Skip to content 5. Biblical Values: What is of Ultimate Importance? Sep 7 · 27 min ...more
September 7, 2023 · 27 min · Life Redefined
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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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Life Redefined: Biblical Values and Ultimate Importance 0:00 Shall we give the Lord a clap offering, church? Hallelujah. What a joy. What a privilege for us to worship together as a church family. And for those who are watching at0:12 homes, we welcome you. And for all those who are present in person service at Macquarie Center, we welcome you. God bless you. Hallelujah. Shall we give the Lord a clap offering?0:24 It is such a joy and a privilege to continue to study the word of God together. The Lord is doing some amazing things in our midst, and we have come to the end of September. In 9 months,0:36 we have seen God's faithfulness in taking the church from strength to strength, from being in 1 location to now doing 2 locations, as well as an online service. I'm thankful to the0:48 Lord for what God is doing in our midst. Oh, praise God. Hallelujah. Today is also what they call Rosh Hashanah. It's the beginning of a1:00 new season in the life of God's people in Israel. In other words, it's the it's the beginning of a new year, and this is the season for reflection,1:12 a season for repentance, and a season to renew our surrender, our commitment back to the Lord. So even as we are in this series called right life redefined,1:24 we are on the fifth sermon today. I want us to take time to reflect upon our own lives, our own pilgrimage with our Lord Jesus Christ. Life redefined, biblical1:36 values, what is of ultimate importance. That's what we're gonna study today. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you so much for your goodness, your grace upon our lives. Even this morning,1:48 we turn our attention towards you, Lord. And we ask that you speak to our hearts. Give us listening ears and a heart that is willing to obey your word. Holy spirit, I acknowledge that you are our teacher.2:00 We thank you. I pray your blessing remain upon your people even as they hear. And, Lord, I thank you for the Holy Spirit who's our teacher. In Jesus name and the people of God said,2:11 amen and amen. We're continuing in our sermon series on the topic life redefined. Today, we are on the fifth session on the topic of biblical2:24 values. What is of ultimate importance in my life? Over the course of the last 4 sessions, we discovered the key questions that we need to2:36 ask for spiritual formation. If you want to be intentional in disciple making, these questions matter. It always begins with who is God? Biblical2:48 theology. At the same time, once you affirmed who God is, it goes to biblical allegiance. Who is truly my master in life? And3:00 as you know who your master is, it goes to biblical identity. Who am I? Now, this key question needs to be addressed. Who am I? Or more importantly,3:12 whose am I? And as you discover biblical identity, it leads to biblical purpose. What am I called to do? Now, once you understand your biblical3:24 purpose, it leads to biblical values. What is of ultimate importance in my life? Why? Because values is a purpose word.3:36 Let me refresh your mind. Biblical purpose leads to biblical values because values is a purpose word. I wanna highlight there are twin focus3:48 for us. There is twin purpose in our discipleship. 1 is our walk with God and secondly, it is our work for God. In other words, as you4:00 learn to walk with him in intimacy, you learn to work with him wherever he's working, wherever he's leading and directing and empowering. You do the work. So you walk with4:12 him and you work with him. That's our twin purpose. Go with me to Mark chapter 3 and verse 14. Jesus calls his disciples and he appoints 12 to be4:23 apostles. And these 12, there are twin focus for them. 1, so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach. Look at that. That they might be with4:35 him. That's the walk with him. Secondly, so that he might send them out to preach so that they can work for him and more importantly work with him. Now4:47 biblical purpose is centered upon God. In other words, when you summarize the entire new testament teachings and say what is the biblical purpose I need to be anchored upon? It's only4:59 these 2 things, Abiding in the king and advancing his kingdom. Now, abiding in the king means that I learn to walk with him every single day.5:11 I learn to surrender my life to him every single day. At the same time, I advanced his kingdom. I learned to work with him and I learned to work for him. Praise God.5:22 Now, both these things abiding in the king and advancing his kingdom means 1 thing is of primary importance. My life needs to be aligned to the king. There has to be5:34 a divine alignment. And where exactly does the alignment need to be? It needs to be in our value system. I want you to catch this principle. Nothing changes5:46 until our values change. Nothing changes until our values change. So we have to examine our values. You know, in Jeremiah chapter5:58 15 and verse 19, the Lord actually uses a contrast. This is from the lips of our Lord. Look at what he says. Therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return,6:10 I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious and what and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall6:22 turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. I want you to see the contrast here. He says, if you return to me and then you examine what you utter and then he puts 2 things side by side, he6:34 says, if you utter what is precious and not what is worthless. In other words, what God wants you and I to do as disciples of Christ is to be able to6:45 examine and discern what is precious and what is worthless. In other words, what is worthless and what is priceless. I want you to think about this.6:57 Why? Because most people live life on an auto cruise, on an auto cruise mode. In other words, they are just gravitated towards what the world treasures.7:09 You know what the world treasures? The world treasures things that are temporal, the fleeting pleasures. The the world treasures the transient possessions and man's fickle7:21 opinion and popularity. I want you to think about this, But God always considers things that are precious. What are those things that are precious? Things that are eternal. So that's why I want us to examine7:33 today so that we can grow in our discipleship. What is of ultimate importance? That we learn to discern between the precious and the worthless?7:45 You know, when you read the book, First Things First written by Stephen Covey. In that he shares an illustration. He talks about a professor who wants7:57 to highlight the importance of first things first. So this is what he did. He brought a glass jar to the class. And then on the table, it next to the jar, there8:09 was rocks, big rocks, and then there was, sand. There were pebbles. There was a jar jug of water. Now this is what he said to the class. Watch8:21 this. I'm gonna take all these big rocks and put it into the glass jar. So he piled it all the way to the top. Now he asked the question to the class. Is the jar full?8:33 And the students answered, yes. But then the professor took a bowl of, pebbles and he started to pour into the jar and the pebbles found all the8:45 gaps that were in the rocks, in the midst of the rocks and then they filled the jar. Now the professor asked the question, is the jar full? And the student says, yes. But the professor8:57 then took a bowl of sand from the seashore and he started to pour the sand into the jar. Now, the sand started to find all the other gaps that are in the jar and9:09 started to fill up. Now, once it was full, he asked a question to the students, is the jar full? And the student says, yes. The jar is full. But then the professor took a jug of9:21 water and started to pour in, and the water also started to flow into the jar until it was full, fully immersed. Then the professor asked this million9:33 dollar questions to all the students. What was the conclusion? What is the observation? What is the moral of this example? 1 student put up his hand and he said,9:45 professor, I think in life there is always space to pack more stuff. We always think that we don't have any space, but in life we actually have space to pack a lot of9:57 stuff. The professor kindly said, you it is a right observation but it's the wrong conclusion. What is the right conclusion? The right conclusion is, if you if you did not10:08 put the big rocks first into the jar, you would not be able to get it in later. In other words, you have to be intentional to fill your life with the10:20 big rocks first. You have to be intentional to talk about what is the big foundational rocks for my life. This is the reason why the Bible says, you and I as disciples of10:32 Christ, we need to have the discernment to know the difference. What is precious and what is worthless? What is priceless and what is worthless? Otherwise, we will consume our time. We10:44 will spend all our resources on things that do not matter. So what is of ultimate importance? It again comes back to knowing our biblical10:56 values. I wanna give you 4 applicational principles to live a value driven life. This is a topical sermon, and I wanna give you a 4 key11:08 principles that will help you shape your values. The first 1 is choose your source wisely. Choose your source wisely. In other11:19 words, it answers the question, where do we get our values from? You know, many times when you examine where you get your values from, you get it from your parents. Sometimes it's from your peers. Maybe11:31 from magazines or books that you read, music that you listen to, or society in general, or the media, the social media. But can I give you a framework to think about it? There are 311:43 main sources of values. Number 1, there's defining models. There are parents who model a life of value driven life for their children. When the children go to school, you want11:55 them to learn from their teachers a value driven life. Now these are defining models. When they come to church, they watch the leaders lives and these are defining models for them. And12:07 they in in in other words, in the kingdom of God, many things are caught not taught. In other words, you see someone else do this and then you catch it. That's why we say12:19 example explains everything. Live a life that others can model after. Number 2, the main source of values is divine mentors. Sometimes God sends certain people along your path.12:31 Maybe it is just that 1, divine appointment you had and that 1 divine conversation you had. It was just a contact, but the thing that they said left you a huge impression12:43 and shaped and influenced your values. Or it could be a mentor that God has sent your way to walk with you for a season or even for a lifetime. And as they journey with you, you are shaped12:55 and influenced by their values. And so your values are formed. Third source is deep valley moments. Many times I've examined this in people's lives that13:06 they values that they hold dear are formed in the crucible of pain. When they go through pain, when they go through tragedies, when they go through loss, when they go through failures, when they go13:18 through crisis or conflict, in the midst of it, their values are formed. So in these 3 ways, your values can be formed. But 1 thing you and I need to examine is13:30 who is actually shaping and influencing my values? What is it? What is the source of my value system? Because always remember this, you're going to receive your values either13:42 from Christ or from culture, either from the word of God or from the world. You know, an observation was made that on average, there13:54 are people watch about 2 to 2, 2 and a half hours of television per day in Australia. On average, whether it is consuming media from TV or social media14:06 or surfing the net with their devices, people on average spend 2 and a half hours. But you know, on an average, people spend only 2 hours per week14:18 to receive spiritual input. So ask yourself this question, who is actually shaping your values? Many times, it's the media. It is the it's the it's the world, not the word of God. Because if14:30 you accumulatively look at a man's life, a person can live up to 65, 75, 85. And as they they said, an average person in 65 years of their life would have watched thousand14:42 hours of TV on average. That means thousand hours per year. I want you to listen to me. That's more than 5 and a half years of your lifetime spent on watching TV.14:54 What they call the idiot box. But I want you to think about this. The input that they receive into their spiritual life, sometimes it's only 2 hours, sometimes it's not even that, per15:06 week. And that amounts to only about a few months in their entire lifetime. Listen carefully. That's why we have to examine what is feeding us.15:18 Where is our source coming from? Where is our values coming from? And we ought to choose wisely. Now why do we need to choose? Why is it important for us to choose our values? Let me give you 3 reasons. 1, our15:30 values affect our lives. You know, they say the number 1 stress factor today is caused by incongruent values. Incongruent values. In other words, when your15:42 values are unclear, you are confused in your life. If your values are in conflict, you have stress in your life. So listen, your values affect your lives. Secondly, your15:53 values control the success in life. In other words, your values help you to make decisions. It is the it is the value grid that you filter through your decisions. Number 3,16:05 our values affect our spiritual life. It is possible to live outwardly successful and be spiritually bankrupt on the inside. That's why we need values. Let me give you16:17 the values that the world celebrates. The whole world's value system can be summarized in 3 things. Number 1, the pleasure. Number 2, possessions. And number 3,16:29 prestige. The whole world's value system. Where do I get this from? First John chapter 2 and verse 15 and verse 16 says, do not love the world nor the things of this world. In the in in if anyone16:41 loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the16:53 father but is from the world. Let me explain those 3 things. The desires of the flesh, what are they? They are the pleasure. The world's mantra is this, we want to have fun.17:05 It feels good. I want you to think about this. It feels good. That's why I wanna do it. Second 1 is possessions. Possessions is we base our self worth on our net worth. In17:17 other words, the more we accumulate, we feel better about ourselves. Number 3, prestige. We want people to think we are important and successful. I want you to carefully examine this. How many Christians we17:29 know are caught in this? They are pleasure seeking. They are very materialistic, and they are status conscious. But what does the Bible say about a disciple? In Romans chapter 12 and verse 2, the Bible says, do not be17:40 conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. In other words, you and I have to choose the source of our values wisely.17:52 That's the application for you this morning. Number 2, clarify what's important purposefully. This is the second application of principle. Clarify18:05 what's important purposefully. You know, when someone is running the rat race without realizing they become the number 1 rat, They accumulate. They have prestige. They18:16 have status. They have possessions, and they have all the enjoyment in the world. And you know what? The Bible calls that person someone who runs after vanity. And at the end18:28 of all, what they will have is just meaninglessness. You know, in the Bible there was a man who had all of this. The Bible actually calls him the wisest man.18:40 Not only that, the Lord gave him the riches. So he was 1 of the richest men in the Bible. In fact, he was known for the great architecture, the great works he did. He18:52 enjoyed good wine and then great women from all over the world. Listen. Here's a man who, in his journal, records for us all the things he had accomplished,19:04 and then he summarizes what he actually thinks of it in old age. Look at this. In Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 4 to verse 11. I made great works. I19:16 built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks and planted them in all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water19:27 the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves. I had slaves who were born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks more than anyone who had been before19:39 me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers both men and women and many concubines, the delight19:51 of the sons of men. Verse 9 says, so I became great and surpassed all who are before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me and whatever my20:03 eyes desired, I did not keep them from me. I kept my heart from no pleasure for my heart found pleasure in all my toil and this was my reward for all my toil.20:15 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing this And behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind and there was20:26 nothing to be gained under the sun. What a tragic statement. At the end of accumulating everything, enjoying everything, he comes back to saying,20:39 all was striving half the wind. In other words, it was meaningless. This is what the New Testament says. Jesus said in Luke chapter 9 and verse 25, for what does it20:51 profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? Listen. What is of ultimate importance? It is not the pleasure or the21:02 prestige or the possessions. It's not what the world thinks that you have arrived and celebrate you. It is actually what God thinks. And here the Bible says, what is of ultimate21:14 importance is your soul. Can I give you a few things that the Bible considers as precious? Whatever the Bible considers as precious are things that are eternal.21:26 And there's only 3 things that are eternal that I wanna focus on today. 1, God is eternal. 2, the word of God is eternal because God's word is eternal.21:38 He gives it to us. Eternal God has given us his word. We gotta treasure it. The third thing is the souls of men. The word of God points us that the 1 thing that is precious21:50 in the entire world is the souls of men. That's why he who wins souls is wise, the Bible says. But can I take a step back and look at this? You and I have to clarify what's22:02 important. Otherwise, we will be just caught up in the rat race. You know, Tony Campolo, in 1 of his books, shares an illustration. He said he grew up in a neighborhood that was poor,22:14 and the kids were bored, and they wanted to they're always mischievous. So 1 night, they walked into the local store, and they actually went into the local store and and22:26 they didn't steal anything, but they just changed exchanged the price tags. In other words, what was expensive, they put a very cheap22:38 price. And what was cheap, they put an expensive price. So they just switched the price tag. And the next day, there was pandemonium in the shop. The reason is because22:50 people were puzzled to find a toilet paper roll for hundred dollars. It costs hundred dollars. Whereas a laptop costs only a dollar. I want you to listen to me. When the price23:01 tags are switched, there is chaos. What happens in our own life is we live life where we have switched the price tag. We are pursuing what the23:13 Bible calls worthless as precious. And what the Bible calls precious, we marginalize as worthless. Listen carefully. You and I, we need to pay attention. Ask yourself23:25 this question. Why does someone of knowing this truth often live life with a switched price tag? I give you 3 reasons why people switch price tags and23:37 still continue to live like that. Number 1, it's because we live for time and not for eternity. We only have a short term perspective of life. Listen. This life on earth23:49 is temporal. The life in the kingdom of God is eternal. Eternal doesn't mean lots and lots of time. Eternal is timeless. You and I, we need to have an eternal perspective while we are24:00 living on earth. This time on earth is a blip compared to eternity. Second reason, we live by sight and not by faith. In other words,24:12 because we are so, caught up with this earthly realm, we place importance on things that are material and physical, things that can be seen. But the Bible says the eternal24:24 kingdom of God is an unseen realm. Things that are unseen are eternal, are spiritual. That's why sometimes we just walk by sight not rather than walking by faith.24:37 The third reason is we live with an ontological inversion. What is an ontological inversion? We have we live an upside down life. In In other words, God24:48 created us first as a spiritual being and he placed us in an earthly realm. He put us in an earthly body in an earthly realm, but we are first a25:00 spiritual being. But at the fall of man, we the whole thing was inversed. There was an inversion of the personhood, the beinghood. Now we think physical body and physical25:12 life is everything. That's the first. And we have cursory spiritual experiences. But we need to come back to rewiring ourselves to recognize that we are spiritual being. 125:24 day, this earthly suit will will be buried or it will be cremated. Whatever happens. But the spiritual reality, the spirit of man will remain forever.25:36 That's why you and I, we need to understand what is precious in the eyes of God is the soul of man. So you and I, we need to understand what is of ultimate importance. So if you want to live a25:48 life to clarify what's important, let me give you 1 question. The 1 question is, what is of ultimate importance in the eyes of God? Can I humbly say this? It is living for26:00 the approval of God. If your life is approved of God then that's the most important thing. Because you could be celebrated among men and still be not approved26:12 before God. You could be applauded by men but not be approved by God. So what is important? Being approved by God. Psalm chapter 1 is a good26:24 chapter to memorize. The chapter 1 of Psalm, it compares and contrasts the life of a wicked with the life of a righteous. And the key theological26:36 anchor for this Psalm is in verse 6. In verse 6, it says, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. In other words, the26:48 Lord knows the righteous. The Lord knows who is living rightly. Correct? But here the Bible specifically points, the Lord knows the way of the righteous.27:00 What does it mean? We have to understand whatIn this video 0:00 Life Redefined: Biblical Values and Ultimate Importance
Paul Jeyachandran
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