Jesus Became Poor for You

Jesus Became Poor for You What is the story of Christmas? It is more than the birth of a child. It is more than shepherds and wisemen. It is more than a star. Let me share the meaning of Christmas using a verse we do not usually hear at Christmas, 2 Corinthians 8:9. "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." Let us look at this verse, piece by piece. Though He was rich - Jesus is and has always been fully God. John begins his gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In the beginning He was. Jesus is eternal, the I Am, the only God. Yet He was with God, distinct from yet one with the Father. The Greek behind "with" means face to face in relationship. He was in a personal relationship with the Father from the beginning. He was God, not all of God but fully God. John goes on to say that Jesus was the uncreated Creator, the possessor and giver of life. In the fourteenth verse of his first chapter, John adds, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus became flesh. Always God, He became a man. He possessed glory as the One and Only Son of God. Before anything was created, He shared full glory with the Father. But Jesus put the manifestation of His glory aside to become a man like us and to live with us. He became poor - In Luke's gospel we read of his humble birth to a young couple on an unwelcome journey. Mary gave birth in or by the stable area, probably on a straw covered dirt floor. His first bed was a stone feeding trough. His first visitors were lowly shepherds. His parents offered the sacrifice of the poor when he was 40 days old. Then they fled to Egypt to save his life. As an adult, Jesus ministered to others having few possessions of His own. When He was most popular, He was actually homeless. He relied on a miracle to pay His temple tax. When He died, His whole estate was the clothes He had been wearing. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. Truly He lived without material riches. He died the lowliest of deaths. For God to become man is a great act of humility. As a man it took more humility to die for undeserving others. And the means of His death, crucifixion, is the lowest way to die. There was extreme agony over an extended period hanging as a spectacle before the crowds. To the Romans, it was a humiliation reserved for slaves and the worst criminals. To the Jews, it represented being cursed of God. Truly the richest being in existence became poor. But why? For your sakes - Jesus became poor for our benefit. He came not to be served but to serve us. He became like us to die for us to set us free. He left His glory and became poor for you and for me. That you might become rich - Through His sacrifice of Himself, we can become the righteousness of God, freed from the penalty of sin at salvation, freed from the power of sin in a process in progress now, and freed from the presence of sin at His coming again. We become rich in our renewed relationship with God, regenerated from death in sin to new life in Christ, reconciled from being God's enemies to live as His friends, adopted from being sinful rebels to be God's beloved children, and given eternal taken from banishment from God to having life in His presence forever. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ - You did not deserve to have Jesus come for you. You can never earn the riches He is giving you. You must simply come to Him in repentance and faith and receive His gift, confessing and renouncing your sin, believing that the Son of God became man to die for you, believing that Jesus is risen and can and will raise you both physically and spiritually, trusting Jesus to receive you as you are and then transform you by His Holy Spirit, and submitting your life to His rule as Lord. Do you believe that Jesus is God become man to die for you and that He rose again? Jesus became poor so that you might become spiritually rich. The greatest Christmas gifts are Jesus and the salvation we receive through Him. Have you received this spiritual wealth? Are you living in the riches of Christ? If not, will you turn to Him right now and surrender to Him by faith?