His Unspeakable Gift
December 5th, 2009
Andrew Page (Greenock) & Commitee Member
In a few weeks time many of us will be anxious and wondering if you have made all the necessary preparations for Christmas. Have we got in the food shopping? Will there be enough? Have all the cards been sent? Do we have some spare cards just in case? Will the Christmas gifts be what people want?
Among the seasons of the year, Christmas! – is distinctively more than the others, the time for the giving of gifts. Commercialism has in its quest for profit, driven things to the point were the exchanging of gifts tends to be overdone, and its religious significance lost. Although the original idea behind it was beautiful.
This annual religious observance has been spoilt, by competitive buying and selling, rushing and straining, that many have lost sight of Christ in Christmas. We are prone to forget the Saviour in the ‘season’. Even those of us who have trusted the Saviour, can so easily have our thoughts sidelined, and our thoughts become more on the table in the dinning room, than on the stable in David’s town.
We cannot hear the singing of the angels for the voices on the radio or hi-fi. We miss the stellar vision, the wondrous guiding star, in watching the television. We cannot hear the Christmas message for the ringing of the cash registers.
GIFTS! We all love to receive a present. When we receive a gift, some unwrap it with great care, perhaps to preserve the beautiful paper, perhaps to prolong the suspense . Others like to rip it open in a hurry, eager to find out what is inside.
I had a gift given to me some time ago, and on opening it I found myself absolutely lost for words. Not, may I say a usual happening. The gift was beyond that which I could ever have imagined. I was speechless. It was something that I had dreamt of, but never ever imagined I would ever get.
Have you ever opened up a gift and found yourself absolutely speechless. A gift that perhaps left you open mouthed. On such occasions we even find it hard to express our gratitude. Such was the experience of the Apostle Paul.
In 2 Cor. 9 Paul has been speaking about giving, and commending the Corinthians for their giving, in this case to the poor and needy.
Paul because he has been speaking about giving, just cannot help moving on to talk about God’s gift. In verse 15 of that 9th chapter he bursts into heart felt praise.
“ THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT “
He is of course speaking about the gift of Jesus Christ as Saviour to a lost and needy world.
We live in a society that so often abuses the superlatives. We are over extravagant with our adjectives. ‘Wonderful – marvellous – stupendous – pure dead brilliant – such expressions slip off out tongues so easily. The adjective and the adverb are abused in modern conversation. Even among the well educated.
Paul however picked his adjectives with great care. He did not use them with the glibness that we so often do. We often use the word unspeakable or other such superlatives very casually. Paul however in using the word unspeakable in verse 15 used it because it was the adjective which fitted perfectly.
I can imagine Paul pausing and pondering before he selected the Greek word ANEKDIEGETOS ‘UNSPEAKABLE’. It is the ONLY place in the New Testament where this word is used, it certainly could NOT be claimed to be one of Paul’s common words.
The unspeakable gift, God’s gift of His Son, is precious beyond telling.
Paul was also careful when he used the word GIFT to select a word stressed its gratuitous character. God’s free gift.
How different is God’s giving to man’s giving. In many instances man’s giving is for self-advantage: our giving can be a subtle form of getting, but God’s gives out of pure beneficence.
Oh! This Christmas time let us capture again the wonder of it all.
“THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT ”
Free and precious beyond telling.
