The Riches of Christ

Paul had a fundraising problem. The church in Jerusalem was poor and suffering, and Paul was collecting money from the Gentile churches to help them. The Corinthians had promised to give a year earlier, but they hadn’t followed through. So Paul wrote to them about it.

What is striking is how he did it. He didn’t guilt them. He didn’t promise them that God would pay them back double. He didn’t set a target. Instead, he pointed them to Jesus:

“After all, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: rich as He was, He became poor for your sake, so that His poverty might make you rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

That is the deepest reason a Christian gives. Not because we have to, but because of what Jesus did.

He was rich

Think about how rich Jesus was. Before He came to earth He shared the glory of the Father. He made the stars. Every angel worshiped Him. Everything in heaven and earth belonged to Him, because it was made through Him and for Him. There has never been wealth like the wealth of the eternal Son of God.

He became poor

And He gave it all up. Paul says in Philippians that “He emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). He was born not in a palace but in a borrowed stable, to parents who could only afford the poor family’s offering of two birds when they presented Him at the temple. He grew up in a small town with a bad reputation. He worked with His hands. During His ministry He said, “Foxes have their holes and the birds in the sky their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest His head” (Matthew 8:20). He was buried in a borrowed tomb.

But His poverty went much deeper than money. On the cross He became poor in a way we can hardly understand. He lost the sense of His Father’s presence. He was stripped of His clothes, His friends, His dignity and finally His life. He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?” (Matthew 27:46). He became as poor as it is possible to become.

So that we might become rich

Why? “For your sake, so that His poverty might make you rich.” Not rich in money. Paul is not promising the Corinthians a bigger income. He is talking about a far greater wealth: forgiveness, adoption into God’s family, the Holy Spirit living in us, eternal life, a share in Christ’s own inheritance. Paul calls it “the riches of Christ, riches no one can ever fully trace” (Ephesians 3:8).

Everything we most need, Jesus bought for us at the cost of everything He had. We came to Him spiritually bankrupt, with nothing to offer. He paid our debt and then made us His heirs.

Why this changes how we give

This is the foundation for everything this book says about generosity. If you skip it, giving becomes a duty, a tax, a way to feel good about yourself, or worst of all, a way to try to earn God’s favour. All of those will wear you out in the end.

But when you see what Jesus gave for you, giving becomes a response. It is the natural overflow of a heart that has been made rich. Paul says the Macedonian churches, who were desperately poor themselves, begged him for the privilege of giving: “Hardship has put them to a severe test, yet their joy has overflowed, and their deep poverty has spilled over into riches of generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:2). How? “Before anything else they gave themselves to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 8:5). When the heart belongs to Jesus, the wallet follows.

At the end of his long appeal, Paul doesn’t finish with a demand. He finishes with worship:

“Thanks be to God for His gift, which no words can describe!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

Every gift we give is a small echo of that indescribable gift.

Grace, not guilt

This means this whole book is about grace. If you are reading these chapters and feeling a growing weight of shame, about debts you have run up, about money you have wasted, about how little you have given, come back to this verse. The good news is not “Try harder with your money.” The good news is that Jesus became poor to make you rich. Your failures with money are among the sins He carried. Your worth to God does not rise or fall with your bank balance or your giving record.

Start there. Receive His riches first. Then, as a forgiven and rich child of God, begin to learn how to handle the smaller riches He has put in your hands.

Rich toward God

There is one more thing. Jesus once told a parable about a rich farmer who had a bumper harvest and decided to build bigger barns and retire in comfort. That night God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being asked back from you.” Then Jesus added: “That is how it is for anyone who piles up wealth for themselves but is not rich in God’s sight” (Luke 12:20-21).

There are two ways to be rich. You can be rich in yourself, or you can be rich toward God. The farmer had full barns and an empty soul. The Christian may have small barns, or none at all, and still be infinitely rich, because his treasure is in Christ.

A voice from the past

Charles Spurgeon, meditating on the love of Christ, marvelled at how much He gave:

“Although a tithe of his possessions would have made a universe of angels rich beyond all thought, yet was he not content until he had given us all that he had.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning

Practice this week

Read Philippians 2:5-11 slowly each day this week. Each time, list one thing Jesus gave up for you, and one thing He has given you. At the end of the week, give a gift, of money, time or help, as a simple way of saying thank you for His.

For groups

• Why do you think Paul pointed the Corinthians to Jesus rather than simply telling them to keep their promise?
• What is the difference between giving out of guilt and giving out of gratitude? Have you experienced both?
• Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-5. What do you find most surprising about the Macedonians?
• What does it mean to you, practically, to be “rich toward God”?