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It had been a hard winter in the Appalachian area. The snow had piled up deeper and deeper, the mercury dropped, rivers froze, people suffered. The Red Cross used helicopters to fly in supplies. One crew had been working day after day--long hours. They were on their way home late in the afternoon when they saw a little cabin submerged in the snow. There was a thin whisper of smoke coming from the chimney. The rescue team figured they were probably about out of food, fuel, perhaps medicine. Because of the trees they had to put the helicopter down a mile away. They put on heavy packs with emergency supplies, trudged through heavy snow, waist deep, reached the cabin exhausted, panting, perspiring. They pounded on the door. A thin, gaunt mountain woman opened the door and the lead man gasped, "We're from the Red Cross." She was silent for a moment and then she said, "It’s been a hard winter, Sonny, I just don't think we can give anything this year." You might think this message is about a plea for money, but it’s not. It’s not about investing in stocks or bonds or IRA’s. It’s about investing in God and what God wants to do in the world. The parable Jesus told is about three servants who have been given large sums of money. A talent is a measure of weight. A talent of silver weighed 100 pounds. A talent of gold weighed 200 pounds. We don’t know if the talents in this parable were of gold or silver but we know that even one talent was a lot of money! Jesus was always trying to help people understand what God wanted to do in the world by comparing it to events and realities of everyday life. For those who had money, financial investment was a reality which is also true for us today. Financial planners will tell you that you don’t need to wait until you have a lot of money. You can begin investing even with a little. Some of the principles we are asked to follow might shed some light on our understanding of this parable. One principle is to learn about the companies you are considering for investment. For many busy folks this means leaving the research to professional financial managers. A second principle of investment is to diversify. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t invest all your money in one stock. People who invested heavily in Enron know the truth of this principle. A third is to be aware of the risks. Some investments might bring strong returns, but they also might leave you with heavy losses. And the fourth principle of investment is to think long term. Don’t be a day trader. Stay in for the long haul. Being a part of what God is doing in the world is something you and I can do today! We don’t have to wait until we have a lot of faith. We don’t have to wait until we are stronger in the faith. We don’t have to wait until we know God better. We can participate in God’s kingdom now! We are called to use the gifts God has given us already. The three servants were given an opportunity to be stewards of the gifts given them by the master. It was a chance to please the master not just by caring for it, but by increasing the gift. The poor servant who buried his talent did not get it. When God gives us the gift of love, it is a gift that is meant to be expanded. It is a gift that is meant to be shared with others. It is a gift that is meant to include the poor as well as the rich. This parable is not simply about the gift of money. It is also about caring for and using the spiritual gifts God has given us. Maybe God has given you the gift of teaching, or prayer, or healing, or administration. There are many spiritual gifts which can be found in 1 Corinthians. Rest assured you have some of the spiritual gifts listed in chapter 12. And there are ways to discover your spiritual gift. When we use our spiritual gifts, not only will it give us joy and life energy, but others will be blessed. These blessings won’t always come according to our timetable but they will come. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor in America, started her practice in New York in 1851. Not only was she unable to find patients -- no one would even rent her a room once she mentioned that she was a doctor. After weeks of trudging the streets, she finally rented rooms from a landlady who asked no questions about what Elizabeth planned to do with them. Quaker women, who had always been receptive to the goal of equal rights, became Elizabeth's first patients. But no hospital would allow her on its staff. Finally, with financial help from her Quaker fiends, Elizabeth opened her own clinic in one of New York's worst slums. The clinic opened in March, 1853. Elizabeth hung a sign out announcing that all patients would be treated free. Yet, for the first few weeks, no one showed up. Then one day a woman in such agony that she didn't care who treated her, staggered up the steps and collapsed in Elizabeth's arms. When the woman was treated and recovered, she told all her friends about the wonderful woman doctor in downtown New York. The dispensary was soon doing well. It eventually expanded, moved, and is now a branch of the New York Infirmary on East Fifteenth Street. This is where the financial investment advice is helpful: stay in there for the long term. It’s about being more concerned with faithfulness than success. When success is our goal we are often tempted to take short cuts. And when we do we often miss out on vital life lessons faithfulness can teach us. Are you presently committed to something that is not yielding much return? Are you tempted to quit and try something else? Maybe a spirit of sticktuitiveness is what is needed, a long term vision to be patient and wait for the return. There are some Christians who preach a gospel of prosperity, that is, if you commit yourself to Christ and his teachings, God will bless you financially. Personally, I don’t believe the Christian life can be set up as a formula so that if we follow certain steps, our bank accounts will grow. However, I do believe there is a connection between our faith and our checkbooks. Daniel Howard, chair of the marketing department at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business, decided to test an intriguing concept: Is there any correlation between a person's religious beliefs and his or her investment performance? Howard surveyed 535 randomly selected residents of the most affluent neighborhoods in Dallas, and had respondents rate their belief in God on a scale of 1 (atheist) to 7 (very strong belief); they also listed their investing returns for the past one, three and five years. When Howard compared the profits of the most religious 25 percent with those of the least religious 25 percent, the difference was startling: Over one year, the most fervent gained an average of 31 percent, compared with 18 percent for the secular investors. Three- and five-year results showed similar disparities. Howard's hypothesis: The more strongly you believe in God, the more willing you are to take risks, and risk-taking was rewarded in the 1990’s bull market. No doubt you have seen at least one episode of the TV program, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" One might think that the American dream is still about becoming rich. The truth is that Americans are a lot less materialistic than successful game shows might suggest. They're defining success in terms of relationships, education, philanthropy and religion -- and relegating the almighty dollar to near the bottom of the list, according to an AARP Modern Maturity survey of 2,400 people over age18. It’s not about money. It’s about faith and faithful living. At a church meeting a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith. "I'm a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life. I remember that turning point in my faith. I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night. The speaker was a missionary who told about his work. I knew that I only had a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God's work or nothing at all. So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man today." He finished and there was an awed silence at his testimony as he moved toward his seat. As he sat down a little old lady sitting in the same pew leaned over and said to him: "I dare you to do it again." It’s not too hard to trust God with a dollar. But what happens to that trust when there’s much more in our wallets and bank accounts? For many, wealth has come with hard work, perseverance, and conservative investment strategies. We begin to think that perhaps God didn’t have a whole lot to do with it. We did it. We worked hard. We made the wise decisions. We tread on dangerous ground with attitudes such as this. The Bible teaches that all good gifts come from God. We are simply the stewards, the caretakers of those gifts. Investing them in ways that help them grow and multiply is what God wants if we are doing so to help others. Even though there are many similarities between our world and God’s world, there are significant differences. In God's kingdom the rules are often upside down. And we are going to give you a chance to experience the upside-down kingdom of God today. In just a moment we are going to have our offering as usual. But during the last hymn we are going to pass the plates around again. This time we are not asking you to put money in the plate. We ask that you take money out! That’s right. We’re asking that you take one of the $20 bills out of the plate and invest that money into the kingdom of God. This money is a gift from a church member who wants the gift to multiply. You and your family can use your creativity to multiply this gift. Use it to buy publicity for a garage sale. Use it to buy ingredients for a cookie sale. Use it for materials to buy and make homemade jewelry to sell. You will be limited only by your imagination and your desire to please the Master. Think about the opportunity parents will have to teach their children about faith and investing in God’s work. No record will be kept of who has the money. It is all about faith. And then on September 8 we will be calling for everyone to bring back the original gift plus any profits from their investments. All this money will go towards the work of God in helping to fund our new addition. In the parable the difference between the servant who buried his talent and the other two was FEAR. He was afraid of the master. Are we afraid of our Master? We may be concerned about such a venture, but this can be an opportunity to step out on faith. And when we do, God will surely act! And we will have the blessing of seeing that activity and offering our praise to our Master and our God! |
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06.16.02 - Spiritual Investment (Matthew 25:14-30)
