“ Just How Much Are You Worth?” (I Pt. 1:17-25) 4/6/08
There is a sign on Highway 76 that asks an important question. If it were not important you would not have heard this question before: “Just How Much are You Worth?” Of course the sign is in front of a financial planning store. I might be bold in saying, I do not think the real answer- the ultimate answer will be found inside that store. It might be found here today, however. You may not believe it, but you are more valuable to God than all the gold in the world.
In the end, it is your value to God that matters more than your value in the things or in the eyes of the world. I remember reading about the currency of a country whose inflation rate soared to over 100% in one year. Their currency of course was de-valued. But one thing that stabilized the value of their currency and inflation is when they tied their currency to the U.S. Dollar. At the time the dollar was more stable and trustworthy. So, we risk devaluing ourselves unless we tie our value to the value of what is eternally stable and trustworthy- and that is God Himself. We need to hear over and over how God values us and what makes us valuable to Him, and what decreases our value.
I.THE VALUE OF OUR WORTH IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD FADES-
Think about how the world values people. Some of the core values you hear in our society are based on youth and beauty. When we value athletics, we value youth and physical strength. I think it is okay to value youth, strength, intelligence and beauty as long as we recognize its limitations. I have some friends who played football on the high school and college level. They bear in their bodies the old injuries, the aches and pains from old surgeries and arthritis from playing the game they loved. I believe it was worth it for them. I enjoy football- probably more than most, yet football is not the most important thing. The value of athletics, and of course beauty fade over time. No matter how many steroids, vitamins, plastic surgeries, memory enhancers we use there will come a time when they stop.
I really am concerned with how we value people today. We are under tremendous pressure in our world to value people according to two things- money and their ability to produce money/good. I have seen this with some doctors who get tired of trying to care for the chronically ill older adult. They believe it is a waste of their time and resources to visit the same person over and over. Much of our medicare dollars I hear are spent on the chronically ill. Well it so happens that 80% of those over 65 have some kind of chronic illness- like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart conditions, cholesterol problems. The articles I read speak of the need to spread the money around to more people and care for the chronically needy less. In so doing, they are making a value judgment that the individual is not worth much- and the majority is worth more. That is the value of the communist Chinese that I heard when they killed/arrested the protestors in Tibet and when they killed the protestors in Tianamen square: a few must be sacrificed for the good of the whole. Girl babies in China were left to die on the mountaintops because society needed more boy babies. In the past, we have been driven by Christian values that tell us that every individual is someone God has made- and as such they are valuable in and of themselves. There is a tendency to value only those who can be productive in society. Euthanasia was unheard of 30 years ago and was seen as something horrific- science and utilitarian ethics gone hog-wild. What do we lose when we no longer think God values us as individuals- or when we think God’s value is unimportant or fictitious? Only the young, the beautiful, the intelligent, the strong are valued—others are de-valued. If I can brag a bit- I believe I have two beautiful daughters. But I remember once that my oldest daughter went on a church skiing trip and fell on some ice and broke her ocular bone around her eye. It made her whole cheek swell up even with her nose, and turned her whole side black and blue. It was a bit like that Batman character Twoface. She had a beautiful face on the right and a bruised, mangled, ugly face on the left. I was amazed at the difference in how she was treated after her accident. People who were supposedly her friends avoided her. Some, not knowing how to act, would purposefully walk away from her. What is important, is not beauty (that fades or can be taken away), or intelligence (that can be stripped), or strength (that can be robbed with an injury) but our souls. All people are worthy of our respect because God has made them. They are a soul that God has made, and for whom Christ died. Our souls- not our bodies last. The Word of God, not our human accomplishments endure forever.
Our passage puts it like this- all people are like grass and their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall- but the word of the Lord endures forever.
II. DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH- Peter was writing this book to foreigners- Christians who were living far away from home- probably scattered by the persecution of the Christians that began when they stoned Stephen and beheaded James. He said they were scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bythnia. These are states in the eastern part of what is now Turkey or Asia Minor on average about 500 miles from Jerusalem. They were far away from home- in exile because of their faith.
It would have been easy for them to think that they were castaways, the worst of the worst. But Peter was trying to turn the world’s value system on its head. The world was casting them away- exiling them- but in reality they were super-valuable. For years people cast away titanium as a waste product of mining (we didn’t even know what it was until 1795). But now it is seen as very valuable- and is used in artificial joints, submarines, and aerospace. Billions of gallons of natural gas for over 50 years were lost when people drilled for oil. Now we really wish we could get that gas back! Peter was saying that the world casts you away- but remember how valuable you are to God. Remember that the world did not value Christ- but killed him. But the ironic thing is that Jesus was the ransom given for them. They were redeemed from their captivity to sin by the precious blood of Christ.
There is an interesting phenomenon called “The Strockholm Syndrome.” It is named after a kidnapping in Stockholm Sweden in 1973. Six people were kidnapped, and they eventually started liking their captors- because they fed and cared for them in captivity. It got so bad that some of the six actually resisted being rescued. A similar famous “Stockholm Syndrome case” happened when Millionaire heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped and eventually even helped her captors rob banks. What does this have to do with the scriptures? The Bible says that Jesus came to ransom us- but some refuse the ransom! Some refuse to be rescued because they have become comfortable being held captive. It is a little bit like the prisoner who has been in prison for 40 years and did not want to be released because the prison was all he knew!!! We are valuable for Christ came to ransom us with his own life.
Now we are valuable. We were seen as monopoly money- as confederate dollars, but now we are truly valuable. We are made in God’s image. However we tarnish that image with sin, and become captive to this world. We devalue ourselves with our sin. This happens all the time. But Jesus came to redeem us back with his precious blood.
It is like we were injured and he came to heal us. It is like we were in prison and he came to open the door. It is like we were a diamond in the rough and he came to show that we were really a diamond. I got something via e-mail that goes along with this encouraging scripture for us.
If God had a refrigerator your picture would be on it.
If he had a wallet- or one of those digital picture frames- you’d be in it.
He sends you flowers each spring.
He sends you a sunrise every morning.
Face it—He’s crazy about you!
Just how much are you worth? You are worth everything in the world!