Rich Man - Poor Man

Daily Bible Reading – 2 Corinthians 8:1 – 11:33

At this time of the year when our focus is on giving of gifts. No one gave more than the Lord Jesus Christ. “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.” (2 Cor. 8:9) What greater example of giving could we find than that?

We know He was rich, but we have no idea how rich He really was. We get some idea, however, from what John tells us of the Celestial City. In His country they pave their streets with gold and build their walls of jasper. They make their gates of pearl and stud foundation's rocks with gems. The great white throne of God is there, the crystal stream, the tree of life. Many crowns are placed upon His head in that celestial land. His ministers are flames of fire, comprised of countless angel hosts, beings of great beauty, intelligence, and power, who hang upon His words and rush to do His will. Enormous galaxies, ablaze with stars and pulsating with energy, hurtle through the vast voids of space at His command. They are all empires of His. Billions upon billions of worlds hold their treasure troves for Him. He was rich all right, but, still, we have not yet seen His riches and so we have no idea how rich He really was.

“The silver is mine,” He could say, “the gold is mine! All the earth is mine! The cattle upon a thousand hills” are mine (Hag. 2:8; Exod. 19:5; Ps. 50:10)! Solomon was rich. He had a great throne of ivory overlaid with gold. He made silver in Jerusalem to be as common as stones and all his drinking vessels were of gold. His annual income was 666 talents of gold. The wealth of the world flowed into his treasury. He had chariots and horses and ships and wives, as many as he pleased. He was rich. But our Lord Jesus Christ was richer far. When, at last, we see Him as He is, and see the land from whence He came, we shall exclaim with the Queen of Sheba: “Behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard” (2 Chron. 9:6).

Moreover, we know that He was poor. He was born, of all places, in a cattle shed. His next of kin, according to the flesh, were poor peasants able to afford, at the time of Mary's purification, only the poorest offering allowed by the Law (Luke 2:22-24). Mary's husband was a village carpenter and the Lord Jesus, Son of God though He was, was generally known as “Jesus of Nazareth” and was thus identified with a despised place in a despised province of a despised land. And they called Him “the carpenter's son.”

He was born in a borrowed stable. When He wanted to feed the hungry multitudes, He had to borrow a little lad's lunch. When He wanted to confound His critics, He had to borrow a penny. When He wanted to teach the great throngs that pressed around Him, He had to borrow Simon Peter's boat to prevent Himself being pressed into the lake. When He wanted to fulfill an ancient prophecy and ride in triumph into Jerusalem, He had to borrow an upper room. When He needed a burying place, He had to borrow a rich man's tomb. He even died upon another man's cross.

His own testimony should surely touch our hearts. He said: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20). John draws our attention to that very fact. After a day of controversy with His enemies, a day when the Sanhedrin even tried to arrest Him, John recalls that “every man went unto his own house. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives” (John 7:53; 8:1).

We know He was poor, but we do not know how poor he really became. To measure the depth of His poverty, we have to measure the sum total of the sin liability of every man, woman, boy, girl, and baby ever born or to be born upon the earth. For that was the debt, the total liability, which He assumed.

The Treasure in Us

Daily Bible Reading – 2 Corinthians 4:1 – 7:16

“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Cor. 4:10)

He speaks of “the death of the Lord Jesus.” The word he uses is nekrosis (dying), not thanatos (death). What Paul is describing here is not our identification with the death of the Lord Jesus as a theological fact, as for instance, in our baptism. He has in mind the fact that his constant exposure to danger and to death was, in reality, a practical sharing in the sufferings of Christ. The physical sufferings of the Lord Jesus began on the night in which He was betrayed. He was punched in the face. The beard was torn from His cheeks. He was crowned with thorns. He was scourged to the bone. His sufferings culminated when He was nailed to the cross and endured the agonies of death by crucifixion. Paul looked at his own experience, at the constant assaults he bore, at the danger of life and limb he faced almost everywhere. He saw these sufferings as an extension of the sufferings of Christ. Elsewhere he quotes from Psalm 44:22 to explain what he means: “For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Rom. 8:36).

That, then, was the first secret of his victorious life. He lived at Calvary. He was martyr material. He could take suffering and even death in his stride. He wanted to “know ... the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Phil. 3:10). He did not go out of his way to court persecution, but neither did he flinch from suffering and death.

Not only was he always experiencing death with Christ, he was always expressing life in Christ: “so that the life of Jesus might be revealed in our body” (2 Cor. 4:10b). That was the second secret of his victorious life. Paul had the treasure of the gospel in an earthen vessel. Although he was pressed and persecuted incessantly, he triumphed, for the Lord Jesus lived in him. That was why he was so fearless and so fruitful. His life was constant proof, indeed, of a living, indwelling Christ causing him to triumph over all his circumstances. He had learned to practice the great principle he sets forth in Romans 6:6, namely, that the Lord Jesus not only gave His life for us at Calvary but that now, since Pentecost, He gives His life to us by His Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Comfort

Daily Bible Reading – 1 Corinthians 16:1 – 2 Corinthians 3:18

The question is often asked: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The question assumes that the calamities of life are all necessarily bad and that “good” people are really as good as they seem. Neither of the assumptions are necessarily valid. However, we understand why the question is asked.

We are living in a world of woe, in a world which is dominated by a hostile and evil super-being from outer space, one who nurtures in his soul a malignant hatred of the human race. The Bible calls him “the prince of this world,” and we know him also as Lucifer and as Satan. It is not surprising, given the malice of this being toward us human beings, that the common lot of man is to face sickness, death, natural disasters, injustice, oppression, wars, famines, pestilences, crushing disappointments, financial ruin, poverty, and a host of similar ills. Very few people go through life unscathed. The bigger question is, why does God allow it at all?

It is a question with many answers. The apostle advances one here. God allows us to suffer tribulation so that we will flee to Him, the God of all comfort, and so that, having been comforted, enfolded in those everlasting arms, we might, in turn, be able to comfort others. So often, when we try to comfort someone going through deep waters we are all too well aware that our words are hollow and trite although well meant. We ourselves have not sat, as yet, in the house of mourning. It is only when we have been where the sufferer now is that we can truly minister comfort. For true comfort is the overflow of sympathy and understanding. It is tender, loving care from a full heart which has itself been comforted. It is the people who have been in the dark valley, and who have experienced the gracious ministry of the Holy Comforter, who best know what to say and do, or what not to say or do, when ministering to another.

Love Is

Daily Bible Reading – 1 Corinthians 13:1 – 15:58

Chapter 13 is of course known as the great love chapter of the Bible. He deliberately uses the highest word for love in the Greek vocabulary and immediately takes it far beyond any definition of such love known to the Greeks, or anyone else. The word philea refers to tender affection. It refers to love that is reciprocal, to brotherly love. It is subject to abuse. It occurs about 415 times in the New Testament, and about half the time it is used negatively. It does not last under pressure. Imagine the shock sustained by a marriage, based on the kind of emotional attachment implied by the word philea, when the bridegroom takes off his wig before going to bed, revealing a bald head instead of the luxurious waves, or when the bride takes out her false teeth and appears with her hair all screwed up in rollers and her face an inch thick with complexion cream! The word philea is never used in any command to man to love God. The Lord Jesus knew that phileö love was not a sufficient basis for Peter's continuing loyalty (John 21:15-17).

Paul uses the word agape here. This is the great New Testament word for love. It has a meaning all its own. It is used of the love of the Father for the Son (John 17:26), of His love for the human race (3:16), and of His love for His own (14:21). This kind of love is perfectly enshrined in the Lord Jesus (2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 2:4). It does not arise from our feelings. It is commanded (John 13:34; 1 John 2:7-8). It does not always coincide with our natural inclinations, nor is it concerned only with those for whom we have some natural affinity It seeks the welfare of everyone (Rom. 15:2). It is Godlike and divine and is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer (Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9). The word occurs some 320 times in the New Testament. It is rarely used negatively. Since it is commanded it cannot be based on an emotion. On the contrary, it is based on the will. It is used as a command about nineteen times so, evidently, what is being called for is a decision. It is costly, as we learn from John 3:16. It demands the care and welfare of the loved one regardless of whether that welfare involves hurting or healing; agape love always involves helping. Most of us know little or nothing about it, although it is the very essence of the Christian life.

A Time to Remember

Daily Bible Reading – 1 Corinthians 10:1 – 12:31

1 Corinthians 11 contains the instructions for the observance of the Lord’s Supper. It is to be a time of “remembrance.” We are first of all instructed to remember His person. “This do,” He says, “in remembrance of me!” At the Lord's Table we should be occupied with “no man save Jesus only.” We should focus our thoughts, our hymns, our Scripture reading, our ministry on His Person, on who He is in all the fullness of His nature and His personality. We should think about Him as the eternal, uncreated, self-existing second Person of the Godhead, coequal, coexistent, coeternal with the Father, possessed of all the attributes and prerogatives of deity. We should remember how He stepped out of eternity into time, how He lived among us as a man among men, man as God intended man to be, man inhabited by God. We should trace His pathway here below, the life that He lived, the truth that He taught, the way that He was. A thousand texts, a hundred hymns will come to mind. His Person! The subject is inexhaustible.

At the Lord's Table, however, we come to remember something else - the Lord's passion: “For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death” (1 Cor. 11 :26a). The emblems in the Lord's Supper take us directly to Calvary. The feast was instituted on the eve of the Cross, with its dark shadow lying heavy on the Lord's heart. They speak of His body broken and of His blood poured out. They speak with eloquent voice of His passion. Therefore, at the Lord's Table we concentrate on the theme of the Lord's death. Again, our Scripture readings, our hymns, our ministry should focus on Calvary. Again, we have an abundant supply of Bible passages which take us to the cross. Old Testament typology, Old Testament prophecy, many psalms, the Gospel records, the Epistles, even the book of Revelation all take us to Calvary. Our hymnbook never tires of reminding us of the cross.

But there is something else. We come to remember the Lord's position: “You do show the Lord's death till he come” (11:26b). For the Lord is no longer on the cross, He is on the throne - and He is coming again! Our meditation at the Lord's Supper should include thoughts of His sure and certain return. He is now our Great High Priest, our Advocate with the Father, seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. There He sits, “henceforth expecting until all his enemies be made his footstool.” Throughout Scripture, when the Bible speaks of the sufferings of Christ, it speaks also of the glory to follow. He arose from the dead. He ascended on high. He transcends all time and space. He is coming for His church, and then with His church He is going to reign. These are fitting themes for the Lord's Supper. Once more our Bibles and our hymnbooks supply us with many variations on this glorious theme.

Run for the Prize

Daily Bible Reading – 1 Corinthians 7:1 – 9:27

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 Paul writes, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

Just outside the city of Corinth, on the Isthmian Plain, triennial Greek games were held. These games were famous. At the time of Paul's writing they even overshadowed the Olympian games. The Corinthians were proud of these games, the chief glory of their city. Paul draws on this important athletic event for an illustration as to how we should live in view of the judgment seat of Christ.

Paul pictures a race. The word he uses is stadion, denoting a stadium or a racetrack. The stadium with which the Corinthians were familiar measured about 600 feet (Greek) or about an eighth of a Roman mile. Traces of the great Corinthian stadium where the games were held are still discernible on the isthmus.

“Run!” says Paul. He urges the believer to get into the race, to try to win, to train to win. Christianity is not a spectator sport-or, if it is, we are not the spectators; other eyes than ours are watching (Heb. 12:1); we are the contestants. “Run!” he says. We are all in the race, like it or not. The great thing, once in, is to win. Not all will win the prize. “Try to win!” he says. We are to give it all we have. “Train to win!” he says. The phrase “strict training” is from a word that gives us our English word agonize. It also refers to the exercise of self-control and self-denial. When a person enters an athletic contest he goes at once into vigorous training. He has to get his body trim, his weight under control. He has to build up his muscles, his lungs, his reflexes, his endurance. He restricts his diet. He denies himself. He starts a program of strenuous physical exercise. Can we do any less? How can we hope to win if we do not put ourselves into a disciplined program of daily preparation for usefulness to the Lord?

Spiritual Babes

Daily Bible Reading – 1 Corinthians 3:1 – 6:20

In this third chapter Paul talks about the carnal man. The carnal man is a saved man, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who nevertheless tries to live the Christian life on the same principle that the unsaved man tries to merit eternal life. He tries to live the Christian life in the energy of the flesh – and fails.

Paul holds the Corinthian believers accountable for their carnality. He could not even speak to them on a high spiritual plane. He could only talk to them as babes. Babes are attractive enough so long as they grow up, but a babe who remains a babe for twenty years is a tragedy. Babes are self-centered. They are dependent on others for all their needs. They have short attention spans. They go for things that glitter, and they have no sense of values. They are illiterate and ignorant of much they need to know. Their own wants are predominant. They are ruled by their appetites and move fitfully from one thing to another. They are unable to feed themselves, or to protect themselves, or to defend themselves. They cannot see beyond their own little world. They enjoy being the center of attention and soon learn how to get their share of it. They have no thought for the needs and concerns of others. They are demanding. They get themselves in the most frightful messes and seem blissfully unaware of it. They demand a great deal of care. But, in time, they grow up. The trouble with the Corinthians was they did not grow up. Paul found them to be still babes. And sadly, that is the condition today, not just in Corinth, but in much of God’s church.