Pastor Michael Neumann

December 25, 2009 

2 Corinthians 8:9

Christ the Savior is Born.

1) His is a riches to rags story.

2) Ours is a rags to riches story.

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.

When a child is born, there is a certain amount of hope and expectation concerning that child. What will he or she be like? What will he or she accomplish? Will the child leave a mark on the world? Will this child be a powerful leader or a great scientist? Will this child change the world by its inventions? Or will he or she simply live a quiet, peaceful life, unknown by most of the world?  

 For the child who is born into poverty and lowly circumstances, the hope is that their life might be better than that of their parents, that they might enjoy more and better. And we hear about those rags to riches stories. The person who was born into poverty, who had nothing for much of his life, but then either through hard work, or perhaps simply good fortune becomes wealthy or powerful.

 On the other side, there are those who are born into wealth and privilege. The hope is that they will make good use of their birthright; that they might truly live up to that position of privilege and stature. Unfortunately, there are those stories of the rich brat - the child who was born with everything and who foolishly wasted it.

 What about that child born in Bethlehem on Christmas. What is his story? He was born into humble circumstances - born in a stable, a barn. But who is this child? We know that his is really a riches to rags story. He truly had it all - everything in this world was created by him and for him, all power and glory in heaven and earth belongs to him. But he didn’t squander it. Rather, for our sake, he willingly laid it aside so that we might become rich. So this morning as we gather to celebrate the birth of our Savior, we focus on the Christchild - his is a riches to rags story, so that ours might be a rags to riches story.

 People will often make sacrifices for those whom they love. Think of the parent who has saved to buy something they would really like, but then puts aside their desire in order to spend that money to buy some special gift for their children. Think of the soldier who is willing to throw himself on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers. But the sacrifice that Jesus made for us was much greater. His love much greater.

 Consider what Paul says - “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.” Jesus is the almighty God. He is the creator of the world. What more needs to be said? Everything in this world belongs to him. And yet what did he do. He gave it all up. Jesus “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 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 and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Jesus left behind the glories of heaven, he was born an infant, he set aside the full use of his divine power and glory, he became nothing - to die for us selfish, unthankful, poor sinful creatures.

 Consider Jesus’ life while he was here on earth. He didn’t live as we might expect a king to live. His life was not filled with luxury and ease. He was born in a stable. And there was probably a bit of public some shame involved with Jesus’ birth. Mary and Joseph were not publicly married yet when Mary became pregnant. Imagine the talk among the people of Nazareth as they counted back the months from Jesus’ birth and realized when Mary had become pregnant.

 Already as a child, he had to flee for his life. When King Herod heard from those wise men from the east who had come to worship Jesus, that the king of Jews had been born, Herod had all boys two years old and younger killed in Bethlehem. He wanted to wipe out any potential competition. God warned Joseph in a dream. Joseph had taken Mary and Jesus and fled to Egypt.

 As a baby, Jesus had to be cared for by his parents - to be fed and clothed, to have his diapers changed. Think about that - the Almighty Creator was to a great extend helpless as an infant. It boggles our human minds to consider such things. How could that really be?

 As a boy, Jesus grew up in humble surroundings. Joseph was a carpenter. Nazareth in Galilee wasn’t a place of great fame or fortune. It probably would have been consider more of a back woods area. 

 And then throughout Jesus ministry, he traveled around without any place to really call his home. Jesus himself says, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He didn’t have much more than the clothes on his back. From those who followed him, his needs were supplied. The women who went to anoint his body on Easter Sunday were among those followers who cared for Jesus physical needs throughout his ministry - but many of the people he came into contact with rejected and despised him. His life was not an easy one.

 And that is to say nothing about his death. As we know he was arrested, beaten and sentenced to die. Despite the fact that he was innocent of any crime, in fact never once in his life had even sinned, he was sentenced to die the cruel, painful death of crucifixion. A punishment reserved for only the very worst of criminals.  Not only was crucifixion physically a very painful, torturous death, but again there was great shame associated with crucifixion. To be crucified said you were the worst of the worst. You deserved every bit of punishment that could be given. The shame and mocking made this cruel death that much worse. 

 And what made Jesus’ crucifixion even worse was that as he hung there, he was forsaken by God the Father. All the sins of the world - all of your sins and all of my sins, were placed on him and he suffered the punishment for every last one of them. He was considered and treated as the worst sinner that ever was.

 But that was the very reason that Jesus left behind the glories of heaven and came to earth. Jesus tells us, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” That is why Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem at Christmas.

 What tremendous love - totally undeserved. Jesus, the almighty Creator, became poor - beggarly poor for us.

 Jesus as our substitute became poor - considered a poor sinner by God as he hung on the cross suffering the punishment for our sins which were placed on him. He did that so that we might be rich. Ours then truly is a rags to riches story. We hear the stories about someone, who had nothing - living on the streets, but then by some unusual circumstance or maybe by their own hard work, they make it big. They go from rags to riches. That is what happened to us. 

 We were poor sinners. We had nothing to bring before God, nothing that we could do to earn our own way to heaven. God demands perfection to enter heaven and we couldn’t give that to him. The Bible tells us, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” What we have earned by our sins is God’s punishment. “The wages of sin is death.” So not only haven’t we done anything to earn God’s favor, we have done things to earn his anger. We irritate, and anger and aggravate and infuriate God by our sinning. We have to join with King David who in Psalm 70 asks God’s help and confesses, “Hasten, O God, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me. Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.” 

 It was for just such people that the Savior Jesus came. He came to rescue us poor sinners. The prophet Isaiah writes concerning the Savior, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion.” And Jesus says to us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” We are blessed when we realize that we are poor, miserable sinners who have nothing to bring before God. 

 Because it is to such repentant sinners, that Jesus gives great riches. Jesus gives us his perfection as our own. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We are rich. We are clothed in the robes of Jesus’ perfect righteousness.

 For Jesus’ sake, all of heavens glory belongs to us. We have all the riches and blessings that go along with being a child of God. Think of all that means. It means that the Lord is with us to watch over and protect us, to provide for us in this life. But even more importantly we have an eternal home in heaven to look forward to. Jesus promises us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

 What a wonderful place that will be. In the book of Revelation, we are given a glimpse of what heaven will be like. We are told, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” With that knowledge, we have peace and hope and joy in every situation. We have the greatest riches imaginable. We can join with Job in joyfully confessing, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

 Yet with that wealth, with all the riches God has given us – how often aren’t we still not content in life? So often our focus is on the things of this world. Our attention is on the less important things of this life and we fail to recognize and appreciate all that God has already given us, and the certain blessings we have to look forward to.

 For that wealth, for all the riches God has given us - how do we ever thank him? Really we can’t, can we? But all our lives are now a thank you to our Savior for the love that he has shown us - becoming poor to make us rich. Paul encourages us, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

 Why do we live Christian lives? It is just that - thankfulness. Paul writes earlier to the Corinthians, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

 Yes, ours truly is a rags to riches story. All because our Savior Jesus took on the rags of our human flesh and became one of us. He humbled himself to take our place under the law, to live and to die for us, so that we might have eternal life. What a wonderful thing it is that Christ the Savior is born in Bethlehem.