Gluttony

Intro

Good morning, for those of you who do not know me, my name is Dante Boyd and I am a Church Plant Resident here at Radius. If you have been joining us recently, then you know that we are in a series on the 7 deadly sins. I don't know about y’all but this series is wrecking me, like there is some serious heart work going on as we continue on this series. One common denominator that I am constantly noticing about the 7 deadly sins is that, they are deadly. No, but they are all slippery slopes. I don't know about yall but I have noticed that each deadly sin so far is something meant for good but turned to bad. I mean let's think about this. We started with envy. We saw that with envy it was about nice things. Having nice things are good, but when we don't want others to have them then it's bad. We seen with Pride, it was about the way we see ourselves. You know, having self respect is good, but when we think too much of ourselves it's bad. We seen in slothfulness, that working is good, but if it causes us to be distant from God, then it's bad. And we just had Lust, sexual desire for a spouse is good, but sexual desire outside of God’s design is not good. All of these sins are centered upon a slippery slope. And the one we will talk about today is just a slippery. Today we will be talking about Gluttony.

The tow line that we see through 7 deadly sins is discontentment through misplaced energy. We saw misplaced desires in Envy. Misplaced Glory in Pride. Misplaced effort in Sloth. And misplaced sexuality in lust.

All of these are saying, God is not enough for me, I need something else.

Today we are going to see it through misplaced appetite as we dive into the deadly sin, Gluttony.

So what is this Gluttony? If you have never heard of it, I have a definition for you. Here it is.

Gluttony is the disordered consumption of God’s good gifts in an attempt to satisfy desires that ultimately need God.

Gluttony is eating and drinking outside of God’s design.

Its eating too much, its eating drinking too, its doing both too often, its using food or drink as comfort, it is using either in place of relying on God.

Before we get started, I want to clear the air. Every overweight person is not a glutton, and every body that is in good shape is not consuming in a way that glorifies God. Gluttony is rooted in the heart.

The Gospel answer isn't eat less, but it is taste and see that the Lord is good!

Today we are going to see that our hunger is not physical, its a deep spiritual hunger, and we will see that our deepest satifsaction is in Christ.

I usually have a specific text, read it and then we pray. But today is going to be little different. Im going to walk through a couple texts and we will read them as we go.

When Christ isn't all, man will fall

Who is familiar with the fall. When I say the fall, I am referring to the fall of mankind. It's in the very beginning on your bibles. For those who may not know this in the book of Genesis, the very first book in the bible, the bible starts off with God creating all of creation. After creating creation He creates man, and then he creates woman. Their names are Adam and Eve they are the first humans ever to walk the face of the earth. God is establishing earth and all of creation, and one of the first instructions that God gives to Adam, do you know what it is about? It's about eating. Yall think I'm making this up, don't you, check this out.

Genesis 2:15-17

15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—

I told ya. I want us to see this, in the beginning, we see God gives man the gift of food, He says, you may freely eat. My son who I have created, alright, now you need to eat. I just want to point of the fact that the Word of God is real. The bible tells us the we are made in His image, and we are His children. Every parent in the room, have looked at their toddler and said, you need to eat. Ive said it 10 times this morning. We as parents understand that food is important, it's important to us, and it is important to God. And we see why in verse 17 when He gives Adam specific instructions, the verse says,

17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

There it is, God has His design, He has told man to eat, and He has told man what not to eat, and this is where the fall happens.

Im going to read the meat of it in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3 1-7

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ge 3:1–7.

There it is, the fall of man! Gluttony follows the same pattern we see in the Fall: God gives abundantly, but the human heart says, “What You've given me isn't enough.”

Who can relate to this? I can! Especially in the context of food. I am not a picky eater. But somethings just aint it. There is a restaurant here in Newberry that Im not going to say because yall love this place and Ive tried 4-5 different times and I just can't take it anymore. We were roped in to go eat there to fellowship after church and I wanted to say no to the restaurant but I could not say no to the fellowship so I sucked it up and we went. I said how bad can it be, well, we get there and I order the simplest easiest meal, like you can't mess this up. Well they did, it did not taste good, my chicken had a little twang to it, and not the good kind either. They somehow forgot Mavericks food, it never came and so that was another royal rumble. Well I was upset, Whitney was sad for me because she knew I didn't like this place, Maverick was upset, everybody left feeling some type of way, but I was.… yeah we aint going back.

And looking back, I can see the same discontented heart that fuels gluttony. God had provided food, fellowship, community—and instead of enjoying what He had given me, I was consumed with what wasn't good enough.

I tell that story to say that God’s design has got to be enough for us. We know from Genesis we have already fallen, which means we will look to be fulfilled. There is no taste of food, no amount of food, or no amount of drink, that can fulfill us the way that Christ can. When Christ is not enough, when Christ is not all, we fall and so we must know that our deepest satisfaction is in Christ and not the twang in the chicken.

Now, I say that, but I don't want us to sit here and act like we can't enjoy food. Food is a gift, Food is good. and this brings us to our next section.

Food is Good, But, its not God

Food is not bad. There is a reason why God allows us to enjoy food and that reason, just like everything else, is for Him to be Glorified. Well what does that mean? How can food Glorify God? Let's look at the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 in John 6. For those who may not know, the book of John is the last Gospel in the begging of the New Testament. The Gospels consist of the first four books in the New Testament, and they tell of the Good News of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. If you have never read the Gospels, I’ll encourage to go and read it for yourselves, it is an important milestone in growing in your relationship with Christ. That being said, we are in John 6 and Jesus is on His journey, He is performing miricals and now he has attracted this crowd of hungry people, lets see what He does, Im going to read verses 5-11.

5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.

Hey I just want to say that my wife gets made a me when I do this. I’ll ask for her opinion on a decision, even though I already have the solution, Im sorry Whit, in my defense Im just trying my best to follow Jesus. Alright, back to the story.

7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” 8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” 10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.

A miracle. Jesus fed 5000 men and their families, off of 5 loafs of bread and two fish. I want us to take a second to think about what that actually looked like, can you imagine. I mean did they cut tear off a piece of fish and they kept regenerating, or maybe when he was done thanking God for the food, they opened their eyes and saw a buffet of fish and bread, I mean for all we know they could of had a fryer and some mustard to throw on a bread, God can do anything! Alright now Im hungry, lets get back to gluttony.

I want us to see that Jesus used food to perform a miracle, food is good! When we see Jesus on His journey here on earth, what is He doing? If you've read the Gospels then you know, He is eating with people. Food is good. We see Jesus celebrating enjoying feasts and fellowship, I mean His first miracle was turning water into wine. Food is good, and it's good when it glorifies God.

Ecclesiastes is a book in the Old Testament, it was written by Solomon. Solomon was son of King David he was known for His wisdom that was granted to him by God that being said, Ecclesiastes is known as a book of wisdom and in chapter 2 we see these two verses.

Ec 2:24-25 says

24 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him?

Food is good, and God is God. We enjoy food when we consume it in the way that God designed us to. Food is a tool for fellowship. Food is a tool for discipleship. Food is a source of energy for our body to be steward for the kingdom.

Food is Good, but it's not God, and it makes a terrible God.

Food cannot satisfy us alone. Our deepest satisfaction is in Christ.

And this last section will bring us home.

Jesus is the bread of Life

Jesus tells us this late in John 6. Now remember Jesus has just feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish, and now we have this crowd of people following Him across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus sees this crowd of people and this is what He says, verse 26.

26 ... “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.” 28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” 29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

Im going to stop right here. If you are in this room, and you don't believe in Jesus. If you are in the room and you do not know Jesus, if you don't have a relationship with Him, if you are lost. If you are wondering what's your purpose, if you are wondering what does God want you to do with your life. Believe in the One God has sent. Jesus lived the life we couldn't live. He died for our sins. He rose from the grave. And He calls us to repent and put our faith and trust in Him. The deepest hunger of your soul will never be satisfied by something you consume. It can only be satisfied by Christ.

verse 30.

30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Man hold up, Jesus just fed these fools off of 2 pieces of fish, and now trying to check Him, Unbelievable.

32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” 35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Jesus is the bread of life. Our deepest Satisfaction is in Christ.

We have cravings that food won't satisfy alone, Our deepest Satisfaction is in Christ.

In 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter is calling believers to live a holy life and encourages believers to continue to develop spiritually and this is what he says,

2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness

For those in the room who have tasted the Lord’s goodness, are we craving pure spiritual milk? Are we crying out for His nourishment?

We must crave for the bread of life, our deepest satisfaction is in Christ.

Conclusion

We see Gluttony has the same slippery slope and the other 7 deadly sins. They all revolve around good things.

Good gifts remain in their proper place when Christ remains in His rightful place. He keeps us in check, He is the only way to true contentment.

1 Timothy 6:6

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain

Being content with what God has given us is great gain. We don't have to fulfill discontentment with food, with drink, or anything else we can consume.

Gluttony specifically confronts our relationship with food and drink, but the same disordered hunger shows up all over our lives.

I remember some years ago I struggling with vaping. If you're in hear and you vape, I am not trying to condemn you, I am simply using this as a testimony of what the Lord as done in my life. But if the Holy Spirit is convicting you then let Him work. But I was on the vape, and I don't have an addictive personality, but this thing had me in the choke hold. I would hit when I drove, when I was aggravated, when I was bored, basically whenever I was discontent. I didn't think I was that bad until, I would be driving down the road, I would drop it, and I would risk my life to try to find this thing while I was driving, and sometimes, I would even have pull over and find it before I kept driving. I would hear I terrifying stories about popcorn lung and I wouldn't stop. I would waste my money on it and I wouldn't care. Some time past and I begin to grow in my walk with the Lord, and eventually I began to become aware of my addiction. One thing that finally popped my ballon, and it wasn't being caught by my wife over and over, but it was me realizing that I was puffing instead of praying. I was consuming physically but starving spiritually.

Its food, Its drink, it can be social media, it can be vapes, it can be weed, pep tides, roll tides, you name it. Anything that we use to self medicate.

How are you self medicating?

We don't self medicate, we Christ regulate.

We regulate by abiding. We are going to hit it every Sunday if we got to, but it is what we need. We need to stay in the Word, We need to pray without ceasing. We need to eat, because if we don't, America is going to feed us.

And it taste good, but it aint good, and the things that this country offers us makes a terrible God. Americans are starving, people who don't know Jesus are starving and we have direct access to the bread of life.

1 Corinthians 10:31

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

God should be glorified by the way consume. So let’s get practical, how can we Glorify God with the way that we eat and drink?

Gratitude

We must see our food as the gift that it is. Are we thanking Him, when we partake in this gift He has given us? We got to take some time and bless the food. Did you notice that when Jesus thanked the Lord for the 5 loaves and two fish, He fed thousands! Thank Him for your food. And I aint talking about no “good gravy good meat, thank God let’s eat” that aint what Im talking about. Im talking about a sincere thoughtful, heart-full, thankfulness. It doesn't have to be a page long prayer, but it should be a heart filled prayer. Thank God for your food.

Fellowship

We see Jesus in the Gospels eating all the time, why, fellowships that's why. We have to see food as a gift intended for fellowship. That is God’s design, and it's one of the best ways that food can glorify God. We share meals in our small group every week, I love the fellowship. I am not a sweets guy, Im a meats guy, but when we have small group and Sarah Lee brings a desert, you best believe Im going to do my part in glorifying God, ya hear me. Praise the Lord!

Jesus sat at the dinner table with “sinners”, we can go and make disciples over meals. That's how I was discipled, and it's how Im still discipled to this day. Our meals can be intentional for an eternal purpose of bringing God glory with the good gift He has given us.

Stewardship

When our heart is struggling with having our appetite in the wrong place, it shows. It shows through our stewardship. It could be our bodies, it could be our money.

I remember the first time the Lord felt with on household on giving to the Church. It was through exposing our gluttonous behavior. I was doing our very first deep dive on our finances at the end of the month, tracking where every dollar went and I saw where we had spent $547.59 on food and drink, in one month. Now keep in mind that was 6-7 years ago, so that was double our grocery budget! I couldn't believe it, I was in disbelief, and I was upset! So I thought, I really got upset when the Lord got a hold of me and made me realize that we spent that on food and drink, gave $0 to the church. That hasn't happened since.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. When the Lord satisfy our cravings, we become better stewards for the Kingdom.

We could talk about self control, we could take about contentment, we could talk about worship but I Just want us to get the picture.

Sin takes God's good gifts and asks them to do God's job.

Gluttony says, “God's gift isn't enough. Give me more.”

But Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life.”

Church, food is good...

but it's not God.

So stop asking God's gifts to satisfy the hunger that only God can satisfy.

Come to Jesus.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Because our deepest satisfaction is in Christ.