JESUS IS PRECIOUS!

"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling,and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:4-9 ESV

Who or what is precious to you? To call something precious according to Webster’s Dictionary is to say that it is of great value or highly esteemed and cherished. There are many things that are very precious to me: My wife; my four children; my two grandchildren; San Clemente, my hometown; my church that I pastor, the Lighthouse; my favorite surfing break, upper Trestles; The National Parks, especially Yosemite; the Hawaiian Islands, especially Kauai; and the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

Is Jesus precious to you? He was to the apostle Peter. Last week we saw the Apostle Peter share two things about the preciousness of Jesus. The first was His intrinsic worth: “Jesus is precious” (1 Peter 2:4, 6). The second was His worth to those who believe: "To you who believe Jesus Christ is precious" (1 Peter 2:7). Now this week we will discuss the third aspect of His preciousness which is the gladness of those to proclaim His worth.


TELLING OTHERS ABOUT THE PRECIOUSNESS OF JESUS

In verse 9 we read, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light". Your power to give a compassionate witness about Jesus to unbelievers will grow in direct proportion to how precious Jesus is to you. Another good translation would be, "that we might declare his excellencies." The text explicitly says that God chose us and made us his new people for the purpose of telling people about his excellencies, about how precious Jesus is to us.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16, "You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Jesus shows us that our purpose on this earth is to make known God's identity, to show and tell the world how precious Jesus is! Peter describes it as “declaring His excellencies”.

Is Christ excellent to you? Do you know and understand and see His excellencies? Our power to make that declaration will increase in direct proportion to how precious Jesus really is to us. Evangelism, missions, worship, ministry, and living for His glory will increase in direct proportion that Jesus is to us. As John Piper says, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied with Him.” You cannot bear a credible witness to the value of anything if you do not sense or feel its value. Therefore the most important question we can ask ourselves if is: How much is Jesus worth? Jonathan Edwards so profoundly wrote:

“The excellency of Christ is such, that the discovery of it is exceedingly contenting and satisfying to the soul. The carnal soul imagines that earthly things are excellent-one thinks riches most excellent, another has the highest esteem of honor, and to another carnal pleasure appears the most excellent. But the soul cannot find contentment in any of these things, because it soon finds an end to their excellency. Worldly men imagine that there is true excellency and true happiness in those things which they are pursuing. They think that if they could but obtain them, they would be happy. But when they obtain them, and cannot find happiness, they look for happiness in something else, and are still upon the pursuit. But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency, that when they come to see him they look no further, but the mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in Jesus! It sees that until now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance. It sees that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean!”

If you ponder how much Jesus is worth to you and why, you will have your own personal authentic testimony. That's what the world needs to hear: Why is Jesus so precious?

Does Christ have that most wonderful place in your life where you see him as altogether lovely, your Beloved and your Friend? If not, listen to what the Puritan John Flavel said, “Away with those empty nothings, away with this vain deceitful world, which deserves not the thousandth part of the love you give it. Let all stand aside and give way to Christ. Oh if only you knew his worth and excellency, what he is in himself, what he has done for you, and deserved from you; you would need no arguments to persuade you to love him!”

Jesus is precious. He is the Father’s delight. He is so precious that many have suffered the loss of all things for His sake. He has called us to live our lives on this earth in a way that shows He is precious and that proclaims to the world how precious He is. This Christmas season is a great time to tell someone of the preciousness of Jesus to you.

Pastor Bill