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Someone said that if you could sum up the entire Bible in one word, it would be "obedience." There's quite a bit of truth to that. Similarly, if someone could sum up the kingdom of God and "living for God" in one word, I think that the word best used would be "investing." Living for God is an investment.

An investment is when you submit something that you have in order to gain something better over the long run. Let's say you have earned $20. You can spend it and it can disappear, and it's not hard to spend $20 nowadays. Or you could invest it. You could place it in a savings account where it would earn interest and in a few years, you would have $21. You could put it with some more money and buy a CD and in a few years have $25. You could even perhaps place it in a mutual fund or a retirement fund and in thirty or forty years have $50. You could buy some property with it in the hopes that in forty years, the land would be worth more than you paid for it. You could buy rare coins or gold bullion for a similar purpose. In all of this, you temporarily give up the use of the money for the sake of making an investment so that one day you will have even more.

In the natural, people who have spent their lives investing for the future, end their lives with more. People who always spend and never save and invest for the future, end up poor and struggling. Yet despite those facts, very few people truly invest wisely throughout their life. Because to invest involves some self-discipline and some future goal setting. You've got to be willing to sacrifice and submit things today for the sake of a better future. And we live in a "give me now" mentality generation. We will pay the high interest rate on a credit card in order to "have it now." We'll go upside down on a car note and get ourselves in way over our head, just to have the latest model of metal and paint. We'll buy now and think about the consequences later, even to the point that financial stress and debt is the number one cause of marital strife in America today and one of the chief causes of stress-related illnesses. People don't want to hear about investing or thinking for the long term -- not in this microwave generation. Despite all of the modern conveniences and ease of buying groceries, this generation spends more money eating out than ever before. And gambling establishments are much more popular than investment places, because people would rather risk their money, against odds that are programmed for them to lose in the long run, in the hopes of the "once-in-a-lifetime" shot of winning big money that they would just quickly waste away just as they have every other thing in their life rather than invest that same money in something that's going to be programmed for them to gradually, over the long haul gain something. It's a proven fact that if the average American would place into retirement the amount of money that they normally spend on lottery tickets, that their retirement would be significantly improved. But people don't want to hear that, because we live in that sort of world, where everyone wants what they want NOW!

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I'm not here to preach about your money spending habits, although the scripture does command us to be good stewards of what we have been given, whether that be material blessings or spiritual things. If you want to blow your retirement by not planning for the future, then go ahead, but the problem is that many -- if not most -- people take the same attitude that they have toward their money and let it creep into their spiritual lives! The scripture correctly states "the love of money is the root of all evil" and it's interesting to note that more often or not, people's attitude toward money and handling of such is an indicator of how they live for God. If someone who is undisciplined in their approach to their money and doesn't pay bills on time and such, and usually that is a person that is undisciplined in their prayer time, study habits, and faithfulness to the everyday relationship with God. It's not always true, but is usually is.

And with God, having the attitude of an investor is important because whether it be a talent or a gift, a hard day's work or the work of God, or a seed or planting, Jesus constantly taught on the principle of investing. At least 20 of the 32 parables of Jesus have to do with investing of some type. He talked about sowing seeds and reaping what you sowed in five of them. He talked about investing of money or property or time in over ten of them. Jesus said the kingdom of God was like a man who discovered a tremendous treasure in a field and then bought the field so that he could have the treasure. Buying the field is the investment that gives you the treasure. In other words, if you want eternal life, then you've got purchase the field now.

In another parable, Jesus said that the kingdom of God was like a pearl of great price that was so valuable that someone sold all that they had to purchase the one pearl of great price. They would do this because the uniqueness of the one pearl was worth more than anything else in the world, and worth more than a bunch of semi-precious ordinary pearls. Both times, either purchasing the field or the pearl, both illustrate that the kingdom of God is an investment that you must make.

With that in mind, let's look at some principles of investing that apply to the investment of living for God. If it's true that living for God is an investment, then we need to remember:

Surely you know by now that everything worth having also will cost you something. It costs something to live for God. If you want the treasure in part of the field, then you've got to buy the entire field. That's the way it is with the Bible. If you want the part about salvation and heaven and Holy Ghost, you've also got to acquire the other stuff about living right. You can't just have the treasure without the cost of the field.

Serving God will cost you something. Someone said that "salvation is free, but discipleship costs you everything." Perhaps in our effort to emphasize that God will give the Holy Ghost to "whosever will" we, preachers, tend to not preach about discipleship as much. But everybody in the Bible who followed Jesus, it cost them something to do it. Matthew had to give up the tax collecting and the riches and the lifestyle of a cheat. Peter, Andrew, James, and John, had to give up their fishing nets and their father's business. Simon Zelotes had to give up his radical causes. They all had to respond to the call "follow me." And as it turned out, to follow Christ costs something. All of them had to give up a sinful lifestyle and all of them had to give up man's tradition in their religion that they had been taught since they were kids. Following Christ meant that things that were once important to them could no longer be important before. All of them would be persecuted for their choice of following Jesus. All of the disciples would die because of that choice. Preachers who preach that being saved and serving God doesn't cost you anything really aren't saved and following Jesus, or they would have already realized that they were wrong!

The Apostle Paul listed a long list of everything that he had endured including beatings, stripes, shipwrecks, afflictions, persecutions, stonings, and a whole host of other things. It cost him his position as a Pharisee and also cost him eventually his life. In our text, we read about his writing Timothy a last time and encouraging him to endure all things and stay faithful and then Paul said that he had this testimony:

Paul was happy and excited about His "crown of righteousness" and joyfully gave up his life as an investment to God. Did living for God faithfully cost him something? Yes, absolutely, but Paul was glad to do so for the reason that brings us to our next point:

The Apostle Paul had a revelation of how great heaven and eternity would be with Jesus and so even the greatest tribulation and persecution on earth was a small cost compared to what He was getting. Some people have the attitude that living for God totally committed is a price too high to afford and pay, but I say not living for God totally committed is a price too high to afford and pay! It is when you consider it in light of eternity. Which brings us to an important difference between investing in the natural and the spiritual kingdom of God:

In the natural, we have a lifetime of sowing and investing and only a short time to enjoy the benefits. I've heard people say "well why put all that money in a retirement plan when I'll only have a few years to enjoy it if I'm lucky at the end of my life?" If that's the way you want to look at it, then that's your choice, but I want you to remember that in the kingdom of God it's the exact opposite. We only have a short time to sow and invest and yet we will reap what we have sown for eternity! That's exciting if you are sowing good things and not so exciting if you are sowing bad things. Sometimes we look at obedience to God's Word in this life as some huge undertaking and struggle, when really what is 80 years compared to eternity!? To think that I can sow good seeds for only eighty years and yet get a return for forever is almost unthinkable! It's a privilege to obey God's Word and to sacrifice in order to do right and live for God. It's a privilege because I am making an investment in eternity!

And since we're here, remember this other difference between natural investing and spiritual investing:

In the natural world, you make the choice of whether or not you will invest, but in the spirit there is no choice. You are investing in either heaven or hell. Either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Self. That's what the devil's side really is, the "kingdom of self." Rebellion -- which states that "I'll do things my own way -- is as the sin of witchcraft in God's eyes, remember, and that's scripture!

One writer put it like this: I do not decide whether or not I live or die, but rather what I live or die for. And you will live or die for some cause and having sacrificed your life for something. You have no choice about not spending time, but it was given to you! And so everyone is an investor in the Spirit whether or not you wanted to be.

So let me say that since you've got to invest, invest in something that will be worth it in eternity. If you are going to live your life for something, why not sell out to the kingdom of God? Yes, there is some cost involved, but it's not any greater than the cost of sin. I've heard people say that they don't think that you should dedicate your life to trying to get your family into a religion when they have done an excellent job of training their families up in the way of sin and the way of worshipping their flesh! I've known people complain about tithing and offering and going to church all the time and praise and worship and being consumed with the Holy Ghost and say "I'd never sell out to anything like that." And in reality, they are sold out to sin and pay way more than just 10% to their gods and are at the bar much more frequently than just six or seven hours a week, and they get up and dance and carry on and scream and holler, and are consumed by their sinful habits that are completely destroying their bodies and families. They already are sold out to a god like that, it's just called "sin." And the end result of that investment, the Bible says, is "death."

But the gift of God is everlasting life. And so there is some cost to serving God, but the investment for being a part of the kingdom of God is more than worth it because Jesus has the best benefits, and His retirement plan is "out of this world!" Yes, it has cost. Yes, living for God is an investment, but it's an investment worth making! Now and in the long run!

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Do you know what financial planners say is the number one reason why more people don't invest? Most people that don't invest don't because they feel as if the small amount that they have is not enough to bother. There are some Christians with that mentality. They don't sell out investing in the spirit with what they do have because of how small they think it is. Let me remind you of a scripture about spiritual investing:

Jesus told the man with "one talent" that the least he could have done was have invested it in the bank and earned a little interest! There are several lessons to be learned from this story about investing in the kingdom of God. The first is that it was the one with the least that didn't invest his talent. Obviously this man felt like he didn't have much to offer God so he didn't bother. The second point is that the scriptures calls this man with the one talent a "wicked and slothful servant." Jesus said "wicked." What did the man do to be wicked? Absolutely nothing. According to parable of the talents, wickedness in the kingdom of God is "unproductivity" or doing nothing with what you have! I want you to understand that to not invest in the kingdom of God, is a sin. Unfortunately some people don't feel as if they have enough to even start investing, and so they are waiting for God to give them two or five talents before they invest their one. Listen to this preacher and know that from the story of the parables that:

Think about those statements. All of them started out with something to invest and those who invested what they had, ended up with even more things to invest. The one that was waiting for the day that they had more, was called wicked and judged.

I'm not preaching to you about things that you don't possess right now. Rather, there are some things that we all can invest. Let me name some of the things to you:

Our faith -- Jesus said that we have been all given a "measure of faith." And that you must plant that "seed of faith." You are not born with "great faith" but great faith is faith that was invested and planted and allowed to grow. I know some people that are waiting for great faith to hit them before they do something for God, but they will die waiting for something to happen. My question to them is "what are you doing with the faith that you have now? Are you stepping out on it, or you just hiding it and not using it? If you will use what you have, then more will be given to you!

Our abilities -- All of us have something that we can do that other people cannot or that we could help to contribute to the kingdom of God. We tend to think of singing or preaching as ministeries, but there are a whole lot other ministeries besides just singing or preaching. If everybody just sang and preached, then how well would the grounds look? How clean would the church be? How many people would teach people Bible Studies? How many people would be invited to church? How many Sunday School classes would be decorated and taught? How many youth would be able to go to youth rallies, when they are somewhere else? I could go on an on, but you've got an ability that God needs and no matter what it is it's no greater or lesser than anybody else's contribution.

And if you want more talents and abilities, Jesus said that you need to do something with what you now have, and if you do so, then He'll give you more!

Our money -- this is obvious but if God has blessed you with a job or income, then He did it so that you would be able to invest in the kingdom of God. I'll come back to this in a second. But let me just say that some people have the attitude that "well, I can only give a little and if I ever get rich, then I'll be faithful in my tithes and offering." But if you are not faithful in the little that you have to give now, then you will never have a day where you have more and Jesus said that what you have will be taken away! God cares about not what you wish you had, but what are you doing with what you do have!

And let me just say that you "can't outgive God." Listen to what Jesus said:

If you want to be blessed financially, you give your way into it. If you give, then it shall be given to you! Giving of our monetary blessings is not really a sacrifice but an investment, and it's an investment worth making!

Our time -- this is much more precious to us than just money. God wants our time. The last time I checked, it was God who gave it to us in the first place. And yet many people are more hesitant to give of their time than anything else.

We believe in paying tithes on our money and that means that God is owed ten percent. It was His in the first place, but He gives it to us to see if we will obey His word. We believe that, and if you don't and you're interested then ask me and I'll show scripture after scripture on it. I've heard my father and mother more than once say to me "the Lord loveth a cheerful giver so when you give your tithes do so cheerfully and if you are having trouble giving happily, then don't think of it as having to give 10% but in that the Lord lets you keep 90%!" When you think about it that way, it doesn't seem like a whole lot does it?

But let's get beyond money, just a moment and I'm not preaching that you've got to do what I'm about to say, but I'm just bringing it up for you to think about. In a seven day week of 24 hour days, there are 168 hours. Ten percent is not a whole lot, but ten percent of our time that has been given to us would be 17 hours. Now it suddenly sounds like a lot, but it's just 10%! And how many of us really give God 17 hours of our week? Either in church, Bible study, prayer, witnessing, outreach, or reading and studying spiritual material? And that's just ten percent! That's something to think about isn't it!

And if I were to point blank ask some of you why you don't spend 17 hours in spiritual activity, your response to me is "I don't have time to give that much to God. I've got to work, and this and that and so and so. . . " And you're right. But my point tonight is not that God demands 17 hours of our time a week, but that some of us that are using a "lack of time" as an excuse for not doing anything for God or giving God more, are obviously not doing much or making the most with the little time that we have to give. That's because Jesus said that those who invested would be given more! If you want more time to do God's will, then devote more of the time that you do have to it! If you want more time to spend in spiritual endeavors, then devote more of the time that you do have to spiritual endeavors. Try it and see if the Bible is not true! Take care of God's business, and He'll take care of your business. If you will invest some time now in the kingdom of God, then God will give all the time of eternity to reap it! ANY time spent for the kingdom of God is an investment worth making!

Our breath (praise) -- The scriptures say:

Your breath has been given to you by God. It's a gift. When you use that breath to praise God, you are making an investment in the kingdom of God. Not only are you making an investment for your own benefit, but Jesus said:

It is people sacrificing and investing their breaths in praise that creates an environment that men and women are drawn to Jesus Christ! When you create an atmosphere of praise, then God begins to draw other people's hearts toward them. Whether they come or not is their choice, but it the lifting of Him up that causes the process to be possible! Praise is not a worthless past time, but rather an investment well worth making in the kingdom of God that causes others to be able to feel the hand of God drawing them closer!

And remember this:

In investing, the gain comes from the long run, and that's true with souls, prayers, principles, doing right, etc . . . I've got to keep doing right even if I don't see immediate results. I've got to keep witnessing and praying even if I don't see immediate fruit. I've got to keep giving of my self and my abilities even if I don't notice right away a greater blessing. In the long run, my effort will pay off because I'm making an investment in the kingdom of God!

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The last principle that I would like to point out to you is:

But it's an investment worth making!

The ultimate investment is that of our total selves. Paul wrote about how that burying the dead bodies of saints was like planting a seed in the ground:

To be able to pass from this life having invested your entire being into the kingdom of God will result in the greatest return that you could possibly imagine! We will live for forever in a place where there is no sickness and will be no more night and no more pain and where we ill reap the good things that we have sown! Lose your life by giving it completely to the cause of Jesus Christ: it's an investment worth making!