How Jesus’ parable of the talents informs our investing choices as Christians. 

Investing in the market is almost a must in our current culture. The ability to be a “wise steward” of our resources by putting them to work and reaping the rewards is a helpful part of being able to retire. Where we put our money and what companies we invest in, however, is something most investors hardly consider. 

The fact is, most investors charge their financial adviser with the duty of investing hard-earned money into companies that will be profitable and, thereby, grow their portfolio. For most Christians, the underlying moral fabric of the companies being invested in is of little concern. The reality that we may be funding companies that oppose our Christian values is a nearly novel concept. And yet, that may be the case. 

Seeking to shed light on this tension and offer alternatives to mutual funds, stocks, and ETF’s that may be diametrically opposed to faith-based investors is the “Biblically Responsible Investing” (BRI) movement.

The BRI movement, composed of thousands of financial professionals, fund managers, and asset managers, has seen tremendous growth in recent years. Companies like Timothy Plan pioneered the BRI movement with mutual funds (and most recently ETF’s) that seek to align Christians’ biblical values with their investing. Investment firms such as Inspire Investing and Ambassador Advisors are dedicated to investing only in companies with underlying values that line up with the Christian convictions of their clients. 

The goal of these groups – aligning clients’ biblical values with investments that reflect those values – is commendable. And when clients genuinely seek to be a part of the BRI movement, it is truly a match made in heaven. There is an underlying message, however, being subtly sent out from many of the financial professionals involved in the BRI movement. That message is: “If you don’t join us, you aren’t a faithful Christian.” 

Like many good, biblically based things, the temptation to infuse legalism is constantly present. Legalism is that age-old ideology which seeks to make a man-made principle into a biblical command. Think about drinking alcohol. There’s not a specific, explicit prohibition against drinking alcohol in Scripture. There’s guiding principles; such as don’t be drunk (Eph. 5:18), and don’t cause your brother to stumble (1 Cor. 8:9). But nowhere does Scripture forbid drinking alcohol. And in some places, Scripture actually encourages drinking alcohol (1 Tim. 5:23). And yet, many Christians would call drinking alcohol a sin based on the teaching of their churches and pastors. This legalism has sought to use man-made teaching to make sinful what Scripture allows through grace and a clear conscience. 

Within the BRI movement is a pulse that earnestly desires to align biblical convictions with investments. There’s nothing wrong with that. The issue comes in when one adviser suggests that another adviser is not being a faithful Christian by not participating in the BRI movement, or by investing in a certain fund. Or when a financial professional tells Christian clients that if they don’t invest in BRI funds they are somehow committing a sin. 

The victims of legalism span centuries. 

Jesus, as always, can teach us something about investing. In Mathew’s Gospel we have the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). This is a parable Jesus told in which an investor gave his money to 3 separate stewards and told them to be productive with his money while he was away. Upon his return, each steward would be asked to give account of how they used the investor’s money. 

One steward was given 5 talents,^[1]another was given 2 talents, and the third was given 1 talent. Each of them employed an investment strategy they thought their investor would appreciate. When the investor returned, he asked each of the stewards to give account of their investing strategy. The first steward, given 5 talents, doubled the investment and returned 10 talents to the investor. The second steward, given 2 talents, doubled the investment and returned 4 talents to the investor. The last steward, given 1 talent, returned the original talent to the investor, with nothing more. 

The investor commended the first two stewards for doubling his money through their investment strategy. But he condemned the third steward for not earning anything more and returning nothing but his original investment. Then, the investor took the talent from the steward with just 1 talent and gave it to the steward with 10 talents. 

What stands out about this parable is that we are not told how the first two stewards doubled their investors’ money. What means did they employ to accomplish this? Since a modern stock market exchange did not exist in the first century, what local proprietor or business did they invest the money in so as to double the investment before their investor called them to give account? We don’t know. Furthermore, what was the investor concerned about when he returned? Did he ask how they doubled the money? Did he ask to see a balance sheet or company charter to know about where his money was being invested? Nope. He only cared that his money had grown.

Look a little closer and we see that the condemned investor was encouraged at least put the money in the bank so it could draw interest.  The bankers in Jesus’ day were often deceitful and employed deceptive business practices that took advantage of people. Sure, a person could earn some interest and make money, but at what cost? The bank was funding the Roman government, which was not exactly known for being “Christian-friendly,” and would surely not be considered “biblically responsible.” And yet the investor cares not for how his money is invested, as long as it grows. 

Investing based on personally held convictions is an honorable endeavor. Being forced to invest based on the personally held convictions of another person is legalism. Mankind has long documented what happens when people are forced to abide by the conscience of someone else. The biblical teaching around conscience and freedom is ignored. The teaching around protecting the weaker brother is twisted, or abandoned altogether. It’s impossible to protect or grow the person that is constantly being beaten down and told they must comply with extra-biblical rules. Legalism is tiring. After a while, many simply give up. 

There is a fine line between willingly funding what the Bible calls sin, and simply seeking to be a good steward of the resources we have been given. I can’t in good conscience walk into Planned Parenthood and hand over a check. Knowing they are the world’s largest abortion provider stands in contrast to my biblical convictions that abortion is murder. However, investing in a fund only to learn later that one company may have given money to Planned Parenthood one time doesn’t require a crisis of conscience on my part. 

Christians are far more likely to make a difference by being a wise steward of where they spend their money, locally, than by trying to avoid all possibly objectionable funds in their portfolio. After all, refusing to invest in abortion while raising money for the United Way and drinking coffee at Starbucks is nothing short of hypocritical. 

The BRI movement is good. Aligning portfolios and consciences is also good. Forcing people to invest based on the convictions of someone else is not good. Legalism is never good. 

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^[1]A talent was a first century unit of money that is hard to perfectly define in modern currency terms. But it could have been valued up to $1.4 million dollars in today’s dollars.