Your are Valuable1
You are Valuable
Hebrews 2:1-11 (NIV)
2 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him a littlea lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
This is a reference from Psalm 8:4-6.
Two often asked questions in one form or another are:
o “Why am I here?” “Do I matter?”
o These questions can be framed in a variety of ways.
“What is my purpose?” “Does anyone care?”
We are more than just material beings as science and psychology has proposed.
Carl Yung, the famous psychiatrist said, "I don’t know the meaning of life or the purpose of life, but it looks as if something were meant by it."
At least he was honest about it.
Sadly, there are many people who see no purpose at all in their lives.
And, without any purpose to your life, you have no direction. Having no direction to our lives renders us absolutely useless.
The discovery of our purpose helps us discover our value.
Our purpose is of divine origin.
God himself put you here.
God put you here for His purposes, not your purposes and for His pleasure, not your pleasure.
When you understand that, you will start to see your life from a different perspective.
This principle can be seen in Isaiah’s writings.
Isaiah 49:4 (NIV)
4 But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”
Isaiah 49:5 (KJV)
5 And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
We are not here to enjoy ourselves, but to enjoy the Lord.
We are not here to wander aimlessly through life, working for our own desires, but to serve the Lord and the desires He has for us.
We must know that we have a Master and that Master has a plan for us.
You are valuable because you are his chosen.
Ephesians 1:4 (KJV)
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Ephesians 1:4-5 (NIV)
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
You were put here because God created you. And God created you to worship and love Him;
If all you think about is the fact that you are unworthy or that you do not deserve God, it will lead you to feelings of self-condemnation and alienation from Christ.
These feelings are from the enemy, and they are all meant for one thing; to steal your joy and get you unfocused.
Let me give you some truth right now.
There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.
Romans 8:1 (KJV)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
It does not matter what you were before Christ.
The only thing that matters is the great value God places on you after you come to Christ.
Let’s quickly look at a couple of things that determine value.
MANUFACTURING COSTS
God knew how much it was going to cost Him, and He went ahead with the project anyway.
Why? Because in His eyes, we were worth it.
The cost of creating and redeeming you and me was outweighed by the value He placed on us.
Some people pay thousands of dollars for beanie babies or Barbie dolls.
I wouldn’t, because they aren’t worth anything to me.
My point is the more something means to you, the more you will be willing to pay for it.
God paid the greatest price ever paid for you.
1 Peter 1:18-19 (KJV)
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Another thing that determines how much we are worth is –
THE MAINTENANCE COST
If we want to purchase something, but we first find out that whatever it is will end up demanding most of our time or money, we probably would not buy it.
Even if you are a high-maintenance Christian who needs lots of special attention, God still thinks you are worth everything He did for you!
He sees your significance and He knows your value – even if you don’t.
In DEUTERONOMY 32:10, we hear how God talks about us.
“In a desert land, He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded Him and cared for Him; He guarded Him as the apple of His eye.”
Even though this verse applies to Israel in the Old Testament, it is just as applicable to the church in the New Testament, and to each one of us today.
You are valuable because you are made in the image of God.
You are valuable because of the price that was paid.
We need to realize this about ourselves and about others.
Any time we treat someone with prejudice, dislike or disrespect, we devalue that person in our eyes.
First, this is not pleasing to God.
Secondly, it opens the door the devaluation of our own life.
On September 11, 2001 over 4,000 people were killed.
But the truth is that many people don’t realize that on September 12, 2001 another 4000 people and again on September 13 and 14 and 15.
Every day over 4000 people are killed.
These are unborn babies- 4000 each day, 28,000 each week, 112,000 each month and 1,460,000 each year.
Human Life has little value in our society today.
A. The lack of value for life today is the result of godlessness.
1. For over a hundred years now our colleges and then our high schools have taught us that human beings are nothing more than highly organized, animated slime.
2. Our children are taught that they are cosmic accidents, nothing more than time + chance + matter.
3. Our society has rejected the belief that HUMANS HAVE inherent VALUE BECAUSE THEY ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.
a) Indeed, there is no Creator.
b) There is no moral lawgiver in the universe.
What’s more, we are even less special than some animals because there are so many of us we are not "endangered".
Today humans are targeted for destruction.
1. The Endangered Species Act protects 3 amphibians, 56 birds, 7 clams, 2 crustaceans, 29 fish, 8 mammals, 21 reptiles, 2 snails and 42 plants - and their unborn offspring. But not an unborn human baby.
2. Goodyear Tire spent $35,000 to surgically attach fins on a pregnant loggerhead sea turtle which had suffered a shark attack. A spokesman for the company commented, "We’re doing this for motherhood."
3. A Florida man was arrested for stealing turtle eggs from the beach.
a) He defended himself by saying that the eggs were not yet "life."
b) No good, he was convicted and fined.
c) To the law, a turtle egg is alive, but not an unborn baby!
4. And here are some of the outrageous fines recently levied by our courts:
a) $4,000 for killing cats.
b) $1,360 and 60 days in jail for torturing and killing rabbits.
c) $10,000 for killing a tree!
d) But no fines for killing a baby - even a partially born youngster.
Statistics show that only 4% of abortions are for the sake of the mother’s life.
a) 96% are for convenience of the mother.
b) In other words 96% of the 40,000,000 abortions are performed for birth control.
It appears so outlandish, so incredible and yet we live in a society that operates and thinks of life this way!
So, where do we find some sanity? Where can we learn the truth of what God says about life?
We are created uniquely in the image of God. (Ge. 1:24-27)
A. The creation narrative makes several distinctions very plain.
1. God is distinct from His creation.
a) Some mistakenly teach that God is in the flowers, the trees, the wind, or all nature.
b) New Age mysticism is really just a revival of old age paganism and pantheism.
Humanity is distinct from all other created life in that we are made in the image of God.
a) The Bible is clear that God first created the animal kingdom, and then he created man in His own image.
b) This does not mean that man was made in the physical image of God, for we know that the Bible teaches that God is spirit. (John 4:24)
c) This does mean that the immaterial part of man was created in God’s likeness.
d) This is the part of humanity that sets him apart from all other earthly creatures.
God knows each person intimately before conception. (Jer. 1:5)
Jeremiah 1:5 (KJV)
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
1. The Hebrew word here for our English word “formed” is yatsar (yaw-tsar).
a) It is a word that is used by potters when they mold and shape their clay into a particular shape.
b) Like when they pour it into a mold.
c) It means to squeeze into a predetermined shape.
2. God’s Word here in Jeremiah is telling us that before God formed us, shaped us, brought us into existence, he knew us.
a) God told the prophet He "knew" him long before he was conceived in his mothers womb.
b) The Hebrew verb used in this verse for "to know" it is yada, which conveys great meaning in the Old Testament.
c) It goes far deeper than mere intellectual knowledge and awareness.
d) Yada means personal commitment and intimate experience with the person known.
e) Yada is used for the sexual union between husband and wife.
This applies to each one of us.
a) This means that God knew each of us sitting here today intimately before we were even born.
b) He not only knew us then, but He valued us and loved us as part of his future creation!
But God not only knows us before we were conceived.
He also has a vested interest in our being put together.
Psalm 139:13-14 (KJV)
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
God knows us and cares about our life as we are formed in our mother’s womb.
1. God says that each human life is "knit" together.
a) The Hebrew word here sakak literally means to fence in, too weave.
b) God literally weaves us together in our mother’s womb.
2. And lest someone think that this is of little significance to an almighty, all powerful God, where He could just set the process in motion and then back away to let nature take its course, just look at verse 14.
a) We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
b) When it says here that we are fearfully made it means that we are made in an awesome way, a way too beautiful, too complex, too supernatural to be anything but awesome!
3. The Hebrew word for “wonderfully made” is palah;(paw-law) and it means to set apart, to marvel at, and make wonderfully.
God is responsible for that knitting together of human beings and that he knows us in the process.
So God knows us before we are conceived.
He’s also actively involved in our formation once we are conceived.
God knows us, Past, Present, and Future!
1. We must remember that God takes an intimate interest in us from before we were conceived!
a) God is not surprised by anything!
b) Including what our life will be like.
2. Every day of our life on this earth has already been recorded in God’s book of life.
a) We are not writing history -- God doesn’t watch us and write down what we have done or not done -- He has already written it before we were born.
b) God knew each of us before we ever breathed our first breath and knows all the millions of unborn children that are conceived every year today and those in the future who have not yet been conceived!
But it is quite clear that we live in a culture where we protect the whales, seals, and the rights of animals, but not be human life.
A culture that values the family pet more than the old, the terminally ill, the mentally and physically handicapped.
Some would even equate human life with other forms of life on earth.
One environmentalist said that he did not value the life of a human over the life of a snake.
Sadly, many do not understand the value of life nor the seriousness of death.
Satan now targets the thing that God loves the most – mankind.
This supernatural being now is our adversary.
1 Peter 5:8 (KJV)
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
It is his objective to destroy us. Jesus alludes to this in John 10.
John 10:10 (KJV)
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
You haven’t in the past, and you can’t in the future really experienced life until you you’re your life for Jesus.
Jesus comes to give life. Satan comes to destroy.
His plan is diabolical. He does not have the power to destroy man without the help of man.
The weapon of choice for the devil is sin.
The only way Satan can get to man is for man to voluntarily leave the protection of God’s fellowship.
So Satan enticed Adam and Eve into rebellion against God.
In shame they tried to hide their nakedness and they tried to hide from God.
The searching, convicting, loving voice of God called out to Adam.
Sin is nothing less than mankind repeating what Lucifer did in heaven.
Man chooses to rebel against God and exalt himself above God’s purpose for his life.
Yet, the greatest evidence of God’s love is his offering redemption to rebellious humanity.
Life is more than careers, houses, bank accounts.
It is more than a paycheck, holidays and vacations.
Yet, too many people spend their lives in pursuit of these things and are diverted from the pursuit of true life.
The story of the prosperous farmer shows the tragic fallacy in this approach.
Luke 12:19-21 (KJV)
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thya soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
The fatalistic philosophy of the world is, “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”
Just a casual observation reveals where this lifestyle leads.
Just read the entertainment headlines.
Divorce, drug overdose, drug rehabs, dysfunctional families, dysfunctional lives, immorality, embarrassment, humiliation, and emptiness.
Those that make it to the top in reality make it to the bottom.
You are valuable to God and even when we fall he offers his mercy and grace to help us.
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a thy...: Gr. do they require thy soul