Where is Your Investment?
Hebrews 11:1-11:16
(Intro)
A preacher named Ray Stedman traveled across the country for a week of meetings. The only problem was, his baggage didn’t make it. He needed a couple of suits so he went down to the local thrift shop.
When he told the salesman, "I’d like to get a couple of suits," the man smiled, led him to a whole rack of them and said, "Good, we’ve got several. But you need to know they came from the local mortuary. They’ve all been cleaned and pressed, but they were used on stiffs. Not a thing wrong with ’em. I just didn’t want that to bother you."
Stedman said, "No, that’s fine." He tried a few of the suits on and finally bought two of them for about $25 dollars each.
When he got back to this his room, he began to get dressed for the evening’s meetings. As he put one on, he tried to put his hands in the pockets, but couldn’t. Both sides were all sewn up! The suits looked as if they had pockets, but they were just flaps on the coat. He thought about that for a second. “Of course! Dead people don’t carry stuff with ’em when they die.”
What are we going to need when we die? We won’t need our billfolds, we won’t need our keys, pictures, credit cards, debit cards, or money - we will not need them!
The more I think about it, I don’t have to be a slave to those things now while I am alive. This is a temporary stay, yeah I have to get buy, like Rally’s slogan says, “You Gotta Eat!” But is my life about money and things or am I just passing through? Looking forward to the day when I finally get home!
All this just helps me to remember that:
I am an alien in this world, therefore all that I am and all that I have is invested in God and His kingdom!
(Me)
You know for me I have to be constantly reminded of what it means to be an alien.
I grew up in the era of ET. I loved that show. I can still see the scenes where ET phones home and he rides off. ET was not from here, he was different. Who he was and what he had was not a part of this world.
I also remember shows like Alien and Cone heads. They were weird movies and if you have not seen them don’t run out and rent them or buy them but they are constant reminders for me that I am not a part of this world. When I think of an alien, I think of someone or something that is just visiting here – they have no stake in anything here and they certainly don’t own anything here. They are just passing through.
So when I think of myself and I think about how I have given all that I am and all that I own to God – I am just a visitor, just passing through. God has set me apart, I am one of His. I changed my allegiance when I gave my life to Him. I am a citizen of heaven.
(We)
Now you may be wandering what does this have to do with me? Why is this important?
We all know many people who live for this world. They are doing just fine. We know people with money and lots of things, who clearly live for the world and all its things and they seem happy, after all they can buy all they want when they want.
You may be sitting here this morning wandering where you citizenship is. Are you an alien? Are you a citizen of this world or are you a citizen of heaven? Can you be both or maybe you are just trying to understand what this all means!
I propose that if we do take this seriously and we live our lives like we are aliens, strangers in this land that we will not be enslaved by it any longer. We will be free to live for the God who gave His all for us. We will no longer invest in this world but we will need to invest in God and His kingdom.
Transition: The awesome thing about this is God tells us all about it in His word. We are not the first ones dealing with this issue:
(God)
Look at Hebrews 11:1-16 with me. READ
The writer of Hebrews lists 4 of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament: Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. They were aliens in this world, all they had and that they were was invested in their real home and in their God who they would be with throughout all eternity! They were just passing through this land. They invested in God.
I want to look at each of these men and examine how they lived their lives.
Abel - Scripture tells us that God asked for a sacrifice, and Genesis tell us:
“Cain (Abel’s bro.) brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.” Gen. 4:3
But by contrast, Abel “brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.” Genesis 4:4
Do you remember what happened then?
Do you remember how God responded to Cain’s sacrifice?
That’s right, He rejected Cain’s offering, but He accepted Abel’s.
Now look at what Hebrews 11:4 says: “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.”
What’s that mean? It means Abel invested in God when he offered up his sacrifice. His sacrifice was offered in faith because Abel believed that “God existed and that He was the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6
By contrast, Cain was just going thru the motions. He was just being religious. He wasn’t investing in God. How do I know that?
Well … do you remember how Cain reacted when God rejected his sacrifice? (He was angry, bitter, and grim.) I looked that passage in Genesis over pretty closely and I noticed that Cain didn’t even bother to ASK God why He didn’t like the sacrifice. Because he didn’t care. Cain wasn’t interested in investing in God… he was more focused on himself. So Abel invested in God and His kingdom.
Enoch - We don’t know much about Enoch except Genesis 5:24 says that “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
What happened? Enoch invested his life in God – He WALKED with God.
God didn’t take anybody else away with Him because nobody else apparently wanted to spend that kind of time with God… but Enoch did.
Enoch invested his life in God because he “believed God existed and that He was the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Noah - Noah invested - not only his life but - his work schedule in God. He built an Ark.
Noah spent a major portion of his life working on a project he knew would please God.
He invested his time, his resources and his whole family in making it a success.
God didn’t select anybody else to work on this project because nobody else wanted to invest that kind of time in the things of God.
But Noah was willing to do the job because he “believed God existed and that He was the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Abraham - Of all the men listed here Abraham’s investment was the most difficult.
He didn’t just invest in God by giving an offering, or walking with God, or building his work schedule around God. Abraham went much farther than that.
He gave up everything to follow God.
He left his home and his family. He walked away from everything that he’d once held dear so that he could obey the call of God. He literally became an alien and a stranger… a nomad wandering about the countryside. All because “…when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Hebrews 11:10
Abraham believed in God… and he obeyed God because he “believed God existed and that He was the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
This world was not his home, he was just passing through.
He (and the others listed in Hebrews 11) realized they were aliens and strangers in this land. Their treasures were laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
(You)
These people in Hebrews 11 were given to us as examples of how WE ought to live. They were all held up as being people of great faith because this world was not their home. They were in the habit of investing their lives, their jobs, and their families in a God who they knew existed and Who is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
In order to become like them we’ve got to learn to think like those who don’t belong to this world.
Jesus had a man approach him who had that very problem. Mark 10 tells about a young man who came to Jesus and asked him "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus listed the commandments and the man responded to Jesus "’Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.’ Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’"
Did the young man do that? Did He sell all that he had to give to the poor… No! Why?
Mark 10:22 tells us “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
The young man’s wealth SHACKLED him to this present world.
When Jesus asked this man to sell all that he had – give it to the poor and follow him, Jesus was giving the man the tools to break free of the power money had on him. Jesus was giving the man ability to break the chains that held him to this world.
Possessions and money have the most potential to chain us to this world - to rob us of our ability to be aliens and strangers in this world. Money can do the same thing to us. It can cause us to forget why we (as Christians) exist. It can cause us to become self-absorbed and to become so tied to this present world that we invest only in ourselves.
That’s why the Bible teaches us the importance of our tithes and offerings.
Think about it - does God really need our tithes and offerings?
The God who owns cattle on a 1000 hills. Does He really require whatever I might give this week? No, of course not!
(pause…)
So why should the Bible stress this idea of giving to God so heavily?
Well, 2 reasons:
1st – My weekly offering gives me a way to invest in God. It gives me an opportunity to say that “I believe God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Just as Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham invested in God because they believed He would take care of them, so also, when I put my offering in the plate, I am declaring that I believe God will take care of me too.
Closely tied to that is the 2nd reason: My offering on Sunday gives me a tool to remove the power money has on me.
You see, the only way money can chain me to this world - the only way money can rob me of my ability to be an alien and stranger here - is I become convinced that I can’t do without that portion of my paycheck.
Let’s face it, the only reason I wouldn’t put an offering in the plate on Sunday morning is because I have more faith in the power of money to give me security than I do in the power of God to do the very same thing.
Holding onto that offering chains me to this world…
… while giving it on Sunday chains me - by faith - to God.
Once that principle becomes ingrained into our lives this world cannot hold us.
The chains that would bind us, no longer have power over us.
We have a real tangible way to act on this today – this is what we have labeled as a church as Tithe Sunday. We are asking people to give more than normally give, to give extra. Here is what I want you think about: If you are an alien in this world, therefore all that you are and all that you have is invested in God and His kingdom! Your allegiance is to Him, then you are not giving or investing here, you’re investing in God and His Kingdom.
Listen to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount
"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 moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
Where is your heart, where is your investment?
(We)
I believe if we do this it will change everything. It will change your life because you will no longer be a slave to this world and its things. It will change your families because they will be free from bondage and be focused on their Savior and eternity with Him. It would change our community if we are investing God and His kingdom, we will be different, strangers that point people to Him. It will change our church because we will be able to have the resources to be the salt and the light here in Richmond and beyond to Kenya, Brazil, Haiti, Korea, Italy, China, North Korea, Christian Campus Houses, Grundy Mountain Missions, and other areas across the world that we support through our missions. It would change the world if we are supporting those who are investing in God. There are people right now who are hearing the Gospel for the first time because of our help financially as well as spiritual support that we have given to these missionaries. What are you investing in? Invest in God!
Richard Wurmbrand was a preacher in the Soviet Union that suffered terribly for his faith.
But in his book "Tortured for Christ," he wrote that -while he was imprisoned for his faith - he and his fellow Soviet believers did something that was totally unexpected.
"When we were given one slice of bread a week and dirty soap every day, we decided we would faithfully ’tithe’ even that. Every tenth week we took the slice of bread and gave it to the weaker brethren as our ’tithe’ to the Master."
Now, that’s unusual. This was their food… all the food they had.
Why did they make that decision?
They made that decision because they thought of themselves as aliens and strangers in this world.
Their possessions had no hold upon them. In fact, they used those possessions as their basis for investing in God. They referred to their gift of bread as their “tithe” to the Master.
As Christians we are aliens in this world, therefore all that we are and all that we have is invested in God and His kingdom!
Give your tithe to the master, invest in God.
