Christ's Poverty, Our Wealth

2 Corinthians
Written By Steve Estes

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:9
December 24, 2023

2 Corinthians 8:9: 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.

Sermon Outline

1. Jesus Christ was rich

  • Rich in possessions

  • Rich in the ability to create yet more

  • Rich in honor

  • Rich in love

2. Jesus Christ became poor

  • Born into poverty

  • Lived as a human

  • Had no place to lay his head

  • Endured frustration and sorrow

3. The result of Christ’s poverty is our wealth in heaven

  • You’re rich in possessions

4. Applications

  • For non-Christians

  • For Christians

Steve Estes

Steve Estes has been senior pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for over thirty-five years. 

Steve’s books and other writings began with his longtime friendship with Joni Eareckson Tada. As teenagers, they grappled with why God allowed Joni’s paralysis in a swimming accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Steve left for college . . . they kept in touch . . . she liked the style of his letters. When her 1976 autobiography Joni spawned thousands of reader responses, she asked Steve to join her in crafting a follow-up. The result was A Step Further in 1978.

Later, Wycliffe Bible Translators commissioned Steve to write the biography of former college friend Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe linguist who was kidnapped and murdered by political terrorists in Colombia in 1981. Other books and articles followed, including When God Weeps (with Joni) and A Better December (a giveaway book for non-Christian friends at Christmas.)

Steve was educated at Westminster Theological Seminary, Columbia Bible College and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He has taught homiletics at Westminster and is a board member of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation.

But Steve would say his most significant life achievement was persuading college classmate Verna Stoltzfus to marry him in 1974.  They now have eight children and more grandchildren than can fit in a van.

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