Inland Empire: Riverside
Indescribable Gift - Audio
Is everybody happy and excited? Amen. I'm sure God bless you all beyond your expectations this morning, right, kids? Amen. Amen. Well, hopefully that's how all of you feel that you didn't really want anything that much and you didn't really deserve anything and yet your family through God's love gave you stuff anyway. Amen. Right? See, we shouldn't feel like we deserved something or we shouldn't feel like we didn't get what we wanted. Right? I'm not sure if that message is getting through there. None of you really convinced me. Well, I know in our home, you know, the fur coat, the diamond ring, the necklace that, you know, all that stuff that Angela got, you know, and I went upstairs and prayed about it and came down and she was happy anyway. Amen. So and thank all of you who contributed to that, amen. But you know, Christmas obviously is a time of year when there are a lot of things going on in our lives that can be super busy, all those things are happening, but certainly one of the things you're trying to do is figure out how to choose the right gift. It's something that, you know, for that special person or something that we hope the person will really enjoy or really find refreshing or encouraging and that kind of thing. And so we want to, in a sense, find the perfect gift. But, you know, have you ever received, you know, an indescribable gift? Have you ever received a gift that was beyond description? You know, and in thinking about that and if you really think about it, it's like, well, what would that be? Maybe you get a gift that's, you know, and you're a little bit older, my age, or even older, whatever, and you get something and it's like, wow, I've wanted this all my life. This is something I've longed for. Thank you so much, but would that make it indescribable? You know, or maybe it's a gift that really carries a lot of emotional feelings to it, a lot of memory, memories connected to it and you receive that and you're overwhelmed and you'll hold it and cherish it because of everything it reminds you of, but is that indescribable? You know, or maybe it could be something that maybe you didn't care about that much and so you don't even bother trying to describe it, I suppose that could be indescribable as well. But, you know, a while back on Good Morning America, I know, several years ago, but Joan London was one of the hostesses there and she was talking about some of the great gifts that you could get for Christmas. Maybe some of you saw that, but one was the Jaguar 220, Jaguar, right? And, you know, if you wanted one of these, you could go down and plop down your $80,000 deposit and then, you know, once you took delivery, then you could pay the rest of the $587,000 that you would owe for that. You only make $250 of those a year, you know, and then she would want to say that if you really wanted to be nice and, you know, to really shine like it, in shining away, then only this product could make it shine, there was a car wax that you could get for eight ounces of car wax for $3,400. And so, but if you're going to spend 600 Gs on the car, you might as well spend another 35 grand on an eight ounce can of car wax, right? And you know, I just, I do have to be careful because I go back to my life before I was a Christian, you know, and, you know, and this is how I used to, you know, not live in either, but, we're a third item. There's a $300,000 gold and silver toilet seat, inlaid with all kinds of jewels and whatnot. Somehow I have a feeling that if you tried to resell that, you wouldn't get your money's worth, but, uh, it could be wrong, it could be wrong. Cheaper gifts for those who already had everything like an $18,000 Frisbee, a $10,000 yo-yo, a $12,000 mousetrap, and even a $27,000 pair of sunglasses, okay? That's more than I spend at the gas station when I buy mine, you know. But you know, those kind of gifts, they can stagger our imagination, you know, but what about if you were a proud grandparent, you really wanted to, you know, encourage your brand new grandchild, you can get them a $28,000 pacifier. And you know that, you know, they really appreciate that, you know. But you know, think about those things, and even those things that go, well, if I ever received one of those, I might be at a loss for words, perhaps, you know, if someone gave me a $587,000 car and, you know, it's like, I don't know, maybe you guys should test that theory, I don't know, let's see. Find out if I really am speechless, but, but you know, certainly, we might, we might feel like, you know, what words do I use for this, but certainly the marketers don't feel that way. They write about all these things and write about them in such a way that described them that could almost make us feel like, you know, we can't live without them, or, you know, what we always hear in commercial these days is you deserve it, right? You deserve this. A person of your stature, a person of your hard work, a person of your limited means, you deserve something nice too, you know, always make us feel that way. They won't have really any problem describing those things. And, you know, over in Second Corinthians, Paul is talking about, um, in, in, in chapter nine there, he's talking about, you know, gifts that humans give, and he's writing about, you know, how the church there in Corinth is taking up offerings to give to some of the poor disciples in Jerusalem, and he's thanking the people for, for what they're giving. And he's, he's also saying, remember, however, that those who sow sparingly will also reap sparingly, but he also reminds him that those who sow generously will also reap generously. And then he takes his attention from that, from human gifts to God and to the gift of sending Jesus to us on earth, and if you look there in Second Corinthians nine, verse 15, Paul simply writes, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. And at this time of year, you know, we do our best to, to really depict through, you know, sermons and, and singing different things like of this nature, to really depict, you know, how amazing the gift that God gave to us through Jesus really is. And over time, you know, we sing them, we hear them every year, but musicians have composed some of their greatest music, to try and depict this incredible gift of God to us. You know, there's Handel's Messiah, there's Vox Christmas, or Torio, and then some of the hymns we sing, like the beautiful hymns we sing about God, like Silent Night and Joy to the world and, and so many others, a little town of Bethlehem that we love. Some of the greatest music, some of the greatest lyrics that we ever hear or sing, you know, we're written to pay homage to that. You have all the painters and the sculptors, you know, who paid homage, you know, to try and describe the indescribable gift. So Paul just says, you know, thanks be to God for this gift that we can't describe. He says, there's no words that can really, you know, Paul was a great, you know, speaker had incredible oratory skills, I mean, and, and a great writer, as, as we can see through the scriptures, and, yeah, he said, it's just indescribable, like, I can't really come up with the words. And that really is, you know, when we think about what is Christmas all about? You know, I'm sure many of you got up this morning and, and, you know, you open presents. And I'm sure also many of you before you did that, you read the Christmas story though, because we want our kids to know, we want our, we want our families to want to remind ourselves that that's what it's really about. It's not about what we're about to do and open these gifts. These are just symbolic of, of us giving to each other the way God gave to us. It's a way for us in a sense to be like God and giving each other gifts because He gave us the indescribable gift of Jesus. And I hope we thought about this, that this morning and last night and I hope we think about that today. I hope we think about that often about what an indescribable gift we've been given by God. But you know, why is it indescribable? Like one of the reasons, you know, because of the name, his nature, because of the very nature of Jesus makes this gift indescribable. You know, how do you describe a child being born of a virgin? How do you describe God being born into the flesh? How do you really describe that to make it understandable? That's why part of our good news, part of the good news that we want to share with people is foolishness to them. Because we can't really do it justice. We can't really describe the indescribable gift. You know how you describe that which is spirit when all we really know is a physical or material. How do we describe that? That yes, he's flesh, but he's also, you know, spirit, he's also the Holy Spirit, he's God in the flesh. How do you describe someone that's being born as a baby even that is born with the capacity to, will be omniscient? Will know everything, will understand everything. How do you describe that? You know, some of us when we have babies, we probably think that's what our baby's going to be. And you can see, my kid's only three days old and already, you know, trying to move. My kid was pooping right out of the womb, I mean. And I've read that other kids that aren't that smart, they don't start that till like day one. Oh, Mikey, you should have seen him, you should have seen him eyes open in quite weird. My kid when she was first born, she could see right away. This kid is several days before they can even see, Mikey, I know she could see me. Oh, you should have seen my child, I walked into the room the other day and I just walked into my child and started smiling. How old? Two days. Doctor stays never, he's never seen it, doesn't believe it, even, but that's how we feel, and they become teenagers. But words aren't really adequate when we try to describe. Some of the widest men, you know, in the world who've lived and tried to do that, listen to what the council of Chalcedon said in 451 AD. And these are, you know, some of the greatest thinkers, certainly the greatest theologians of that day and age who came together, and here's their description. Perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood, truly man of a reasonable rational soul and body, consubstantial, coessential with the Father according to the manhood, and all things like unto us without sin be gotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead. And then these lighter times for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary and of the mother of God, according to the manhood, one in the same Christ, son, Lord, only be gotten to be acknowledged in two natures. Unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably, and the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved. Amen. Can't how many of you understood that? No, you didn't, I didn't, because I didn't understand that at all. I've read it several times, I still don't understand it. I think you're saying something like Jesus is awesome. I think he's what they're really trying to communicate there. See, man's attempt to describe the indescribable are sometimes futile. Why else? Why else is he indescribable? I think also because of his nature, but also because of his purpose in coming to earth. And this is what we know. How many of you kids know why Jesus came to earth? Any of you? To do what? Okay, yeah, young Tom Bundy had that answer too, you know? Jesus came to earth. Jesus was born, if you will, certainly his purpose later on in life was clear to seek and save the lust. But Jesus was born to what? To save us. Jesus was born to be our Savior. And you got to be making sure you're teaching your children that and I know that and trust that you are. But that's why Jesus was born. The purpose of him being born was to save us. You know, God was able to look down and God had known and always known that man needed a Savior. God saw a man's inhumanity to a man and knew that we've got to save them. And so he asked his son, you know, basically, "Will you be willing to leave all this and go to that?" It's like asking us to leave whatever we have and to have absolutely nothing and to live on the street, if you will, just to preach the gospel. Where's my food going to come? I don't know. That's what it would be like. I mean, to have no plan, you know what I mean, to for us to even come close to being able to understand that. It would be like us. Really, many people describe it as that's going to a less than human form even. You couldn't even take enough away from us for us to understand what going from heaven and being born into earth is like. We'd have to be subhuman in order to even come close to what Jesus gave up. We'd have to give up our humanity, be a dog or be a rat or something of that nature, you know. For us to really understand what it was that Jesus gave up. But the purpose there was for Jesus to come and save us. The purpose there was for Jesus to come and be able to give us peace, to be able to give us hope. And how many of us do we really reflect on that? Do we think about that enough? What is it that God has really done for me? It's something that we have to be reminded of. It's something that we need to be able to sit back sometimes and that's why Christmas really is such a great thing to celebrate Christmas. You know, people like say, "Oh, it's born of a pagan holiday." Oh, you know, people want to tarnish it in any way they can so they can make Christians or Christianity look foolish. And sometimes we can buy into that and yet know it's a great time of year for us as disciples to be reminded, to think about what really took place. So many years ago, for us to be able to remind others and to teach others about what took place there. You know, and how do you describe that? How do you describe God sending God in to the world? The gift is an indescribable gift. Why else? Well, because of the nature of who it was that was born in that major, because of the purpose for that baby coming, why else? Because of the grace that we received because Jesus was born. You know, in a sense that every gift that I give or will be given, you know, whether I get or receive, you know, every gift is basically that person I give it to has some kind of a claim on me. If I give a gift to my wife, well, she's my wife. To my kids, well, they're my children. To my extended family. They're my family. Even if I give something to the poor that, you know, it's because I have some kind of indebtedness to humanity, some kind of understanding that maybe I'm obliged, not forced or must do it because I've been given, but that it's the right thing to do. And when you think about Jesus, though, that's what makes God's gift to us so special. God didn't owe us anything. God was not obliged in any way to give us the gift of Jesus. We hadn't earned it in any way, shape, or form. In fact, we've been living and continue to live in rebellion to God and yet He gave us this incredible gift. You know, we can't even comprehend even as parents of our children, we're in such a state of rebellion that it was just causing pain and wreaking damage throughout our whole family, and we lavish gifts on them anyway. As if they weren't doing anything wrong, as if, you know, we didn't even, even we gave them a gift. It wasn't like you don't deserve this or you shouldn't get this or, man, I can't believe I'm going to try to kill you with kindness. It's, boy, imagine us trying to do that. Or imagine maybe you can, maybe somehow imagine because you love your children or imagine giving an incredible gift to someone that's never done anything but been bad to you. They've hurt you. They've hurt your family. They've stopped. They've stolen from you. They've hurt someone. You know, it physically hurts something like that and yet you lavish good things on them. You know, we think maybe we could do that and that's because most of us have never had really anything really bad done to us, like really bad. We think, well, someone said some bad stuff about me once before but I stuck it up and I forgave them, right? Some of us have been really hurt by our spouses and we've forgiven them and yet that's nothing compared to how we've hurt God and how he's given to us and how he gave us the gift. The Bible says that while we were still in rebellion, while we're still living in our sin, Jesus died for us and in a sense, while we're still living in our sin, God had Jesus be born for us and so certainly, you know, I don't want us to have a heavy sermon on Christmas day and yet I don't want us to have us, you know, to have funnel cake for Christmas either because the birth of Jesus is too important. It's too monumental. It's the event that changed the face of history. Everything was different because of that birth, has been different and will continue to be different because of that day, because of that birth. Everything changes, everything's different and so how do we describe that? God giving us a gift that we could never earn or deserve. You know, when you see that baby in the manger at Bethlehem, you know, we sometimes we can focus on that, we sell the scenes, we think, what a cute baby and we can, you know, reason with that because we've, we've, many of us have had babies and all of us have seen babies and, you know, and yet that's the Son of God in that manger, that's God in that manger. That baby being born right there is someday going to grow up and be brutalized and die in your place. Someday that baby is going to take your place at the executioner's stand. It's incredible when you think about it, it's indescribable when we look at that. There are no words. And finally, why else because of his effect on us? You know, you think about what happens to us when we get God's gift. You know, when you open your Christmas gifts, when you, if you haven't already done so, if you've already done so, how many of you opened gifts last night and today? You've already opened gifts. Okay? How many of you have been profoundly changed because of that gift you opened, right? How many of you, I mean, and, and, you know, any, any hands that go up there just shows how deceived you are, so that's fine. And that's a good way for you to get humble on Christmas morning. But the reality is, you know, you get a, a sports car, you know, it doesn't profoundly change your life. It allows you to drive faster than you could in your hoopty. And even if you drive too fast and you crash and you are no more, your life hasn't changed. It's just over, you know? So it doesn't really, doesn't change your life. If you get a brand new TV, you know, man, you're watching sports is so much better. So much better. It's, it's, you know, for, for many minutes, it's almost a legitimate need even. I mean, it's very close to being a need and not just to want, but I'm going to stop and say it's still just to want and it doesn't profoundly change your life. When you get in and smell the new car smell, you know, it feels so good and it's so amazing and you got all of the gadget belt, you know, and, but really after a few weeks or a few months, it's, you know, still kind of smells like blue car, you know, but you think about it. Six months since I got this new car and I, you know, I still have, you know, 2.3 kids and I still live in the same house and I still have, you know, it's like, you know, I'm not any wealthier. I'm not, you know, I'm not more saved or less and, you know, it doesn't profoundly change your life. Maybe a lot of fun. You may be very encouraged, but nothing really profoundly changes your life, but when we got the gift from God of Jesus, certainly that is profoundly changed our life. The Bible teaches us that when we make Jesus our Lord, things will never be the same again because of the effect that His love has on our life. You know, Jesus allows us to be obedient by coming into our life. You know, Jesus allows us to be guaranteed citizenship in the kingdom of God, whether we're foreign or an alien, we are no more according to the Bible. When we receive Jesus, when we get the gift of the Holy Spirit, it enables us to live the life that God has destined for us. A life that glorifies God, a life that that helps save other people, a life that has meaning now, a life that that will leave its mark on eternity because of the souls it helps to bring to heaven with them. We're given peace because of that gift. We're able to cope with things in ways that we never could before we had that, and because of Jesus, we have a mansion in heaven that's already paid for. We have treasure in heaven that will never spoil or fade. It's already there. I mean, our lives have been profoundly changed. It's had a monster effect on us, and certainly it's affected everyone, but the most profound are those that accept Jesus as Lord. Those that are willing to repent of their sin and to get into the waters of baptism. And that's what we need to do at Christmastime, you know, I mean, we need to fall on our knees and thank God for how profoundly our lives have been changed because of what He's done for us. You know, it's amazing that most all of our problems, it's not all of our problems are due to the fact that not only that we sin, but really what it is because we're all going to sin. What really kills us is that we don't repent. We don't repent. Our marriages don't get healed because people don't repent. Our families don't get healed because people won't repent. Our finite situations don't get better because people won't repent, you know, and yet God has given us this gift that all we need to do is repent. Once we've made Jesus our Lord, confess those sins and repent and then they're gone. The Bible says that God buries our sin as deep as the sea, but that gift of Jesus being born in that manger is indescribable and God gave us His one and only Son so that we'd have an opportunity to live the lives we live now. God gave us that. So, you know, as we take communion in a moment here, we need to remember that that baby would grow up to change the world, to change the world, not just change where he lived or changed the space and time, but to change the world for eternity. But that someday that baby would sneak in, would grow up and sneak in and take our place at the executioner's stand. And because of that, we would live though he would die. And we know that as we take communion that yes, he died for us. He took our place. He covered for our sin, but he rose from death, conquered even death. And because of that, guys, we all have hope. No matter what we did or didn't get for Christmas, no matter how disappointing we are, we didn't get to see certain family or whatever the case may be, we have hope. Our lives are eternally changed because of what Jesus did for us, because of what God did for us through Jesus by having them be born. So we need to remember that. We need to remind ourselves and take Jesus back into our putting back from the rightful throne of our hearts, reminding ourselves that Jesus is our Lord. This morning, if you're visiting and you haven't made you, should we offer you that as well? Really, it's the greatest Christmas gift we could give to you. And it is free, and it's there for the taking, and we want to offer that, but we're going to pray right now. And then we're taking union, and hopefully we can think about that. We could be reminded of how lucky we are, of what an indescribable gift we've been given. I know it's something that we need to meditate on to really understand it. And thinking about this morning, maybe we go, yeah, that's true, but if we don't meditate on it, it won't in fact profoundly affect our lives the way it should. So let's pray now, as we take communion, let's remember that that baby born is an indescribable gift. God in heaven we bow before you this morning, so in love with you, so grateful to you for a gift that we can't describe. And yet, God, we try so hard, and God, we don't want our efforts to be in vain. We want so much to be able to describe you, and the best way we can to those that don't know you, who want to be able to offer that same gift of salvation that you've given to us. And God, I pray that during this Christmas season, I know that we have basically another week of holiday here, that we'd be mindful of you, that we'd be making plans to draw nearer to you in the new year, that we decide that once and for all, our marriage is going to be brand new all over again, that our relationship with you is going to be brand new, that our heart for the lost will be reinvigorated, and God that you will soften our hearts beyond all that so that we might be more in touch with who we are and how much we need you, and therefore how much you love us. We thank you, you take your blood, that reminds us of our forgiveness, we take the cup, that reminds us of your blood and the forgiveness that bring you to the end of the bread, that reminds us of the sacrifice you made, and reminds us also of the fact that we made you Lord, and therefore we're called to live the life you've called us to. Since, gee, stay me pray, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Christmas lesson by Doug Wens