Invest In What Matters Series

Intro – Bucket lists. Do you have one? The term was made popular by a 2007 movie with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Their 2 characters meet in the hospital where they’re both being treated for terminal cancer. One of them is working on a list of things he wants to accomplish in his life before it’s over. So, they go together on an adventure to do all the things on their “bucket list.” I wouldn’t recommend the movie, but it did promote a certain movement that is still around – writing a list of life goals to be achieved before you die.

Get on the internet and there are websites devoted to the whole bucket list concept. Many of them are a kind of “how-to” place – to help you write a bucket list for your life, which I find to be an interesting phenomenon. It’s almost like people need help figuring out something interesting to do with their lives.

Most of them are all about ME and being able to tell someone else what I’ve done. The basic message of all of them is that you should set goals to do interesting things in your life.

All of them carry one very important realization: We’re all working with limited time. We all will one day die. That’s why they’re called “bucket lists.” It’s the things you want to do with your life before you kick the bucket. That’s an idea from Scripture to start with…

Ephesians 5:15-16

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

Right here at the start of a new year, I think it’s fitting to talk about making the most of your time. And that could include making your bucket list, with a biblical perspective.

Here are some vital bucket list items from Scripture that we’ll be talking about through February:

• Invest in What Matters

• Figure Out What’s True

• Get Uncomfortable

• Say What Needs to Be Said

• Walk Where You Can’t See

• Get Right With Someone

• Prepare to Die

Today is really the foundation for the whole series. You can take this one subject and all the others fit under it like it’s an umbrella. It’s in Mt. 6.

So, I’ll be referring back to today, especially because I’d like these next 2 months to be an on-going project. At the end of this series, I want us to celebrate what has happened because we’ve taken these to heart. I’m thinking “Kick the Bucket Sunday” Feb 26th!

Jesus is preaching the SOM. He’s giving perspective on material things in this section where He says

Matthew 6:19-24

You may not have expected investment advice this morning, but maybe when Jesus spoke these words His audience wasn’t expecting it either!

This first part is a comparison of a…

Shaky investment vs. Can’t Touch This!

I can still remember MC Hammer, 1990, in his baggy pants, singing “U Can’t Touch This” and making a little music history. So, I borrowed from MC Hammer this morning!

Jesus invites us to consider the difference between treasures on earth and treasure in Heaven – a really weak investment against an investment that can’t be lost.

• (What happens to stuff on earth)

Like any good financial advisor, Jesus points out the characteristics of treasure on earth that make it a poor investment

It’s temporary all on its own

Financial gurus push the importance of diversifying – that’s an important strategy of investment. It means you spread out your wealth, rather than just have it all in one place. Don’t just buy stock in Apple. Also invest in bonds and in non-tech companies and in precious metals. Why do that? It’s assuming that something horrible may happen. It’s assuming that some of your wealth may go away – the stock may crash, the annuity may lower, the 401K may become just a 401. So, you diversify. That reduces the odds that you’ll lose as much. That’s the best we can do with stuff here – spread it out so we won’t lose as much when things don’t go well.

Psalm 39:6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

Proverbs 23:4-5 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

Jesus assumes about stuff on earth that it can’t last. Something’s going to eat it. It’s like the contents of the refrigerator in a house with teenagers! Something’s going to eat it. It may be worms. It may be rust or corrosion, but no matter what it is, it will happen.