Jesus On Investing Series

INTRODUCTION

• Today we are going to look at a subject that most people start considering at some point in our lives. The subject is investing.

• At some point most of us will consider taking some of the money that we have today and investing it so that it will grow for tomorrow.

• There are inherent risks when we decide to invest our money. We could easily lose all or part of our investment.

• Will Rogers was quoted as saying that he was more interested in the return OF his money than the return ON his money.

• There are many different motives for investing, ranging from retirement to the fear of having nothing when we are old, to saving for a big ticket item to trying to get rich quick.

• In 1994 the number of Americans who visit U.S. casinos each year: 90,000,000

• According to a 1996 article in U.S. News & World Report, (1/15/96), the estimated amount wagered per visit: $25-$100 Total amount wagered in all legal forms of gambling in the U.S. in 1994: $482 billion

• By contrast, the approximate cost to Americans for the Gulf War: $100 billion

• If we are a responsible investor, we will take the time to research where we are going to put our money because the goal of making an investment is to make money for the future or some future need. At the very least we will seek the advice or counsel of someone who has some expertise in the area of investing so that we can try to minimize our losses and maximize our gains.

• There are many factors that go into decided to put your money in a particular investment, but when it is all said and done, the main thin that we are looking for is return on our investment.

• Not many of us would take our money and intentionally put it into an investment that would guarantee that we would lose our money. If an investment agent told us he had a hot tip on a mutual fund that he would guarantee we would not get a penny of our money back. How many of us would jump on that “hot tip”?

• We are going to look at a different type of investment today.

• We are going to look at investing something more important than your money.

• Today we are going to consider how we should invest our lives. Some of our young people are getting ready to get out of High School and are getting ready to go to college. The question is, “What are you going to invest your life in?”

• All of us have to deal with the issue of what we are going to invest our lives in. Are we going to invest the one life that we have in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, family, hobbies or taking care of ourselves? Will we consider investing our one life into a higher calling?

• Today we are going to look at what Jesus has to say about investing.

• Will you and are you investing your life into something that will pay eternal dividends or do we need to redirect our current portfolio to a better way?

• Will you examine where you are making your investment today?

SERMON

If we are going to be a wise investor with our lives we must:

I. CHOOSE THE RIGHT INVESTMENT (19-21)

READ VERSES 19-21

A. If you are going to invest your money in the right place, you need to examine your options.

1. One of the investment options is the world (v 19)

• The first investment option that is mentioned is investing into the world.

• This option is an option that our investment broker Jesus encourages us not to make.

• In verse 19 Jesus is telling His listener to STOP making this kind of investment with their lives. When Jesus says “do not” He is telling them to stop making that investment now.

• When we make investments with our money, we want to put our money in something that is going to give us a good return, we should want to do the same thing with our life. We have money and we can make more money, but we have only been given one life to live and we want to make sure that we make the most of the gift that we have been given.

• Jesus demonstrates that these earthly possessions offer no security, since they are subject to elements bringing about their destruction and loss:

• Lay up and treasures come from the same basic Greek term, which is also the source of our English thesaurus, a treasury of words. A literal translation of this phrase would therefore be, “do not treasure up treasures for yourselves.”