Focus: For My Sake (Pt.1)

Text: 2Cor.8:9

"For your sakes he became poor."

Jesus Christ became poor for my sake. What a love! What a sacrifice! What a grace! He didn't have to, but He did, for my sake. My eyes are tearing up for this great kindness. My heart melts and my whole being bows in worship of Him - my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Christ became what He was not, for my sake. He was rich but became poor for my sake.

He who was in the form of God took upon Himself the form of man. That's poverty. Christ left His level and came down to my level. The transcendent became the immanent, for my sake. He was God but allowed Himself to be born as a man. God became an infant. He subjected Himself to the biological process of becoming human. The unlimited God became limited for my sake. Everywhere God became limited in space and could not as a man be everywhere at a time. As a child He sucked His mother's breasts. He was born into a poor home. Joseph and Mary were poor, so poor that they could only bring the offering of the poor to the temple at the dedication of their child before the Lord. For being unable to offer a lamb as required by law, they settled for two pigeons, an offering regarded as the offering of the poor (Lev.12:1-8).

I once preached a message that I had titled, 'Jesus, the Borrower.' For Him to come into this world of ours, He borrowed the womb of a woman. For Him to preach to an audience, He borrowed Peter's boat. For His last supper, He borrowed a certain man's house for it. After His death, the grave of a rich man was borrowed to bury Him. He, at times, invited Himself to people's houses to eat and rest. He truly became poor for my sake. He suffered the pain of poverty for my sake.

The word used in the Greek for His poverty is 'ptōcheuō'. This word describes the lowest level of poverty. Another word for poverty in the Greek is 'penēs'. The root word is 'peno'; it describes a person who toils and toils to make ends meet. He toils to subsist. In the time of Christ, it was the word that describes the laboring man, the average person, or the middle-income earner. At least, this person worked for what he ate. It is from 'penēs' that our English word 'penury' was derived. It was a better word in Jesus' day than it is today. The first word 'ptōcheuō' fits so well in the category of our word penury. In Christ's time, it referred to a person who depended on charity to eat. He was more or less a beggar. He had in his body a certain form of disability. Some widows were so categorized. The point is that Jesus Christ belonged to the class of the very poor, and that was for my sake.

Christ became poor for my sake. He became human for my sake. He suffered hunger for my sake. At a certain time, He had nowhere to lay His head. 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" (Mt.8:20). 

He suffered humiliations, deprivations and the contradictions of men for my sake. He suffered shame and ignominy for my sake. He went all the way to Calvary for my sake. He bled and died for my sake.

His love for me is simply unfathomable and indescribable. It is no wonder that John wrote, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…" (1Jh.3:1). Christmas is about love so lofty and so deep, so huge and so heavy, so heavenly and so divine that God could and would become an infant - just for my sake! 

I want you to know that every time you and I love like this, that's Christmas, and with a love like this, Christmas will never cease. O, for my sake He came, and for my sake He became poor! What a Christmas! What a love! Love so visible and tangible - just for my sake!

Bishop Moses E. Peter