A Ten-Cow Bride (7/15/17 Standalone)

ATTN: While in Thailand, I started pondering about the value of a human life. I came across so many poor and uneducated people – a small child in the remote village in northern thailand in the mountainous that met eyes with me – she is just one of 7 billion people in this world – she will probably not get education beyond middle school years, be a farmer’s wife, and spend her entire life in that little village. Does her life matter?

Yet, 6 of us spent thousands of dollars and 30 hours in the airplane and airports to minister to someone like her. Was it worth it? Or were we simply being foolish and wasting our time?

This week, I went to what’s called AP Summer Institute at PLU for my school to get more proficient at teaching Calculus. I was with 12 other Calculus teachers and they were all very smart, and some of them had multiple degrees. Are they worth more than that small farmer’s daughter in Thailand? What is a human life worth? What is your life worth?

You’ve heard that since we are made in the image of God, our worth is infinite. But then, you’ve also heard that since we are sinners, we are worthless – less than a worm! Which is right? Are we of infinite worth? Or are we worthless? Let me try to answer. Please follow this logic…

1. We were nothing in the beginning since we didn’t exist.
2. God made us in His image and so we became something.
3. Yet, we have thrown it all away, making ourselves less than nothing.
4. But, God will restore us, making us invaluable things.

So, notice the sequence. 1.Nothing. 2. Something. 3. Less than nothing. 4. Infinite thing.

 

Today, I want to preach from the book of Ezekiel. There’s a fascinating story that God tells through the prophet Ezekiel. It is a heartbreaking story by God especially to me because I have two daughters. It is a story that teaches and warns. And you will see the value of human life going through that cycle I just talked about.

 

“Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.”

That was the Israelites’ origin. Not very flattering, is it? Their origin is pagan through and through, and they were unwanted. Think of a baby abandoned by the parents and left to die. This baby would have been aborted in this day and age.

1. We were nothing in the beginning – we had no value!

That is the story of our lives. That which we are so afraid to lose, we didn’t have it just a few years ago. As a father, my greatest fear is losing my girls. Flying to Thailand, if the plane went down, I’m not afraid to die but I’m afraid for my girls growing up without a father. But just 11 years ago, neither of them existed. There were no Sennah or Serrie on this earth. 11 year ago, Janet and I couldn’t say, “I love my daughters more than my life” because they didn’t exist. God gave them to me and my wife.

Whatever your age, add one and that many years ago, you didn’t exist. 47 years ago, I didn’t exist. God brought me into existence in my mother’s womb. So, whatever we are so afraid to lose, whether it’s our own lives or our children’s lives, or maybe your boyfriend or girlfriend or your retirement, just a few years ago, they didn’t exist. It’s simply by the grace and creativity of God we owe our very being.

So, it makes sense to me not to worry about that which we didn’t do anything to bring about. Did you bring yourself into this world? Then, why are you so worried about keeping yourself in this world? You have no control over it. Now, I’m not saying do something stupid with your life like going skydiving or mountain climbing in Himalayas. I mean if you want to risk your life, then risk it in something worth risking your life for. Like defending your country or going on mission to dangerous places. But we didn’t bring ourselves into the world and therefore, we cannot keep ourselves alive one more hour than what is already determined.

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Ps. 139:16

God brought you in; God’s gonna take you out. So, trust Him in the meantime. He’s gonna take care of you. You were nothing in the beginning. We had nothing just a few years ago. We had no value to speak of.

 

6 “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare. 8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.

2. God made us in His image and so we became something.

God said, “you became mine.” We belong to God. We are unique in this world in that we alone bear the image of God. That is why human life is worth more than the animals’. As precious and helpful animals, and I know there are many animal lovers in our congregation, they do not equal the value of human lives because humans alone bear the image of God.

Therefore, all human beings are valuable simply because we are made in the image of God. Now, what does it mean that we are made in the image of God? Obviously, it doesn’t mean that God has arms and legs and walks upright like we do. The Bible scholars debate over what that means – some would say that we have moral capabilities like God. Some say that we have the capacity to commune with God and understand His will and obey it, some will say it means having dominion – like God has dominion over the whole universe, human beings were put in charge to take care of the earth. So, if true, then Christians are the ones who should be forefront on the campaign of “save the whale,” “recycle, reduce, reuse,” because this earth is given to us to take care of and we have dominion over it. But whatever it means, we have innate value. As C.S. Lewis said, one person is worth more than all the buildings, corporations, moneys in this world put together because they are all temporary but humans are immortals – will live forever somewhere.

God alone gives us our value. It is not our learning, not our skills, not our racial or socio-economic associations that give us value, but simply that we were created in God’s image.

ILL: I love what Mr Taylor texted back to the mission team when I texted the mission team on how they are adjusting this week: “Had the week to think about the precious children we encountered and how they are the same as my own…” Mr. Taylor, you mean that these children that live in straw houses with no running water who will never get past middle school education is worth the same as your daughter who is the Lietenant  colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves??? In his book, the answer is yes. But more importantly, in God’s book, the answer is yes.

So far, so good!

15 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.

3. Yet, we have thrown it all away, making ourselves less than nothing.

We are less than nothing because we were so high up and to give it all up, now are on the negative. You see, if we had nothing and were given nothing then we simply remain nothing. But God made us something – something spectacular, something that resembled God. but for us to debase ourselves, and throw it all away, now we become detestable. We don’t blame poor children who had nothing to eat crying for food. But we do blame rich children who were given all kinds of food to eat but refuses to eat them and crying for the only thing that just happens not be there – “I want the yellow mango i ate when we went to Bali last year and until you give it to me, I will starve.” Hate on that kid because he deserves it! In my family, if they don’t want to eat the food in front of them, they are not eating. Do you know how many kids are starving in this world???

So, if you hear me or a preacher say that we are wretched, we are worthless, we human beings are worms, maggots, less than gum stuck at the bottom of your shoe, you know why. We had value. We had great value. But we have willfully thrown it away. Therefore, we are worse than if we never had them. We are worse than any dirty animals we see. We are worse than annoying mosquitos. At least, they will not burn forever in hell. Our immorality at this point comes back to bite us. Because, instead of a eternal bliss, we will now experience eternal curses. It would have been better if we were never born – in other words, it would’ve been better if we were nothing.

Listen to what God will do:

4. 59 “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of[i] the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

When I read this, I got goosebumps because of the awesome grace of God! V. 60 (read again). Notice, that there is nothing that caused it. It doesn’t say “Because you have repented, or because you have changed your ways, or because you have come back to me.” no. There is nothing that Israel did to cause God to be gracious to her. And that is the very definition of grace – unmerited favor. Unearned. Uncaused. God is not good to you because you have decided to good. God is good to you because God is good. God loves you not because you became lovely. God loves you because God is love. We do not cause HIm to love us. No. His loving us causes us to become lovely and His goodness toward us causes us to become good. That is the gospel in its essence. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” I love, love, this gospel. There is nothing like it in the world – no message like this message of the gospel! So, what happens to those of us who embrace this gospel? Us, who are sinners, who made ourselves less than nothing?

4. But, God will restore us, making us invaluable things.

ILL: There’s an old Hawaiian tale that involves a peculiar custom. The custom was that a bridal price was paid by the groom with cows. The regular rate was two cows. If she was pretty then 3, if she was exceptional then 4. There was a legend that once 5 cows were paid for a girl of such beauty. Now, a father in that town had 2 daughters. The younger one was very pretty, but the older one was plain. He thought the younger one was a 3 cow girl, but the older one, he would be happy to get one. One day, Johnny, who was single and very rich came to visit. The father was excited and thought that he would pay 3 or even 4 for his younger daughter. But he wanted his older daughter instead. And he would pay 10 cows for her! The father ecstatically consented and they were married. The honeymoon lasted one year. Finally the bride and the groom came back, when they did, the bride was almost unrecognizable – beautiful, confident, charming – such that the father thought 10 cows were a bargain.

1. We were nothing in the beginning.
2. God made us in his image and we became something.
3. Yet, we’ve thrown it all away and we became less than nothing.
4. But, God restores us, making us an infinite thing.

If you are in Christ, you are a ten-cow bride. Your value does not come from you but from the one who bought you. And He paid with His life. His blood was our price. One drop of His blood is worth more than all the diamond and gold in this universe. He shed it all for you and me.

APP: Don’t cheat yourself by trying to up your value by getting more education, losing weight, acquiring a skill, etc. If you do those things, then do it because you want to honor the one who so valued you rather than to earn your value through your own effort.