you. The lights came on, didn't they"? I mean, I'm talking about the old school men. New school man got a different problem. They don't even pay the rent. So forgive me for being a little old school this morning. I'm going to update the database in a minute to the spirit of entitlement that has taken over the next generation where you think somebody else is supposed to pay the lights and you ought to just let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. That's a whole different problem all together. The truth of the matter in our old Adamic nature, we have a tendency to be selfish. Until you address that, you can't change that. You have to understand particularly in this era that we live in now, we have a me generation. It's about me. That's why everything that requires unions are falling apart because two selfish people get together and try to make a union and they can't even communicate.
It's hard to even counsel people about marriage because you tell them to communicate and they start fussing. And the reason they start fussing rather than communicating, fussing is what you do when you're just waiting on me to shut up so you can get your point in because you're not interested in understanding what I said. So we never really have communication, we have turns at monologue. John writes about it. He starts with God because God is the ultimate power. "For God". If you don't get the first two words, you lose everything else. For God who is the ultimate power. God, the ruler of the universe, the sane one in the midst of the insanity that is pervasive in our society, the CEO of heaven, the boss of the affairs of all of the world who sits on the circle of the earth and has all power in his hand, God. See, the problem with church people today, we embrace the understanding of church better than we do the understanding of God. We've got the cart in front of the horse. It is not about church, it's about God, God.
If you don't embrace the idea of God, then worship becomes laborious 'cause you feel like you just got your hands in the air. If you don't sense the presence of God being there, you feel awkward in worship, coming to church because you are more aware of the congregants than who we congregated about. Somebody say God, the one who sits in your passenger seat when it looks like you're driving to work by yourself. Somebody say God, the one who works on your behalf so that things work out for you even when you don't even understand how they're going to work. Somebody say God, the one who rules the universe and sits on the planet and controls the orbits all around the galaxy and still hears the whisper and cry of a hungry child. Somebody say God, absolute power, absolute power. He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. He is the ruler, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and ever and amen and amen and amen. "There's never been one before me, there's never been one after me. I alone am God. Beside me there is no other". No comparable, no competition, no force to fight. I alone am God, I'm God. I make one high, I bring down another. I promote this one, I hold that one back. I am God. I can do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it. I don't have to meet with you. I don't have to explain myself to you. You didn't elect me. You can't impeach me. I am God. He knows everything. For God the ultimate power.
I chose John 3:16 because it is a repetition of ultimates, the ultimate powerful God so the ultimate degree. It's not just that he loved us, he so loved us. It's one thing to be loved, and it's another thing to be so loved. The ultimate power, the ultimate degree; he so loved you. Everybody in here has a story that proves the word so. There's something that you know about yourself that proved the prove the degree that God so loved you. The reason you are sitting here this morning is because of the ultimate degree. He so loved you. I know you got a little name, a little reputation, people impressed with you, but they don't know your real story, not your real track. They don't know what makes you raise your hands or clap your hands or lift your voice or shake your head. It's not just that he loved you, but that he so loved you.
Love, the ultimate power. There's your power. That is a mystery behind his majesty. The writer here says, "God so loved". That was the power. Don't be so quick to look at what he did until you understand why he did it. It is not just what, it's why. It's not just what, it's why. Say that. It's not just what, it's why. I want you to get that in your head. It's not just what, it's why. Say it to somebody else, "It's not just what, it's why". That's a mystery to people, that's a mystery to God. That's the mystery with living with people in all of their funny ways and habits. It's not just what they do, it's understanding why. It's not just what God did, it's understanding why. This text tells you why he did it. God so loved the world. He so loved you. That was the power behind what he did. He so loved something from which he had nothing to gain from loving it. He so loved somebody who was worshiping somebody else while he was loving them. Y'all don't want to talk to me. "I ain't going to love anybody that don't love me back". If God did that, you'd go to hell. His power is rooted in love. That was the power behind it. That was the power behind the cross. That was the power behind the cross. It was that he so loved.
The power was not Rome. It wasn't Caesar. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It wasn't Pilate. The power wasn't Pilate. It wasn't the nails. You mean to tell me the God who made the steel was nailed to the steel he made? Or the God who raised the tree that would be the cross was now bound to the cross? When he made the tree that the cross was made from, his footprints hollowed out the mountain that you call Calvary. The mountain didn't hold him, the nails didn't hold him, the cross didn't hold him, it was love. Oh God, love will hold you to a cross. It'll keep you getting up out the bed in the morning. It will keep you doing stuff. It will keep you standing. It's not that you're stupid, it's that you're so loved. It's not that you're crazy. It's not that they tricked you when you are held by love. Neither nails nor wood nor mountains held him to the cross, but for the joy that was set before him. When he saw you, he stayed. I wish I could just dabble around in crazy love and make you look like a fool.
Crazy love will make a strong God go weak on the cross and humble himself to the death of the cross. He could have called 10.000 angels. He could have gotten out of it at any moment. All of the soldiers around him could have fallen dead. They fell back at his voice when they came to arrest him. They said, "Are you Jesus"? He said, "I that speak am he," and they fell back for dead. He didn't die because he was weak, he died because he was strong. Love is power. He so loved. That was the power. That was the power. That was the ultimate power. That's what's going to bring you through. That's what's going to bring your family through. That's what's going to open doors for you. That's how you're going to get the contracts closed. That's how you're going to get favor in business. That's your secret weapon. That's your edge. It's not in how canning or how bright or how smart you are. There are people smarter than you that are jobless and homeless right now. Your edge, your secret weapon emanates out of your heart, and you may be hiding the very best part of you when you damn up the love and don't let it flow because love is power.
Somebody say power. It is the ultimate power. It is the ultimate power through which he gave the ultimate gift, the ultimate gift. I listened to the president as he was eulogizing or talking about some soldier who had paid the ultimate price. That's what they call it, the ultimate price. Jesus gave the ultimate gift. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. I got five children. I don't want to give up one. Now, would you think if you had five you could spare one? Each one brings a different gift to the table. But this was his only begotten Son, the ultimate gift. And we've talked about it for 2.000 years and we still don't understand it; that when he gave his Son, which was the ultimate gift, it was God making love to us. No, no, no. You think you know what making love is all about, but what you think is making love is only a shadow of which God is a reality. You think you're making love when you give your body one to another. You're close, but you don't get it yet. When God got ready to make love to his bride, he gave his body too, but on the cross. And it became the ultimate gift.
The ultimate gift had to be opened up in order to be appreciated. The ultimate gift, the ultimate gift. I didn't get it either till I read it in the book of Acts. And when I read in the book of Acts when Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, refers to the cross as his passion, "After his passion, he showed himself alive with many infallible proofs". Suddenly I realized that I had never understood the cross because when I saw the cross, I saw pain. But when he saw the cross, he saw passion. Suddenly I begin to understand that his misery was his ministry, and that his pain was an expression of his passion, and that the ultimate gift was Calvary that when he gave his Son, he was giving his body to his bride. This might be too heavy for Sunday morning. It was the ultimate gift. It is the ultimate gift because I'm still opening it, I'm still unraveling it. After 35 years, I'm still opening it and finding little nuances that I didn't understand. It's still usable. It's still relative. It's still functional. It's still life changing. It's still thirst quenching. It's still mind renewing. It's still hard fixing.
After all these years of being saved, I'm still exploring new facets of his glory and his grace. The same grace that got me through my adolescence, it's helped me through my adulthood. It's helping me through midlife. It's not just something you use over here and don't use over there. It'll help you with the healing of your body. It'll help you with how you do business. It'll help you with your attitude and your disposition. Touch somebody and say, "I'm still opening it". I'm still opening it. I'm still opening it, his love, his mercy, his grace, his kindness, his compassion, his wisdom. I thank you Lord for the gift, the ultimate gift you gave me. Thank you, Lord, because it was such a great gift. It stopped me from doing stuff I would have done. It brought me back when I went too far. It guided me around witches and enemies and people I thought were my friends and found out they were trying to kill me. It fought for me when I couldn't fight for myself. It opened doors I couldn't even see. It is the ultimate gift.
It's the ultimate, it's the ultimate. It is knowing him, receiving him, loving him, having him. It's the ultimate gift. It is your secret weapon. When the enemy got ready to throw curses on you, the gift blocked the curse. When your haters tried to destroy you, the gift stepped in between the hatred. When justice tried to kill you, the gift gave you mercy. It is the ultimate gift. Touch three people and say, "I'm gifted. I'm gifted. I'm gifted. I'm gifted. I'm gifted. I'm so loved. I'm gifted. I'm blessed with the gift. If I don't get anything else not for birthdays, not for holidays, not for Christmas, don't worry about me. God's got me covered. I got a gift that keeps opening up for me. I am rich in wisdom and understanding and patience and mercy. I am gifted. Anybody who gets me gets a double gift". Yes, yes, yes. Hit somebody and say, "I am gifted". Yeah. If I walk in a room, my presence is a gift because I am gifted. When he gave me Jesus, he made my presence count, he made my voice count, he made my life make a difference, he gave power to my walk, he put an unction in my step, he gave me the bounce back, come back kid reality in my life. I am still here because I got the ultimate gift. When the devil tried to kill me, he couldn't get through my gift. I have the ultimate gift.
Somebody help me praise him. I need somebody that's gifted to help me praise him. I got a gift. Touch three people and say, "I got a gift". I got a gift. I got a gift. Got me off drugs, got me off the street, got me out of my storm, got me through me tests, healing my dysfunction, changing my mind. Hit somebody and say, "I got a gift. I survived the storm, I survived the divorce, I survived the crises, I survived the sickness, I survived the agony, I survived the loneliness, I survived the pain, I survived the rejection because I got the gift. I got the gift. I got here by the gift of God. That's why I praise him, that's why I love him, that's why I rejoice, that's why I lift him up. The gift brought me here". Your gift will bring you before great men. Every time God open up a door, it was because of the gift. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Hit three people and say, "I got the ultimate. I got the ultimate. I got the ultimate". You can't get me nothing no better. You can't order me nothing no better. You can't shop and get nothing no better. I have the ultimate gift.