Great Expectations

2 Corinthians 9:15
The story is told about a man who got tired of the Christmas hoopla. All the frantic haste and the crass commercialism disgusted him. So, he decided not to go along with the crowd. Among other things, he decided not to send Christmas cards or buy Christmas gifts, feeling that the expense and effort were non-productive. For the first ten days of December he felt good about his decision. But then, as the mail brought him greetings from friends near and far, he began to feel more and more guilt about sending no cards. Finally, four days before Christmas, he couldn’t stand it any longer. It was too late for anything else, but he would at least send cards. He rushed down to the pharmacy and grabbed the only box of Christmas cards still on the shelf. He bought it, purchased stamps, rushed home, and addressed cards frantically all evening. He addressed 49 cards. He had one card left over which he tossed on the mantle. That very evening he drove down to the post office and mailed the cards.
The next day he was strolling through the house and happened to see that extra card on the mantle. Suddenly it occurred to him that he had addressed and signed all those cards but had not actually read what the card said. So, he grabbed the card and took a look. This is what it said: "This cheery card has come to say: A gift from us is on the way."
He committed himself to a lot more giving that he ever intended, didn’t he? Imagine the expectations that those cards created! My daughter Megan came to us a couple of weeks ago with a 3 page Christmas wish list. She has great expectations, though I will never be able to live up to them.
God, however, has exceeded our expectations when He sent to us the gift of His Son. We want to notice that gift this morning as we look together at a single verse of Scripture.

I. INDESCRIBABLE GIFT-
Paul speaks of this gift of God’s Son as unspeakable
Now, we’ve all received gifts that have left us speechless: for the good or the bad
But Paul is telling us that this is a wonder beyond description, words fail to capture it
His gift is far beyond anything we could have or would have ever expected
Paul has been writing about the exceeding grace of God in the lives of the Corinthians
Despite the problems these people had, God still loved them and chose to work through them
How can you describe Jesus and all He is to us? How can you explain His love for us?
I know the Bible explains our love for Him: 1 John 4:19 says "We love him, because he first loved us."
How do you explain the infinite becoming finite, the Ancient of Days a babe in a manger?
I can’t even comprehend eternity, much less God stepping into time
How do you put into words the love that allowed God to sacrifice His only begotten Son?
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
"So Loved" doesn’t really measure it
Can you explain "Emmanuel: God with us"?
What words would suffice to describe the indescribable?
Paul says that words just aren’t adequate.
With the sharpest minds and the most extensive vocabularies, we would still fall short
God has not given this indescribable gift out of obligation
He had no debt to us, and He owed us absolutely nothing.
Yet, He lavished His love upon us in vast