I'm listening to a sermon on Luke 19:11-26- the parable of the minas. In one part of the sermon, my pastor says, "We must receive the Gospel not as consumers, but as investors. The Gospel is not like some lavish meal that you get and just enjoy and savor. The Gospel is not like some ticket to Heaven that you just take and put in your pocket and walk around thankful because you know it's there...
We receive the Gospel that the Gospel might be put to work in our own lives, that God through it might transform us more and more into the image of his Son...
So pull us away from all our allegiances from so-called gods, so that the truth of God's unconditional, undeserved, unasked for, unmerited love can work to enable us to increasingly love others apart from what they can give to us!"
So many times, we all take the Gospel for granted and just use it to simply get through life. We are comforted by it; it brings us joy; it makes us feel good to know our Creator. All of these things are certainly good, but the entire Bible calls for us to do something more with this gift we are given.
Just as the master gives each of his servants the same amount of money and tells them to "do business" while he is gone, God gives each of us his Gospel, and during our lives we are to do the Kingdom's business. This requires action and change in our lives. I have been struggling with this myself lately, and God is slowly making it clear to me what I must change in order to continue following him. Throughout the Bible, God constantly tests and tries his followers, making them more humble with every turn. He is not an easy master, but he is a wise one, one who knows our full potential and what parts of ourselves we must part with to achieve it. Those who don't know him could never understand why this is an attractive way to live, but the evidence that it is lies in the legacies of those who have followed his calling to abandon their pride.
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I really like the comparison of consumers to investors that he uses. I think that really resonates with us as Americans because we think in terms of consumption so much. But we are also good investors, so just as natural as it is for us to take the gospel as consumers, it should be just as natural for us to be investors with it. Speaking about the gospel as an investment makes me think of the Parable of the Sower. When the gospel is planted in the good soil, it yields a return that is 30, 60, and even 100 times greater than the original investment. Most bankers are very happy with a 10% interest rate on their investments. Imagine if they could receive 300%, 600%, or 1000% on their investments? They would be ecstatic! That's the kind of return that Jesus promises us if we invest the gospel in other people's lives. It's the greatest investment we can ever make, and the returns are immeasurable.
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