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.”
• Jesus mentions that treasure stored up on earth are subject to being eaten away by moths. When we think of treasures, we think of gold, silver and money, but in Jesus day clothing was a great sign of wealth. The wealthy would flaunt their wealth by what they wore. They would have gold threat sewn into their clothing. Most of the fine clothing made in Jesus day was made of wool which moths loved to eat. Even the wealthy had a hard time protecting their clothing from insects.
• Jesus tells us that if we put our investment into the world that our investment is subject to rust. The word we translate “rust” denotes anything that would eat away at something, or corrode it. In Jesus’ day, there were no banks like we have today so some would bury their money in the ground (remember the parable of the talents) and if it was left long enough it could have been lost to the elements.
• Jesus also says that if we put or investment into the world it will be subject to being stolen. In Jesus’ day houses had dirt, mud or rock walls in which thieves could dig through to steal from you if they wanted to.
• The basic message of Jesus concerning storing up our treasures on earth is that they will not last.
• A few years ago, the St. Petersburg Times reported the story of a young man who was driving his Porsche to work when it caught fire. He stood there watching it burn and was quoted as saying, "That car meant everything to me." Even if we make some allowance for youth and for the inexact use of language, the statement is still startling. If your car means everything to you, you have a misplaced sense of values. If your career, or your home, or your family, or your health means everything to you, you’ve forgotten something. Even if life means everything to you, you’ve forgotten something.
• Are you investing your life into the world? When you invest in the world, you cannot take that investment with you.
• Jesus gives us another investment option. Heaven!
2. Another investment option is in heaven (v 20)
• Jesus gives us a better option for investing our lives.
• Jesus encourages us in verse 20 to invest our lives in heaven.
• The investment in heaven will pay eternal dividends, not only that, you can take your investment with you!
• Jesus says that your investment in heaven will not be subject to theft, decay or destruction.
• We invest into heaven by giving our lives to Jesus and the cause of Christ. Everything that we do reflects the investment we make.
• Do you want to make an investment that will pay off forever?
• Our life is sort of like us sending up materials to heaven for our home to be built. Some of us will have mansions and some will have shacks and some, nothing and some will have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.
• Our life can be compared to what has been called one of Sigmund Freud’s favorite stories.
• Sigmund Freud’s favorite story was about the sailor shipwrecked on one of the South Sea Islands. He was seized by the natives, hoisted to their shoulders, carried to the village, and set on a rude throne. Little by little, he learned that it was their custom once each year to make some man a king, king for a year. He liked it until he began to wonder what happened to all the former kings. Soon he discovered that every year when his kingship was ended, the king was banished to an island, where he starved to death. The sailor did not like that, but he was smart and he was king, king for a year. So he put his carpenters to work making boats, his farmers to work transplanting fruit trees to the island, farmers growing crops, masons building houses. So when his kingship was over, he was banished, not to a barren island, but to an island of abundance.
• It is a good parable of life: We’re all kings here, kings for a little while, able to choose what we shall do with the stuff of life.
• Are you going to end up your eternity starving to death or are you storing up treasures up in heaven?
• 2 CORINTHIANS 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
• LUKE 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure -- pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."
• Do you trust God enough to follow this?
3. The ramifications of where you invest your life (v 21)
• The subject of where we invest our selves is important because Jesus tells us in verse 21 that where our treasure or investment is, there our heart will be also.
• Jesus is not saying that if we put our treasure in the right place our heart will then be in the right place, but that the location of our treasure indicates where our heart already is. Spiritual problems are always heart problems. Sinful acts come from a sinful heart, just as righteous acts come from a righteous heart.
• Your treasure follows your heart, if your heart is in the right place, you will place your treasure there also.
• To be focused on treasures in heaven is to pursue those goals and activities that have eternal significance and that have a relationship to God as the ultimate concern. Since one’s treasure is indicative of a person’s loyalty and inner commitment, one’s ultimate pursuit and interests provide a window to the true self (heart).
• Being able to invest your life into the kingdom of God requires that you trust God enough to let go and let God.
• PROVERBS 3:9-10 Honor the Lord from your wealth, And from the first of all your produce; So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
• Do you trust in God enough to do this?
If we are going to be a wise investor with our lives we must:
II. HAVE HEALTHY VISION (22-23)
1. The healthy eye (v 22)
• Jesus uses a different illustration to illustrate His point about how where you lay your treasure affects your heart. Our heart or affection is to the soul much like the eye is to the body.
• If we are going to be a good investor, we need to have a healthy eye for God.
• If we do not fix our eyes upon spiritual things, the time will soon come when we will not be able to see the spiritual things.
• 1CO 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
• TITUS 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
• The word for “clear” in verse 22 can also mean “single”. Singleness of purpose is one of the things that we benefit us spiritually and helps us to grow and mature. (USE ATHLETE TRAINING FOR THE OLYMPICS)
• The eye regulates the movement of the body, so if we want to head towards something, we need to focus our eyes on it. (DRIVING ILLUSTRATION)
• In order for our conduct to be correct, our attention must be fixed heavenward. A healthy eye will let light into the body much like a pure heart will let light into the soul.
• The thought of the power which treasures on earth has in attracting the heart forms the transition to the need of a pure steady eye fixed heavenward!
2. The unhealthy eye (v 23)
• If our eye is bad, however, if it is diseased or damaged, no light can enter, and the whole body will be full of darkness. If our hearts are encumbered with material concerns they become “blind” and insensitive to spiritual concerns. The eye is like a window which, when clear, allows light to shine through, but, when dirty, or bad, prevents light from entering.
• The implication of this verse is that if we are trying to fix our focus on two things at once, we will not get where we need to go.
• If the eye of the soul is fixed in the wrong place, the soul will follow. Being spiritually blind would be the worst thing that can happen to a person.
• If the light that we have within us is not really light, but darkness, then we will be in serious trouble!
If we are going to be a wise investor with our lives we must:
III. SEEK TO SERVE ONE BOSS (24)
1. The peril of trying to serve two masters
• If your heart is not in heaven, then your treasure will not be there either. If our god is materialism, we will work ourselves dead to get more stuff. If our god is entertainment, then being entertained will come first.
• If Jesus is your lord, then He will take first place. I am afraid for too many of us; we are not storing up treasures in heaven. Our actions betray what we proclaim.
• Jesus tells us that we cannot serve two masters. If we are going to successfully invest our life, we must realize that we can only serve one master.
• One of the two is going to take priority.
• Whenever a person becomes a citizen of our country, they have to swear allegiance to our country. When you accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, you are swearing your allegiance to Him! If you try to serve in two armies at the same time who are fighting each other, you would be considered a traitor.
• Are you trying to serve two masters? You cannot do it.
CONCLUSION
• Jesus wants entire dedication of the heart to Him. From this dedicated heart, all the duties of the Christian should be performed.
• We can fully invest ourselves in Jesus because we have faith and trust that He will do what He says He will do.
• All the other gods that people serve in life do nothing but take.
• If we want to save our life, we need to give up our life into the hands of Jesus!
• Where are you investing yourself today? Is your investment going to pay eternal dividends or when it comes time to withdraw from your investment, will you find that you have been cheated?
• Today we are going to give you the opportunity to make the greatest investment you will ever make.
