Investing in God’s Growth Fund

A recap

As we have continued in looking at Generous Discipleship, we have been looking at how to use our money to fulfil God's purposes for our lives:

1 Timothy 6:18–19 LBP

Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well.

We have discovered God wants you to use some of your money in worship.

You should use some of your money to show him you love him and to prove he is your first priority in life.

God also wants you to use some of your money to invest it in the loving relationships you have with people here.

This often takes the form of practical help such as giving people lifts in your car, making a meal for someone who is unwell, telephoning or writing to someone who needs a word of encouragement.

As part of our Self-Denial Appeal we explored that God has a mission for you in the world.

And God wants you to use some of your money to invest in this mission.

And a few weeks ago, we looked at practising serving God by serving other people around us, by using some of our money to help people in need.

This has all been about ensuring that our heart is in the right place:

Matthew 6:21 NLT

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

The best place to put your heart and your treasure is in God.

That's why in verse one of our passage this morning, God encourages us four times to come to him.

The Lord asks you this morning: how could you be interested in other things besides him?

He is the only one who can bring genuine satisfaction.

But throughout history people have tried to find satisfaction through many things other than God.

One of God's purpose for our lives is for us to grow in maturity:

2 Peter 3:18 LBP

But grow in spiritual strength and become better acquainted with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be all glory and splendid honor, both now and forevermore. Good-bye. Peter

But even with spiritual maturity, people have been known to seek satisfaction in things other than God.

I looked on amazon.co.uk when I was preparing this message, and on that day there were 143,771 self-help books on just one website.

Now that's a lot of advice!

And I don't wish to suggest that none of them have good advice in them.

Many of them do.

But the problem is, none of these books can help you grow in spiritual maturity.

Only the Bible can do that.

What is the difference between the two?

Behind the Bible is God, and only he has the power to give you the ability to truly change.

And so, through our passage this morning, God is calling you to receive what is yours to have.

Bible Reading: Isaiah 55:1-13

Isaiah 55:1–13 NLT

“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.” Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

MESSAGE NOTES

God does not want you to miss him!

John Oswalt notes that in verses 1 to 7 there are twelve imperative verbs.

Isaiah implores Israel not to miss what God has for her.

And God implores this for you too.

And his invitation does not depend on what resources you have.

The invitation is expressed in the strongest terms to those you have no resources in themselves.

And despite the physical imagery – "come to the waters", "come, buy and eat", for example, God's invitation is not just to find a supply of bodily needs but to satisfy a person's whole being with true life.

In other words, to cultivate your spiritual maturity. And God wants you to use some of your money to invest in that growth.

God doesn’t want you to waste your money

The truth is that in society today there are literally millions of ways to waste your money instead of using it to grow.

A report in the Daily Mail at the end of 2011 told readers that more than one fifth of young Britons had admitted their current television cost more than their first car. The average Briton between 18 and 30 spent just £500 on their first car but an average of £700 on their first television. Almost one third of them said they spent this money because they would "rather have a decent TV". Over 50% of them admitted they would pay up to £1200 for a TV.

I’ll leave you to decide whether that's a waste of money or not, but in our consumer society, there are always things that we can spend our money on.

Joy Davidman was an atheist. She admitted that her only real goal in life was self-pleasure. Her only religion was Hedonism. At school she was nicknamed "Forbidden Joy" because of her passionate declarations that she intended to live for pleasure alone. Joy eventually became a communist and did all she could to promote her belief. But then something life changing happened. In 1951, she wrote The Longest Way Around, which was her account of her conversion to Christianity. It conveyed her longing desire to search deeper into the mystical knowledge of God. Now, she wanted that knowledge to govern her everyday life. She sought out and finally married a great Christian, CS Lewis. Lewis later wrote a book called Surprised by Joy, which speaks of this wonderful woman, and expands on the ultimate joy found in Christ. Joy Davidman used some of her money and possessions to cultivate her spiritual maturity.

How are we to do the same and avoid wasting our money on things that will not last into eternity?

Well, one answer surely is to plan how we are going to allocate our money and include some investment in our spiritual maturity:

Proverbs 21:5 NLT

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

The fool runs out of money at the end of the month because he or she has spent foolishly.

Maybe it's down to shopping with a list and refusing to make impulsive or extravagant purchases.

Maybe it's about only spending what your budget allows.

It is certainly about realising that material things will not make you happy.

It is also recognising the futile nature of trying to keep up with the neighbours.

To paraphrase Emile Henry Gauvreau, a wise man refuses to "spend money he doesn't have to buy things he doesn't need to impress people he doesn't even like".

It is about living satisfied rather than living abundantly:

Isaiah 55:2 NLT

Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.

A woman who was married to one of the richest men in America once said she had everything that money could buy – mansions, jets, diamonds, cars, servants and inclusion in the world's richest lists. But her husband, who was spoiled by his riches and steeped in alcoholism, beat her unmercifully during his drunken rages. After years of abuse, she finally ran for her life with only the clothes on her back and one diamond ring on her finger. After an uncontested divorce in which she asked for nothing, she restarted her career, met a Christian man, gave her life to Jesus Christ and found satisfaction in what she had been denied – to be a mother. In her late 50s, she and her husband adopted two small babies and raised them as parents in their 60s and 70s. If you asked her the question, "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy"? she would answer with Isaiah, "Let your soul delight itself in the abundance" of the free gift of grace, not in the things that money can buy.

You too can delight yourself in the abundance that God gives you by using some of your money to develop the gifts and skills he has given you and to cultivate your spiritual maturity.

God wants you to use your money to grow

God says he wants you to use some of your money to educate yourself more.

He wants you to use some of your money to become a better person, to improve yourself in every area of your life.

You can use some of your money to become a better leader, to become a better speaker, to become a better pray-er, to become a better person.

God wants you to use some of your money to do that.

Think for a moment about how faithful you are as a steward of what God has given you.

You are a steward of the material wealth that you have, whether it's a lot or just a little.

One day you will have to answer to God for the way you have acquired wealth and used it.

At the beginning of this series, I spoke about the importance of tithing, of giving the first part of our income to God.

But this is not simply a case of paying the first part of our earnings and then using the remainder as we please.

True stewardship means that we thank God for all that we have and use it all as he directs.

Giving God the first part of our income is a good way to begin faithful stewardship, but you must remember that God should control what you do with the remaining 90% as well.

And he wants you to use some of that to cultivate spiritual maturity.

Christ overflows with satisfaction.

But knowing him, knowing he is the bread of life, knowing that we can drink from him and quench our first isn't enough.

We must dive in to that endless ocean.

We don't deserve his blessing.

We can't earn it.

We cannot buy what isn't for sale.

But throughout our passage this morning, God has told us what to do, simply to come to him.

Spiritual maturity, endless vitality can be yours for nothing.

So why don't you run there?

What possible payoff can there be to sacrifice your spiritual maturity for our worldly system?

We have no reason to refuse God.

We have no reason to cling to our idolatries.

That which is not bread cannot satisfy us, no matter how expensive it is or how hard we try to make it work.

In front of us, is a global marketplace of unsatisfying but costly remedies for God shaped longings.

We are not very smart shoppers:

Isaiah 55:2–3 NLT

Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.

We're not talking about a soup kitchen here!

God is serving us rich food, the best in the world.

How do we taste this banquet?

By listening diligently to his Word.

By being patient, open-minded and carefully poring over his truth in the gospel, thinking it through again and again.

Growing to spiritual maturity in this way is the essential ingredient to a life that is truly life.

God wants you to remember you can’t take it with you!

Why is it important to cultivate spiritual maturity in this way?

Because that's what's going to last.

You cannot take anything else with you.

Your car, your TV, your house, your couch, your clothes, your china, none of these things are going with you to heaven.

But what you are taking is your character.

Who you are.

Who you have become throughout your life.

That's why God wants you to use some of your money to invest in your character and to store up treasure in heaven.

The world will try to tempt you into investing your money in comfort. But God says not comfort but character:

Proverbs 23:23 MSG

Buy truth—don’t sell it for love or money; buy wisdom, buy education, buy insight.

What this looks like in practice

So, what does this look like in practice?

Well, perhaps you use some of your money to buy a spiritual book, a Christian book that helps you grow.

When you do that you invest in God’s Growth Fund.

Or maybe you buy a CD or a download that helps you grow spiritually – it doesn't necessarily have to be a CD of sermons, it could be some music where the lyrics really speak to you.

Again, you're investing in God’s Growth Fund.

Some of you use your money to pay to attend a seminar or a conference or a retreat that helps you improve your life.

That is also an investment in God's Growth Fund.

Some of you use your money to improve skills you have like crafts or music, for example.

That is yet another investment in God's Growth Fund.

Anything that you spend your money on that makes you more of what God wants you to be and helps you to develop what God has given you is an investment in his Growth Fund.

And God looks down on you and smiles and says that is a good use of money.

God wants you to use your money for a purpose.

He wants you to use some of it to express love to him.

That's the Treasury Fund.

He wants you to use some of it to express love to other believers.

That's the Mutual Fund.

God wants you to use some of your money to extend God’s mission in the world.

That’s God’s Global Fund.

God wants you to use some of your money to help those around you who are worse off than you are.

That’s God’s Service Fund.

And God wants you to use some of it to help yourself grow personally.

That's the Growth Fund. When you do that you can make yourself an offering to God.

It is not just about giving an offering; it's about being an offering:

Romans 12:1 MSG

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

God is saying to you this morning don't just give an offering.

Make yourself an offering by making yourself a better person.

By investing in his Growth Fund so that God can use you.

In this way you can become an offering.

SB355 - Beautiful Lord, wonderful Saviour

Beautiful Lord, wonderful Saviour,  I know for sure all of my days are  Held in your hand,  Crafted into your perfect plan.  You gently call me into your presence,  Guiding me by your Holy Spirit.  Teach me, dear Lord, to live all of my life  Through your eyes.  I?m captured by your holy calling,  Set me apart.  I know you?re drawing me to yourself;  Lead me, Lord, I pray.  Take me, mould me, use me, fill me;  I give my life to the potter?s hand.  Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me;  I give my life to the potter?s hand. Darlene Zschech © 1997 Wondrous Worship/MSI Music Administration (Admin. by Song Solutions www.songsolutions.org).  Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 135015 Copied from The Song Book of The Salvation Army Song Number 355