What Am I Worth 1978

One of the first things that should be settled in our minds when we come into the Kingdom of God is this problem of our own worth. Our identity crisis ought to be over. Now we ought to know that we have found our place, that we've been set free from this trap of judging our value on the basis of how much money we make or how good looking we are, or think we are, or how much education we have, or any other absurd standard that we may have used.

And now we ought to know that we've come out of the rat race into God's peace and the normal view that we have about who we are should be what we see in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 and following. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed upon us in the beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us for he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ. And yet, the truth is that the vast majority of followers of Jesus are still having problems in their hearts about their own worth. Where they should be settled in their minds as to who they are and what their value is to God there is confusion and anxiety and often despair.

Secretly in our hearts we're all the time wondering where we've been whether we have any value at all to God or man and worried about whether somebody might just come along and notice how worthless we are and throw us out of the banquet hall of the king. Now how can this be? If we have indeed been blessed in Christ with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places and if we've been chosen in him from before the foundation of the world and if we have been destined in love to be his sons and daughters how come we're still worried about who we are? Trouble about our own worth because we're trying to find our worth in the wrong place. Maybe we're no longer worried about our value in terms of how much money we're making and how many keys we hold but now as believers we are prone to fall into a number of errors for instance the error of finding my worth on the basis of how many lives I'm touching for the Lord.

The more lives I touch for the Lord the more value I have. So by the standard of Billy Graham Ruth Carter Stapleton by the way if you want to hear her you can hear her next Sunday it'll only cost you ten bucks down at Renaissance Center. Dave Wilkerson Charles Colson and we could go on and on that these people have more value to God because they touch many more lives than we do and by this same logic we should forget about trying to find the ordinary man or woman down on the street and start gunning for Coleman Young or Sonny Elliott because these people touch many more lives than we do and how the Christian whatever it is community or culture is rampant with that junk where the kingdom of God is based rather on a Lord who lets the 99 sit in the wilderness and goes after that one lost sheep that everybody else forgot about who goes after the lost sheep of the house of Israel Jesus never chased Nicodemus because he was well known influential in Jerusalem Nicodemus came chasing after Jesus while Jesus was busy chasing after the lost sheep of the house of Israel this logic let's go after the leaders let's go after the big shots the people who count as long as we evaluate our lives or anybody else's on the basis of how many lives we touch we're in trouble then there is the error of judging my value on the basis of how much I'm accomplishing for the Lord and if we have any integrity at all as we look back over the section of the vineyard of God that we've been working this can become really disappointing sister so-and-so saved 75 souls and brother so-and-so started a mission and brother so-and-so over here built a church what have I done? of course the only one who can see what is accomplished is God how do you know what you've done? the one place in all the world where you can come in and count on the basis of just being who you are is the kingdom but we'll talk about that later then there's the error of judging my worth on the basis of how spiritual I am and this really leads to problems now I may be able to deceive myself for a while but because I put in time at prayer and engage in certain disciplines and come up with a higher score than other believers when I look at them and compare them with myself though I'm spiritual I may get away with that for a while but if I have any honesty left in my heart as time goes on I will have to admit that in spite of the time I'm putting in in my prayers in my activities in the vineyard and the disciplines that I'm engaged in the truth of the matter is that I haven't even climbed out of the foothills of God's mountain of holiness and if we judge our lives their value on the basis of how spiritual we are we're going to be depressed for the rest of our lives Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him He destined us in love to be His sons and daughters through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will What does this mean? It means that our worth is found not in how many lives we're touching or how much we're accomplishing or how spiritual we are our worth is found in God's call on our lives and in nothing else but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation God's own people that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light our worth is not in ourselves but it is in God's call God's call on my life makes my life of infinite value God's call on my life makes my life divine holy supernatural eternal God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give to them eternal life and I'll never perish nobody will take them out of my hand so if we really want to know our value and who we are and how we fit we need to get our eyes off ourselves and put them on the one who is calling us and open our ears to His call our worth is found first of all in the call of God to repent just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents and so it's not how popular we are in the world or even in the Christian community among brothers and sisters but rather the joy that is being experienced in heaven over the fact that I am repenting not just that we repented when we came into the kingdom but every single day moment by moment hour by hour learning to live in repentance what joy this brings to God the Pharisee goes up to pray at the temple beautiful prayer he lives an exemplary life he does such righteous and wonderful things and yet he can't even get heaven's door open one little crack because his heart is empty and his prayer is a sham because this man is not answering God's call in his life to repent what does he have to repent for? he's a good man just like you and I so often secretly think of ourselves especially as we look at all these cruddy people around us the tax collector on the other hand goes up in answer to God's call on his life to repent cries out God be merciful to me a sinner heaven's door opens and this man goes down to his house in peace what joy this brings God what joy when our lives turn the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrived heart oh God thou wilt not despise our worth is found in the call of God to receive mercy and he rose and came to his father but while he was yet at a distance his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and the son said to him father I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy I'm not worth anything to be called your son but the father said to the servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found this man thought he was worth and it was truly in himself nothing see but as the father begins to lavish him with mercy and love he finds that his worth is not in himself but in the father's love for him and when Jesus says to us as he does all the time come come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden I'm going to give you rest if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink I am the living bread which came down from heaven anybody who eats this bread will live forever he's inviting us to come and find that our worth is not in ourselves but in the love which God lavishes upon us come and receive mercy receive salvation receive my spirit just come and receive this is the one place this kingdom of God where you don't have to prove something nor do you climb to the top by stepping on other people's heads nor do you have to somehow earn your status but you have value you count just the way you are all you have to do is come open your heart and let God even now fill it with his peace our worth is found in the call of God to show mercy and as he sat at table in the house behold many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples and when the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners who aren't worth anything and when he heard it he said those who are well have no need of a position but those who are sick go and learn what this means I desire mercy and not sacrifice for I came not to call the righteous but sinners what a beautiful thing you don't have to have a diploma and you don't have to prove yourself and your worth by doing some great sacrifice sleeping on nails or eating them or doing something like that all you have to do is go out the way you are to the poor the lame the haute and the blind and touch these people with the mercy of God all you have to do is move out among the lost chief of the house of Israel and manifest to them the same forbearance which God has shown to you show the mercy Isaiah 58 is not this the path that I choose to loose the bonds of wickedness to undo the thorns of the yoke to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh your own family then shall your light break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up speedily your righteousness shall go before you and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard then you shall call and the Lord will answer you shall cry and he will say here I am and while you are bringing the naked covering them with clothing and bringing the homeless poor into your house and sharing your bread with the hungry be very very very careful not to hide yourself from your own flesh your wife has a problem your husband has a problem a need don't hide yourself from it look at it listen to it your child your mother your father when we live mercy our identity crisis is over and finally our worth is found in the call of God to carry a cross be very very wary of any gospel that doesn't tell you about the cross you have to carry then Jesus told his disciples if any man would come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it now Jesus' cross on which he died is the door by which the mercy of God flows into your life salvation healing the gift of the Holy Spirit every good thing from God flows into our lives by Jesus' cross but your cross the cross you carry and the one on which you will one day die is the door through which the mercy of God flows out of your life to others and if you are unwilling to deny yourself take up your cross and follow Jesus daily then even though you may be one of the top dogs in your fellowship and pray like man and speak with great eloquence one of the master teachers of the city even though you run from from nation to nation all over the world making proselytes there will be no life from God flowing out from you none what is our cause? it's the death of self the willingness that we should get to the place where where we're giving up our claims to any worth in the eyes of men including brothers and sisters so that becoming worthless before men we gain worth before our God and we will find that the more deeply we penetrate God's kingdom as we walk behind our Lord on that road the more worthless we will become in the eyes of men but not in the eyes of God blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him he destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will our worth is found only in God's call on our lives which comes to us in Jesus he is calling us to repent us not just those sinners out there us he's calling us to receive mercy we're dead without him he's calling us to show mercy starting right where we are and he's calling us again today to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Jesus now if we do these four things we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we indeed have worth to God and that's all that matters that's all that matters let's pray Father we just ask that you would by the power of the Holy Spirit put your finger now on this this self-indulgence which we call our inferiority complex this insidious pride which we call our identity crisis and bring us today right now Lord to the foot of the cross and dump this junk out and learn again by your grace we want to learn again to repent and receive mercy help us Lord help us to be vessels of mercy wherever we are wherever we go and teach us in specific detail in each of our lives what it means where we are to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow you Lord Jesus breathe upon us now with the breath of your spirit move upon anybody among us who's in still standing outside the door of the kingdom and grant that the business that has to be transacted with heaven may be done before we leave this place we ask it in Jesus name Amen