TEXT: 2nd Corinthians 8:9 (also Various chapters in Psalms 24:1; 89:11)
TITLE: Ridiculous thought #2 - The Richest became the Poorest!
SERIES: Seriously Ridiculous
TOPIC: Incarnation; Christmas, giving!
OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, January 4th, 2008
PROP: Jesus gave up his riches, to make us rich! That’s seriously ridiculous!
INTRODUCTION: GOOD MORNING! You have no doubt heard it said: If at first, you don’t succeed…move on, and try something else. Well, this is the THIRD time I’ve attempted to preach this sermon and between sickness, power outages and furnace trouble…here we are! What started out as a Christmas series…has now turned into a NEW YEARS sermon apparently!
Well…this sermon fits into a series that we started which seems like FOREVER ago called Seriously Ridiculous.
What does this series theme mean? If you remember, we came up with 1st Corinthians 1:27 tells us: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
God works in some seriously ridiculous ways! I believe we celebrate one the most seriously ridiculous way that God works! Almighty God coming to redeem mankind…to destroy sin and it’s power…to offer hope and life forevermore….as a baby. SERIOUSLY RIDICULOUS!
You may recall the first seriously ridiculous thought we gave you:
“The Most Glorious, became the Most Humble!”
The one who spoke things into existence had to learn to speak.
The one who never changes…had to have his diaper changed.
The one who has no beginning or no end….now had both.
That was the MOST GLORIOUS, BECAME THE MOST HUMBLE…SERIOUSLY RIDICULOUS!
Today, I want to present to you another seriously ridiculous thought:
“The Richest Became the Poorest!”
How much money would you need to have to be considered rich?
Who do you consider wealthy?
I think we can all agree that Bill Gates is someone you and I recognize as someone who is rich. In January 2008, Bill Gates had an estimated net worth of $58 billion.
For those who don’t know how many zeroes that is, here it is. 58 billion.
$58,000,000,000.00
What? What is that? That’s not even a number I can grasp! Well let me help you this way.
Consider being given $5 for every minute from the moment of birth.
Question: How long would it take to acquire $1 billion?
Simple math gives 200 million minutes (1 billion / $5). Then, 200 million minutes is 333,333 hours, which is 13,888 days and 13,888 days is 38-plus years, quite a long time.
Or put it this way. If you had 1 billion dollars and put it in a savings account at your local bank (earning the 0.25% interest)…on a billion dollars, you would earn $2.5 million each year. That means you could spend about $6,800 a day and NOT touch the principle balance!
These figures are just for 1 billion! Now multiply that by 700 and you start to get an idea of how much the government is spending.
And yet, as much money as that may appear to you and me, God has more.
Our text is simply one verse this morning that we will break down.
It is found in 2 Corinthians 8:9
Let’s read:
9For 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.
T.S.: Let’s look at three facts about Christ that gives us reason to celebrate His incarnation!
Reason to celebrate #1 to celebrate Christ‘s first coming…
Our text tell us that Christ was rich.
Indeed he was!
I Christ was rich
A. He is King!
The Bible calls Christ a KING! And not just any king…the Bible calls Jesus the KING of KINGS! That is, Jesus is bigger, better, more powerful than any king who has ever lived!
And as a king, you’d expect God to be
--Rich in Possessions
What is the net worth of God? First of all, God’s not concerned with material stuff! If He was concerned with money and riches, God would sell Eternal Life. I mean He kind of has the market on it. But He’s not interested with dollars or jewels or stocks and bonds.
In Paul’s instruction to - his Son in the Faith - Timothy. Paul gives this charge!
1st Timothy 6:13b - 17
I charge you 14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Does anyone else find it fascinating that Paul tells Timothy first:
“listen, Timothy, don’t you dare forget…God is the KING of KINGS! God is the LORD of LORDS!” Don’t forget that!
And then right after Paul tells Timothy that, Paul goes on to say:
“…and tell those people who think they don’t need anything because they have it all, that the stock market might crash tomorrow. That gas prices could be back at $4 a gallon tomorrow. Instead remind people to put their hope in God!”
WHY? BECAUSE GOD IS RICH!
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
Psalm 50:10 tells us that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Not a 1,000 cattle. But all the cattle grazing on a 1,000 hills!
God owns it all!
Not only is he King…
B. He is God!
So think about all the “riches” that come with being God!
--Rich in knowledge!
God knows everyone by name!
God knows how many hairs are on each head…(or how many hairs are NOT on each head)
God knows whether or not he can make a rock so big that it would be impossible for him to move it!
GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING!
--Rich in power!
What is God’s greatest miracle?
Speaking everything we see into existence in 6 days?
Parting the red sea?
Raising the dead?
Hard to say. Because God is RICH in Power!
After each miracle, God could easily say: THERE’S MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM! Because God’s power NEVER gets exhausted.
--Rich in Presence!
God has no beginning and He has no end. He always IS.
God is everywhere at all times!
Are you getting the picture? Christ was rich! He had it all!
And you know what? He gave it up. ALL OF IT!
Our text says….
II. Christ became POOR
When did Jesus become poor? Answer: when he came to this earth! When he was born as a baby in Bethlehem!
You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, our text was Philippians 2:5-11. Those verses tell us that Christ gave up his equality with God and became a servant…a sacrifice…
Why would he do that? Well, our text tells us!
He did it
A. Because of Grace
--Paul makes an assumption in verse 9. It’s an assumption that I don’t want to make this morning. He says, “For you KNOW the grace”
Do you KNOW about the grace? If you don’t, you might want to listen.
What is this whole thing about grace anyway? What’s so amazing about it?
It’s GRACE that caused Christ to come to this world.
It’s GRACE that is the reason you are not going to spend an eternity in hell!
It’s GRACE that is the free gift!
GRACE IS SOMETHING SO GOOD THAT YOU DON’T DESERVE IT!
ILLUSTRATION: Imagine getting pulled over for speeding. There’s no denying it. You know you were speeding. But the officer comes up and says, “You know why I pulled you over?” “Because I was speeding?” “yes, that’s correct.” “well, I just wanted to tell you, slow down.” and let you go. That is mercy! Mercy is not receiving something bad that I deserve. Now imagine that the officer comes back and gives you a $100 bill. THAT’S grace! Receiving something good that you don’t deserve!
Christ also gave up his riches
B. Because of YOU!
--And now it becomes personal! True: It was for the masses that Jesus died. But I believe a lot of us leave it right there. A lot of times, we keep the crucifixion of God on a cross at arm’s length. We don’t realize that we are part of the masses! That it was ME. God died because He loved ME! Jesus gave up the glory of heaven because of ME!
ILLUSTRATION: (One room school house. Accepting the punishment for his little sister.)
Back in the day of one room school houses, a story is told about a little girl named Mary. Mary was so excited because it was the first day of school! Miss Tomlin was the new teacher and since it was the first day, Miss Tomlin thought it a good idea to lay some ground rules.
“Ok boys and girls. We need to establish some rules. Does anyone have some suggestions for rules?” One young man raised his hand, “How about we make it a rule that you can’t cheat on homework or tests.” Everyone agreed…yeah…that’s a good rule.”
Another student raised their hand, “Let’s say you must arrive to class on time.”
After a few moments, the class collectively came up with 10 rules.
Miss Tomlin asked, “Now what do we do if one of those rules is broken?”
After much discussion a punishment was decided upon.
All was going well. It was now several months into the school year, and one day, Miss Tomlin said, “Class, take out your pencils and paper for quiz.”
Mary suddenly noticed that her pencil was broken. So she leaned over to her friend. “Susan…do you have a pencil I can borrow?” before she could get a response, she heard from the front of the room, the voice of Miss Tomlin, “Mary, I’ll need to see you after school.”
Mary was dreading the end of the day. Finally the large school bell was rung and Miss Tomlin dismissed everyone to go home. “Mary, could you please come here?”
Everyone was walking out the door on their way home. Miss Tomlin said, “Mary, do you remember the rules we decided upon at the beginning of the school year?” Mary nodded. “they are posted over there.” Mary said.
“Can you read rule #4 for me, Mary?” asked Miss Tomlin
“If you have something to say, raise your hand.” Mary said. “But Miss Tomlin...I didn’t have…”
“This is no time for excuses. You broke the rule. And do you remember the punishment that was decided upon?”
Mary nodded as she remembered, “3 strikes with a ruler to the back of the hand.”
“Hold out your hand, Mary.”
Mary held out her hand with her eyes closed tightly waiting for the intense pain of the ruler. Mary flinched when she felt something touching her hand. But it wasn’t a ruler. She opened her eyes and was shocked to see the hand of her older brother Billy covering her hand. Billy spoke up, “Miss Tomlin, it’s true that Mary broke one of the rules that we as a class set up. And it’s also true that the punishment for breaking one of those rules is 3 strikes with a ruler to the back of the hand. But it doesn’t say who has to receive the punishment for breaking one of those rules. So I’d like to take the punishment here for my sister.”
“Very well.” Miss Tomlin said. “hold out your hand, Jim.”
WHACK. WHACK. WHACK.
And that’s exactly what Christ did for you and for me. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus put his hand over ours. You see, long ago, God set up the rules.
Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death.” If you sin…you die!
But Christ came and took our punishment on our behalf.
Romans 6:23b “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus Our lord.”
And with three nails, Christ became the sacrifice for our sins. Allowing us to have the hope of eternal life in heaven.
SERIOUSLY RIDICULOUS!
Amen? AMEN! So it’s very appropriate that we celebrate the birth of our savior with gifts! Because Christ is OUR gift given from God!
So Christ who was rich, became poor…why? Our text says….
III. So you could become rich!
Listen, the riches that this is talking about is NOT money! It’s something better! We’ve all ready told you that God is not interested in money! This is the lesson we learn…
A. Rich Young ruler
In Luke’s gospel, the 18th chapter…Luke tells us that there was this very wealthy young man came to Jesus asking what he must do to be saved. Jesus tells him: give up everything! If you want to gain what truly matters…get rid of what doesn’t matter.
So when we understand 2 Corinthians 8:9, it’s easy to understand why Jesus asks the Rich Young Ruler to give up everything and follow him. Because Jesus had given up everything to reach this rich, young man. And furthermore, his earthly riches were going to fade, rust and depreciate in value! Jesus wanted to make this rich young man TRULY rich…with the riches of forgiveness and eternal life!
Can I ask you a question that I want you to evaluate: What are you living for? Money? Or Christ?
You see, on the surface, I believe we would all like to answer: “I’m living for Jesus!” but does your life…do your actions support what you would profess with your mouth?
Because I firmly believe that two things will happen when I truly understand what Christ has given me. They are life lessons:
1. First, I will be content - Christ has made you rich! Be content! You have
salvation! You have hope! Let that be enough for
you!
2. I will learn to give - When you realize what you’ve been given, you will
learn HOW to give!
CONCLUSION: So many lessons are learned from Christ coming to earth as a baby.
I pray this New Year, you and your family will take some time to ponder what Christ teaches us when he came to this earth as a humble, baby.
I want to conclude by reading you a story. The name of the story is “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein.
And one of the things I find so fascinating about this book, “The Giving Tree”, is that Silverstein wrote it when a friend of his by the name of Brennan Manning asked Silverstein what his understanding of Jesus was. Silverstein answered him by writing this book, that I’d like to read for you. Pull your loved ones close and enjoy this story:
Once there was a tree, and the tree loved a little boy. And every day the little boy would come and gather the leaves and make them crowns and play king of the forest. He would climb the trees trunk and swing from the branches, and eat apples. The boy loved the tree very much and the tree was happy.
But, time went by and the boy grew older. One day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, “Come boy, come climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat my apples and be happy.” “I am too big to climb and play.” said the boy, “I want to buy things. I want to have fun. I want some money, can you give me money?” “I am sorry,” said the tree, “but I have no money. I only have leaves and apples. Well, take my apples boy, and sell them. Then you will have money. Then you will be happy.” And so the boy climbed the tree, and he gathered the apples, and he carried them away and the tree was happy.
But, the boy stayed away a long time and the tree was sad. Then one day the boy came back and the tree said, “Come boy, come climb up my tree trunk, swing from my branches and be happy.” I am too busy to climb a tree,” said the boy, “I want a house. I want a wife. I want children. So, I need a house, can you give me a house?” “I have no house.” Said the tree, “but you may cut off my branches and build a house, then you will be happy.” And so the boy cut off the branches and carried them away to build a house and the tree was happy.
But, the boy stayed away a long time and when he came back the tree was so happy he could hardly speak and he said, “Come boy, come and play,” the tree whispered. “I am too old. I am too sad to play,” said the boy, “I want a boat. I want a boat that can take me far away from here. Can you give me a boat?” “Cut down my trunk and make a boat,” said the tree, “then you can sail away and be happy.” So, the boy cut down the trees trunk and made a boat and sailed away and the tree was happy.
And after a long time the boy came back. “I’m sorry boy,” said the tree, “but I have nothing left to give you. My apples are gone.” “My teeth are too weak for apples,” said the boy. “My branches are gone,” said the tree, “you cannot swing on them.” “I am too old to swing on branches,” said the boy. “My trunk is gone,” said the tree. “I am too tired to climb,” said the boy. “I wish that I could give you something, but I have nothing left. I am just an old stump. I am sorry.” “I don’t need very much now,” said the boy, “just a quiet place to sit and rest because I am very tired.” “Well,” said the tree who straightened up as much as possible, “an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come boy, sit down, sit down and rest.” And the boy did, and the tree was happy. The End.
Shel Silverstein said, “That is my understanding of Jesus, someone who gives and gives and gives. Someone who is so full of grace. And you see, when we decide to become Christ followers, we follow that same Jesus. What is your understanding of Jesus?
This Christmas season, as you are gathered together with your family and you are opening gifts, I pray you understand who Jesus is. He’s the reason for THIS season! Let’s celebrate with joy this year!
THE RICHEST, BECAME THE POOREST, SO THAT WE MIGHT BECOME RICH.
SERIOUSLY RIDICULOUS!
