What God Values Most
Scripture: Luke 12:6-7, Proverbs 27:21; Romans 8:2
In the twelfth chapter of the book of Luke, Jesus discussed with His disciples the depth of God’s knowledge of us and why we should not fear men or worry about the things of this life. This is what He said in verses six, seven and twenty-four: “(6) Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. (7) But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows….(24) Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?” (Luke 12:6-7, 24)
The title of my message this morning is “What God Values Most.” Webster’s dictionary defines the word value as, “the monetary worth of something; relative worth, utility or importance.” Please keep this definition in mind as I go through this message. God created everything that exists on the earth so we can assume that He values everything that He created. This morning I want you to know that what God values most out of everything that He has created is you and me. Jesus told His disciples that God knew to the exact number of hairs that were on their heads. Furthermore, because they were most valuable to Him, they did not need to worry about the things of this life. What Jesus told His disciples also applies to each and every one of us!
When you walk into a grocery store to purchase your groceries, every item in the store has a price tag on it which lets you know what it will cost you to purchase the item. Price is defined as the “the cost of something brought or sold; something sacrificed to get something else.” When you find the items you are searching for, if you accept the price the store is requesting for the item and deem that the price does not exceed the value to you, then you make the choice to give up (sacrifice) your money in order to obtain the items that you desire. While this is a normal day to day activity for all of us, I want to ask you a question: “Is the price of something the same as its value?” Just because something is a certain price, does that equate to its value? The owner of a product determines what they are willing to sell the product for based on what it cost them to obtain it or what it cost them to make it plus a percentage increase that provides them a profit. So the owner of the product establishes the price, but do they also establish the value?
Those of you with a business or economics background understand that the price of a good or service is somewhat fluid. The price can change because it is dependent on the interactions between supply and demand components of a market. Supply and demand represent the willingness of producers and consumers to engage in selling and buying. An exchange of a product takes place when buyers and sellers agree upon a price. As all of us witnessed during the pandemic, when supply is low and demand is high, prices goes up. This is often seen in the housing and car markets. Whenever there is a shortage of something people are willing to pay more to get what they want. Remember at the beginning of the pandemic there was a run on toilet tissue and the price increased? Likewise, the opposite is true. When demand is low and supply is high, prices tends to come down because there is a surplus and the owners need to move their product even if it means less profit for them.
Now here is the most important question this morning: “The value of a good or service – is it established by the seller or is it established by the buyer?” Some people would answer this by saying that the seller establishes the value because they control the pricing process. But in reality, it’s not the seller. New Light, it’s you, it’s me – the buyer. You confirm this fact in your lives each time you refuse to purchase something because, for you, it was too expensive. However, someone else may have been willing to pay the price that you refused to pay. When we look at the cost of something and determine that its value is worth what it would cost to obtain it, then we freely purchase the item. But, when we do not believe the value is worth the cost required to obtain it, we choose not to purchase the item. The person making the decision is the one who determines the item’s value. What might be valuable to one person will hold no value to someone else. So, it’s the buyer who determines the value.
Do you know that when we accepted Christ as our personal Savior we were purchased away from the one who owned us? First Corinthians 6:20 says, “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” The price was Christ’s own blood which He freely shed so that we could live. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, it opened up the world to sin. But what was even more devastating was that they sold each one of us into sin and we see this in Romans 7:14 when the Apostle Paul says “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Man was no longer able to enjoy the fellowship with God that he had experienced because he had sinned and broken it. Man, for all intents and purposes, was now owned by the one who deceived them. The price to free man from the grips of sin was Christ’s blood. Romans 8:2 say, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” God valued us to the extent that He chose to sacrifice His only Son to purchase us back to Him. Please let that sink in. The creator of all chose to give up His only Son to purchase back the lives of those who had rebelled against Him. Of all of His creation, He valued us the most. As I read at the beginning, nothing escapes God purview. From the birds that He feeds to the number of hairs on our heads, He knows and sees it all. And with all of what He sees, He places the most value on us. Now turn with me to Proverbs 27:21 as I want to show you something else about value.
I have told you that while the seller of an item establishes the price, it is the buyer who decides the value. Proverbs 27:21 says this, “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is valued by what others say of him.” Solomon said that just as a refining pot and furnace test the gold and silver (removes the impurities) praise from others accomplishes the same within man. When we receive praise from men it tests our character by the effects it has on us. In other words, our humility or self-exaltation will soon be discovered and our true worth will be known. Now you might be asking what does this have to do with God valuing us the most. Well let me tell you. Solomon said a man is valued by what others say about him. If that man is humbled by knowing how others value him, his value goes up “in their eyes.” If, however, that man begins to exalt himself under the praise of others then his value actually decreases in the eyes of those giving him praise. The man might think highly of himself and value himself a lot, but those around him will place lesser value upon him. Now the reason some people become conceited and self-exalting with the praise of men is because they begin to believe what is being said about them – they believe the praise is warranted! No one wants to be around someone who believes all of their praise to the point they become conceited, increasing their own importance.
While we have to balance the praise of men so as not to become conceited, there is an exception to this spiritually. You see, while it is important to remain humble when men praise us so we do not get too full of ourselves, we must believe what God says about us in order to act on it. Understand, I am not saying that we need to become boastful and self-exalting because God values us the most, but we need to understand that because God values us the most in all of His creations He has said certain things about us. Those things that God has said about us demonstrates our value to Him in that He has expressed openly what we mean to Him and how He sees us. Let me give you an example. When we interview for a job, our goal is to convince the hiring manager that we will bring value to their company. We must prove to them our worth if we are going to get the job. We do that through a review of our resume, explaining our experiences, and in how we conduct ourselves and answer questions during the interview. But even if we do well during the interview and are one of the finalists for the job, there is one additional “proof source” that is required from us that the interviewers request – our references. Our references are those who can speak to our work history and our job performance. In other words they speak to our value. When a hiring manager asks for references they are seeking external proof sources of what they seen on the resume and what they heard during the interview. It is the external references (proof source) that discuss the value we brought to our former/current positions that would most likely be transferable to the new company. We have the greatest external reference ever in the creator of the world. Our external reference is God and He has said some great things about our value to Him and to the world.
This is where I am going with this message. What God values the most is each of us. When He looks at us, He sees worth. When He looks at us, He sees His child. If a man is valued by what others say about him, how much so will this be true when we consider what God says about us? Here are some things God has recorded in His Word about us:
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12) He said we are His children! Regardless of the family you were born into, when you accept Christ, you are adopted into a new family and you have the opportunity to experience love and joy unlike anything you have felt before. You Father loves you!
He also said we are heirs. Romans 8:16-17 says, “(16) The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” We are heirs! We have a future when we leave this world and it is much better than anything we have experienced thus far on this side.
If you have experienced failures on this earth, be encouraged because God has declared that we are conquerors. As a matter of fact, He said, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37) We are more than conquerors! It does not matter what others say, God says you are more than a conqueror.
God’s word also speaks to our importance here on earth. Jesus said that we are the light of the world – meaning that we are a shining light in a dark work world. Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” (Second Corinthians 2:14) Many people do not see what this verse says, but Christians are the proof, the sweet aroma of the proof of Christ. God said that we are the evidence of Christ’s existence on earth. We show Him to the world in how we live and what we profess. Without Christians Christ would not be known to the world!
First John 5:4 says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” We have overcome the world through our faith! I do not care how many times you might have seen yourself as a failure, God said that you are an overcomer!
I have one more for you and I hope you capture what it is truly saying. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” New Light, a “work” is only as good as the one who creates it. Think about that! The God of all creation says that we, you and I, are His handiwork, His masterpiece! That is how our Father sees us!
Solomon said that a man is valued by what others say about him – how he responds to the praise of others. Well let’s play this out. How do you think God wants us to respond to what He says about us? I believe that God wants us to believe Him but not become conceited because He values us, but instead become more like His Son in how we respond to the world around us. There are many people who might not believe in you, but God does. If we were the last item in the grocery store that no one else felt was valuable enough to purchase, God would gladly choose to purchase us. He brought us when no one else saw any value in us. People might treat you like you have no value. What do they know? But now, after this message, you know that God values you more than all of His creation. He bypassed a lot of other things to purchase us! Do you believe it? There is a song title “Worth” by Anthony Brown that captures the essence of this message. Listen to a few of the words from that song: “You thought I was worth saving, so You came and changed my life. You thought I was worth keeping, so You cleaned me up inside. You thought I was to die for, so You sacrificed Your life, so I could be free, so I could be whole, so I can tell everyone I know…And I will praise You (forever), I'll worship You forever, I'll give You glory forever, because I am free, because I am whole, and I will tell everyone I know…” We are the most valued thing that God has on this earth. Do you believe it?
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(We are once again conducting live services on Sunday morning beginning at 9:15 a.m. We will continue to broadcast live on Facebook Live at 10:00 a.m.. Please tune in to "New Light Christian Fellowship Church" and like our page if you wish to watch our broadcast and be notified when we go live. If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. We also have Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. via Zoom that you are also welcome to attend – please email me for the link. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. If you would like to donate to our ministry you may do so through our website: newlightchristianfellowship.org by clicking on the PayPal or Cash App buttons. May God bless and keep you.)
