The Redemptive Enterprise 2: Redemption Over Retirement - Trusting God, Stewardship, and the Parable of the Bags of Gold

0:00Are you aiming for retirement or redemption? The American cultural idea of retirement stems from a scarcity mindset and a self-centered distrust of God. While the pursuit of redemption, on the other hand, is obedience to a good God who is seeking to use your faithful productivity for his kingdom purposes. Welcome to the Redemptive Economics Podcast where we are empowering Christian entrepreneurs to make a redemptive economic impact here in Pittsburgh and beyond. Let's get to work! Hey guys, welcome to the show where we are helping Christian business leaders build profitable businesses of eternal significance. I am your host and the founder of Redemptive Economics Mike Hatch. I am so grateful that you join me today, especially if you are a first-time listener or viewer, a special welcome to you.

1:01Hey, reach out to me if you have any questions. You can contact me at mhatch at redemptiveeconomics.com. I want to hear what you think about the show. Let me know if maybe you have some ideas on topics or maybe you've got questions or content that you would like me to cover and I would love to hear from you so please don't hesitate to reach out. Also, if you found the Redemptive Economics content valuable, please give the podcast a five-star review and share it with friends and family. Of course, we are also on YouTube and Rumble so make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any of our new weekly content. We are on a mission. A mission to build builders who lay claim to the creation mandate which is an entrepreneurial call. We want to see more Christians make a local redemptive economic impact by being fruitful and multiplying and producing value for others for the sake of God's kingdom. By sharing this content, you may help inspire and equip another entrepreneur to change their

2:03local community for God's kingdom purposes. Alright, let's get into it. We are a nation obsessed with retirement. You can't drive far in my town without seeing a billboard of either wealth advisors or lawyers. And most of the billboards for wealth advisors include some kind of message similar to, do you have enough saved for retirement? Or how do you know whether your retirement savings will last through your retirement? Honestly, these are fear tactics meant to corral us and our money into the stock market enriching Wall Street and stifling our local redemptive impact. More about that later in this series. So stay tuned. I remember starting to worry about saving for retirement as early as college. You know, they told us and they tell us still today to start as early as you can so you can take full advantage of compound interest and maximize your returns over the years.

3:08But have we made an idol out of this idea of retirement and have we neglected God's call for redemptive influence as a result? I can say for sure that I know that I did. This week we'll wrap up the first session of the digital course I created, the redemptive enterprise, 15 biblical principles for building a profitable business of eternal significance. In this episode, we will finish walking through the parable of the bags of gold from Matthew chapter 25 where I will uncover an interpretation of this passage that has been kind of lost on most churches these days. You won't hear this interpretation preached in most churches. I'll also challenge the idea of retirement, arguing that our aim should be redemption, not retirement. You'll learn why a good God grants dominion to us as stewards, not owners, and how embracing his sovereignty frees us from scarcity thinking.

4:12We'll uncover biblical principles that challenge cultural notions of equity, risk and of course like I said, retirement, replacing them with abundance, diligence and a kingdom focused stewardship. Lastly, at the end, I'll leave you with a few closing thoughts and questions to ponder. Remember, this entire digital course, all five and a half hours of content as well as many other resources is available for just $97. Because I honestly wanted to make it as accessible to as many people as possible. To learn more about the course or to register, just click the link in the show notes. Also, for a limited number of business leaders, I am available to walk through the 10 week course with you, one on one. If you wanted help processing and integrating the content into your specific context, I've done this with other business leaders and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. To watch God transform business leaders from storehouses driven by fear and scarcity to

5:14stewards, driven by fearless obedience and a sharp clarity about how God has called them to produce value for his kingdom purposes. All right, gang. Here is part two of the first session of the Redemptive Enterprise, 15 biblical principles for building a profitable business of eternal significance. Entrepreneurship is the furthest thing from gambling. In fact, you won't be productive unless you leverage the unique way God created you. And this takes an ongoing, dependent relationship with the Lord who knows you better than anyone. As we experiment and work in different ventures, we learn about what we're naturally gifted at and what we're not. Ultimately, the more we lean into the way God created us, the more productive we'll be, the more we'll contribute to human flourishing. Now we'll talk more about that next week when we cover principle number three, which is

6:17as stewards of God's resources, we invest in areas where we have specialized knowledge, God-given talents and vocational calling. This quote, comparative advantage enables us to serve others most effectively while glorifying God. All right, back to Matthew 25. I want you to notice the lack of direction given to the servants by the master in this parable. He doesn't tell them how to invest his resources, but leaves it up to them. God gives us all agency to contribute in ways we are naturally gifted to contribute. But again, we must be walking in a close relationship with the Lord to be in touch with this. All right, Matthew 25 verse 24 continues, then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man. You are a gristing where you have not sewn and gathering where you have not scattered

7:18seed. So I was afraid and I went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. This last servant was not nearly as intentional or enthusiastic about coming to reconcile accounts. It just says that he came as if it was either an afterthought or under compulsion. Then this servant insults the master by accusing him of being evil and exploitive. Basically, this servant wanted nothing to do with his master's money because he hated the master. Oftentimes when this passage is preached, it doesn't necessarily touch on the sin and depravity evident in this last servant's actions. Instead many pastors focus on the idea of using your resources or your talents and abilities or your money for God's purposes. So quote, don't be like the servants who were too scared to invest his resources, they say, be like the other two servants who utilize their resources and saw a positive return.

8:22However, that's actually very small, an insignificant piece of this parable. Jesus is very purposefully contrasting the evil of this last servant with the goodness of the master. So this last servant says, here is what belongs to you. He's distancing himself from the master and the resources that were entrusted to him. In a sense, this servant is disavowing any responsibility to the master. He's saying, I don't want to be associated with you or anything to do with your money. Excuse me. This last servant was not enthusiastic about being fearful and multiplying nor was he diligent. He also did not acknowledge the sovereignty of the master or his role as a steward. There are a lot of people in our culture today who are like this last servant. We want something for nothing. The idea of passive income, for example, has become a big deal in our culture.

9:25In reality, there is no such thing as passive income, especially in God's economy. Going back to Genesis, we know from chapter 3, verses 17 through 19, that work is much harder now than what God originally intended. Now there is painful toil, thorns and thistle, sabotage, or efforts, and it's only by the, quote, sweat of our brow that fruit comes forth. So all the talk of passive income or waiting for our ship to come in is simply an attempt to circumvent God's purposes to attain rest apart from Him. Of course, as Christians, we know that rest is only found in the finished work of Christ, not in anything we do on our own. Ultimately, true eternal rest will only come once we enter eternity and only if we place our faith in Jesus. Now in verse 26 here in response to the last servant's insults, his master replied,

10:28you wicked lazy servant. So you knew that a harvest where I've not grown or not sewn and gather where I've not scattered seed. Well, then you would have, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest. The master is saying here that he would have been happy with simple interest from the bank. He did not have unrealistic expectations of the servant, which again points to the master's goodness. But look at this, this harsh response, he says in verse 28, so take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags for whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is a severe response to this last servant, which only makes sense in the context of his

11:29severe sin. And this is what is often missed when preaching this passage. The master also demonstrates his mercy when he says that he would have accepted simple interest earned it with the bankers. Again, in contrast with the servant's poor perspective of the master's character, the master's goodness shines through. Verse 28, the master says to take the bag of gold from the wicked servant and give it to the one who already had ten bags. Just notice the inequity once again. A lot of people in our culture would balk at this and demonize the master just as this servant did. Why wouldn't the master give the excess to the servant who only had four bags of money, or even distribute it evenly among the two servants? Because the master has the right to do whatever he wants to do with his money. The fact that he gave it to the one who had more versus the one who had less does not

12:31diminish the goodness and generosity of the master. This part of the parable exposes our envy. After all, that is where the idea of equity comes from. It's not just that we want everyone to have the same. It's that we don't want someone to have too much more than we have. Our greed won't allow for that. So if everyone has the same amount or closer to it, man, we feel so much better about ourselves. Personally, I believe this is one of the biggest reasons why entrepreneurship has been made to look bad in our culture. In V, in other third world countries, there are real consequences to innovation because the community doesn't want someone else to gain an advantage. And we are not immune to this in our culture here in the United States. This is one of the ways that the thorns and fistles of a fallen world seek to sabotage our efforts through people who don't want to see you succeed.

13:33Finally, the master says, throw that worth of servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So when interpreted correctly, this is a very offensive passage of scripture, especially in our day and age, when most people believe they are entitled to what they deserve. Okay. Now, I want to highlight three key conclusions from this terrible. First one is this. This passage is not about the servants and the bags of gold that were entrusted to them. Even though it's so often preached that way, this passage is primarily about the character of God. Brad H. Young in his commentary, Jewish tradition and Christian interpretation says this about this specific parable. He says, first and foremost, the parable is about God and his character. And get this. This is critical. One's concept of God is the primary determining factor in faithful stewardship.

14:36That's huge. In other words, our economic beliefs, attitudes and behaviors are dictated by who you think God is, is God good or is God evil? There's only two options. And our view of God's character will either lead us to trust God or distrust God. Our distrust of God or trust of God will determine what I call our metrics. So how do we define success? What are we aiming for? And I like to use these two categories here, retirement or redemption. What I mean by retirement is that we work hard our entire life, store housing resources for ourselves like squirrels so that one day we can place ourselves on the shelf and live a life of ease and selfish consumerism. This is the uncomfortable truth at the core of the American dream. It is very selfish and self centered. And as I mentioned previously, this is just another illicit strategy to circumvent God's

15:37purposes in order to regain the rest we first experienced in the garden. We've been looking for this escape from hardship since the very beginning. In fact, Noah, when he was born, his parents thought he was going to be the Messiah who would bring about the redemption and relief from a sinful and broken world. And it's really interesting that when you read Genesis chapter 5 verse 28 here, it says when LaMecke had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, he will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed. Humanity has yearned for and searched for an escape from the curse of sin since the very beginning. And our idea of the American dream and retirement is just another iteration of this. Retirement is also a very Western first world idea. The vast majority of mankind hasn't had the exorbitant privilege to even consider the

16:41possibility of ceasing in their labor. So think of the metrics, as I showed you earlier here, as the top layer of a multi-layer pyramid. So your trust in God is at the bottom, kind of forming a foundation. And there are two layers in the middle that are missing. The first layer above the foundation as we work our way up to metrics is what I call mindset. I like to say that depending on whether you trust God or not, you'll either act as a steward or a storehouse. If you trust God, then you will have what I describe as a scarcity mindset and a perclivity toward hoarding or being what I call a storehouse. As storehouses, we draw lines around the things we want for ourselves and hold tightly to them out of a fear that we might lose them. We become obsessed about not having enough because we can't trust God to provide. Fear becomes the driving emotion associated with money.

17:44And just like that last servant, you certainly don't want to be accountable to God for it. If you trust God, then you have a stewardship mindset with a perclivity toward abundance, because God, the creator or owner of everything, is the source of all you have. He owns everything, and you are happy to be God's steward because you know he is good, and that he will take care of you out of the abundance of his resources. This comes with a profound sense of peace and joy, and you happily accept the responsibility to God as his steward. Again, the base layer of our mindset, whether we are stewards or storehouses is deprived or derived, excuse me, from our trust or distrust of God. The second layer, which is built on top of the base layer of our mindset, is our methods. How will you conduct your economic activity?

18:45If you distrust God, leading to a scarcity mindset, then greed will be your guide toward speculative means of financial accumulation. A speculative approach to your resources that just basically just means that you don't care how you get it. You just get it, however you can, in order to store house resources for your benefit. So if you have to exploit somebody, you exploit them. If you have to take a necessary risk, you do that. Many of us will turn a blind eye and claim ignorance or transfer our economic responsibility to someone else, versus accepting responsibility for ourselves. Whatever it takes to ensure that we have enough, whatever that means to us. Now on the other hand, if you trust God and have a stewardship mindset with a proclivity toward abundance, then you will be generous and employ productive methods for God's redemptive purposes and the benefit of others.

19:46As opposed to trying to get all you can, we're content in partnering with God who has an infinite amount of resources at his disposal. The methods we employ economically are characterized by greed or generosity, which is built upon the base layer of our mindset of being either a storehouse or a steward. And all this once again stems from our trust or distrust of God. So our distrust of God gives birth to a storehouse mindset upon which our greedy methodologies are solidified for the purpose of achieving retirement. Ultimately our metric of the way we define success economically in our culture is whether we're able to retire or not. However, if you have a stewardship mindset as the base layer that derives from a trusting God and generosity defines your methods for the purpose of production, your metrics for success will be redemption, not retirement. As someone who has been redeemed by the blood of Christ, you will have a selfless attitude

20:50and an eye toward others as you seek to add value instead of extortive consumerism. As we learn to trust God, redemption becomes our metric. We experience transcendent purpose as we submit ourselves to God's redemptive purposes as people who've been redeemed ourselves. As the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5 verse 20, I think I have it here, there it is, yep. We are therefore Christ ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. There are specific ways that we play a role in God's redemptive plan and add value to the world, which I'll discuss in more detail as we move through this course, but suffice it to say our economic mindset and our methods and metrics all stem from whether we trust God or distrust God. Alright folks, hey thank you for joining me for part 2 of the first session of my digital

21:53course through Redemptive Enterprise, 15 biblical principles for building a profitable business of eternal significance. I hope this caused you to think more deeply about your own situation and business. Or maybe you're just thinking about starting a business. I hope this has given you a biblical perspective on the significance of what you're actually doing and how to do it in a way that will have lasting impact and eternal significance. So as we come to close on this episode, I want to leave you with a few thoughts and questions. First of all, how has your life and business reflected a drive toward retirement rather than the kingdom goal of redemption? What does that look like for you? Secondly, I want to reiterate the question I asked earlier because I just think it's so important. AWSOzer once said, what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you?

22:54This is why Jesus asked us disciples, who do you say that I am? Look, your perception of God's character is the most important aspect of who you are and it will drive you to operate either as a storehouse or a steward. So who is God to you? Is he trustworthy? Is he good? Are you convinced that he has your best in mind? Lastly, how would you be different if you trusted God and his character wholeheartedly? If you were certain that God has your back and he was going to use you for his eternal purposes, what would you do that you're not doing today? What have you been putting off that you would finally direct effort and attention to? Remember, these episodes are also on YouTube and Rumble if you would like to watch because I did create visuals or slides to go along with this course and I do share those on those platforms if you want to check that out. Alright, folks, so next time we're going to be talking about principle number three,

23:58which has to do with stewarding your unique design. You're going to discover how your God-given expertise and vocational calling are divine tools for kingdom impact will uncover how to steward your unique design and specialize knowledge to invest wisely, mitigate risk and serve others most effectively. You'll learn to break free from cultural traps that centralize wealth and instead courageously deploy your skills in ways that glorify God and transform your community. Alright, until next time. Let's get to work!