A Child of the King
Pastor Darryl Bentley
Midland SDA Church
August 8, 2009
Homiletical Idea: Our self worth is not and cannot be tied to or wrapped up in what the world thinks of us, but rather our self worth must be based wholly upon our connection with Christ. Because He created us and then died for us to redeem us from our sin we belong to Him and that makes us a child of the King.
Self-esteem vs. Self-worth
We live in a world that teaches us to build up our self-esteem. A recurring theme among the Oprahs of the world is that we just need to feel good about ourselves. These peddlers of pop-psychology encourage us to read the latest self-help book that promises to make us the man or woman that we long to be.
Now I do not deny that there are many things that we can learn and implement in our lives that can enrich them a great deal. The things we learn can teach us to better interact with people in the workplace. They may teach us how to plant and maintain a successful garden, but all of these are tied to and deal with the externals of life. They do not have the power to reach deep down within us and touch the spot within our soul that is made to be filled by a relationship with Christ.
Today I want us to understand that there is a huge difference between self-esteem and self-worth. The world wants us to focus on self-esteem. Princeton University’s online dictionary defines self-esteem as having “a feeling of pride in yourself”. Of course the inverse of this is true too if a person has low self-esteem then they may have feelings of shame or insignificance or even worse.
When your life is tied to the shifting sands of self-esteem then you will experience emotional highs and lows as life either goes well or poorly for you.
Friends, I do not believe that God wants His people to be blown about by the ever-changing winds of self-esteem. Rather, He wants us to find assurance in realizing our self-worth. Biblical self-worth is realizing that we have value and that value is determined by the characteristics of the One who redeemed us from sin.
For the Christian, self-worth is measured by the price that was paid to redeem them from the penalty of sin. Therefore, our value is not measured by what we accomplish in this world. Our value is not based on our education or lack thereof. Our value is not based on whether or not we have been a success by the world’s standards. Our value is not based on how much money we have in the bank. Our value is not based on how much money we have given to the church. Our value is based on the fact that the King of kings and Lord of lords came to die and save us from sin! That and that alone is the criteria that determines our value in the universe.
Understanding the Price
When an object is placed up for auction at a place like Christie’s Auction House the item’s value must be determined before the auction begins. Often time there is rich history behind the items that are hawked to the highest bidders. As you consider the price that was paid for you and me the richest history of all time begins to unfold.
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what Jesus had to give up in coming and saving us? Have you ever thought about that? Just imagine for a moment that you live in the grandest palace in the universe. Imagine that you are loved and adored by all who know you. Not only do they adore you, but they worship you because you created them. Imagine that a portion of your perfect creation decides to rebel against you.
In their rebellion they chose to follow your enemy instead of you. By making the choices they made you have to separate yourself from them. But the separation is painful for you and them to bear. Then imagine that you decide to leave all the grandeur of your palace and you decide to leave the atmosphere of praise and worship that is offered to you day and night. You leave because your heart is broken over your rebellious children. In your broken heartedness you go and live among your fallen children. Instead of living in the palace you choose to live among the common people. You go from being worshiped and adored to being the step-son of a carpenter in a really bad neighborhood.
Imagine knowing that you left the wonder and majesty of heaven to come and live among a people who don’t care if they get to know you or not. In fact, when you try to get close to some of them they rebel against you even further. They rebel to the point that instead of worshiping you, they cry out to the local government to have you put to death. Here you have come to save them and they only want to see you killed so that they can have power over your people. In a final act of rebellion, the ones whom you came to save walk by and hurl curses at you as you hang on an old wooden cross by the nails in your hands and feet. As the flesh of your back lies openly bleeding and wounded you try to push against the nails driven into your feet just so you can take another breath to pray for those that want only to see you dead.
Imagine watching all those who said they love you and they would follow you even unto death run away as you hang all alone upon an icon of shame and torture. Imagine if you can the feeling of utter despair as for the first time ever you experience separation from your father. Imagine having so deep a love that you are willing to die for something for which you have no part of the blame or guilt.
Friends, this is what Jesus endured to save you and me. Jesus paid a price that no one else in the universe could have paid, and He did not pay it against His will. He was not forced to leave heaven. He chose to leave and He chose to save those that He knew would eventually kill Him. He chose the way of shame that you and I might experience glory.
Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Christ who knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might become partakers of the righteousness of God. This is the price that was paid for us! This is the price that must be considered when we attempt to assess our self-worth.
Purchase Brings Adoption
As we consider this price that was paid we must also ask how that affects us. Or in other words, we must ask the question as to what happens when we accept that price that was paid for us? What changes in our life when the blood of Christ’s sacrifice is applied to our life?
What happens is amazing. You see prior to coming to Jesus we are slaves to sin. Before we come to Jesus we are spiritual orphans in the universe. Before we come to Jesus we have no hope of life beyond this temporal existence.
But all that changes the moment that we choose Christ. Notice what Paul says to Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28. Here we have a glimpse that the church has been purchased with the blood of God. This same theme comes out when Paul writes his first letter to the church in Corinth. In 6:20 and 7:23 Paul states that the church has been bought with a price. That price is the one that we have already mentioned when we spoke of the death of Jesus on Calvary’s cross.
But again we ask what does that purchase accomplish for the believer? I submit to you this morning that purchase facilitates adoption back into the family of God. Purchase makes us a child of the King.
Notice the teaching from Galatians 4:4-7. Here Paul is trying to teach us that the price Jesus paid accomplishes what we could not and cannot do on our own and that is to be restored back to God as His sons and daughters. In essence when we accept Jesus we are no longer spiritual orphans destined to be lost for eternity separated from our Father. No, when we come to Jesus we are adopted back into the family of God and because of that adoption we become a child of the King. Verse 7 says we are then heirs through God.
Heirs
Of course when someone is called an heir the implication is that they inherit something right? What is the inheritance of the saints? It is a multi-faceted inheritance that encompasses many things.
1. In Matthew 5:5 we are told that the meek or gentle inherit the earth.
2. In Matthew 19:26 we read that those who lose everything of this world inherits eternal life.
3. In Matthew 25:34 we are told that the redeemed of God inherit a kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world.
4. In Revelation 21:7 we have Jesus saying that those that overcome sin will inherit the right to the spring of living water.
Among all these things we also recognize that the greatest portion of our inheritance is to be able to live with and worship directly with our Creator God. Revelation 21:3 speaks of this wonderful portion of our inheritance (read text).
I love this thought of being an heir to the wonders of heaven and Paul goes back to this theme over and over. In Romans 8:16, 17 Paul ties the two titles of being children of God and heirs together beautifully (read text).
And as we have already discussed it is through accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord that we are accepted as children of God and counted among the heirs to the kingdom of God. John 1:11, 12 brings this thought home very clearly (read text). And it bears saying again that when we become children of God we become a child of the King.
So What?
So what does all of this have to do with our self-worth? Great question. Let’s answer it. As we mentioned before self-esteem is tied to what others make us think of ourselves. If I have lots of friends and people love me then I am likely to have a very high self-esteem. Conversely, if I am not very popular and have very few friends if any at all then my self-esteem is likely to be very low and possibly even depressive.
Therefore, self-esteem is tied to external things that dictate who we are and how we feel about being that person. Self-worth on the other hand is tied to our intrinsic value or value that is not determined by external factors. You and I have value because we have been bought with the ransom of the King of kings.
Because we have been purchased with the blood of God then our value is higher than anything in the universe, and when we realize this it should cause us to approach life very differently.
We must realize:
1. True happiness is not contingent upon whether or not people like us.
2. True happiness is not contingent upon whether or not we have a job.
3. True happiness cannot hinge on whether or not we have any money.
4. True happiness is not based on whether or not we are married.
5. True happiness cannot be determined by our popularity among our peers.
6. True happiness cannot be based on sexual intimacy.
7. True happiness cannot be founded on hoe well behaved our children are.
8. True happiness cannot only be based on what Jesus has done for us and what He promises to do.
People Pleasers
It is very easy to get wrapped up in the game of trying to please people. We do it because we want to be liked. We do it because we do not know how to set appropriate boundaries. We do it because we fear rejection. There is a myriad of reasons that we try to please people, but at the heart of each reason is the fact that we do not fully realize our worth as it is in Christ.
Once you and I realize that our value is not based on the opinions of the masses then we are freed to make rational, healthy decisions about our lives. When our life is modeled around the fact that we belong to Jesus then we will not be forced to ride the emotional roller coasters that self-esteem takes us on.
Silent Sufferers
I am not a prophet, but I am certain that there are those among us today that wrestle with the issues I have discussed today. I am certain that there are those among us today that carry around deep hurt in their lives. Some of that hurt is there because of abuse or rejection. Some of us hurt because of guilt and shame that we bear because of past sins. Still others hurt inside today because they do not feel worthy to be saved by God.
Where do you fit in among those that hurt? Only you and God can say for sure, but I am convinced that discovering that our value lies in what Jesus has done for us is the key to gaining victory over that hurt.
Carina
Not too many years ago there was a girl named Carina who lived in the outskirts of New York City. To say she lived there is not really accurate. She more or less existed there. Her existence consisted of selling her body to support a $300/day drug habit. Day after day Carina would sell the use of her body to various men.
This cycle of harlotry and drug use began when Carina was only 17 years old. Carina left home when she was only 15 to escape the near daily sexual abuse from her own father. She stayed with friends for a while but eventually she found herself on the streets. She began to dabble with drugs to mask the pain that she felt inside. One high led to another and before long Carina was a full-fledged addict. She waited tables in a small diner, but the salary and tips were not enough to pay for her drug habit so she slipped into a life of prostitution; seems ironic considering she left home to escape the abuse of her father.
After 2 years of this vicious cycle Carina was at the lowest point of her life. She was so lonely and depressed that she only cared for her next fix so that she could escape the living hell of her reality. She hated herself for what she had become and she longed to just die and have it all go away. After one very “productive” day she bought enough drugs to put herself into a drug-induced coma that would lead her to death’s rest. She filled the needle and pressed it into the well-trained holes in her arm. As the heroine pulsed through her body she drifted off to sleep hoping never to wake again.
About an hour after she took the drugs Carina’s apartment door pushed open. After two and half years of searching her father had finally found her. You see, soon after Carina left home her dad began to think about what he had been doing to his daughter. He came under conviction that he had wronged Carina in a horrible way. This conviction came one night when he sat watching a presentation on TV. The presentation was that of a pastor presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ. While watching that program the dad fell to his knees and wept right in his living room and in the floor of his home he gave his heart to Jesus.
That was a turning point for Carina’s dad. That was the event that led to his acceptance of Jesus and his acceptance of Christ led him to seek out his daughter and try to right the wrong he had done to her. He got an ambulance to her and they took her to the hospital where they worked feverishly to save Carina’s life. By God’s grace they succeeded. Carina was transported to a rehab facility where her father came to visit her. With agony in his voice he began to plead for forgiveness from Carina. He explained how he knew that he had wronged her and he told her about how Jesus had changed his heart and his life. He said that he wanted to be the father that she deserved if she would give him a second chance.
About half way through her rehab program Carina asked to see the facility chaplain. Each day she marveled about how much her dad had changed and after many long hours of reviewing that change in her mind Carina decided that she needed to know more about this Jesus fellow.
Every day through the rest of her program she met with the volunteer chaplain who taught her about the love and forgiveness that Christ offers freely to all who will receive it. Two days before Carina was to leave rehab she too decided to give her life to Jesus Christ. As she met with the chaplain she fell to her knees and sobbed her way through the sinner’s prayer.
For the first time in her life Carina felt valuable. For the first time in her life she felt loved. For the first time in her life she felt forgiveness. For the first time in her life Carina was a child of the King.
Wrap-up & Appeal
So where are you today friends? Are you lost and lonely? Are you putting on the face that everyone wants to see while inside you feel empty and miserable? Are you clinging to hurts that Jesus longs to take away from you? Are you holding on to anger or bitterness that Jesus wants to replace with true joy and happiness?
Why not let today be the day that you rid yourself of past hurts? Why not let today be the day that you forgive those who have hurt you? Why not let today be the day that you break the cycles of anger that you hold deep inside? Why not let today be the day that you too become a child of the King?
I am not so naïve as to believe that you will never have hurt in your life once you accept Jesus. Hurts may come, but the difference is in the fact that our self-worth is connected to what Jesus has done on our behalf. The difference is that when we surrender past hurts and trouble to God He can give us a heart to forgive others just as we through Christ have been forgiven.
Today can be the day that we no longer allow how people treat us to dictate our value in life. Today can be the day that you are released from the endless cycle of chasing happiness through self-esteem. Today can be the day that you realize that your value lies in what Christ has done for you. And because you and I have been bought with the blood of God we have now become children of God and heirs to the rich promises of God. I beg of you that you will allow today to be the day that you become or affirm your status as a child of the King.