Investment advice

Matthew 25:35–40 (ESV): 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Points

1. We make little use of the resources we have.

2. The Lord uses us to meet the needs of others.

3. How to turn a profit.

1. We make little use of the resources we have.

I believe we are called to be good stewards of things God gifts us, and often we think of money. Money is the resource that most often people think of when we talk about resources.

If you were given $86,400, what would you do with it?

What if you were given it every day? What would you do with it?

What if someone stole $120? Would you burn the rest?

I ask because God has a history of depositing 86,400 seconds into our account daily. When something goes wrong, we tend to burn with white-hot anger and make no use of the remaining time for the day. A two-minute interaction can have us hung up for days, weeks, months…years!

I said people often think of money, but i like to talk about time. It is the one resource we cannot buy or get more of. All we can hope to do is make the most of what time we are given. To be good stewards of the time we are given.

How do you squeeze the absolute most out of your time? I can be guilty of not making the most of my time, but I certainly have learned to be better because my perspective has changed. I used to believe that I was only wasting time until I had none left. Now, I am trying to make the most of my time every time.

2. The Lord uses us to meet the needs of others.

Here jesus talked about food, water, clothes, and visiting those who are sick or someone in prison.

“Proverbs 22:9 (ESV): 9 Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” The NIV version says, “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” As we can see, we are blessed by freely giving of our resources. Jesus often broke bread with people and it can be so rewarding. Lets look at verse 35: For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Did God need food water or company?

The humanity in Jesus is demonstrated through this verse. It is because Jesus was fully man, fully God, that He was able to do what He did on the cross--to be able to reconcile us back to the Father. God was in perfect relationship with Himself, He did not NEED to create all that we see and know, but He did it for our sake. Much like this example, we are the ones that need food, water, and companionship. These are basic human needs, and Jesus shows that He knows our needs and has made it possible for them to be met. There is food to eat, there is water to drink, and there are people to form relationships with.

Verse 36: I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ To be naked meant without proper attire here. It is like seeing someone in improper clothing in winter. A parallel we can probably all understand. There have been times in my life when I would be outside in the cold with no jacket and on the surface, it would be easy to say that i did it to myself. However, the reason I ended up in those situations did not matter. Jesus did not outline specifics for what or why they might be in jail, sick, or without proper clothing. I don’t think we should either. Why someone is in that position is for them to wrestle with God about not me.

The church folks of that time asked, Verse 37: Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ They said, we never saw you around Stanford or Moreland hungry or thirsty. I have definitely never seen you without a coat in winter.

3. How to turn a profit.

Yet, Jesus said, 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

The king! Here Jesus is saying any of you would like to do this for the king, but I am telling you that not doing it for the lowliest of people is the same as spitting in the kings face. How many people wish to do good for those who can repay it? Or those who can help to elevate them in some way? Again, I would ask what good is it to love those that love you? Jesus said even pagans do that! It is not enough for us to huddle up and forget that there is a world full of lost people out there. It is through doing these things that we demonstrate fruit. Earlier in Matthew it says that we should,

Matthew 3:8 (ESV): Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Do not keep count of the times you have helped or what it has cost you. First and foremost, it cost Jesus EVERYTHING. Yet, He still encourages us through Galatians 6:9–10 (ESV): 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. We see here that it is important to love those who have already come to faith, but keep in mind we cannot add to our numbers if we aren’t loving that outside of our faith. It is because love is what helps encourage growth and faith.

The Good Samaritan - Luke 10:30-37

“25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Talk through how love languages impact the way people show and receive love.

Use an example and talk through loving your neighbor as yourself. Not in the same way that you would love yourself, but in the way that they would want to be loved.

Then we see that the Priest and the Levite not just passed by, but crossed the road to pass by him. They would have worried about becoming unclean by touching someone bloodied. There would have been a cleansing that needed to take place for them to be able to go back to the temple and serve. Yet, Jesus described these people as the ones who were wrong in the story. Why? Werent they doing God’s work at the temple? Wouldn’t this one person have stopped them from serving God and all the others? I love that the hero of the story was a Samaritan, someone not at all liked by the Jews. He was the hero because he invested in an individual.

Investment advice

We are supposed to be good stewards and turn a profit on our resources. If you want to make profitable investments, invest in people.