Investing
From the Series—Journey
July 18, 2003This evotional continues our series Journey: The Road to Spiritual Maturity. We’ve explored three dimensions of discipleship: seeking, learning, and influencing. This evotional focuses on investing.
One common mistake many people make is thinking that joy is found on the receiving-end of life. The more stuff I get the happier I’ll be. Don’t get me wrong. I love receiving gifts as much as the next person. If you give them, I’ll receive them. But I also know that the greatest joy is found on the giving-end of life. Jesus said it this way, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
This week I met with an NCCer and he told me that his first Sunday at NCC I talked about tithing—the spiritual discipline of giving 10% of our income back to God. To be perfectly honest, there was part of me that thought, “I’m surprised he stuck around.”
I used to think that talking about money would run people off. But what he said next was a “eureka” moment. Talking about tithing didn’t scare him away. He said that’s exactly what he was looking for. He wanted a church that would challenge him.
Let me tell you one difference between successful and unsuccessful people in every arena of life. Unsuccessful people want to be comfortable --they want to hear what they want to hear. Successful people want to be challenged --they want to be stretched.
I played basketball in high school and college and I always trained for preseason. But as hard as I trained, I couldn’t push myself the way my coaches could push me. They had a way of pushing me past my perceived limits. That’s my role as your spiritual coach. Hebrews 10:24 puts it this way, “Let us consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
Spurs are those sharp things that dig into the side of a horse to get them to go. I’m guessing horses don’t like them. Spurs hurt! But they get the horse to go where it needs to go. There is a time and place to comfort one another. And there is a time and a place to spur one another. The people who make a difference in our lives aren’t the ones who whisper “giddy-up” in a half-hearted, high-pitched voice. It’s the people who dig their spurs into our sides to get us to go where God wants us to get.
The NCCer who talked to me about tithing followed up via email last week. Here’s what he had to say. “A year ago, if someone had told me that tithing regularly would provide this much joy, I would have told them, “you don’t know my financial situation” or “it’s too little to make a difference” or “I’m waiting for the right church” but this reasoning assumes that my need for control outweighs the awesomeness of surrender and the immeasurable abilities of God. I can honestly say that committing to tithing regularly has taught me more things than I could have imagined. But most of all tithing has affirmed the amazing faithfulness of God when we are joyfully obedient. God has done me incalculable favors simply by taking that money off my sometimes mischievous hands. Without question, I am richer today in all the right things. God has come through in spades.”
The Law of Measures
Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you, a good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”
When Lora and I first moved to DC nine years ago, we pioneered a parachurch ministry and had to raise our own budget. A year into things we were at about 50% budget and I remember feeling prompted to give to another parachurch ministry in the city. On a human level it didn’t make much sense. How can you give to another ministry when you haven’t even raised your own budget? But we believed in what they were doing and felt God prompting us to do it.
I still remember writing a check for $350. It was one of those checks that you write and as you write you’re thinking, “I can’t believe I’m writing this.” After writing the check I walked over to the post office and dropped the check in the mailbox outside. Then I walked inside, opened my post office box , and literally found a check for $10,000.
Sometimes we fail to make the connection between giving and receiving, but when sixty seconds is all that separates giving $350 and receiving $10,000 you get the point. When you give beyond your ability, God is going to bless beyond your ability. Don’t get me wrong: we didn’t give to get. God is not a slot machine. We gave because we believed it was the right thing to do whether we received anything in return or not. But I also know there is an inviolable spiritual law at work in the universe called the law of measures: you always get back more than you give away.
Matthew 19:29 says, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” That’s a 10,000% return.
A few months ago I got an email from an NCCer. She wrote, “Pastor Mark, In the summer of 1998 I was getting ready to leave for a semester abroad in Argentina. I had participated that year in the faith promise pledge at NCC, and because I was on the budget of a college student, I pledged $10 a month. At any rate, before I left for the fall semester, I sent in a check to cover the next 5 months ($50) so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it while I was gone. I’m not sure if you remember this or not, but after church one Sunday that August, right before I left, you mentioned it to me after church and said something about God being pleased with me for my faithfulness in that and something about Him blessing it. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but a few weeks later, after I had already gone to Argentina, I found out through a rather strange phone call that I had received a $5000 scholarship for which I did not apply. My boss on campus had nominated me, but I didn’t find that out until January, 1999. At any rate, you were right. God did bless me. And while I thanked HIM for that scholarship, knowing that only HE could orchestrate something like that, I had never thought before this past weekend that perhaps it was a blessing in response to my offering to Him through the Faith Promise. I work in finance, and I know that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to get a 10,000% return on an investment in a one-month period of time. Only God can do that. Anyway, just thought I’d share that story with you now. It’s only 4 years late.”
Whatever you keep you lose. Whatever you give away you get back. You can’t go wrong giving because you can’t out give God. Here’s a pretty good motto to go by: when in doubt--give!
This week I was running low on energy so I went for a run. Here is what I’ve learned about the physical realm: if you’re out of energy the way you get energy is by giving energy. It’s amazing how reenergizing a workout is--you give energy to get energy. The same is true in the financial realm. If you’re out of money the way you get money isn’t by conserving money. It’s by giving money. If you’re out of money my advice is pretty simple: start giving.
The Law of Treasures
Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Here’s the law of treasures: if you’re money isn’t in it you’re heart isn’t in it. Jesus was just saying it like it is. In some ways, money is where the rubber meets the road. If you want to know how I’m doing spiritually you need to look two places: my calendar and my checkbook. They are two of the best barometers of my spiritual condition. How I spend time and how I spend money reveal the condition of my heart. You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving.
The law of treasures is all about vested interests. What stock quotes do you check? The ones you own. When you divest yourself of that stock you no longer check the quote in the financial page. Why? Because you don’t have a vested interest anymore.
You care about the people you have a vested interest in. That’s why I counsel people to start praying for people they’re having problems with. When you pray for someone you have a vested interest in them and you develop a heart for them.
If you want “a heart for missions” let me tell you how to get one: invest some money in missions. It’s really not that complicated. When you put your money into missions your heart will follow because where your treasure is there your heart will be also. If your money isn’t in it your heart isn’t in it.
That is true on a corporate level as well as a personal level. At the beginning of 2003 we set a goal to invest $100,000 in missions. Our YTD mission’s giving is $64,000. We’re on track to give about $125,000 to missions this year. About 18% of our budget goes to missionaries and ministries in Washington, DC and around the world. The more we invest in missions the bigger our heart gets!
Shareholders
I read this week that a $40 share of Coke bought in 1919 is now 62,500 shares by virtue of stock splits and dividend reinvestments and is worth over $5 million. Don’t you wish your great-grandparents had bought one share for you? In the world of investing, getting in on the ground level can pay big time dividends!
Followers of Christ need to have the shareholder’s mindset: look for the greatest return on investment (ROI). Luke 8:1 reveals the first shareholders in the Kingdom of God. It says, “Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another proclaiming the good news. The twelve were with him and also some women: Mary Magdalene from who seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.”
Those women were the first shareholders in Jesus ministry! They got in on the IPO (Initial Public Offering). I have a feeling they didn’t regret a dime that they invested.
This past weekend we gave NCCers an opportunity to be the first shareholders in our next location-- NCC @ Ballston. Give it a few years and thousands of lives will be touched by virtue of us going and launching our next location. A quarter of a million people live within a two-mile radius of Ballston Common Mall. We’ve got estimates as high at 95% unchurched. In Luke 14 Jesus says, “Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.”
One of our goals is to make sure that no one living within a one-mile radius of Ballston Common Mall can deny our existence. We want to make sure everyone knows there is a church meeting in the movie theaters @ Ballston Common Mall so that when an NCCer invites them or they go through a crisis or they’re spiritually searching they’ll visit the church @ Ballston Common Mall. We’re going to do what Jesus told us to. We’re going to compel them to come in. NCCers who invest in the launch are investing in the thousands of lives that will be touched and transformed by Christ in the coming years.
Tithing Experiment
Genesis 28:20 says, “Then Jacob made a vow . ‘ If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
One way to put this evotional into practice is to begin tithing --giving 10% of your income back to God. Tithing isn’t a money issue. Tithing is a trust issue. I give God 10% because I trust him 100%. I’ve learned from experience that God can do more with 90% than I can do with 100%.
The Lord invites us to experiment. Malachi 3:16 says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” God wants to bless you beyond your ability --that is the heart of the Father. But we’ve got to bring the tithe into the storehouse--that’s the condition.
Let me give one word of warning: don’t fall into the “when then” trap. When I make more money or when I’m financially independent or when I get that bonus or when I get married or when I get out of debt I’ll tithe. No you won’t. There is a simple law of physics: the greater the mass the greater the hold that mass exerts. I think it applies to wealth. If you aren’t giving when you have a little money it’ll be even tougher to give when you have a lot of money because the greater the mass of money you have the greater hold it exerts on you.
I love II Corinthians 8:2. “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”
What a juxtaposition: extreme poverty and rich generosity. Investing has nothing to do with how much money you have! Investing is a mindset. Investors see giving as an opportunity not an obligation. It says they “urgently pleaded” for the “privilege” of giving. Investors look for opportunities to strategically invest their resources to advance the Kingdom of God.
Success
Success needs to be redefined. The world defines success by how much money you make and how many people work for you. The kingdom measures success by how many people you serve and how much you give away.
Gary Thomas says, “Thinking about eternity helps us retrieve perspective. I’m reminded of this every year when I figure my taxes. During the year, I rejoice at the paychecks and extra income, and sometimes I flinch when I write out the tithe and offering. I do my best to be a joyful giver, but I confess it is not always easy, especially when there are other perceived needs and wants. At the end of the year, however, all of that changes. As I’m figuring my tax liability, I wince at every source of income and rejoice with every tithe and offering check --more income means more tax, but every offering and tithe means less tax. Everything is turned upside down, or perhaps, more appropriately, right side up. I suspect Judgment Day will be like that.”