Well, please turn back to Galatians 4, if you have a Bible.
The perfect gift, I don't know if you give gifts at Christmas, if you're into that kind of thing, but the perfect gift is a gift that is given in just the right place at just the right time.
I've told this story before, but I think it's worth telling again, the story of passengers who are waiting to board a flight to Toronto in Canada.
They waited in the departure lounge, and as they waited, they were asked on a survey, what would be your ideal Christmas present?
If you could have anything, what would it be? That was the simple question.
But what they didn't know, filling out this questionnaire, was that the airline, in a publicity stunt, during the flight, was going to track down every single item that people wished for, that they dreamed of.
And then in the exact place, at exactly the right time, the gifts would be delivered, just as the passengers got to luggage reclaim, you know, with the conveyor belt coming around.
Instead of suitcases and bags, they see boxes with wrapping and ribbons and name tags moving along, mobile phones and a snowboard and free flights for the family.
One family got a 4K 50-inch plasma screen TV.
And people were elated getting the right presence in the right place at the right time.
Apart from one sceptic who regretted his choice after telling the questionnaire, he simply wanted a pair of socks.
And he was absolutely kicking himself.
Because a gift was being prepared, just what they'd always wanted, that would be in the right place, just at the right time.
Just right.
The best kind of gift.
It's a really cheesy story, isn't it?
But that is Paul's take on the incarnation.
And I want to focus in on chapter 4, verse 4 and 5 this morning.
Just those two verses.
Because in that passage, Paul, in his treatment of the birth of Jesus Christ, says that the gift God gives is perfect.
It is just right.
It is given to fulfil our needs perfectly because it's given at the right time.
And it's given in the right place.
They're my two points this morning.
It was given just at the right time.
Given just at the right time.
There are stories over the internet of births with the most incredible timing.
One couple celebrated the birth of their daughter on the 10th of the 10th month, 2010.
But the amazing thing was that their second child, so the one born before that child, was born on the 9th of the 9th, 2009.
That was their second child.
Their first child, believe it or not, yes, you know where this is going, was born on the 8th of the 8th, 2008.
The timing was incredible.
It was impeccable.
And Paul says that the gift was even more perfectly timed than that.
Look at verse 4.
When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman.
The gift, it came just at the right time, Paul says.
There was something very timely about his birth.
The timing was almost incredible.
If you think about it, what we know about the birth of the Lord Jesus, it came, didn't it?
He came as the Roman Empire brought a unique window in history for the Gospel to travel.
There was the Pax Romana, the kind of peace of the land in the Empire.
There was a good transportation system.
And like never before, the Greek language was the common language.
So that the message of Jesus' ministry could spread throughout the known world.
It was a unique window of opportunity in history.
And it was finely tuned as we read the Gospel accounts of the birth.
It just so happened that a decree from Augustus, Caesar Augustus, was sent out.
Meaning that Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to be registered, fulfilling the word of the prophets.
All of the elements in time came together just at the right moment, didn't they?
When Herod, that paranoid madman, just happened to be on the throne.
That he might force the exile of the young Jesus to Egypt, fulfilling the scriptures.
God's timing, as you read the Gospel accounts, there's more, isn't there?
It was, and is, and will always be perfect.
His gifts are not given one day late, or one day early.
God timed it to perfection for all these political and cultural and linguistic and prophetic elements to align purposefully.
And when we read the Gospels, we say, don't we, you are kidding me.
This is impeccable timing.
It's incredible timing.
He is a master of timing in the giving of his gifts.
But there is more to this than even all of that.
The timing of the gift was more rich than that, Paul says.
And do you remember, in this section of the letter, the timing here is much deeper and it's much more spiritual, actually.
I don't know if you've ever thought about the question of why Jesus was born when he was born.
Sort of in the whole timeline of God's people.
Why now?
Why not send Jesus the day after Adam and Eve sinned?
Why not?
Jesus could have been born, couldn't he?
He could have been crucified on that first week after the fall.
Couldn't he?
He could have died for sin then.
Why wait this long to send Jesus?
Or, why not wait even longer?
Why has he already come?
Why not just send him just before Jesus comes back?
He could have sent Jesus, I don't know, on the Monday, couldn't he?
Jesus could have died on the Wednesday and then ascended and come back on the Friday.
It could have all happened in one week.
Why this timing?
Why these gaps?
Because for Paul, the timing is more than just matching up the events in the Roman Empire,
although that is amazing, isn't it?
It is actually about the real purpose of time in the life of God's people.
Where the timing is just right for them to receive the gift.
They needed to be in arrivals at the right time as the gift emerged.
We saw last Sunday, didn't we, how the time before the birth, Paul says, was a time under captivity, under the law.
The people of Israel, they were kept by the law.
For they were waiting for a perfect man to fulfil it for them.
In faith.
That was what the Lord drew them towards.
Faith in God to send this person.
They were waiting for freedom from its demands.
And then in chapter 4, Paul uses another analogy of waiting, doesn't he, in verse 1.
He says, I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave.
Though he's the owner of everything, but he's under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
A child in a family needing to wait until a date set by dad before he comes into an inheritance.
Until then he's under guardians, isn't he, and managers.
And so he's saying, Jesus' gift, the gift of Jesus was timed.
He didn't come until now.
Because in God's timing, he knew that something needed to happen with his people.
They needed to grow up.
Like a child, God's people needed to come of age, spiritually.
I remember growing up in our house, mum and dad kept a box on top of the wardrobe.
And in that box was a gift for me.
It was going to be a gift.
I knew what it was going to be, a train set, but I didn't know what that meant.
But I'd never seen it fully.
And I had to wait until I grew up.
That's what they always used to say.
Wait until you grow up.
And I thought it was so unfair.
Why not now?
Why not today?
Why can't I have this gift now?
But when the day eventually did come, I understood,
just looking at the intricacy of the railway,
and the workings of the carriages and all the rest of it,
and the expense and the value of the gift.
It just needed time.
I needed time in the longing and the looking up
at the unreachable heights of the wardrobe.
To receive it with a joy and a fuller thanksgiving,
the timing had to be just right.
And Paul says God's people for their childhood were imprisoned
until the coming faith would be revealed.
And under managers until the date set by the Father.
We, as God's people, needed to understand
what it was going to cost God to be our God.
We needed to learn the nature of our sins over time.
We needed to be humbled as a people by our own weaknesses.
And so his timing isn't just practical and kind of pragmatically,
perfectly aligned.
It is parental timing.
God doesn't send Jesus too early,
so that we could learn throughout an age of this captivity under the law,
about his grace and his forgiveness and his long suffering,
and this preparation time,
and what it would mean to give his son for us in this way.
And he doesn't wait too long either,
lest God's people should fall under absolute despair and disappointment.
But God knew we needed time.
And so he designated that period of salvation history
for his people to be under guardians in this world,
to receive the gospel message,
and to look to him by faith,
to understand what on earth, literally, he was going to do,
to appreciate what he was going to do.
And he knows that we need that too.
God never does things too soon.
He never does them too late,
in my life and in your life.
And when we long and when we look upwards,
we can be sure, can't we,
that his gifts, all of them,
are given at the right time.
B.B. Warfield said that each event
falls with exact precision
into its proper place
in the unfolding of his eternal plan.
Nothing, however small, however strange,
occurs without his ordering,
or without its peculiar fitness
for its place in the working of his purpose.
I don't know if you give presents on Christmas Day,
but growing up,
it always had to be timed properly.
I don't know if it's just tradition,
but there was always a time
to do the presents.
You know?
Not too early,
kind of spoil the mood
with too many things,
too many toys around,
but not too late,
so that the kids weren't half asleep.
So we would exchange gifts
after lunch,
at three o'clock.
Three p.m.
My dad had it all worked out,
and he would sit next to the Christmas tree
and divvy out the presents.
Dad knows best
with these kind of things,
I learnt.
And it's as if God operates
a bit like that,
isn't it?
He chooses the timing
for the gift giving.
He parentally sets the routine.
He asks, doesn't he,
how long should they wait?
How long is too long?
My people need a period
of humbling,
and of understanding,
and of learning,
and of training,
and of captivity
under this law,
that they need to know
this needs to be fulfilled
in some way,
and what that is going to mean.
And when the time is right,
I will send this gift.
When will they be ready?
He asks those questions,
doesn't he?
So that they will see
and understand
my glorious generosity
much better,
when they will be humbled,
and they will be hopeful.
But notice how he describes
the timing of the gift
in verse 4.
He says,
when the fullness of time
had come,
God sent forth his Son.
When the fullness of time
had come.
One way of measuring time
is to pour
a kind of liquid
or something
from one container
into another,
isn't it?
So think of an hourglass
where sand drops
into the bottom bit,
or you could drip,
drip, drip some water
into a bucket,
couldn't you?
And that would take
a certain amount of time,
and you can measure it.
And Paul is saying here,
time works like that
in God's schedule,
in God's mind.
Time is not just
this sort of endless thing
that is out there
that we can kind of
fit around and play with.
Time is a created thing,
and it's measured out,
and poured out,
and apportioned to
all of history,
and measured back to God.
There is a beginning
of time,
isn't there,
in Genesis 1,
and there is an end
of time in this world.
And as the water
drip, drip,
drip,
drips,
day after day,
and month after month,
and century after century,
God is the one
who is filling
his bucket of time.
And as Jesus arrives,
the drips,
Paul is saying,
are reaching the brim
of the bucket.
It's like one of those
infinity pools,
isn't it,
where you can't see
the edge anymore.
You can't see the brim anymore.
Time itself,
in the giving of this gift,
in an absolute sense,
is drawing to a close.
It's full now,
Paul is saying.
And so we see,
can't we,
that time,
that history itself,
is marked,
beginning,
middle,
and end,
by what God
is planning to give
to his people.
Do you see this connection?
All of history
is God's Christmas
family gift schedule.
Where time
is not marked
by geological ages,
or periods of technology,
Bronze Age,
and Iron Age,
and Information Age,
or Enlightenment Age.
They're not important
to God, actually.
All the ages,
and all time,
is simply
before or after
three o'clock
in the afternoon.
Gift-giving time.
That's how he measures it.
And so now
the gift has been given,
the whole bucket
of history
is filled.
And it's filled,
all of it,
for this moment.
All of the waiting,
and all of the training,
and all of the captivity
under the law,
and all of the learning
fills this bucket
all time.
And all times,
good or bad,
fill this bucket.
So that we would learn,
as a people,
how desperately
we needed this gift.
That we would learn,
through backsliding,
and through judgments,
and through
disappointments,
and encouragements,
and exile,
how much we needed it.
But this is
the whole purpose
of history.
To time the gift.
3pm.
God doesn't just choose
the most suitable time
to send his son,
does he?
Neither does he
sort of sit around
twiddling his thumbs,
waiting for this date
that he's set,
sometime in the future.
That night in Bethlehem
was about parental timing.
In the Christmas
family gift schedule.
Time to get the box
down from the wardrobe,
God said.
And as we reflect on that,
we realise, I think,
three things here.
We realise that God
is the perfect giver
of gifts.
Not only does he know
what we need,
but when we need it.
Aren't much of our lives
spent asking
that question,
how long,
oh Lord?
How long?
But we realise,
don't we,
he is a God
who gives
at the right time.
Just think of
the Lord Jesus
meeting with
his disciples
on that last
moments together
before his crucifixion.
he says to Peter,
the bemused Peter,
as he washes
Peter's feet,
doesn't he?
What I am doing
to you now,
you don't understand,
but afterwards
you will understand.
we might think,
might we,
why did this
happen
now?
Of all the times
this could have
happened to me,
why now?
Why not then?
And why can't
that thing
I want
happen now?
But we remember
that God
is the one
with the bucket,
with the gift-giving
family schedule,
and Dad
knows best.
Spurgeon said,
those who have
hope
can wait.
It's true,
isn't it?
We realise
that he is
a great giver
of gifts,
and then we realise
how much
he loves
his people.
Because all
of history,
everything that
happens,
leave or remain,
war or peace,
winter or
summer,
all of it
is designed
for the gifts
of God
to be
manifest
and enjoyed
at the right
time,
and for him
to be praised
for that.
Just fancy that,
just think of that.
Romans 8, 28,
Paul says,
we know that for
those who love
God,
all things
work together
for good,
for those who
are called
according to
his purpose.
And we see
that all of
history is
centred on
this giving
of a gift.
gift.
We see that
God marks
time and
measures it
with a view
to the salvation
of his people,
and he cares
that much.
That all of
history is
about the
church,
his people,
and his glory
within it,
and then
receiving gifts
from him.
And then
thirdly,
we realise
that the
time is
full.
God sent
his son
in the
fullness of
time,
when the
bucket was
at the
very brim,
the top.
Folks,
this is
nearly it.
With the
birth of
Jesus,
the bucket
is nearly
over-spilling
in all of
history,
and what a
time to
live in.
If Abraham,
the father
of faith,
were here
right now,
he would
be absolutely
blown away.
At the
knowledge,
and the
perspective
that we
have on
salvation
history,
that he
would get
to eat
and drink
with the
risen Lord
Jesus,
the one
that he
had faith
in,
without
knowing it
explicitly.
What a
time to be
in.
And with
all that
history behind
us,
and with
all that
collective
experience,
and we
are closer
now than
we ever
were to
that last
day of
his
return.
And so
the gift
was given
at just
the right
time,
in the
fullness of
time,
but secondly,
it was given
in just the
right place.
It was given
in just the
right place.
What do I
mean?
It was given
in Bethlehem,
in Judea,
that's where
he was born,
in the place
that God
had worked
in and
dwelt in,
and we
could list
again,
couldn't we,
all the
prophecies and
fulfilments of
how the
Messiah was
to be born
in that
place.
We can
see God's
placement is
just perfect,
just as his
timing is.
Jesus
travelling to
Egypt and
growing up
in Nazareth,
all part of
being in the
right place
for Jesus'
lowly
ministry.
Paul,
though,
again,
sees a deeper
perfection in
the placing of
the gift.
Just look at
verse 4 again
there.
God sent
forth his
son,
born of
woman,
born under
the law,
to redeem
those who
were under
the law.
Paul says
that is the
place where
Jesus was
born.
He is born
in a stable,
he is born
in this world,
he comes to
us in the
place of
human flesh,
and all of
those things
are true,
but it's so
that he
could be
born in
this place,
under the
law.
Under the
law,
which binds
human beings,
which makes
demands of
us,
right demands,
which because
of our failure
it brings
condemnation
upon us.
God's
holy law.
Remember
that Paul is
talking here,
isn't he,
about the
accumulation of
ceremonial
and religious
laws,
which signified
for God's
people their
imperfections,
and their
inability to
save themselves,
and Jesus is
born into a
situation of
bondage,
he is born in
a place of
imprisonment,
he is brought
up,
isn't he,
behind bars,
under means
to be subject
to something,
to be a
servant of
something,
he is servant
of the law,
and where
you are born
determines how
you are going
to live the
rest of your
life,
doesn't it?
It determines
what you will
do,
and what job
you'll have,
and how you'll
live,
and he is born
in that place
of submission
to the law,
and this
will be his
whole life,
this is his
vocation,
to live a life
of perfection
and submission.
It is such
unexpected behaviour
for a king to
have,
isn't it?
To be born
in a prison,
to be subject
to something.
It's told the
story,
and I don't know
if it's true,
but it's a great
story anyway,
of King Henry VIII,
he once dressed
up as a commoner
to have a
night-time walk
in London,
but at one time
two police
constables mistook
him for a
vagabond,
and arrested
him,
throwing him
into prison.
The police
were mortified
when they
found out
who he was,
expecting the
worst kind
of reprisals.
We've just
put King Henry
VIII in prison,
but he chose
to stay in the
cell for the
night,
and he rewarded
the police
constables for
their efforts.
It's a pretty
unusual behaviour,
isn't it?
And it is such
unusual behaviour
that God the
King comes
and willingly
stays in prison,
stays in the
prison,
he comes to
be a man
in the
prison for
a time,
he comes
with his
eyes on
those who
are under
the law
to share
that prison
with them.
And so
he is a
King who
is not
aloof
from where
he rules,
he rules
next to the
people in
their prison
with them,
he comes
in our
flesh,
and experiences
our temptations,
and he feels
our prison,
he is with
us in that
sense.
But not
just so that
he can give
us some
company,
being born
of woman,
being born
under the
law,
not just so
that he can
say,
I know what
it's like to
be human,
although he
can say that
to us.
I know what
it's like to
face temptation,
I know what
it's like to be
limited and
mortal and
weak and
imprisoned,
it's not just
so that he
can do that,
no,
he is with
us in the
prison,
so he can
get us out
of the
prison.
He is born
under the
law,
verse 5,
to redeem
those who
were under
the law.
The whole
purpose of
his slavery
is to get
us out of
it,
and to
release us
from it,
to redeem
us from
it,
and make
us graduate
from being
slaves,
to being
sons,
adopted sons,
and receiving
all of those
privileges.
God,
the king,
comes and
willingly stays,
he comes to
be with men
in the prison,
to redeem
those who
are in the
prison.
I was trying
to find a
good analogy
of this,
and I realise
actually the
best analogies
are in the
Bible itself,
aren't they?
Because the
story of
Joseph is
just perfect
here,
isn't it?
This is what
happened to
him.
He is the
guy,
isn't he,
who is always
in the wrong
place at the
wrong time
growing up,
isn't he?
He's thrown
into a pit
by his
brothers,
he's sold
into slavery,
he's falsely
accused,
and he ends
up in prison
for two years.
But isn't it
in the very
fact of his
slavery,
that brings
rescue for
his brothers,
and for all
the people
of Egypt.
It is his
very imprisonment
that leads to
the redemption
of his brothers,
and the giving
of food in the
famine.
He even
saves those
people who put
him in prison
in the first
place,
doesn't he,
his brothers.
And that
would have
never happened
had Joseph
remained outside
of the pit,
or outside
of the prison.
He needed
to be
imprisoned to
redeem his
brothers.
This was
his reason
for living.
Not just
his birth,
not just
his death,
but all he
did as a
man was
part of this
vocation of
being under
the law.
And if you
think about it,
the visible
place of
Jesus' birth
matches the
invisible
place,
doesn't it,
of his life.
He was born
in a cattle
shed,
placed in a
manger with
the muck
and the mess.
He is born
as a lowly
outcast.
He's born
not in a
palace to be
a proud
king,
but in a
stable to
be a servant
king,
to be a
slave king,
to redeem
those who
are slaves
under the
law with
him.
Some might
have thought
might may
with the
sending of
the son,
as they
looked at
him there
in the
manger,
this king,
surely he
is in the
wrong place
at the
wrong time
here.
Well,
hindsight is
a wonderful
thing,
isn't it?
God was
preparing the
perfect gift,
that all
of history
would vow
to his
plan for
the giving
of it,
for his
gifts are
given at
just the
right time
and in
just the
right place
for us
and for
our salvation,
for the
coming of
age of
his church
and for
his praise
and for
our
thanksgiving.
I think
the hard
thing in
the Christian
life is
that we
have to
wait and
maybe more
it's the
question while
we wait,
why are
we waiting?
And so
often we
just have to
say, I
don't know
actually why.
We want to
try and
guess and
measure God's
bucket of
time, don't
we?
But all we
know is
that Dad
knows best.
And we
as those
who have
hope,
we can
wait.
We can
wait.
We can