WHAT AM I WORTH?
One of the first things that ought to be settled in our minds when we enter God's Kingdom is the problem of our worth --- our identity crisis should be over. Now we ought to know that we have found our place. We're delivered from the old trap of measuring our own value by,
- how much money we make,
- how good looking we are,
- how many degrees we hold.
We've come out of the rat race of this world into divine peace. Our normal state of mind about ourselves should be:
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 on 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...
Ephesians 1:3-9
And yet, for the vast majority of believers, the question of our own worth is still very much a problem. Where the mind ought to be at rest about who we are, and what our worth is, we experience all kinds of anxiety, confusion, even despair.
Down inside our hearts we don't seem to know where we fit or whether we have any value at all to God or man --- always afraid that somebody might find out how worthless we really are and throw us out of the King's Banquet Hall. How can this be?
If we have been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places...
If we have been chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world...
If we have been destined in love to be God's sons and daughters...
...how come we're walking around confused about our worth?
Because we're trying to find our worth in the wrong place. We may not be worried about how much money we make or how well educated we are, but here are three errors we often fall into:
1. The error of measuring my worth on the basis of how many lives I'm touching for God.
The idea that the more lives I'm touching for God the more value I have. So Charles Colson, Pat Boone, Ruth Carter Stapleton and Billy Graham are of much more value than you and I are because they touch more lives. So let's try to reach the Mayor or Sonny Elliott instead of some ordinary man or woman, because they'll touch more lives.
This is the very opposite of the way of God's Kingdom. In God's Kingdom the ninety-nine are left and the one lost sinner everyone forgot about is sought.
2. The error of measuring worth on the basis of how much I'm accomplishing for God.
Here again, if we have any integrity at all, as we look back over the section of the vineyard we've been working it can be pretty discouraging.
- Sister So-and-So has saved seventy-five souls ... what have I accomplished?
- Brother So-and-So started a mission.
- Brother So-and-So built a church ... and what have I accomplished?
Who sees what's really been accomplished but God?
- If our sense of our own worth comes from how much we've accomplished we're all in bad shape.
3. Then there is the error of measuring my worth on the basis of how spiritual I am ... and what grief this leads to.
Perhaps we can deceive ourselves for a while into thinking that because we're putting our time in at prayer, disciplining ourselves in various ways, coming up with a higher score than other believers, that we are spiritual. But eventually we have to face the truth that for all our prayers, our disciplines, our labors in the vineyard, we haven't even climbed the foothills of God's mountain of holiness.
- If we measure our worth on the basis of how spiritual we are we'll 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 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 touch, how much we're accomplishing, how spiritual we are, but in the call of God.
Our worth is found solely in the fact that God called us to be His --- 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.
I Peter 2:9
God's calling on my life makes my life absolutely priceless.
God's calling on my life makes my life divine, holy, eternal.
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
I Corinthians 1:9
"My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish..."
John 10:27-28
What we need to do if we want to know our own worth is get our eyes off ourselves ...
... how many lives we're touching,
... how much we're accomplishing,
... how spiritual we are,
and get them on the One who calls us and opens our ears to His call.
1. Our worth is found 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 ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance...
Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:7,10
...not in how popular we are on earth, but in heaven rejoicing over our repentance.
The Pharisee who prayed so beautifully and did such righteous things and lived such an impressive life couldn't budge the door of heaven even a crack. His soul was empty and his prayer was false.
But when the tax collector came to the Temple in answer to God's call to repent, and cried for mercy, heaven opened and he went down to his house in peace. His repentance was an absolute joy to the Father...
...The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart 0 God thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:17
2. Our worth is found in the call of God to receive mercy.
And he arose 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 to be called your son."
But the father said to his servants, "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to make merry. Luke 15:20-24
The prodigal son thought he had lost all his worth, but now the father showers him with mercy. And he finds his worth is not in himself but in the father's love.
What is Jesus asking you to do when He invites you to come to Him? He's asking you to come and receive mercy.
If any man thirst let him come to me and drink...
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any one eats of this bread he shall live forever...
He wants you to learn that your worth is not in yourself but in God's mercy - God's love. "Come and receive mercy!"
"Come and get washed in the blood!" "Come and be filled with the Spirit!"
The Kingdom of God is the only place you will ever find where you don't have to prove anything, or climb to the top over somebody else's head, or earn your status. You already count just as you are. All you have to do is come and receive mercy. Open your heart and let God flood your life with peace.
3. 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?" But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, 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." Matthew 9:10-13
What a beautiful thing,
- we don't need a diploma,
- we don't need to prove ourselves by making dramatic sacrifices and sleeping on nails.
All we have to do is go out to the tax collectors and sinners with the mercy of God ... move out among the lost and forgotten with the forbearance God has shown us.
"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs 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? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, 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..."
Isaiah 58:6-9
And while you're sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the homeless poor into your house, make sure you're not hiding yourself from your own flesh. Your wife is having a bad time ... stop hiding yourself from it, treat her with mercy too. Your husband, your mother, your sister, your brother,
— mercy!
When we live mercy our identity crisis is over.
4. Our worth is found in the call of God to carry a cross.
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
Matthew 16:24-25
Jesus' cross is the door through which the mercy of God flows into your life ... healing, salvation, the Holy Spirit ... all come through Jesus' cross.
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.
If you refuse to deny yourself and take up your cross there is no door through which God's life can flow out of you.
You may speak, preach, pray, run to the ends of the earth making proselytes, but it will not be the life of God.
What is our cross? The death of self, the giving up of all claims to have worth in the sight of men, the willingness to be worthless to the world so we can be of worth to God.
In fact, the deeper we follow Jesus on the road of the Kingdom, the more worthless we will become to the world, by its standards --- but not to God!
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.... Ephesians 1:3-5
Our worth is in God's call, which comes to us in Jesus Christ.
God's calling us,
to repent,
to receive mercy,
to show mercy,
to carry a cross.
When we do these things we will know we're worth something to God --- and that's all that matters.