Ep. 050 - God as Investor: Investing in Humanity

Episode Transcript

Austin
So, Spencer, we've walked through just a brief theory of what is the world's view of investing. We've talked through our story, some frequently asked questions. Today we want to get into this idea that God as an investor. And what does that mean to be an investor? And so we'll dive into that here in just a little bit.

Spencer
One of the things that it's always interesting to think about is the way that we describe God. So many different names in Scripture that all describe God and imperfectly so. But they give us a glimpse into really who he is. So father, creator, Redeemer, Savior, King, judge, you've got the shepherd, you've got the sheep. You know, you've got all kinds of different things, but one that we don't really think too much about is God as investor.

Spencer
Yeah. So why is that?

Austin
Well, what does that even mean? I think is one of the hard things too, to start with is what does it mean to be investor? And I don't think we consider that because it's not maybe a direct quote from Scripture. We don't see Genesis one saying in God invested in the world. and so I think when we think about that, it's it's not a normal thought pattern.

Austin
But if you think that God embodies every everything that we can do, he gives us this creative capacity. Then of course, he's going to be an investor. And so as we think about that, the original meaning of investing was to actually clothe someone. So you want to talk about that a little bit more, Spencer.

Spencer
Well, and I'll put on my nerd hat here, a little bit and we'll talk through this. But it comes the Latin word, or the, the, the root is Vestas, which is clothing. And then we add in which would, you know, signify, you know, putting into a pawn. And so we put those together and we've got putting on clothing basically.

Spencer
And so when we, when we think about 16th century, the word as it came out invest, it's got this root of, to quote someone in official robes of an office to ceremonially install for someone into an office or to grant to someone authority and power. Yeah, that's a little bit different than what we think about in clicking on the computer.

Spencer
You know, to buy a share of a particular company stock or bond there. It's it's a pretty far meaning. But when we think about the root and that's what God was doing as an investor and that that kind of can frame then how we think about deploying capital. as we parse this out.

Austin
Yeah. And we come back to Genesis 1:26 and God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness. And so when we think about that, God is imbuing us. He's imbuing humanity with this imago day. We are invested and we are clothed with the image of God. Our original desire is reflective of God. We we bear his image.

Austin
And so as we think about this idea of investing as God, putting on clothing for us, we want to look at it in a couple of different frames. We want to look first at this idea of what is royal clothing. We want to look at what is priestly clothing, and it all comes back to again. This idea of God is putting us into a world he is in, embodying and embedding in us value and meaning and beauty and goodness to then utilize what he has given us to bring life into the world.

Austin
I think often back to this idea that Andy Crouch talks about where he says God made wheat, but he uses image bearers to take the wheat, to grind it up, to add water, to add yeast, to mix it with our hands, to let it lie and then bake it. And then we get bread, right. And bread is beautiful.

Austin
I don't want to just chew on wheat, but I will gladly go eat a piece of bread. And so this idea that God is investing in us, he's putting his own image in us through the Holy Spirit. Then he allows us to participate with creation and bring about truth and beauty and goodness into a broken world.

Spencer
Right. So we have we have his image. And there's a lot of different ways to to describe that. You've been unpacking that it's so much his creative capacity though, his authority, you know, in a sense there as well. And we're put into the world. And he says in Genesis one first chapter of the Bible, let them rule, let them reign, let them have dominion.

Spencer
Let them subdue the earth. Even now, all of that is not subduing it to just create industry that is going to harm the earth. But there's a sense of dominion and being able to take what God has created and continue to to grow it, to bring out that beauty and goodness. And we'll talk more about that over time.

Spencer
But he's commissioning Adam and Eve as his vice regents. So as his, you know, he is king as his ambassadors, as his emissaries, as his voice in these different areas. there. And we're to continue you to cultivate the garden and keep it and represent him in the midst of it. So as we look at this, it's not in just in Genesis that we see this played out.

Spencer
where do we see this in the Psalms?

Austin
Yeah. So in Psalm 8, we have King David reflecting on this commissioning, and he says, what is man that you are mindful of them? Human beings, that you care for them, you have made them little lower than the heavenly court and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands. You put everything under their feet, and there's this reality that again, that God has put us onto this earth.

Austin
He has allowed us to be here. And he has said, work the land, bring about bread, bring about wine from grapes, bring about these things that if the land is just left untouched, then it doesn't get to see the full beauty of creative image bearers. And so God has closed us to be able to go into the world to bring out truth, beauty, and goodness.

Austin
It's not just meant to say, oh, you're here, enjoy it, but actually work with me. Participate with me. I am pushing you into a place to then bring out life.

Spencer
And we really see this as well in the Tabernacle, in the temple. It's all along. It's not just, again, Genesis one or even in the Psalms. We see this in Exodus and the expectations that the Lord has of his priests as he installs them, as he invests in them, as he puts on, his religious clothing, the religious clothing that they would have, but also the expectations there.

Spencer
Can you unpack that a little bit?

Austin
Yeah. And, you know, this is probably about a time where you are in your annual Bible reading that you start thinking, why am I still reading this? but Exodus 28 is where God starts talking about the garments of the priest. And I think it's a passage that it's just like, I got to get through this. But if we read it and we realize what God is doing, there's real beauty here.

Austin
And he says in Exodus 28:4, these are the garments that they shall make a breastpiece. And if not a robe, a coat of check or work, a turban and a sash, they shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother and his sons to serve me as priest. And so we think about the role of a priest.

Austin
It is to bring sacrifices to the Lord into the tabernacle, and to bring that before the Lord and say, God, would you forgive us of our sins again? He. The priest's role is to constantly bring the people before the Lord and beg for the forgiveness of God. And so as God clothes them, he is literally setting them apart so they look different so that the people are reminded.

Austin
These are the ones that bring me before the Lord. And so God is investing in the priest in Exodus 2829 says, So Aaron shall bear the names of the son, sons of Israel in the breast piece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the holy place to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord. It is literally Aaron's job, as he puts on this this garment, to say the names of Israel are on my heart.

Austin
It is a physical reminder of who who he is bringing before the Lord. And so God invests in Aaron. He invests in the Levites as they do his work to bring the people back to God. It is this constant back and forth of God investing in the people. Israel then coming into the temple, the Levites coming into the temple and saying, God forgive us of our sins, bring us back into right relationship with you.

Austin
And so there's this beautiful clothing that God puts on that is both symbolic and really helps us remember who is God, what is he made us, and what is he called us for?

Spencer
Well, then it's important that we have an investiture pre-fall. So before there's any sin, we have God investing. So there is he's investing his image. And this desire for dominion, for Adam and Eve to be able to go out as his vice regents. But then we have the fall. And so, I think your detailing there is interesting because we're getting into an exodus also, what the priest is doing, even though he's been invested in, he also has a function of asking for forgiveness.

Spencer
And we see, you know, glimpses of what needed to happen to to ask for forgiveness in the Old Testament for the sins, for the fall, for the continual turning of Israel from the Lord. But we see even a more beautiful, perhaps investiture later on as we see Christ coming into the world. So there's an investment, there's a continued investment.

Spencer
It's almost like, you know, we would typically tell people, if you buy a home and it's a money pit, get out of it as quickly as possible. Don't throw good money after bad. You know, one of the the, sayings, you know, is we think about investing. Well, God makes a huge investment and sees this investment goes bad, but he doesn't stop there.

Spencer
He makes another investment in sending his son. And so then, you know, we can see that it's it's his grace even coming out of that. So, can you talk a little bit more there?

Austin
So, Spencer, I like where you're going there, but let's rewind a little bit and come back to Genesis three and see what happens in the fall. And so once God banishes Adam and Eve from Eden because of their sin, they realize they're naked and they try to do something on their own to fix it. They try to sow fig leaves together, and God clothes them.

Austin
At that point, he sacrifices an animal and puts an animal skin on them. And we really see it's this foretelling of what is going to happen with Christ that the eternal sacrifice and and, you know, as we look at Hebrews just as the entirety of the book, it's always a contrasting of the temporary sacrifice versus the eternal sacrifice of Christ.

Austin
And so we see in Genesis three here this temporary sacrifice that God makes to clothe Adam and Eve. And then we look forward. And in Galatians 3:27 it says, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Literally, he is coming on as that eternal sacrifice that is the once and for all to cleanse us from our sins.

Austin
And so we look and see what God did in in the garden. As he is pushing Adam and Eve out, he clothes them. He puts on little things that will protect them from a now dangerous world. And when Christ comes, he clothes us with himself. He puts his blood over us to forgive us, to redeem us. It is literally God investing in us, pushing that, bestowing the Holy Spirit upon us so that we can then actually live into a fullness of life, that our sin has marred us from.

Austin
We are unable to live that full life with God if we're trying to clothe ourselves, but through Christ, through that sacrifice that he has covered our guilt and our shame, we are now able to live into that fullness of life. We're now able to really embody that Imago day in a new way.

Spencer
So we keep harping on this. Why is it important that we see God is investor? Well, it it is the archetype. It is the example that we want to follow as we are investors. we want to follow our Lord's lead. And what we see is he's given us all of these different gifts. We are going to be focusing on the capital that he's provided, the financial resources that he's provided.

Spencer
But really, we want to take a broader step back and say he has made us as his representatives, he has put his image in us. And so this is much broader and wider as we are stewards of that. and as we do that, we really need to be reminded that we are his representatives in everything. And that is a tremendous amount of authority.

Spencer
That is a tremendous weight, a tremendous covering that we have there. So as we embrace that, that can bring a lot of energy and a lot of life, but the it also is something that we have to grapple with, in maybe a deeper way, I think. So oftentimes we don't as Christians, maybe we don't see the level of beauty that we've been given the true image of God that we are.

Spencer
We don't have a high enough view of ourselves, and some way of in the way that we've been created. We also then don't see how much we've strayed from that. We've fallen. We are, how much we've lost, you know, as we sin. so, you know, we tend to maybe discount both of those. And that differential then doesn't have as much of a weight on our hearts, there, which can have a lot of different implications for how we do then investments.

Spencer
It just doesn't seem like as much as it is at stake as maybe there actually is. Right.

Austin
I don't think, Spencer, to start tying this up a little bit, we see that God invites us as as his people, as his vice regents that you were talking about. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart for God's glory and his renown. And so as he invests in us, he constantly participates with us.

Austin
It's not a one time clothing. Yes, he by Christ's sacrifice, he made one sacrifice that was for the forgiveness of all sins. But he doesn't just leave us there. He constantly is participating with us in prayer and as we come before him, he leads us and guides us and moves us into his truth in beauty and goodness. But we are still called to be royal priests in the world.

Austin
We're not called to be disengaged. And similarly, like that analogy of the clockmaker, he's not a disengaged clockmaker that set things up and just let them run. He is still very much engaged with his creation. He is very much invested in what happens in this world. And so we need to be a people that as God is continuing to invest in this creation, he is continuing to invest in us.

Austin
That is where the real participation happens moving forward is that he has brought us into this ripe relationship with him, that we can now participate with him in, in glory, to bring about truth and beauty and goodness into the world.

Spencer
And I think this is where we also need to frame some of the biblical passages that are shown to be examples of God's investment. For instance, Matthew 25, when we see the parable of the talents and we see the owner investing funds with his servants and going away. we have to frame this, particularly in light of not just the rate of return.

Spencer
So often we in in modern times, just think about a rate of return is what we're getting from the investment. But what we actually see in Matthew 25 is that the owner returns, the master returns, and he says, well done. You have been faithful in a little. He doesn't say, you doubled the investment. Yeah. He says you've been faithful in a little.

Spencer
Now I'm going to put you in charge of much. He says that to both the servant that he entrusted five talents and two talents. So it's not so much, versus the the slothful servant who did not trust his master, who did not engage in any kind of work. there wasn't faithfulness over there. We're not just looking at finding a rate of return, because, as you mentioned, we have a God who continues to participate with us, and we have a God who continues to provide.

Spencer
Nowhere in Scripture does God say you need to provide for yourself. Nowhere in Scripture do we see God say, well, I'm going to help those who help themselves. You know, that is absolutely comes from, some other line of thought in, you know, you know, American, kind of, trajectory of our culture. But it's not biblical.

Spencer
Instead, we always see God as provider. So, you know, we see that in, Psalm 50:10, for every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. If God has everything that he needs, he's not looking for us to get a 10% rate of return versus a 9%. If the 9% rate of return actually invest in companies that also help people to flourish.

Spencer
Yeah. You know, and the 10% maybe, you know, is is, includes companies that is going to be, you know, very negative, in nature. Now we have to grapple with that and we have to pray and discern. And he's given us his image. And so he has equipped us to do some hard thinking about this. but we also get, you know, say in the New Testament, Philippians 4:19 Paul says, And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Spencer
Yeah. So he's going to provide for us. He wants our faithfulness. So as he invests, it's not in this idea of I'm just trying to get as much, I'm trying to to see how many palm trees you can grow or, you know, I don't want to just, you know, you make a lot of money so that you can care for, one more orphan.

Spencer
that's wonderful. In the context of things, if everything else is is equal. But we have to also recognize that as we are invested in. So as we are clothed now, as we think about clothing companies with capital, giving them what they need to enlarge their businesses. we have to do so in very careful ways. Yeah.

Austin
I think, you know, Spencer, I think the reality here, too, is we really have to wrestle with our internal emotions. We have to put the mirror back on ourselves and say, am I allowing fear of not having enough to remove my trust in the Lord as provider? God is our provider. He is provided from the moment that we exited her mother's womb until the moment that we die, he is providing for us.

Austin
And so I really have to ask the question with my investments, am I so concerned about a rate of return that I'm avoiding? What products and services that I'm investing in? What are the companies doing to provide me that rate of return? And at the end of the day, are my investments honoring to God? And so in our next episodes, we're going to start covering what are good products, what are good services, what are really those things that God is honored by?

Austin
And what are things that God is not honored by? And looking back to our first episode in the series. Is there ill gotten gains? So we hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions, feel free to leave those down in the comments and we look forward to seeing you again next time.

Spencer
We want to thank our friends at the Eventide Center for Faith and investing. Jason Meyer and his team did a fantastic job helping us to grapple with the biblical wisdom on investing. Many of the quotes and thought leaders that we cite come from their original research.

Austin
If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so that you don't miss the next episode.

Disclosures
This content was provided by Second Half Stewardship. We're in Knoxville, Tennessee, and you can visit our website at www.secondhalfstewardship.com The information in this recording is intended for general, educational and informational purposes only, and should not be construed as investment advisory, financial planning, legal, tax, or other professional advice based on your specific situation. Please consult your professional advisor before taking any action based on its contents.