Money, Mammon & the Monkey

By Peter J. Briscoe

Managing money is not just a technical exercise, but a spiritual discipline. There is an active power behind money which Jesus unmasked and called 'mammon.' He told his followers in strong terms that, "You cannot serve both God and Mammon."

We all manage money on a daily basis. Jesus is say

• Language: English
• Publisher: Compass - finances God's way
• Release date: Oct 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9789083228570

Peter J. Briscoe

Peter Briscoe an Englishman, born in 1950, and studied Industrial Chemistry and Management at Loughborough University of Technology. He moved to The Netherlands in 1974 and was asked by his company to set up a subsidiary in Holland, selling chemical specialties to the aerospace and food processing industries. From 1986 to 2002, Peter was Executive Director of CBMC, Christian Businessmen's Committees, in Holland. In 1990, Peter set up "Synthesys". a consulting company specialising in chemical product development. When the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1990, Peter developed Europartners, a movement dedicated to reaching European business and professional leaders for Christ. From 2002, Peter took an assignment as Managing Director of a space operations company serving the European Space institutions and specialising in providing professional services for spaceflight activities. From 2008, Peter retired from business to develop a movement of Biblical stewardship in Europe, first of all through Crown Financial Ministries and then Compass - finances God's way. At home, Peter is Chair of the Church board of the Baptist Church of Leiden. He has been married to his Dutch wife, Didie, since 1972. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.

Book preview

The parable of the shrewd manager

by Peter j. Briscoe

You cannot serve both God and mammon!

Money, MAMMON

& THE MONKEY

Managing money is not just a technical exercise, but a spiritual discipline. There is an active power behind money which Jesus unmasked and called ‘mammon.’ He told his followers in strong terms that, You cannot serve both God and Mammon.

We all manage money on a daily basis. Jesus is saying that mammon is a power behind money which wants to lead us away from God’s ways of handling money. How does mammon affect our financial decisions? How can the influence of mammon be overcome? How can we use our money in a way that God would want us to?

This book is all about managing our money wisely. The monkey is ‘mammon,’ a tricky, unruly creature who is constantly seeking to destroy our relationship with God and our neighbour!

Money, mammon & the monkey uses the parable of Jesus, told in Luke, chapter 16 and verses 1 to 15, called in many translations ‘The Unjust Steward.’ This book will explain how his master called the steward ‘shrewd,’ and how we can deal ‘shrewdly’ with money in all our daily affairs.

Peter Briscoe an Englishman, born in 1950, and studied Industrial Chemistry and Management at Loughborough University of Technology. He moved to The Netherlands in 1974 and was asked by his company to set up a subsidiary in Holland, selling chemical specialties to the aerospace and food processing industries. From 1986 to 2002, Peter was Executive Director of CBMC, Christian Businessmen’s Committees, in Holland.

In 1990, Peter set up Synthesys. a consulting company specialising in chemical product development. When the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1990, Peter developed Europartners, a movement dedicated to reaching European business and professional leaders for Christ.

From 2002, Peter took an assignment as Managing Director of HE Space Operations, serving the European Space institutions, specialising in providing professional services for spaceflight activities.

From 2008, Peter retired from business to develop a movement of Biblical stewardship in Europe, first of all through Crown Financial Ministries and then Compass - finances God’s way.

At home, Peter is Chair of the Church board of the Baptist Church of Leiden. He is married to his Dutch wife, Didie since 1972. They are blessed with three daughters and six grandchildren.

Copyright © 2018 Peter Briscoe

September 2018 Edition

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-90-829041-0-9

Published by: Compass - finances God’s way

www.compass1.global

This book is dedicated to the beloved women in my life.

To the memory of my late mother, who always called me ‘a cheeky monkey.’

To my dear wife who is always telling me to stop monkeying around.

To my three daughters with whom we have more fun than a cartload of monkeys!

About a third of Jesus’ words were spoken in parables and about half of these had to do with money and possessions. In this book, Peter Briscoe sets about to inspire us from one parable which is one of the most difficult to understand. His novel approach to Jesus message on stewardship of the resources entrusted to us has certainly inspired me!  Since I started on the topic of Biblical stewardship in 1974 and developing first Crown Ministries and then Compass - finances God’s way, I am constantly surprised at how many new and unique ways God teaches me to manage money and possessions - His way!

Peter Briscoe is surely qualified to speak in the subject. He has been a leader in stewardship teaching in Europe for decades, and most importantly, he has lived and practiced what he preaches! He has been a respected business leader in the chemical and space exploration industries, combining his faith in Christ with business acumen.  Peter has pioneered many Christian organisations involved in stewardship, serving churches, businesses and the public with innovative approaches to solve everyday problems and to help people grow in their faith!

This book will challenge your thinking about your own responsibilities as a faithful steward.  Managing money is not merely a technical exercise, but also a spiritual discipline. This book is entered around Jesus unequivocal statement, You cannot serve both God and mammon!  Most Bible translations render what Jesus called ‘mammon’ as money or wealth. In this book, Peter shows that there is much more depth to the word mammon than just money. He describes a power behind money which is diametrically opposed to God and which competes for our allegiance.  The monkey in this book is mammon and in a humorous way, Peter describes how the clever monkey tries to trick us in ignoring Gods ways and in using people instead of serving them.

Peter gives very practical ways in which to become shrewd managers of Gods resources, using money to benefit people, helping them to enjoy Gods Kingdom. 

I can heartily recommend ‘Money, mammon & the monkey’ for all followers of Jesus who want to grow in financial discipleship and generosity.

Howard Dayton, founder and CEO,

Compass - finances God’s way.

Introduction 13

Chapter 1: Monkeynomics 25

Chapter 2: Three wise monkeys 35

Chapter 3: The monkey wrench 43

Chapter 4: If you pay peanuts... 51

Chapter 5. Monkey business 59

Chapter 6: Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle 69

Chapter 7: The monkey and the jar 75

Chapter 8: The invisible monkey 85

Chapter 9: Stop monkeying around 93

Chapter 10: The clever monkey 105

Chapter 11: The monkey and the organ grinder 115

Chapter 12:The higher a monkey climbs,... 127

Chapter 13: A monkey in silk ... 139

Chapter 14: Gods monkey 149

Chapter 15: The monkey’s real business 163

In closing... 177

William Blake, Mammon.¹

I rose up at the dawn of day—

‘Get thee away! get thee away!

Pray’st thou for riches? Away! away!

This is the Throne of Mammon grey.’

Said I: This, sure, is very odd;

I took it to be the Throne of God

For everything besides I have:

It is only for riches that I can crave.

I have mental joy, and mental health,

And mental friends, and mental wealth;

I’ve a wife I love, and that loves me;

I’ve all but riches bodily.

I am in God’s presence night and day,

And He never turns His face away;

The accuser of sins by my side doth stand,

And he holds my money-bag in his hand.

For my worldly things God makes him pay,

And he’d pay for more if to him I would pray;

And so you may do the worst you can do;

Be assur’d, Mr. Devil, I won’t pray to you.

Then if for riches I must not pray,

God knows, I little of prayers need say;

So, as a church is known by its steeple,

If I pray it must be for other people.

He says, if I do not worship him for a God,

I shall eat coarser food, and go worse shod;

So, as I don’t value such things as these,

You must do, Mr. Devil, just as God please.

Monkey Business

One of the most memorable training sessions that I ever experienced as a young manager, was a very funny session led by John Cleese of Monty Python fame. We were all laughing as John Cleese sketched a situation of a manager trying to balance all the different responsibilities and tasks that he was assigned to. I’m sure you remember back at the circus where a Juggler tries to spin plates on about 12 sticks at the same time. Many managers feel just like this as they try to juggle all of the different tasks they have. In this training to learn how to delegate, John Cleese was working at his desk in an office with a monkey on his shoulder. And it was a very cheeky monkey.

The monkey represented a task which could easily be delegated. The manager could not keep the monkey from his back, and as soon as he tried to pass the monkey to somebody else, the monkey was clever and agile and, in every situation, jumped back onto the very tired manager’s back. In the course of his job, he collected quite a few monkeys which wreaked havoc in the office - hammering on the keyboard, throwing the phone around, jumping on cupboards and swinging from the ceiling lamp.

The first people to write about this were William Oncken and Donald West in their classic 1974 article in the Harvard business review, who described a situation to open the eyes of the modern leader. The article was called, ‘Who’s got the monkey?’ In this article the authors told about an overworked manager who allowed his subordinates to delegate everything upwards. When a manager takes an unsolved problem over from his subordinates, he allows a virtual monkey to jump off the back of the subordinate onto the back of the manager. This burden becomes heavier and heavier and he denies his people the chance to solve their own problems, thereby growing in the process.

I read a really good book by John Blanchard, called ‘The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey.’ The lesson was the same, learning to delegate tasks, so that the burden falls from your shoulders and the task is done by somebody else who is more competent. That should be the secret to successful management - delegating the tasks which could be done by someone else and keeping time and energy to do tasks which most effectively could be done by yourself.

In this book I would like to introduce you to a spiritual monkey, a monkey which fastens itself to your back, which sits on your shoulder and which is intelligent and quick. This monkey works through your finances, predominantly focused on money and possessions. When this monkey is on your back he tries to manipulate every situation to get what he wants and eventually becomes a very heavy burden and an irritating pest. Jesus called this monkey ‘mammon.’ We need to learn to get the monkey off our backs, to be able to focus on Gods ways of handling money and possessions, to be able to serve God and not mammon.

Monkey Business is a process of freeing you from that tricky monkey on your back, to be able to use money for God’s purposes and to the benefit of your neighbour. This book is a plea that Christians learn to live and work in victory over mammon, who tries to disrupt our relationships, make us focus on materialism and ultimately serve his purposes. Mammon is alive and kicking! Jesus radically stated, "You cannot serve both God and mammon.’ This book wants to help you to become free from this mischievous monkey.

Luke tells us a story about monkey business. The manager has a terrible job. He’s the representative of the richest guy in town and has to deal with all sorts of money-hungry merchants and traders. The manager must combine the slippery skills of a politician, with the money savvy of an investor who trades in commodity futures. If he pours too much of his master’s money in olive oil or wheat, and it’s a bad year, then he’ll be out of a job. And back then there aren’t many second chances —mess it up, you’re done, you spend the rest of your life among the expendable class, the beggars and common labourers. There isn’t really another company or investment group to work for in town.

But apparently, our friend the manager offends some of the town traders enough for them to send some nasty rumours to the boss. They want the manager sacked; or maybe it’s just the merchants showing their strong arm to the manager—letting him know who’s really in charge.

I think we misunderstand this story if we conceive of the manager as dishonest, a thief, stealing from his boss. That’s not what this story is about. This story is about a guy stuck right smack in the middle of an unjust, dog-eat-dog system. And the Bible translators lead us astray when they call the manager dishonest. He is not. The Greek word is ‘adikia’—and it means unjust, or unrighteousness. And he is not an unjust or unrighteous manager—he is the manager of unrighteousness, which is very different.

But what does that mean—to be a manager of unrighteousness? It means that he’s caught in the middle of an unjust economic world, a world that operates in unrighteousness, a system that charges interest and creates severely burdened debtors in violation of God’s law. What does the manager do? How does he manage all this unrighteousness?

The story goes …

Luke recorded this parable, as told by Jesus, in the Bible, chapter 16.

¹ He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. ² And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ ³ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ ⁵ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.

⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ¹³ No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. ¹⁵ And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

For many Christians in business this is a strange story. Having your boss praising you for giving such hefty discounts, and giving a lot of money away? This looks like a monkey business - an