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Redeemer Church Mauritius
Owner of All but Born in Poverty - Phil Kendon
This message forms Part 2 of our Christmas series – Hidden in Plain Sight – highlighting the glory of Jesus compared to the humility of his incarnation. He was something, but he became nothing so that we who were nothing might become something. “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.” - 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV) The irony of Christmas is that Jesus is the owner of all the resources of the earth, and that all its wealth actually belongs to him, yet he was born in poverty and ultimately left the earth without an asset to his name. Why does the Creator of the world stoop to such humility? And why does the Saviour of the world choose this path to offer us the gift of salvation?
Locations & Times
Redeemer Church Mauritius
Mauritius
Sunday 9:30 AM
1. We are used to the idea of giving to help
- Some of the wealthiest people in the world are the most generous.
- Some of the wealthiest people in the world are the most generous.
2. How rich was Jesus?
- All the resources of earth belong to Jesus.
Psalm 24:1 (NIV)
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
Psalm 50:9–12 (NIV)
I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Haggai 2:8 (NIV)
‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty.
Psalm 2:8 (NIV)
Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
- Including the resources we feel we have made for ourselves.
Deuteronomy 8:17–18 (NIV)
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
1 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
- All the resources of earth belong to Jesus.
Psalm 24:1 (NIV)
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
Psalm 50:9–12 (NIV)
I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Haggai 2:8 (NIV)
‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty.
Psalm 2:8 (NIV)
Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
- Including the resources we feel we have made for ourselves.
Deuteronomy 8:17–18 (NIV)
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
1 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
3. How poor did Jesus become?
- He didn’t give away a portion of his wealth – he became poor.
Luke 2:22–24 (NIV)
When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
Leviticus 12:6–8 (NIV)
‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood. “ ‘These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’
Luke 8:1–3 (NIV)
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Matthew 8:20 (NIV)
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Matthew 27:35 (NIV)
When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
- He didn’t give away a portion of his wealth – he became poor.
Luke 2:22–24 (NIV)
When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
Leviticus 12:6–8 (NIV)
‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood. “ ‘These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’
Luke 8:1–3 (NIV)
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Matthew 8:20 (NIV)
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Matthew 27:35 (NIV)
When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
4. Jesus became spiritually poor
- He became a servant of God, though he was the Son.
- He became a servant of God, though he was the Son.
5. So that we could become spiritually rich
- We receive the spiritual riches of salvation, like: redemption, forgiveness, adoption, the indwelling Holy Spirit, wisdom, and purpose.
Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
Ephesians 2:6–7 (NIV)
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
- We receive the spiritual riches of salvation, like: redemption, forgiveness, adoption, the indwelling Holy Spirit, wisdom, and purpose.
Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
Ephesians 2:6–7 (NIV)
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Remember:
He became poor, so we could become rich.
He became poor, so we could become rich.
