A CHRISTIAN WALK MINISTRIES

Reverend Matthew & Mrs. Deborah Harper

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VALUES WHY WE NEED THEM

Deuteronomy 5:1-21

That person has no values! You may have uttered those words after seeing someone do something terribly wrong or sinful. However, most people don’t give much thought to values, both theirs and others, that shape and guide their lives. We seldom, if ever, consider what an important role values really play in determining how we live our lives. In this lesson we will consider; what is a value, why we need values, where do we get values and do values change? As a Christian you should be able to provide sound and logical answers to these questions and after completing this lesson you will. To live a Christian life you must have good solid Christian values. Deuteronomy 5:1-21 gives us the foundation for Christian values as provided in the Ten Commandments. Anyone desiring to live a life with any purpose must have some values. Let us be clear on one key point about values; all values are not good values, just as not all habits are not good habits. Because of our sinful nature we are drawn to things that are pleasing to the flesh and Satan uses the flesh to entice with sinful and evil desires. Christians need good values to guide them away from Satan’s traps.

WHAT ARE VALUES? To understand or define values we need to define VALUE. Value is a measure of how much you need and or therefore desire something. For example, if you are in the ocean and your boat is sinking fast a life jacket would be a very desirable and valuable thing to have because you need it to save your life.   However, if you no intentions of ever going out on a boat a life jacket would not be desirable and would be of little or no value. The owner of a retail store desire employees that VALUE honesty and will not steal his inventory. Therefore, we can conclude we assign value to things based on our desire and needs in order to meet an objective. When we talk of THINGS we desire and need we refer to them as VALUABLES, when talking of MORAL attributes we refer to them as VALUES. We all have values that guide our lives and we desire and seek certain values in people around us. Some examples of Valuables are; Gold, money, cars, etc. Some examples of Values are; Honesty, truth, patience, self-control, discipline, etc. 

TEN COMMANDMENTS; FOUNDATION/BENCHMARK FOR ALL GOOD AND CHRISTIAN VALUES

1. You shall have no other God before me.

THE VALUE = to keep God at the head of your life to guide you in your every thought, word and deed.

       2.  You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything.

THE VALUE= to never worship anyone or anything other than God.

     3.  You shall not misuse the name of the Lord thy God.

THE VALUE= to always respect and never speak God’s name in a profane manner

   4.  Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it Holy.

THE VALUE= set aside one day each week, for you and your household, to rest, spend time with and honor God

   5.  Honor your father and your mother.

THE VALUE= always show respect and care for your parents. Honor them with your love, presence and support.

   6.  You shall not murder.

THE VALUE= don’t murder our neighbor. Abhor his sinful ways, pray for him and love him.

   7.  You shall not commit adultery. (idolatry)

THE VALUE= keep your marriage pure; never have sexual relations with anyone other than your spouse.

THE VALUE= (Idolatry) keep your relationship with God pure; never put anyone or anything ahead of God in your life.

   8.  You shall not steal.

THE VALUE= never take what is not yours. Ask God for your needs and trust Him, work hard, and he will provide a way for you.

   9.  You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

THE VALUE= never lie to or about your neighbor. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12)

    10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

THE VALUE= do not lust after things that belong to your neighbor. Even though what your neighbor has may look good it could be a big problem. You don’t always know the price people pay for the things they have. If God has blessed your neighbor then that is his blessing and you should be happy for him. If you find yourself desiring something your neighbor has go to God and ask Him is this something you should have. Maybe it would not be good for you to have the same thing. God may have a different, and perhaps better, blessing in store for you. Sometimes Satan blinds us to the blessings we already have causing us to covet things belonging to others. We must pray when enticed to covet.

WHY DO WE NEED VALUES? Just as the mighty ships that sail the oceans need a rudder to keep them on the proper heading to reach the right port, we need values to keep us on course to our chosen goal. It is very important for us to understand all values are not good by Christian standards. If your life goal is to be very rich in worldly things at any cost your values would be totally different from someone with a life goal of serving God and others.

WHERE DO WE GET VALUES? Just as the ship builder is responsible for building and installing a strong rudder on his ship before sending it off to sea, parents are responsible for equipping their children with moral rudders (group of values) before sending them off to the high seas of life. It is critical that parents instill values in their children while they are young, from six months to ten years old, so they will carry them into adulthood. (Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.) Proverbs 22:6 When parents fail to instill values in their children they will get values from worldly influences and these values will often lead them to a life of sin.

DO VALUES CHANGE? No. Honesty will always be honesty, truth will always be truth, just as greed will always be greed and envy will always be envy.

SHOULD VALUES CHANGE? No. However, as we mature our goals in life may change requiring a change in the set of values that guide our life. If a person accepts Christ as an adult they would have to exchange the values that guided them as a worldly person for Christian values that would guide them in a life following Christ.

Commentary: Just as a strong and solid rudder is used to steer a ship and keep it on course, strong and solid values steer us and keeps us on the right path. If the rudder is missing or defective it cannot steer the ship and a ship without direction in the rough waters of the sea will become lost, damaged or destroyed. Likewise, if we have no rudder (values) to give us direction in the rough waters of life we will become lost, damaged, led astray or destroyed.

 Parents are responsible for building strong and solid rudders (values) into their children so they will have a rudder to guide them through the rough waters of life. Without strong solid rudders their children will be lost, damaged or destroyed.

Copyright by Rev. Matt Harper 2010