Well, let us turn once again
to the portion we've been considering these past couple of weeks in
2 Corinthians chapter 6. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verses
9 and 10. As unknown and yet well known,
as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed,
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich,
as having nothing and yet possessing all things. These, what we might term spiritual
paradoxes. The fourth time then we have
come to consider these words I said it's really a description
of the life of faith, the paradox of the life of faith. And this morning I want to concentrate
on the end of the 10th verse. And these words yet, as poor
yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all
things. spiritual poverty and yet spiritual
riches. Strange is that life of the believer
who lives by the faith of the Son of God. The paradox, of course,
is in many ways a mystery. It's a seeming contradiction,
but is really a well founded statements of truth, and that
is the case with regards to these words of the Apostle. When we
think of the doctrines of the Gospel, are they not mysteries? Without controversy, Paul says,
great is the mystery of godliness, the mystery of real religion,
and he defines it by saying God was manifest in the flesh. What a mystery is that of the
person of the Lord Jesus. It is beyond our understanding
because He is both God and man, and yet He is one person. And there's no mingling of the
two natures, the divine nature and the Human nature are quite
distinct, one from the other, and yet in that one person, or
the mystery, we might say the paradox, of the person of the
Lord Jesus. And then also when we think of
the work of the Lord Jesus. Now we're told that God hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. He knew nothing
of sin. He was pure, holy, undefiled,
separate from sinners, the miracle of his birth, born of a virgin,
the mystery of the incarnation. That holy thing that shall be
born of thee, said the angel to Mary. That holy thing, that
human nature, derived from his mother, his body, his soul, that
holy thing shall be called the Son of God. or the mystery of the person,
the mystery of the work, because that holy thing was made sin.
How could that be? Well, all the sin of His people
was reckoned to His account. He has made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. The very doctrines of the gospel,
the person, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, full of mystery. You might say full of paradox.
And then also, and this is really what we've been considering these
last couple of weeks, the experiences of the gospel. If we know anything
of these truths in our soul's experience, we will find that
there is much that is perplexing to us. Strange, paradoxical. Last time, we were looking at
the first part of this 10th verse. Paul says, "...are sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing." We said, we often are grieved in self,
grieved in self because of our sin, because we feel what we
are, when there's that grace of God in the soul of the sinner.
He knows himself. He knows something of himself.
At times he might feel he scarce knows himself. And yet he feels
what he is before a God who is of eyes too pure to behold, iniquity,
a God who cannot look upon sin. He's grieved himself because
of his sin and yet he is rejoicing. But he's rejoicing in another,
he's rejoicing in that person and work of the Lord Jesus. A
sinner may repent and sing, rejoice and be ashamed, says Joseph Hart. How true it is. Well, let us
turn now to consider another paradox of the life of the God
that has poor yet making many rich, says Paul. as having nothing
and yet possessing all things. Oh, it's something more of the
paradox. Lord, what a riddle is my soul! My life's a maze
of seeming traps, a scene of mercies and mishaps. I'm in mine own and others' eyes,
a labyrinth of mysteries. Oh, the labyrinth of the mystery
then of the life of faith. Well, let us consider this morning
these two things, the believer's poverty and yet the believer's
riches. And we see it in both parts of
the statements that we have at the end of this 10th verse, poor
yet making many rich, having nothing and yet possessing all
things. First of all, to say something
with regards to the poverty. The poverty of the guardian.
Notice there is a repetition here. As poor, it says. Then in the next phrase, as having
nothing. As having nothing. And there
are three aspects, in a sense, to this poverty. First of all,
the believer may be poor in possessions poor in possessions now remember
that Paul is writing of himself as we've said many times he's
having to defend himself he's having to defend his ministry
as an apostle to the Corinthians he was the one under God who
first established the church there When he was at Corinth
God had assured him he had much people in that city. There was
a work to be accomplished, people to be saved, a church to be established. But then false apostles, false
teachers had crept in and the people there in the church were
being influenced by heretical teachings and his concerns for
them. But will they heed him? He has
to defend himself and so he speaks of himself and all that the ministry
was costing him and here in this chapter he writes at the beginning
we then as workers together with him working together with God
beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain
well he doesn't want his ministry there to be in vain that this
church is going to fall into grievous sin into heresy and
he continues verse 3 giving no offense in anything he says that
the ministry be not blind but in all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities
in distresses in stripes and so he goes on to speak in this
line and in all his ministry amongst them he was one who was
very much dependent a dependent, time and again, upon the support
of others. He speaks of how he would rob
other churches rather than be dependent upon anything that
the Corinthians might provide for him. He was poor, this man,
poor with regards to any worldly possessions. And so, he can say
in a very literal sense, as poor. as having nothing, living that
life of dependence. But that of course was very much
the life that the Lord Jesus himself had lived. And we have
those words at the beginning of Luke 8 concerning those women
that the Lord had ministered to and how they responded by
supporting him in a very real sense. There in Luke 8-2 we read
of certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna
the wife of Cusa, Herod Stuart, and Susanna, and many others,
which ministered unto him of their substance. Now these women
loved the Lord Jesus. They ministered unto him. of
their substance and how he willingly received the support of these
gracious women whose hearts he had worked in so mightily and
so effectively. They were his true disciples
and the Lord in many ways in his physical life was dependent
upon them and their kindnesses and as it was with the Lord Jesus,
so it was with the Apostle Paul. He must live that life of dependence.
Dependence upon others. Ultimately, of course, dependent
upon God, looking to God to supply his need as the Lord himself
would undertake to provide the needs of all his servants. He
must live that miracle of a life of dependence. I remember dear
Sidney Norton saying that on occasion, you know the minister
has to live the life of the miracle in every sense, just like the
children of Israel in the wilderness, how they lived, how they had
to look to God continually and when they come of course to the
very borders of the Promised Land after the 40 years of wilderness
wanderings. Doesn't Moses, as God's servant,
remind them of how the Lord had continually provided for them
throughout all those years, wandering, when they could not sow their
crops, reap their harvest, how were they to live? They had to
live a miracle. There in Deuteronomy 8, 2, they
shall remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these
forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove
thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest
keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with madder, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know. that he might make thee
know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy
raiment wax not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell these
forty years." And they were to consider this and to remember
this. Or they were poor dependence
upon the Lord God. This is what Paul was in the
course of his ministry. And it's a truth that really
applies to all the people of God. We have to live as those
who would look continually to the Lord, had not God chosen
the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom
that he has promised to them that love him. We see it so much
in the ministry of the apostles there at the beginning. They
had nothing. But what did they do? In the Acts they proclaimed
the Lord Jesus and all the riches of the gospel of the grace of
God. In Acts chapter 3 when Paul and John are entering the The
temple there at the gate called Beautiful, there's a man lying
on his feet, begging alms, and he accosts them. And remember
the response of the apostle. What does he say in Acts chapter
3 and verse 6? Then Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none. But such as I have, give I thee
in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength. And he, leaping up, stood and
walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and
leaping and praising God. Silver and gold have I not. All
these men, you see, they were poor men. They had nothing with
regards to the goods of this world. Ah, but such as they had. Oh, how liberally they proclaimed
that glorious message of the Gospel of the Grace of God. Poor
in possessions. Poor in possessions. Now, we
need to be careful and cautious here. We're not to imagine that
poverty is virtuous in and of itself. Not many rich men are saved.
It doesn't say not any rich men. There are those whom God favours
temporally. And we're not to think like the
Roman Catholic in their superstitions that if a person takes a vow
of poverty, that's virtuous. We don't look to any works of
self, anything that we have done, any self-denial in ourselves
we're nothing in ourselves we're to look for all our salvation
only in the Lord Jesus Christ but often times the Lord so deals
with his people that they are poor in this world but he compensates
that, nourishing grace, he favours them in their souls, so they
might suffer much in their bodies they may be poor in possessions
but then they certainly must be those who are poor in spirit
it's only a may be with regards to the poverty of possessions
it's a must be when it comes to being poor in spirit blessed
are the poor in spirit says the Lord Jesus blessed are the poor
in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Remember the Beatitudes
of the Lord Jesus. And what do we read here as poor,
yet making many rich as having nothing, and yet possessing all
things? They're not spiritually poor.
In no way are they spiritually poor. That's quite plain in what
he said in the Word of God here. They make many rich. And they
can do that because they're in possession of all things. They're rich. How are they rich?
They're rich in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him they have all
the fullness of the grace of God. As we sang just now in the
hymn, a fullness resides in Jesus our Head. And that's where they
obtain all their spiritual wealth. All the apostles were men who
were rich. They were rich toward God, though
they may have been those who were poor with regards to material
possession. But what of this poverty of spirit? Blessed are the poor in spirit.
One of the Puritans says, poverty of spirit is a kind of self-annihilation. To be poor in spirit If any man
will come after me, says the Lord Jesus, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. Or to be poor in spirit is
to have no confidence in ourselves. To be poor in spirit surely that's
to be despairing of ourselves. That's to be denying ourselves. What does Paul go on to say later
in this epistle, in chapter 12? He says there at the end of verse
11, though I be nothing. That's what he was really. So
far as self was concerned he was a nothing. A mere cipher. A zero. Nothing in self. All poverty in self. But that
is poverty of spirit. Oh, remember how he explains
something more of his desires when he writes there in the Epistle
to the Philippians. You're familiar with the language
of that third chapter. It's one of those portions where
Paul speaks of his experiences. He says, What things were gained
to me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless. And I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things. And count them but done, that
I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship
of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. Or we would suffer the loss of
all things, and count all those things as dunk, that he may win
Christ, to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's spiritual. poverty that's the denying of
self that's that man who is poor in spirit and he inherits the
kingdom of heaven but then I said in a sense there's three aspects
to this poverty that's being spoken of we might say that a
man In God's providence he's brought to that where he's poor
in possessions, he's so dependent upon God and God must provide
for him in his own way. He must be poor in spirit. But here
is one, you see, who is also poor by and through the exercise
of his ministry. He says he exercises his ministry. And we remember that the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself again says He came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. What a ministry is that, ministering
even to the giving of His own life, the sacrifice of Himself. That was the ministry of the
Lord Jesus. And here is one who is a follower
of Christ, an apostle of Christ. So what of Paul's own ministry?
Well, he says, as poor, yet making many rich. Well, he gave himself
to this work. He continues in verse 11, O ye
Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. You're not straightened in us,
but you're straightened in your own bowels. now for a recompense
in the same I speak as to my children be ye also enlarged
what is he saying in these words? he uses this word straightened
you are not straightened in arsis you are straightened in your
own bowels what does the word mean? well it means to be in
a narrow place to be in a tight place Now, that was not Paul. Paul is pouring out his heart,
really, to these people as he's pleading with them in this epistle. Here is a man who is large-hearted. As he gives himself for them,
our heart is enlarged, he says. And he wants them to learn this
selfsame lesson. He gave himself for them and
he wants them to respond, to give themselves really, to the
Lord, and to the great work of the Lord. This is the ministry that he's
exercising. He's a follower of the Lord Jesus. His ministry then is based on
that of Christ. Look at what he says previously
in chapter 5. Verse 13, Where do we be beside
ourselves? It is to God. Or where do we
be sober? It is for your cause. For the
love of Christ constraineth us, because with us judged that if
one died for all, then were all dead. All the time he is seeking
to reason with these people. He wants to deliver them from
the erratical words of those false teachers that had crept
into the church there in Corinth. Again, when we go back to the
opening chapter, he makes it plain that all his
ministry is for their comfort. He says at verse 4, who comfort
us, this is the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforteth
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And
where do we be afflicted? It is for your consolation and
salvation. which is effected in the enduring
of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or where do we
be comforted? It is for your consolation and
salvation." Everything, everything that this man is doing in the
course of his ministry is for their spiritual profit, for their
real good. Remember how In one of his letters
William Huntington speaks of how he had to impoverish his
own soul in ministering to the people. All that he took in and
fed on in his meditations in the Word of God and his study
of the Word of God, he had to give all that out. All that he
did. It's the same as we see here
with regards to the Apostle there. How does he impoverish himself?
He impoverishes his own soul, really, in the course of that
work that the Lord has called him to. He says to Timothy, I
endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. All that he does is for the sake
of the elect, for the people of God, giving himself. But all believers are called
in some measure to minister one to another. All are to minister
in that sense. Remember how John makes that
quite clear, where he writes there in that first general epistle, the 17th verse in chapter 3,
Whoso hath this world's goods, he says, and seeth his brother
hath need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him,
how dwelleth the love of God in him! My little children, let
us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed, and in
truth, in publishing ourselves that we might minister to others. And all of these men, all of
these apostles, writing in these epistles, they're all followers
of the Lord Jesus, so they all really speak the same language.
That's the wonder of it. Because we find the same in Peter
as we have in John or in Paul. There in 1 Peter 4 and verse
11 he says, If any man speak, let him speak as of the articles
of God. If any man minister, Let him
do it as of the ability that God giveth, that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen. All this ministry is to
the saints of God, but all ultimately to the glory of God, to the glory
of God in Christ. Or there is an impoverishing
then, in the course of ministering to others, having an interest
in their well-being. It was so with Christ he came
not to be ministered unto but to minister and give himself,
give himself a sacrifice. It was so in the apostles, it
is to be so in all those who would be followers of Christ
and his apostles. The poverty then, the poverty
of the life of faith as poor, as having nothing. And yet, there's
the other side of the paradox, and we see it quite clearly.
Poor, yet making many rich, having
nothing. and yet possessing all things. So let's turn in the second place
to say something with regards to the riches. The riches of
the godly. The psalmist says, Whom have
I in heaven but thee? There is none upon earth that
I desire beside thee. Well there's where the riches
of the godly are to be found. Not in this world but in heaven. to be found only in the Lord
God Himself. And so they live their lives
in the light of that. Oh, we have the words of the
wise man so many times there in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs
13 and verse 7 Solomon says, There is that maketh himself
rich yet hath nothing. There is that maketh himself
poor, and yet hath great riches." Again, it's a paradoxical language. The man is one that maketh himself
rich, and yet he's got nothing really. And on the other hand,
there's that man that maketh himself poor, and yet he's the
one who possesses great riches. Again, look at the language there
in Proverbs chapter 11 and verses 24 and 25. There is that scattereth, and
yet increaseth. There is that withholdeth more
than is meet, but he tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul
shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also
himself. Here is the secret, you see,
of the riches of the godly man. He gives himself. He gives himself
to God, he gives himself to the service of God, he gives himself
to the ministry of the people of God. That's what the wise
man is telling us. Here in chapters 8 and 9, and
we read these portions, didn't we, the first 12 verses of chapter
8 and the whole of the 9th chapter, and in these passages Paul is
really dealing with the whole matter of giving. Of giving of our material wealth,
as it were, to the service of the Lord. And what does what
does he say there in chapter 9 and verse 7 every man according
as he purposeth in his heart so let him give not grudgingly
or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver and God is able
to make all grace abound toward you that ye always having all
sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work and
then again verse 15 it is written he says
he that had gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered
little had no lack the Lord honors his people as they give themselves
so the Lord bestows upon them and the giving is not only material
giving, but surely it's also a spiritual giving. Making many
rich. Making many rich. And we're not
to think simply in terms of material wealth here, surely. Believers
make many rich because they would seek to testify of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They desire above all things
the honor, the glory of His name. They want to tell others of His
grace. He says there in verse 9 of chapter
8, Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He
was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through
His poverty might be made rich. That was the Lord enriched His
people. well he enriches them with his grace and we too bear
testimony to that grace of God that we see in the Lord Jesus
Christ he sought it not robbery to be equal with God but made
himself of no reputation took upon him the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of men being found in fashion
as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even
the death of the cross. Well, this is the one that we're
to testify of. We're to tell of the wonder of
the person of Christ and to bear testimony to that great work
that He came to accomplish, even the salvation of sinners. We're to tell. Come and hear,
all ye that fear God, says the psalmist, I will declare what
he hath done for my soul." The believer, you see, in that sense,
is to be a channel of blessing. Yes, there's the necessity, of
course, of ministering to material needs. A need to support the
work of God in the Church of Christ. But it's not just a matter
of material giving. It's giving of that grace that
the Lord in His goodness has bestowed upon us, the desire
that we might be ready to testify to every man that asks a reason
of the hope that is within us. All to give is so much part and
parcel of what it is then to be a Christian, to be a follower
of the Lord Jesus. We read there in Acts 20 the
words of the Apostle concerning Christ. Remember the words of
the Lord Jesus. How that He said, it is more
blessed to give than to receive. What is Christianity? It's a
giving religion. Because Christ gave Himself.
God has given Himself. He so loved the world, He gave. His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And it's interesting, isn't it,
those closing words of Chapter 9. We read the earlier part of
Chapter 8, as I said, and then we read in Chapter 9, and those
portions speak very much of the matter of giving, Now it was
necessary that support was given to needy brethren by that church
there in Corinth. But when he comes to the end
of that ninth chapter, what is the final statement that the
apostle makes? Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. That is the gift of the Lord
Jesus. and we thank God for that and
if we're truly thankful we will desire also to be those who will
give ourselves and give ourselves to Him and give ourselves to
His service Paul says for me to live is Christ and to die
is gain all the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for money. That's the Christian's calling. This is part and parcel then
of the whole paradox of this life of faith. As poor yet making many rich
as having nothing and yet possessing all things. And then again to
close on the words of Peter we will refer to what he says there
in his first epistle in chapter 4 at verse 10 and he continues
he continues in that verse as every man has received the gift
even so many to the same one to another as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God And then those words that we did
quote, verse 11. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
minister as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom he prays and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. be pleased to bless his
word to us. We're going to close our worship
this morning as we sing the hymn 918 to the tune Mannheim 679. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
who their native varnas see. They are all taught sins demerit,
gladly own salvation free, and from Sinai to the wounds of Jesus
flee. 918, June 679. While the poor in spirit quail
and ache in vile mercy, They are all told, sings the earth,
that we will be salvation free. to Zion, to the woes of Jesus'
sin. Strip the holy fountain-maiden-nest,
till the throat the bread I have, They are there to see your feet
there, Standing in the way. And adoring, and adoring, Sing
His glory, glory and name. Self-renouncing, grace-admiring,
way-doctors, salvation-worshippers, matchless love, their boons conspiring,
oh, how sweet their songs arise! But Jesus promised God the hope's
horizons. At His promise in confessing,
Now in shame they've held their faith. Shouting glory, shouting glory
to the Lord of Sovereign.