Reading: 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 15
Ill: Which is best?
• Should the tree be real or artificial?
• Should tree lights twinkle or stay constant?
• Should the tree be topped with an angel or a star?
• Should you fling or hang tinsel?
• Cranberry sauce or horseradish with the turkey?
• Cream or custard on your Christmas pudding?
• Should you watch the Queens speech live or the highlights later on the news?
• Do you open gifts on Christmas morning or after Christmas dinner?
The tradition of gift-giving extends all the way back to the Wise-men;
• Who brought gifts to the Christ-child in the manger.
• We all know how they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
• Well we all know that;
• But recently some children in a school play near London, got it slightly wrong!
Ill:
• During the play,,
• Three six-year-old boys acted out the role of the wise men.
• As they presented their gifts at the nativity scene,
• Each boy stepped forward and stated what they were offering to Christ.
• The first held out his arms and said, “Gold.”
• The second boy knelt down and said, “Myrrh.”
• The last boy obviously nervous and struggling to remember his lines,
• Stepped forward and declared, “Franki sent this”
That little boy may have got his gift for Jesus wrong,
• But kids are great at letting us know what they want;
• Ask them what they want and they will not have to hesitiate before answering!
Ill:
• Two young boys were spending the night at their grandparents.
• At bedtime, the two boys knelt beside their beds to say their prayers.
• The youngest one began praying at the top of his lungs,
• "I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE. I PRAY FOR A NEW NINTENDO. I PRAY FOR A VCR"
• His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said,
• "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf."
• To which the little brother replied,
• "No, but Gramma is!"
A boy who was making sure he got his perfect present:
• Sometimes we get presents that are actually better than we first thought,
• Like the boy who was bought a musical guitar.
Ill:
• When his uncle gave him the guitar, he was not too impressed,
• Yet the next time he saw him after the Xmas holidays he was full of enthusiasm.
“Thanks for the electric guitar you gave me for Christmas,
it's the best present I ever got."
• “That's great," said his uncle. "What made the difference, did you learn how to play it?"
• "Oh, I don't play it and that’s why it’s so great," replied the boy.
• The uncle puzzled asked him “What do you mean?”
• The boy answered:
"Well, My mom gives me a 50p not to play it during the daytime
and my dad gives me £1 a week not to play it at night”.
Well, this year, just like every year:
• Millions of people, both children and adults,
• Will open millions of gifts.
• Some won’t fit. Some will be the wrong style or colour.
• Many will end up returned to the shop and exchanged.
Christmas is a reminder:
• That there’s one gift that meets everyone’s need,
• One gift that will never wear out, never break or need repairing.
• A gift that is appropriate for a small child, or a teenager, or an adult, or a senior adult.
• Boy or girl, man or woman, it makes no difference.
• The gift we all need, the most valuable gift of all, is Jesus Christ!
• He is the REASON for this whole SEASON.
Reading: 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 15
"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"
In 2 Corinthians chapter 9:
• The Apostle Paul has been writing about human gifts.
• The church in Corinth was collecting money to give to the poor Christians in Jerusalem.
• Then at the end of the chapter he shifts his attention from human gifts,
• To God’s gift – the gift of his son Jesus Christ.
• And he cannot find words to describe that.
• He simply says, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift”.
FOUR THINGS REGARDING GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT:
(1). All human gifts can be measured - But not gods gift of jesus.
Gifts / Presents come in many sizes.
• Some come beautifully wrapped,
• While others may be presented in a box or even pulled out of a bag or pocket.
Ill:
• I am sure we have done it to others or had it done to us at some time,
• We find a huge parcel next to the tree and it has your name on it.
• When no one is looking, you prod it shake it, smell it,
• In fact anything you can do to it apart from opening it to try to find out what it is.
Eventually Christmas morning arrives and you have the opportunity to open that large box:
• Only inside that huge box was another box all wrapped up,
• And inside that one another and then another one, and then another one.
• Eventually you open the last box, which is tiny compared to the first huge box,
• Which was very tiny and inside that box was nothing.
• Inside is a small but very special present.
God’s gift of Jesus is that story in reverse:
• The gift starts off small,
• A tiny baby less than 10lbs in weight, small, fragile and helpless.
• Yet this gift grows and grows and grows,
• More than just a baby growing into a boy, teenager and then a man!
• And as we examine the life of this individual,
• We discover him to be Jesus Christ – The Son of the Living God! (can’t get bigger than that!)
Ill:
• Fridtjof Nansen was an Norwegian explorer and statesman,
• He lived Norway between 1861-1930.
• He tried to measure an extremely deep part of the Arctic Ocean.
• The first day he used his longest measuring line but couldn't reach the bottom.
• He wrote in his log book. "The ocean is deeper than that!"
• The next day he added more line but again had to record, "Deeper than that!"
• After several days of adding more and more line;
• He gave up without learning its actual depth.
• All he knew was that it was beyond his ability to measure it.
• How ever hard he tried, his conclusion was “Deeper than that!”
Christians believe Jesus Christ is like that illustration:
• You can never get to the bottom of his character or nature,
• He is always deeper than your ability to measure or search.
Quote:
“Jesus did not just tell the truth – he is the truth,
Jesus did not point out the way to God – he is the way,
Jesus did not simply talk about life – he imparts life,
Jesus did not just preach righteousness – he embodied holiness,
Each characteristic and attribute of God is made visible in Jesus Christ!
He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.
Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.
Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.
Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.
Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.”
(2). Are from other people - but this is a gift from God
Ill:
• The Worst Gift
• An American Express survey about Christmas gifts;
• Found that the fruitcake was chosen most often (31%)
• From a list of “worst” holiday gifts. It even finished ahead of “no gift at all.”
When asked how to dispose of a bad gift:
• 30% would hide it in the closet,
• 21% would return it,
• And 19% would give it away.
Christmas is a reminder of God’s gift of gifts to this world:
• He could never be described as a “worst” gift,
• In fact there is non-better gift!
• 2,000 years after his birth, 1.5 billion people around the world claim to follow him,
• Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world (2x as fast as any other)
Jesus is unique:
• One of the many things that makes Jesus Christ unique;
• Is to remember from where he came:
Ill:
• Lord Baden-Powell (British general & founder of the Scout movement, 1857-1941)
• Died in Kenya.
• The Dean of Westminster Abbey (London) Wrote to Lady Baden-Powell;
• He offered her a place of honour for her husband in the Abbey.
• It would be, he said, between the grave of David Livingstone (Scottish missionary & explorer in Africa
• And the tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
• The family, however, knew Baden-Powell's wishes.
• He was laid to rest in a little cemetery in Kenya.
• Above the grave was a simple stone which bears;
• His name, when he was born and when he died.
• There is also a sign carved in the stone - a circle with a spot in the centre.
• It is the Scout sign that means, "I have gone home."
For Jesus the opposite is true:
• He left his home to enter our world!
• “He became flesh and lived among us!”
• Unlike you and me who did not start life until;
• Our father’s sperm fertilised our mothers egg
• Jesus pre-existed “Very God, begotten not created”.
• “The holy child of Bethlehem is God and Lord of all, for us he laid his glory by to grace a cattle stall!”
ill:
Bob Telford and the Senior Citizens home in Coventry.
Quote: 1 John chapter 4 verse 9-10:
9This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. 10This is the kind of love we are talking about--not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.
(3). Are given to friends - But God gives gift to his enemies.
The people we love most are the people we tend to give the best gifts to:
• The greater the love should be reflected by;
• The value (financially or time spent making or searching out) the gift
ill:
The Price Of True Love does not come cheap
• The price of giving all the items bestowed by the "true love" of the song
• "The Twelve Days of Christmas" may be a little beyond most people's budget.
• 1. Partridge in a pear tree £38
• 2. Turtle doves £54
• 3. French hens £16
• 4. Calling birds £302
• 5. Gold rings £485
• 6. Geese-a-laying £162
• 7. Swans-a-swimming £7,538
• 8. Maids-a-milking £37
• 9. Pipers piping £2,807
• 10. Ladies dancing £3,245
• 11. Lords-a-leaping £1,194
• 12. Drummers drumming £1,293
• Total to give gifts once £17,170
• Total to give as in song £78,986
• Singing the song in its entirety results in 364 presents.
• The partridge is given 12 times, two doves 11 times (22 total), etc., etc., etc...
• The Price Of True Love does not come cheap,
• And the greater the love, the greater the gift!
The Bible teaches that Gods gift is not cheap!
• He gave his best most precious gift, not just to his friends but also to his enemies,
• When we could care about God, he cared about us!
• Now God might treat his enemies with kindness;
• But if we are honest most people treat their enemies negatively:
Ill:
• A reporter was interviewing an old man on his 100th birthday.
• "What are you most proud of?" he asked.
• "Well, " said the man, "I don't have an enemy in the world."
• "What a beautiful thought! How inspirational!" said the reporter.
• "Yep," added the centenarian,
• "I’ve outlived every last one of them."
God nature is very different to ours:
Ill:
• An Indian holy man was engaged in his morning meditations,
• He was sitting under a tree whose roots stretched out over the riverbank.
• During his meditation he noticed that the river was rising,
• And a scorpion caught in the roots was about to drown.
• He crawled out on the roots and reached down to free the scorpion,
• But every time he did so, the scorpion struck back at him.
• An observer came along and said to the holy man,
• "Don't you know that's a scorpion, and it's in the nature of a scorpion to want to sting?"
To which the holy man replied, '
“That may well be, but it is my nature to save, and must I change my nature because the scorpion does not change its nature?"
God’s nature is to forgive:
• “He does not treat us as our sins deserve;”
• He is willing to forgive and to start again with us!
• But that forgiveness is never automatic,
• But it is available!
• If we admit our need and humble our hearts,
• God is willing to meet with us!
Ill:
• The organist at St Paul's Cathedral (London);
• Caught sight of Felix Mendelssohn (German composer, 1809-47) in the congregation.
• He sent the great composer a note inviting him to play the organ after the service.
• Mendelssohn agreed,
• The congregation, already shuffling out of the pews to go home,
• Suddenly stopped and sat down again to listen entranced.
• Suddenly in the middle of a glorious crescendo the music died away & the organ went silent.
• The organ blower had gone home for lunch!
• What could have been one of the great highlights of his life,
• He threw away for something to eat.
Question:
• How many of us do that with God?
• We consider other things more important!
“Room for pleasure, room for business; But for Christ the crucified –
not a place that he can enter
in the heart for which he died”
(4). Are purchased by the giver - but this gift cannot be bought
According to the experts:
• Shops in Wales and the west of England will be among the busiest on Christmas Eve,
• According to a recent poll, with 32% of those questioned planning a final spending spree.
• The most organised shoppers in the country live in the north west;
• Where 81% expect to have got all their presents in advance.
• The survey of 1,000 people predicted that shoppers on Christmas Eve;
• Will spend around £4.3billion - or £120,000 a second.
• Jerry Toher, managing director of Egg UK, said:
• "Over £20billion will be spent on debit and credit cards this December,
The greatest gift the world has ever known:
• Cannot be purchased with money or gold or any valuable resource we own,
• Even if we could buy it, no-one could ever afford it!
Ill:
• It was reported that eleven millionaires went down on the Titanic.
• Major A.H. Peuchen left $300,000 in money, jewelery, and securities in a box in his cabin.
• "The money seemed a mockery at that time,"
• He later said. "I picked up three oranges instead."
God has never been very impressed with money, silver or gold:
• In fact it has so little value to him,
• The Bible says “The streets with heaven are paved with gold”
God never deals with us on the basis of what we can give him:
• Some think they can impress God by giving to charities (good but never good enough)
• Some think they can impress God by their good works (good but never good enough)
• That thinking shows that the person does not know God,
• Because he works on the opposite basis:
“It is not what we can do for God,
It is what he has done for us!”
God deals with us in grace and mercy:
Question: What do we mean by the terms grace & mercy?
Answer:
• GRACE = God DOES give us what we DON'T deserve.
• MERCY = God DOESN'T give us what we DO deserve.
GRACE:
• God DOES give us what we DON'T deserve.
• Quote:
“Love that looks up is adoration, love that looks across is affection,
but love that looks down is grace!”
MERCY:
• God DOESN'T give us what we DO deserve.
• We deserve punishment but we find forgiveness.
Ill:
• The story is told of a politician
• Who, after receiving the proofs of a portrait, was very angry with the photographer.
• He stormed back to the photographer and arrived with these angry words:
• "This picture does not do me justice!"
• The photographer replied,
• "Sir, with a face like yours, you don't need justice, you need mercy!"
ill:
• Napoleon was moved by a mother's plea for a pardon for her son.
• However, the emperor said it was the second offense; and justice demanded death.
• "I do not ask for justice," implored the mother, "I plead for mercy."
• "But," said the emperor, "he does not deserve mercy."
• "Sire," cried the mother,
• "It would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for."
• The compassion and clarity of the mother's logic prompted Napoleon to respond,
• "Well, then, I will have mercy."
(5). Will pass away - but this gift is eternal
• Everything in life passes away:
• Ill: 12 items and when they will disintegrate:
• Paper traffic ticket: 2-4 weeks
• Cotton rag: 1-5 months
• Degradable polyethylene bag: 2-3 months
• Piece of rope: 3-14 months
• Wool stockings: 1 year
• Bamboo pole: 1-3 years
• Unpainted wooden stake: 1-4 years
• Painted wooden stake: 13 years
• Wooden light pole: 15-36 years
• Plastic six pack cover: 450 years
• Tin or steel can: 100 years
• Aluminum can: 200-500 years
Quote:
“Change and decay in all around I see,
O thou who changest not abide with me”
Ill:
• Michelangelo on one occasion turned to his fellow artists;
• And said with frustration in his voice:
“Why do you keep filling gallery after gallery with endless pictures of Christ in weakness, Christ on the cross, and most of all, Christ hanging dead?
Why do you concentrate on the passing episode as if it were the last work, as if the curtain dropped down there on disaster and defeat?
That dreadful scene only lasted a few hours.
But to the unending eternity Christ is alive, Christ rules and reigns and triumphs!”
Ill:
• For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ's first advent,
• There are 8 which look forward to His second!
