Money is not gold, silver, copper, platinum, paper or plastic. All of these are symbols for money. Money itself is a symbol for value. If we say that apples are worth a dollar each, and oranges are two dollars each, then we're saying that each orange is worth two apples, or that each apple is worth half an orange. Money becomes a handy yardstick for comparing the relative values of goods.
Money is abstract value.
When we say, as the Gardnerian Ardains do, the workman is worthy of his hire, we acknowledge that useful work merits something in return. The same Bible that condemns the love of money also states that if a man doesn't work, then neither shall he eat. Again, work brings money, which can then be exchanged for food and other necessities of life. Money is frozen work. Money is a man's proof that he has done work, and in particular, work that someone else has found of value.