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Paul's emphasis in this particular
chapter is on helping those who have need. The churches of Judea
had suffered a time of famine and there was a famine relief
ministry. And so the apostle is soliciting
funds here from Gentile churches to give to the churches in Judah
so that they may be alleviated of the trials and the sufferings
and the turmoil that they faced with their lack of resources. And Paul's exhortation here is
twofold. In the first place, he urges
the Corinthians to persevere in what they had started in verses
10 and 11. And he gives two examples of
Christian liberality. In the first place, the churches
in Macedonia. Notice in verses 1 to 5, the
churches in Macedonia did not have a lot. They did not have
great resources or great wealth or great riches, but what they
had, they happily gave to alleviate the suffering of the churches
in Judah. And then the second example, excuse me, is the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that is found in verse 9, and this is our focus
this evening. He says, For you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become
rich. Again, it's an exemplary passage. In other words, the Apostle is
using Jesus Christ as an example to instigate or to promote within
the Corinthians a sustained pattern of giving and liberality with
reference to those churches in need. So the Macedonians serve
as an example, and so does our Lord Jesus Christ serve as an
example. But if we isolate this particular
passage, and I don't mean isolate in the sense that it has no contextual
reference, but if we look at this particular verse specifically,
it is very instructive for the people of God as we come to remember
our Lord in the supper. And I want to look first at the
riches of Christ. Secondly, the poverty of Christ,
and then thirdly, the redemptive benefits secured by Christ. Because that is essentially what
Paul does. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
So I think those heads adequately outline the particular passage.
Riches, poverty, and the benefits accrued by Christ in this act
of poverty. But note in the first place,
with reference to the richest, Paul says in verse 9, for you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul assumes that the
Corinthians knew something about Christ. Now, I think in the 21st
century, that would be a difficult assumption to maintain. I'm not
as convinced that everybody understands. I'm not talking about you, of
course, but I'm talking about generally. I don't know that
it's a granted or given assumption that people have this kind of
Christology, that they understand something of the riches of Christ
and the poverty of Christ, and that through Christ's poverty
we become rich. There's a great deal of Christian
theology in this particular passage, and Paul assumed that the Corinthians
knew it. Paul assumed that the Corinthians
understood it, and it also shows us that the sublime mysteries
of our Christian faith is the very bedrock for our practicality
with reference to Christian life. In other words, orthodoxy, what
we believe concerning Jesus, fuels our orthopraxy, how we
function or behave with reference to Jesus. John Murray captures
it this way. He says, the simple logic is
that the most transcendent mysteries of our holy faith. That's what's
happening in 2 Corinthians 8-9, the riches of Christ and the
poverty of Christ. We'll investigate that more fully
in just a moment. But he says, the simple logic
is that the most transcendent mysteries of our holy faith are
the fountain springs of the most common and practical of Christian
duties. The streams of Christian liberality
are fed from the ocean of the mysteries of God. See, we have
it just the opposite today. Let's just be practical. Let's
just do nice things like give. We don't need to bog ourselves
down with all of that doctrine and all of that detail and all
of that theological precision. We just need to live the Christian
life. Well, Paul's argument is, in order to live the Christian
life, you need to know the Christ of the Christian life. And Paul
assumes, or Paul takes for granted, that the people of God knew at
least this much, that Christ was rich, He became poor, and
that through His poverty, we have become rich. There is, as
I said, a great deal of Christology in verse 9, and the apostle assumes
that the people of God understood this. Charles Hodge says, "...the
fact referred to including the highest mystery of the gospel,
namely, the incarnation of the Son of God, or the manifestation
of God in the flesh, and the love therein manifested, is assumed
to be known and acknowledged by all who call themselves Christians."
In other words, we cannot turn our minds off from the study
of theology. We, as God's people, must study
theology. It is that which ultimately drives
our Christian ethic and our practice. Without a knowledge of Christ,
as he's presented here, then we will not be liberal the way
the Apostle Paul wants us to be. So the Macedonians serve
as a great example, but so does the incarnation of our blessed
Lord Jesus. I would indicate, or rather submit,
that what is indicated here is an assumption of the knowledge
of certain things among the Christian church that ought to be true
today. The study of theology, attendance
upon the means, a use of the Word of God, private study, family
study, church study, all of that absolutely requisite so that
we'll live the Christian life the way that God has called us
to live the Christian life. So that's the assumption in this
section on the riches of Christ. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now notice he says that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. Just focusing
on the though he was rich. Now, this points to what Christ
is as God. It's not pointing to what he
receives at the exaltation. We know that as covenant mediator,
as prophet, priest, and king, we know that in that context
of Matthew 28, Jesus says, all authority has been given to me
in heaven and on earth. That's not what's in view here.
What's in view is the second person of the Trinity taking
on our humanity. That's the movement. Though he
was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. The movement here
is the second person of the triune God taking on our humanity. And when it comes to that reality,
though he was rich, Christ as the second person of the triune
God has always been. Christ as the second person of
the triune God is the agent of creation. Christ as the second
person of the triune God is instrumental in terms of providence. Paul
tells us in Colossians that in him all things consist. Those
are the riches that are in view, the reality that He is, in fact,
Almighty God. And so that He becomes poor is
a great illustration to serve the point with reference to the
Corinthians emptying their pockets and giving to those churches
in need. Though He was rich, yet, for your sakes, He became
poor. And it's intriguing because the
grammar, the way the words are set, the way that the language
is set forth is similar to what we find in John 1. In fact, you
can turn to John chapter 1. Technically, if you want the
technical grammatical stuff, the participle in 2 Corinthians
8-9 points to what Christ is essentially, namely, that He's
God. Same as John 1-1. Notice, in
the beginning was the Word. It's always the case. It's never
been otherwise. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now, notice
in verse 14, and the Word who always was, the Word who was
with God, the Word who was God, that Word, notice, became flesh. The same movement is represented
there in 2 Corinthians 8-9. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet, for your sakes,
He became poor. He became something that He was
not in order to redeem us from our sins. He left that place
of prestige, He left that place of power, He left that pinnacle
of glory, and He identified with us. Brethren, it is mind-blowing
when we consider the movement in 2 Corinthians 8-9, and when
we see it here in John's prologue. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14, the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glories as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He, or rather what we find in
2 Corinthians 8-9, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
that though he was rich, what he is essentially, he was and
always will be rich. The contrast is clear, he was
rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. Now, those riches
obviously involve his position as the son of God, the second
of the blessed Trinity. But as I said, creation, providence,
He left all that to come here. I don't know that we always ponder
that reality. There's places you and I probably
don't want to go, certain neighborhoods. I've got to tell you, and I think
I have told you, every Tuesday morning when I unlock that gate
and I drive around the building, I cringe a little bit. Because
very often there's people sleeping at the back door. And they're
typically not happy, nice people that you just give them a pillow.
and a cup of coffee and off they go. It's usually some sort of
a, you know, confrontation, which I don't like. I don't like to
say, look, you can't sleep here. This is a, you know, it's a private
property and you have to go. There's things that we don't
always like to do. All right. Jesus left the pinnacle of glory
to come here, to come to this world. to come and to mix with
the rabble, to receive sinners and eat with them. You see what
Paul's point is. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor. He left that. He didn't divest
himself of deity. Understand that. The old King
James reading, with reference to Philippians 2, has unfortunately
given a cause or rise to a theory called kenosis, that Christ emptied
himself of deity. That's not a good reading. I
mean, it might be a good reading, but we need to make sure we understand
what it means. The new King James renders it
better. He humbled himself. He doesn't empty himself of divinity. It's not the case that when Christ
comes into the world, he stops being God. He is still the second
person of the Trinity. He is still God Almighty, but
he is now taking on our humanity. He now assumes our humanity with
all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof,
yet without sin. So Paul's point is that he left
that place of glory, power, excellence, and eminence to come into this
world, and that ought to affect the people of God. Now notice
the poverty of Christ. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor. Now, earlier I said, that Paul
assumed a certain amount of Christian knowledge on the part of his
readership. I'm going to do that right now.
I'm going to assume that you all know what the hypostatic
union is. Maybe that's not a great assumption, so I'll just tell
you. The hypostatic union is that technical phrase which is
applied to the person of Jesus Christ, that he's one person,
two natures. He is the second person of the
triune God, the second person of the Trinity who comes into
the world and he takes on our humanity. He assumes our humanity. with all the essential properties
and all the common infirmities thereof, yet without sin." So
we've got one Christ, two natures. One person, two natures. If you
depart from that, you end up in heresy. He's not two persons. He's not one nature. He's one
person, two natures. That is absolutely, positively
crucial for every Christian to believe. That's what the Bible
teaches. In fact, the Athanasian Creed,
an early creed of the Christian Church, says this is the Catholic
faith. Catholic there is not Roman Catholic
with the Pope and the hat and the whole spiel. It means universal. This is the Catholic faith, which
except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved. He cannot
be saved. In other words, you cannot depart
from this definitional principle of Christianity. One Jesus Christ,
one person, two natures. Our confession explains it this
way. The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being
very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one
substance and equal with Him who made the world, who upholds
and governs all things He hath made, when the fullness of time
was come, take upon him man's nature, with all the essential
properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin." See,
that's the glory of the gospel in terms of the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The second person of the Trinity
did take on man's likeness, did take on man's humanity, did identify
with us in such a way, yet without sin. Now, this morning in our
time of the confession study, I had mentioned that often we
say God incarnate when we refer to Jesus. Now, I would never
say that's heretical because Jesus is God and Jesus is or
was incarnate. So to say God incarnate isn't
necessarily heresy, but it's not necessarily the most precise
way that we can describe it. We would say the second person
of the Trinity became incarnate. Because when we think God is
Christians, we are Trinitarian. God for us is Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Well, the Father and the Spirit
did not come in the Incarnation. They did not take on man's humanity
or man's flesh. It is only the Son that does
that. So again, You won't be run out
of our church if you speak of God incarnate, but may I encourage
you to pursue a more excellent way and speak like the Confession
of Faith, reflecting accurately the Bible when it says that the
second person of the Trinity did take on our humanity. Again, I think John Murray's
sermon on this particular text is most helpful. For those of
you who have the collected writings of John Murray, his sermon here
on 2 Corinthians 8-9 is beautiful. But listen to how he explains
this. Again, we're looking at the movement from the glory of
heaven, the preeminence of the Son, the second person of the
Trinity as God, active in creation, active in the government of the
world becoming poor for us. Murray says, when he became man,
he did not cease to be rich in his divine being, relations,
and possession. Again, no kenosis. We do not
believe that Christ divested himself of deity. He didn't stop
being the second person of the Trinity. He didn't stop being
God when he took on our humanity. So, Murray again, when he became
man, he did not cease to be rich in his divine being, relations,
and possessions. He did not become poor by ceasing
to be what he was, but he became poor by becoming what he was
not. See, our glory is to be created
in the image of God, and to be man, to be human over the animals. I'm not dissing on the animals.
Animals are great. They're wonderful. They're beautiful
things, but we're better than them. And we're better than them
because we're created in the image of God. That's our glory. But Christ's poverty is seen,
and that He takes on our humanity. Again, that's the movement that
Paul envisages here. He became poor by addition, not
by subtraction. He added manhood to His immutable
and eternal Godhood. And with reference to the hypostatic
union, Augustine, in his treatment on the Trinity, says, the divinity
is not changed into the creature so as to cease to be divinity,
nor the creature into divinity so as to cease to be creature.
The beauty of the hypostatic union is that God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, maintains in this one person the glory of his divinity
and the addition of his humanity. And then Watson, one more quote
and then we'll move on. Watson says this, that man should
be made in God's image was a wonder, but that God should be made in
man's image is a greater wonder. That the ancient of days should
be born, that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in
the cradle, that he who rules the stars should suck the breast,
that a virgin should conceive, that Christ should be made of
a woman and that of a woman and of that woman which he himself
made, that the branch should bear the vine, that the mother
should be younger than the child she bear, and the child in the
womb bigger than the mother, that the human nature should
not be God, yet one with God? That's the glory of the hypostatic
union. And brethren, it may sound like
a bunch of theological stuff that, you know, it's better reserved
for the academic guilds and all that sort of thing. But I guarantee
you, take this from a pastor's heart, the more you understand
this, the more happy you will be. the more joyful you will
be, the more encouraged you will be, the more you will rejoice
when you sing these hymns and songs of praise to God, the more
comforted, the more stabilized, the more grounded, the more foundation. You see, the apostle appeals
to something that the Corinthians should have known as the means
by which to provoke them to give to the churches in Judea. I suggest
that a proper understanding of who Jesus Christ is in his person,
the one person, the two natures, will encourage you across the
board. I'm not suggesting you'll never
have a downcast day. I'm not suggesting you'll never
be melancholic. I'm not suggesting you won't
go through the trials of depression. I'm not suggesting you'll never
be hurt or hindered or harmed by anything in this world. But
to have that rock-solid foundation of who Jesus Christ is, is always
a boon and a blessing for the people of God. So Paul the Apostle
says, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. The Lord Jesus
is eternally God. The Lord Jesus did not give up
a deity when he became man. And the Lord Jesus is one glorious
person in two natures. Please, that's the hypostatic
union. It's a big word that's very easy
to explain. Now, I'm not saying it's easy
for us to sort of exhaust the meaning of that, but suffice
to say the one person of Christ is two natures. He's both divine
and human. Now, I think specifically we
ought to appreciate what He means by this, yet for your sakes He
became poor. Certainly the incarnation is
in view. certainly the enfleshment of the Son of God, the second
person of the Trinity, taking on man's nature with all the
essential properties and common infirmities thereof. He takes
on that humanity, and then what happens with reference to his
life? I mean, certainly he's special,
isn't he? I mean, there's never been anyone like him. There had
never been anyone like him at that particular time. So certainly
the second person of the triune God comes down from heaven, and
he assumes our humanity. He should be hailed. He should
be praised. He should be glorified. He should
be loved. He should be honored. But it's
just the opposite. We see his poverty in his life. Not just financially, he was
supported by the alms of others. Not financially in the sense
that, you know, the foxes had their holes and the birds had
their nests, but the son of man had nowhere to lay his head.
He had that poverty to be sure, but his whole life was one of
poverty or impoverishment. The incarnation certainly was
the beginning of it. The Lord Jesus took upon in man's
nature. The humanity of Christ did not
diminish or destroy his deity. Gil says not that by becoming
a man he ceased to be God or lost his divine perfections,
though these were much hidden covered from the view of man.
Not kenosis, not a removal, not a divestment, but it wasn't the
case that Christ walked around every day shining bright lights
and doing amazing things all the time. No! He did hide these
things. These things were obscure. He
didn't always demonstrate these sorts of things in his earthly
ministry. But in terms of his lowly life,
it was prophesied that his life would be one of difficulty. He
is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our face
from him. He was despised and we did not
esteem him. Isaiah 53.3, it's almost as if
John the Apostle rehearses that in John 1 when he says he came
to his own and his own received him not. We hid as it were our
faces from him. There was nothing in him that
was beautiful. There was nothing in him that
was calming. There was nothing in him that would attract us
to him. This points to his poverty. This points to his life of humiliation. This points to the lowliness
that the Son of God had in this world. As I already referred
to, Matthew 8, 20, foxes have holes, birds of the air have
nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. It's
an amazing thing, isn't it? And the very creator of heaven
and earth. The very one in whom all things consist comes into
this world, and instead of being praised and worshipped and glorified
by creatures, foxes and birds had more in terms of temporal
comfort than our Lord Jesus Christ did. You know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says. Though he was rich, essentially,
in terms of his status as the second person of the Trinity,
yet, for your sakes, he became poor. He chose this. He took this on willingly. He
embraced it. It wasn't like, oh, no, I don't
want to go after them. I don't want to do this. There
was no reluctance on the part of the Son of God. Remember Jesus
in that bit in John chapter four, where the disciples are concerned
about food and what are we going to eat and all that sort of thing.
And Jesus says, my meat is to do the will of him who sent me.
Do you know why Christ said that? Because none of us are able to
say that. Isn't that right? We think about
that. We think about sin. We think
about shame. We think about all the stuff
that we do. Christ came because of that. Brethren, if there was a way
we could imbibe the principles of God, if there was a way we
could ascend to God, if there was a way we could do what God
calls us to do, then Christ died in vain. The cross was because
we're wretched. We're polluted, we're evil, we're
impure. The will of our Father we don't
want to do. All we like sheep, the prophet
says, have gone astray. We have gone after our own things.
There is none righteous, no not one. There is none who seeks
after God, the apostle says. Some say, well, you know, there's
people all over the place. They're seeking God. Not the
God of the Bible. We're not talking about idols.
We're not talking about somebody you fashion after yourself, who,
apart from God's grace, seeks the God of grace. No one. Who
wants that God? Nobody makes up a God who's holy,
holy, holy. Nobody makes up a God who's going
to punish them for the very things that they love to do. The only
way we come to embrace this God is through grace. You know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, essentially,
yet for your sakes, He became poor. That poverty is on display
in the pages of the Gospel narrative. Matthew Poole says it this way, But I think that poverty of Christ
comes to sharper focus, or not sharper, but sharpest focus in
the sufferings and in the death of the Savior. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet, for
your sakes, He became poor. In the incarnation, He took on
our humanity. In His life, in terms of ministry,
He had no place to lay His head. He was not received by His own. He was by and large rejected
by a mass of humanity at that particular time. Certainly he
had his faithful, certainly he had his band of apostles, certainly
he had a bit of an extended family of disciples, all that to be
sure, but on the whole, on the main, he was rejected. It was
prophesied by Isaiah and it's realized or brought to fruition
in the gospel records, but that poverty is ultimately seen in
terms of the cross. The poverty of Christ is most
clearly seen in his sufferings and death. Remember, Peter couldn't
conceive of a dying Messiah. Remember that instance in Matthew
chapter 16 where Jesus announces that he must go to Jerusalem,
he must be tried, he must be executed, put to death by the
hands of wicked men. What does Peter say? Peter says,
forbid it, Lord. There's no way. The concept of
a crucified Messiah was just absolutely not in vogue at the
time. That's why in 1 Corinthians 1,
even after the crucifixion, even after the early church has been
founded, even after the apostolic preaching, Paul tells us that
we preach Christ crucified to the Jews what? A stumbling block. I think I've told you before,
there's a book on my shelf by Everett Ferguson. It's the backgrounds
of early Christianity. And he has a little picture in
there about a drawing that was found on the wall. I think it
was a jail or a prison of some sort. And it was a man with a
donkey's head on the cross. Well, that was Jesus, according
to the drawing there. That's how they conceived of
or perceived a man that would be crucified. He was not somebody
to be worshipped. He was not somebody to be praised. He was not somebody to be adored
and loved and feared and glorified and honored. He was a stumbling
block. 1 Corinthians 1, 23. That means what it says. He was
a scandal. to the early Jews and remains
such to this day. You see, brethren, the Apostle
Paul highlights these things so that the Corinthians will
be moved to action in terms of liberality. The Apostle in Philippians
chapter 2 traces the trajectory of Christ's humiliation. In fact,
you can turn there. just to get another passage,
another perspective, another observation with reference to
this particular point. Philippians chapter 2 at verse
5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. It's an amazing thing. Some of
these passages where Paul is telling us how to act like Christians,
he uses the example of Jesus Christ, and it's some of the
most lofty, glorious, wonderful Christology. Here specifically
in Philippians chapter two, he wants the people of God, excuse
me, to be unified. In fact, if you go back for just
a moment in chapter 2 at verse 1, therefore, if there is any
consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by
being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish
ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others
better than himself. Let each of you look out not
only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Now that's pretty basic, isn't it? I think that's pretty common.
We should live that way. That's the way we should function.
The fact that we're told and commanded to do this so many
times in the New Testament really ought to cause us to reflect.
We need to get better at some things. We need to shape up. We have to continually be told
to actually care about others. We have to be commanded not to
be so self-absorbed. We have to be commanded not to
be narcissists. And that's pretty pathetic, but
I think it's absolutely appropriate. I mean, just look at society.
You think the problem of narcissism is confined? Everybody's a narcissist. I saw on a blog group of comments
one time, somebody was really not happy with pastors and said,
well, only narcissistic men pursue the pastoral ministry, men who
love themselves. You know, Narcissus was the guy
who looked in the reflection in the water and couldn't leave.
He was just so consumed with his reflection in the water.
He just loved himself. He just looked in that mirror.
He just gazed with joy and contemplativeness at his own reflection. So this
guy on a blog says, only narcissists pursue pastoral ministry. I'm
not going to lie to you, brethren. I think I struggle with that.
But I don't think I'm alone. Actually, I don't wanna look
at myself in the mirror. It's not the most pleasing activity.
I typically try to get away from the mirror as soon as I can,
but that's man's issue, isn't it? We have to be told to esteem
others as better than ourselves. Now, what's the example? And
again, Christ isn't simply an example. We're not moralists,
but Paul does hold him up here specifically to the Philippians.
Philippians 2.5, let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider
it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. Again, I think the old King James
has, but he emptied himself. And I think the translation is
adequate or accurate, but the theology behind it has been grossly
distorted. This idea of kenosis, he emptied
himself or divested himself of deity. Do not allow that thought
for a moment. The glory of the incarnation
is that he remains the second person of the Trinity. But he
made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant
and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point
of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has
highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those
in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. There is that exaltation
glory that Christ receives as the mediator of the new covenant.
There's that, you know, exalted to the right hand of the father.
But prior to that, he's in the form of God. He did not consider
it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. Again, not divesting or destroying
the deity, but rather taking on the humanity. Though he was
rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. That poverty is
seen in the incarnation, that poverty is seen in his lowly
life, that poverty is seen in his sufferings and death. Philip
Hughes made this observation. He says, from highest heaven,
he descended to Calvary in the grave. None was richer than he,
none became poorer. he. So that's the riches of Christ,
the poverty of Christ. Now let's look finally at the
redemptive benefits secured by Christ. For you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become
rich. Isn't that beautiful? That you
through his poverty might become rich. The benefactors are the
elect of God. The benefactors are those believing
the gospel. The benefactors are believers. That you through his poverty
might become rich. There's that bit in the Nicene
Creed that is glorious to confess. It says, and in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father
before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very
God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father,
by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven. Beautiful, who for us men and
our salvation came down from heaven. That's what Paul means,
that you through his poverty might become rich. The Nicene
Creed goes on, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin
Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius
Pilate. he suffered and was buried, and
the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the
Father, and he shall come again with glory to judge the quick
and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. It's for us men
and for our salvation that this one who was rich became poor,
for your sakes, so that we, through his poverty, might become rich. Now, what are those riches? Those
riches I think are spoken to or spoken of by the Apostle Paul
in Ephesians 1. He says, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Those
blessings are spoken of by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians
1. You may turn there. 1 Corinthians
1. Verse 30, but of him you are
in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, he who
glories, let him glory in the Lord. So back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 8 and verse 9, when the apostle says that you through
his poverty might become rich. We are rich men and women, brothers
and sisters. We need to ponder that. We need
to contemplate that. We know that life can be tough.
We know that there are challenges. We know that there are difficulties.
We know that at times, well, most of the time, all of the
time, temporally, we're not rich. Temporally, a lot of us are,
you know, seeking to make ends meet, and we don't have a lot
in terms of this world's goods, but we have eternal riches. We
have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ. Now, I know at times this is
counterintuitive. We might be melancholic or we
might be depressed and somebody will come along and say, well,
you need to count your blessings. And everything in us rises up
and says, I don't want to count my blessings. I want to be melancholic
or depressed. I don't want to be happy. I just
want to be miserable. Brethren, listen to that kind
hearted soul that tells you to count your blessings. We need
to take a couple steps back, we need to properly survey the
land, and we need to understand that we, through His poverty,
have become rich, rich beyond measure. Notice the Apostles'
language in Ephesians chapter 1. Back there again, Ephesians
chapter 1. Notice in verse 7, in Him we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in
all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery
of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed
in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times,
He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth in Him. In Him also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to
the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel
of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to
the praise of His glory, that riches of His grace." Notice
in Ephesians 2, And you, chapter 2, verse 1, who were dead in
trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. We
were lifeless, we were helpless, we were hopeless. But notice
in verse 4, but God, who is miserly in his mercy, sparing in his
mercy, begrudging in his mercy. No, Ephesians 2, 4, but God who
is rich in mercy. He doesn't just, here's a little
bit of mercy for you. He doesn't just sort of dull
it out. He's not skimpy. He's not chintzy. He's not a cheapskate when it
comes to this mercy. But God who is rich in mercy
because of his great love. You see, the apostle could just
say mercy and love, couldn't he? I mean, that we get mercy
from God is great. That we get love from God is
great. That's not enough to describe what we get. It's rich mercy
and it's great love. He heaps it up. In fact, Paul
the Apostle actually coined words to promote how glorious and benevolent
God is. He would take words and stick
prepositions on them to make it that much better. Words that
had never been coined before, not that they were completely
unknown, but the putting together, as I said, of a preposition and
a word to sort of highlight that it's not just this, it's this.
It's not just a little bit, but it's but it's rich. It's it's
great. It's it's wonderful. But God,
who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which
he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved
and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus. Paul, are you trying to tell
us something here? Yes, Christian, I am trying to
tell you that you have something far more excellent than you even
know. Imagine for a moment that you
collected coins, and you happen to have a coin in your collection
that was worth something. You had no clue. And somebody
who's in tune with such things surveys your collection. He goes,
wow, did you know you have that? Well, what do you mean? That's
worth about $10,000. But it's a penny. Yeah, but it's
worth about $10,000. That whole collector thing just
baffles me. that people would spend that
much money on a penny or on a hockey card. I just don't get it. But
there are people out there, and there is that value appended
to that particular coin. You'd be blown away, wouldn't
you? I think as Christians, we have this view that, yeah, God
saved me, and yeah, I'm going to heaven, but I just feel like
he's not always really for me. He is for you. He is most loving. As you've heard ad nauseum in
this church, the doctrine of divine impassibility secures
for us that statement in our confession that God is most loving. He doesn't increase because he
can't. He's most loving. He doesn't
get more loving to you. It's not like at the end of the
week you've done well, so his love units for you increase. That love never diminishes. It
never evaporates. It never goes away. God is most
loving toward you, believer. Those are the riches you have
in Christ Jesus. We take the specifics in terms
of every spiritual blessing. I think a great grid is that
ordo salutis presented by the apostle in Romans chapter eight.
Those whom he foreknew, he predestined. Those he predestined, he called. He affectionately called us unto
himself. He granted us the graces of faith
and repentance. He caused us, as we read this
morning in John 3, to be born again. He gave us the repentance
in order to have a change of mind about our sins that we see
in Acts chapter 5. He gives us the faith that Paul
will highlight in Ephesians chapter 2, 8 through 10, and in Philippians
chapter 1, verse 29. Paul says, it's been granted
to you, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for
his name. Do you ever understand that?
It's incidental that faith is a gift in Philippians chapter
129. The emphasis or the accent falls on the fact that God has
begraced you with the privilege of suffering for Jesus. The fact
that faith and repentance are gifts are everywhere in the New
Testament. Brethren, we've been given those
things. We have been justified freely by His grace. We have
gone through what Zechariah, the prophet, speaks of in Zechariah
chapter 3. God willing, we'll read that
in a couple Sunday nights from now. Remember Joshua, the high
priest, standing before Yahweh, filthy, disgusting, vile, covered
in vomit, covered in feces. It's not just a little spot on
his shirt, but rather he is absolutely undone. And God orders that those
dirty clothes be torn off of him and then righteous clean
robes placed on him. That's ours in the gospel. That's
what you and I have. Brethren, when I preach this,
I get convicted that I don't always live in light of this,
because I should have a smile on my face 24-7, understanding
the doctrine of justification, that we are forgiven, and that
we have been given a righteousness that avails with God, and it's
received by faith alone, and that faith supplied by God Himself? And that's enough for all of
us to just say, praise God forever and ever and ever, world without
end. But it doesn't stop there. Sanctification, the fact that
we are dying to our sin, not maybe like we want, not maybe
as fast as we would desire, but we are. John Newton says, I'm
not what I ought to be. I'm not what I will be. By God's grace, I'm not what
I once was. Brethren, praise the Lord for
that. We're rich in Jesus. We have different affections
now, different desires. I mean, who would want to be
in church twice and three times on a Sunday unless God had changed
their heart, especially a church like this. There's no bongos,
there's no guitar riffs, there's no celebration, there's no everybody
doing a jig. There's none of that at all. What brings us here? I mean,
it might be a sense of duty and obligation, there might be a
little bit of that, and that's not necessarily wrong. We are
obliged and we have a duty to show up at church. Do not forsake
the assembling of yourselves together, as is the custom of
Psalm. That's a reality. But I like
to think there's something even more basic, and that's, I was
glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the
Lord, because the Lord has changed our hearts. He has given us new
affections. He's given us a new will. He's
given us a new desire. We have been justified freely
by His grace. We are being sanctified by the
presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, and we have glorification
in our future. We're going to a world where
there is no more politics like we saw in the Sanhedrin this
morning. Brethren, that kind of political
machination that we see there in Acts 5 that is extant today
is grieving, isn't it? When you see something so obvious
that men love power, men crave power, men desperately want to
silence the opposition, which oftentimes are Christian people
that just want the right things, It really is frustrating to live
in a world where there's such injustice, to live in a world
where there's such ineptitude, but heaven isn't like that. Heaven is perfect. Heaven is
glorious. And one of the best things about
heaven, well, the best thing, is that Christ is there, but
we're going to be confirmed in righteousness. You and I are
not going to sin when we go to heaven. Isn't that enough encouragement
to make you get out of bed each day and say, praise God, I can't
wait to go to heaven. I don't necessarily want to get
hit by a truck today, but I can't wait to go to heaven. The reality
is, brethren, no more pain, no more suffering, no more sorrow,
no more hunger, no more thirst, no more sin. No more fighting
the flesh. No more. We will be confirmed
in righteousness, secured and stable forever and ever and ever,
world without end. You see Paul's point. You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty
might become rich. The Macedonians gave out of their
poverty, Christ gave out of his poverty as well, in an interesting
sort of a way. Hodge makes the observation in
terms of the context. He says self-sacrifice is the
proper test of love. In other words, these Corinthians
ought to be giving based on what they have in our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, brethren, I hope that we
will appreciate, with reference to Christ, His glory, that He
who was rich, for our sakes became poor, speaks to His glory, His
magnificence, His excellence, and His majesty. As well, the
riches we possess, I think John Gill sort of summarizes everything
I tried to present, that they through His poverty might be
rich, Not in temporals or temporals, not in the stuff of this age. There's nothing wrong with having
stuff. God's not about living in huts or wearing hair shirts
or having a nice bowl of soup and putting ashes in it. God
is not pro-monkery. God is not calling you to suffer
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That's just not the conception
of God that you ought to have. I mean, this looks like a great
steak. I should burn it or I should
put ashes on it so I don't enjoy it. No, no, no, no. God's not
like that. But the reality is, brethren, we're not rich in temporals.
He goes on to say, but in spirituals, and by Christ's obedience, sufferings,
and death, in his lowest state, he has paid all their debts,
wrought out a robe of righteousness, rich and adorned with jewels,
with which he clothes them, and through his blood and sacrifice
has made them kings and priests unto God. That's a beautiful,
beautiful summary of the riches that we possess in our Lord Jesus
Christ. So brothers and sisters, we need
to be encouraged. We need to be a joyful people.
Again, we will have melancholy, we will have depression, we will
have darkness. we will have sorrows, we will
have difficulties, but somewhere along the line, we need to stop,
we need to listen to our counselors, and we need to count our blessings.
We need to consider these riches. We need to contemplate justification,
sanctification, and glorification. We need to contemplate the glory
of Jesus Christ. We need to understand that the
one who was rich became poor for us, that we, through his
poverty, might become rich. Well, let us pray. Our Father,
we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for all of the theology
in such a short span of words in 2 Corinthians 8-9. We thank
You for our Lord Jesus, we thank You for what He undertook on
our behalf, and we thank You for the great riches that we
possess in and through and because of Him. We ask for Your continued
blessing upon us, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
