How To Measure What You're Worth (Part 3) Series

How To Measure What You’re Worth

(Part 3, The Call)

Text: Ephesians 4:1-16

Have you ever been told what you were worth? Maybe you have been told what you were not worth. Probably came in the phrase something like, “You ain’t worth a dime!” or “You ain’t worth nothin’!” Do these sound familiar? Some of the others I have heard are a little peculiar. My favorites are the “hill of beans”, “diddley”, and “squat”. Can you tell me the last time you saw a hill of beans? What exactly does a hill of beans cost? I don’t even know what “diddley” is and “squat”…I don’t even care to find out. We are worth some crazy things to different people.

I used to play baseball a lot when I was younger. I used to play for the Expos in the Babe Ruth league as a pitcher. I had a lot of fun playing baseball, I was good at it, and my teammates looked up to me as a leader on the team.

My coach, Coach Williams, was a really, uh…interesting guy. He was our second baseman’s dad and he was something else. He had a prosthetic leg that was constantly getting nervous twitches and making him jump up and start to shake. A constant focus of imitation for certain 12 – 15 year old boys. Anyway, he used to chew tobacco, cuss like a sailor, and pray the Lord’s Prayer before every game. I was a riot to be on my team as a kid. (GET BASEBALL CAP AND GLOVE ON)

One particular game, we were warming up before the game started, y’know, taking some grounders and shaggin’ flies, turnin’ two and comin’ home. The catcher put the throw down to second and we wrapped it up as the other team took the field. We did not look our best that night, by the way. Coach Williams told us all to get behind the dugout. He came around the corner and was silent for a long time. We all knew it was coming. He looked at all of us one by one, making us acknowledge each mistake we had made on the field in our heads.

Then he asked us, “Do you know what you guys looked like out there?”

Then he proceeded to do the one thing that sticks in my mind the most about all those years playing baseball. He took his wad of tobacco out of the cheek of his mouth, dripping with saliva and looking like a regurgitated hair ball, held it between his forefinger and thumb and threw it to the ground with a sickening “thwack”.

“That’s what you looked like out there”, he shouted!

“You guys ain’t worth spit!”

He grabbed his leg and started to shake it, because stress gave him excessive nervous twitches and we about split our sides trying to hold in the laughter. We may not have been worth spit, but Coach Williams was always worth a laugh.

So the question is, “How do you measure what you’re worth?” Paul gives us a brief look at some of the things we can use to measure our lives in light of God’s Word.

You can measure your worth…

1. By showing attributes of your CALLING.

To live a life worthy of our calling means that we are not living in a way that is disappointing God.

Let’s look at each of those attributes individually.

Humility – Is it any wonder that God, through Paul, decided to put this attribute first? What would be the significance of that for us? Humility is probably the hardest thing to accomplish in today’s culture. Everywhere you go there is something else being marketed that you need to have to make your life better than Joe Public. It will make everyone jealous of you if you have it. Nobody else will ever look down on you if you can run right now to the store and pick this up. Hurry, supplies are limited! If you order now, they’ll send you an additional one for the low, low, price of $199.99, no…$99.99, no… but just $19.99! There is a definite shortage of humility in the world today. God asks us to profess our calling by showing the fruits of the life lived by one who is called by the Most High. If you are a Christian, then exhibit A should be humility. If not, do not pass go, don’t collect your $200.00, and face the issue with your Caller, Jesus Christ. Humility is a key ingredient in how we can measure our worth.

Gentleness – At this year’s convention, I was able to sit in on Mr. Glenn Bourne’s class on this very chapter. He made a statement about gentleness that I will never forget. It goes, Gentleness is Power under control. Christ on the cross is the ultimate example of gentleness. Being taunted with ridicule and laughed at for his humility, He was dared to come down off the cross and prove His worth to those few by saving himself. In his humility and through his gentleness, Christ portrayed the most of his Power by His willingness to stay on that cross for you and I. Gentleness is Power under control.