“You Are Worth More”
Matthew 10:29-31

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Second Sunday after Pentecost—June 22, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Jesus says in today’s Gospel Reading, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Recently I saw an advertisement in the newspaper for a weight-loss clinic.  The ad proclaimed in big, bold letters, “—’t hate yourself anymore; lose that weight.”   Consider how cruel that is; if you happen to be overweight, they say you should actually hate yourself.

Unfortunately, that’s the method used to manipulate us in a lot of modern-day advertising.  We have this message incessantly pounded into us: If you don’t wear the right clothes, or drive the right car, or even use the right toothpaste, you are worthless.  This scheme which is used so much in advertising, to manipulate us by demeaning us, goes a long way toward explaining why so many people today, despite all our material advancement and abundance, are nevertheless deeply dissatisfied, and have a low sense of self-esteem, and a negative feeling of self-worth. 

But, some people would say Christianity is a similar culprit: “How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me”; “such a worm as I”; “I, a poor, miserable sinner.”  As a Christian, what should your attitude be toward yourself?  How can you have a good sense of self-esteem, and a positive feeling of self-worth? 

You won’t get it by denying the fact that you are a sinner.  As the Apostle John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  And you won’t get a good self-esteem and a positive self-worth by relying on your own good works.  Your works cannot make up for your sin.  They earn you no favor with God.  As Isaiah says, in the sight of God, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”

Denial of your sinfulness or reliance on your own works might relieve you and make you feel better about yourself for the moment.  But, if you’ll forgive a mixed metaphor, that’s only building a house of cards on a foundation of sand.   Eventually, the truth the Apostle Paul proclaims in Romans will shake you like an earthquake: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  That truth shatters superficial self-esteem and self-righteous self-worth.  As Jesus says in the parable of the house built on sand, “And it fell with a great crash.”

How can you have a good sense of self-esteem, and a positive feeling of self-worth?  Paul puts it this way in Galatians: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.”  “God demonstrates his love for us in this,” Paul says in Romans.  “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  “This is how God showed his love for us,” John says. “He sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we would live through him.  .  .  he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”   The night before his death, Jesus told the Disciples at the Last Supper, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends.”

How can you have a good sense of self-esteem, and a positive feeling of self-worth?  There’s an old saying that puts it this way: “I asked Jesus, ‘How much do you love me?’  He said, ‘This much,’ and he stretched out his arms and died.”  The Son of God loves you so much he gave himself up for you.  Because of his atoning sacrifice on the cross your sins are all forgiven.

John says, “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  And that also means, because of God’s great love for you, you also ought to love yourself.  Realistically admitting and confessing your sins, like we do in those words I quoted before from our hymns and liturgy, but also trusting in Jesus, receiving his forgiveness, rejoicing that you are born again as a beloved child of God, and precious in his sight.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

How can you have a good sense of self-esteem, and a positive feeling of self-worth?  “—’t be afraid,” Jesus says, “you are worth more . . .”

You are worth so much to God that he redeemed you and saved you with the precious blood of his own Son.  If God so loved us, we also ought to love ourselves.  Perhaps instead of calling it “self-esteem” it would be better to call the Christian attitude “Christ-esteem.”  Because your esteem comes not yourself, but from the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself up for you.  For, if Christ esteems you so highly, you also ought to highly esteem yourself, as precious in his sight. 

When Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” he surely does not mean that we should hate ourselves, while loving our neighbor.  For, it is impossible to really show love to others until you first love yourself; and it is impossible to truly love yourself until you know the love of Jesus for you.  His love for you is not dependent on who you are, or how you look, or what you do.  His love for you is truly unconditional, unqualified, unlimited.  “Just as I am thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, par—, cleanse, relieve.”

Despite the negative messages we are bombarded with, that is the reason for you to have a positive feeling of self-worth, and a good sense, not just of self-esteem, but of Christ-esteem.  “So don’t be afraid; you are worth more . . .”