April 25, 2024
Scott McVey, associate pastor
Northside Baptist Church, Brunswick
What is a one hundred dollar bill worth? You would probably say, “One hundred dollars.” In one sense you would be right and in one sense wrong.
The paper does not have an Intrinsic value of one hundred dollars. Since 1933, when America went off the gold standard, there is not even one hundred dollars worth of gold to back it up. A one hundred dollar bill is only worth one hundred dollars because our U.S. Treasury has placed that value on it.
According to the Mayo clinic, the chemicals in the human body are valued at approximately $4.50. Fortunately, in God’s eyes, a person is worth more than the sum of the value of the elements in his/her body. You are valuable because God, for some reason, values you. God’s valuation of you began even before your conception.
How do you know you are valuable in God’s eyes? Your intrinsic value is revealed by three truths.
Remember, what was true of Jeremiah is true for you and for everyone.
God had a purpose for Jeremiah. God selected him. He knew him before he was formed. It is one thing to brag about who you know. It is quite another thing to boast about who knows you.
There may be many people you know who don’t claim to know you. God knows you and claims to know you.
Not only did God know Jeremiah, He chose him. Nothing makes a person feel better than to be chosen by someone. Knowing everything about you even before you were conceived, your strengths and flaws, your obedience and disobedience, God chose you. Wow!
Not only did God select Jeremiah, He shaped him in his mother’s womb. In the words of the Psalmist, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). When God made Adam and Eve, He did so with His hands. Handmade items always have a greater value. God wove you while in your mother’s womb. You are a one-of-a-kind creation of God.
God also sanctified the prophet. He was set apart for a special purpose. God has special plans for you (Jeremiah 29:11-14). God has chosen you to do things and say things that will impact all time and eternity.
He sanctioned Jeremiah to carry out that plan. He gave him authoritative permission and approval to act. The sight of the rod of the almond tree in verse 11 was reminiscent of Aaron’s budding rod. This was a confirmation of the authority God had bestowed on Jeremiah.
Jeremiah related to God his fear of rejection because of his youth. Young Timothy had the same problem. Paul instructed him not to let anyone despise his youth, but instead, to be an example to believers in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (1 Timothy 4:12).
Jeremiah realized the facts. Notice the absolute words God used. God declared to him that he would go to everyone God sent him to, speak whatever God told him to speak, and not to fear anyone.
Why? God told him he was not alone. God promised to be with him and to deliver him.
The rest of the book indicates that Jeremiah responded in faith. He went to everyone to whom God sent him, and spoke everything God said. As God, indeed, was with Jeremiah, He will be with you to carry out His purpose.
Everyone needs a touch from God. Here, we discover Jeremiah needed a touch. The New Testament is full of examples of people coming to Jesus for a touch. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing that matters (John 15:5). That is why we need to be equipped by God’s touch. His touch enables us and empowers us to carry out His ministry.
Jeremiah was equipped with God’s truth. According to the Jesus, God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). Just like Jeremiah, our mouths need to be filled with His words. God promises that when our mouth is His, and His words our words, when we speak, the words accomplish what He pleases and sends them to do (Isaiah 55:11). We will be successful when we are equipped by His touch and with His truth.
Jeremiah was equipped to do His task. Our lives are not about what we can do for God. Jesus came to do His Father’s will and at the end said, “It is finished.” Paul said that he had finished the race set for him. Your task is to discover God’s will for your life and to do it.
To do God’s tasks, you must, like Jeremiah, acknowledge your appointment. God had an appointed plan for Jeremiah and He has one for you.
You must act on His authority. Jeremiah was appointed over the nations. You have been commissioned by the Lord who has all authority in Heaven and on earth.
You must act with acumen. Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes there is a time to uproot and tear down and a time to build and plant. You need discernment from the Lord as to who, when, and where to tear down and to build up.
As we acknowledge that God has a purpose for everyone, it stands to reason that to abort even one life is to abort the very purpose of God and to cast aside for convenience sake, one valued by God and created for a purpose.
