3DM

When it comes to economics, most of us tend to think only in terms of money, and the common assumption is that economics is a zero-sum game. This means that we assume that our economic gain can only come from someone else’s economic loss, and vice versa. When we add up the gains and losses, the sum will total zero.

But when we examine the teachings of Jesus, it appears that the economics of God’s kingdom are completely different. In God’s economy (which is more than money), giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. You don’t get one without the other. It’s never a zero-sum game.

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A few days ago I posted a list of the five capitals, and in a book I co-write with Mike Breen, we talk a lot about how to invest in these capitals to see a return. But today I want to talk why we are seeking to invest and grow our capital in all five areas.

Investing for a return in the five capitals isn’t some kind of private enrichment program—it’s how we participate with God in what he’s doing in the world. The true wealth we are growing is not just for ourselves; it’s to be shared. There’s a word for this: commonwealth, which essentially means the wealth that is held in common with others in the community. We need to reclaim this word.

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Tomorrow the book I co-wrote with Mike Breen comes out. It’s called Oikonomics and it’s all about how Jesus taught his disciples to invest their time, energy, and money. In it we outline what we’ve come to call the Five Capitals. I wanted to take a post to outline the Five Capitals.

As we look at Scripture, the life of Jesus, and our own lives, we notice at least five forms of capital revealed. Capital refers to the goods or assets we have in our possession that we can invest. Economies are built on the exchange of capital. We normally think of capital in terms of monetary value, but there are all kinds of other capitals that economists identify and theorize about. The world essentially “works” as a network of relationships where we invest particular kinds of capital in particular ways.

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I‘ve co-written a book with Mike Breen that comes out in just a few days (May 6). It’s all about the economics of Jesus, and what we call the five capitals (more on that later). It deals with how to invest our time, energy, and money in the things that really matter. It’s called Oikonomics: How to Invest in Life’s Five Capitals the Way Jesus Did and you can order it here.

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One of the issues we deal with in the book is whether following Jesus as a disciple is really a “sacrifice.” At least since Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote his classic work The Cost of Discipleship, it seems we have tended to look at discipleship through the lens of sacrifice. We pay attention to what we are giving up to follow Jesus. We focus on what we are losing.

But Jesus rarely spoke this way about discipleship. Don’t get me wrong: he did call people to sacrifice. The disciples left their livelihood to follow him, and this appeared to be a standard call from Jesus (the rich young ruler comes to mind). But while he certainly did call people to sacrifice significantly to follow him, we notice that when Jesus talked about discipleship, he always spoke through the lens of investment.

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