Is there something that you could give to someone that is better than money? I’m going to continue from some of our thoughts from our previous two little lessons where we were talking about wealth, riches and righteousness.

I want to share something with you today that might be a little bit surprising to you. If not surprising, at least it might provoke your thinking a little bit to look at giving in a little different way than perhaps you’ve ever looked at it before.

The Blessing of Microcredit

The ministry that I’m so blessed to be the founder and director of, Heaven’s Family, works in about 40 countries, and we’re involved in lots of projects trying to do as much good as we possibly can, and one of the main things that we’re doing around the world is the establishing of Christian micro-banks. We’ve got a certain method that we use.

In a nutshell, we lend money to people that we trust, and they in turn lend smaller amounts of money to people whom they trust, and with that money they start small businesses and begin to prosper.

It works beautifully and we’ve learned a lot over the years as to how to be the most effective in making those kinds of loans. It’s called microcredit, and what a blessing it is.

Getting Some Capital for the First Time

When I’ve been involved in meeting with our micro-bankers, of which I think we have close to 100 at this point in time scattered around 14 different countries, I want to encourage them that what they’re doing on our behalf and on behalf of the kingdom of God is something that’s very praiseworthy.

And often these are people who are poor, particularly poor by Western standards, but they often are poor even by the standards in their own countries, and for the first time in their lives they’re getting their hands on a little sum of money which they can use for good, some capital that they can invest.

As far as the micro-bank is concerned, investing in the lives of small stake entrepreneurs, and the end borrowers investing in agricultural businesses like buying a couple of pigs and feeding them and taking care of them, and then selling them for a profit, or growing corn or something like that.

Five General Ways to Get Money For Yourself

So I explain to our micro-bankers that I can think of essentially five general ways that you can get money for yourself, and all of them, I think we can judge them based on how well they fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves, starting with the lowest on the ladder.

Here’s a way you can get money: you can steal. Now, how does that fit the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself? It doesn’t fit at all. You’re not loving your neighbor at all. You’re taking from your neighbor what he or she gained, we assume by his or her hard work, and in essence you’re saying to that person, “You are my slave. You work for me. I don’t work. You work for me, and I get the benefit and you don’t,” and so there’s no love for your neighbor at all in stealing. Everybody always nods their heads when I say this.

I then say, “Well, here’s the next step. This is a step above the step I just gave you. This is the next rung on the ladder. This one might surprise you. It might even hurt some of you. The next way to get money is by begging.”

Now, that is a step above stealing because at least the person who’s giving you money is willingly doing it, but still how does that fit into the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself? Well, you’re being a burden on your neighbor. Still you’re expecting your neighbor to work. He or she is kind of your slave.

“You work. You get money, and then I beg and you give it to me. I’m not performing any valuable service whatsoever that benefits anybody. I’m just a beggar.”

A lot of Christian leaders around the world, when they hear me say that, it kind of makes them quiet because they recognize that they’re beggars of sorts themselves. They’re always coming with their hand out looking for some free giveaway.

Getting Money and Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself

I said, “Let’s go to the next step, the next rung up on the ladder.” This is when you’re finally getting into loving your neighbor as yourself, when you use your God-given brain, your God-given muscles, your God-given opportunities to work so you can earn enough money to take care of your own needs so you’re not a burden on anyone else.

Now you’re walking in love because you’re not like the thief who expects other people to work and the thief benefits, or like the beggar who’s in the same category. You’re not a burden upon anybody, and this is contained in the scripture where Paul tells people to “work with your own hands that you won’t be a burden upon others,” (see 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12), so if you’re able to be self-supportive, then that’s great.

Well, the next step in love is to use your God-given brain, your God-given muscles, your God-given opportunities to earn enough where you can not only meet your own needs, but the needs of say, your family if you’re married. You’re taking care of your spouse. You’re taking care of your kids. That’s a praiseworthy thing. You’re working and you’re showing your love.

You’re earning more than you personally consume, so you’re able to provide for others. Let’s call that exactly what it is. It’s a praiseworthy thing that you are doing, and let’s go one step further in step number four. You’re using your brains and muscles and opportunities not only to take care of yourself and your own family, but you can also meet the needs of a widow or an orphan to categorize the people who generally can’t take care of themselves.

So you see, every one of these things is a step up in greater love. And it involves work, doesn’t it? It involves gain, doesn’t it? It involves using your muscles and your brains and your opportunities.

The Highest Way to Get Money and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Well, the highest step, the fifth step in this ladder that I share with our micro-bankers is to make them really feel good about what they’re about to do. It’s when you use your God-given brain and muscles and opportunities to make enough money that you can save some money and then invest that money in starting a business so that you can offer other people jobs to get them off of the first and second rung of thief and beggar to where they’re taking care of themselves, and they’re using their brains and their muscles to contribute.

They’re adding value, bringing value. That’s why they’re getting paid. Praise the Lord! Okay? So the highest level of love in my example to those micro-bankers is, you’re giving people opportunities. You’re not just giving them handouts. You’re giving them opportunities to prosper themselves, and that is better than giving somebody money.

What would you rather do if someone came to you with a need? Would you rather say to them, “Well, here, let me open my wallet and give you some money that’s going to take care of that need temporarily,” or would you rather say, “I’m an employer and I’ve got a job, and I could use your skills. You could be valuable to me. I’ll pay you to work for me”? That is a greater act of giving.

Well, that’s a new way of looking at things, isn’t it? It certainly is, and one that’s worth pondering today. Thanks so much for joining me on this little lesson. God bless you.

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Today’s Little Lesson is a continuation of our previous Little Lesson, talking about the potential of being righteous and at the same time being rich. We’re trying to do our best to answer that question, not from one verse taken out of its context in the Bible, but by looking at a little bit more context.

Looking at James’ Condemnation in Context

Currently, we’re looking in James 5, which starts off with James saying in verse 1, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” This seems like a carte blanche condemnation of anybody who has any degree of wealth.

As we continue reading, we see that James is targeting a specific group of wealthy people, those who have had no concern for the poor. They have not used their richest to help the poor. They’ve got rotting food. They’ve got moth-eaten garments. They have food and clothing that could have helped the poor, but they didn’t care. They just let it rot. It benefited the bacteria. It benefited the moss.

And the same thing with their gold and silver. It’s piled up and it’s not being given to anybody. It’s not being invested to help anybody.

Getting Rich from Extortion

It gets even more clear what kind of wealthy people James is condemning in verse 4: “Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

Now, we find out James is condemning wealthy people who gained their wealth on the backs of the poor whom they employed and never paid. Well, that’s wrong.

But what a blessing it would be if they had paid them and provided those folks with an opportunity to earn money. And that would have been totally the opposite of what they did do: employ but not pay them. This is the one thing that the wealthy do have the blessing of being involved in is providing opportunities for other people and to help an economy to grow by giving people chances to be employed and to use their skills and to pay them what they’re worth as is determined by the marketplace of their hard work, and so forth.

Using Money Selfishly

Again, the condemnation continues in verse 5, “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure.”

These are the guys sitting on their couches plucking the grapes and plopping them into their mouth as somebody fans them. The type of rich people living luxuriously in wanton pleasure because they happen to own some lands so they don’t have to work. They can just cash in on employing other people who they don’t ultimately pay.

“you have fattened your hearts,” James continues in verse 5, “in a day of slaughter.” No doubt these are the kind of folks that Jesus was also condemning when He talked about “Woe to you who are rich and well fed and laughing now” (see Luke 6:24-26).

The Height of Evil

James continues, finally verse 6, “You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”

Here we have the height of evil in these wealthy people whom James condemns. They have been condemning righteous people to the degree of casting their vote against them. I suppose during their jury duty or, in some context. “Putting to death the righteous man, and he does not resist you,” as James says.

You can see just to carte blanche condemn all wealthy people would be a mistake based upon what James wrote in James chapter 5:1-6.

A Wealthy Man James Complements

Now, interestingly, reading in the wider context of James, we find that James is very complementary towards two very wealthy people who are not like the wealthy people he described in his fifth chapter. In James 2, well, James talks highly about Abraham who is a perfect example of a man whose faith in God showed up in the actions and the deeds and the works of his life.

James goes so far to say, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? … and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God” (vv. 21 and 23).

There’s a guy who was righteous and rich. In fact the Bible talks about how God made Abraham rich. and James goes on, “He was called the friend of God.” He says very complementary things about a very wealthy man. He was righteous in God’s eyes, declared righteous by God’s eyes even in his wealth, and he was called the friend of God.

An Absurd Objection

Now some folks say, “Well, of course, the New Covenant, that’s all changed.” Come on now, use your brain, please! To say that fundamental moral ethical principles change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant is utterly absurd.

It’s like claiming that God himself has fundamentally morally changed. God cannot look at something as respectable a hundred years ago that He abhors today, right? Right. Because God doesn’t change. He’s perfect in His morality and in His justice and His ethic.

Another Wealthy and Righteous Man

Well, another guy whom James complements rather highly, a real rich guy, is in the same chapter that we read about his condemnation of the unrighteous rich guy. Look at James again at James 5. He’s encouraging his readers to endure their trials and so forth. And he says,

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. – James 5:11

Well, if you read the Book of Job, in the end, he had twice as much as what he had in the beginning and, in the beginning, he was a millionaire. But read Job’s testimony very closely in the Book of Job and you see that he was a guy, a righteous rich man who had no need, like the rich ruler, to liquidate because he was liquidating all the time, taking care of orphans and widows and those who are less fortunate than the poor. Plus, employing perhaps hundreds of people in his business and with all of his livestock and so forth, he couldn’t take care of it himself.

These are some things to think about. Can you be righteous and rich? You can, but you’ve got to love God all your heart, you’ve got to love your neighbor as yourself. And, if you do, it’s going to show up in what you do with your money. Thanks so much for joining me. Until next time, the Lord bless you.

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We’re going to continue talking about money on this episode. We know that the Bible warns that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil (see 1 Timothy 6:10).

So there is a great danger there with money, and wealth, and riches. Most teachers and preachers who will mention the fact that Scripture warns against the love of money will quickly point out, and rightfully so, that it’s not money itself that is the root of all sorts of evil, but it is the love of money that is the root of all sorts of evil.

Money is a horrible taskmaster, but it can be a great servant, right? That’s important to remember.

Jesus warned that you can’t serve two masters (see Matthew 6:24). You’re going to love one, and hate the other, or vice-a-versa, right? He, specifically, then tagged money. He said you can’t serve God and money. Money is a great competitor against God for people’s hearts. God wants us to love him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. God wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we love money more than we love God, or more than we love our neighbor as ourselves, we got our love on the wrong thing.

“ Money is a horrible taskmaster, but it can be a great servant. —DAVID SERVANT

Can You Be Righteous and Rich at the Same Time?

Okay, is it possible to be righteous and to also at the same time be rich? Well yes, but with a little disclaimer: the person who is laying up treasures for himself, as not rich towards God, as Jesus warned about in the parable of the rich fool, he’s not righteous.

If you’re going to be righteous and rich, you have to be submitted to God, and if you are submitted to God, then you’re going to be using your money to do his will. And then it can be a wonderful, wonderful blessing. As I said, money can be a wonderful servant, it’s a horrible taskmaster.

Looking at All of Scripture

Oftentimes we find some folks who love to just focus on one or two verses of the Bible and build their theology on those. For example, where Jesus said, “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.” (Luke 6:24).

If that verse was spoken in a vacuum, we might conclude that it’s just evil to be rich. But it wasn’t spoken in a vacuum, it was spoken within the context of everything else that Jesus said, and everything else that God said in the entirety of the Bible.

In fact, it might not hurt us just to read a little bit of the context of that statement by Jesus.

Jesus’ ‘Woe to You’ Statements in Context

But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way. – Luke 6:24-26

Well, was Jesus condemning all wealthy people? If He was, He was condemning a lot of biblical people, right? Sure, and He was condemning some folks who were helping Him in His own ministry, because Scripture makes it plain that Jesus was supported by the contributions of those who appreciated his ministry.

“ If you are submitted to God, then you’re going to be using your money to do his will. —DAVID SERVANT

There’s also a condemnation of anyone who’s not currently hungry, and they’re well fed. Well, woe to a lot of us if there’s no deeper meaning, or perspective, that we ought to take by looking at the entirety of Scripture here.

Jesus also said, “Woe to you who laugh now,” yikes, “for you shall mourn and weep.” So He’s condemning everyone who’s not mourning and weeping right now. Well obviously, looking at that in the context of all of Scripture, these can’t be carte blanche condemnations of everybody who’s smiling and laughing, and everybody who’s got a full belly, who just completed a meal, and then for that same reason, for everyone who’s rich.

When Riches Are Sinful

Jesus is talking about a specific instance, a specific time, when His followers were being persecuted, and suffering because of it, and those who were not His followers who were having a party at the expense of His followers. Now, James similarly, whose writing mirrors what you find in the Sermon on the Mount perhaps more than any other epistle, wrote something similar.

He said in James 5:1, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” I always believe that the best commentary on what Jesus said in the gospels as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is found in the epistles, right? These guys were the closest ones to Jesus.

Was James across the board condemning anyone who had some degree of wealth or riches? Well, he goes on and becomes more specific on who he’s condemning in this fifth chapter of James.

Description of the Greedy

“Your riches have rotted,” so that means you’ve got more food than you need, that could have been shared with the poor, but you didn’t care about the poor, your food, that you’ve got stored up has rotted, and it’s not good for anybody now. “And your garments have become moth eaten,” well that’s right out of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus warned about laying up treasures on this earth where moths, and rust consume.

“ Money is a great competitor against God for people’s hearts. —DAVID SERVANT

The moths that eat the garments of the wealthy, those are garments that the wealthy aren’t wearing. In other words, it’s an incrimination against the wealthy. You’ve got more clothes than you need, you could be clothing the naked, but you just have clothes stored up in your closet, and you never wear them, and the moths are benefiting, but the poor are not benefiting from your wealth.

Then he goes on, “Your gold and your silver have rusted.” So you’ve got piles of stuff that is not being put to use, it’s not being invested, it’s not being given to anybody to help the poor, or to give opportunities for people. It just piling up.

“Their rust will be a witness against you, and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasures,” so clearly this is a condemnation of a certain group of wealthy people. Not generous wealthy people like Job, who used his wealth to take care of widows and orphans, and to employ people, and to put them to good service and use in a functioning little economy. This is just wealthy greedy people piling up their treasure on the earth, okay?

Well, this is a Little Lesson, and how time flies. So we’re going to have to do part two in our next Little Lesson. Thanks for joining me, hope to see you then. God bless.

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Sometimes when you look at really wealthy people, you’re tempted to think, “They’re bad people. They’re evil people.” That very well could be true, because sometimes wealth can be an indication of evil on a couple levels.

One, if a person gains their wealth through unscrupulous, immoral means, well, their wealth represents evil, doesn’t it? Obviously, the rich guys in the mafia, they’re rich because of their evil, their corruption, and so forth.

And drug pushers and people who make money by exploiting other people and taking advantage of other people, or selling products that hurt other people. If you got wealth from that, you’re going to have to answer to God.

But we do find people in the Bible who were wealthy whom God did not condemn them for their wealth and so it must be possible to be wealthy and not be evil.

“ We have to answer to God for the way we gain our wealth in this life.

When Wealth Is Not an Indication of Evil

How would that be possible? Well, it would be possible if you earned your wealth by a righteous means, doing something or doing things that are not displeasing to God. And of course there’s lots of ways to make money that are not displeasing to God.

If you’re offering a good or a service to people and they’re paying for it. They’re paying what they value it at or else they wouldn’t be buying your goods or services. And you’re providing them a service. If you make profit over that, well then there’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever. So number one, as long as we’re not making our money by some immoral means.

Then secondly, once you’ve gained those profits, what should you do with them? Well, of course you have to provide for your own needs, the needs of your family. But beyond that, as we’ve talked about in previous Little Lessons, you want to lay up as much treasure in Heaven as you possibly can, because that’s the only place it’s going to last. And so Scripture condemns those who are hoarding their wealth.

The Evil of Hoarding Wealth

Jesus told a story one time about a rich guy whose farm really prospered (see Luke 12:13-21). And he said, “What should I do? I think I’ll just tear down my barns and build bigger barns and live a life of ease. Eat, drink, and be merry.”

And God said, “You’re stupid. You’re a fool because tonight you’re going to die.” You’re not rich toward God. You’re just rich in yourself. You’ve got earthly treasures piled up, nothing piled up in Heaven. What a fool he was. And that’s what God said about him, “You fool, you’ve laid up all your treasure on Earth, you’re not rich toward God.”

So if you make money in a legitimate way—a way that doesn’t displease God—and then you are generous with it to serve other people with it, and lay up treasure in heaven, help the genuinely poor, and try to help them get out of their poverty (not making them dependent upon you or actually hurting them in the process), honestly helping them, and if you’re helping to spread the gospel around the world, supporting missionaries and Evangelists and apostles and so forth, well that’s great.

One of the Richest Men in the Bible

One example that comes to mind of a guy who fit that description, to a degree at least anyways, was the Old Testament patriarch Job. You can’t argue with this because God said personally about Job, “There’s nobody like Job who fears me and turns from evil.” I mean, he was God’s number one guy on the face of the Earth.

And yet he obviously by that day’s standards could be considered a millionaire in what he owned in livestock and the employees that worked for him.

Then that’s another blessing about many wealthy people, is that they are creating opportunities for other people. That’s how they get wealthy. By creating opportunities for other people who then they join together to collectively work together to produce goods and services that benefit others who are willing to pay for those goods and services. That’s called a corporation, a company. More than just a sole proprietorship where one person who’s doing the work and charging a fee for his work.

Fair Wages

We’re talking about organizing people, giving them opportunities. I’m not here to say that what we’re seeing currently in at this state in the Western world, the compensation that is received by some very, very high paid executives compared to what’s received by the others who contribute to the overall wealth of the entire corporation.

I’m not here to say that because I think that there could be some moral implications there when the CEO is making literally hundreds of millions of dollars, and the others who are quite valuable and contributing their own gifts and talents are making so little. I think that every corporate executive and every board of directors needs to think about that. On the other hand, when there’s free markets, companies have to compete for the top executives.

So that’s why some of these people are paid so much because they bring that much value and other people in those corporations are benefiting by the value that is brought by the top person.

Christians, Rich and Poor

Generally speaking, some people get their money easily who are wealthy, but it’s not usually the case, not usually the case. I’m blessed.

I know people all over the world. I’ve stayed with the poorest people on this planet in their little wood shacks and huts and remote places, and I’ve stayed with people in very palatial homes who I sense have the Spirit of God and are very much concerned about the kingdom of God.

And people who are extremely gifted and talented and hard working and who have added value to other people’s lives and they’ve benefited from it. They’re not just indulging themselves. They’re laying up a lot of treasure in heaven, so I’m not going to be their judge. Okay?

Make All You Can, Save All You Can, Give All You Can

“ Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can. – John Wesley

I like what John Wesley said about money. “Make all you can, save all you can,” not save up a bank account. Be frugal. So don’t spend so much. And then, “Give all you can.”

Well, there’s a lot of Scripture packed in that little maximum. “Make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” I think that’s a good Christian viewpoint, a biblical viewpoint, of the subject of money.

Thank you so much for joining me on today’s Little Lesson. See you next time.

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Is it wrong or is it right for Christians to invest in the stock market?

We’re continuing from our previous Little Lesson’s question about investing in the stock market. This is something that is widely practiced because, at least from a natural standpoint, it certainly does make a lot of sense to save money for the future.

Now, I began to speak yesterday a little bit about the whole idea of saving. We have to question why we would be saving. You have to be saving for a legitimate reason. If you’re just piling up treasures on this earth so that you can just grow your wealth and enjoy more, that’s a questionable practice.

But, investing a portion of what you earn to guard against the future, and the eventualities of old age is extremely wise and could be considered again, as just an act of love towards the people that you love, so you’re not a burden upon them.

Saving to Start a Future Business

There are other valid reasons to save. You may be saving to start a future business in which you need some startup capital. Doesn’t it make more sense to save and earn interest and dividends then it does to borrow money and pay interest? That shows some self discipline, some prudence. And then when the time comes, you have enough money, some capital to start a business.

Because every business, generally speaking, needs some capital to start, even the smallest business. If you have a lemonade stand, you’ve got to have the water and the lemons and you’ve got to have a little table.

That being said, there are legitimate reasons to save for business. But again, if you’re not submitted to God, if you’re just trying to save money to start a business so you grow filthy rich and live a life of luxury, that’s wrong. That’s very, very wrong.

But if you’re trying to save so that you can start a business and support your family and help your kids get a start in life and take some of the earnings from your business and—as much as possible, if God blesses it and you work hard enough—that you could give a whole lot for the sake of Gods Kingdom. Well, that’s praiseworthy, that’s virtuous. So it all comes down to what’s really in your heart in this case.

Saving Purely to Give

You can also save purely to give, and that’s from the New Testament. I just pulled up a verse in the Bible from 1 Corinthians 16 where Paul is writing about a collection that he’s taking amongst all the churches for the very poor and struggling saints in Jerusalem:

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. – 1 Corinthians 16:1-2

So what he’s saying is, “I’m going to be coming by in a few months, and if you save weekly from what you earn every single week, when I come, it’ll be a huge blessing, and I can take your gift to Jerusalem.”

That’s an illustration of saving money in order to be a blessing. To give money, to serve others. And you can do that in the short term or the long term, as in the example that I previously made.

Starting a business at some point in the future, having the business capital to start up, you have to save to get there. But, your ultimate goal is to be a blessing. Maybe one day you could be a millionaire, and you can give away millions of dollars and lay up lots of treasure in Heaven.

So you can see that saving money could be on the path to laying up more treasure in Heaven, which is what Jesus wants us to do and what, of course, all followers of Christ want to do.

How to Invest in the Stock Market

There are valid reasons to save, but, regarding the stock market, again, it’s not a short term investment. If you want to invest in the short term, like you’re saving up to buy a car in two years, I wouldn’t personally recommend the stock market. Because there’s a chance you could lose money. And nobody wants to lose money. And God, I don’t think, wants us to lose money.

Now, people try to beat the stock market. One of the ways to do it is of course to spread your investment out over the entire stock market. These are called Index Funds where you basically are investing in the top 100 biggest companies in North America, for example. Those are actually the safest and in one sense the smartest mutual funds to invest in, but the trouble is, as I mentioned on our previous little lesson, you’re very likely to be investing in a few companies where what they’re doing doesn’t please God.

So I’m not encouraging investment in Index Funds, but I am certainly encouraging, if you’re going to invest for the long term, spread out your investment. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

No One Can Predict the Future of the Stock Market

People also try to beat the stock market by predicting the future. There are a lot of really, really smart people who have trying to figure it out this as their business. And the next thing they’re trying to figure out is how to convince you that they can predict the future. None of them can.

This year’s great stock picker is often next years major loser. Because you could you say, “Well, last year my investments returned 100%, I doubled my money so listen to me.”

Well, it wasn’t because he was so smart. It was because he was so lucky! Luckiness has a way of turning into unluckiness, so my advice is to be conservative investing in companies that have proven track records, that are definitely providing goods and services that benefit people and are evolving with the times. And the stock value goes up and they’re paying the dividends.

Investing in the Stock Market is Participation in a Functioning Economy

You think about it, what an opportunity it is to be a part-owner of a business that is providing goods and or services for which people are willing to pay a fair price. It’s the investors that make it all possible. All the blessing that comes from an economy, a functioning economy, comes from the people who’ve invested, who are part-owners in those companies.

For you to say, carte blanche, it’s wrong to invest your money. That would be like saying it’s wrong to participate in a functioning economy. No, it’s the investors that make it all possible. Those are the people who consume less than what they earn, so they’re living below their means, as it were, but seeing the wisdom in preparing for their future. And at the same time, have the blessing of participating in a functioning economy which blesses everybody in that functioning economy.

Alright, well, that’s enough. This is a Little Lesson. There’s so much to be be said about this, but, I thought I’d just give you my two cents.

Thanks for listening! God Bless.

The post Is It Wrong or Is It Right for Christians to Invest in the Stock Market? appeared first on David Servant.

We’ve got a great question to answer today about investing in the stock market. Some Christians are very concerned about this for a couple of reasons, and actually for a couple of very good reasons.

When Christians Should Not Invest in the Stock Market

One of them would be investing in a company or a business that is doing something or producing a good or a service that’s not so good. Particularly something that would be offensive to God. I think it goes without saying that the Lord would not want any Christians investing in and therefore profiting by a company that, for example, produces pornography, right? Right.

If they’re harming people by the “service” that they’re providing and people are paying for, or harming people by “goods” that they’re manufacturing, then Christians don’t want to be in partnership with that and profiting by that.

I personally would never want to invest, for example, in a cigarette company. I mean, honestly, what is there good to say about the whole cigarette industry? It causes people to get lung caner and to die prematurely. So you don’t want to be invested in some cigarette manufacturing company, all right?

Isn’t Investing in the Stock Market Storing Up Treasures on Earth?

Another reason that Christians are concerned about this—and rightfully so—is because Jesus talked about not laying up your treasures on earth, but laying them up in heaven. Because where your treasures are, there is your heart also (see Matthew 6:19-21).

But I don’t think that Jesus meant by that that we shouldn’t own anything on this earth, right? We have to have a place to sleep, we have to have a place to live, we have to have clothes to wear. And so obviously we have to decide what we actually need and what we really don’t need.

And all the things that we really don’t need, it would be best to take the money that we would use to buy those things and lay the treasure up in heaven. Because it’s yours forever then. That’s the best investment, right?

Anything that you invest on this earth, anything that you accumulate on this earth, one day you will not be the owner of it. But if you invest in heavenly treasures, as Jesus said, you never lose them. So that’s the best investment. Everybody has to draw the line and wrestle with what should be laid up in heaven and what should be kept on this earth.

When Investing in the Stock Market is Wise

So why would anyone want to invest in the stock market in the first place? Well, simply because it’s a potential means of saving. And better than that, it’s a potential means of investing so that the value of what you invest eventually goes up. So in the end you have more than what you started with.

Now let’s consider a couple of facets of that. One thing is of course, why would you want to save up? What would be valid reasons for saving up?

Well, one is to prepare for things in the future that you might otherwise not be prepared for. Things happen. Calamities happen. It’s just wise to be prepared. One thing that’s going to happen to all of us is that we’re going to get older. In fact, right now you’re getting older, and if you notice, I’m getting older too. One day we eventually die.

Investing in the Stock Market to Prepare for Old Age

We’d all like to think that Jesus is going to return before we die and so therefore we’re not going to go through old age, but I notice that most people in human history have gone through old age and its accompanying challenges.

I just wheeled my own 86-year-old father out of my house where he lives, in his wheelchair, out to the car, so he could go to his regular therapy session to help him once again be able to walk (which he hasn’t been able to do since he had a stroke some months ago).

So it’s a good thing my dad was somewhat prepared for this time in his life financially or else he would have been forced to have been a burden on somebody else. So saving for old age can be an act of love and an act of love toward the very ones that you love the most, your own family members. Because they’re the ones who are naturally going to assume responsibility for you in your latter years. Okay?

The Stock Market Is Not a Good Short-Term Investment

Now the stock market specifically is not a good short-term investment. Because it goes up and down. And stocks of individual companies, their value goes up and down all based on the fear and the greed of all the rest of the stockholders.

So if you’re going to get into the stock market, you’ve got to think in terms of a length of time that makes sense, where you have a reasonable chance of not losing your money. The stock market goes through bull and bear phases where sometimes it’s generally going up and sometimes it’s generally going down. You don’t want to get on that at the wrong time, because then yours goes down and it would have been better that you had never invested.

So that’s why a lot of people use the stock market to invest for retirement. Because if you start early, in your 20s or 30s, then in the end, the chances are it’s going to be worth more than what you put in it.

Why I Avoid Investing in Mutual Funds

I have more to say on this in our next Little Lesson. But something that I think that I’ve felt I needed to avoid in my savings plan for my elderly years is investing in mutual funds.

It’s very wise to spread your investments if you’re investing in the stock market over a wide range of stocks, because then if some go down others will probably go up. And you have a better chance of not losing your money and actually making some money.

But the trouble with mutual funds is, someone else is in control of which companies they invest in. And you might, inadvertently, through a mutual fund be investing in some companies that are doing things that God hates, okay? The products they manufacture are not good, the services that they provide are not good.

Those companies I think are a minority, but people are sinful and they buy sinful products and sinful services. And we don’t want to be a part of that profiting over that. Okay, more to say on our next little lesson. Thank you so much for joining me. God bless you.

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