Life Walk Lesson 102: God’s Investment in Us
In this Parable, describing what the Kingdom of God is like, Jesus compares His Kingdom culture to how God makes a long-term investment in us, expecting to receive His share of the profits, [the benefits of having invested His time and resources in us during our lifetime].
Imagine for a moment that God, the King of kings, gave you just one Talent which represents His Own Franchise Restaurant business, with an up-front financial investment to cover the first 20 years, and He told you to work with what you were given, and make it profitable enough for others to benefit from, including Himself.
Even if you currently made an annual income of $20,000 — that kind of 20-year investment would be $400,000 up front, to be budgeted equally for a 20 year project, and invested wisely.
But let’s say it takes a million dollars a year to run your Franchise. That makes a $20 million investment up front. If you have been given two or five talents, you can do the math.
And then imagine that He told you that when He came again to check on you, to see what you have accomplished at the end of that 20 year period, you could enjoy the benefits of that investment together with a great celebration at your Restaurant, with everyone in the neighborhood, which you have impacted, in attendance.
The Mayor and the Town Council will be present to congratulate you, and dine with you and your family personally, as guest of your Royal Investor at the head table. You would be seated next to the King Who invested in you, according to the fine print in the Contract no matter how well you did, as long as you made some effort and gained some profit during that 20 years time-period.
And let’s say He also gave you the best location for your business. Imagine that it is a large corner lot, on a busy street in the center of town, with a large, but empty adjacent lot. He also gave you all the perishable and non-perishable supplies necessary, on an on-going basis without limit, and a warehouse in which to store them. You have a competent staff at your disposal, already fully trained to help you with everything you need to serve your community. Also in the fine print of the Contract is the admonition to help the poor, by making it easy enough for them to purchase your products.
Also according to the Contract, you have been given access to the Franchise Headquarters at any time, with your own key to the front door, a company vehicle of your choice to travel there, as often as you need. You have also been granted the opportunity to speak with your Investor daily, in person, as many times as you desire, to ensure your business runs successfully — ultimately having the potential of becoming a company in which others desire to invest also, because of your successful relationship with your Investor and your neighborhood.
At the very least, according to God’s desire in this parable, you would put the money in the bank so that it could gain interest.
Also, because you are in a successful business relationship with your Investor, you would give Him 10% of your earnings, which He requires as His Franchise Fee, which ensures the on-going unlimited access to everything He has for you. He also gives you power of attorney to make executive decisions on His behalf, because you know Him well enough to know what He would do in your shoes, so you can act, in His name, when necessary, on any matter in your sphere of influence.
Then, after the first year or so of success, you might purchase the extra real estate adjacent to your Restaurant, which also increases in value as you develop it into a Community Garden and Farmer’s Market. Now, the town also has opportunity to invest in your business ventures, with their own produce, and that which they produce from it, which they sell to one another. The local Bakery now also benefits from the locally grown fruit, herbs and honey.
After some years, you might consider investing in a profitable company, or an idea, or an invention, presented to you by someone in your neighborhood, which benefits your community further.
Your vision for the coming years may be to build or acquire other businesses, related to the restaurant industry, which will benefit your city’s commerce and attract outside investment, such as tourism, hotels, convention centers, theaters, and recreational parks and facilities.
With unlimited supply and access to the best investment coaching available, and all the human resources you need, you are ensured absolutely unlimited potential for progress for your territory and sphere of influence.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,” Hebrews 11:1 states. And I am pretty sure you, as a faith-filled believer in God’s goodness, wouldn’t just bury $400,000 or $20 million, in the backyard and then just give it back when your Investor returned to check on your progress — but according to the parable, some people are like that in God’s sight.
However, your faith in His goodness, and your belief that He will abide by His part of the Contract, is pleasing to Him. So, you realize that you have two options:
A. Your lack of confidence in the truth of God’s promises, the stipulation that you have to pay a Franchise Fee, and then give an account after the first 20 years, makes you afraid, so you don’t do anything. You just hang on to it until He comes, with the intent to return the money.
B. You take the money with gratitude, abide by the stipulations, agree to the franchise fee, and say, Yes, Lord.
Upon agreement between both parties, at that point, which is also in the fine print, you will be given the keys to the Investor’s entire Kingdom, which is on another continent far away, into which you can enter for any reason at all. You can come and go as you please, and have His full and undivided attention as often as you like.
Do you think you’d say, Yes Lord, knowing the conditions of your agreement to His Investment Proposal?
The Intent of Investment is Increase
Isaiah 48:17
“This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says, ‘I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit [benefit], Who leads you in the way that you should go.”
Deuteronomy 8:18
“But you shall remember [with profound respect] the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore (solemnly promised) to your fathers, as it is this day.”
We have seen in the previous Bible Lesson, that both wisdom and foolishness [represented as feminine characters] have increased — their respective investments, according to the spiritual principles we are learning today, gained five more, as we shall see.
The Book of Proverbs is full of references to Wisdom, who we see in [1Corinthians 1:24], as the fulfillment in Christ, the Anointed One.
1Corinthians 1:24 [AMP]
“But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks [Gentiles, all the other nations], Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
Wisdom is known by her children, Scripture declares, and she has produced five Wise Virgins.
Luke 7:35 [AMP]
“Yet wisdom is vindicated and shown to be right by all her children [by the lifestyle, moral character, and good deeds of her followers].”
By the same principle, The Woman, Folly, in the Book of Proverbs, has produced five foolish virgins. These are like the children of the devil, which Jesus spoke about to the Pharisees, in John 8:44, where He said:
“You are of your father the devil, and it is your will to practice the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths.”
The five foolish virgins had the appearance of being Christian, and the spiritual gifts that come with being a Christian, for they are irrevocable, but they have no relationship with God.
Let's look at how Jesus spoke to the rich in Luke 12:32-34
32 "Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom!
33 Sell what you possess and give donations to the poor; provide yourselves with purses and handbags that do not grow old, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Just as in today’s society, people during Jesus' earthly ministry had to deal with the constant threat of enemies and thieves, who wanted to steal from those whom they perceived were richer than them. The coming years, which Jesus spoke of beforehand, were extremely difficult, and many people lost everything, and most lost their lives during the destruction of Jerusalem and everything they had built.
God was not interested in what they had physically built nearly as much as what they had invested in Him, and in one another, for upon this everyone is judged, according to Matthew 25.
Having spoken already about this in Luke, Chapter 12, Jesus reiterates this same concept in Chapter 18, where He speaks to a rich man who wanted to know what he could do to inherit the Kingdom of God.
18 “Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.”
The rich man did not pass the test at that time because he valued his riches, which God had given him as blessing for keeping the Law, more highly than what God was inviting him to enjoy — grace, and a personal relationship with God which was far more valuable, and as you may understand after the little story I have presented of the goodness of God, would have far out-weighed the riches he thought he needed to hang on to.
Romans 11:29
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call].”
Without an ongoing relationship with God, however, or the God-given authority to function in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as Scripture declares that one must have, God does not know them.
We cannot have one foot in the world and one foot in the Body of Christ for a Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, for there is no solid foundation to keep it functioning successfully. This is why Jesus taught that only a house built on the Rock will stand. And only those with an on-going personal and intimate relationship with God, like the Five Wise Virgins, will enter into the Kingdom of God. Those with their own personal agenda do not know God, and likewise, God does not know them.
Matthew 7:23-25
23 “And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me [you are banished from My presence], you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].’
24 “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, will be like a wise man [a far-sighted, practical, and sensible man] who built his house on the rock.
25 And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
The result of following Folly is banishment from the presence of God. Ultimately in the Book of Revelation, Folly has become the great Prostitute, — that which defiles itself by unauthorized mixture of cultures, [Kingdom and worldly, God and Mammon, true and counterfeit, for illegal gain, like iron mixed with clay, unstable in all its ways].
This kingdom of darkness will be taken down at the consummation of all things, when the worldly systems, which live and come against Godly principles, will be utterly destroyed. But the righteous will be given the Kingdom of God, and all that goes with that, by the Grace of God.
God wants to know that in our heart He comes first so much, that we would give up anything and everything to be with Him. For the rich man, Jesus knew where his heart was, and he was not a relational human being. He kept the rules, but he did not know God's heart.
Ultimately, we will die, should the Lord not return in our lifetime, and we will give up earth for heaven — that is not a difficult decision when we know how good God is. When we have read in Scripture how awesome heaven is, we would indeed be like the man who for the pearl of great price sold everything, and purchased the whole field to gain that which was more valuable than all he had.
God’s heart is more valuable than anything created, even what has been created by Him, and especially anything man-made. God is looking for people who will, like Peter, James and John, who left their family business and followed Him when He asked them to, who would do the same if He asked it of them.
Get to know God's heart. Choose Life. He will give it to us even more abundantly than we already have it, just as Jesus promised.
