036. The Value of a Human Being

How much is a human worth?
(Quickly read news-clip headline titles (collected by Jennifer).

How much is a human worth?  Not much it seems!  People don’t seem to realize the value of one human – maybe you and I don’t.

I go to some filthy places, the people don’t seem interested in God’s things. And I leave feeling dirty and think ‘should I bother’.   Then I think of how Jesus values a human being.

THE VALUE OF A HUMAN BEING.

I read this quote some years ago...

pp     “If I should ever be tempted to dismiss someone as being unimportant, or boring, and not worthy of my time, Jesus bids me to look at HIM, suffering in agony of body and spirit for just such a one.  Nobody is unimportant to Him.  For just one person, Jesus would have suffered.  Help me, Lord, to see the priceless value of a single human.”

What is the value of one human?

Every day in our country, TODAY, while we sit here in comfort, people are being used, abused, murdered, maimed, robbed, bashed, raped, suiciding.  What is a human worth?  Not much it seems. ---

A missionary was in Africa where the custom was that when both parents died, the children were sold as slaves to other families, and a little orphan girl was put up for auction as a slave.  Some offered a few coins, some offered property, finally the village wit offered a pig.  The head man couldn’t think of anything more valuable and declared that this little orphan girl be sold in exchange for a pig.  I don’t suppose we can think of a human life being more degraded than to be sold for the price of a pig and to be owned by the village wit.

When the missionary heard about it, he went immediately and offered a higher price to the man who purchased her.  He paid the price – he redeemed her, and then paid for her to go to school and she later became the wife of a dedicated African pastor. ---  How tragic that there is so little value placed on a human being.

I read in a book where it said, “God’s people (that’s you and me). God’s people are on enchanted ground.  We’ve been bewitched!  Satan has caused us to lose nearly all sense of the value of a human and of the shortness of time.”

Friends, as we prepare for the communion service today, I can’t think of anything I want to talk about more than this:-  ‘What is human life really worth?’  What are you worth?  What am I worth?  What are people in our community worth?  What are they worth to Jesus?

Think about it.  It’s impossible to understand.  But we want to understand it a little better.

First we can compare the value of a human to earthly things of value.  What about gold and jewels?  The Cullinen Diamond – almost as big as a tennis ball.  The best diamond cutter in the world was found, and he studied that stone for a long, long time.  As he sensed the incredible value of that huge diamond, and his responsibility to cut it right, as he struck the final blow to cut it, he passed out –unconscious!

Part of that stone now forms the centre of the crown of the Queen of England and another part is in the head of the sceptre.  Glorious jewels of fabulous worth.  The queen’s crown alone has 2,000 diamonds, plus pearls, plus emeralds, plus rubies.

In Turkey, Delphine and I saw two Candlesticks – over 1 metre high -6666 diamonds.  In our travels we’ve also seen a Golden Couch – studded with over 1,000 topaz gems.  Fabulous worth.

We could take our national debt in Australia.  I don’t understand the figures but it’s probably well over $200 billion, and stack it up beside all the gold and jewels we’ve spoken about.  Jesus does, you know – He stacks it all up on one side, and on the other side He puts the little African orphan girl, to see which is of greater value in the eyes of heaven.   You know what His decision is? -  He wants the little orphan girl.  As far as Jesus is concerned, there’s no comparison.  You can’t compare a human being to material things, to worldly treasure.

pp    How does God value us?   Isaiah 13:12  “I will make a human more precious than fine gold;  more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir.”

Many Bible scholars believe that Ophir is a place somewhere in Africa and that huge wedge of gold they found may have been worth billions and billions of dollars.

But God says that you, and I, and each individual on Bribie Island, is worth far more.

One author said, “One soul saved ... is of more value than millions in money ... The wealth of the earth sinks into insignificance when compared to the value of a human for whom Christ died.”

In 1 Peter 1:18,19, the Bible says ...

Pp    “We are not redeemed with corruptible (or perishable) things such as silver and gold,  but with (what?) the precious blood of Jesus.”  ------

How much is that blood worth?  How big was the price for a single human?

So what’s the value of a human to God?  A LOT!  Priceless!

Why is it that we spend so much time trying to get these earthly treasures that are all going to perish with this life, and so very little time working to reach souls for eternal life?

So the Bible says that each individual in our community is priceless.  But what do the scientists think?

Before we knew too much about the hydrogen age, a human being could have been broken down into various minerals and things and would have been worth about $10 max, but the hydrogen age changed all that.

They’ve discovered that we have one octillion hydrogen atoms in our body with a tremendous amount of electricity.  Do you know how may an octillion is?

1 with 27 zero’s after it...
pp      1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
oct, sept, sext, quint, quad, tril, bill, mill, thou, hund

That’s how many hydrogen atoms are in one human body.

Dupont announced that the atoms in one body contain the potential energy of around 5 million kilowatt hours per kilo of body weight.

Think of the fabulous value!  By this estimate, an average man of say 70 kilos, is worth well over 80 million dollars in electricity, if you could harness that electricity in the hydrogen atoms of your body, according to Dupont.

Now, if it’s measured in kilos, think of what some of us are worth who have a battle with the flab around the middle – of tremendous value!- ---
Alright, how many is an octillion?  Dr Donald Andrew, professor of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University in the US tries to dramatise this to help us to understand.  He says that if every piece of dry land on our earth was covered by a snowstorm of dried peas one metre thick, how many peas would you have?  He says, only one sextillion peas.

Then he says that if you then go out into the Milky Way and gather up 250 planets each the size of the earth and cover each of these over with peas one metre deep, it would still only be one septillion peas.

One octillion? – you’d have to go out to the far reaches of the Milky Way and get 250,000 planets each the size of the earth and cover them one metre deep with peas and at last you’d have the number of hydrogen atoms in one human body.

Friends, I say, the human body is worth a lot.
Life is valuable.

Queen Elizabeth I cried out on her death bed, “All of my kingdom for one more moment of life.”   Life is valuable.

We’re really keen to extend our own life – we want to help people in our community to extend their lives too, by showing them a better, healthier, longer way of life.  But, how much are we prepared to do to save a human life for eternity?

If only we could understand better the value of a human being.

Moses understood. --   God’s people had made a golden calf and they were bowing down and worshipping it.  In Exodus 32: 31,32 it says ...

pp  “Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘O, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin – but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.’” 

Moses loved and valued the children of Israel.  He was saying, “If there’s no other way Lord, then I’m willing to lay down my life,” (just like Jesus did at Calvary), disregarding the cost to himself, just to save some more human beings for eternal life.

It’s no wonder that God could say in the Bible that “Moses talked to God face to face as a man speaks to his friend.”  Moses spent a lot of quality time and quantity time with God.  And friends, we need to too!  Moses understood the value that heaven places on a human being.

--- A 15 year old Christian girl said this about the money she earned from a part-time job.  “I had no temptation to spend my earnings for my own self. The salvation of other people was always on my mind, and my heart ached for those who were still out there unsaved.”  ----   She spent her money on books to give away – books that gave the message of salvation.  What a beautiful life, what a beautiful illustration of the understanding of the value of a human being.  At 15 years of age everything she was earning was put into getting literature out to prepare people for eternal life.

We’ll be doing a new improved letterbox leaflet for the church soon and you may like to help with the printing cost.  You and I need to have the spirit of that 15 year old girl.

I think of Mr Florias in South America.  He didn’t have much money but he wanted to help his three daughters to go out and work for Jesus.  So he put his little house up for sale.  It was really only a hut, and it brought a little over $300.  He sold it, his only possession, so his three daughters could have some support as they went out into the community to tell the good news of eternal life.

I’d say that Mr Florias understood heaven’s value of a human being.  He gave all that he had, to win people for heaven – he understood.

And as we go out, God will care for us, He’ll give us all we need (not our wants, but our needs).  He’ll never fail us as we see the real value of a human and take up the challenge to help, with our time, with our talents, with our treasure, with our tongue.

God doesn’t ask us to go out and then He lets us down.  He stands beside us.  As we behold the price that heaven paid, we want to reach out into the community, and God will give us success.

When we realise what a human is really worth, our priorities in life will change.  Young people, older people, at school, at work, in retirement, are reaching out in love to rescue the perishing.  A loaf of bread, a gospel booklet, a CD, hospitality, some care, a meal, an invitation to church where they can get some spiritual food, a phone call, some clothes, friendship, all because we’re beginning to realise heaven’s incredible value of the people in our community.

As we consider the communion service today and we look at the cross of Jesus and the hours of anguish that led up to it, and we see the great drops of blood coming out of His pores like sweat – and we hear the cry of utter despair as He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

We look at the blood dripping down His head, His flogged body, the pierced side, the blood dripping from the nail torn hands and feet.

And friends, when we remember that statement, that ‘for just ONE sinner, Jesus would have laid down His life’ – we begin to understand – the value – of a human being. –----

Just for a minute, let’s close our eyes and imagine we’re back at the cross, looking up at Jesus.

Keeping our eyes closed, listen to this beautiful poem that Jill is going to read,  ‘The Touch of the Master’s Hand’...

pp     (Violin playing quietly)
‘The Touch of the Master’s Hand’
The Touch of the Master’s Hand
‘Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bid, good folks?” he cried,
“Who’ll start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar – now two, only two –
Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?

Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three” –  but no;
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiped the dust from the old violin,
And tightening up all the strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As sweet as an angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, “What am I bid for the old violin?”
And he held it up with the bow.
“A thousand dollars – and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand – and who’ll make it three?
Three thousand once, three thousand twice –
And going, and gone,” said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
We do not quite understand –
What changed its worth?   –   The man replied,
“The touch of the master’s hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and torn with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.

A careless life, and a glass of wine,
Some gambling – and he travels on.
He’s going once, he’s going twice,
He’s going, and almost gone.
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd,
Never can quite understand
The worth of a human and the change that’s wrought –
By the touch of the Master’s hand.

Prayer

“Father we thank You for giving us a little more understanding as to how You value human beings on Bribie Island.  Please help us to value them the same as we go out and spend time with people this week.  Thank you for Your love.  Thank you for Jesus.  Thank You.  Amen”