Money Bags? Really?
In the last two years, I’ve had the privilege of investing significant time in helping to edit transcripts from talks Dallas Willard gave 40 years ago about the parables Jesus told about the kingdom of God. Now God is speaking to me through it all over again as I read the book with two friends!
My least favorite parable has always been the Parables of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-29). Two out of three servants are “stars,” who manage their assets well, one even gaining a thousand times more. These are obviously high-performing people, and I’m just average. I kind of feel like the one-talent guy, except that he was so grouchy and had no idea how generous God is, so I’m not him either.
But in this parable, Dallas saw a theme he often talked about, one that has inspired me for years: Invest in people.
(DW) The important thing is the kind of person we become, not our income or accomplishments. After the nobleman found that one servant had expanded his money a thousandfold, he didn’t say, “Oh, good, now I get more money!” Instead, he said to the servant, “I’m impressed with you!” (Luke 19:17, paraphrased). The nobleman was interested in who that servant was as a person. That’s what God is always working for. God’s treasures are not the output of our work. What God is going to get out of my life, whatever I may do otherwise, is the person I become.
He emphasized this idea of investing in people again in response to the parable of the rich, foolish farmer (another one of my less favorite parables). Instead of leaving us just with the negative message of not being greedy, he noted Jesus’ teaching in the context of the parable, : “Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.” (Luke 12:33). (DW)
(DW) What are the “money bags which do not grow old”? We are the treasures in heaven—ourselves and other people. If you want to store up treasures in heaven, then embed “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness” into your character and help others to do the same (1 Timothy 6:11). The difference you make in the lives of other people will go to heaven when they go to heaven. So you invest in people and their character. Anything you can do for someone else remains for eternity: “Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you also are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB).
(DW) 
People are what matter. They are the temple of God. They are his bride. What we can do for others, especially for “the least of these My brothers,” is the treasure that goes on to heaven (Matthew 25:40). (DW)
(Me, not DW!) As we enter the new year, we might ask God who we are to invest in–call, text, visit, come by & help. Who is God inviting me to treat with love, patience, and gentleness? It amounts to paying attention to them. We all want to be seen and heard—how am I vehicle for that in someone else’s life?
Join us for our free webinar “Jesus, the Genius Teacher,” where we see why and how Jesus used parables so skillfully: Jan 3, 10 AM pst Jan 7, 4 PM pst
Online Interactive Class “How the Parables of Jesus Revolutionize Life with God” (based on The Scandal of the Kingdom). https://dwillard.org/resources/events/parables-of-jesus-revolutionize-life-with-god.
5 Thursdays 10 am & 4 pm (pst)
January16-February 20
Grace and peace,
Jan
