HoHum:
For many years, soft drink and milk companies reused their bottles. Each bottle had it’s own deposit created to motivate people to return them. Buy a soft drink, pay a deposit, and get it back when the bottle was returned. Later, ways were found to make plastic bottles that did not need to be returned. They were labeled: “No deposit, no return” because they had no value.
The idiom “no deposit, no return” caught on and became a proverb. It proclaimed that the more we put into something the greater our return. At the bank, if no deposit is made, there is no return from which to write checks. The concept is timeless and is found many times in the Scriptures.
WBTU:
Fascinated by an article called, “A Model of Religion and Death” by Derek Pyne. In that article Derek often talks about religious capital. Derek is an economist and in this context, “Capital is physical or financial resources used to produce value in an economy.” In other words, “No deposit, no return,” or “We reap what we sow.” 2 Corinthians 9:6 says, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” I don’t have much. We all have time, talents and treasures from which we can make investments. Talked last time about how I am uncomfortable talking about religious capital. A better term is relationship capital. We are investing in relationships. Jesus said the Greatest Commandment is, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27). We see here that we are investing in our relationship with God or we are investing in our relationship with others with our time, talents and treasures. 1 Timothy 6:18-19 says, “Command them (who, the rich from vs. 17, some are richer than others but we are all rich) to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share (investing in relationship with God and in relationships with others). In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” I am uncomfortable in thinking of a positive afterlife as something that is secured by investments. I would rather view this in relationship terms instead of investment terms. Even so, the Scriptures often refer to all of this in investment terms. The thesis of Derek Pyne article is that we need to have religious capital so that when we are confronted with mortality we can have a peaceful death and a good afterlife. Let’s look at this in 5 areas today.
Thesis: Let’s consider God’s 5 investment funds, these reflect 5 purposes of the church
For instances:
1. God’s treasury fund
This is the investment fund that many think of- tithing. We invest in the treasury fund by using some of our money (our treasures) to express our worship to God (relationship to God). There’s nothing we can give that God really needs. God certainly doesn’t need our money. When we give to the treasury we are saying, “God I love you.” The Bible says, “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops” (Proverbs 3:9 NIV). The Living Bible says here, “Honor the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income.” We honor God when we tithe. We ascribe high value to God when we give. It’s an act of worship. God wants us to give to this fund before we invest in any other fund. God does not want our money; he wants what it represents. Children came up front and asked, “What does God want from us?” “Our money”
2. God’s mutual fund (fellowship)
God wants us to invest in others. He wants us to build relationships with others. Our mission is to love people and lead them to a relationship with Jesus Christ. No matter to what or to whom we give, when we give we are drawn closer to that mission or to that person. Anytime I give of my time, talents and treasures to others, I invest in the mutual fund of fellowship. Some people have a hard time investing in just one congregation. They bounce around from one local church to another. Some obvious reasons to leave a congregation, if we move away, if the doctrine is weak or wrong, then it is time to find another church. Beyond this, I would highly question going from one church to another. Some people have a hard time with church membership but I think this is a good concept, to commit to a local church. If we fail to commit to a local church, then we will have a poor return on our investment in fellowship. Come across so many in hospice who never commit themselves to a local church. “Why doesn’t anyone come to see me?” Well, they don’t know you because never invested in the fellowship. Church can be such a source of help and support but that is never seen as important until it is too late. Investing in the fund of fellowship brings in dividends, not just personally, but in other ways. Jesus said in John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Galatians 6:10 “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
3. God’s growth fund (discipleship)
God wants us to invest in our relationship with himself. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We will have to use our time, talents and treasures to make this investment. Proverbs 22:23 says, “Buy the truth and do not sell it—wisdom, instruction and insight as well.” Anytime we use our money to buy a Christian book or CD, we’ve invested in this fund. Or whenever we use our money to take a class or to learn something that makes us more of what God wants us to be, we’re investing in God’s growth fund. Takes money but an investment of time seems to be the greatest challenge.
4. God’s equity service fund (ministry)
Some of this goes back to the mutual fund (fellowship) but really I am talking about those in need in Louisville. We were put here to help others. This is all part of God making us more like himself. God is generous. Everything we have in life is because of God’s generosity. We would have nothing if it weren’t for God’s generosity. God wants us to be generous like he is. God particularly wants us to be generous with the poor. All throughout the Bible, God tells us he is watching how we help the poor. We give to the Louisville Christian Assistance Center and they give to the poor. Psalm 146:7 says, “He (God) upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.” In the scene of the Judgement Throne in Matthew 25, Jesus commends the sheep and says to them, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Yes, but Jesus also said that we will always have the poor with us (Mark 14:7) so what good is it to help the poor? Proverbs 19:17 says, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.” Building up relationship capital!
5. God’s global fund (missions)
We give to faith promise and the ultimate goal of faith promise is to see more people become Christians both here and around the world. Luke 16:9 is one of the most misunderstood verses in the entire Bible. Jesus there says, “use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” What in the world does Jesus mean by that? The whole parable is difficult. I believe that Jesus is telling us that he wants us to invest money to direct people to Jesus. When we die and get to heaven, there will be people there who will welcome us and say, “Thank you for investing in me. I’m in heaven because of you. I’m not your friend for life; I’m you friend for eternity. I’m in heaven because you cared enough. Because you gave, I’m now a follower of Christ, and I’m in heaven because of you.” Greatest possible investment is to invest in a soul. Our mission is to love people and lead them to a relationship with Jesus Christ whether that is here or somewhere else.
So what?
Derek Pyne does make mention of salvation by faith in his paper but it is only in passing. Only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are we afforded a place in heaven. No amount of accumulated relationship capital is getting us to heaven but only the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This is expressed beautifully in the hymn Rock of Ages, “Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law’s demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone, thou must save, and thou alone.” We must allow the Lord to deposit that salvation into our account. 2 Corinthians 5:5 says, “Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” How do we get the Spirit? Acts 2:38. Ask that come forward to receive the deposit
Now the main conclusion of the paper by Derek Pyne is that moderately religious individuals fear death more than very religious individuals. Those who have low capital (little investment) have uncertainty on the status of their afterlife. The Bible does mention those who are halfhearted in their faith. Jesus said to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Those who are lukewarm do have reason to be concerned. Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the Spirit control? You can only be blest, And have peace and sweet rest, As you yield Him your body and soul. Don’t be lukewarm but invest all we can.
