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.
1. But none-the-less hell is real. It is a place of torment and pain away from God and anyone who refuses faith in Him is scheduled for the trip!
2. I think it is difficult for us to comprehend the extent of hell. I know that at times we have all felt like we have been there through a situation or experience in our life, but feeling like we have been there and really being there are not the same. You can get over a feeling.
3. Jesus knows what hell is like. He has knowledge of the place of hell that you and I cannot understand. That is why He repeatedly warns us against the dangers of going there.
4. His sacrificial death on the cross was the result of fully comprehending what it means for a person to perish. Life is precious to God, so precious that everybody, every humanbeing counts and God longs for the salvation of each one of us.
C. Yes, I believe in the place of hell, but the word perish in Scripture has a broader meaning too.
1. To perish for eternity is to go to hell, but to perish can mean more than hell. It is a state of hopelessness, the absence of purpose and meaning.
2. To perish is to never connect with what makes a person fulfilled. I know people who are perishing before my eyes and not one of them has died and gone to hell.
3. The crush and blows of life have robbed their soul and they perish in despair and hopelessness.
4. Among the billions of people on this planet, do you think you matter to God? Do you think anybody else does? Among the billions of broken hearts and crying eyes, I believe God hears everyone one of them and that He is at work on behalf of each one of them, because everybody counts.
5. If everybody counts to God, if everybody matters to God, then they should matter to us as well.
III. Yes, everybody does count because God doesn’t desire for anyone to perish, but everyone counts because even though God loves us the way we are; He refuses to leave us that way.
A. If you are going to grow in your walk, you must be willing to allow God to help you to change, to be more and more like Jesus.
Illustration: I want you to muster up all the imagination you have after a long winter and picture with me a beautiful, sunny summer day with temperatures in the 80’s. After church you’re at the park with your little child swinging on the swings and playing in the sand box. Suddenly you here the clanging of a bell! You look up, and lo and behold there is an old fashion ice cream truck selling ice cream cones, fudge and cream sickles. You look over at your little one and tell them you’ll be right back as you make your way over to the truck, while keeping that ever watchful eye on your child. You hand the man the money for the two treats and make your way back to the sandbox where your little one is happily playing.
But as you bend down to give the delicious treat to you child you see that their mouth is full of sand. Where you intended to put a delicacy, they have put sand.
The question however is, do you love your child with sand in their mouth? It’s a silly question, isn’t it? Of course you love them! Are they any less your child with sand in their mouth? Of course not! But your next step is an obvious one; there is no way you’re going to allow them to keep sand in their mouth. You love your child right with sand in their mouth, but you refuse to leave them that way. So you carry them over to the water fountain and wash out their mouth. Why? Because you love them!
1. God does the same for us. He holds us over the fountain and says, “Spit out the dirt, I’ve got something better for you” And so he cleanses us of the filth, the immorality, the dishonesty, the prejudice, the bitterness, and the greed. We don’t enjoy the cleansing; sometimes we even opt for the dirt over the ice cream, “I can eat dirt if I want to!”
2. Which is true, we can. But if we do, the loss is ours. God loves us just the way we are, but He refuses to leave us that way. God tells us that we count because He loves us the way we are but He refuses to leave us that way.
3. God has a better offer and if you are going to grow in your walk, you must be willing to allow God to help you to get the dirt out of your mouth so He can give you something so much better. Each one of us count, we are special to Him.
B. God’s special message to you at this hour is, “I love you.” For many who have been brought up in the church or religious families the response may be a big yawn and the phrase, “what else is new?” They may have heard over and over that God loves them but because they have not received this message in the depths of their soul, life has taken the form of one disaster after another. As a result passages like John 3:16 seem to apply to the rest of the world but not to us in the midst of our present problems.
1. It’s a fact, we truly count to God. He sent His Son into the world to die for our sins which have prevented us from accepting in the core of our being the reality of His love.
2. Everyday God does so many things for us and we don’t even recognize it as a manifestation of His love. Take for example the rising of the sun. If it didn’t rise after a few days all life as we know it would start to die on planet earth. God has the sunrise each day for you.
3. But even more important than that, He had His Son die on that cross for you in order that the full price of your sins might be paid for. As we accept the fact presented in Romans 5:8 that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,”
Conclusion:
You matter to God this morning. The people that are not here this morning matter to God!
Someone this morning has been trying to fight off spiritual discouragement. You have been wondering where God is in your life. I can assure you He is here. He is here in those whom you are sitting by. He is here in the Youth ministry. He is here in the Women’s Ministry group. God is here and you matter to Him.
Someone else feels like your world is falling in on you. Trust me; the creator of the universe can put your world back together again.
Do lost people matter to you? They matter to God, because there is not a sparrow that falls to the ground that HE is not aware of and not a hair on our head that He has not placed there.
