Sermon Cloud

It’s hard to find good investments these days. The other day HSBC was advertising a generous 5.05% on CDs. Or, if you had $10,000 for a money market account, B of A will give you a whopping 1%! One Bible author mentions an investment opportunity that yields a guaranteed 100% return! No, it’s not a scam. It may sound like an investment in precious metals but actually it’s in something even more precious.

Here’s how the story is recorded in Matthew chapter 25. Starting at verse 14 we read:

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to the last dividing it in proportion to their abilities and then left on his trip.

The servant who received the five bags of gold began immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. The servant with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled the money. But the servant who received the one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping.

"After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of gold said, 'Sir, you gave me five bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' The master was full of praise. 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'

"Next came the servant who had received the two bags of gold, with the report, 'Sir, you gave me two bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' The master said, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'

"Then the servant with the one bag of gold came and said, 'Sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.' "But the master replied, 'You wicked and lazy servant! You think I'm a hard man, do you, harvesting crops I didn't plant and gathering crops I didn't cultivate? Well, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest.

Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.

Bags of gold—that’s a very large chunk of change. In older Bible versions the word “talents” is used which refers to a measurement of weight. Most cultures back then used this term “talents” for large sums of currency in gold and silver—therefore the “bags of gold” as it appears in the New Living Translation. Incidentally, the word “talents” here has nothing to do with natural abilities such as singing or writing poetry. It’s currency in weight.

So, the text starts out by saying that investing bags of gold illustrates what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. In other words, you invest some money, you make a huge profit, and that is what God’s Kingdom is supposed to be all about? I can picture investment guru Warren Buffet at the head of the line already.

Before we go any further, you got to realize that the Kingdom of Heaven (or the Kingdom of God) is a present reality in the story and not something in the distant future. If you were to go back to chapter 3 in Matthew, John the Baptist announces the arrival of this kingdom right at the start of Jesus’ ministry. It had already arrived. You also got to also realize that this kingdom is a present reality today for that matter.

Anyway—back to the story. Three individuals were given stocks to invest or trade in the stock market of the day with the idea of doubling their investment. For the two that invested successfully, the text says (verse 29) “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance.” There you have it. You do well with your investment, more is given to you—in abundance! Forget the 5 percent time deposit! The text says that you “will have an abundance!” You’ll double your investment!

Are you seeing a picture emerge here? The idea of being a part of God’s domain or circle is something that constantly grows and enlarges. It is not static. It doesn’t stay the same. If there is no activity or movement, it is not God’s kingdom. Let me lay it out for you: If you claim to be a follower of Christ and your spiritual experience today is exactly what it was—say ten, fifteen years ago—I would take serious inventory of that relationship if I were you. I’m not talking about having a perfect life. But according to this illustration, God’s kingdom has no room for complacency or a ‘status quo’. You might say, ‘No grow—no go!’ I think this calls for some serious soul-searching. You might want to review your spiritual portfolio.

But here’s the beauty of it. You don’t even have to be a Christian to learn from this teaching. The mere fact that you chose to listen to a sermon tells me that you do have a ‘bag of gold’ that you are about to invest. Really. What I mean by that is somewhere in your past experience, you encountered the Divine. There is some knowledge or truth about God that is in your possession that was placed there by that same Man himself in the story—the “man going on a trip” in verse 14. Your next step is really your call: to invest or not to invest. The choice is yours: you can leave it alone or watch it grow. You can take whatever it is that God placed in your heart—whatever truth you know about Christ or the Bible—integrate that truth in your life right now, and you will begin to see your investment grow!

Let’s be practical. Let’s say you know that prayer works but you are not a praying kind of person. What you do is start praying! Or, you know about the providence of God yet your MO is to rely on yourself and then stress out. What you do then is trust that He will somehow make ends meet even when you know your next paycheck won’t cut it. Or, let’s say, you know about the cross of Christ—you watched Mel Gibson’s movie—and yet the cross is just a meaningless icon. What you do is pick up a Bible or do a Google search and find out for yourself what it means.

You get the idea? You take what knowledge or experience you have and set it in motion. Start practicing it. This is how you invest your ‘bags of gold’. Here are more ideas in your portfolio that are worth investing: pursue the idea of grace, forgiveness, trust, humility, patience, peace, compassion. One truth will lead to another, and then another, then another. You follow? The Kingdom of Heaven is here and you can be right in it, right now.

This isn’t rocket science. The God of the universe guarantees the growth of your investment. It is God Himself who will make things happen in your life. You can have the abundance of His presence in your life right now. This is what His kingdom is all about. All He asks is that you take one little investment step at a time and He will double that investment for you just like those bags of gold. He wants you in His circle, in His kingdom. What an opportunity! Start investing today.