Find the Worth You're Looking For

Thank you, Rachel. Good morning, everybody. Good to see you.

As Craig has said, this is Passion for Life Month.

! Churches all around the city here in the East of Scotland Gospel Partnership,

! Churches up and down the entire country are wanting to share the good news that we can find life,

true life, in Jesus Christ.

Now, something that we all need in life is a sense that our lives are valuable,

that what we do matters, that we are worthy of respect and love from other people.

Nevertheless, many of us go through life with a sense that there is something missing,

that in some way we are lacking, that we are inadequate, that we are unworthy.

Sometimes we look in the mirror, we wake up, we look in the mirror, and we think to ourselves,

I'm not enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not fit enough. I'm not pretty enough.

If the list could go on.

So where can we find our worth, the worth that we need for a life that is full?

Well, let me suggest to you, don't go looking at what you're made of.

I've read that if you were to take a human being, boil them down to their chemical constituents,

and then sell it, that you would be lucky to make enough money to buy two lattes around the corner at Costa.

Your worth, when it comes to what you're made of, is not very much.

So if you want to find your worth in life, you need to look somewhere else.

And what we're going to see today is that in Christianity, you can discover that you are of infinite,

inestimable worth, and in the sight of God, and in the person of Jesus Christ.

But to get there, we're going to start off with a film, maybe one that you have seen.

But if not, it's called Chariots of Fire, and let me tell you about it.

Chariots of Fire tells the story of two British Olympic athletes.

They are competing in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.

One of them is Harold Abrahams.

The other is Eric Little.

He healed from around the corner here in Edinburgh.

Now, Abrahams was a Jewish man,

and he had faced a lifetime of anti-Semitic discrimination and prejudice.

But that didn't hold him back.

Rather, it propelled him, motivated him, to try and prove everyone wrong about him.

He wanted to prove his personal worth by winning a gold medal.

But in the film, as Harold Abrahams is preparing for the 100-metre sprint final,

there's this scene where he's in the changing rooms, he's with a friend,

and he confines in his friend the stress and strain that he is feeling under.

He says, this is what he's thinking whenever he's going to go out in the track.

He says, I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor four feet wide

with ten lonely seconds to justify my whole existence.

Abraham there is confessing that he believed that his whole worth and significance in life

rested upon his performance, on his success,

in how he ran that race and what position he finished in that race.

But he finishes confessing his self-doubt.

He has ten lonely seconds to justify his whole existence.

But will I?

Will I achieve it?

Will I be enough?

Here's a man who is at the peak of his physical fitness.

Here's a man who has trained for years.

He's at the top of his game.

But he doesn't know if it's going to be enough.

Now, although a few of us here will be Olympic athletes,

I think a lot of us have something in common with Harold Abrams.

I think a lot of us are plagued with these kinds of self-doubts,

these questions.

Am I enough?

I think that's partly because we live in a secular society here in 21st century Scotland.

The scientists and the philosophers, they tell us that we have come from nothing

for no ultimate purpose.

That we are blobs of carbon floating from one meaningless existence to another.

No wonder we feel inherently, intrinsically worthless.

And that we have to instead invent and achieve our worth.

And it always feels like Harold Abrams that we have to justify our existence to prove to ourselves,

prove to other people that we are worthy.

Every day.

My value.

Let me confess to you that I know an awful lot about this way of thinking.

Tell you a little bit of my story.

John, thank you for your story this morning, your testimony.

I grew up in Northern Ireland during a time in our history that was known as the Troubles.

A time whenever we teetered on the edge of civil war, two communities locked in conflict with each other.

As a teenager, young teenager, I began to get drawn into trouble myself with the authorities.

In the end, my family, we had to leave Northern Ireland to get away from it all

and have a new start here in Scotland in the year 2001.

And given the chance of that fresh start to leave behind the shame and the embarrassment and the trouble that I was in,

I threw myself into achievement and performance, trying to atone for my sin and my shame.

I worked hard to get the best grades, to try to be top of the class, to become head boy of the school,

to go to a prestigious university, to get a good degree, to build my CV, to get a good job.

I was falling into the Harold Abraham's trap.

I was trying to justify my existence.

I was trying to outweigh my bad, my mess with my accomplishments and achievements.

Someone's called this treadmill life.

Having to do more, do better, do it faster, just to keep standing up,

just to have a modicum of sense for a fleeting second, I'm okay.

I'm good enough.

I measure up.

And let me tell you from my own personal experience, it's exhausting.

It's not satisfying.

It's not life-giving.

Some of you know that too.

I'm here this morning to tell you the good news that you can get off the treadmill,

that there is better life available in Jesus.

And to see that, I want to contrast two very different strategies for finding your worth in life.

They're going to be illustrated from the film, Chariots of Fire, that we've started with this morning.

The first strategy is the Harold Abraham's way of life, and it says that your worth must be achieved.

It's that equation we've already seen.

My performance equals my worth, my value.

This is the life of striving for success, to be the best or at least to be better than some other people,

and then you can feel okay about yourself.

I think many of us naturally, I think actually all of us come into this world thinking this way.

This is our default setting, if you like.

But the question is, does this strategy of achieving our worth, does it actually work?

Does it pay off?

And I think you'll find, if you look at the people who have tasted success, who have reached the top,

I think you'll find that they have discovered it doesn't work.

It doesn't satisfy.

Let me give you a few examples.

There's this man, Johnny Wilkinson, one of England's best rugby players.

He led England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

He scored his winning kick with only 23 seconds left on the clock.

A few hours later, he should have been out with his teammates.

He should have been celebrating.

This was the greatest achievement of his career.

But he wasn't out with his friends celebrating.

He was alone in his hotel room drinking.

In the grip of performance anxiety, thinking to himself,

I'm only as good as my last kick.

Yes, his last kick had won the Rugby World Cup.

But what about next time?

What if it went wrong next time?

Who is he then?

Johnny Wilkinson.

Someone else, maybe you know him.

Jim Carrey.

Famous film star, comedian.

He's played many memorable roles on the big screen.

He's won many awards.

He's loved by many.

But he confesses that he is nagged by this sense of not being enough and not having enough.

He once said this,

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of

so they can see that it's not the answer.

Someone else has reflected.

People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success

only to find, once they reach the top,

that it's against the wrong wall.

I want to do any of these testimonies resonate with you

and with the way you think and the way you feel

and what you have experienced in life.

I think there will be quite a few of us will resonate something here.

But just as some people seek to justify their whole existence

through their academic performance,

their business success,

their creative brilliance,

their political activism,

many other people around the world approach religion in the same way.

They use their religious performance to seek the ultimate verdict,

to earn the approval and the blessing of God Almighty.

They think that they can do good things

and work their way up into God's good books.

You look around the global marketplace of ideas,

philosophies, religions,

there are an awful lot of them

and they're all very different.

But in this one respect,

most of them are the same.

It's about you.

And it hinges on your performance.

If you are going to receive God's salvation,

his wisdom,

his blessing,

then you better work hard

because it's on you.

In Islam, it's the five pillars.

You've got to do them.

In Buddhism, it's the five noble truths.

It's the eightfold path.

You need to walk it.

It's almost like there's this ladder

from earth to heaven.

And if you're going to get to heaven,

you've got to climb up the ladder.

It's on you.

And if you don't make it,

well, that's your fault.

Christian author Tim Keller's written this.

He says,

the atheists might say

they get their self-image from being a good person.

Performance leads to the verdict.

For the Buddhists too,

performance leads to the verdict.

If you are a Muslim,

performance leads to the verdict.

All this means that every day

you are in the courtroom.

Every day you are on trial.

That's the problem.

That's the problem of all man-made human religion.

It all hinges on you

and what you do

and how well you do it

and how consistently you do it

and for how long you do it.

But there is one religion

in the global marketplace

that is not that way at all.

And it is Christianity.

It does not hinge upon you

and what you do.

It hinges on what God,

who God is

and what he has done.

If there's a ladder,

well, he's come down the ladder

and he's done everything

to lift us up in his hands.

Kim Keller writes,

uniquely in Christianity,

the verdict leads to the performance.

Jesus Christ,

he releases us from the courtroom.

He announces God's verdict

on the last day,

this day,

that we are loved

and we are pardoned.

For the Christian,

because I am loved

and accepted by God

and being pardoned for my sins,

that's why I want to live for God

and do things for God.

I live from the verdict,

not for the verdict.

So that's the second strategy

I would like us to think about now.

The world tells us

that your worth

is something that has to be achieved.

But Christianity announces,

no, your worth

is something that can be received

as a gift

from the hands of Jesus Christ.

And Jesus taught

that all-important life lesson

in the passage

that Rachel just read to us

in Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

To set the scene

a few chapters earlier,

Jesus began gathering

his first followers.

They were called his disciples.

It just means students.

In Jewish society,

there was a great deal

of prestige

associated with being

the student

or the disciple of a rabbi.

In fact,

the rabbis would have

the ability

to handpick their disciples,

usually from the best schools

or the most rich

and influential families.

But that's not the way

that Jesus went about

calling his followers.

He didn't choose

followers from the elites.

No, he chose

ordinary people,

perhaps people like you

and me.

And before these people

had done anything

to show themselves

as being useful

to Jesus,

to do anything worthy

of being recipients

of Jesus' attention,

Jesus approached them

and he invited them,

come and follow me.

Come and find what life's

all about.

Come and follow me.

Jesus invited them

to join his mission

to spread the good news

that the kingdom of heaven

was drawing near

in himself.

And after a period

of living with Jesus

and learning from Jesus,

the disciples were commissioned

to go and share

the good news

about Jesus

with others.

That's what happens

at the start

of Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

And then we jump

to these verses

midway through the chapter

when Jesus' followers

return.

And they bring

all their stories,

all their reports

of all that they've seen,

all that they have done.

And that's when we read

in verse 17.

The 72 returned

with joy saying,

Lord,

even the demons

are subject to us

in your name.

And Jesus said to them,

I saw Satan

fall like lightning

from heaven.

Behold,

I have given you authority.

Nevertheless,

do not rejoice in this,

that the spirits

are subject to you.

but rejoice

that your names

are written in heaven.

Now naturally,

the disciples coming back

from their mission trip,

they're full of excitement.

They're filled

with stories

of what they've seen

God doing through them.

Their work

has been a great success.

They have preached

powerfully to crowds.

They have performed

in Jesus' name

signs and wonders.

In the name of Jesus,

people who have been

possessed,

tormented,

and abused

by the spiritual

forces of evil

have been set free.

If your words,

my words,

had that kind of power

to transform people's lives,

then we would be

pretty excited too.

We'd be writing about it

all over our

social media feeds.

The reason why

the disciples speaking

in Jesus' name

have so much power

is because in Jesus,

the God of heaven

has come into this world

to overthrow

the powers of evil.

That's why Jesus here

talks about seeing

Satan fall

like lightning.

He's being cast down

off his throne.

His kingdom

is crumbling.

His captives,

his prisoners,

are being set free

in the name of Jesus.

But what I want to

focus on here

is how Jesus

responds to his disciples

and how he reframes

their way of thinking

about life.

Notice that he

shifts their focus

away from what

they have done

and their performance,

what they have done,

to instead think about

who they belong to.

Jesus is changing

the equation.

Not my performance

equals my worth,

but no,

my worth comes

from whom

I belong to.

Notice Jesus says,

don't rejoice in this,

that the spirits

are subject to you.

Instead, rejoice

that your names

are written

in heaven.

Don't rejoice, guys,

on what you've done.

rejoice that you

belong to God.

That's the most

important thing.

Because even if it had

gone really badly wrong,

you would still

belong to God.

Jesus says to them,

don't rejoice in your

signs and wonders

you've performed.

Perhaps Jesus might say

to us,

don't rejoice in your

last essay mark.

Don't rejoice in your

job title.

don't rejoice in the

letters and qualifications

after your name.

Don't rejoice in how

many goals you've scored

in the last match or

your golf handicap when

you last played.

Don't rejoice in your

good looks.

Don't rejoice in how

big your house is or

how flashy your car is.

Don't rejoice in how

many people are friends

of yours on Facebook or

how many people follow

you on Instagram.

Abraham.

Jesus wants us to see

that all of these

performance indicators

on earth,

they're not the main

thing.

They're not the most

important thing.

Instead he says the

most important thing is

your name being written

in heaven.

I think that means and

signifies if your name

is written in heaven,

it means that you are a

member of the family of

God.

That you have a home

reserved for you in

heaven.

It's a little bit like

what happened whenever

you were born into this

world.

Your parents when you

were born they were

given by the hospital a

little slip of paper and

they had to make an

appointment to go down

into town to meet the

registrar and register

your birth.

And when they did that

your name went on the

central register of

births.

And then they got

usually I think maybe in

the olden days you got

to you got for free.

Now we've got to pay for

the privilege to get a

birth certificate.

So if you've got a

birth certificate well that

says well you've been

born in this country,

this is your family,

these are your people

and it opens up other

things.

You can get a passport and

you can do all these

other things.

If your name is on the

central register, well

you're in the family.

This is your home

country.

Well if your name is

written in heaven, well

that means that that is

your family too.

That you are a member of

God's family and you have

a home and a place

reserved for you in

heaven.

And Jesus wants us to

understand that that

fact is far more

important.

Whom we belong to is

far more important than

anything else that we can

do on this earth.

Our worth, our

significance, our value

in life comes through

knowing the God who made

us and taking up our

place in his great story,

the unique place in his

great story that he has

set out for each one of

us.

There's a Christian

psychiatrist called

Glenn Harrison who's

written all about this in

one of his books called

The Big Eagle Trip.

As a psychiatrist he

reviews all the

literature thinking about

this phenomenon throughout

the last 20, 30 years

that's been trying to

help people who feel bad

about themselves feel

better by boosting their

self-esteem, by thinking

more positively about

themselves, by reciting

more positive self-talk,

work.

But Harrison points out

that the studies and

literature shows that it

doesn't actually work or

at least it certainly

doesn't help the people

who most need the help.

And he says the reason

is this, it's really hard

to believe your own

propaganda.

It's really hard to

believe that things you're

saying to yourself, I am

great, I am big, I am

strong, I am.

It's really hard to believe

that for a long time.

He says we need a better

story.

Rather than a bigger,

better view of ourselves

that we tell ourselves,

instead we need a bigger,

better view of God and

understand that if he loves

us, if we are precious and

valuable in his sight, if he

has a place for us in his

great story, well that's the

thing that gives me worth.

That's the thing that makes

my life worth living.

That's the thing that will

really help.

Instead of telling us to love

ourselves more, Jesus comes

into this world and tells us

that in God's sight, you are

loved.

And God's love, it is not

based on our performance,

because based on our

performance, God has every

reason not to love us.

There is an awful lot that is

true about us which is

unlovely.

We might be able to hide it

from other people.

We might be able to put on

a good front.

We might be able to filter

our pictures when it goes up

on social media.

But God sees the real us,

warts and all, when nobody

else is there.

He sees what goes on in our

hearts and what goes on in

our, sorry, wrong place,

hearts and minds.

He sees it all.

He knows.

He knows the truth about

David Nixon.

It's not pretty.

It's not lovable.

But still, he chooses to

love us.

Not on the basis of our

performance, but on the

basis of his grace.

God sees us at our worst

and he still sends Jesus,

his son, to save us out of

that mess and to clean us

up.

The Bible tells us in Romans

Romans 5:8

chapter 5, verse 8, that

God has demonstrated his

love for us in this, that

while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

Someone has said that the

cross of Jesus Christ is the

pulpit of God's love.

Jesus proclaims to the

world, God loves you no

matter what you've done, no

matter what you've not done.

He made you.

He loves you.

He wants to save you.

And everyone who responds to

that, Jesus' invitation, come

and follow me.

They're the ones whose names

are written in heaven.

The good news about having

your name written in heaven

is that just as your name is

written in heaven, not on the

basis of your performance, not

on the basis of anything you've

done, but that also means that

it cannot be erased or removed

on the basis of anything that

you go on to do or fail to do.

Do you see that?

Your name has been written

there in the blood, the

indelible ink, the blood of

Jesus Christ, and it cannot be

erased.

You ever got blood on some

clothes?

You ever had it woken up and

your nose been bleeding and

it's leaked onto your pillow?

Do you know how hard that is to

get out?

Almost impossible.

Well, your name in heaven has

been written in the indelible

ink of the blood of Jesus

Christ, the Son of God.

It can't be removed.

It cannot be erased.

It is safe and secure forever.

Jesus has done everything that

is necessary.

He has come from heaven to

earth.

He has gone to the cross

bearing your sins.

He has died and risen again to

bring you back to God, to lift

you up to heaven.

Again, Tim Keller has written

for Christians, the verdict is

in.

And now I can perform on the

basis of the verdict.

Because God loves me and

accepts me, I do not have to do

things just to build up my

resume.

I do not have to do things to

make me look good.

I can do things for the joy of

doing them.

I can help people to help

people, not so I can feel better

about myself, not so I can fill up

the emptiness.

Jesus faced the trial that should

be ours so that we do not have to

face any more trials.

And so in Luke chapter 10, Jesus

Luke 10 · chapter mention

wants to save and deliver the

disciples from the performance

trap mindset.

He wants to get their eyes off

what they've done and wants them to

focus and rejoice instead on whom

they belong to.

They don't have to prove themselves.

They don't have to justify their

existence.

They don't have to earn God's

blessings.

No, Jesus assures them and he

assures us.

The verdict is in.

We can be loved and accepted on the

basis of what Jesus has done.

That changes everything.

There's no ladder to climb.

There's no treadmill to have to run.

It's done.

Your worth can be received as a gift.

So we started off with the film

Chariots of Fire.

We thought a fair bit about

Harold Abrahams and that way of

thinking, that way of working, that

way of thinking that worth in life

it has to be achieved by the things

that we do.

But there is an alternative as we've

gone on to see.

That alternative way of life is what

we've called your worth being

received as a gift.

In the film, Eric Little is the

personification of this second way

of living.

Eric Little was not just a great

athlete but he was also a Christian.

He understood that his life did not

depend upon his performance.

Little himself went on to win the gold

medal in a race he shouldn't have run

that he hadn't trained for.

He went on to win gold.

But that wasn't the thing that

defined him in life.

In fact, he gave it all up and went

off to be a missionary in China and

ultimately would die in a Japanese

internment camp.

In the film, there's this scene between

Eric and his sister.

He's telling her of his plans to give

up his athletics career, which had

brought him so much fame, could give

him so much fortune.

But give it all up and go and be a

missionary to China.

And his sister is trying to talk him

out of it, saying, what are you

thinking?

What are you doing?

Eric explains, I believe that God

made me for a purpose.

That's China.

But he also made me fast.

And when I run, I feel his pleasure.

You see, Eric Little was able to just

enjoy life and the gifts that God gave

him in life because he knew that he was

running a greater race.

That his life was part of God's bigger

story.

That's where his meaning was.

That's where his worth came from.

From the God who made him, who loved

him, who saved him.

And that's the kind of life that you and

I can enjoy.

If we would hear his invitation, Jesus'

words to us are, come and follow me.

And all you have to do is say yes.

And then you can rejoice that your name

is written in heaven.

Didn't get there by anything you did.

And it can't be taken away by anything

that you go on to do or fail to do.

That's where your security and worth

and value can come from.

You're here this morning, you don't know

Jesus and you've never said yes to

Jesus.

This morning is a chance to be able to

say yes to him.

And maybe in a moment or two, Craig

is going to come and he's going to tell

us what you can do to find out more

about Jesus.

If you'd like to find out more about

him and his passion for your life.

Not just now, but for eternity.

But first let me pray.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you love us.

Thank you that you have come to deliver

us from our sin,

but also from just the exhausting

performance trap and all of the anxiety

that comes from a life lived where all

depends on us.

Thank you, Lord.

It's not true.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you've come

and you've done so much for us to show

us your love.

Thank you that you have prepared a place

for each one of us in your great story

so that we might live for you and make

a difference for you in this world.

But thank you, Lord, that our hope is

that our names can be written in heaven.

Thank you that it doesn't depend all on us.

Thank you that it depends on you.

Thank you for the freedom that represents.

And I pray that you would help each of us

to leave here this morning,

tasting the sweetness of that,

the lies that we often hear in our heads,

the things that we think when we look

in the mirror.

Pray, Lord, today your voice, your words

would speak louder than all that stuff,

that you would set us free.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.