Finding Worth in Reality

Opening

In November of 2012 my world got rocked. Hostess filed for bankruptcy and closed. You know what that meant, no more Ding Dongs, Twinkies, Fruit Pies! Right after the news broke people began to scramble to buy Ding Dongs and Twinkies. They were being sold for hundreds of dollars. Crazy. It’s weird how we decide somethings worth. You decide worth don’t you, whether something is worth it or not.” (story of you, Larry, and pudgy) But the world decides your worth this way, what you do, what others say about you, and what you have.

Proposition: Everyone Can Find Worth! How?

Interrogative: Looking at God’s Reality in His Kingdom

Point 1 Reality: What Jesus did.

Luke 19:10 (NIV)

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Ephesians 2:13–17 (NIV)

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

We were separated from God because of our sin, and Jesus reconciled us. He thought enough of you to die on a cross to reunite with God.

Story of you not making the Junior High basketball team. I just knew that if I could make the team my problems of fitting in and being accepted too would be taken care of.

Point 2 Reality: What Jesus Says.

John 15:15 (NIV)

15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

John 1:12 (NIV)

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

1 John 3:1 (NIV)

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Story of my High School Counselor saying "I wasn't college material.”

Point 3 Reality: What Jesus Has.

John 12:44–46 (NIV)

44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

When Jesus speaks in this passage He is wrapping up His teachings. What is missed without some in depth studying is that Jesus is pressing the idea that He speaking for God. “This is God saying these things to you!”

John 10:10 (NIV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jesus is describing Himself as the good shepherd in this passage. He wants His flock to be healthy, not just existing. But alive!

John 6:47 (NIV)

47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.

Closing

Diamonds, they are just a rock until someone picks it up and puts on some one else’s finger, then it’s valuable, can you imagine if bacon had the same value? That Jareds commercial would change. "Look, he went to he went to Oscar Meyer." How the world judges you is always changing. To find worth is a moving target. That’s not the reality God has called you to live in. First it was American Idol, then Dancing with the Stars, then America’s Got Talent. Singing, Dancing, Juggling and whatever. Because you gave it to Him and you find your worth in what He did, What He says, and What He has for you.

Share the story from Jonathan Evans (Tony Evans son). Story of Jerry Brown’s Death December 8, 2012. December 9th the Dallas Cowboys had a game before the game they had 10 seconds of silence for Jerry Brown. Jonathan looked at one of the Cowboys and asked, “Is this what we are working for? Is this what we are worth, 10 seconds of silence.”