Christianity is about giving.  It came about because God was willing to give His only begotten Son (John 3:16).  Jesus, to fulfill God’s scheme of redemption, was willing to give His life on the cross (Hebrews 12:2).  The giving of Christ, however, began long before the cross.  In an attempt to encourage Christians to give, Paul uses the giving of Jesus as an example.  Here is what he wrote:

2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV)
⁹  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 by his poverty might become rich.

Have you ever seen such giving?  Let us look more closely at these words from Paul.

“…though He was rich…”  Paul was not referring to what Jesus had on earth, but rather to what He possessed before His incarnation.  He was rich in that the world was His for He created all things (Colossians 1:18; Psalms 50:9-12).  Jesus was rich in comfort, glory, and authority.  There was nothing that He wanted that He did not possess.  Furthermore, Jesus was rich, not only because of what He had, but where He was.  He was in heaven, the place where we want to be.  But what we find is that He gave it up.

“…he became poor…”  In Philippians 2:7 Paul said that Jesus “…made himself of no reputation…”  The implication is that in heaven Jesus had reputation. The word reputation means, “a place in public esteem or regard, and has to do with having a good name…”  Without question, Jesus was a person of repute among the inhabitants of heaven.

When Jesus came to earth, He lost that reputation.  The angels never stopped recognizing Him as a person of the Godhead because they knew He was God (Hebrews 1:3-6), but the common man on earth did not esteem Him as being anyone of importance.  In fact, for the most part, He was despised by man (Isaiah 53:1-3; Mark 6:1-5; Matthew 27-31).  And so He made himself of no reputation, or as the E.S.V. says, “He emptied himself,”  not of His deity, but of the position that He had in heaven, and of the glory and comfort that went along with it (Matthew 8:20).  In other words, He emptied himself of the expression of deity, not the possession of it.     Surely we see that Jesus, who was rich in heaven, became poor.  The question is why did He do it?  Paul tells us:

“…so that you by His poverty might be rich.”  Jesus did not give so much for Himself.  There was no selfish motive involved in what He did.  He sacrificed the riches of heaven for one reason, and for one reason only—so that we might be rich, and rich we are in Christ.  We have fellowship with God (1 John 1:4-7).  Why?  Because Jesus was willing to give.  We have access to God’s throne through prayer (1 John 5:13-15).  Why?  Because Jesus gave.  We have an incorruptible home of bliss, comfort, and joy awaiting us in heaven (1 Peter 1:3-5).  Why?  Because Jesus was willing to be made poor so that we might be made rich.  Have you ever seen such giving?  For me, the answer is no, and I am confident that you feel the same way.  No one has ever given so much, not just for those who love Him, but even for those who hated Him.

Since Jesus was willing to give so much, we should be willing to give as well.  A part of being a Christian is following in the steps of Christ.  How can we be Christians if we refuse to give to and for the cause of Christ?

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.