A bundle of toys was flung on his back,
And he look’d like a peddler just opening his pack:
I grew up in a ranch-style house that was red with white trim, nestled in the middle of 20 acres in western Washington. Right next to the white front door above the doorbell was a small metal sign.
The gold letters against the black sign read, “No Peddlers.”
I remember that sign like it was yesterday and always wondered why my dad tacked it up.
As I grew older, I learned that my parents didn’t want to be bothered by a salesman going door to door selling bric-a-brac. They try and put a high gloss on some item that you didn’t know existed 5 minutes before, and suddenly you feel you can’t live without it.
Fascinating, isn’t it?
Poor Santa, being compared to a peddler. Everyone loves the toys and gifts Santa Clause gives!
Do you feel like a peddler when you share the gospel, offering something of little value, waiting to be rejected?
Or do you feel like a physician, offering life-saving healing that revives the dead and brings them back to life in Christ Jesus?
We may not need the items a peddler is selling, but we certainly need the precious gift of life and a relationship with God that Jesus offers, which cost us nothing, and him everything.
What is your view of God?
Do you feel you are imposing on a friend when you share your life and love of God with them? Does that express a high view of God?
The good news we have to share with others who are lost in darkness is not comparable to a peddler opening his sack, trying to convince us of the merits of a widget.
No, my friend, you are a physician, and just like an actual physician, you do not personally cause someone to come to Jesus any more than the doctor climbs in your body and heals it.
The Holy Spirit uses each of us as a mouthpiece to share the truth of the gospel and convicts the hearer’s heart until they submit to the knowledge they are a sinner and need of a savior.
At that moment, they receive the best gift ever, a life-saving gift whose value cannot be measured.
You, my friend, are a physician, not a peddler!
SURPRISE PRESENT
Let’s make a special Santa pack filled with the best gift ever…the process of sharing & receiving the gift of salvation!
These are the steps you can use to share the gospel with people who do not yet know Jesus.
Full text for each step is at the bottom of the tutorial.
1-Pick out some fun scrapbook paper or construction paper
2-Trace Santa’s pack
3- Pick out a backing paper and cut them out together
4- Trace and cut open four large flaps
5- Shade the opening of your pack
6- Trace the opening of each flap on the backing paper
7- Write in the space traced under the flaps:
Plan – life
Problem – death (from sin)
Prescription – the cross
Possess – Christ in your life!
[After I did this I liked the word “proclaim” even better than possess, so you can choose the one you like better.]
8- Glue the backing paper to the top paper.
9- Using the edge of your paper you can fold and cut straight lines out of wrapping paper or scrapbook paper to make a square.
10- Cut out three squares to use as presents in the top of the pack.
11- Place the square where you want it in the sack and trace the edge of the opening.
12- When you cut along these lines it looks like the packages are tucked inside with only the top showing.
13- Write the scripture reference to go with each step of the process on the back of the flap:
John 3:16
Romans 3:23 & 6:23
1 Peter 2:24
John 1:12
14- Ad tiny bows or make paper bows to decorate your packages.
15- The finished project!
The four step process of sharing the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ:
1- The Plan
God’s plan is for each of us to have life everlasting as adopted sons and daughters of God. He wants us in his family!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
2- The Problem
Our sin earns us death and separation from God.
Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.
3- The Prescription
The cross is the one and only prescription to save us from death, where God’s love bridged the gap in the person of Jesus, our substitute, who died and rose again on the third day, paying in full the penalty for our sins.
1 Peter 2:24
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.
4- Possess [or Proclaim]
Possess Christ in your life by admitting you are a sinner in need of a savior, ask for forgiveness and turn from your sins, and believe God’s son Jesus died in your place.
John 1:12
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Santa Clause comes once a year and gives presents that give us a thrill for the moment.
You have something of great value you can share every single day, and it can change a person’s eternity.
Don’t forget, you’re a physician, not a peddler!