Taboo Topics: Gluttony
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12 “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.
Question: What would you say are some sins that society, or even the Church, accepts?
We live in a consumer culture, don’t we? In Sunday’s lesson I said that we live in a microwave society and I read a quote yesterday calling our nation, “The United States of Excess.” and that’s true in more than one case. We enjoy many privileges and goods in our lives, but we should be careful, as it is possible to take a good thing and make it into a “god-thing” in our lives. And this is the case for many people when it comes to food. As a matter of fact, this issue of gluttony, which we’ll be talking about, has become such an issue that airlines have had to widen their chairs and stores have had to add sections for those submitted to this problem. Now, before we begin, I want to explain something carefully. Just because someone is overweight does not mean that they are necessary committing the sin of gluttony. There are several issues that can result in being obese, one of them being hormonal issues due to an inactive thyroid. So, I don’t want any of us walking around and assuming that just because someone is larger, that they’re necessarily in sin. That’s just not the case. As a matter of fact, even the skinniest of people can be guilty of gluttony.
To show how serious this is, lets look at Deuteronomy 21:20-21
20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
or Proverbs 23:2
2 And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.
Thomas Brooks, a Puritan said this, I’ll replace the word “intemperance” with gluttony so we can understand it a little more clearly for us.
“Many more perish by gluttony than by violence. Gluttony is the source and nurse of all diseases. More perish by over-indulging than by suffering. Every gluttonous person digs his own grave with his own mouth and teeth, and is certainly a self-tormentor, a self-destroyer, a self-murderer.”
And I know we’re sitting here and we see how serious this is, but perhaps we need to understand what it is. Gluttony may, for this lesson, be defined as “An excessive love of food.”
What does this look like? It looks like eating to escape from your issues, or over eating to the point of “feeling miserable”, or it is something that consumes the thoughts of your mind as a place of comfort to where you constantly think of when you can eat again.
But in reality, and this writer put it well, “Gluttony isn't really about food but rather a lack of self-control. A glutton allows their urges and temptations to control their actions rather than taking control of themselves (Romans 8:9). If we can't control our eating habits, we're probably also unable to control other habits or temptations that cause us to sin.”
We can say that gluttony is the thermometer that reveals the temperature of our self-control.
And with this out of the way. I want us to address the subject of gluttony together as we consider this one sentence tonight: “Food is a good gift, that makes a horrible god.” Let’s break this down into two points for us this evening. The first being,
Food Is A Good Gift
Food Is A Good Gift
Last week, Pastor LaTour sent me home with a peace cobbler that was just wonderful, but that’s not what I mean by a good gift here. I don’t mean that it is a good gift to give friends, but I mean that it is a good thing that God has given us. And I want us to highlight that in two ways, first,
God has provided food for fuel.
In Genesis 1:29
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.
See, when God created Adam in the garden, and when He did that He also created Adam’s need for food, He called it very good. And with that said, we don’t have to walk around thinking that food is just some necessary evil. No! It is a gift from God. First, to fuel our bodies. A really big help for me as I’ve fought with this sin throughout my life, is understanding that food is for fuel. God has given us this gift to serve us, not to enslave us.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;
God has provided food for our enjoyment.
7 Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
The Columbian exchange. Imagine tasting these foods for the first time!
John Piper said, In reference to Psalm 34:8 “If I say, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” then I have tasted bread and I can know what it means that he is the bread of life. I have tasted water, and I can know what it means that he satisfies my thirst. What we enjoy in food we should find in God. In fact, we should find God in the very enjoyment of our food.”
The problem arises not when we enjoy the blessings of God in a manner that also glorifies God, but when we take the good gifts that God gives us and in return make those gifts into god’s themselves!
And we have to stay on guard with our hearts when it comes to these gifts. Calvin certainly got it right when he said our hearts are idol-making factories. So we need to understand that food is a good gift, but it makes a horrible god.
Food Makes A Horrible God
Food Makes A Horrible God
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
In this passage, Paul is describing those who live as enemies of the cross and in that description, they are people who are controlled by their bellies, or desires. These are people who are fully devoted slaves to self-indulgence. They have allowed those things which once were to serve as servant, to now be elevated to the places of gods in their lives.
This is why Paul speaks so clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:12-13
12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
The Lord is for our bodies, and our bodies are to be for the Lord, but when we elevate thing such as food to the place where that is where we find our comfort, peace, or sanctification, then we have fallen into what Paul here describes as, “being under their power.”
See, when God created the world, He didn’t place statues to reflect His attributes to creation, instead He created mankind, and He blessed us with all good things as our servants for us to enjoy, but when food ceases to be our servant, it becomes our slave-master. And as His redeemed people He expects us to bow to nothing except but Him!
“Gluttony is the story of the once faithful servant who took the throne and is now a tyrant.” -Joe McKeever
With that said, let’s look at a few ways this makes a horrible god:
It leads us into bondage.
1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you; 2 And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite. 3 Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food.
What Solomon is warning us of is the fact that this King is not doing this out of kindness, and your lack of self-control is playing into the trap he has set for you.
This reminds me of the story of Esau. Where he comes into the house claiming he is so hungry he could die and then he sells his own birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. Hebrews 12:16
16 And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal.
It will rob you of health.
Yes, Gluttony will kill you.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
It will rob you of wealth.
20 Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat; 21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
When you are robbed of your health and wealth by this sin, your ability to bless others will be limited. Hebrews 13:16
16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
What Do We Do?
What Do We Do?
Well, what we need is a proper theology of food! So, here are three things we need to know in closing
Food Is Not Enough.
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
When you make food your idol, you are bowing to a god that cannot truly satisfy you.
But Jesus said in John 6:35
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
It is our good God, who has blessed us with food.
All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated [or controlled or enslaved] by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” — and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Remind Yourself of Who You Serve
16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
You might be thinking, “If food is a good gift and God calls it good, why would He want us to fast from it.”
Piper puts it well as he says that fasting is a way to realize that we are not to be under the control of anything, but in total submission to God. And it is also a way of outwardly declaring that I love you to God. It is a means by which we can say, “God, I love you more than I love food, I love you more than I need food. You are the One who can truly satisfy me. Help me to realize this in all of life!”
And so, because this is true, this is not a food issue, it is a God issue. It is, as Tom Brown puts it, “Looking for in grams of food, what can only be found in God.”
This is a sin that if you and I are guilty of, we need to repent and we can rest assured that God will forgive us in Christ and we need to walk in His power day by day. If you have issues with this, it may be a lifelong battle. But we must stay away of these issues.