Gluttony

Intro

I’m an expert on gluttony

Have you ever hears a sermon on gluttony?

Pastors 10% higher obesity rate than normal population

Potluck dinners?

America 2/3rds obese!

We live in a consumerist culture

Gluttony: Defining It

But is gluttony just about being fat?

Do skinny people get off the hook? What about those obsessed with eating healthy?

Gluttony is about eating and drinking, but it’s not just something for the obese to worry about

Gluttony is really about how our eating reflects the pleasure we get from food.

Aquinas, “Gluttony primarily and intrinsically signifies the intemperate desire to consume food, not the intemperate consumption of food.”

Food is a good, God-created thing to be enjoyed. But gluttony twists our hearts to desire this good thing excessively.

Phil 3:19

The New Revised Standard Version Chapter 4

Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.

The Medieval Church had a catchy way of understanding Gluttony

“Too daintily, too sumptuously, too hastily, too greedily, too much.”

Outlines five forms of gluttony, but really can be simplified to two: What and How

Gluttony: What

This is the “gluttony of delicacy” rather than the “gluttony of excess”

Screwtape letters:

She is a positive terror to hostesses and servants. She is always turning from what has been offered her to say with a demure little sigh and a smile ‘Oh please, please ... all I want is a cup of tea, weak but not too weak, and the teeniest weeniest bit of really crisp toast’. You see? Because what she wants is smaller and less costly than what has been set before her, she never recognises as gluttony her determination to get what she wants, however troublesome it may be to others.

May use good manners and eat moderately, but are overly concerned with pleasure from food. They have to have it just the way they want it

Is eating entirely spoiled for you if it’s not just the way you want it?

This can also work in daily diets. Are our daily eating habits filled only with rich, buttery foods? Do we have a balanced diet, or one designed to get the most pleasure from our meals?

Most american diets are centered on meats, sauces, and fats. These taste good, and aren’t necessarily bad, but when they’re the only things we eat we are sacrificing nutritional value for pleasure

Traditional Lenten fasts were designed to combat this form of gluttony, as they consisted of bread and vegetables.

Gluttony: How

“Too quickly, too greedily, too much” paints the picture of a “shoveler”

Eating past the point of fullness

Supersize it

Just one more bite!

Snacking throughout the day, can’t wait until mealtime to eat

Ecclesiastes 6:7

All human toil is for the mouth, but the throat is never filled

Dangers of Gluttony: Body & Spirit

So is all eating bad? No! Can we enjoy food? Of Course!

What really matters is whether we’re eating in a way that elevates our pleasure from food over other good things

Gluttony is “Feeding the face and starving the heart”

Frederick Buechner, “A glutton is one who raids the icebox for a cure for spiritual malnutrition.”

We eat to fill our needs. Often, we mistakenly attempt to fill spiritual needs with food.

We eat because we’re tired, sad, depressed, anxious, etc.

This will never work because we always get hungry again, that pleasure won’t last, and because Humans are more than physical beings, we have to live on more than bread alone

Not only does gluttony fail to satisfy, it does real harm to our souls

Our souls are not fed with bread, and when we attempt to meet our spiritual needs with material goods, we ultimately starve our souls.

Ecclesiastes 6:7

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: SESB 2.0 Version Chapter 6

כָּל־עֲמַ֥ל הָאָדָ֖ם לְפִ֑יהוּ וְגַם־הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ לֹ֥א תִמָּלֵֽא׃

The הנפשׁ means “throat”, but is also what we translate as “soul”. It points toward the reality that humans are both body and spirit.

Gluttony harms our “souls”, that is both body and spirit. Our bodies become unhealthy due to our eating habits while our spirits are starved of nourishment as well.

Dangers of Gluttony: Social

Even more, gluttony does not only hurt us, but can also harm our relationship to those around us.

Eating is a social event.

1 Corr 11:20-29

The New Revised Standard Version Abuses at the Lord’s Supper

When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. 21 For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. 22 What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

(Mt 26:26–29; Mk 14:22–25; Lk 22:14–23)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Partaking of the Supper Unworthily

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.

Corinthians were eating together in the church, but apparently some were eating so much that others had none!

Likely, the wealthier church members would eat all the food before the poor could arrive after work

Do we do the same? Do we eat quickly so as to get seconds before everyone else? Does our eating prevent others from eating? Or does our appetite and palate prevent us from enjoying the company of those we eat with?

Does our desire for food take precedence over those we eat with?

Aside on Not Eating

Not eating enough is just as bad as eating too much, and has all the same spiritual and physical consequences as gluttony

This form of food abuse is rooted in

Solution: Feast & Fast

So how do we fight against gluttony? When we recognize our love of food is causing problems with our bodies and souls, what do we do?

Our eating must take into consider who we are meant to be and what we are called to do.

We eat in consideration of the good of our whole persons, not just physical gratification

Firstly, this means that there’s no standard for a diet

Athletes eat more food and a different kind of diet to keep their bodies fit for athletics

Soldiers eat a certain way to be prepared for battle

Diabetics eat differently, etc.

Our occupations, lifestyles, and individual medical needs may cause us to eat differently

More than this, however, we must eat in a way that lends itself to our lives as disciples.

Daniel’s diet

Set him apart as uniquely God’s

Was good for the body

Nourished his soul in an unfamiliar land

Prepared him for the unique ministry God called him to, i.e. witnessing among a gentile nation

For Christians, we should practice feasting and fasting.