What Does a Pastor Know About Entrepreneurship?
By Reverend Doctor Stephen Mannion
“When it comes to baptism or Holy Eucharist, I’ll come to you, Pastor. But leave the entrepreneurial wisdom to the great financial minds of our day.”
No one has actually said those words to me, but I know many are thinking them! What does a pastor know about being an entrepreneur?
Admittedly, I barely even know how to spell the word. Microsoft Word had to put a squiggly red line under my first attempt at spelling the vowel-infested word. I will also admit that I cannot be labeled “rich” by any definition of the word.
That being said, the Creator of the universe and author of all financial laws has plenty to say about money. Scripture is packed with monetary principles that, if applied faithfully, can save the modern entrepreneur from much heartache and loss. More importantly, following the financial principles found in Scripture will keep your heart and priorities in the right place.
Jesus spoke more about the topic of money than almost anything else. Why do you think that is? No, Jesus didn’t trade stocks and bonds as a side hustle, nor did He have a quirky obsession with numbers. (That was likely Matthew.)
The reason Jesus talked so much about money is because He knew how easily it can control us. In addition, He knew that money is a powerful way to bless others and bring glory to God.
Paul, while writing to the young man Timothy, saw the same danger when he said:
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” —1 Timothy 6:10
Does reading that passage help you catch the two errors in the modern misquote?
Money isn’t the root of all evil. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Money is not intrinsically bad. Having lots of it isn’t better or worse than having little, morally speaking. If you are a millionaire, you aren’t better in the eyes of God than the leper on the streets of Calcutta. Being poor isn’t inherently more virtuous than living in opulence.
What we do need to remember is that money can corrupt us and lead us down bad paths of greed, discontent, and even crime if we do not have foundational, God-given principles guiding us and keeping our bow pointed toward the North Star.
What I want to do in the rest of this chapter is provide you with what I believe are the most foundational and important scriptural principles for entrepreneurs. Whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, following these principles can save you from heartache and serve as the rudder that keeps you moving in the right direction.
Be yourself. Be creative. Make money. But keep these principles sacrosanct.
When You Die, You Can’t Take Any of Your Money With You
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” —Job 1:21
No matter how much money you make in this life, you will end up with the same amount as everyone else: a big, fat zero!
Everyone comes with nothing and leaves with nothing.
In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon mourns the fact that all his wealth is vanity because, when he dies, his children may squander it, someone else may take it, and eventually no one may even remember him or all his hard work.
That is true of you, too.
If you have children, perhaps they will inherit your money. If they manage it wisely, there may be some left for your grandchildren. But your great-grandchildren will likely never think of you, and eventually, all your work may be nothing more than a name on Ancestry.com.
“Sheesh, Pastor. Can you be any more depressing?”
Morbid? Yes. Reality? Also yes.
This is an important reality to keep in mind because knowing what really matters in life is of immense value. Do you really want to live your whole life with the ultimate goal of dying with the most money, only to promptly lose it?
Or do you want to live for something bigger than chasing zeros in your bank account?
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in a sermon entitled “The Use of Money,” essentially said, “Make as much as you can, save as much as you can, so that you can give as much as you can.”
Let me challenge you to keep that as your priorities mantra.
This mantra can help remind you that it isn’t about you. Make a lot of money, yes, but remember your “why”: to bring glory to God by being generous.
It’s ultimately all about honoring God.
It is not about amassing wealth in your house where you can hoard it like Ebenezer Scrooge.
At the end of Ecclesiastes, after bemoaning that “everything is vanity” on the earth because we all live and then die, Solomon came to a valuable conclusion that is similar to Wesley’s mantra:
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” —Ecclesiastes 12:13
It’s all about bringing glory to our Creator.
That is, after all, why you were created. The more you keep that as your modus operandi, the more you are doing what you were created to do, and the more contentment and joy you will find.
A lobster can live out of water for quite some time, but it will be miserable and largely defenseless.
Why?
Because it was designed to be in water!
You were designed to bring glory to God. You can exist while living for other reasons, but you will only find true contentment and peace by doing what you were made to do: bring glory to God.
Keep the main thing the main thing, and the rest will fall into place.
You will die someday. Live like it.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” —Colossians 3:23–24
Thou Shall Not Steal
This should be a simple one, right?
Don’t take what isn’t yours. Move on to the next one, Pastor Stephen!
This principle is very simple, yet I have never ceased to be amazed at how easily people, Christians included, can deceive themselves into theft and convince themselves that it isn’t a big deal.
I did it, too!
I worked at a pizza shop through much of my twenties. I ate for free a lot.
That is stealing.
The manager didn’t care, but I bet the owner did! The employee discount was 50%—a very generous employee discount—not 100%.
According to Banner Business Services, in Great Britain alone, more than $3.45 billion in U.S. dollars’ worth of office supplies are stolen each year. According to Pew Research, Americans spend an average of two hours a day on social media while at work.
That is stolen time.
Are you guilty of any of these forms of theft?
I hope I don’t need to tell the reader that it is wrong to cheat on your books, cheat on your taxes, or participate in dishonest work to earn money.
What I am warning the reader against is stealing in subtle, small ways.
Be honest in your finances and in your business. The Bible calls that being “above reproach.”
I don’t believe in karma the way that my Hindu friends do, but God does make sure that we ultimately receive what we have coming to us, either in this life or the life to come.
In your pursuit of wealth, keep honesty as an anchor, or it may come back to haunt you.
Be “ruthlessly honest,” and you will be honored.
“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” —Proverbs 11:1
“Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.” —James 5:4
Work Really Hard
You don’t deserve anything just for breathing.
I live in the United States, a land that was once known for what has been called “The American Dream.”
The American Dream is essentially this: “If you are willing to work hard, you can do whatever you set your mind to.”
Millions and millions of immigrants, including my father, have come to the United States to become masters of their own futures through hard work.
Anthony, my father, came to the United States at the age of 18 from Ireland.
If you ask him why he came, his response is always, “Hunger.”
Dad came over on a ship and landed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1958. He didn’t have a high school education, could hardly speak any English, and had $4 to his name.
This is where the immigrant mindset veers from the mindset of many young Americans today.
Dad didn’t say, “I’m here, government! Take care of me! I demand $15 an hour! I deserve health insurance and free college! I demand that no one ever say anything to me that will hurt my feelings! I deserve a government check to feed me because I don’t have any money!”
Anthony’s response was that of millions of immigrants before him:
He got to work, and no work was beneath him.
Dad worked nights and evenings to learn English. Eventually, he trained as an electronic technician.
Work, school, frugal living, and delayed gratification characterized my father’s life for years.
Today, my dad is a retired teacher with the equivalent of three master’s degrees.
In 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul tells the church in Thessalonica:
“The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
In other words, don’t give handouts from the church to anyone who refuses to work. If there is work available for you, don’t burden society or the Church.
Get to work!
Proverbs 14:23 says:
“In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”
There is no virtue in sitting around complaining about your situation or waiting for the government to fix it for you.
“In all toil there is profit!”
No work should be beneath you. If there is work available, do it rather than burdening others.
Proverbs 20:4 says:
“Sluggards do not plow in season; so, at harvest time they look but find nothing.”
The United States is now infected by entitlement. It is no longer the land my dad sailed to in 1958.
Today, some people only do the work they want to do. If a job is “beneath them,” they will collect a government check rather than do uncomfortable work.
The harvest is available, but it’s easier to stay home.
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.” —Proverbs 24:33–34
Get out there!
Seize the day!
Take whatever work you can find.
God will honor your labor.
Be Generous
Lastly, give from what you have.
Be as generous as you can. This will help ensure that you keep money in its proper place in your life.
Money is not what you live FOR; it’s what you live WITH.
Use it to bless individuals and organizations that are doing good for mankind.
ADDED BONUS: Generosity Is Fun!
“One gives freely yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” —Proverbs 11:24
If I were to write out every Bible verse about generosity, I could fill this whole chapter.
The Bible speaks so much about generosity because it changes one’s heart.
The happiest and most successful entrepreneurs are generous entrepreneurs.
Hoarders are miserable.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve never been exactly “wealthy,” but God has taught me generosity and that He blesses it.
Several years ago, my wife and I were really tight on funds because my wife was out of work with health issues after going into septic shock caused by a kidney stone. We were both stressing out about money “somethin’ fierce,” as they say in the Southern states.
Since we were so worried, we prayed and gave away $200 to a mother at the grocery store who was in need.
“Wait, Pastor… Didn’t you just say you were really tight on money? Why would you then give some away?”
Do you know what the best cure for money worries is?
You guessed it:
Generosity!
By being generous, even when we couldn’t afford it, we placed our money worries back into God’s hands.
Psalm 50 famously says that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He can take care of us, and there is no need to worry!
Am I saying that you should give all your money away until you have nothing left and are living in poverty?
Of course not.
What I want you to remember is that all your money belongs to God anyway. You don’t truly own it.
At the moment of your death, the only thing that will matter is what you did with Jesus of Nazareth. Was He your Lord and Savior, or did you live for yourself?
No amount of money will help you in that moment.
Only the blood of Jesus will help you.
For more information, visit GotQuestions.org.
Allow me to close this chapter with a parable Jesus shared in Luke 12.
Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
But Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed Me judge or executor between you?”
And He said to them:
“Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Then He told them a parable:
“The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
“This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Be “rich toward God.”
Live for what really matters.
Be honest.
Work hard.
Be generous.
Your entrepreneurial pursuits will be far more fulfilling.
