Believers should have a Change in their Concept of Value to Treasure Christ above all

Among all the major items of the Lord’s recovery there are some items that are crucial; the first item is the eternal economy of God, the second one is the Triune God, and the third is the all-inclusive Christ. This week we want to get deeper into an appreciation, enjoyment, and experience of the supreme preciousness of the all-inclusive Christ.

We need to ask the Lord to appear to us and show us His supreme preciousness, because preciousness is not merely something of knowledge but something that we see and are impressed with so that it would become precious to us. May the Lord appear to us again and again and may we have an excellent knowledge of Him so that He would become more precious to us.

The Christ revealed both in the Old and the New Testament is all-inclusive and all-extensive; He is all-in-all, and His dimensions are immeasurable. Christ is the God-man through the divine incarnation to be the embodiment of the Triune God and the centrality and universality of the eternal economy of God. We need to be recovered back to the enjoyment and appreciation of Christ as the supremely precious One.

Many of the truths in the Bible have been misunderstood, wrongly taught, and subtly twisted by the wrong people throughout the generations; in relation to Christ we need to be drastically recovered back to what the Bible says concerning His supreme preciousness to see that He has the preeminence in all things, He fills all in all, He is the centrality and universality of God’s economy, and He has been allotted to us as our redemption, life, life-supply, and everything, so that we may become the living members of the Body of Christ who corporately express Him in the universe.

No person, matter, or thing in the universe is more precious than the Lord Jesus; He is the treasure we have in our earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7), and even the knowledge of the Lord Jesus is an excellent matter. Hallelujah for our excellent and wonderful Christ!

Believers should have a Change in their Concept of Value to Treasure Christ above all

Our value system, our concept of value, is completely wrong: it is tainted and influenced by the fall of man, and we treasure things that are NOT valuable and consider precious things that have NO value. When the Lord Jesus came, He had a different value system, and He treasured more certain things and matters – even though those around Him didn’t pay attention to such things.

In Matt. 23:16-26 the Lord Jesus exposed the Pharisees and scribes concerning their value system, indicating how wrong and corrupt our value systems are:

• They considered the gold in the temple being more valuable than the temple itself. The temple sanctifies the gold, but they thought that the gold is more important.
• They considered the offering on the altar to be more important than the altar. The altar was ordained by God to sanctify the animals offered on it, but they valued the oxen, lambs, and turtledoves as being more precious.
• They offered a tenth of the mint, anise, and cummin (very small items) but neglected the weightier matters of the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
• They strained out the gnat, but they swallowed the camel.
• They cleansed the outside of the cup and dish, but the inside was still dirty and filthy.

Therefore, the Lord called them hypocrites and blind, valuing things that are NOT valuable and ignoring the things that ARE precious in God’s eyes. We need to have a change in our concept of value so that we may know what is really valuable.

Once we are saved, our concept of value changes; we no longer cherish what we used to cherish, and we treasure what we once used to despise. Any Christian that doesn’t have a change in values after he is born again is not a genuine Christian. The more we spend time with the Lord, the more we value Him and treasure Him.

The value of a certain thing is determined by the knowledge of that thing; the more we know Christ, the more we appreciate His supreme preciousness. Once we are saved, our concept of value changes: we now treasure the Lord Jesus (whom we once used to despise) and we now love the Bible (which once we used to consider fiction).

Praise the Lord, our value system is being changed as we know Christ and read the Word of God, and we value more what God values and considers precious, and we place less value and emphasis on things that God doesn’t consider valuable.

May we really be before the Lord concerning our value system for Him to shine on us and adjust us so that we may value the real valuable things and put aside the things that are worthless!

Lord Jesus, show us Your supreme preciousness and absolute worth so that we may put aside anything else as worthless. Lord, may our value system be changed as we touch You, read Your word, and grow in life, so that we may value what You value and put aside anything that is worthless. Save us Lord from being blind and hypocrites like the Pharisees, and bring us into a genuine touch with You so that we may have a proper concept of value. Lord Jesus, You are the most precious One, and we love You!

Treasuring and Valuing the Lord Jesus

The proper concept of value for us as believers in Christ is seen first in our estimation and assessment of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the Jews, Christ was a stone rejected, but to God, He was precious and was set as a cornerstone of God’s building (see Psa. 118:22; 1 Pet. 2:7).

To many people Christ is redundant – they can live their lives without Christ, and the Jews even wanted to get rid of Christ. But the Lord chose Christ as the cornerstone of the newly enacted salvation, and to us Christ is now precious and trustworthy!

From the moment we were born again we started to treasure Christ and consider Him as being the most precious and priceless One. Others may reject Him, but we love Him, we treasure Him, and we love spending time with Him to enjoy Him. To God, Christ is precious and valuable, and to us He is trustworthy, valuable, priceless, and wonderful!

Valuing the Word of the Cross, which to others is Foolishness

To many people in the world the cross is foolishness: why would anyone choose to be put on the cross, and why would you desire to be terminated? The word of the cross to those who are perishing is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18).

Before we were saved we may have considered the cross as being useless, but after we believe into the Lord, our concept of value changed immediately: we saw how precious the cross is, how the salvation on the cross reached us, and now we treasure the cross and receive the word of the cross.

We now love the cross – we don’t necessarily “wear the cross” around our neck but we learn to bear it, and we consider precious the fact that Christ died on the cross for us.

Treasuring God’s Kingdom and Righteousness more than our Daily Necessities

Before we were saved we paid very much attention to our daily necessities, taking care FIRST of these and then of the other things, but when we believed into the Lord, we started to value God’s kingdom more than our daily necessities.

As believers in Christ, our concept of value is changed: we are assured that our heavenly Father knows all that we need, and we therefore seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things are added to us (see Matt. 6:22-23).

People in the world run around getting 1-2 jobs to make ends meet, trying to take care of their family and their human necessities, but as believers in Christ we have to realize that nothing is more precious than the kingdom of God.

Christ treasures the church, the kingdom of God today, so much that He gave up everything for her, paying the highest price – His own life – to gain her. When we see the kingdom of God as God sees it, we give up everything for the church, and we treasure the kingdom more than our daily necessities.

Lord Jesus, may we have a proper concept of value as believers by treasuring Christ and the kingdom of God more than anything else. Lord, we love You, we treasure You, and we consider You as the most Precious One, no matter how much others despise You or reject You. We treasure the cross and we thank You for dying on the cross for our sins. Lord, we want to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, trusting that You know our situation and You will add all things that we need. Lord Jesus, we love You!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Albert Lim’s sharing in the message for this week, and Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 60, ch. 45, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today (ITERO 2015 fall), week 3 / msg 3, The Supreme Preciousness of the All-inclusive Christ.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # We treasure Thee, Lord Jesus, / As God’s reality. / Whate’er our God possesses / Is surely found in Thee. / His very life and essence / Within Thy Being dwells. / His glory and expression / Thy Person fully tells. (Song on treasuring Christ)
  # All is in Christ; / Your whole self present to Him. / Vain your quest for lasting pleasure, / Wealth, success, and worldly fame; / Christ alone must be your treasure, / His resource your only claim. (Hymns #515)
  # Just seek, He knows; / Seek first His heart’s great yearning. / Just seek, He knows; / Serve Him, in Him abide. / Just seek, He knows; / Have peace and rest while turning. / Put His cares first; / All else He will provide. (Song on seeking Christ first)