[Matt's Messages] "He Became Poor"

“He Became Poor”

December 23, 2012

2 Corinthians 8:9 

Christmas is Tuesday!  Arguably, the greatest celebration that America has each year.  Billions and billions of dollars spent preparing for this grand holiday.  Hours and hours of preparation–decorations, shopping, parties, open houses, and special worship services like this morning’s.

Let me ask you a question this morning:  What are you celebrating this Christmas?

I’ll tell you what I’m celebrating.  I am celebrating poverty.

Poverty.

Thankfully, not my own poverty.  But the poverty of Jesus Christ.

I think the meaning of Christmas can be summed up in that one word:

Poverty.

The Apostle Paul sums up the meaning of Christmas with that word nestled in one short verse snuggled in the middle of 2 Corinthians chapter 8.  It’s verse 9 if you want to follow along with me this morning. 

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

Three things I want you to take home with you from this morning’s message.

#1.  What Jesus Did. #2. Why Jesus Did It.  And #3. What difference that makes.

#1.  What Did Jesus Do?

Very simple:  THOUGH HE WAS RICH, HE BECAME POOR.

That’s what Jesus did.  He took on poverty.

You’ve heard, I’m sure, of RAGS to RICHES?

Jesus went from RICHES to RAGS.

Question: How Rich Was Jesus?

Jesus was the Son of God!  Jesus was God the Song.

Jesus had all the privileges and wealth and rights and honor and glory of God Himself.

He was fabulously rich. He was unimaginably rich.  He was infinitely rich!

Every angel in heaven jumped at His command.

Every speck of sand on the seashore bowed in allegiance to His Will.

The wealth of heaven and earth was in His treasury.  

Bill Gates is a homeless pauper compared to Jesus!

Unfettered worship of every being in heaven was His unalienable right!

As the second person of the Trinity, Jesus was unimaginably rich in every way.

...But He Became Poor.

How poor did Jesus become?

First, He became a poor human.

He was God, but He condescended to become a man.

More than that, He became a baby.

He took on infant flesh.

That, my friends, is poverty. To go from Sovereign God over the Universe to helpless little nursling human, like little Copper Crumrine, is a long distance to travel.

Have you ever thought about becoming a cockroach?  I didn’t think so.

The difference between you and I and cockroaches in degree and kind is infinitely less than the difference between God becoming a human baby.  Let me say that again.

The difference between you and I and cockroaches in degree and kind is infinitely less than the difference between God becoming a human baby.

God the Son condescended to become a human like you and me.

He became poor.

And He was born in a poor family.

He was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn.

He was placed in a feeding trough because they didn’t own a bed for him.

The King of Glory was laid in the equivalent of a doggie dish.

He became poor.

His family was so poverty stricken that when they presented the little baby at the temple, they took a pair of small birds–the least acceptable offering in the Law for the poorest families in Israel.

When He became a man, He did not buy a house.

I own a house.  But my Lord did not have a place to call home.

He became poor.

For a few years of ministry, Jesus lived off of the support of wealthy friends.  But He had no money of His own.  

He became poor.

Philippians 2 says, Jesus was “in very nature God, [but] did not consider equality with God something to be grasped [held onto], but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself [even further!] and became obedient to death–even death on a cross!”

Ultimately, that’s how poor Jesus became. He died the dishonorable death of a traitor on a cruel instrument of torture.

He became poor.

He had life in Himself, and yet He poured it out and died.

Though He was unimaginably rich, He became unimaginably poor.

That’s what Jesus did.

- Have you thought at all about His descent this Christmas?

- Have you thought at all about His condescension?

- Have you thought about His humility?

God became Man, became a sin-bearer, became a dying, heaving bloody mess of a man on a Cross.

He became poor.

...Why?

That’s the second thing I want you to think about this morning and talk today about around the dinner table.

Why Did Jesus Do It?

Paul says in this verse, “...though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor...”

“for your sakes...”

He did it for you!

“...though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor...”

How?

“so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

#2. FOR YOUR SAKES, SO THAT YOU MIGHT BECOME RICH.

Jesus poverty was the means by which your and my richness comes.

How poor are we?

You and I are sinners.  Rebels to the core.  We are by nature, anti-God. His natural enemies.  Natural Born Sinners.

And because of our sin, we are absolutely bankrupt.  We have nothing to offer to God.  We have no moral or spiritual richness on our own.

In and of ourselves, we are totally poor.

The Bible says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...”

We are not just poor.  You and I, through our sins, have gotten ourselves completely and hopelessly in debt.

But...Jesus Christ in His becoming poor, in His wrapping himself in poor human flesh and in His taking on our sinful bankruptcy in His flesh upon the Cross...in His poverty makes us rich when we trust in Him!

That’s the gospel, brothers and sisters and friends.

Christmas is about Good Friday.

Christmas is about Christ Jesus’ poverty ON OUR BEHALF.

His life for our sin.

His poverty for our riches.

The Cross of Jesus Christ purchases unimaginable wealth for believers like you and me.

Think about it!

Though we deserve Hell, we gain Heaven!

Though we deserve condemnation, we get pardon and forgiveness.

Though we deserve wrath, we get love!

Though we deserve blame, we get glory!

Though we deserve banishment, we get God’s presence!

Though we were poor, in His poverty, we get riches untold!

All because he became poor.

This is the greatest news in all the world.

It’s what we should think about when we hear the word “Christmas.”

#3.  WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

So What? What Should We Do About It?

Three points of application:

#1.  Get Rich Quick!

If you are here today, and you don’t know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ like this, if you don’t have richness in Christ, then today can be the day of your salvation.

You need His riches.  And He has done all the work. All you do is receive it!

Get Rich Quick.

Repent of your sin.  That means turn from it.  Agree with God in your heart that you are a sinner, you have been running from God, that you do need rescuing.

And Trust in Jesus Christ and His CrossWork. Tell God in prayer that you want Jesus to be your Lord and your Rescuer.  To provide you with the spiritual wealth His death secured.

Right now.  Don’t delay.  Don’t leave here this morning without becoming rich where it counts–towards God.

Because, “though he was rich, yet for your [sake] he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

Today.  Let this Christmas be your first Christmas as a Christ-follower.

#2.  Give Generously!  

This little verse is in the middle of a greater context about how Christians should give generously and out of love for those in need.  And this little verse is a vital part of the argument. 

If the Son of God would give so much for us, how should we act for those who have need?

Give Generously.  “It is better to give than to receive.”

How about reminding yourself of that around the Christmas Tree with all the presents with your name on them?

Let this Christmas be a time of sacrificial giving.  Of acts of love.  Of meeting human needs around the world and across the street.

Don’t stop giving now that Christmas is here. Use this to remind you to give all year round.

And to share Christ with those who need Him most.

You and I have spiritual wealth to offer people if we would share the Lord with them.  

They could go from RAGS to RICHES because of your sacrificial love.

Give of yourself generously.

BECAUSE, “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Pass it on.

And #3.  Magnify the Grace of Our Lord this Christmas!

Make this Christmas about worshiping the one who became poor for you.

Ephesians 1 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ...in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

Praise be to Him this Christmastime!

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

That’s why I’m celebrating poverty this Christmas.

Because that’s what Christmas is all about.

Let’s praise Him for His glorious grace!