Everybody Counts

I think it is time that we settle this issue once and for all. I mean we have talked about it and visited this conversation many times before and it is time we clear the air and move on.

Everybody and I do mean everybody counts! Your neighbors may not know your name, and you may have been overlooked for that raise at work. Why even your family may not be giving you the attention you desire and need, but I am hear to tell you, you matter to God!

That is a difficult concept for us to swallow isn’t it? After all we classify a person’s worth based upon his or her wealth, fame or position in life? That is what makes a person count in our eyes. But thank God He does not see with our eyes!

In our text for this morning Jesus reminds us of a simple but profound truth. There is not a sparrow that falls to the ground that God is not aware of and not a hair on our head that He has not numbered and placed there for a purpose. For some of us the purpose appears to be vanishing with the hair, but none-the-less, the text is telling us that everybody and their dog does matter!

But why do they count, anyway? Have you ever asked yourself that question? I have. I have asked God at times, why do I matter to you? How do I count? I have definitely asked God that question as a person who has his critics. God do they really count? And the answer through the years has always been the same.

Everybody counts! Everybody!

I. I think that everybody counts because God made each one of us special!

A. In Psalms 139:13 and 14 we read, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

1. Do you know there is nobody else like you? You are one of a kind! Truly the mold was broken when God made you.

2. There is no other person who has been or who will ever be; that will have your same finger print, your identical genetic code, your exact looks or character.

3. Nobody can take your place! It is true that life will go on without you. Whether you or I are here or not, does not put life on hold, but the way in which God made you special and unique means that the world is going to miss out.

B. You are special because you are created in the image of God!

1. In Genesis 1:26 God says this about you, “Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness…” In the creation story, God commanded the creation to be in existence. He said Let there be light, and there was Light. He said, let there be dry ground, and there was dry ground, but in the creation of humankind, God did not command, He consulted. God moved from one who created by His authority, to one who was moved by His affection.

2. The comparison of a person’s worth is not that to another person, it is to the heart of the Creator! You matter to God, because what God creates matters.

3. Life may have dealt you some tough blows; you may have messed up royally as a parent, a spouse, and as a person. You could be the star of America’s Most wanted, but I can assure you, you still matter to God!

4. In Isaiah 45:9 we read, “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker… will the clay say to the potter, What are you doing?”

5. I know it is hard to believe! I still have difficulty comprehending the scope of it, but I know it is true. You and I are created in the image of God. In other words, we look alike, we act alike, we think alike. Now sin may be trying to separate us from God, but you still bear His mark on our soul.

II. But I think that everybody counts too because God does not desire for anyone to perish. Destruction was not in the original blue print, devotion was!

A. In II Peter 3:9 we read, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

1. The only reason Jesus has not returned to earth right now is because everybody counts and many would be left behind.

B. Yes God doesn’t desire for anyone to perish, because Hell is real! The reality of hell in our culture is not a hot topic of discussion these days.