More worth than sparrows!

Sermon on Luke 12:1-7 - Delivered on 10 August 2008 at DRCB Lobatse congregation

One of the new tricks that professional thieves invented, is called identity theft. They get hold of your ID number, or Passport number, and then use your particulars to get access to your bank account, and they steal all your money.

But I want to talk about another type of identity theft. Do you know, dear friends, that Satan is trying to steal our identity everyday? Sometimes things are stolen from you, because you do not take stock often enough. Because you do not realise what you have in life, you often do not realise when it is stolen! Let us recoup a little:

Who are you?
Your are the crown on God’s creation. Somebody once said: I know I am somebody, because God made no junk. Ps. 8:5.
You are quite unique. I the whole of creation there is nobody who are made exactly like you. Even Identical twins differ in their lifestyle, the clothes they wear, the food they like, the memories they have, etc. Psalm 139:15
You are chosen. When God chose you, it was not like somebody walking through a grocery store, selecting groceries. No, dear friends, he chose you like somebody choosing a car. He handpicked you for a purpose in this world around us. He is very fuzzy about whom he uses to work in his Kingdom. Isa 44:2
You are forgiven. If you have accepted Jesus Christ, you are forgiven, and Your sins are washed away. 1 John 1:9.
Your are adopted. If we belong to the family of God, we are not orphans or slaves anymore, but God calls us his children! Rom 8:17.

How does the Satan manage to steal our joy, and our convictions?
He tells us that we are worthless. That society will even be better of without us. And that is why some many people commit suicide.
He tells us that we are just a number, and that nobody will miss us!
He tells us that we are ordinary, and that we have no purpose in the congregation. That other people can do everyting better than us!
He constantly reminds us of our sins. He tells us that we are unable to do anything good for the Lord, and that we are disasters in God’s eyes.
He tells us that nobody cares about us, that we are orphans in this world, and just slaves of the church and religion.

But please brother and sister, do not listen to him! Remember what God told us today in Luke 12:7: “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Yes dear friends, the Satan’s battle in our lives is not primarily a physical battle, but it is a spiritual battle. Do not be afraid of what Satan can do with your body, but be aware of what he is doing in your mind! If you allow him to take over your thoughts with negativity, you can be sure that he will succeed eventually to draw you with him into hell!

Have you thought about what is the loss when somebody goes to hell?

Someone in 1985 has worked out exactly what you are worth…
A human body is worth about P 15-00 in 1985 money…
You are made up of:
65% Oxygen, 18% Carbon, 10% Hydrogen, 3% Nitrogen, 1.5% Calcium, 1% Phosphorous, 0.35% Potassium, 0.25% Sulphur, 0.15% Sodium, 0.15% Chlorine, 0.05% Magnesium, 0.0004% Iron, 0.00004% Iodine ,(with trace quantities of silicon, fluorine, manganese, zinc, copper, arsenic and aluminum (It depends on where you live and what you eat – some of us may be more valuable than others)

Later somebody else came and made another calculation… He said that if your could harness all the atoms in somebodys body, it would be sufficient to produce 11.4 million kilowatts of energy worth more than 570 billion Pula!

And that is only our physical body, not even including our souls, our faith and our knowledge!

For how much are you prepared to sell yourself? For how much are you giving your life away to Satan? For how much are you prepared to just let a brother, a mother, or a neighbour, or any other human being for that matter just go to hell?

I want to conclude by reminding you of the well known story of the ugly duckling. It is about a swan that was born under a duck, and that was seen as big and ugly until he grew up, and found his fellow swans in the pond, and realised how beautiful he is. If we keep on living as part of the world, under the power of Satan and all his assistants, we will only have negative views about ourselves. It is only when we become part of God’s family when things really change!

Do we really realise what it means when Luke says that we are worth more than many sparrows? Dear friends, let us come to the Lord anew. Let us know that he cannot just forget us. In Isaiah 49:15 the Lord reminds us that he loves us more than a mother’s love for her baby. That he cannot forget us! Let us think again of the words in 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! Let us develop our potential. Let us allow God to change our lives!

I want you to repeat the following after me, and also believe it from today onwards:
I AM A SAINT, I AM BLESSED, I AM CHOSEN, I AM HOLY, I AM BLAMELESS, I AM LOVED, I AM PREDESTINED, I AM ADOPTED, I AM REDEEMED, I AM FORGIVEN, I AM UNWORTHY, BUT I AM NOT WORTHLESS.

Amen.
Sources:
CRAIG, A. 2008. People matter: Luke 12:6-7 Available online at http://www.cforu.net/resources_sermons.php
STRODER, D. 2008. Identity theft. Sermon delivered on Luke 12:6-7 at the First Baptist Church in Salinas. Available online at: www.1stbaptist.net/fbcsermons.kt