Life’s Greatest Investment

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January 5th. At the beginning of a new year, it's common to think about preparing for the future. Today, we are encouraged to devote ourselves to things of eternal value by making life's greatest investment. What is the greatest achievement in life? What is the greatest achievement that you and I could ever accomplish?

I believe it's written right here in this first chapter of John, and I want to show you what it is. The greatest investment of life is to bring someone to Jesus Christ who accepts Him by faith as their Savior, their Lord, and their life. And I want to tell you why that is life's greatest achievement.

To bring someone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, whereby they accept Him as their Savior, their Lord, and their life. And you say, well, now, I don't know. I think I could probably think of a few things that would be a greater achievement than that. Then you wait till I finish. Why is that life's greatest achievement?

Well, I think there are a number of reasons. Look here, if you will, at this first chapter, and I want you to notice what's happening. The Scripture says that John the Baptist had introduced Andrew and John the Beloved to Jesus by pointing out to them, he says, behold, look, here's the Lamb of God. So they go home with him wherever he was staying.

They spend some time with him. When that time is over, the Scripture says that Andrew first went and found his brother Simon Peter and brought him to Jesus. That was the greatest achievement of Andrew's life. Now, wherever you find Andrew, here's what you'll find. You'll find him all the way through the Scriptures bringing people to Jesus. For example, in this passage, when the people were hungry and there were 5,000 to be fed, who was it that found the young lad with five loaves and two fishes and brought him to Jesus? It was Andrew. When the Greeks came and said, we want to see Jesus, who was it that found them, that introduced them to Jesus but Andrew and Philip?

Wherever you find Andrew, he's doing one thing. He is introducing people to Jesus. Why is this life's greatest achievement?

There's seven reasons. Number one, we become the instruments whereby someone is saved for whom Christ died. Now, think about this. We become the instruments whereby someone is saved for whom Christ died. What is the only reason for which Jesus went to the cross? He says, I'm come to give my life and to give it a ransom for many. I've come that men might have life and have it more abundantly, and everything that you and I have is the result of Jesus Christ's work on the cross. The greatest achievement in life is to become an instrument of the Lord God in whereby we introduce someone to him that is someone for whom Christ died is brought into a saving relationship with him. Because you see a person who lives their life, all of their life, rejecting Jesus Christ for them personally, Christ's death on the cross was all in vain and a big divine waste. Because to reject the Lord Jesus Christ is to reject the love of God. It is to reject the divine sacrifice and it is to say to God, your investment in life was a waste.

Let me ask you a question. When is the last time you became a personal, specific, unmistakable instrument by which someone else who was on their way to hell had their whole destiny changed from hell to heaven and you led them into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? If, listen, if it is life's greatest achievement, when is the last time you invested your life in someone else's life whereby their eternal destiny was changed?

You can invest your life in things, but things are going to evaporate and blow up in a puff. The thing that's going to last is the somebodies, the souls, the spirits of men and women whose lives our life touches. It is life's greatest investment because we become the instruments by which God saves someone for whom he died. There's a second, I believe here, and this is life's greatest investment because if you'll think about what Andrew did here, that he says he first found his own brother Simon and brought him to Jesus.

Now, when he did that, how long was that to last? You see, one of the reasons it is life's greatest investment because of the eternal consequences involved. He introduced his brother Simon to the Lord Jesus Christ and when Peter received Jesus Christ as his Savior, there were eternal and everlasting consequences to that. Now, think about this for a moment. Can you tell me a greater investment in life than to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with someone else?

And for the rest of eternity, listen, for the rest of eternity, the both of you are able to rejoice in the fact that they found Jesus Christ. Let me ask you something. Tell me what you do in a given day in your vocation that'll match that. Anything?

Nothing. It's life's greatest achievement. But there's a third reason that it's true. And if you'll notice what he says in this passage, he found first his own brother Simon. Why do you think he did that? Why do you think he went to his own brother first?

Why do you do that? Because I believe that Andrew was immediately, immediately motivated to do what? He wanted to obey God and I believe God immediately brought to his mind his own brother Simon. When you and I introduce someone else to the Lord Jesus Christ and they're saved, what have we done? But we have pleased the Father. He says, it is not my will that any man should perish. It is the will of God, the desire of God. That's why God the Father came in human flesh to live in this earth.

Why? That men might be saved. I've come that men might have life and have it more abundantly. He came that we might know the truth. When you and I introduce someone to the Lord Jesus Christ, what are we doing? At that moment, we are obeying the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's a fourth reason. When we introduce people to the Lord Jesus Christ, it is life's greatest investment because we are fulfilling the Great Commission. We are carrying out the work of the church.

Now let me ask you a question. What is the work of the church? Here's the work of the church. Now watch this, the work of the church is not. As you pastors and staff members go, make disciples of all nations.

That's not what it says. Jesus was saying, as you go, now watch this, not go ye therefore, but the Greek says, as you go, that is as you go about your business, whether you are a carpenter, a plumber, whether you're an attorney or a doctor, whether you're a clerk or a waitress, it doesn't make a difference, a homemaker, as you go, your lifestyle is to be what kind of lifestyle? As you go, continually be making disciples. That means introducing people to Jesus Christ and having introduced them to him, then you help them grow. As you go, make disciples of all people.

That is beginning where you are in your office, in your home. Let me ask you this, does everybody you live around know that you're a child of God? Does everybody you work around know that you're a child of God?

Are you keeping it a secret? He says ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and the Holy Ghost has come upon every single one of us who know Christ as our Savior. We have him living within us. The greatest achievement in life is to introduce someone else to Jesus Christ. But there's another reason, and that is because it glorifies God. What does he say in the Scripture in John chapter 15? He says by this shall my Father be glorified that you bring forth much fruit.

And he says again later that your fruit might remain. How is God glorified? Here's how God is best glorified. When you and I bring a brother or sister to the Lord Jesus Christ and introduce them to him, what happens? When that person is saved and their name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life and they become indwelt with the Holy Spirit and Christ begins to live his life through them, that person becomes a living expression of Christ.

He's glorified. He's magnified. One more ray, one more reflection, one more phase to reflect the life of Christ from. I believe there's another reason if you look here for just a moment. The Scripture says he found his own brother Simon and said to him, we found the Messiah.

Do you know what happened? As soon as he brought him to Jesus, Satan suffered a tremendous blow. Listen, one of the reasons introducing people of Jesus Christ is one of life's greatest investment because it is a defeat for Satan. Listen, every time somebody's saved, they are snatched from the satanic grip of one who would destroy their body and their soul. That person is captivated by the kingdom of God. They become a child of God, a son of God.

They become a servant of God, gifted by God to share their life. Let me ask you a question. Can you tell me a greater investment in life than bringing your brother to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?

I don't believe you can. Let me tell you one last reason. Bringing my brother to Christ, life's greatest investment. Now watch this, real simple. Here's the reason it's life's greatest investment because when you and I introduce someone else to Jesus Christ, you know what we do? God uses us as an instrument to provide another life through whom Jesus can begin to express his love, demonstrate his supernatural power, and express his life.

Think about that. When you bring someone else to Jesus Christ, do you know what God gains? He gains one more face from which to reflect his life, one more life in which to live his life, one more human body through which to walk on the face of this earth to introduce other people to him. Can you tell—listen, can you give me any example of any accomplishment of man that equals that? That in introducing our brothers and sisters to Christ, God uses us to provide another person through whom the Lord Jesus Christ can live his life here on earth?

You can't tell me anything any greater than that. Now listen, what motivated Andrew to seek out his brother Simon? The first thing that motivated him was his own conversion experience. John the Baptist said, Andrew, John, there is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. When he said that, they understood what that meant. They understood about lambs and sacrifices and sin and atonement. They knew that Jesus Christ was God's final and ultimate atonement for the sin of mankind. So when John said, there he is, and they began to follow him, and he asked him a question, what are you seeking? He went—they went home with him and they accepted him as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord. They accepted him.

They were motivated. That's the first thing that motivated Andrew is his conversion experience. The second thing was his communion with the Lord. Listen to what the Bible says. Scripture says that he and John spent the day with him. It says about 10 o'clock in the morning, Roman time, about 4 in the afternoon, Hebrew time.

I believe he's speaking about Roman time because he spent enough time with him that the very same day he went and found his brother, Simon Peter. Think about this. Listen to me very carefully. Don't hear me. Hear God. Listen to me.

Andrew and John spent that day with Jesus, and when they left him, Andrew made a beeline right to Peter. I want to tell you something, my friend. If you've been in the presence of God and you're quiet about it, you've not talked to the right God, you've not heard from God, or you don't know God, or you are scared to death. You've been in the presence of the God who beats your heart every single time it beats. You're not going to tell anybody?

Not going to say anything? Third thing that motivated Andrew was his confidence in who Jesus was. Listen to this.

I just love this. When he found Simon, listen to what he said. He didn't beat around the bush about it. He said very, very simply, we have found the Messiah. And the next sentence, he brought him to Christ.

They were motivated by their confidence in the fact that they knew who he was, and they knew why he had come, and they knew what they ought to be doing having met him. I want you to listen to four verses of Scripture soberly, as soberly as you have ever listened to anything in your life. I want you to listen to what I'm going to tell you.

Now, listen to me carefully. Jesus said, I have come to give my life a ransom for many. He came to save us. He said, you follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. I will lead you to lead others to accept me. He says, you're not your own now.

You're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. Then he says, he that hath the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, hath Christ.

Now, watch this. Jesus said, he came to save this so unbelieving and sin-sick world. He said not only that, but if I'm following him, listen, if I'm following him, I'm going to be introducing people to him, fishing for men, catching them for Christ. I don't belong to myself anymore now that I'm saved. I've been bought with the price of his blood, the atoning death of Calvary. So he came to save mankind. And following him, I'm going to be an instrument of introducing people to him.

I don't belong to me anymore, so it's no longer an option. He says, if you have the Spirit, you have Christ in you. So I have Christ living within me.

Now, let me ask you a question. Since Jesus Christ is living and abiding within you, if Jesus Christ is living and abiding within you, and you're walking in his Spirit, is it not true that you will automatically, if you're walking obediently, be introducing other people to Christ? Because he said, when you follow me, I will make you fishers of men. You don't belong to you anymore.

You've been bought with the price. And what does the Holy Spirit do within us? The Holy Spirit lives through us, the life of Jesus Christ. Let me ask you a question.

How would Jesus ever disobey his own command? If Jesus Christ is living his life in us, what's he going to be doing through us? He's going to be utilizing our bodies and our voices to introduce other people to him within us.

Let me ask you a question. If I'm saved, if you're saved, if we're saved, and we're not introducing other people to Jesus Christ, who are we following? Not Jesus.

Wait a minute. It's Jesus who's living within me now. He says, Christ is your life. So I have Christ's life within me. What did Jesus say? He said, when you follow me, I'm going to make you a fisher of men.

You're going to be introducing people to me. So now, here's Jesus Christ in me to equip me to do what he said he was going to do. Whose life is it? Christ's life. What is Christ going to do within you and me?

He's going to do what he said he would do. He's going to introduce through us other people to himself. Then let me ask you a question. If we are not introducing people to Jesus based on those four verses, you can't rearrange any part of this Bible to get out from under this responsibility. Listen to me. If my lifestyle, if I'm not sharing my faith, how can I be following Jesus? If I'm not sharing my faith, how can I be walking in the Spirit?

The truth, my friend, is you cannot. Now, we can sort of manipulate God a little bit and say, well, after all, you can't—I didn't say do it every moment of the day, but I said as a way of life, we ought to be introducing people to him. I'm talking about a desire in the heart.

I'm talking about the way we live. And let me ask you a question. According to what Jesus said, if his life is my life, would Jesus live contradictory to his own word?

Never. Here's what he said. Call me, obey me, walk in my Spirit, and I will make you to become fishers of men. How do I know that's true? Because of so many other verses he gives us that reminds us of our responsibility to introduce other people to him. Now, watch this. I quoted you four verses. He said, he said he came to save you. He said he came. If you follow him, he'll make you a fisher of men.

He said you don't belong to yourself anymore. He said if you have the Spirit of Christ, then you belong to him. And the Spirit of Christ has come to live the life of Jesus through me. If that's true, then, friend, I either have to be in the process of sharing, introducing people to Jesus, or I'm living in disobedience. I don't care if I'm a preacher. It's what my vocation life is. I'm out of the will of God.

If I can live my life day after day after day and never have any concern, any desire, or any success at bringing people to Christ. Thank you for listening to Life's Greatest Investment. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.