The Great Invitation

The invitation in this text is so important. It follows from Genesis 17 and the texts of Torah because God says to Abraham, roughly, here's the life I want you to lead and behold, I will make you fruitful. That's the big idea. 

The great invitation and Abrahamic covenant of Genesis 17 is really an invitation first to intimacy with Jesus, with God, then out of that this wholeness, this integral life of rest and wholeness and then fruitfulness. 

Looking at today’s text, we can think about what it means to be his apprentice, to find rest. We cannot fulfill the great commandment—and again, investment fits into that loving God and loving our neighbor—or the great commission of making disciples if we have not embraced the great invitation. 

So, the great invitation is Matthew 11:28-30. It's often a misunderstood text and lost text. But Jesus gives us the path to loving God and loving our neighbor in all its comprehensiveness and also making disciples of the world. If we do not embrace the great invitation, if we do not enter his yoke, which demands submission, submission to a person first and to his teachings, then we cannot love God and love our neighbor. It's truly the great setup. 

Many people talk about loving God and loving your neighbor, but without apprenticeship to Jesus, without entry into his yoke, without learning from him becoming like him, we cannot do that. So it's the great set up. Love God, love your neighbor, yes. But if we've not entered his yoke of apprenticeship, we cannot do that. 

On the other side, the great commission. Think about Mathew's design. It ends with the great commission, which most of us know as make disciples of all the world. The problem is, if we're not an apprentice, we are making faulty disciples. So that's the great omission.

This absolutely affects the investment group. Because when you think about our stewardship on Monday and the different vocational stewards we have of what God has given to us, you have to ask: how do we love God and love our neighbor well, with that investment, with the stewardship God has given us and how do we multiply that through apprenticeship and helping others? 

A big part of the mission for Christian investors is asking, how do we help other investors, other followers of Jesus, invest well? We can't do that apart from truly inviting them into the yoke of apprenticeship with Jesus. Being a yoked apprentice of Jesus, to learn to live our lives like he would if he were us, that's the basis in which all dimensions of life really connect. 

The great commandment and great commission profoundly speak into our the act of investing well for the glory of God.

Tom Nelson is the president of Made To Flourish, a pastors’ network for the common good. He also serves on the boards of The Gospel Coalition and Trinity International University.