Gift’s of Christmas
12/7/2008 “God’s Indescribable Gift”
Good morning and welcome to Central.
If you are our guest today, allow me to say thank you for worshipping with us today.
It is that time of the year again for the most wonderful time of the year.
It is a time when people reflect on others, more than themselves.
We will go to great lengths and great thought to choose just the right gift for our family and friends.
Have you ever received an indescribable gift?
Have you ever received a gift that was beyond description?
2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
This past week, Marlys and I attended the Fire Bible Summit held in Hawaii on the island of Maui.
Could I tell you that Maui is not a bad place to suffer for the Lord.
We spent a little over five days in what is considered to be paradise.
The palm trees, the absolutely beautiful flowers, gorgeous beaches, and all of the things that only grow in tropical places were breathtaking, yet if given a few minutes I could describe all of this to you.
As I was preparing today’s message I thought, what kind of gift would it have to be to be defined as indescribable?
Something that surpasses description.
ILLUSTRATION
A while back, on "Good Morning, America," a co-host featured some gift ideas that might be called indescribable. They were extraordinary gifts that some of you might want to include on your Christmas gift list.
• One of them was a Jaguar automobile, the Jaguar 220. If you care to order one of these, you must go to your Jaguar dealer & put down your $80,000 deposit. Then when the automobile is delivered, you are expected to pay the balance of $507,000. The Jaguar 220 was a $587,000 automobile, & they only make 250 of them a year.
• Also mentioned was that if you were to purchase such an automobile, you might also be interested in a new car wax that promises to give it the ultimate shine. It retails for $3,400 for an 8 ounce can. If you can afford a $587,000 automobile, you can afford $3,400 for car wax?
• A third item she mentioned was a $300,000 gold & silver toilet seat inlaid with precious stones.
• Of course, there were cheaper gifts for those who have everything: an $18,000 Frisbee, a $10,000 yoyo, a $12,000 mousetrap, & even a $27,000 pair of sunglasses.
• And for the proud grandparent who is wondering what to buy the new grandbaby, how about a $28,000 pacifier?
What is the Apostle Paul referring to as “God’s Indescribable Gift” in our passage of scripture this morning, and what constitutes the gift as being “Indescribable?”
v. 15
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.
Could it be grace? Could it be mercy? Could it be forgiveness?
Could it be peace? Could be joy? Could it be hope?
Lastly, could all of these things be wrapped up in one gift? YES
Paul is referring to Jesus Christ, who is indeed the indescribable gift of God unto this world, a gift beyond description, a gift we have all reason to celebrate.
People have gone to great lengths attempting to describe God’s gift.
World renowned painters have attempted to describe the indescribable on canvas to no avail.
Sculptor’s have attempted to chisel this indescribable gift in stone and other precious materials.
Writers have attempted to articulate God’s gift with words.
Composers have attempted to describe God’s gift by filling the sir with beauty.
• Handel’s Messiah
• Joy to the world the Lord has come
• Silent night, holy night
• Mary did you know
Yet they can’t even scratch the surface of the indescribable.
This morning, in my best, but also feeble way, I want to attempt to reveal what makes God’s indescribable gift so great.
He is indescribable …
I. BECAUSE OF HIS NATURE
How would you describe Jesus? What words would you choose?
How do you describe the crowned prince of glory, the incarnate of the Father, leaving the throne of glory, coming to dwell among us, being born of a virgin, touching the hearts of mankind and reaching out to the lost, hurting, and void masses of humanity?
Isaiah described Him as Emanuel, "God with us."
Mary described Him as her Savior.
Thomas described Him as, “My Lord and my God.”
John described Him as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World.”
How do you describe that which is spirit when all we have ever known is that which is either physical or material?
One song writer wrote:
If I could find, the right words to say, to tell you what Christ means to me, I’d say that He’s more than I could show, and more than you’ll ever know.
If you could have seen me, just yesterday, you’d know why He’s life and breath to me, you’d know why He’s more than I could show, and more than you’ll ever know.
Christ means more to me than you’ll ever know, Christ means more to me than I could possibly show, He’s more, more than I could show, and more than you’ll ever know.
Another wrote:
Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning, And who told the ocean you can only come this far, And who showed the moon where to hide ’til evening, Whose words alone can catch a falling star.
The very same God who spins things in orbit, He runs to the weary the worn and the weak, And the same gentle hands, That hold me when I’m broken, They conquered death to bring me victory.
I know my Redeemer lives, I know my Redeemer lives, Let all creation testify, Let this life within me cry, I know my Redeemer
He lives to take away my shame, And He lives forever I’ll proclaim,
That the payment for my sin, Was the precious life He gave
But now He’s alive, And there’s an empty grave.
Church, can I remind you today that the most brilliant of human minds, in their greatest attempts, have proved that Christ, the savior of the world is infinitely indescribable.
We are speaking of His nature this morning, and nature is the root word for natural.
We make feeble attempts to describe His nature.
Our attempts are feeble because His nature supercedes the natural.
• The natural says that you must be conceived of a man and a woman, yet he was conceived of the Holy Spirit.
• The natural says that your birth will bring your family joy, yet when He came He brought joy to the world and heaven.
(At his birth, and angelic choir erupted in song, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come”)
• The natural says that he was delivered by His mother, yet His mother proclaimed that he would deliver her.
• The natural says that you can get a drink of water, but you will thirst again, yet He told the woman at the well, If you drink of the water that I give, you will never thirst again.
• The natural says that in this world you will have struggles, temptations, and unrest, yet He says that in me you will find righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
• The natural says that if you sin, you will pay the price, yet He came to pay the price for our sins.
• The natural says that if you beat a man, crucify him on a cross, and bury him in a grave, he is dead, yet he said he would be beaten, crucified and buried, but in three days, I will rise again.
• The natural says every man for himself, yet Christ said “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, you can be there also.
Church, I remind you that His very nature supercedes the natural time and time again.
VIDEO: “I KNOW MY REDEEMER LIVES” (Youtube)
Why is this gift defined the by Apostle Paul as indescribable?
I believe that the Apostle Paul answers this so wonderfully.
Romans 5:6-8
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christmas is known as the time for giving, but it is also the time for receiving.
God has already given the greatest gift of all, Jesus.
This Christmas, if you will allow me to say so, I think needs to be the time not necessarily for giving, but a time for receiving.
You see, when the plan was made for the redemption of man, it was not multiple choice.
Without the shedding of blood there is no redemption of sin.
Some say today that there are many roads to travel, but they all lead to the same place, yet the word of God says that Christ, the indescribable gift of God is the only way.
Many of those who have professed many roads leading to the same place have died, and were buried.
You can go to their graves and find their remains.
If you go to the tomb of Jesus you will find that he is not there for he has risen from the grave.
WHY? BECAUSE HE IS INDESCRIBABLE
