Luke 23:32-43

32 Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. 33 When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. 35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. 37 They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” 40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” 43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

It is here in Luke that we come across two criminals that were crucified on either side of Christ. Both scoffed at the Savior but one had a change of heart and his ridicule was replaced with a request. Now we know very little about him, in fact all we really know is that he was a thief. What he stole or how long he had been stealing we don’t know. We don’t even know why he became a thief, was it the result of abandonment by a father who walked out on him before he was born and he grew up destitute. Did he only steal from the Romans because somehow he felt justified in taking from them, because of their occupation and cruel oppression of his people? Did he steal out of need or did he steal out of greed? The truth is there is a lot that we just don’t know about this guy, but what we do know is that one day he got caught, went to court and was found guilty. As a result on a Friday 2,000 years ago he found himself nailed to a cross right next to Christ. Here was a person that the world would label a looser, a wasted and worthless life. Yet how did Jesus see Him? What did Jesus think of Him? Bringing that question closer to home let me ask you this, what does Jesus think of you and not just when things are great and you are doing good? Have you ever stopped and wondered what Jesus thinks of you, when like the thief on the cross you have been caught, you know you are busted, you have been tried and you know you are guilty? On that Friday 2,000 years ago a thief woke up left his prison cell walked up a hill carrying his cross and along with Jesus was nailed to it at 9am. Had he heard of Jesus before this day, had he witnessed his miracles, we don’t know. But one thing we do know, he hung there in pain as he was being punished for his crimes, and at first he responded to Jesus just like everyone else. He treated Christ with contempt, just like the Pharisees and religious leaders. He hung next to Christ hurling insults at the creator of the universe. At first he chose to join the chorus of those who mocked the Messiah, attacking the Almighty. How long did his insults spew from his lips, like venom from a viper, one hour, two, or three, we don’t know but what we do know is that the longer he hung on that cross close to the Prince of Peace the more things began to change. To the point where as he looked at the Lord he no longer saw a man who had been beaten, torn and ripped apart as his lungs grasped for air like a drowning man, but instead he saw a King and it caused him to cry out “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Have you ever wondered why this man had such a drastic change in attitude towards Jesus? I think it’s because of what he experienced what he saw and heard. He witnessed Jesus endure the cruelty of the Romans, the ridicule of the crowd and the pain of the cross and yet despite all this Jesus responded to the cruelty with control, to the pain with peace, to the insults with love. He experienced the contrast between how he and the other criminal responded to the crucifixion and how Christ did. He heard Jesus respond to His mother and the disciple whom he loved standing next to her, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother” John 19:26. He heard Jesus respond to him and the many others who ridiculed and despised him with these 12 unbelievable words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” In the suffering he saw the Son of God and he cried out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Think about that for a moment here was this thief, a sinner, who like everyone else had mocked and insulted the Messiah and now he asks Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. If you were Jesus how would you have responded to a man who just moments before had been ridiculing you? We would have responded with hate but Jesus responded with hope saying, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” I doubt anyone was that coming. Hollywood would have never written that line into their script. But Jesus simply said yes, I will take you home with me to my kingdom. Now why would Jesus do that, what could He possibly have to gain by promising this thief a place of honor at the banquet table? What could this criminal offer Christ, here was a guy who would never attend a church service, teach a class or lead a life group. He would never tithe or go on a mission trip or help out the homeless. Unlike the woman at the well who went back and shared the story of living water with those she lived with. Or the leper who was made whole that could share with the world about the miraculous healing power of Jesus. Or the man in John 5 who had been crippled for 38 years who told the religious leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. But this thief, what was he going to do? Absolutely nothing and that is the point. You see your worth is not tied to your work, your value is not based on what you do it’s based on what He has done. If there is one thing we need to both get and grasp a hold of it’s that Jesus’ love does not depend on what we do for Him. In the eyes of Christ who willingly hung on the cross 2,000 years ago you have value. How much value? So much that He traded His life for you, buying you with His blood. That means that you don’t have to spend your life trying to perform and constantly trying to measure up. You have value and you are worthy of the love of God not because of what you do or what you have done but because of Him. When you get it and grasp it you realize that you don’t need to waste your life constantly trying to seeking approval because you already have it. You have a Father who forever loves you and promises you a home in heaven. How freeing it is when we finally realize that our position is not based on our performance. The question is are you resting in this truth or are you still relying on your trying?

Luke 23:32-43

32 Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. 33 When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. 35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. 37 They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” 40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” 43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

It is here in Luke that we discover a truth so powerful that if we get it, it will radically and completely change our lives forever. If we believe this truth and embrace it so tightly that it becomes the foundation and the fabric of our lives then we will experience greater joy, a calming contentment and confidence, and more purpose and peace than we could of ever imagine. But first I want to start with a question, have you ever wondered about or doubted your worth? Max Lucado tells the story about a prank that occurred years ago: A couple of guys broke into a department store in a large city. They successfully entered the store, stayed long enough to do what they came to do, and then escaped unnoticed. Now what is unusual about the story is what these guys did. They took nothing, absolutely nothing, no merchandise was stolen, no items removed. But what they did do was crazy. Instead of stealing anything, they changed the cost of everything. Price tags were swapped. Values were exchanged. These guys took the tag off a $395 camera and stuck it on a $5 book of stationary. They took the $5.95 sticker off a paperback book and stuck it on an outboard motor. They went around and repriced just about everything in the store. The next day the store opened as usual, the employees showed up for work and the customers began to shop. For 4 hours no one working at the store noticed that anything was wrong, that the values had been swapped. During those four hours that store lost a lot because the value of things and what they were worth got really messed up. Now if this messed up value system was limited simply to the stores it would not be so bad. But the reality is someone snuck into more than just a store, Satan snuck into the world switching the price tags on our worth and value so that our definition of worth is all messed up. Our enemy has successfully created a value system that causes most people to look in the mirror and see trash instead of treasure. If we are not careful the same thing that happened in that store can happen to us. Life can slip by and before we know it we can find ourselves exchanging things that are important and worthwhile for those that, in comparison, are unimportant. Our world system honors success and hard work, so we devote ourselves to jobs we can’t wait to retire from, while we ignoring marriages that we entered into for a lifetime. We chase after riches at the expense of relationship. We work hard to have clean, healthy homes, yet we let them become dumping grounds for the pollution contained in many television programs, movies and popular music. We say that we want our children to have strong character traits like honesty and integrity, yet we spend far more time taking them to athletic events and other activities than tending to their spiritual and moral needs. In our quest to seek happiness and acceptance, we willingly buy into the world’s values and do what is popular. But if the world’s values can produce true happiness then why is there a constant effort to create and promote new forms of amusement and entertainment? As Erwin Lutzer, the former senior pastor of the Moody Church once said “If you are not nourished by the Bread from heaven, you will stuff yourself with crumbs from the world. How glorious it has been to learn that Jesus is the bread of my life.” (John 6:35) The truth is everyone wants to be significant; we want who we are and what we do to count. We all want our lives to matter and make a difference, think about the dreams you had when you were little. Think back on the things you fantasized about and who or what you pretended to be. Some of you dreamed about being a hero, of hitting the winning homerun, or scoring the winning touchdown, or winning that gold medal. The truth is no one desires to be insignificant; no one sets out with the goal of feeling like their life doesn’t count. But if we insist on using the world’s standards of success, most of us will never measure up, and the few who do either won’t measure up for long or will waste their lives continuously working to try and maintain it. Trying to be significant in our society is like climbing a greased pole. If by some miracle you do happen to make it to the top you won’t stay up there for long. Because before long you will start to slip and before you know it you will slide back down into the valley of obscurity. According to the new pricing system created by our enemy, the evil one, you are significant in this society if you have a lot of money, a huge house, if you are physically attractive, or are able to do what society deems as important. Things like hit a baseball, throw a touchdown pass, or slam dunking a basketball. Or if you star on the big screen, or perform before 1,000’s at a concert. So often we base our self-worth on what the world views as valuable. Our bank accounts become the barometer of value, or our physic and physical beauty, and if we don’t measure up to the worlds standard then we feel bad about who we are. Sadly physical beauty has become a multi-million dollar religion that creates value based on the cover of the book instead of the content. In this age of technology, IQ has become the barometer to determine who is blessed and who is to be shown the basement. For many it is difficult to measure up, and the more we focus on the world’s standards and values, the more negative we feel about ourselves. When we follow the worlds messed up value system of worth we end up living a lie. We end up pretending and pursuing the molehills instead of the mountains, ultimately it causes us to miss or forget what really gives us value. The truth is that it’s not, what we do, how much we have, how well we perform or even how good we look that determines our worth, or our value. This criminals encounter with Jesus at the cross 2,000 years ago reveals the source of our true value and lasting worth. As 1 Peter 1:18-21 says: “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you. Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And because God raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory, your faith and hope can be placed confidently in God.” What about you are you trying to find your worth in your work or His? Are you trying to find your worth in what the world says or in His Word?