Terry Terry - The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant: Twelve Keys to Successful Living

2005, 2011, 2012 Terry Felber

Foreword 2011 Lampo Licensing, LLC

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked CEB are taken from the Common English Bible. Copyright 2011 by Common English Bible. Scripture quotations marked CEV are taken from THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION. 1991 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scipture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Bible (public domain). Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Unless otherwise noted, NIV scriptures are from the 2011 edition.

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ISBN 978-0-7852-3709-9 (SE)

ISBN 978-0-8499-4852-7 (repack)

Printed in the United States of America

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DEDICATION

To my wife and best friend, Linda, and to my loving, wonderful children Lia, Kristi, and David, who continue to join with me in our family mission: loving God, loving people; serving God, serving people.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my good friends John Bolin, who collaborated with me on the writing and research of this book, and Steve Hickey, who helped with the study guide. Both continue to be a blessing in my life.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER NINE: The Sixth Meeting

Scripture References

SESSION TWELVE: A Life of Giving Is a Life Worth Living

A mong Christians in North America today, Ive noticed a tendency to err in one of two extremes when it comes to the believers success in business. The first error is that wealth is evil, and if I work hard and, as a result, build some personal wealth, then Im somehow evil too. It doesnt matter how I built that wealth. It doesnt matter what I choose to do with that wealth. All that matters is that wealthfinancial success in business or at homeis morally wrong.

The second error is that wealth is somehow an indicator of Gods blessing or favor. That is, God wants all His children to be filthy rich, and if youre not wealthy, its the result of a weak faith. I firmly believe that both of these viewpoints are not only incorrect, but actually toxic to the Christians view of business.

The problem with these perspectives is that neither is biblical. Both of these viewpoints make some assumptions about wealth that arent found in Scripture at all. In fact, I think theyre tied to a pagan belief that material possessions are inherently evil. But Ive never read that in the Bible. Ive always found Scripture to be more concerned with our heart and actions and beliefs around wealth than the actual possessions themselves. From a biblical standpoint, wealth and business success are amoralwithout morals. Things are just tools to be used however we choose. So I can be evil with my wealth, or I can be generous with my wealth. Its not about the money; its about what I choose to do with it.

As a business owneras a successful business ownerthis whole discussion is a big deal to me. Ive always believed, much like Bob Briner discusses in his book Roaring Lambs, that Christians have a responsibility in business. We should actively take possession of segments of the marketplace for Christ instead of surrendering them to the other side. We dont claim the church as Gods turf and surrender the marketplace as Satans. Were alive, active, and moving in both, and I believe God puts a call on our lives to redeem the business world for His glory. Thats been my goal my entire career.

During a time when I was really working through what I believed about all this, one of my team members gave me a book entitled The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant. God always has a way of giving us exactly what we need when we need it, right? I absolutely fell in love with this little book. It painted an incredible picture of exactly what I was working through, perfectly framing the debate in a way I could really get my arms around.

Author Terry Felber helped me put the whole church/business debate in a new light. I was finally able to express that the monk is holyand so is the merchant! What the merchant does is a ministry. Everything we do as believers can and should be done from a paradigm of ministry. Were not called to separate our spiritual life from our work life, and were not called to divide our Sunday morning worship from our Monday morning staff meetings. God is in both, and He blesses both.

I believe in this idea so strongly that I immediately ordered a big box of these books and made it required reading for my whole team. Since then, every single person weve hired has been required to read this book in their first ninety days with the company. Thats not just because I think this is a good read. Its because this book really outlines who we are and how we view our role in the marketplace. If we hire someone in our shipping department, they arent just packing books into boxes; theyre sending out messages of hope and encouragement to someone who needs a hand. If we hire someone to work in our customer care center, they arent just answering the phone and reading a script; theyre touching lives and giving a word of peace to someone in the middle of a storm. Everyone in the building knows that theyre operating under a high calling, because our work is holy. No one here doubts that.

When we, as the people of God, view something as unholy, we start to see it with some level of disdain. Im afraid that business has gotten that reputation in America today, but its time for us to change how people inside and outside the church see American business. As you read this book, my goal for you is that you start to experience a paradigm shift, that youll come to view everything you do in the marketplace as an act of holiness that will forever change the way you do business.

My team and I love this book, and I pray you enjoy it as much as we do.

DAVE RAMSEY

CHAPTER ONE
THE STEPS OF THE CATHEDRAL

A ntonio strained to control the horse as they turned the corner and headed west in the direction of Rome. He glanced over his shoulder to see his grandson, Julio, asleep on a pile of straw in the small rear compartment of the cart. Even though it was the best horse and cart money could buy, they had been traveling for more than two days now, and Julio was beginning to feel it. Truthfully, they were both beginning to feel it. But Antonio didnt mind. He knew that the next few hours would change his grandson forever.