It is very easy to take things for granted.  The truth is, most people take many things for granted.  We often take our physical possessions for granted because we are so used to having them.  Things such as food, clothes, and shelter.  We must learn not to take even these things of temporal value for granted.

This week, however, we have mostly considered things of a spiritual nature that we tend to take for granted, which, by the way, is far worse than taking physical possession for granted.  We should thank God every day for all the spiritual blessings that we enjoy in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).  The greatest blessing of all is Jesus, our Lord.

While there are certainly many different things about Jesus that we should not take for granted, tonight I want us to focus on what Jesus gave up to be our Savior.

2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV)
⁹ 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.

Jesus, who was rich, became poor just for us.  How was Jesus rich?  Being rich is placed in contrast to being poor.  In Philippians 2, Paul explains what is meant by Jesus becoming poor.

Philippians 2:7–8 (ESV)
⁷ But emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus became poor by taking on human form, and not just any human form, but the form of a servant.  The opposite of that form was being in the form of God (Philippians 2:6).  Jesus emptied Himself of being rich by exchanging the glory of being in the form of God with the humility of being in the form of man.  He gave up His glorified body for a lowly body like ours.

Did Jesus in any way give up His deity?  No, of course not.  It is impossible for God to ever stop being God.  But He did give up His glory.  How do I know this?  It is that glory that Jesus yearned to get back when the time was drawing near for Him to return to the Father.

John 17:4–5 (ESV)
⁴ I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Aren’t you glad that Jesus was willing to give up that glory, being made poor so that we might be rich? Never take that act for granted.  Because of it, we enjoy two things.  First, we have sanctification.

Hebrews 10:10 (ESV)
¹⁰ And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Without Jesus becoming the Lamb of God and being willing to be the sacrifice we needed to be reconciled to Him, we could not be sanctified and saved.  But, without Jesus being willing to humble Himself and be made in the form of a servant, there would be no body for a sacrifice.

The second thing we have is the hope of glory.  Remember, Jesus became poor so that we might be rich.  In heaven, we will share in the glory of Christ.  Not in every way, of course, but we will have glorified bodies like His.  

Philippians 3:21 (ESV)
²¹ Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

In heaven, we will indeed be rich in glory (Romans 8:18), all because of what Jesus was willing to give up.  Let us never take this for granted.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.