TOPIC:“Giving Thanks at Christmas” (Christmas Sunday)
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:II Corinthians 9:6-15
“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (II Corinthians 9:15)
What an interesting thought: We may celebrate Thanksgiving at Christmas. For you see, my friend, at Christmas we have the coming together of two actions of love: God's unspeakable gift and our unceasing gratitude. Notice again Paul's words in verse 15: “Thanks be unto God” - there you have Thanksgiving. “For His unspeakable gift” - there you have Christmas. So at Christmas we praise God for His greatest of Gifts - the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want you to notice how some of the other translators have rendered these words to describe God's Gift to us:
“Thank God, then, for his indescribable generosity to you” (Phillips)
“Thank God for His Son - His gift too wonderful for words” (TLB)
“Let us thank God for His priceless gift” (The Good News Bible)
“Thanks be to God for His gift that is more than we can tell” (Beck)
“Thanks be to God for His gift beyond words” (NEB)
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” (NAS)
“Thanks be to God for His unspeakably precious gift” (Weymouth)
I ask you, What makes this Gift of God so inexpressible, indescribable, wonderful, precious, unspeakable, priceless, too wonderful for words, more than we can tell? I shall mention four reasons.
I.
Consider, first of all, that Paul describes this Gift as being “unspeakable” because of the IMMEASURABLE LOVE that DESIGNED it. Mention of God's limitless love can be found in these familiar words: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Or again: “But God commendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Mind you, this Gift that Paul speaks of as “unspeakable” goes beyond and far exceeds all other gifts that we have ever received from the hand of the Infinite God. Though He has given us the sky and stars above, the land . . .