Improve validation performance

**Feature request**
It would be great to have sorting for utils.

**Use case**
Many users need this functionality for production deployments.

**Implementation idea**
Add a new config option `enable_sorting` with default `false`.

No file, test, or entry point is named. Start by locating the utils and configuration entry points, then trace how validation currently handles the requested sorting behavior. Done should include the new option with its stated default and a test or demonstrable result confirming sorting works for production use cases.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.