What are you worth?

 

A message based on pastor David Asscherick's sermon, What wonderous love is this.

 

To know what you are worth, we need to know a principle. This principle could change your live forever. Here’s the principle. The value of an item is determined by the one who is willing to pay the price.

 

Pastor David explains how he went to buy a blazer (jacket) from a clothing shop and figured out that it had a value of USD5,000. He wasn’t going to pay USD5,000 for a blazer because no blazer is worth that much to him. However, the same blazer would be worth that much to somebody else. So the whole concept of worth and value is that it is subjective. So, get this point: the value of an item is determined by the one who is willing to pay the price.
 

With this in mind, let’s read Matt 13:44-46. Jesus here is speaking in a parable. Here we have two parables in just three verses.

 

Matt 13:44-46, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

 

The kingdom of heaven is like this guy who went walking through this field and he hits his toe on something, and it does not feel quite like a rock, it doesn’t feel quite like a tree root, and he looks down to investigate it and he begins to sort of excavate it and he realizes it is something man made, and as he pulls it up, he finds a treasure.

 

Now what does this parable mean? When we are walking through the field called life, we encounter the treasure which is Jesus. When we encounter Jesus, we are willing to sell all our assets, so that we can obtain Jesus because Jesus has a way of turning our life upside down for the better. When you meet Christ, everything is on the table, and you are willing lose anything and that could look very irrational to people who have not seen the treasure you have seen. So we have understood this parable to mean, when we encounter Christ, we says all is on the table, my career is on the table, my education on the table, my relationships are on the table, my recreation and enjoyments are on the table.

 

This is what the parable is teaching but there is another profound meaning to this parable.

 

“The parable of the merchantman seeking goodly pearls has a double significance: it applies not only to men as seeking the kingdom of heaven [what I give up], but to Christ as seeking His lost inheritance. Christ, the heavenly merchantman seeking goodly pearls, saw in lost humanity the pearl of price (Christ's Object Lessons p 118).

 

Wait a minute. We have been reading this parable for the better part of our lives and we were sure we were the only ones who found the treasure. Yeah, I am the one that finds the treasure and we say when I found that treasure I gave up everything for him. And we think that is the complete gospel.

 

News flash! The heart and soul of the gospel is not about what you give up for Jesus. It is about what Jesus has given up for you.

 

So it’s not me. I am not the one who is walking through the field. It’s Jesus! He is walking through the universe. His toe hits something. There is something, He decides to take a look. He gets down. He gets into dirt. He is got dirt under his finger nails. He is got dirt under his knees. He found the treasure. That treasure is you! Jesus goes to his Father. Father, I found this treasure, there is something about it. I want to buy that field. What will that field cost? The Father says, Jesus that field will cost you everything. Everything? That will cost you everything.

 

Jesus was in the market place. He comes across a man selling pearls. Then there is one that catches his eye. Could I see that pearl? There is something about that pearl. Can I see it? Jesus takes the pearl into his hands.That pearl is you. Jesus it is a very expensive pearl. What is it's cost? Jesus, that pearl will cost you everything? Everything? Everything. Jesus says, I’ll take it.

 

Beloved, the heart and soul of the gospel is not what you give up. The heart and soul is what God has given up. And what does he get? You.

 

But you are thinking, well, it’s not worth it. I am not worth it. I am not that valuable But what did we learn? The value of an item is determined by the one who is willing to pay the price.

 

That is the gospel. God valued you more than his own existence.

When Jesus Christ out, My God my god why have you forsaken me it was a terminal point in his life. Ellen White in her marvelous volume, the Desire of Ages, says, “Jesus could not see through the portals of the tomb”. The message of the cross is that God valued sinful humanity more than His own existence. To put it another way,God would rather go to hell for you than live in heaven without you because He loves you and values you.

 

Your value is in the price that God was willing to pay. Your value is not tied to your figure. Your value is not tied to how much you earn or anything you do. Your value to God is in you being you.

 

When God bought you He knew what he was getting; imperfection. But He saw what you could become through him – that is what you could become through the power of the gospel.

 

It doesn’t matter how broken you are or how failed you are. He still values you. Accept your value as it is in Him. Don’t add to it.

 

Give your heart to Jesus completely. You can trust in Jesus who gave up everything for you. Trust Him moment by moment and see how He will restore and transform you to His image because you are worth everything to Him.