Gluttony: Feeding Your Face and Starving Your Heart
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Operation Christmas Child
Gospel Community Night (Nov 7, 5:30pm, Taco bar potluck)
Next week: Topic is lust, kids will be dismissed
Introduction
Introduction
Americans have issues with food. Statistics:
The average adult in the U.S. eats 1,996 pounds of food per year. That includes:
31 pounds of cheese
85 pounds of fats and oils
274 pounds of fruit
415 pounds of vegetables
185 pounds of meat
Over 10 billion donuts are consumed in the U.S. every year.
At least 1 in 4 Americans eat some type of fast food every day. In fact, Americans spend 10% of our disposable income on fast food every year.
20% of all American meals are eaten in the car.
100 million people worldwide live with an eating disorder. 30 million of them are Americans.
Every year Americans throw away 80 billion pounds of edible food.
It’s estimated that 40% of the U.S. food supply is wasted each year, while 811 million people worldwide go to bed hungry each night and 14 million children under the age of five suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
Of the 30 million Americans that have an eating disorder, binge eating is the most common disorder.
We’re talking this morning about the vice of gluttony. If wrath is the most complicated vice, gluttony is perhaps the most misunderstood, and is definitely the most dismissed and laughed at sin on the list.
Gluttony is more than we think it is.
Gluttony is more than we think it is.
Gluttony is the disordered obsession with consuming for your own satisfaction.
Avarice is the disordered desire to possess and master. Gluttony is the disordered obsession to consume and be satisfied.
Being obsessed with consuming
Gluttony isn’t just overeating but being obsessed with what we eat… Obsessively reading every nutrition label… obsessively monitoring every ounce of food we take in… being an obsessively picky eater… Eating disorders abound in our society. Do you know anyone who is obsessed with what they eat?
Illustration: I have a friend who’s dad is obsessed with food…
Gluttony is more than just an obsession with consuming. It’s an obsession with our own satisfaction.
Gluttony is the lie that says, “You don’t need God to be satisfied in life. You can get your own happiness your own way.”
Is it a coincidence that the first sin ever committed involved eating?
“Gluttons want to define their own happiness for themselves and keep its attainment under their own control. Rather than accepting food as a gift from God and looking to God to fill our spiritual hungers as well as our bodily ones, we take God’s responsibility to meet our needs and wants.” ~ Rebecca DeYoung
Gluttony is addictive. For a glutton, consuming is like taking drugs. We consume to get a fix. We’re enslaved to our appetites.
The question isn’t, “How much is too much?” but, “How difficult would it be to give it up?”
Illustration: Even after 78 days of not snacking, I have constant snack cravings all day every day…
Gluttony is way more than overeating, and it goes beyond food. Today we live in a society that consumes everything from food to news, social media, movies, shows, information, religion, and spirituality. We live in a society that is enslaved by gluttony.
Why are we enslaved by gluttony?
Why are we enslaved by gluttony?
We’re enslaved by gluttony because we live empty, hollow lives of temporary pleasures and instant gratification.
“The problem with instant gratification is that it only gratifies for an instant.”
Our lives are full of sugar, toys, gadgets, 24-hr news channels, social media, streaming shows, snacks, shopping, and work, but we are empty of rest, true friendship, joy, contentment, heartfelt worship, meaningful service to others, and most significantly, satisfaction.
You might say, “That’s where you’re wrong, Pastor Andy. My life is good. I don’t feel unsatisfied with life.”
That’s why gluttony is so dangerous. We feel full even though we’re not. Gluttony gives us a short-lived and false sense of satisfaction but fails to nourish our hearts.
Illustration: It’s like eating a whole plate of cupcakes, and even though we feel full, our body has not received the nourishment it needs to be healthy.
While we feed our faces and stuff our lives full of empty calories, our souls are starving.
“A glutton is one who raids the icebox (or the iPhone, or Cabela’s, or Amazon, or the news, or Disney+) looking for a cure for spiritual malnutrition.” ~ Frederick Buechner
You don’t fix physical malnutrition by eating cupcakes. Nor do you fix spiritual malnutrition by the obsessive consumption of temporary pleasures.
The remedy for gluttony: Live a full life (not an indulgent one).
The remedy for gluttony: Live a full life (not an indulgent one).
A full life includes both creating and consuming (Gen 1:28-31).
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Creating & consuming… working & resting… giving & receiving… serving & being served…
We have made the mistake of teaching our children that meaning in life is found in consuming, not in producing or creating.
We work hard so that we can consume. We invest our money so that we can retire and live the good life of relaxation, travel, pleasure, and consumption.
This idea is so pervasive we don’t even recognize it anymore.
Illustration: Music appreciation class…
And we wonder why all our kids want to do is sit in front a screen and consume video games. And do you know what you do in some of the most popular video games that exist? Create.
A full life includes both feasting and fasting (Acts 2:42-47).
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Feasting means enjoying the good things in life: God’s Word, brothers and sisters in Christ, true friendship, genuine worship, God’s presence, meaningful service, generous giving, being part of a family—the family of God.
Fasting is not commanded, but it is assumed (see Matt 6:16). Fasting reminds us...
That there are more important things in life than our own satisfaction.
That other people in the world are hungry.
That we don’t have to be dominated by any desire of our flesh.
Application: One way to regularly practice feasting is by setting aside the Lord’s day as a Sabbath day to worship, celebrate, practice generosity, and enjoy family, friendship, rest, food—not in an indulgent way but with a thankful heart.
A full life comes from God (Ps 145:15-16).
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Challenge for the week: Fast something for 24 hrs.
Corporate reading from Ps 145 (ESV)
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The eyes of all look to you,
And you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand;
You satisfy the desire of every living thing.
Every day I will bless you
And praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
And his greatness is unsearchable.
Let all who live praise his holy name forever and ever.