What Really Matters Series

What God Values

Matthew 23:23,25

Are you familiar with the term: Values Clarification?

It is a process in which individuals, groups and corporations engage, in order to discover what are the basic, fundamental, bedrock beliefs and values on which they are built.

It is a process that helps you to discover the basics in order that you can return to them and refocus your efforts and remake yourself.

That is what our church is doing. You have received a Core Values Audit. We NEED… desperately NEED you to return those audits TODAY… either in the offering plate or in the box in the foyer. Please don’t leave today without turning one in.

You may wonder why that audit, or core values are so important.

Let me use an example:

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You are familiar, I assume, with the rudder of a ship. I would venture a guess that the rudder is probably 1/50th the size of the boat and yet that little device can control the whole boat.

Values… core values… internalized values work the same way in our lives.

“Like the rudder of the boat, our values are often hidden from immediate view of others. But they do indeed steer our course.”

I heard someone say that the most important piece of safety equipment on a car is the nut who holds the steering wheel.”

They did not mean the nut that holds the steering wheel in place. They meant the driver… the NUT that holds the wheel.

Our values could either be likened to the nut that holds the wheel or the rudder… either way they determine the direction of the life.

When it comes to deciding the direction of your life… there are several things that come into play in deciding your direction.

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First there are values… the bedrock things you believe, and hold as important… core values.

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Next, are the Things you know you should do

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Then, there is pleasure… what the flesh would have you do.

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Then, Friends… they tempt and pull you this way or that.

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And never forget… there is SATAN.

But listen… knowledge, friends, the flesh and Satan… those things do not decide your actions… your direction.

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To use the boat analogy, they are more like

Wind and the waves

To be sure, they do have an affect.

Strong wind and waves will push a ship and try to determine the direction but they DO NOT DETERMINE the direction.

What does?

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That little piece under the water… the rudder.

Choosing poor friends or giving into the flesh will have great influence in the decisions you make, in the direction you go… BUT THEY DO NOT DETERMINE the direction.

What does? VALUES!!! Core values are the rudder that will determine direction.

So, you can see why values, the rudder, are so important to God. You are his ship. You direction matters.

What are the values that God wants to teach you?

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1. Substance, not image.

The camera commercial says, “Image is everything.”

Our culture agrees. Everyone wants to project the image of strength, power, control and confidence.

But image is smoke… not substance.

Fake… not real

Some people are all image, all pretend, all façade… with no real structure and depth.

God is the God of truth and He shines His light… The Spirit and the Word… into our life and cuts through the appearance, down to the reality.

The emphasis on substance over image winds throughout God’s Word.

The Pharisees were all image, just smoke and mirrors with no substance. Jesus had strong words for them.

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Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices- mint, dill and cumin, BUT you have neglected the more weighty/important matters of the law… justice, mercy and faithfulness.

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YOU should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former… You hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

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God said to His people through Isaiah, “These people come close to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, BUT THEIR HEARTS ARE FAR FROM ME.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS!!!!!

I want to say something very plain… three little words you can remember…

Slide 14 GOD HATES HYPOCRICY

Another value God wants to see in us is…

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2. FAITH; not security.

One of the greatest longings of the human heart is for SECURITY…

The feeling that we are in control, that we can face whatever comes because we have the resources, that we have the answers.

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When something comes along that causes us to see our vulnerability, that points out our weakness… we are undone.