The Archbishop of Canterbury, the principal leader of the Church of England, said, “The Coronation will be a service of Christian worship, deeply rooted in the wisdom we find in Scripture.”
When presenting the Bible to the king, the moderator said: “We present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; This is the royal Law; These are the lively Oracles of God.”
During the coronation, King Charles held the gold scepter with the mammoth Cullinan I diamond, which weighs 530.2 carats. The world’s largest cut white diamond is priceless. The king’s crown is made of solid gold and is adorned with 444 gemstones, including rubies, garnets, sapphires, and tourmalines. The coronation crown weighs five pounds. The royal orb, a symbol of the king’s power, is a golden globe surrounded by a cross set with emeralds, diamonds, rubies, pearls and sapphires, and a large amethyst on top. Yet, the statement was: The Bible is “the most valuable thing that this world affords.” Surrounded by priceless but temporary earthly riches, God’s Word alone provides eternal value. Instead of eternal value we often think of value as short-term.
People determine how valuable an item is. When you go to a garage sale, or a flea market, or an antique shop- you may see the same exact item- but have 3 very different price tags. If something is old and unique or rare- it can be quite valuable- even then it is only valuable to someone collecting said item. If no one wants it- and you’ve run out of storage- and it doesn’t sell in the garage sale- then it isn’t very valuable anymore. In our society of stuff and collections it is easy to gather things that we think are valuable; sadly though, many of those very nice things have little financial worth.
If we want to understand the true worth of a person- the value of a person- we must see them as Jesus sees them. We must change our mindset on what makes something or someone valuable.
In the latter part of Luke 16 Jesus tells a story of a rich man and a beggar. The rich man is nameless- no doubt to be better applied to the crowd of pharisees standing near and not to take away from the illustration if there were trying to figure out who He was talking about. We are a blessed nation and people. On the average every American makes more than billions of people in the world. Much of the world lives on less than $50.00 a week. The money we have, the clothes we wear, the car we drive have nothing to do to our ‘value’ to God and to people.
In our parable we read about the rich man. He wasn’t only rich, but he lived it up each day- it was just one party after another. He had an amazing wardrobe and ate and drank his day away each day. He was ‘grossly rich’ and everyone was aware of it. He flaunted it! He is there to demonstrate opulence and selfishness.
The 2nd person introduced in this parable is Lazarus, not to be confused with Mary and Martha’s brother that gets raised from the dead, “Lazarus, a diseased beggar, was laid at his door. 21 As he lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.” What a contrast. Opulence- and desperate poverty- just a door to separate them. The people listening to this story could identify- they saw the rich each day and there were always beggars around the towns looking for anything to help them stay alive. Lazarus was willing to eat the scraps that were thrown to the dogs- he was desperate and starving. He was to the point of having little hope for his future- even letting the dogs lick his sores! We see these two men- and see the contrast immediately. We all know people on each end of the spectrum- most of us fall near the rich end of the financial line- (even though we don’t think of ourselves as rich)
Next, we read that they both die- we all end the same- no one gets out of this world alive! Death is a great equalizer. Lazarus the beggar is taken to heaven, and the rich man- is taken to hell. Another great contrast in this story. There is no middle ground- the decision we make here in this life is the one we will live with forever in eternity! And the rich man in our parable discovered this the hard way.
There in torment the rich man saw Lazarus in heaven with Abraham. This man who probably never even noticed Lazarus on earth finally sees this person that he treated lower than his dogs. This poor unhealthy man that made an unsightly presence at the rich man’s gate- is in paradise. On earth the beggar had very little value in the eyes of the rich and famous. Without an income and without his health he really wasn’t valuable to this world. Yet, in Jesus eyes- this one man was worthy enough for Jesus to go to the cross for him. This one man was/is invaluable to Jesus. Invaluable: "valuable beyond estimation"; the word describes something so precious that one cannot assign a price to it.
You and I are invaluable- Jesus said in Matthew 10:29-31, “Aren’t two sparrows sold for only a penny? But your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground. 30 Even the hairs on your head are counted. 31 So don't be afraid! You are worth much more than many sparrows.”
You are valuable to God. He said in Isaiah 43:4, “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you” (ESV).
1. You are valuable because God is your Father, and you are his child. The Bible says, “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:26 NLT).
2. You are valuable because Jesus gave his life for you. The Bible says, “You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him” (1 Corinthians 7:23 TLB).
The fact that you belong to God adds incredible value to your life. If you want to know how valued you are, just look at the cross.
