2 Corinthians 8:9
New International Version
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he
became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."
New Living Translation
"You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich."
>>Our gracious Lord Jesus revealed to us his awesome grace in this verse of Scripture!!
1) He had all riches and wealth!!
2) Yet he willingly made himself poor!!
3) He did that in order to make you rich through his poverty!!
4) The grace He revealed gave us very solid ground for our faith
confessions: "BY HIS POVERTY WE WERE MADE RICH!!" The same as "By His
Stripes We were Healed!!" (Isa 53:5)
>>In fact what our Lord did was a substitution: HE CARRIED AWAY
OUR POVERTY AND GRACIOUSLY LAVISHED HIS WEALTH AND RICHES UPON US!! His
abundant wealth was substituted for our overwhelming poverty: On his
cross our Lord Jesus:
1) Was made sin for us, though he did not know sin, so that we would
become the righteousness of God in and through him (2 Cor 5:21): OUR SIN
NAILED ON THE CROSS
2) He judged sin in the flesh and set us free from the law of sin and
death through the law of The Spirit of that Life that's in Christ Jesus
our Lord! (Rom 8:1-4) OUR ETERNAL LIFE AND FREEDOM FROM THE POWER OF SIN AND
DEATH
3) He redeemed us from the curse of the Law because He was made a curse
for us since it's written "cursed is him who hangs on the cross- (Gal
3:13 & Deut 21:23)" OUR REDEMPTION FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW
4) He took all our illnesses/infirmities and carried away all our
diseases, and by his stripes we were healed (Mt 8:17& Isa 53:5) OUR
HEALING AND HEALTH PURCHASED
5) He has borne all our griefs and carried away all our sorrows (Isa 53:4 ESV) OUR PEACE PURCHASED
6) Isaiah 53:3 (NIV)
"He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem."
>> HE WAS REJECTED! HE IS FAMILIAR WITH REJECTION! HE IS ALWAYS WITH US WHENEVER WE GO THROUGH REJECTION! WE HAVE SOMEONE TO RUN TO IN OUR
REJECTION! HE IS OUR CONSOLATION WHEN WE'RE REJECTED!! THOUGH EVERYONE
REJECT US JESUS SAYS COME UNTO ME YOU WHO LABOUR AND ARE HEAVY-LADEN,
AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST!!
>> SINCE HE WAS DESPISED, WE HAVE SOMEONE TO COMFORT AND GIVE US
HOPE WHEN WE'RE DESPISED!! WE'VE HAVE POWER WITH JESUS TO OVERCOME ALL
CONTEMPT AGAINST US!! OUR LORD JESUS HAS GREATLY HONOURED AND FAVOURED
US!! WE ARE TOTALLY UNFAZED BY PEOPLE OF WARPED MINDS!! GLORY TO JESUS!!
HOLD US IN LOW ESTEEM, BUT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER HIGHLY VALUES US, AND HE
HAS HIGHLY GLORIFIED US!!
7) Amplified Bible-Isa 53:7
"He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth
[to complain or defend Himself]; Like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before her shearers, So He
did
not open His mouth."
>> Our Lord Jesus became our refuge, stronghold, hightower, and
fottress during times of afflictions and oppressions because he was
afflicted and oppressed in a manner no mortal soul will ever experience
or go through! Through all that terrible ordeal HE OPENED NOT HIS
MOUTH!! This was incredible self-control and restraint which HE MADE
AVAILABLE FOR US!! There is so much grace to sustain us through any kind
of oppressions or afflictions we might go through in this fallen
world!! He taught us an indispensable practical lesson in holy living which
we practise also by the Holy Spirit through a living faith in our Lord
and Saviour Jesus! EMOTIONAL CONTROL AND RESTRAINT PROCURED FOR
BELIEVERS
8) Isa 53:8 (NIV)
"By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished."
"By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was
cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished."
>> Our Lord Jesus was judged and cut off from the land of living FOR THE TRANSGRESSION OF HUMANITY!!
>> He was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (
John 1:29) He was offered as a sin offering for the whole world, and he
managed to reconcile fallen humanity to God through his shed blood of
atonement!!
>> Our Lord Jesus bore for us all God's judgement on sinners! He
averted God's wrath for sin from all men, and endured it himself SO THAT
WE CAN FREELY RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF OUR SINS WHEN WE REPENT AND PUT
OUR FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS!! Thus we see PROPITIATION/ATONEMENT/
>> This was a revelation of the-not-so-easy-to-understand-
>> Total and perfect SELFLESSNESS is the essence and chief
characteristic of God's Love!! God is Love! (1 John 4:8) Jesus is God's
Love for mankind!
>> Our Lord and Saviour Jesus LIVED A COMPLETELY SELF-LESS LIFE on earth!! And he commanded us to love like he loved!!
34 “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I
have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will
know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
>> This verse carries THE COMPLETE AND ENTIRE RELIGION OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT, which is LOVE! It comes with A NEW COMMANDMENT FOR THE NEW
TESTAMENT;
1) LOVE ANOTHER
2) LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU
3) THEN ALL PEOPLE WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES INDEED, IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER
>> This is the church's testimony to the onlooking world!! LOVE OF
THE BRETHREN FOR ONE ANOTHER! And John, the Apostle of Love re-echoed this same commandment:
1 JOHN 3:16-18 (NIV)
"16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life
for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in
need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions
and in truth."
>> SINCE JESUS CHRIST LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US, WE OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST!!
>> WE HAVE KNOWN GOD'S LOVE FOR ITS COMPLETE SELF-LESSNESS AND
LIVING SOLELY FOR THE GOOD, ADVANTAGE, SALVATION, REDEMPTION, PROFIT,
WELFARE, HEALING, HEALTH, PROSPERITY, SUCCESS, PROMOTION, CONSOLATION,
EDIFICATION, BREAKTHROUGH, VICTORY, DELIVERANCE, BLESSING,
ENLIGHTENMENT, SANCTIFICATION, CARE, GUIDANCE, AND SO MUCH MORE, OF
THOSE SHE LOVES!!
>>The main business of love is single-mindedness to the good,
better, and best of OTHERS, beginning with believers and all the rest of
mankind!!
>> If this love is not evident in your life YOU ARE NOT A DISCIPLE
OF JESUS!! And if you claim to be his disciple you are a liar!!
1 John 2:3-6 (NIV)
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar,
and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word,
love for God a is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we
are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did."
1) YOU DON'T KNOW JESUS IF YOU ARE NOT LIVING ACCORDING TO HIS NEW COMMANDMENT OF LOVE!!
2) YOU ARE NOT A TRUE CHRISTIAN IF YOU ARE NOT KNOWN FOR YOUR STEADFAST PRACTICAL LOVE OF BRETHREN
3) IF YOU OBEY GOD'S WORD THEN GOD'S LOVE IS TRULY MADE COMPLETE IN YOU
4) YOUR STEADFAST OBEDIENCE OF THE TRUTH IS A LIVING TESTIMONY OF YOUR LOVE, AND IT'S WHAT SHOWS YOU ARE IN CHRIST!!
5) IF YOU SAY YOU LIVE IN HIM/IF YOU SAY YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN, THEN YOU
MUST LIVE AND WALK EXACTLY AS JESUS DID!! How did Jesus live? HE NEVER
LIVED FOR HIMSELF!! HE NEVER SOUGHT HIS OWN GOOD!! HE CAME TO BE A
BLESSING UNTO THE WHOLE WORLD FOR ALL GENERATIONS TILL THE END OF THE
WORLD!! LOVE BLESSES OTHERS!! LOVE HOLDS NO BLESSING OR ANY GOOD BACK
FROM THOSE WHO DESERVE IT!!!
ROM 15:1-3 (NIV)
1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them
up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The
insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
Again:
Philippians 2:3-7
"3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature a God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own
advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature b of a servant, being made in human likeness."
Also
1 Cor 10:24 NIV
"24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others."
SEEK THE GOOD OF OTHERS!!! JESUS DID THAT!!! And the Bible
says, JESUS IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND FOR EVER (Heb 13:8 NIV) IF
HE IS IN YOU HE WILL DO EXACTLY THE SAME!!! HIS WORD NEVER CHANGES!! HE
NEVER CHANGES!! HE WOULD NEVER HOARD WEALTH AS THE SO-CALLED CHRISTIANS DO
TODAY!! HE WOULD NEVER STASH AWAY HUGE SUMS OF MONEY IN BANK ACCOUNTS!
JESUS IS OUR WISDOM FROM ABOVE (1 COR 1:24 & 1:30), AND HE IS NOT
LIKE THE RICH FOOL IN LUKE 12!! (NLT)
15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” 16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough
stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be
merry!”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ 21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
>> QUIT LIVING LIKE THIS FOOL!! LAY UP ALL YOUR TREASURES IN HEAVEN!!! YOU WILL BE FILLED WITH GOD, AND EVERYTHING HE IS, HAS, AND DOES!! HOW RICH YOU WILL BE!! AND HOW POOR YOU WILL BE WITH YOUR FAT EARTHLY BANK ACCOUNTS!! Glory to Jesus!!!