It Was Worth It (Closed Doors)

Warren Buffet is the Ceo of Berkshire Hathaway and is the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a holding company that owns GEICO, Helzberg Diamonds, and other companies with national following and consumer base.

As of October 13th, 2020 his net worth is approximately $80.53 Billion.

To put that in perspective, you would have to light $1 Million on fire each day for 221 years to burn the equivalent of his net worth. Put another way...

A cube of $2,000,000 measures 12 inches Deep by 11 inches Wide by 12 inches Tall.

To achieve his net worth, you would need 40,265 stacks of $100 bills in that configuration which would amount to 40,265 feet Deep by 36,910 Wide by 40,265 feet Tall. This amounts to over 59 Trillion Cubic Feet.

The Greensboro Coliseum is 18 Million Cubic Feet. That means you could fill the Greensboro Coliseum to the rafters over 3 Million times with money equal to Warren Buffet’s net worth.

Warren Buffet is regarded by many as one of the foremost minds in the financial world right now and of the last several decades. He has served many President, Corporations, and Individuals as their chief consultant and investment guide for the last 30 years.

He made his fortune by investing in certain properties and monitoring those investments to best leverage the stock market and organizational growth for his own benefit.

With that said, this quote encapsulates a basic principle of business and is one that has obviously served him well over the years as he navigates price and value to yield the best result for himself and his businesses.

So many people confuse the terms price and value and as a result they make choices that lead to financial insecurity and lost resources.

Whenever you buy something, you are paying a price.

The price is determined by the seller who analyzes the product to determine its worth and establish a price.

The price will appear the same on paper to any number of customers

If you go to Dollar Tree and buy hand sanitizer, the price of each after tax will be $1.07 no matter which of you goes to buy it.

Now that $1.07 may take on different character depending on the circumstances of the person making the purchase.

I imagine for most of us in this room that $1.07 would be relative chump change and is a price that could be paid with minimal effort or issue.

But for someone, that $1.07 may represent a serious financial commitment and could be the difference between food and starvation.

Intelligent salesmen and business leaders have various ways to set a price. However, in each of them it is best to set the price within the range of what a customer is willing to pay to prevent losing or disenfranchising certain customers.

This is where value comes into play because value, unlike price, is both a matter of perspective and circumstance.

Value is about what you perceive you can get out of something.

I can explain the notion of value to you by using this example from my own life.

If me and my wife went to a seamstress and told them we want a custom and full-length white dress with lace, pearls, and beading they may quote me around $1,000.

Now let us go into that exact same shop and request a full length custom WEDDING dress with lace, pearls, and beading they would likely quote me around $3000.

For us, the value of the dress never changed because we always viewed it as a dress for our wedding. However, using the word wedding as a prefix for dress, transformed the perceived value in the eyes of the seamstress.

From her PERSPECTIVE the occassion changed the value.

and because our CIRCUMSTANCE we were willing to accept the change in price.

Value and Price are connected to each other as they often balance upon one another with one impacting the other to one degree or another.

This leads me to my text where we see the battle between Price and Value.

Read: Matthew 27:62-66

In the text we see that Jesus is dead and has been buried in a borrowed grave.

Now we now Christ has been sent as our kinsman redeemer as a sacrifice for us that we might be given entrance into heaven.

We see Christ at different stages and in different ways throughout the Word.

Christ appears as a CREATOR in Genesis when it is said, come let US make man in OUR image...

Christ appears as a SACRIFICE to Abraham when the angel of the Lord tells Abraham to stay his hand...

Christ again appears as a TEST to Jacob as wrestles in the night to fight his way to a blessing and new name...

Christ appears as a VOICE & FIRE to Moses as he calls upon him to free his people from oppression and slavery....

Christ appears as a MAN to Nebedchudnezzar when he stands with the three Hebrew Boys in the fiery furnace...

And yet, in each of these cases, Christ is marching through the volumes of the book, he is on the mission of dying for the sins of the world.

He is all of these things throughout the text but ultimately becomes a SAVIOR the tail end of which we see here in Matthew.

In Matthew 27, Christ has been killed and buried within the sepulchre when the Pharisees approached Pontius Pilate about Christ’s declaration of resurrection.

They wanted gaurds stationed at the doors of the sepulchre because they wanted to prevent any of Christ’s followers stealing his body.

This shows itself as final evidence of the unbelief of the Pharisees in Christ as their Kinsman Redeemer.

But, if I can use my imagination a bit… it also is the final hurdle of faith for the disciples.

Prior to his death, Christ made it clear what was to happen but he also made it clear that he would not stay dead.

In the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) it is written that he makes clear to the disciples he would be tried, killed, and would rise again.

This is a revelation that the disciples do not receive well because up until that point that had only seen and thought of him as the Messiah who would reign over a perfect Kingdom.

Christ was angry with them because in many ways their unbelief represented an impediment to his assignment… the Cross.

They had neglected and ignored that he also came to redeem man through his sacrifice.

But, in order to understand the true nature of their disbelief you have to bear witness to the things that had seen.

They had seen him visit the house of Jairus whose daughter had died of sickness. He went in to the room and prayed for her and she arose from her death as though she had been merely asleep.

They too saw him stop outside the gates of the city where he but laid his hand on the funeral pyre as it walked by and the young man was marched to his grave. But as he touched the pyre, the young man was brought back to the life and was restored at that very moment.

They saw as he went to resurrect Lazarus who had been dead for four days. He called for the stone to be moved and he stood at the mouth of the tomb and called forth Lazarus who came out of the grave with life and strength.

They bore witness to these miracles and surely had to be thinking in their minds, this same Jesus who has healed the lame, given sight to the blind, opened deaf ears, fed with no food...

He made koolaid with no sugar, cereal with no milk, cornbread with no meal, lemonade with no lemon....

This same Jesus who has done the impossible time after time is now telling me that he cannot save himself...

Christ was Angry but you have to understand… Jesus if you can do it for them SURELY you can do it for yourself.

Now, I want you to transport yourself, as best you can into the context of the Bible… Imagine yourself with me as we stand at the foot of the cross.

Christ has been crucified and we are upset and crying because no matter what we know, having to watch our leader, master, and servant all at the same time suffer as though he were a common theif...

As he hangs there dying he gives his last messages;

He intercedes on behalf of his oppressors and accusers.

He ministers to the thief on the cross.

He eventually commends his spirit and gives up the ghost.

Now at this point, the disciples are distraught and upset, but perhaps some faith kicks in...

Right as he dies, they have to be thinking he is not long dead… Perhaps he could be resurrected right here just as he did for Jairus’ daughter...

But eventually they pull him off the cross and as his body cools that possibility fades away.

Then they begin ministering to his body and preparing him for burial and maybe as they carry him away to be buried in Joseph’s sepulchre someone thinks in themselves maybe he could get up from here as we carry him much like that young man outside the city...

But they get him to the sepulchre and as they leave they think to themselves it is too late for that.

Then somebody remembers Lazarus and they think to themselve maybe he will just come out of the sepulchre much like Lazarus did and perhaps even get the idea to roll the stone out of the way to make way for the returning King.

But then they get word… that Pilate has stationed his men oustide the tomb to keep them out and you have to think that they would do whatever was necessary to keep him in.

It is in this moment that the people of God are pushed to the excesses of their faith.

Up until his death, Christ dying seemed impossible. And at each juncture from the cross to the grave they tried finding a way around what they deemed impossible.

And then it looked like the Son of Man, God himself, El Shaddai..

Adam’s Creator

Abraham’s Ram

Jacob’s Combatant

Moses’ Bush

The Hebrew Boys’ Partner

and Man’s Salvation

Was truly dead

This leads me to my question, you knew it was coming..

What do you do, when it looks like even GOD is out of options?

Conclusion

I recognize the faith that we all have in this room… But we have to be honest if we ever want to be truly free.

We all like to pretend like we are just dripping in faith and that we have never faltered in our belief but can anybody in here admit that you exhausted yourself trying everything you could to defy your circumstances.

And yet, for all your trying, you were never able to get beyond your situation. Then you turn it over to God who seems to be silent on the matter or worse… It looks like even God is out of options.

You saw him heal grandma of Cancer but now you know someone with HIV and you don’t know about him healing that so you count God out.

He saved your life in a car accident but someone pulls a gun on you and for minute you lose faith because you have no clue what is going on in this person’s head.

He gave you a job you werent qualified for but now that you have been laid off you doubt his ability to provide for you.

He brought you back from the dead when you suffered a heart attack or stroke but because COVID-19 is new you think that he can’t restore your breathing.

God brought black people through slavery, rape, lynchings, sharecropping, the Depression, Jim Crow, Segregation, the War on Drugs, Redlining, the Great Recession, and you gonna let a man with a bad haircut and a big mouth cause you to lose faith in God...

THE DEVIL IS A LIAR

It is at this point that we begin to see price and value...

See some of you are focused on the price of the thing...

You believe he can do some things but when the price gets too high you falter in your belief that he can do it.

Then some of you are focused on the value...

Its not that you doubt his ability to do it for you. But you do not see yourself as worthy of the feat because you value yourself to little.

And see both of these thoughts are works of the enemy because he would have you believe that God is not concerned with that which afflicts you.

But Hebrews 4:15 lets us know:

God cares for you. He values you so much that he has allowed himself to feel what you feel. He has been tempted as you have been tempted.

He values you so much that he stripped himself of his glory and dwelled among us just so he could die to redeem us.

Think about that. A timeless God, an All powerful God, an all knowing God… Who exists beyond time and space separated himself, stepped beyond the spirit realm, and put on mortal flesh just so he could understand what it means to be you.

He became man enough that he could bleed but was God enough that he had to give up his life because it could not be taken from him.

Furthermore, he would lead you to believe that God’s grace and mercy has limits.

But Lamentations 3:23 reminds us that:

JESUS PAID IT ALL

He did not half step and he did not miss a piece. He took it upon himself to handle the entire bill and did so without hesitation or pause.

He died for the sins of the entire world so that we ALL could have life and have it more abundantly.

Christ saw you as worth it and and he paid the ultimate price to redeem you.

Now this takes me to my last point as I draw to my close.

Now we know that Christ values our lives.

And we know that Christ paid the price for us.

And while these are worthy conclusions, if you stop here then you miss the true blessing in this text.

Christ paid it all, we know.

Christ loves and values us, we know.

We know that on the third day that Jesus got up and came out of the grave with all power in his hand.

When he came out of the grave, he left the door wide open and instead of being trapped in the grave, it is now a passage to get to the Father.

That in mind, it is his resurrection that is the basis of our faith, watch this

What I love about God is he died in public on the cross...

He stayed dead in the grave behind closed doors...

So many of us have had doors slammed in our face and we have found ourselves waiting on a blessing, a miracle, a new thing behind a closed door as we wonder when God is going to open the door.

And often we lose patience as we wait on God to open the door.

And sometimes we feel as though he will never open the door and in our discouragement we walk away.

What you do not realize is that the door represents something that would have killed you.

The door represents something that was going to take you out.

The door represents the last thing that you were ever going to do.

Thats the door that we would scream at the people in the movie, and tell me, “you betta not open that door.”

And many of you know the door I am talking about.

That closed door at your job.

That closed door in your home.

That closed door in your family.

That closed door at the car dealership.

That closed door at the bank.

That closed door at the school.

Its the door you resolved within yourself you would never enter because you are so scared of what lie beyond it.

And see, the Spirit is standing beside you right now comforting and consoling you because the door is closed… And you think that because its closed and the Spirit is standing with you that it will never happen

You think you will never drive that car

You think you will never own that home

You think you will never own that business

You think you will never get into that school

But I GOT GOOD NEWS....

Jesus is on the other side of that door… and he is engaging in warfare on your behalf to get that door open. And the very thing that you thought was never going to happen… he is fighting for it right now.

The Devil tried to stop it and he is fighting back

Your friends tried to stop it and he is fighting back

Your family tried to stop it and he is fighting back

Your husband tried to stop it and he is fighting back

Your Wife tried to stop it and he is fighting back

Your own kids counted it done and he is fighting back

You may have walked away from it but he is still fighting back

Death itself tried to stop it and he is fighting back

Why is he fighting back because its worth it. You have to thank God for a closed door because a closed door means that he is fighting for you and what I love about it. Is you do not have to go through another door because he will use the same door that tried to take your life to bless you.

The same door that tried to snuff you out will bless you.

The same door that tried to knock you down will bless you.

You OUGHTA THANK GOD for a CLOSED DOOR.

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