Rich Toward God

“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 by His poverty might become rich” [2 Corinthians 8:9] 

Believe it or not everyone is rich, and they are busy laying down their treasure either in Heaven or on earth. Everyone is poor and they are either poor toward God or poor toward the world. Both statements are one and the same thing. In 2 Corinthians 8 we see the true apostle of Jesus Paul talking about the grace of God given among the Macedonian churches. They were evidently poor regarding provision and daily supply [2 Corinthians 8:2] and they were not just poor, but the Bible says they were in extreme poverty, yet they overflowed in a wealth of generosity. I have seen this in my own life where help has come from the least likely candidates who have blessed the work of the Lord abundantly and are bearing fruit through their giving.

Poverty is a lack of something, and it may be a lack of money or material things. My phone dictionary says it is “a deficiency of elements or resources that are needed or desired, or that constitute richness. Poverty of soil, poverty of the blood and poverty of spirit”. Key word, “Deficiency”. All these are saying poverty means a lack of something.

Before Paul said Christ became poor that we may become rich, he first wrote, “I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine” [2 Corinthians 8:8].  What this means is that he wanted to encourage the Corinthians who were in a better place to give out of compassion and sincerity like the Macedonians did. 

But today, some say Jesus became poor so that we can become wealthy, prosperous, and successful in the business world. Well, success is a broad word which means achievement or victory or accomplishment. Not every success or prosperity is a Christian achievement because a thief can be successful in his thieving and an unbelieving, but honest hard worker can also achieve his or her goals and enjoy the fruit of their labor. Proverbs 17:8 is not prescriptive of how to be prosperous but it is descriptive of the goings on when a bribe is given and taken, “A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers”. In the same chapter we see that a bribe given or received perverts the ways of justice [Proverbs 17:3] 

There is a thinking in our part of the world which says every believer is supposed to be highly successful and should therefore aim to be in the top echelons of business and society because that is where God’s blessings are. Well, I praise God for those believers who have been blessed with business acumen and skill, but I am afraid Jesus did not die so that all Christians can become businessmen and businesswomen. I think that is a very degrading thing to say about the work of Christ on the cross and on earth. Jesus did not come to make millionaires out of everyone who says they “accept” Jesus into their heart, and He certainly did not die to make you materially rich on this earth. Many sinners have way more money and wealth than most believers. Should we there say that they benefitting from the poverty of Jesus also? 

Now, Jesus is God and He owns everything. He created everything, was and will never be in need [Psalm 50:12]. All the silver and gold, and the cattle on a thousand hills belong to Him [Haggai 2:8, Psalm 50:10]. All the angels and galaxies belong to Him and every little thing which exists belongs to Him [Deuteronomy 19:14, Psalm 89:11 et, al]. He was and is rich and while He was on earth, He multiplied bread and fish to feed thousands of people and He made a fish His own Reserve Bank [Matthew 17:27]. He had all provision for housing and supply. We see Him telling Peter an experienced fisherman who had tiled all night fishing to no avail to “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch” [Luke 5:4]. They had a huge haul of fish as they never had before, so much that even their boats began to sink. But the Lord’s aim was not to make fish businessmen out of the disciples, but fishers of men [Mark 4:19]. What this shows is that Jesus can provide for you wherever you go on his mission and all you need is to be faithful to His call. 

This shows that His poverty was not financial or material but “…though He was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” [Philippians 2:6-8]. He did all this because He wanted to do a great exchange at the cross. It is at the cross that He became most poor, most destitute of God and cried out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” [Matthew 27:46]. Though He was one hundred percent God, He partook of the same nature as ours [John 1:14, Romans 8:3, Hebrews 2:14-17] and He was also one hundred percent human. That which the first man Adam failed to do, Jesus the second man did in His humanity. The second man is the man who overcame sin. His poverty was poverty for God or poverty of God which is why He cried out to God when He hung on the tree.

In His poverty He “… offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence [Hebrews 5:7]. He had never felt or had God so distant from Him when He hung on that cursed tree. Unlike the first man Adam who sinned at a tree [Genesis 3:6], hid himself and looked for a fig tree leaf solution to cover himself [Genesis 3:7], the second man Jesus [1 Corinthians 15:47] cried out in need and poverty of God. Though He showed His deity [Mark 4:35-41] to the disciples during His earthly ministry, Jesus never used His divine power to overcome sin or the evil one [Matthew 26:53] but became like us, he shared in flesh and blood and “He himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, [Hebrews 2:14]. Christ truly became poor in spirit [Matthew 5:3, Luke 6:20]. The poverty of Jesus was not the poverty of material things. It was poverty of and poverty for God and all He is.

When the Lord hung on the cursed tree, He experienced the loss of fellowship with the Father just like Adam did but He called to God where Adam hid himself away from Him. The reason He asked the Lord to remove the cup He was about to drink [Mark 14:36] was not because He was afraid of the physical pain but for lack of a better word, He could not fathom the separation He would have from the Father. 

It is at the cross that all our debt was paid. It is at the cross that the great exchange which comes as a gift to us took place. He took our place and we took His. He became poor and we, who had poverty of God became rich toward Him by Christ’s righteousness. “Him who knew no sin He [God] made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” [2 Corinthians 5:21, ASV]. Sin is a lack of righteousness, a lack of obedience to God, a lack of holiness, a lack of genuine love for Him. That was the hardest part for Jesus, but He went all the way to make us rich toward God through that great exchange. The just was made unjust and the unjust were justified [Romans 4:5].

Those are the riches we did not have and now, “… all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. [1 Corinthians 3:21-23].

Of the rich man who was not rich toward God but took comfort in his earthly treasures the Lord said, “‘… Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” [Luke 12:21]

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” [Isaiah 53:4-6]

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About The Author:

Pastor Sam Machacka is co-founder of Brink Ministries Southern Africa. A wonderful colleague and good friend. Equipping Pastors and Church leaders in Southern Africa. He grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe with his beautiful wife Mildred and they are blessed with three lovely children namely Samantha, Munashe and Joshua but they are now serving as missionaries in Malawi since August 2018

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