How Much Are You Worth?
Your worth is determined by your relationship with Christ and the degree to which you live for Him.
Major W. Ian Thomas emphasizes that redemption and sanctification cannot be achieved by human efforts but are gifts from God through faith in Christ. He highlights that everything needed for life and godliness is provided by God through Christ, who offers wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The sermon stresses the importance of reckoning oneself dead to the old self and alive in Christ to fully experience God's redemptive purpose, which determines one's true worth beyond worldly standards.
Text
You cannot accomplish your own redemption, and you cannot accomplish your own sanctification! It is "according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (11 Peter 1:3): faith takes what God gives, and God gives what man needs! All that he needs!
All that God gives, which is all that you need, He gives to you in Christ, "That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (I Corinthians 1:29 and 30).
The degree to which by a deliberate, voluntary attitude of faith you are reckoning yourself to be dead "with Christ" to all that you are "in Adam" and alive to God in all that you are "in Christ" is the degree to which the redemptive purpose of God has been wrought out in your life and this is the only valid estimate of your worth! Everything else is a dead loss! "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view in terms of natural standards of value" (11 Corinthians 5:16, Amplified New Testament).
Pointing to an affluent looking gentleman coming into the church, I might say to you (if I were mischievous enough), "How much is he worth?" and maybe you would reply, "If he's worth a dollar, he's worth a million!" and I would say to you, "I did not ask how much money he had in the bank! I simply asked you how much he was worth!"
A man could have all the money in all the banks in all the world, and be worth nothing so far as God is concerned, if he were still living "to and for himself"! The measure of a man's worth is the measure in which he no longer lives "to and for himself," but "to and for Jesus Christ." No more and no less!
How much are you worth?
Sermon Outline
- I. Your Worth in Christ
- A. God gives all that you need through Christ
- B. Faith takes what God gives
- C. God's gift is all that you need
- II. The Measure of a Man's Worth
- A. Not by natural standards of value
- B. Worth is measured by living for Christ
- C. No more and no less
- III. The Importance of Faith
- A. Faith reckons you dead to sin and alive to God
- B. Faith is the key to God's redemptive purpose
- C. Faith is the only valid estimate of your worth
Key Quotes
“Faith takes what God gives, and God gives what man needs!” — Major W. Ian Thomas
“The measure of a man's worth is the measure in which he no longer lives 'to and for himself,' but 'to and for Jesus Christ.' No more and no less!” — Major W. Ian Thomas
“Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view in terms of natural standards of value” — Major W. Ian Thomas
Application Points
- Your worth is not measured by your wealth or status, but by your relationship with Christ.
- Faith is the key to experiencing God's redemptive purpose in your life.
- Living for Christ is the only valid measure of a man's worth.