I recently discovered an author by the name of David L. Bahnsen.  Bahnsen is more than an author, however, he is also the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a private wealth management firm managing over $4.5 billion in client assets. Bahnsen is regularly ranked among the top wealth advisors in the country by Barron’s, Forbes, and the Financial Times.

I vaguely knew about Bahnsen through his online presence, but I didn’t pay much attention to him until the algorithm decided to put Mike Rowe’s interview of Bahnsen in my YouTube feed.  Since I am a fan of Mike Rowe, I watched the interview with interest.  Rowe brought Bahnsen on the show to discuss his new book Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life.  

I loved the interview and immediately shared the video with my son. I also bought the book.  It was a great read and something I’d happily recommend.     

Bahnsen is a committed Christian and he did not shy away from discussing his faith during his interview with Rowe. Neither did he shy away from his Christian convictions in his book.  One of the reasons I enjoyed the book is because Bahnsen thinks about work and wealth with theological and philosophical sensitivity.  

As soon as Bahnsen used the word telos, I was hooked.  Telos is a Greek word used to identify the purpose of a thing.  Bahnsen wants to answer the question, “What is the point of work?”  Bahnsen says this about the telos of work:

“To get right to the point, I believe it is abundantly clear from the plain teaching of  Scripture that God created mankind for the purpose of work. We must not be content with a theological framework that merely allows for work, encourages a certain kind of work, or offers broadly positive sentiments about work. Rather, we must recognize that from the very creation of mankind, God intended us to be workers, producers, and agents of growth and dominion. He connected our identity to our work. He established our telos—our purpose—as cultivators of creation. He called for a flourishing garden—a productive and beautiful place where our work does important things. God did all this.”

Bahnsen resists the modern evangelical notion that the Scriptures only support some vague permission for work, rather he believes that work is at the core of our human identity as creatures made in the image of God.  Work has a purpose in the created order.  The purpose of work is the cultivation of creation, and that telos is very good.  

Like work, wealth also has a telos and that telos is also very good.  God tells us what that telos is,

 “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:18 ESV).  

The point of wealth is to establish and support God’s covenant of grace.  To put it another way, God gives wealth to individuals and families in order to help establish covenant communities, like the church.  God puts money in our hands so that we can delight in seeing God’s church flourish.  

I believe God’s word when he tells us that he gives us wealth to confirm his covenant.  God’s telos for wealth is good because it is covenantal.  As we prepare for worship each Lord’s Day, we must remember the telos for the wealth God has given each of us.

Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash