This is the fifth and last message in our series on Building Community. In a society that is becoming increasingly fragmented, in which people seem more and more separated from one another, the church can be a refuge. More than a building, more than a Sunday morning meeting, more than an organization. A community. A place where people come together. A place where people care about, and take care of, one another. A place where every person matters. A place where, if you don’t show up, somebody notices.
At WestShore Community Church, that’s what we are; that’s what we aspire to be. A community. And we don’t just hope to be that, we take practical steps to make it a reality [Examples: nametags, greeting time, open mike time, small group ministry, service projects]. Why? Because it says something important about who God is and who we are. We believe there’s a problem with this world, and the problem is called “sin”. People who go their own way, with no interest in God. People who do things that are contrary to God’s design; hurting others, hurting themselves. People who do not worship or obey God, even though He created them, even though He created all of us and everything around us. That’s sin. And sin separates. It separates us from God, and it separates us from one another.
But those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior have their sins forgiven. They receive power over sin, power to live according to God’s design. And so, instead of being alienated from God, they are brought into fellowship with Him through Jesus Christ. Their shared relationship with Jesus Christ brings them into relationship with one another. And so our community as a church demonstrates that what we claim to believe is true. That where sin has broken relationships, Christ restores them. Where sin has pulled people apart, Christ brings them together. That’s what the church is, or should be. A living portrait of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s why community is so important.
This morning, we look at one last component of community, “Valuing One Another.” The main idea that I’m going to present is that as we gain a right understanding of how much worth and value each person has, as we come to see each other the way God sees us, then we will gain an appreciation for one another. We will be thankful for one another. We will view one another as precious gifts from God to us. And that will strengthen love and build community.
1. We have value because of what God has given for us
As an illustration, in April of 1996 an auction of Kennedy memorabilia was held. Dubbed the “ultimate garage sale” in the press, it grossed $34.5 million. JFK’s rocking chair sold for $442,500. Fake pearl necklace sold for $211,500. A set of golf clubs (just the woods): $772,500. Thirteen pairs of salt and pepper shakers sold for $11,500.
If the value of something is what someone is willing to pay for it, then we are of great value, because Christ gave His own life for us.
“Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” – Acts 20:28
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.” – Galatians 1:3-4
“I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
Sometimes the value of something is determined by the appraisal of an expert. Recently, I was watching the Antique Road Show, and saw an Alaskan whale hunting cap appraised at $50,000. Who is more of an expert than God? Yet he considered us to be worth the cost of His own Son. He exchanged His Son’s life for ours.
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” – Romans 8:32
If one of your children were kidnapped, what would you pay to get them back? (I know, there are some days you would pay to have someone take them off your hands, but I’m talking about most days). You would sell your house and car, cash in your life insurance, empty the 401K, borrow money from friends and relatives – in short, you would give everything you own for your son or daughter. And yet God gave that which was most precious to Him, his own Son, for us. What does that say about your value and worth? What does that say about the value and worth of your husband or wife? What does that say about the value and worth of the person sitting next to you, or in front of you? It says that you, and I, and every person who trusts in Christ, are worth more to God than we can possibly imagine.
You may not feel particularly valuable. You may feel about as valuable than an old beat up set of golf clubs or a used string of fake pearls. In the auction catalog, your estimated value would be “ten dollars.” Or even, “Worthless.” But when the auction begins, God says, “That’s one of my priceless children. I’ll bid anything, even the life of my Son.”
And what applies to you applies to every other follower of Jesus Christ. We see an old beat-up Christian with a lot of wear and tear. God sees an immortal soul that was worth the price of His own Son’s life. Even the Christian we don’t particularly get along with, the one who gets on our nerves just being in the same room, the one that we consider to be a backwards, uncouth, slow-witted, annoying, loudmouth nincompoop – that person God paid for with the blood of His own Son. That person is of immense value to God. And if we value them any less, if we value ourselves any less, we are saying that God made a mistake. He paid too much. He bid too high. But God doesn’t make mistakes. His judgement is true, and his valuations are correct.
2. We have value because of how God has called gifted us
Another way of assessing value is to look at ability and performance. The more important the work, and the more scarce the ability required to do that work, the higher the value. For example, we value cardiac surgeons very highly. They make a lot of money, because their work is important, and not very many people are qualified to cut open a person’s chest and repair their heart. If you need heart surgery, you’re going to pay top dollar to get somebody who knows what he’s doing. You don’t want a podiatrist who’s moonlighting on weekends doing coronary bypass surgery to make some extra money, you want the head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. Of course, it’s not a perfect system. Our society doesn’t always compensate people according to their true value – for instance, Cleveland Indians pitchers get millions of dollars a year . . .
If we base our value on the importance of the work we do, then every Christian has great value. Why? Because God has entrusted to us the most important work in the universe. He has commissioned every one of us as His representatives, to tell the world the good news about Jesus Christ. To make known the gospel that brings eternal life and forgiveness of sins to anyone who believes. Can anything be more important than that? Yet God has entrusted this task to us. Not to kings or presidents; not just to the educated or the wealthy; not just to the attractive or the highly capable; but to every one of us. Not to angels, but to human beings.
Not only that, He has entrusted to us the responsibility of strengthening and building His body, the church, and He has given every one of us gifts of ministry for that purpose.
“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. . . . Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. . . . The body is not made up of one part but of many. . . . If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. . . . The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” – 1 Corinthians 12:7, 14-21
“From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” – Ephesians 4:16
What can we learn from these verses? First, note that every single believer is gifted. It’s not just the people with speaking parts. It’s not just the people on stage. It’s not just the paid staff. It’s not just those whom we would regard as highly capable. It’s everyone.
In the “body of Christ,” I’m a mouth. At least this morning. We’ve got some other mouths (the worship team). . Some of you helped set up this morning, so you’re hands. Some of you are listening, so you’re ears. Some are thinking, you’re brains Some of you aren’t listening or thinking, you’re just sitting – I won’t say what part of the body that makes you. The point is not to try and figure out which gifts are more important, but to realize that every believer has a gift and every believer’s gift is important. Every person has some special ability, given to them by God for the purpose of serving others and building up the church. Every person’s gift is necessary to the growth and health of the church. If you’re a follower of Christ, and you’re not involved somehow in ministering to others, you are squandering your gift and cheating the church out of a blessing.
But my main point is this: we need each other. Every one of us needs everyone else. No one is expendable. No one is unnecessary. In order for the body to function effectively, every organ, every muscle, every bone, every brain cell, every ligament, must be active and involved. Every one of us needs every one of us. Every one of us is important. Every one of us has something of value to offer. We need the “Gary bone” and the “Scott bone”. Every person has a contribution to make, every person is necessary, every person has value.
3. We have value because God will glorify us
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. . . . There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. . . . It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit.” – C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”
What C.S. Lewis is saying is that the normal, ordinary Christian next to you, this unimpressive collection of bones and hair and blood, will someday be transformed by God into an entirely different kind of creature. A creature so glorious and magnificent that, if you saw them now as they will someday be, you would be tempted to worship.
Our bodies will be glorified –
“So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. . . . For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” – 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 53
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” – Philippians 3:20-21
I just turned forty, and my body is feeling more “perishable” every year. I’m getting to the age where a “lifetime membership” doesn’t seem like such a good deal any more. But Paul tells us that as weak as these bodies are – subject to disease, injury, and finally, old age and death – the bodies we receive at the resurrection will be just the opposite. Strong, invincible, eternal, immortal. Bodies that don’t get old, don’t get sick, don’t decay, don’t age. As vigorous and youthful a thousand years from now as on the day of resurrection. It’s been the dream of mankind from time immemorial. Not just eternal life, but eternal youth and strength. That’s what followers of Jesus Christ will receive. Glorious bodies. Bodies like the one that He received when He rose from the dead, like the body that He inhabits now in heaven.
How would it affect your relationships if you were to remind yourself that you and every one of your fellow believers are immortals? That they, along with you, are going to live forever? That all of us, together, will someday be transformed into creatures so glorious that we can’t even imagine it? Would that help us to value one another? Would that help us to love one another? Would that strengthen our community? I think so.
In conclusion, you have value because of what God has done for you. He has given His Son for you, He has called you and gifted you to the most important work in the world, and He has promised to glorify you. You have great value, incredible value. Because God has valued you. And not only you, but every other follower of Christ in the room.
Some of you have never trusted Christ, have never confessed your sins to Him, have never come to Him for forgiveness and eternal life. Why not do that today? Come to Him. Trust in Him. Experience what it means to be loved and valued by God.
Some of you have trusted Christ, but you have trouble believing that He truly cares for you, that you truly have worth, that He truly values you. To you, I say, believe the Word of God. Accept that He loves and cares for you as His child. You don’t have to earn it. You don’t deserve it. Just receive it, accept it, and rejoice in it.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
