By Todd Paetznick, April 11, 2024

What is the value of money? Should money be valued differently by a Christ follower?  A person in finance often associates money with its future value and how it can increase the value of other things over time.  A present value of money assigns a value in terms of what it can buy right now in the form of goods and services. From a business and Christian perspective, it is important to understand that money is a tool to use rather than the object of desire, and this little fact completely changes how we view money.  

A tool is used to make or repair something. Money is important, but it is the means through which something of real worth is acquired. A hammer and a saw are important tools for making a table, but the real value is in the end result, the table.  A skilled craftsperson uses the hammer and saw to make something valuable, such as a table, out of less valuable raw materials, such as lumber. Tools are used to create something with greater value.

Differentiated Value seeks to quantify the perceived worth of competing alternatives.  What alternative competes with money? When we think of money as a tool, the competing alternative to money is everything that money can buy.  Without money, we would trade and barter our time and possessions for something we want.  Hidden in this is an important concept you don’t want to miss: business is all about trading.  People rarely buy something because of its advanced features. They buy something because of what it will do for them.  The same is true in business-to-business transactions.  A company buys something because it perceives the value of that thing to be greater than what it is currently using or what it could do on its own.  

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul refers to the love of money as the source of all sorts of evil (1 Timothy 6:10).  He reminds Timothy that some people even wander away from the faith in pursuit of money and end up suffering.  Money is not the source of evil; it’s the LOVE of money, an attitude with actions.    

The parable of the Unrighteous Manager, found in Luke 16, is one of the least understood parables told by Jesus.  (I have included the parable in its entirety below).  In summary, a manager would be fired for allegations of misappropriation of the owner’s funds.  Interestingly, whether the manager was misusing the funds is never revealed.  Regardless, the manager needed to do something to protect his future, so he went back to his customers and rewrote the purchase and sale agreements with substantial additional discounts.  The manager reasoned that the customers with whom he had a relationship would welcome him into their homes in the future when he was unemployed.  While not stated explicitly, the customers would become better friends with the manager because he saved them a lot of money.  

In an unexpected twist, the business owner discovered the scheme and commended the manager for his shrewdness in the revised discounting practice.  Why would the owner not have had the manager arrested for further mismanagement?  One reason may be that according to biblical Law, Jewish people were not permitted to charge other Jewish people interest for a debt.  “You are not to charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, [or] anything that may be loaned on interest” (Deuteronomy 23:19 NASB20).  The business owner, being Jewish, could not legally condemn the manager for “correcting” the interest charge for the debt owed.  The manager may have effectively eliminated the interest expense of the purchased product by reducing the amount owed.  

What I find to be the most interesting aspect of this story of the Unrighteous Manager is Jesus’ conclusion.  “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it is all gone, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9 NASB20).  What?  Is Jesus advocating using money acquired through questionable means to buy friends?  

This is one situation where an alternate translation of the Bible can help us understand a passage’s meaning. The New Living Translation of this same passage reads, “Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home” (Luke 16:9 NLT).  

What is the differentiated value of money? Money is a tool that is useful for making eternal friends (think evangelism). Friends who will welcome you to your eternal home.  

The Parable of the Unrighteous Manager

“Now He [Jesus] was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this [manager] was reported to him as squandering his possessions. “And he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ “And the manager said to himself, ‘What am I to do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. ‘I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management [people] will welcome me into their homes.’

“And he summoned each one of his master’s debtors, and he [began] saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ “And he said, ‘A hundred jugs of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ “Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

“And his master complimented the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it is all gone, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. “The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much.

“Therefore if you have not been faithful in the [use of] unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true [wealth] to you? “And if you have not been faithful in [the use of] that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were ridiculing Him. And He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of people, but God knows your hearts; because that which is highly esteemed among people is detestable in the sight of God” (Luke 16:1-15 NASB20).