Our message today is entitled “Do You Have Jesus’ Values?” The dictionary defines values as “a person’s principles or standards of behavior, one’s judgement of what is important in life.” What you value in life determines your priorities, your thoughts and your actions.
Proverbs 10:2 (NIV) Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death.
Treasure that is accumulated by sinful methods has no value in God’s eyes. However, righteousness, living rightly before God has great value, as it is able to deliver a person from eternal death.
Matthew 13:45-46 (ESV) “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
In this short parable, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a fine pearl of great value. Actually of the greatest value, greater than everything else in life. So, the merchant sold everything else he had, for it was of less value than the pearl of great value, order to buy it. The point of Jesus story is that entering into the kingdom of God is of the greatest value.
We must value that more than everything else and give up all else for the kingdom. Now, there are good values that we should have, the things that God values. And there are bad values, things that God does not value, things the world values.
Luke 16:15 (NIV) What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.
There is much that our world today values that God detests. The world values a woman’s so-called right to choose to kill her unborn child. God detests that selfish value and places great value on every child from conception. The world values children being manipulated into choosing a different gender and having their bodies surgically mutilated. God detests those values and values every boy and girl that He has created in His image. The world values homosexual behavior and celebrates it. God detests homosexuality and desires for every person to be set free to live out the their lives in sexual purity as men and women created in His image. The world values money, pride and fame. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Today, we want to learn about what Jesus values from His teaching. We want to learn what Jesus values so that we can make His values our values. This will make our values different than the values of the unbelieving world. But God will use the light of His values shining through us to push back the darkness. To set those captive to the world’s values free to live by Jesus’ values.