Click below to listen to Episode 201 – Breaking the Chains of Materialism






Breaking the Chains of Materialism

Learn about finding contentment outside of material things.

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Are you feeling trapped by the chains of materialism? Always longing for more, but never finding true contentment? In this episode, we’ll explore how to break free from the grip of greed and discover the joy of a Christ-centered life filled with purpose and generosity.

Bob and Shawn provide Biblical perspectives on materialism and its negative effects on relationships, physical health, and overall well-being. We encourage listeners to seek God’s help, find contentment in what you have, and prioritize meaningful relationships over material possessions.

HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS^®, CKA^®

CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

Mentioned In This Episode













Christian Financial Advisors



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Bob Barber, CWS^®, CKA^®



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Shawn Peters



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Bible Verses In This Episode






1 TIMOTHY 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

LUKE 12:18-20

Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.” And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

PHILIPPIANS 4:4-13

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him(Christ) who gives me strength.

PROVERBS 23:4-5

Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Shawn:

Are you feeling trapped by the chains of materialism? Always longing for more, but never finding true contentment? In this episode, we’ll explore how to break free from the grip of greed and discover the joy of a Christ-centered life filled with purpose and generosity. Let’s get some perspective.

Welcome to another episode of Christian Financial Perspectives. My name’s Shawn Peters. I’m joined as always by my father-in-Law, Bob Barber. And today we have, I would say, a difficult subject. I know from Bob’s testimony to me that this was not easy to write, and I know it may be a little harder to hear, but at Christian Financial Perspectives, we always want to make sure that we don’t cover things just because they’re easy or because they’re popular right now, but we want to make sure that we’re providing value and truth based on Biblical principles. And sometimes it’s hard to hear, but as we know, it says in scripture that, “The truth shall set you free.”

Bob:

Amen, brother. And I tell you, Shawn, like I was saying, and I think it’s good for our listeners and watchers to know, you’ll hear me say many times that I can come up with a subject matter and the content, and then we tweak the content over just 15 or 20 minutes. But this was one that I’ve worked on for a month or two because it’s such a hard subject, and the subject is “Breaking the Chains of Materialism”. And when you say that in America, as materialistic as America has become, and I had different titles in front of materialism, and I think I’ve come down to this one, this is the correct one. I think about it as a big chain that is around all of us here in America because we have become so materialistic. I especially see it, Shawn, where I live, I live in a place where it’s pretty expensive to live there. They’re big acreage tracks. Just so you know, I live on 17 acres and my neighbors probably have like 50 acres and…

Shawn:

Most of it being what? The wildlife thing. So you have it, but you don’t do anything with it at least.

Bob:

Yeah. Exactly. It’s a wildlife exemption. And we are in between Austin and San Antonio in the beautiful Hill Country, but I see materialism consuming people all the time.

Shawn:

Well, I know Bob from personal experience, a lot of my peers and friends that are in their thirties and some of them from the gym and other places that are in their twenties, there’s such a pressure, especially for us that we grew up with – well, my parents are around your age and we grew up seeing the success of our parents, and then we kind of get thrown out into the world. And most of us went to college, or a large percentage of us go to college, and many people have student loan debt still, and they’re trying to live the life that they saw their parents living. And there’s pressure because they’ll see other people doing it, but many times they don’t know, well, is that person leveraged to the eyes? They’re just burdened with all this debt or are they’re actually doing well. But it’s that I don’t want to get left behind and well, I’m trying to do this for my wife and my kids and it’s hard.

Bob:

It’s hard. You’re never going to get there. And materialism, greed, and the need for always more has been consuming the thoughts of mankind ever since Adam and Eve.

Shawn:

Yep, that’s true.

Bob:

And the fall in the garden.

Shawn:

You can have everything except don’t mess with that tree. Then of course it…

Bob:

What’s the one thing they want?

Shawn:

That’s the one thing they want.

Bob:

Yeah. The tree of knowledge and materialism is truly one of the destroyers of a content life in Christ. It destroys families, it destroys relationships. It’s a direct opponent to a content life in Christ. It’s like the opponent of Christ.

Shawn:

Scripture warns us many times of the dangers of materialism and greed. We’re going to start out with 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” And that’s something I’ve heard people misquote many times. They talk about money is the root of all evil. No, no, no. The love of money. Money is just a tool. It’s an item. No different than any other tool, but the love of money that is the root of all sorts of evil.

Bob:

And there’s another scripture from Matthew 12:18-20.

Shawn:

Luke, sorry, Luke 12:18-20.

Bob:

Luke, you’re right. Luke 12:18-20. Okay, Shawn, I’ll let you read that since I got that little fumble there.

Shawn:

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain and I’ll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool this very night, your life will be demanded from you then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'”

Bob:

So how is materialism defined? And I looked up some definitions of it. There were a lot of different definitions, but I think this definition that I found pretty much fits America. It is a desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters. And it’s a philosophy that stems of nothing exists except matter, its movements, and modifications. Okay, modifying. Yeah. As we’ve seen around here, we’ve seen beautiful hill country modified all over the place for materialistic reasons. God’s creation just blipped and now it’s in the form of concrete.

Shawn:

Yep, yep. A lot of politicians and developers and other people that the idea of, well, all growth is good growth. There’s no concept of sustainable, so you don’t lose the very soul of the area. Well, let’s not get into entire episode on how we feel on that, but…

Bob:

Materialism, it hurts people and it coincides with greed. And there’s several points that we need to think about when we think about being materialistic. It makes you greedy and there’s always a need for more.

Shawn:

And people overwork themselves for materialism.

Bob:

It hurts relationships with others.

Shawn:

It causes physical harm from stress.

Bob:

It can make you think you never have quite enough. Does that just really ring a bell? It’s never quite enough.

Shawn:

Yep. That’s why we ask our clients how much is enough, because there is an answer to that.

Bob:

Yeah. That’s a famous saying by Ron Blue that was instilled in my head many years ago. How much is enough?

Shawn:

And it can eventually destroy you and everything around you.

Bob:

Now, I remember Family Life Ministry and Dennis Rainey who I loved following many years ago, and this was a saying that I heard him say that he had never met anyone on their deathbed that says they’d wished they’d worked more and made more money over they wished they’d had those meaningful relationships with their family, their children, and grandchildren. And you see how materialism can take away from those relationships because you’re striving so hard and working so hard, you don’t have time for those that you love.

Shawn:

And the idea is, well look at all the things that I’m able to provide because of working all these extra hours and look at all the stuff I brought home for the family. And if you ask any young kid, do you want more of these random toys or do you want to spend time with mom and dad? They’re going to always say, spend time with mom and dad. Just play with me.

Bob:

At least we hope they say that. Yeah.

Shawn:

Yeah. Well, when they’re teenagers, no, but when they’re younger.

Bob:

Because we got to be careful that our kids can become materialistic also.

Shawn:

That’s true. That’s true.

Bob:

By actually you can give too much in material possessions. Absolutely. Materialistic people just always seem to say, I need just a little bit more. I need, I get there and I need more. It’s never quite enough. They never quite catch what they’re looking for to fill that emptiness that’s inside them.

Shawn:

That’s because the materials can never fill that emptiness as, I don’t remember what pastor I first heard this from, but it’s the God shaped hole that we have in our hearts. You can’t fill it with materials, with consumer stuff, buying things. It just doesn’t work.

Bob:

Changing from that self-absorbed, materialistic perspective that America pushes on us, it does. It requires a conscious effort and heart change to the ways of Jesus Christ.

Shawn:

Yeah. Amen. I think Paul in the Bible describes it best when he talks about contentment, which is the opposite of materialism. Philippians 4:4-13, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all the Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you. I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.”

Bob:

I want to do this emphasis on these next few scriptures. Okay. The emphasis in this scripture passage of Philippians 4:4-13, emphasis on verses 11 and 13. It says, “I’m not saying this because I’m in need.” This is Paul saying this, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I could do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.”

Shawn:

Amen. Are you ready to tackle materialism and put a stop to it? Well, the first thing, ask God to help you.

Bob:

Shawn, as I was writing this, I’m just as guilty as anybody, and I prayed even this morning, I was asking God, God forgive me for being materialistic and I need your help in this.

Shawn:

That’s right.

Bob:

And it kind of hit me because I was like, I don’t want to be a pointing a finger at anybody. I’m not pointing a finger at you, at anyone. I’ve got three pointing right back at me and ask God for help and learn to find contentment in the things you do have, not in the things you don’t have.

Shawn:

That’s right. Yeah. This is not a one and done thing either. Just because you’ve been doing better with not succumbing to materialism doesn’t mean that you’ve won the fight. It reminds me of the analogy where inside of us we have these two warring wolves. You have the white wolf and the dark wolf, the evil wolf. Neither one of them ever die, but whichever one you feed more probably going to win.

Bob:

Yeah, that’s true.

Shawn:

So it’s an ongoing thing. Put your faith in things of eternal value, not a high net worth or temporary material things that rust, rot, and decay that they eventually find their way into a junkyard or a trash dump or a recycling bin, maybe. Depends on what it is.

Bob:

Give it to God spiritually and physically. Start giving materialism up to Almighty God and watch your perspective on materialism change.

Shawn:

Go visit the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden and get a different perspective.

Bob:

Boy, it will. It certainly will. Put your energy into forming meaningful relationship with others, overusing people for selfish, materialistic gain.

Shawn:

Daily, start asking yourself, “And then what?” once you hit another financial milestone or goal.

Bob:

This has been the biggest thing for me, Shawn, once you get to that next point, and then it’s always just a little bit more, and I’m learning to be content with what I have and when I’ve hit that goal, I’m good. I don’t need to be going any farther. Seek that relationship with God. Get out of the mindset that just a little bit more will always make me happy.

Shawn:

Learn to live life with a purpose greater than yourself, not with what only money can buy.

Bob:

This next one is yours. Dump the fear of missing out.

Shawn:

FOMO mentality. Just think about how stupid FOMO really is anyway.

Bob:

It is, isn’t it? Isn’t that the biggest thing that the advertisers want us to think? That we’re missing out? You’re missing out if you don’t get that brand new car. You’re missing out if you don’t remodel your kitchen and go from gray to white countertops because…

Shawn:

That’s the color that’s in.

Bob:

Yeah. Exactly. HGTV is going to continually change. So whatever you think is popular today, just wait two or three years from now, it’s going to be past and you’re going to want to redo it again. So don’t. Get rid of that FOMO idea.

Shawn:

Yeah. Realize that more money can only buy temporary happiness. It can never buy everlasting real joy and contentment. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can do that.

Bob:

And the allure of new cars, clothes, vacations, and stuff always wears off.

Shawn:

And then you need more.

Bob:

And then you need more. Give away that attitude and mindset. Get away from it, give it away, and watch your perspective on life change. Giving really breaks that chain of materialism as well.

Shawn:

That’s right. So start giving now and come up with a long-term giving plan. So do you ever think if I can just make a little more than I can give?

Bob:

Yeah. And I think…

Shawn:

A lot of us.

Bob:

I’ve been guilty of that in my earlier years. If I could just make a little bit more. And you just really need to drop that thought and start coming up with a plan now to find how much money and material possessions are enough for your living lifestyle, your expenses, your debt, tax, and savings. And stick to it and make it reasonable. And don’t raise it just a little bit higher every time you get there. Find contentment in what you have, not in what you don’t have.

Shawn:

Yep. Start with a giving plan of just $100 a month or a week depending on your situation, and increase it from there. Before you know it, and maybe $1,000, maybe even $10,000. Then you’ll start to see the real joy of giving what God can do with what you have.

Bob:

Amen.

Shawn:

I remember the widow with the pennies. The penny. Basically the pennies.

Bob:

Yeah. It’s not looking at an amount, but start small and you start letting go then. You start opening your hand and let it go. Become a financial giver and sower in the eternal and lives of others instead of in material things that rust or rot or break down. That will break those chains.

Shawn:

And write down the most essential things in life not associated with money, like personal relationship with God, health, love and kindness, spouse, children, and friends.

Bob:

And start practicing an attitude of thankfulness and contentment in Christ with what you do have. So I want to end today on this scripture, Proverbs 23:4-5, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich. Do not trust in your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches and they are gone. They will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” So in our next episode, we’re going to look at all the different ways a person can give and the many giving tools that can be used today to help break the chains of materialism.

Shawn:

And that’s all for today. Thank you for joining us and God bless.

[DISCLOSURES]

* Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.