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(upbeat music) - This is our last day, day five, of looking through 2
Corinthians chapter nine. We're going to look at one verse today, verse 15. One of
my favorite verses, actually, in all the Bible.

It's a very simple expression of praise, but what a powerful expression of
praise it is. After talking about generosity for a couple of chapters, and how
God wants us to be generous, Paul ends with this truth, verse 15. Thanks be to
God for his indescribable gift.

After talking about generosity, and we need to be generous, Paul ends by saying,
now, let's remind ourselves of the gift of Jesus. So let's do that, let's do
that today. Let's talk about the gift of Jesus.

As I read this verse, the word indescribable, it captures my mind. I can't
describe the indescribable. It's an indescribable gift, but I can begin to give
you a sense of how indescribable it really is.

The gift is Jesus. The gift is grace. And when you think about the indescribable
gift of Jesus, think with me just for a minute about these three things.

Think about the nature of Jesus, the grace of Jesus, and the love of Jesus, and
really how beyond description those are. The nature of Jesus, born a baby, and
yet also God, God in human flesh, but beginning as a baby, growing up, and then
becoming a man, and then living his life for us, and giving his life for us. God
in human flesh, humbly walking this earth, that's indescribable to me.

It's unfathomable to me, and yet when you think about it, it does something to
your heart. The indescribable gift of Jesus, is the nature of Jesus, who he is.
You see also in the nature of Jesus, he's God in man, you see also his
character.

You watch him walk this earth, and you see the compassion that he has. You see
the passion for the truth that he has. You see the teaching that he gives to us,
that helps us to understand how to walk with God, and walk with others.

The nature of Jesus, it's indescribable. God's laid it out for us, and we can
see some of it, but all of us know there's more beauty there than we can say in
a word. There's more beauty there than there is on a page.

It's Jesus. The nature of Jesus is indescribable, it's so great. It's beyond our
capacity to fully comprehend the nature of Jesus.

The grace of Jesus is beyond our capacity to fully comprehend. That's true in my
life, that's true in your life, because the truth is, I don't fully comprehend
the horror of my own sin. I don't fully comprehend how far I was from God.

I think many of us think, I was pretty close. I was almost there, and I needed
Jesus to nudge me over the line. Thank you for the cross, thank you for Jesus,
and nothing could be further from the truth, because I was far from God.

My sins had built a wall between me and God, made a separation, a gap that just
could not be spanned. And the grace of Jesus spanned that gap. The grace of
Jesus brought me near to God.

The grace of Jesus changed everything. That's the indescribable gift of what God
has done in my life, in your life, through God's grace in Jesus Christ. That's
what the cross is all about, the resurrection is all about.

The grace of Jesus is something that we enjoy, and something in one sense we
think we comprehend, because we know that it's grace that has gotten us to
Jesus. We just don't know how far we were from God. We don't know how far there
was to go, and because of that, it's almost indescribable to us.

It's a journey that's beyond description, but God caused that journey to happen.
He brought us back near to him, created a new relationship again because of the
grace of Jesus, indescribable. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift of
Jesus, the nature of Jesus, the grace of Jesus, the love of Jesus.

The love of Jesus is indescribable in my life, in your life. He loves you in
such a way that he will hold on to you no matter what. In John 10, he talks
about his sheep and the fact that he holds them in his hand and nothing can
snatch them out of my hand.

In Romans 8, we read that there is no condemnation any longer for those who are
in Christ Jesus at the beginning of the chapter. And at the end of the chapter,
what can separate us from the love of Christ? And he goes through this list of
all the things in this world, height, depth, any other created thing.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God that's in Jesus Christ. I know that
Jesus loves me. Since you were a child, you may have sung the song "Jesus loves
me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

" It sounds so simple, but it is indescribable. The fact that Jesus loves you
that much, he holds on to you that tightly, his love for you carries that far.
It is beyond understanding.

Ephesians tells us the height, the depth, the width, we can't understand it, but
we enjoy it. Now, I've just talked about the nature of Jesus and the grace of
Jesus and the love of Jesus. I could go on with 10, 20 other characteristics of
Jesus and talk about this.

That's how indescribable his love is in our lives. Now, this indescribable gift
that God has given into our lives, it is a gift that is not forced upon us. You
have to unwrap the gift.

It's unwrapped by faith, by trusting in him. And maybe you've never done that.
Even listening all this way through 2 Corinthians, you haven't yet said to
Jesus, "Jesus, I accept the gift of your love in my life, "of your grace in my
life.

" It's unwrapped by faith through grace. It's not by your works. It's not by
what you've done, it's by what he did.

You can unwrap it right now because of that, 'cause he's already done it. He's
already offering the gift to you. Just right now, you say to him, "Jesus, I
accept the gift of forgiveness.

"I accept the gift of a new life that you want to give me. "I want to live in a new
kind of way "because of who you are. "I accept the gift of your grace and your
love in my life.

" Pray that prayer right now in your mind. Unwrap that gift by faith through
grace. Now, Paul ends these two chapters in talking about generosity by talking
about God's indescribable gift, because he knows that thanking God for his gift
causes me to be generous with God's gifts in my life.

Thanking God for the biggest gift of all, what he's given in Jesus Christ,
causes me to be generous with the gifts that he gives in my daily life. That's
how it happens. If you want to become a more generous person, all that we've
talked about, we went through, I don't know, 15, 16 different things.

The one thing you have to remember is Jesus. The one thing you have to remember
is what he did for you. The one thing you have to remember is the indescribable
gift.

And out of that, the motivation for everything else that we've talked about
comes into your life. Now, we'd be failing, I think, this week in what God's
word says to us about generosity if we didn't end by thinking about, what does
this mean for me? What am I going to do about this?

It's not just about attitude, it has to be about action. So let me give you two
exercises. When we talk about something as important as generosity and getting
it into your life, here's just two practical exercises that you can bring into
your life on an everyday way that can cause you to be a more generous person.

One is to be generous with God. And that's the only way that can cause you to be
a more generous person. Exercise number one, never miss a chance to give.

Never miss a chance to give. When there's an opportunity to give, give
something. I know some people look at themselves and say, well, I'm not a
naturally giving person.

Well, I say whenever God prompts your heart to give, then give. When God says
give, then give. And that's the chance that I'm talking about.

I'm not talking about every time somebody pressures you to give, give, we talked
about that earlier. You don't give because somebody pressures you. But you're
sitting in church or you're with another believer or something happens and God
prompts your heart.

You should give to that person. Maybe it's a meal. Maybe it's an offering.

Maybe it's beginning to give a tithe. Whenever God prompts your heart to give,
give. When you're pressured by people, the answer is no.

But every time you're prompted by God, make the answer yes, every time. Unless
you do that, you're going to miss a chance. You're going to miss a chance to grow.

So one of the ways to become more generous is never miss a chance to give. Never
hold God at arm's length by saying, wait, I'm going to get to that God. When the
opportunity comes, God prompts your heart, then you give what you can in that
moment.

Never miss a chance to give. That's one of the exercises. The second exercise is
this.

Give more than you thought you could. Give more than you thought you could.
Listen, in a society whose goal is to live extravagantly, our goal should be to
give extravagantly.

Instead of trying to live above our means to impress other people, we ought to
give above our means. And by that, I mean not give more than you actually have,
but give to stretch your faith. Give to impact the world.

Give more than you thought you could. Give more than you thought you could. I
think I could give this much.

I reasoned it out in my mind that I can give this much. You don't give by
reason, you give by faith. You give by revelation.

So what is God saying to give? Don't just figure out what you can give. Say,
God, what do you want me to give?

You gave it to me in the first place, and when you do that, I can promise you
God's going to challenge your heart. God's going to challenge you to give more than
you thought you could, because when he challenges us to give, he wants to
stretch your faith. Now, let me just alleviate some guilt here.

You can't always control your circumstances. So I'm not talking about giving
more than you possibly could, giving based on some salary that you used to have.
You can't control your circumstances.

I know some people who are feeling guilty because their circumstances have
changed and they can't give what they used to give. My question is, has your
heart changed? Would you still give it if you could?

And are you still giving sacrificially and generously out of whatever God has
given? It's not the amount. It's not the amount.

It's the heart, it's the generosity. Giving is the only way to release the grip
of things in our lives, the grip of materialism. And it's the attitude of heart
that does that.

So you never miss a chance to give, and you give more than you thought you
could. And if you do that, you're going to see yourself becoming more and more
generous every day. Our Father, we end these two weeks actually in looking at
generosity by thanking you.

We thank you for what you've given. We thank you, we thank you, we thank you for
your indescribable gift. We just focus for a moment our minds on Jesus, on the
grace you've given, the love you've given, on who Jesus is and what that means
in my life every single day.

It's more than I realize. It's beyond my description, but I enjoy that gift
every day. So thank you for the gift of Jesus.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Next week, chapter 10. Chapter 10 is about how do
you survive a tax from without and within?

I know you don't want to miss that one. See you next week.