Our Worth In Jesus

So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:31

Before we can begin to prioritize Christ in our lives, we must make sure that we truly belong to Him. This happens only when we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus by being born again. But before we can receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must understand the dire spiritual condition that we are in apart from Christ.

There is a false theology, prominent today, that sets out to convince us that we are not really as bad as the Bible says that we are. This is what we can call the “I’m a good person” philosophy. Instead of understanding how God sees humanity, in this belief system, we begin to compare ourselves to others in the world. Perhaps we look at serial killers, child molesters, fascist dictators, or terrorists as the measure by which we gauge our lives. Using this criteria, in most cases, we come out “smelling like a rose.” But this idea is based on a fictitious view of the depravity of man. If we truly understood our spiritual condition apart from Christ, we would run to the cross as fast as we could. 

But when we realize that, apart from Christ, we are deserving of nothing other than eternal separation from God in a place called hell, we begin to bring into focus our need for a Savior. Without this foundational understanding of our spiritual state, we will view the gospel as utter nonsense (as many in our world do today.) 

There is a difference between a born again believer in Jesus and the rest of the world (full of skeptics and religious individuals.) Without this born again relationship, we are at enmity with God, void of the Spirit of God, and spiritually dead. No more than we would expect a physically dead person to walk across the room, should we expect an unbeliever to accurately assess spiritual things. Consider the following:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

1 Corinthians 2:14

Only when we come to a true understanding of our need for Christ, do we come to the gospel. So why this discussion about the difference between those who are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ and those who are not? Because, before we can make Christ top priority in our lives, we must be born again. We must go through a spiritual transformation that comes only as Jesus enters our lives. We must have a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ before we will appropriately order our lives around Christ and the things that are of most importance (spiritual things vs temporal ones). Experiencing true spiritual transformation, being filled with the Spirit of God, and knowing our new position in Christ are all imperatives if we are to fully appreciate our worth, our value in the eyes of our Creator, Lord, and Savior.

In “The Priority Of Christ,” we will be exploring several passages in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, positioning ourselves to hear the truth of God’s Word regarding how we should be structuring our lives. Contrary to the modern false belief of “being a good person” is the power and truth of Jesus’ teaching in these passages. But it all begins as we admit our sin and depravity, recognize our need for a Savior, and call on the name of the Lord to save us on the basis of what Jesus has already done for us on the cross. No amount of good works or religious motion will rescue us from our sinful state and restore us to a right relationship with God. Only a born again, salvation experience will accomplish that. 

But as those who have been set apart for the kingdom of God, we are valued and treasured. And that’s what our passage today says about us. For the Christian, we can be assured that we are much more valued by God than the sparrows. Why sparrows? Jesus reminds us that not a single sparrow will fall from the sky without the acknowledgment of Almighty God. So, if that is true about the birds of the air, how much more can we live in the assurance that God loves us and desires to have a relationship with us. And that is exactly what we have in Christ. Instead of being at enmity with God, we are now called His children. Rather than being spiritually dead, we are now spiritually alive. Once void of the presence of God in our lives, we now enjoy fellowship with Him through His Spirit. 

There is a difference between our old lives, marred by sin, and our new lives, redeemed by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. As we live our lives for the Person of Jesus, we need to daily remember the value that we have in Christ and remember that our worth comes from our position in Him! 

See also Jeremiah 17:5-8, John 3:3,18, Romans 8:1, 1 Peter 1:3,9