Business owners life group

God is the investor

God is an investor and invests in his people. This is an attribute of God often overlooked but scripture is clear as to His intentions. He expects his people to produce. He expects his servants to be about His work. To the common sense thinker, this makes God look like a taskmaster, a big God driving his people to produce. A task orientated God instead of the relational God of Love. Let’s take a look at this from a Father’s perspective. Growing up in a family business I came to realize the importance of a hard days work for a hard day’s pay. Many times it wasn’t enough to get some money just because I was the son. It was expected of me to work as much as the others in the company and many times even more.

God places expectations on his people. The following parables show his desire to see us produce and the consequences of not producing.

1. The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

⁶He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, "Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?' ⁸But he answered and said to him, "Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that^[a] you can cut it down."' Luke 13:6-9

2. Parable of the talents.

¹⁴“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

   ¹⁹“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

   ²¹“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!’

   ²²“The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

   ²³“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!’

   ²⁴“Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

   ²⁶“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

   ²⁸“ ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. ²⁹For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ³⁰And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

3. God expects a return. He expects us to be bringing forth a harvest.

1. Are you a distribution center? This concept takes us back to the Abrahamic blessing. “You will be a blessing to the nations” God’s purpose for our lives goes way beyond our daily needs. As wise investors, He is training us for eternal purpose. Through the faithfulness of the little we become prepared for the large.

2. Prayer moves mountains

We need a proper understanding of investing.

1. The world will pay 2-10%
2. God will pay 30, 60 or 100%
3. God commanded us to store up treasures in heaven. Just the in the right place.
4. Moths and rust can destroy
5. Storing in heaven will make permanent our work. Compared to temporary on the earth
6. The story of a young actress

1. When actress Lisa Whelchel was eighteen, starring in the popular Facts of Life television show, she heard a Christian speaker talk about thousands of starving children in Haiti. In her book, The Facts of Life and other Lessons my Father Taught me, she writes, “My eyes were opened to what a privileged life I lived and how totally unaware I was of what was going on in the rest of the world. I was profoundly moved and convicted. When the service was over, she went to the front, sobbing, dropped her Rolex watch and her diamond and emerald ring into the speaker’s coat pocket and asked him to sell them and give the money to help the poor.

2. Whelchel went home full of conviction: “I could easily live on 10 percent of my salary. I decided to sell my condominium and rent a nice apartment. It wasn’t necessary for a single girl to live in a three-bedroom, two-story condo. And I certainly didn’t need to be driving around in a Porsche. Selling the car and buying a moderate car would free up thousands of dollars. I had money invested in real estate across the country. If I sold it, the money would fee tens of thousands of children. It was a no-brainer. My zeal was strong. I knew that I had heard from God and that I was doing the right thing.”

3. Unfortunately, those close to Whelchel thought her response was extreme, the product of fleeting guilt feelings. They told her it was “irrational.” As clear as God’s leading seemed, she says, “My resolve began to break down under the weight of their arguments, which seemed full of logic and wisdom. Eventually I abandoned the call, closed my eyes, and returned blindly to living a life that seemed to make sense.

4. She then tells the rest of the story: Less that ten years later, all that money was gone anyway. A chunk of it had been invested in a high-rise office building in Pittsburgh that went belly-up. Another significant portion was in Texas land that dried up during the oil crisis and was eventually foreclosed upon. When I got married, I sold my condo and bought a house during the California real estate boom in the 1980’s, only to give it back to the bank three years later when the bottom fell out of the market. The Facts of Life was canceled, and I spent all the cash I had making payments on everything for as long as I could. At twenty-eight, I was broke.

5. Whelchel concludes, “God was trying to get me to invest y money in heaven, where it would be safe, but I thought it was too risky to take him at his word. [1]
6. The market may be bullish one year or bearish the next but the kingdom of God is always bullish. Jesus is unreservedly bullish about investing in heaven. All indicators are positive.
7. Where your heart is, is where your treasure is.
8. The money God entrusts us is eternal investment capital. Everyday is an opportunity to buy up more shares in his kingdom.
9. “You cannot take it with you but you can send it ahead.”

God’s heart is for us to learn the true value of money. Just as a father teaches his son how to save, tithe and buy things that are practical, our heavenly Father uses money to teach us about true riches.