As we come to the end of another year we wish to thank everyone who has been involved in the community and ministry of BST in 2013. Thank you for your part in God’s work among us and His blessing upon us this year. We leave you with this Christmas message from John Coulson, BST’s Acting Principal…
For us as Christians, Christmas is a time to reflect again on God’s blessing. The blessing of God is large and takes many forms. As we think about what has happened in our lives this year, hopefully we can point to many ways in which God has blessed us. It is good to take time to reflect and be thankful to Him for His care for us and our family and friends.
But in our reflection we need to go deeper than our immediate concerns and to think about how God’s blessing has addressed our deeper needs. The message of Christmas speaks to us about our deeper needs and what God has done about them.
I love the well-known Benediction that comes from 2 Corinthians 13:14:
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor 13:14, TNIV).
This blessing summarises what true blessing is. It means experiencing the presence of the Triune God: the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
If I want to experience true blessing, then I need to understand and experience in greater measure what Paul is talking about in the Benediction. What is the grace of the Lord Jesus? What is the love of God? What is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? I need to seek to really know what these things are. I need to seek to know the Triune God in whom these blessings are found. How hungry and thirsty am I to really know Him? This is true blessing.
Over recent weeks as Christmas has approached I have been reflecting on “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ”. This has led me to several passages in Paul’s letters that explain what this grace is. I want to share some of Paul’s thoughts with you.
Let’s begin with Romans 5:15-21 (TNIV):
“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
There is much in this passage. We note a few things:
- The grace of Jesus Christ is the expression of the grace of God. God expressed His grace through Jesus. And so the grace of Jesus Christ is the grace of God.
- The grace of Jesus is the grace of one man. He is a unique human being. He is unique and His grace is unique. He’s not just a great teacher, leader and healer. He’s in a class of His own and He has done something for us that no one else has done or can do.
- The grace of Jesus gets to the core of our human problem and need. How does Paul describe it? “Sin, trespass, disobedience, judgment, condemnation, the reign of death.” Are we in touch with the reality of our problem and the enormity of our need?
- The grace of Jesus meets our need freely and abundantly. How does Paul describe grace? “Gift, abundant grace, gift of righteousness, justification, reigning in life, the reign of grace, eternal life.” Wow! The exact opposite of our human situation – overflowing, freely-given blessing, exactly the opposite of what we deserve, given through Jesus Christ; bringing us back into right relationship with God.
But how? How does Jesus secure this grace for us? The grace we receive is secured by an act of grace by Jesus Christ. How does Paul describe it? He does not give a full explanation in this passage. Paul calls the grace of Jesus Christ “one righteous act”, “the obedience of the one man”.
Jesus did God’s will. He did what was right. He obeyed God. He was the first human in history to do so. Every other human being, right through to the present time, has followed in the way of Adam, the way of sin and disobedience to God. The way of Jesus was the way of righteousness and obedience from the beginning of His human life to the end of His life. It was an act of grace that brought God’s grace to us. There’s more to be said about His act of grace. We’ll get there shortly.
So when we think about the grace of Jesus Christ, we think about the amazing, overflowing grace that He has given us freely: grace to us through Jesus. But we also think of the grace of Jesus Christ Himself: His righteous life, His obedient life, His unique human life, that became the source of God’s grace to us. He lived righteously and obediently because of His love for God the Father. But He also did it for us, knowing that through His obedience we would be freed from sin and its terrible effects. This is the grace of Jesus Christ.
But there is more to be said about His grace. There is more detail we need to explore.
Let’s come to 2 Corinthians 8:9 (TNIV): “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.”
Paul is encouraging the Corinthian believers to give financially to his collection for the poor believers in the church in Jerusalem. Verse 9 is the theological basis of his appeal: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus. You have received freely, so now give freely to your needy brothers and sisters.”
Paul’s appeal to the Corinthians causes him to describe the grace of Jesus Christ in a particular way: in terms of poverty and riches. It’s a powerful way to express the grace of our Lord Jesus. Let’s look at four things.
1. “He was rich”
How was Jesus rich? Certainly not in material riches. What did He say? Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Matt 8:20, TNIV)
How was Jesus rich? He was rich in relationship with God in glory, before He came into the world: “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:5, TNIV)
And He was rich on earth, in His relationship with God the Father: “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.” (John 16:32, TNIV)
The Son of God teaches us that true wealth is to be with the Father and to know Him. He is the source of life and of all that is good. Our Lord Jesus was truly rich: in His relationship with God; in His unique relationship with God, the only one forever with the Father, having these riches by divine right. He was and is the Lord of glory.
2. “He became poor”
What does it mean? How can it be, that one eternally rich could become poor? The answer is in what precedes “He became poor” – Paul says it was “for your sakes”. The Son of God did it for us. If it were not for us, He would not have become poor. This is His love for us, that He gave up His riches that we might become rich.
But in what way did He become poor? In two ways. Paul explains it in Philippians 2:5-8 (TNIV):
“In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!”
He became poor by leaving the glory of heaven and becoming a human being. It is beyond comprehension that the eternal, glorious Son of God could become a baby born of a young peasant woman in a small nation without even the right of self rule. That’s what we remember and celebrate each Christmas. And then Jesus lived as a commoner in Palestine for the whole of His earthly life. What a massive step down! Paul says that in doing this, Christ Jesus “emptied Himself”, or “made Himself nothing”. Why? He did it for us.
But that was not the end of His self-chosen poverty. He went on to humble Himself and obey God in His death on the cross. Here we link up with what Paul says in Romans 5: “the obedience of the one man”, “one righteous act”. Jesus lived a righteous and obedient life, but that obedience climaxed in His obedience to God’s will in going to the cross. Without the cross the righteous and obedient life of Jesus could not help us. It is through His death for us that sin and death are condemned and defeated, and we are able to rise with Him in His resurrection to enter a right relationship with God and live a new life with God.
Jesus became poor, completely destitute, for us, on the cross: “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’).” (Matt 27:46, TNIV)
Philip Hughes writes:
“From highest heaven He descended to Calvary and the grave. None was richer than He; none became poorer than He.” (2 Corinthians, 299)
Let’s take time to reflect on who our Lord is and what He gave up freely for us. To be so wealthy and then to become so poor is difficult to fathom. How many rich people do you know who have impoverished themselves to help the poor? Examples such as C. T. Studd are rare. We thank God for rich people who are generous to the poor, but rich people who abandon their wealth to serve the poor are rare indeed.
This Christmas let’s think about the Christmas message that Paul expresses in 2 Corinthians 8:9: that in coming into our world the Rich One was becoming poor, and He did it for us. Let’s allow the truth to penetrate our hearts. We will be more humble and thankful and content and generous.
3. “You might become rich”
Paul does not mean rich in material riches. He means the riches of relationship with God that we have through the grace of Jesus Christ, the things Paul talks about in Romans 5:
- Freedom from sin, condemnation and death
- Entrance into a relationship with God where we have forgiveness of our sins, a righteous status, the assurance that we are loved by God, and the life and power of God that enable us to live in righteousness and obedience as we follow the Lord Jesus, with the hope of eternal life.
Over the years I’ve noticed in myself and others the tendency not to be immediately conscious of the riches that we have in Christ. The story is told of Mr Yates who owned a sheep ranch in Texas during the Depression after World War I. For years he lived in poverty, struggling to feed his family and pay the mortgage. He was in danger of losing the property. And then one day a crew from the oil company came and drilled a well. You know what they found? 80,000 barrels a day! Mr Yates’ troubles were over. But previously he was sitting on a fortune and he didn’t know it!
Let’s know the “fortune” that is ours in Christ. Let’s enjoy it in our hearts. Let’s be filled on the inside. Let’s not be fooled by the false riches of the world. Let’s remember where our riches come from. They come from the Richest One, who became poor, that we might become rich.
He became poor:
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.“(2 Cor 5:21, TNIV)
“… he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9, TNIV)
And now He is rich again:
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:9-11, TNIV)
4. “You know the grace …”
Why does Paul present the gospel in the way that he does here in 2 Corinthians 8:9 in the middle of an exhortation on giving? It’s because our generosity as God’s people flows from Christ’s generosity to us. He was rich and yet He impoverished Himself for us. We have become rich with His riches. Our thankfulness for all He has given us overflows in generosity to others who are in need: sharing the good news of salvation; and providing practical support, especially for our needy brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s as we truly “know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” that we give in this way.
Let’s open our eyes to the needs around us. There are so many, both near and far. The church in Syria is in desperate need at the present time. Will the church here in Australia, where we have peace and prosperity, come to the aid of our Syrian brothers and sisters?
It’s Christmas time again, the time when we remember and celebrate the beginning of the story of Jesus. Let’s not get caught up too much in the trappings. Let’s remember who the baby was. It was He who was rich becoming poor for our sakes. It was the beginning of a journey that would lead to total impoverishment at the cross. It was a journey of love for us that would make His riches available to us. He doesn’t give us things or stuff. He gives us Himself. What can we say? Let’s say what Paul says:
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Cor 9:15, TNIV)
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor 13:14, TNIV). Amen.
May He richly bless you and your family this Christmas.
Our BST staff and faculty have had a big year and will be taking a well deserved break over Christmas. This means the office will be closed from 25 December 2013, returning 2 January 2014.
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