KINGDOM INVESTMENT
Wilma and I cherish our evening tea time, where we
reconnect after our workday. One evening, after tea, I was reading Christianity
Today magazine, and a particular advertisement caught my attention. The Ad read,
“Coming Summer 2023, Individual Investments that Build Churches.” I liked the
idea of investing some money at the same time to help build churches.
The bottom line in small letters read, “Introducing
Kingdom Investments: Income-producing
investment opportunities for individuals that multiply your resources and
maximize Kingdom impact.” That sounded even better, in line with what I have
been preaching recently.
I thought God might be speaking to me, so I explored
the Website to find out how to start investing. I was shocked to know the
minimum amount I should invest was $1000. When I read that amount out loud, my
daughter and Wilma shot it down, saying, “You are not going to invest that
large amount (for me, it is a huge amount)! Who knows, it may be a scam.”
I thank God for their wisdom; they know that making a
profit or investing money is not one of my greatest strengths. That made me
think about how many profit-making companies use Christian words like “Kingdom
Investments” to attract Christians to invest their money.
Talking about money and investment is not a bad thing.
The Bible contains over 2,000 scriptures about money, tithing, and possessions.
That’s twice as many bible verses about money than faith and prayer combined. Jesus
typically taught in parables-and 11 of His 40 parables were about money or used
the money to teach us spiritual truths. For instance, the parables of the
hidden treasure and the pearl compare the Kingdom of Heaven to riches.
The story in Luke 12:13-21 & 32-34 will explain
how we can make real Kingdom Investments. By the way, it wouldn’t cost you much,
to begin with, but yields eternal riches. We will discover how to break
the grip of finances on our lives, why to give generously for the Kingdom’s
work, and the benefits of Kingdom Investment. Luke 12:13-21
& 32-34.
During one of his teaching sessions, Jesus taught his
disciples about prayer. He rebuked the hypocrisy of the religious leaders
because they were so meticulous in observance of the law and the ceremonial
cleansing while ignoring the essential things of eternal value. He encouraged
his disciples to look to God and trust Him for their needs, who loves and cares
for them.
Someone from the crowd called out to Jesus to help him
solve a family dispute, saying, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our
father’s estate with me.” Jesus didn’t want to be dragged into such matters.
Instead, he warned everyone to guard themselves against every kind of greed. He
shared a counter-cultural truth, “Life is not measured by how much you own.”
I.
Life is not measured by how much you own.
To get his point across, he told
them a story. “The
farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What
can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s
what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones.
Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll
say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire.
Take it easy and have the time of your life!’ Just then, God showed up and
said, ‘Fool! Tonight, you die. And your barnful of goods, who gets it?’ (MSG).
This man in the story represents a hard-working person pursuing the “American
Dream.”
We work hard doing one or two jobs to earn well, buy a
house, accumulate things for a comfortable life, and want to retire to enjoy
the rest of our life. Is that all for life? If that is all there is for life,
then our life is meaningless. Our life is not measured by how much we own.
God is not opposed to us getting rich and wealthy. God
has a plan to prosper us and give us hope and a future. God gives us riches for
us to enjoy but also to invest in His Kingdom. If we only store up wealth for
ourselves, we would be just as foolish as the man in the story. But investing
our money in God’s Kingdom leads us to have a deeper relationship with God.
C.S Lewis said,
“The only things we can keep are the things we freely give to God.” When we
leave this Earth, we must leave everything behind; what should be our
attitude toward earthly riches? How can we use our earthly resources to benefit
others?
II.
How can we break the powerful grip of riches in our lives?
Like the rich man in the story, many are unsatisfied
with what or how much they have. They want more, which leads them to
discontentment. This phenomenon is also called greed. Solomon rightly explained
what greed does, “Greed has two daughters named ‘Give’ and ‘Give.” Proverbs
30:15 (New Century Version). Do you know the root of all evil in the world?
I Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of
all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true
faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” The love of money is a sin because it gets in
the way of worshiping God. Biblical
commentator John Ritenbaugh describes greed as a “ruthless self–seeking and an
arrogant assumption that others and things exist for one’s own benefit.”It demonstrates a lack of trusting God; it looks for
security rather than depending on God to meet our needs.
Knowing the dangers of greed, Jesus warned us to
“Beware! Guard against every kind of greed.” Lk 12:15. Ephesians 5:5, “You can
be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of
Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of
this world.” Here are a
few ways to break the powerful grip of money:
To repent of our sin of greed. “Don’t love money;
be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I
will never abandon you.” Hebrews 13:5. By following our God who is love. John
3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so
that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God’s
love is not selfish but self-giving and others-centered and wants the best for
us all.
III.
Kingdom Investment.
What do I mean by Kingdom
investment? Kingdom investment is not investing our money in risky
worldly investments but instead wisely spending our God-given assets to further
God’s Kingdom. It is to obey the two great commandments of “loving God and
loving others.”
To emphasize that God wants nothing less than our total
devotion, Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6: 24, “No one can serve two masters.
For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” We want only
God to lead us and not money to drive us slavishly.
Our generous giving best expresses our love for God
and others. I John 3:16-18, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up
his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and
sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in
need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear
children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth
by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will
be confident when we stand before God.”
Amy Beatrice Carmichael, an Irish Christian missionary
in India who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur, said, “You
can always give without loving, but you can never love without giving.” Giving
to the poor and the needy is a Kingdom investment. Proverbs 19:17, “If you help
the poor, you are lending to the Lord—and he will repay you!
Not only money, but we can invest our gifts (skills),
time, and energies in serving God in the Church and society. We have several
Kingdom investors among us who honor God with their God-given resources. When
investing money, quantity is not what matters, but the attitude. We are to give
freely, not out of compulsion or guilt, for God loves a cheerful giver. When we
invest our money and resources in God’s Kingdom, we and many others will be
blessed. Let's become Kingdom Investors.
