What's Your Worth? (Isaiah 43:1-7)

Chad Richard Bresson

The Table of Los Fresnos

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Unknown Worth

In 1947, a law firm opened in New York City and this new law firm hired a young secretary named Sylvia Bloom. Over the years, the law firm grew to thousands of employees and staff. The secretary was married to a firefighter… and they lived in a modest apartment in New York City. She took the subway to work for years, finally retiring after 60 years with the law firm. When she died a few years ago, her relatives discovered $9 million dollars in her bank account. Apparently, over the years, Sylvia Bloom had been in charge of making stock investments for the lawyers at her firm. And every time she made an investment for them, she made a smaller investment with her own money in the same stocks. Over the years, she became a millionaire… and no one knew. No one knew her financial worth. At her death, some of the money went to family and friends. But most of it went to foundations and scholarships for underprivileged kids in New York City.

No one knew her worth. Our question from our text today is this: What’s your worth? What sets your value? This is where we begin our series for Lent. For the next few Sundays, we’re going to be in the book of Isaiah and our focus and attention is going to be on Isaiah’s hope for a people that are in exile… in a foreign country that is not their own.. in a place where they don’t speak the language. Their home in Jerusalem had been wiped out. The temple leveled. And Isaiah’s hope is expressed in music. Isaiah provides them with a series of songs all focused on the coming of One who is going to make everything OK. The Suffering Servant of Isaiah.

In the middle of all this talk of the Suffering Servant who is their hope for a terrible time, Isaiah stops everything to tell them something that they will need to hear… something they will need to remind themselves about over and over and over again. It’s the passage we just read. If you’re hundreds of miles from home as captives being forced to relocate and make new homes in a place that is not what you know… identity is at the top of the daily list of concerns. You talk about PTSD.

Ever been to the House of Mirrors at the Carnival? What happens to your body in the mirrors? Some mirrors you’re really big, really tall, really skinny. How many of you make the funny faces? You know what you don’t get in the house of mirrors? An accurate picture of what you look like. And if you’re like me, the fun in the house of mirrors is over pretty quickly. Stand in there long enough and it begins to feel creepy. And a big depressing. Because the mirror isn’t simply distorting what your body looks like, you begin to realize that the mirrors are distorting reality.

We live in a world of house of mirrors. Our screens, our newsfeeds… we have more access than ever to information. But reality has never been more distorted. Bad information comes in all forms. Who hasn’t scrolled through Instagram looking at all the beautiful people and families and thought: man, I wish my life were like that? We see perfect people with perfect families and perfect marriages delighting in perfect jobs. And when these images seductively summon us, what do we see? We see that we don’t measure up. You name it—we don’t have it. Addicted to how the world sees us, we begin feeling tall and skinny, short and fat, ugly and creepy. If we look into these mirrors long enough, we begin to languish, lose heart, and feel worthless.

And when we feel worthless, we not only discount ourselves, we begin discounting everybody else. You name them—we discount them: spouse, child, colleague, parent, boss. When we feel like nothing, we treat other people like nothing. We sell each other off for cut-rate prices, slashing and burning reputations. Obsessed with what we don’t have, we get stuck in the game of gossip, the silent stares, and the jungle of judgment.

And it’s not just the screens. Everywhere we turn, whatever environment we find ourselves in, we’re being given a distorted sense of reality. We tried to find identity in what we do, in relationships, in sexuality, in hobbies. There’s all this talk about finding a true north, but north keeps on shifting depending on the circumstance.

Isaiah 43: Now

In seven short verses, Isaiah is going to cut through all the noise, he’s going to tear down the house of mirrors… he’s going to bring clarity to the confusion, and hope for those who feel totally helpless. And I’ve come to believe these may be some of the most important verses you will ever read… or hear… or sing. In fact, if you like marking up your Bible, I’d encourage you to put a big box around these seven verses.

The first thing we should see here is in the very first verse of this section:

Isaiah 43:1 “Now this is what the Lord says

That word “now” is huge. This is one of those transitional uses of “now”. It’s like you’ve said a bunch of stuff… but “now” you’re getting to the most important point. The way chapter 42 ends is not good at all. In fact, God again is reminding Israel just why they find themselves hundreds of miles from home in a country that has imposed forced immigration on them. God did it. And God did it because they had spent centuries in unbelief and his patience ran out. In fact last verse of chapter 42 says God poured out his furious anger and poured the power of war on Israel. They brought this on themselves. So God himself is playing into the anxiety and misery here, but he does so in order to put what he says next in bright neon lights.

“Now”. A shift is happening… and this shift isn’t anything like what he just said at the end of chapter 42.

I’m talking to “You”

The second thing we need to see:

Isaiah 43:1 “Now this is what the Lord says— the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel—

Before we look at what Isaiah is actually saying here… before we go any further.. that word “you”. We can’t see in our English translations. But that “you” is singular. So the shift with “now”, isn’t just about the content. It’s who God is addressing. It’s as if Isaiah has stopped all the noise, stopped all the shouting.. God is no longer talking to the collective community. He is getting personal. So much so, in these 7 verses this word “you” shows up 25 times. You don’t think God cares? Just listen to him. It’s as if he has grabbed us by the shoulders because he has something that we personally need to hear. The focus ins’t on Israel the nation, it’s not on Babylon, it’s not on the leaders or groups… the focus is on the individual. “You”. This entire section is you-centric.

You have my name

And what does God have to say personally to the exiles?

Isaiah 43:1 “Now this is what the Lord says— the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel— “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine.”

You’re mine. I made you. I have redeemed you. You’re mine. Wow. Already, that has our attention. And from the very opening of this interlude.. this break.. it becomes very, very obvious that God is aiming at their identity. What’s your worth? Well… you’re mine. I made you. I gave you breath, I gave you life, I gave you a name… my name, as a matter of fact. Name plays such a critical role in identity. I grew up as a Bresson. That brought with it certain expectations. And for years, I was enslaved to that name. Until I read this… I have another name that has been given to me, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In baptism. My worth is not and cannot be found in Bresson.

They’re hundreds of miles from everything they know about reality and here’s God saying… do not fear, I have redeemed you. I have purchased you. I have called you by your name… and oh, by the way, later in verse 7… that name happens to be my name that I stamped on you.

You have my promise

And because you have my name, you have my promises. This is breath-taking here… God rattled off a bunch of promises… all tied to the exile’s salvation

I will be with you.

The rivers will not overwhelm.

You will not be scorched.

I will give people in exchange.

I will bring your descendents.

I will say to the north and to the south, “bring them all home”

The main ones are the first and the last… I will be with you. I will bring you all home. No matter what has happened. No matter what happens to them in a foreign country. They have his promise.. I will be with you. And I will again gather you together and bring you home from wherever you have been scattered.

But the reason this text stands as a brilliant light in contrast to everything Isaiah has said up to this point is in the heart of the passage. What’s your worth? God has already said “you’re mine”. Almost nothing speaks to identity more than God saying “You have my name. You’re mine”. That’s your identity. But God isn’t done. There’s one more thing that is absolutely stupendous. You can’t make this up!

Because: I love you

Verse 4:

Isaiah 43:4 “Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you

The word precious there is the word used for gemstones. He sees us… his eyes only see “precious” when he sees us. He’s not just aiming for identity. He’s aiming at the heart.

And he does it using this word “because”. I think I’ve read this 100 times and it wasn’t until a few years back I saw this… and now I can’t unsee it. God says “you’re precious”. “You’re honored”. “I love you.” That’s your identity! It’s not enough to know you have his name… as much of identity that is. But he goes a step further. Why does God use the word “you” 25 times here? Because he loves us.

You know why I can’t unsee this? That word “because”. This flips all of reality on its head. In fact, it flips everything I was ever told about God as a kid. And what I taught about God in a previous life. We have identity and we have worth because he loves us. And that word because says His love is the very reason he has given us his name. He doesn’t love us because he has given us his name… as important as that is. And that’s how we so often approach this. God loves because because he has a plan for us. God loves us because that’s how he gets the glory. No. That word because is telling us His love came first. He gave us his name because he loves us. He gave us life because he loves us. He set up this world and put the entire world in motion because he loves us. His love for us came first. Because we are precious, he redeemed us. Does his redemption of us make us precious? Of course it does. But just stop and look at that sentence. It all starts with his love for you. Everything. All of reality. Are you kidding me?

Your worth is you are loved

What is it that they need to hear in Babylon in all of the confusion and anxiety? They are precious, they are loved. And because they are loved, they have everything they need. And what we need to hear during Lent, is that we are precious in His eyes. We are loved. What’s Your Worth? Your worth is that you are loved by the very one who created you… and this text is saying that he created you just so he could love you. That’s a worth that can never me touched. That’s your identity.

How you stack up in the eyes of others does not reflect your worth. Your worth is given to you by Jesus the moment he loved you and he loved you before you were ever born. This word for precious doesn’t simply convey worth as a gemstone. It also conveys significance. Stature. You are prized, priceless, preferred.. You are precious. That’s your identity. That’s your worth.

Let’s pray.

The Table

The word redeemed and ransomed show up a couple of times here. That’s also pointing to God’s heart for you. We are so precious, that Jesus came to make us His own on the cross. All of Jesus is for us. His hands, his feet, his head… nailed with a crown of thorns. That’s how much he loves you. He died so that He would always be with us.. always watching us, always hearing us, always loving us. The cross. That’s our identity. That’s our worth.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.

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