Bryan Craddock - Investing

I’ve titled this morning’s message, “Investing.” Typically, when we think of investing, we think of Wall Street. This has been a roller-coaster week in the financial world with major drops over fears of a crash and major intervention by the U.S. government. I don’t know if all of that means anything to you. Honestly, I struggle to understand what it means myself.

I should confess that my personal experience with Wall Street is anything but noteworthy. Calvary’s elders have been very gracious to those of us who serve on staff.  They give each of us an extra 6% of our salary each year to go into mutual funds for retirement. Over the nine years I’ve been on staff, I’ve been able to watch the value of some of those shares in mutual funds drop by about 60%.  Every time I see a drop I just keep on reminding myself that next time I’ll get to buy low. So if you’re looking for solid advice for how to invest in the stock market, I’m probably not the best resource. We’re not here to hear my thoughts, however. We are here to hear what Jesus has to say. 

Last week we saw what Jesus had to say about debt. He did not condemn the concept of borrowing, but he used it as a vivid illustration of sin and salvation. As financial debt places a heavy burden on us, so the heaviest debt of all is the debt we owe God because of our sins against Him. God’s perfect justice demands that every sin we commit be punished, but God doesn’t bring that punishment now. He waits. He gives us the opportunity to turn away from our sins. Even though we keep charging additional punishment to our account, Jesus paid our total lifetime debt in full when he died on the cross. We accept his payment, when we believe in him. We can be completely free. That’s one of the reasons we worship God and devote our lives to him.

Jesus also has something to say about investing. Like last week, we find his words in the form of a story, a parable.  We will look at the parable in a moment, but before we do it well help if we can shift our minds from Wall Street to the ancient world.

Investing in the Ancient World

By the time of Jesus, banking of a sort already existed. The gospels refer to money changers. These were people who exchanged one currency for another. Through charging a fee or adjusting the exchange rate, they were able to earn an income. In fact, they often took advantage of people who were coming to give their offerings at the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. There were not major financial institutions, but simply individuals who handled money and individuals who could also loan money.

To understand investing in the ancient world, we have to think about it in its simplest terms. Today we look at thousands of companies often worth millions of dollars. In the ancient world, you have to think about the individual. The most common businesses were farming and raising livestock.

Let’s say you are a farmer and you have a good year. Your crops do really well. You’re able to provide for your household. You have enough seed for next year’s crop, and yet you still have an abundant supply beyond that. What do you do with that surplus? You might simply spend it. You could buy luxury items for your family from local merchants—clothes, jewelry, or furniture. You might expand your house or build a new one. On the other hand, you could also take that surplus and invest it back into your farming business. You could buy more land, more work animals, or more servants to work the land.

In the ancient world, being rich didn’t necessarily mean having a lot of cash. That was possible then, but being rich was more often tied to the earning potential – having the resources (land and labor) to generate a significant surplus. With this in mind, let’s look to a story Jesus told about a man who was already very rich.

Jesus on Investing

The story is found in Luke 12:16-19.
And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’”

So this man is already rich. He has significant earning potential—the land, the servants, everything he needs. Then he hits a bumper crop. It’s a good year. He has more produce then he knows what to do with. And what does he decide to do? He doesn’t spend it all. He doesn’t invest it. He hoards it. He builds bigger barns so that he can keep all of the produce for himself.

Why does he do this? Essentially he wants to take an early retirement.  He wants to stop working and just enjoy life. He has enough produce to take care of himself for years to come. He won’t have to bother with managing workers. He won’t have to bother with selling produce. He’s got everything he needs to live a luxurious life.

So what? What difference does it make for one man to pull back from life like this. Again think on a small level. Let’s say you’re a potter or a carpenter and you live near this rich farmer. For years, you’ve bought your food from him. He owns most of the land around. Suddenly, he stops growing crops. His land sits uncultivated. He hoards his crops for himself. You know what happens? Your food prices double because there is a shortage.

Or let’s say you are a day laborer.  You’ve worked the fields for this rich man for years, and he has been a good employer. He has given you fair wages. All of a sudden he shuts down the business. You are out of work with no way to provide for your family.  All of this because this rich man wants to sit back and enjoy life.

But that’s not all. Look at what happens next. God speaks up in verse 20 and addresses this rich man. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’”

Calling someone a “fool” seems minor to us, but in the Bible “fool” is a strong condemnation. The Greek word is aphron—literally “without sense” or “without reason.” In the Greek translation of the Old Testament this word is found in Psalm 14:1: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

A fool is someone who lives life without any thought of God’s existence. That’s what this rich man was doing. He didn’t give any thought to what God wanted him to do. He just followed his desires for ease and relaxation.

He didn’t give any thought to eternity. He was focused exclusively on the present. Yet God says, “This very night your soul is required of you.” What does that mean? The word translated “require” is seldom used in the New Testament. It literally refers to taking something back. This same idea is found in Job 34:14-15: “If He[God] should determine to do so, if He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.” Just as God breathes into us and we become living beings, so God can call back our souls to Himself and we will die. God is going to take back this rich man’s soul.  In other words, he is going to die. He is going to stand before God in judgment.

So God asks, “Who will own what you have prepared?” These massive storehouses of goods are of zero value to this man. Hearsts do not tow trailers. You cannot take it with you. Elsewhere Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matt 16:26).

Kind of a depressing story, isn’t it? We call it, “The Parable of the Rich Fool.” This man earns his riches, ends up hoarding them, and then dies. Why did Jesus tell this story?

The Reason for the Parable

Jesus told this parable in response to a question from the crowd. Luke 12:1 tells us thousands of people were present. Jesus was talking about issues of life and death. Then out of the blue, someone seems to have interrupted Jesus. It is recorded in Luke 12:13: “Someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’”

Things weren’t that different in those days; families squabbled over inheritances. It would have been common for a religious teacher like Jesus to serve as a judge and to help settle a disagreement like that. But that’s not what the man asks. He doesn’t give Jesus any details of the situation. He doesn’t invite Jesus to pass judgment. He wants Jesus to take his side in the dispute.

So Jesus responds in verse 14 & 15: “But He said to him, ‘Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ Then He said to them, ‘Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.’ And He told them a parable…”

Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool to expose a mindset, a worldview, an outlook on life. That worldview says that life is possessions. We call this way of thinking materialism. It says that there’s no spiritual significance to anything, just a dollar value. There is only material, nothing spiritual or eternal.

Bible teacher Kent Hughes tells of a woman he knew who had two sisters. The woman had married and moved across the country with her husband, but her two sisters remained in the same town as their parents. One day the woman received a call from her mother telling her that her father had passed away. She and her husband hurriedly arranged to come back to her home to comfort her mother. When they entered the house, they found tags on various pieces of furniture. Her two sisters had already gone through and tagged what they each wanted. Somehow that seems to capture the mindset of this man who interrupted Jesus. It wasn’t grief that he was experiencing, it was greed.

Displayed in such a way, greed is repulsive. But if we search our hearts, I think we will find that we have succumbed to that same materialistic mindset more than we would like to admit.

Do you find it hard to be satisfied with what you have? Do you always want more? Our world is always pushing us in this direction. That’s why God addressed this so strongly. The Tenth Commandment in Exodus 20:17 says, “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Last week when we talked about spiritual indebtedness, I said that Jesus would touch upon issues that relate to financial indebtedness. I think he has here. Much of the debt that we incur comes back to coveting, doesn’t it?  There may be occasions when we go into debt because of some crisis, but normally that isn’t the case. Most of the time we simply want more than we can afford. We are used to justifying it, but we need to recognize it as sin.

This entire financial crisis our country is experiencing is nothing more than the consequences of covetousness. People coveted their neighbor’s house. Even though they couldn’t afford it, they pursued their desire and lenders encouraged it. People bought houses they couldn’t afford. When other parts of the economy weakened, then people began defaulting on their mortgages.

Believe me, I’m preaching to myself on this as much as I am to you. In our previous home, there were times when we bought all kinds of things for the house on credit. Those weren’t necessities. We could have waited and saved up. Covetousness is always pushing on our hearts.

The tenth commandment convicts all of us. But to really see how deeply rooted it is, let’s look at the other commandments. In a sense every sin ties back to materialistic assumptions.

The ninth commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  That speaks of lying in court in order to frame your neighbor.  What is it that would motivate someone to do that?  Jealousy.

The eighth commandment says, “You shall not steal.” What prompts someone to steal? In most cases, isn’t it covetousness that comes first?

The seventh commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery.” Again, coveting is the root attitude that leads to adultery. But there’s more. Adultery doesn’t flow from love or from a spiritual concept of life. Adultery is another expression of materialism. The other person is simply an object to satisfy your desire. The same could be said of pornography.

The sixth commandment says, “You shall not murder.” Why do people commit murder? Doesn’t it flow from the same covetous, materialistic mindset?  There’s no thought of the victim’s spiritual existence. The victim is simply an object that stands in the way.

The fifth commandment says, “Honor your father and your mother.” Does it honor a father or a mother or a grandparent to focus so much on an inheritance?

The fourth commandment says, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God…” How do you view work?  Do you view it as simply a way to earn money?  That is a materialistic perspective. If we think that way, then the Sabbath seems like a silly requirement, a lack of productivity. On the other hand, the fourth commandment leads us to see work and rest as responsibilities from God, to be kept in balance as He directs.

The third commandment says, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” When you really get down to it taking the Lord’s name in vain is simply acting as if God doesn’t exist, as if the material things are all that is real.

The second commandment says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol.” Isn’t that the heart of materialism?  Turning God into something tangible, something you can see and touch and control.

The first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” But when we’re driven by our desires, we make money our God.

So when this man pushes through the crowd and asks Jesus for help in his inheritance dispute – his request was just the tip of the iceberg of an entire anti-God outlook on life. Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool to expose the lie that life is possessions. Nothing exposes that lie more than death.

The Lesson of the Parable

What are we supposed to take away from Jesus’ parable? We’ve talked a lot about coveting, but very little about investing. Jesus makes one further comment after finishing the parable, directing our thoughts in this direction. In Luke 12:21 he says, “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

What does Jesus mean—rich toward God? He used similar words on another occasion recorded in Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

As we have seen, you can have all the treasure in the world, but you can’t take it with you when you die. How do we store up treasure in heaven? How do we become rich toward God? 

This isn’t complicated.  It’s very simple—just two points.

1. Make sure you will enter heaven.

Before you can have treasure in God’s eternal heavenly kingdom, you have to open up an account by establishing a residence there. So how does someone do that?  God has to adopt you as his child.  He has to give you an inheritance there. That’s the only inheritance that really matters.

John 1:12 explains, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” You must receive Jesus Christ, believing in Him, accepting him as your Lord and your Savior. When you do, you become a child of God and an heir of God’s kingdom.

Have you received Christ? That is the only way to keep from losing your soul.  Remember Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matt 16:26). Make sure you will enter heaven.

2. Invest your time and money in serving God and His purposes.

Jesus teaches us that God will reward us for obeying and serving him.

Matthew 5:11-12—“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great…” When you follow Christ and speak for him, even if people insult you, God will reward you.

Matthew 5:46—“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” The implication is that God rewards us when we love people who do not love us.

Matthew 6:1—“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”  We have to serve God.  Doing good to be noticed by people doesn’t add anything to our account.

Matthew 6:3-4—“But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” When we devote our finances to God’s purposes not showing off our generosity, God will reward us.

Matthew 6:6—“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:17-18—“But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 10:42—“And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”

Colossians 3:23-24—“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”  You can earn heavenly rewards in your job. It’s all a matter of the attitude with which you approach it.

This is a biblical investment strategy. How does your portfolio look? Are you rich toward God? Are you storing up treasure on heaven?