Through Christ's Poverty, You are Rich

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."

Oftentimes, "Word of Faith" people will tell people to claim this verse over and over.

Most times, people will say "Jesus became poor that I might be rich."

Once again, faith turns into a work, and grace becomes void with such an emphasis on what we do in order to receive God's blessings.

We are called to inherit blessings from God, which has everything to do with who we are in Christ, and nothing to do with what we do.

Take another look at this precious verse.

It all starts with the grace of God, which we receive by faith (Ephesians 2: 8-9). Faith is the recognition that He has done all that He has said (Hebrews 11: 1-2), and this faith is borne in us as we hear the word of Christ (Romans 10: 17)

Then we must receive that He was rich.

Most theologians, and pastors in traditional church communities, will claim that Jesus was poor.

Wrong.

Paul describes Jesus thus:

"5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:" (Philippians 2: 5-6)

and

"16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (Colossians 1: 16-17)

Even the Gospel accounts, we find examples of Jesus' great wealth: the feeding of five thousand with fragments (Mark 8: 19).

Jesus told Peter to fish for their tax money, and Peter ended up pulling out of the first fish caught ten times the amount needed (Matthew 17: 24-27)

Jesus wore a beautiful robe woven in one fabric. Instead of parting the robe in pieces, the Roman soldiers gambled for the cloth right beneath Jesus' feet (Matthew 25: 35-37)

This final example of Jesus' wealth is very telling.

So, we have the grace of Christ, we receive the truth that He was (and is!) rich. He became poor.

How do we see this poverty? At the Cross, of course.

Jesus lost everything. All clothing was removed from Him, and everything that He did wear, up to the moment He was crucified, impoverished Him more. The purple robe which mocked his majesty was ripped off, opening up the fresh wounds on His body from the Romans' whipping. The crown of thorns not only mocked his majesty, but took blood away from Him.

This blood, by the way, speakers health, wholeness, fullness, and wealth: better things than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12: 24)

Now we come to the part "that through His poverty you might be rich."

We do not get rich by saying over and over "Jesus became poor."

We need to discern the poverty which He endured in order to make us rich. The Holy Spirit invites us to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord our God (2 Peter 3: 18), and we receive this knowledge as we read His Word and understand all that He has given us through His death and resurrection.

As I meditate on "through His poverty", I recognized further that for many people, including myself, the issue of poverty, of not having enough money, all too often hinged on a sense of shame, guilt, or condemnation.

Jesus became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 21)

Before Jesus died on the Cross, He instructed the Israelite multitude to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then everything else would be added to us (Matthew 6: 33)

Without the Kingdom of God, without His righteousness, we remain poor.

We receive both kingdom and righteousness through His Holy Spirit:

"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14: 17)

We must reckon ourselves dead to sin, to shame, to condemnation, that His life by the power  of the Holy Spirit may live through us (Romans 6: 11-14)

The poverty which Jesus took upon Himself at the Cross is noteworthy not for the material losses, but the shame and condemnation which He endured. Jesus was naked on that Cross, completely exposed, and He watched as His own clothes, His royal robe woven in one fabric, were gambled away, right beneath His own feet.

The more that you meditate on Jesus' poverty, you grow in grace, and this grace will enrich you in every way!

Through Christ's poverty, indeed, you are made rich:

"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" (Ephesians 1: 3)

Yet these blessings are based on the following:

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. " (Ephesians 1: 4-6)

We are now In Christ, free from blame and unholiness, adopted as children of God, infused with grace because as Christ is, so are we in this world (1 John 4: 17).

Here is our wealth -- in recognizing our new identify, free of Adam's death and sin, infused with Christ's life.

For this Jesus became poor, and through Christ's poverty, you are rich indeed!