God's Indescribable Gift

GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT

2 CORINTHIANS 9:15

Throughout Scripture Christ is described in a great number of ways. Names for Him are given in both Old and New Testaments and are too numerous for me to mention this morning.

But here in 2 Corinthians we see Him referred to as God’s indescribable gift. And I think it is an appropriate wording because there is no way we could ever accurately describe all the beauty and majesty and all the many qualities and attributes of Christ.

If I were to ask each of you what He means to you personally, I’d likely get a broad variety of answers depending on your experience and you particular walk with Christ. But I would hope that each of you could say with all honesty that He is the greatest gift of your life.

Since this is the day after Christmas I trust that each of you have had opportunity to receive a certain amount of gifts from friends and loved ones. Some of the things you may have gotten are things you had really hoped for...or maybe even went beyond your expectations.

And it’s fun to share with others some of the things that you may have received either this year or over the years that were kind of funny. I can’t help but think of the movie called "The Christmas Story"...the one where little Ralphy wants nothing but a Red Rider B.B. gun...

And all through the story everyone says to him "You’ll shoot your eye out!" I don’t remember just how old Ralphy is in the story, but he’s well into grade school at least. Anyway, on Christmas he opens up his presents and gets one from his aunt who hasn’t seen him for quite some time...and it’s a pair of bunny pajamas...ears...feet...

They make him put them on...and make a big fuss over how thoughtful aunt so and so was...but it was definitely one of those presents you’d like to forget about.

I got a shirt one time that was so ugly I decided to use it for a rag to clean my car...but when I started to wipe off the hood with it, even the car backed out of the driveway to get away from it.

And then there were certain gifts that I’ve gotten over the years that were very special to me. Many of them weren’t very expensive gifts and some were even hand made...but because of who they came from and the relationship I had with them...it made it very special.

So how do we determine the value or worth of a gift that we receive? I believe there are 4 tests that may be applied to any gift to determine it’s true importance and significance.

And as we look this morning at the gift that God sent us...I want to examine these 4 areas and see how they apply to the gifts we’ve received.

1. The motive of the gift. When it comes to giving gifts, we have a variety of motives and there are more than I care to mention at this time...but they would include things such as a duty gift...or an obligation gift.

Most of us have certain people who we would rather forget when it comes to spending our hard earned money on...but we have a kind of duty to perform...

"I got them something because they are my in laws or out laws..."if I don’t it will be rough around the kitchen table for a long time to come..."

Or you may have heard someone say, "So and so got sent me a birthday present so I better send her something for Christmas so she won’t think I’ve forgotten her (even though I may like to)." Or, "I just got a Christmas card with some money in it from my third cousin, twice removed...so I better send them something..

And we also have our policy gifts..."He may be useful to me in my business, so I’ll send him a gift. Or I may need them for something in the future so I’ll send them something to keep in their good graces."

But there are also gifts that come from a much greater, purer motive and these are love gifts...ones that come right from the heart. Gifts that often times reach the point of being self sacrificing gifts.

I’m sure all of us have, at one time or another received a gift from someone that we know cost that person at great deal...and I don’t mean just in terms of money.

There are times I can remember where my mother gave up time and personal convenience and enjoyment for her to give me things that I neither deserved or really required. And it was her love that prompted that giving and sacrifice.

And that is just a meager example of the love and self sacrifice of God. Yesterday we celebrated the day when God sent us the greatest gift the world has ever known...a gift that cost Him dearly.