Grappling With Gluttony | The "S" Word | Trinity Sermons

Well, I'm really excited to tell you tonight

that some recent research has in fact shocked

the medical community. The diagram before you

represents what we always thought we knew about

both the circulatory system and the digestive

system. How they were these separate things,

right? For decades we assumed that, you know,

when you ate something it went down your esophagus

into your stomach and meanwhile your heart pumped

blood throughout your body but these were separate

organs and they were separate pathways. Well,

groundbreaking research. has discovered something

amazing. In fact, it's located in the recent

issue of the scientific journal Apatitis, the

international journal of misplaced longings.

It was reported there that there actually has

been discovered a direct connection between the

digestive system and the circulatory system between

the stomach and the heart. Look at this. Researchers

have discovered the existence of a large pipe,

a large tube that they're calling the cardiogastric

canal that actually connects the stomach directly

to the heart. Now, why we didn't realize this

earlier, I actually just don't know. I can't

say. But there it is. plain as day for all to

see on this very realistic looking diagram, right?

And its presence has actually once and for all

confirmed what we all had thought, right? That

there is a connection between our hearts and

our stomachs. There's a connection between our

desires and our appetites. Now in some instances,

an irregularity can take place with the cardiogastric

canal. What can happen is it can lead to something

they call confused craving pathway. And it happens

when the hunger in your stomach and the desire

in your heart start to get confused with each

other. The heart is longing for something, but

you start eating instead. And if left unchecked,

it can turn into what they call full -blown CMAS,

chronically misaligned appetite syndrome. And

you guys, you can read all about it, like I said,

in the journal, Appetitis. In fact, if you'd

like to subscribe to Appetitis, you can subscribe.

There's quarterly publications, and it's $200

a year. And after the service, I'd be happy to

sign you up, if you would like. Well, this is

very important information It's especially important

tonight as we are wrapping up our teaching series

Which has been on the seven deadly sins the seven

deadly sins. We've looked at pride We've looked

at envy and sloth and greed and lust and wrath

and now tonight we come to gluttony gluttony

is all about the confusion and the connection

between our hearts longings and our stomach's

appetite. Most people, when they think of gluttony,

they just think of the stomach, right? They picture

somebody at a buffet going back for their third

plate, or they picture somebody going through

the drive -thru, getting the super -sized combo

meal, and that is definitely part of it, right?

The word gluttony, the Latin word gluttony, actually

comes from the word that means to gulp down,

right? So yes, gluttony is all about what we

eat, why we eat, how we eat, when we eat. The

ancient monks, though, who gave us the seven

deadly sins in the first place, they actually

showed that gluttony has a number of different

symptoms, five different symptoms. And we're

going to go through these, and just people, if

one of these hits close to home, do not feel

bad, because I'm sure that you are in very, very

good company. The first symptom of gluttony is

called eating hastily. And that's just eating

too quickly, right? It's like you can't wait

to eat. Before anyone else has sat down at the

table you're already halfway through your meal.

It just smells too good. It looks too good. You're

having dessert and they've barely finished their

salad, right? Because gluttony always puts the

food on the table. above the people around the

table. It becomes more about consumption than

community. So eating hastily, eating quickly

is a form of gluttony. Another symptom of gluttony

is eating sumptuously. This is eating that only

wants the very best food, the fanciest fare,

the most expensive food, even if we can't really

afford it. Now I just want to say, of course,

nothing wrong with a great meal. A wonderfully

prepared meal can be a real gift, and chefs are

gifted and skilled and deserve to be paid for

every bit of work they do. But gluttony demands

that level of food at every meal. You know, mac

and cheese isn't enough unless it's, you know,

mac and cheese with truffles and very expensive

exotic ketchups, right? So eating hastily, eating

sumptuously, the third symptom of gluttony according

to the ancient monks is eating excessively. This

is, of course, the one most of us think of when

we think of gluttony. It's just eating too much.

It's drinking too much. And often, for no particular

reason, you're just bored or maybe you're sad

or maybe you're a procrastinator. You open the

fridge, you don't really know why, but you just

eat and eat and eat. Why do we do that? The fourth

symptom of gluttony is eating greedily. And this

is when food actually starts to become territorial,

right? Now you eat with possessiveness. You're

looking around the table. You're eyeing the food.

You're trying to figure out if there's enough

for everyone. You want to get the biggest piece.

You're guarding your fries like they're gold,

right? You're darting. You're hoping people don't

take too much and not leave enough for you. It's

greedy. It's territorial. But the fifth symptom

of gluttony is eating daintily. Now, this one

might actually surprise you. It's actually not

about eating too much. It's about just getting

too fussy and too picky about what we eat. Oh,

this isn't hot enough. Oh, I like my poached

eggs not that runny, or no, now they're too runny,

and so on and so forth. Oh, I asked for my toast

to be triple toasted. Not once, not twice. Triple

toasted. What part of triple toasted don't you

understand? I don't want a lot, they say, but

I want it just. so So we eat too fast too fancy

too much too selfishly too picky Meanwhile Jesus

asks us this question is not life more than food

All these symptoms they point to the same problem.

We're trying to feed an appetite in there, right?

But is that appetite is that desire coming from

our stomach or our heart remember? They're connected.

What makes us do this? Well, there are a few

underlying conditions I'd like to point out.

Again, you can read all about these in Appetitis,

but the first condition, the first condition

that causes us to behave this way when it comes

for food is what we call a relational rupture.

Gluttony happens when we neglect the people connection

with food. Eating was meant to be something that's

done by community, in community. Eating brings

us together. Eating is how we get to know each

other and form relationships. Gluttony, though,

makes the food on the table more important than

the people around the table. In fact, who needs

them anyways? They're just going to eat more

of what I could have, right? And so gluttony

actually distracts us. distracts us from the

presence of people. And here's the flip side

of that is food sometimes distracts us from the

absence of people. We're lonely. We want people,

but we can't have people, but our stomach says,

well, you can have food. And so we eat. The messages

all get confused. When we forget the people and

focus just on the food, something sacred is lost

in the act of eating. The conversation is gone.

The laughter is gone. The connection is gone.

You know, there are places in our world where

they still to this day, they eat slowly. It takes

a long time for them to have a meal. It's communal.

It's a relational event. There is actually a

movement called the Slow Food Movement that is

trying to reclaim this idea of that food, eating

food is more about people. But we live in a culture

that is speeding up, not slowing down. We rush

through meals like there are pit stops, right?

It's purely utilitarian, our eating. We just

want to get something in us and keep on going.

No eye contact, no conversation, just consumption,

right? Now, where is the relationship, I ask

you? When you've got one hand on the wheel, another

on a burger, another, your chicken nuggets in

your armpit, and your dipping sauce between your

legs. It's pretty impressive if you can pull

that off, I must say. But... You're totally disconnected

from people. Now, I think actually if somebody

from another century were to come and watch us

eat, they would say, what is wrong? What's wrong

is there's a relational rupture. That is the

first underlying condition of gluttony. The second

underlying condition of gluttony is spiritual

amnesia. Gluttony happens when we just forget.

Man, food is a sacred thing, right? In the Bible,

food is not just fuel for our bodies. It is one

of the most powerful spiritual symbols in the

entire story of God, from Genesis all the way

through to Revelation. Food, it doesn't just

keep us alive. Food is how God teaches us. to

live. Let me prove it to you. Look, the very

first meal in the whole Bible, the first time

anyone reached for a piece of food, Adam and

Eve, they weren't physically hungry. They were

just spiritually confused. Again, the connection

that they took the fruit, not because their stomach

needed it, but because their hearts were hungry

for control. They were hungry for independence.

They were hungry for knowledge. The apple They

thought the apple would satisfy that hunger,

but the real need was for God, something only

God could fill. Fast forward. Now we have Israel.

They're walking through the wilderness and they

are hungry, right? They're very hungry in the

wilderness. And the Lord says, I will... give

you food and I will rain down manna from heaven

but it was only enough just enough for each day

and what was God teaching them he was teaching

them to let go of their instinct to hoard food

he was trying to retrain their hearts onto him

this is the Bible has this rich rich sacredness

about food. Or take about this, when Jesus was

being tempted by the devil in the wilderness,

the devil says, if you're really the son of God,

turn these stones into bread. But Jesus refuses,

not because food is a bad thing, but because

Jesus would rather be hungry with God than be

full without God. Okay, and then Jesus of course

he didn't just he didn't just preach about food

He he ate his way through the kingdom of God

the son of man came eating and drinking We are

told he just kept sitting at tables with all

the wrong people and there were prostitutes the

poor the outcasts These meals obviously were

not about indulgence. It wasn't about filling

a stomach. They were about invitation They were

about creating community And then one more, just

don't forget how the story of the Bible ends.

The story of the Bible ends when there is a final

feast. This is not a snack. This is not some

kind of takeout container. This is a wedding

banquet, the wedding supper of the Lamb, where

we will all sit down and all of our desires and

all of our hungers will finally once and for

all be satisfied. Do you see how deeply spiritual

eating is? how deeply sacred food is, but we

look at food and we don't see anything spiritual

about it. It's just grub, right? We're just bodies

with stomachs and we need to put something in

it. That is spiritual amnesia. We've forgotten

the sacred connection of food. So so here we

go. We've got our first condition is that we

have separated food from relationship The second

condition is we separate food from spirituality,

but thirdly and perhaps most deeply gluttony

arises through disordered desires That's when

the old Cardio gastric canal Confuses us and

we're not sure how we're feeling inside. We're

not sure whether that desire we are feeling is

actually for food or whether it's for God whether

that is our stomach grumbling or whether that's

our heart aching gluttony is not just a stomach

problem it is a heart problem they're connected

and of course we need food to survive but the

thing we need most of all our deepest need is

not for food it is for So that ache that you're

feeling down there, that restlessness that you're

feeling down there, that might not be emanating

from your stomach, that might actually be coming

from your heart. And what you're really hungry

for is the love of God. Gluttony causes us to

look for, to look to food for things that only

God can really give us. Comfort and identity

and... peace and all that stuff the heart and

the stomach I'm telling you they're connected

you got to read the journal now think about it

think about I mean think about how many times

that we eat why do we eat when we're not hungry

that's it you know I don't know it's why do we

try to use food in our stomach to soothe our

soul it's that inner wiring it's connected that

causes us to feed our bodies thinking it will

satisfy the ache in our heart so Thomas Aquinas

He said that gluttony is not sinful because food

is bad. It's sinful because we love it in the

wrong way. Food's meant to nourish us. We treat

food like it's something that completes us. And

when that happens, when all of those... underlying

conditions come together, whether it's the relational

rupture, the spiritual amnesia, and the disorder

desires, the result can be one of the most dangerous

of all disorders, and that is chronically misaligned

appetite syndrome, or what the Bible calls idolatry.

We make food an idol. Food gives us peace, not

God. Food gives us comfort, not God. Food relieves

my pain, not God. You know, Paul once talked

about a group of people, and he said, their God

is their stomach. When we obsess over food, when

we plan our day around it, when we comfort ourselves

with it, when we reward ourselves with it, food

has become an idol, and our stomach is our God.

When we find more joy in a good meal than in

God's Word, More comfort in a hot dish than the

Holy Spirit, more excitement about dessert than

discipleship, then we're no longer just enjoying

food, we're worshiping it. And food was never

meant to bear the weight of our worship. It will

always let us down. But we don't just worship

it, we're enslaved by it. The glutton is not

a free person, but a slave to their cravings.

It's the same for all the deadly sins actually

the real question it comes down to is who's in

control Do we rule our appetites or do our appetites

rule us? But good news good news according to

the journal no according to the Bible There is

a cure. There's a cure for the symptoms. There's

a cure for the conditions. There's a cure for

the disorder of gluttony. And what better place

to discuss it than in a church. Why is that?

Because if gluttony is worshiping the wrong thing,

then the cure for it is not some new diet, but

it's actually worshiping the right thing. Jesus

said, I am the bread of life. And when he said

that, he was offering himself as the one and

only thing that will truly satisfy the cravings

and desires of our hearts. He's offering himself

as the true object of our worship. Jesus is the

only one who can reach down deep into your disordered

body and actually satisfy the hunger of your

heart. And so I want to just end really practically

and give you three prescriptions you can take

away today to help you cure gluttony as ever

it shows up in your life. Here is the first way

to cure it. Say grace. Just say grace when you

eat. I don't know if you say grace when you eat.

Some people do it religiously. Other people have

never done it. Some are kind of embarrassed to

do it. Some are too rushed around to do it, or

you feel it's old -fashioned, whatever. But Saint

Grace is just a simple way to remind us this

food is a gift. This food is a gift. Like manna

in the wilderness, it is meant to be received

with gratitude, not grabbed with greed. Saint

Grace reminds us we are needy creatures. We're

not self -sufficient. Saint Grace reminds us

the food comes from... God's hand. And I know

this doesn't sound like much, but a quick prayer

before you eat can actually turn that meal into

worship. Right? And now the meal is not about

worshipping the food, it's about worshipping

the one who gave us the food. The food becomes

a way to thank God, not to replace God. So that's

the first thing we can do. Just say grace. The

second cure... is practice fasting, right? We

have been learning about fasting this Lent. Many

of you took the fasting course, and if you did,

then you will know that fasting isn't just about

abstaining from food. It's actually about reordering

our desires. Just as gluttony disorders our loves,

when we fast, it reorders those loves. It reconnects

things in the right way. In fasting, We decide

on purpose we want to be hungry. Not because

we're going to punish ourselves, but because

we're retraining our hearts and we're going to

eat. Not because we're hungry and not because

we're bored and not because we're sad or stressed.

We're not going to do that. Fasting, you know,

says no, I am not ruled by my appetites. I am

willing, in fact, to be empty in order to be

filled with God. And here is the paradox that

in fasting, we actually become more aware of

the real hunger we have inside us, not for food,

but for God. Fasting, therefore, becomes feasting

on the love of God. So, finally, and this is

where we were going the whole night anyways,

the final cure for gluttony is something we're

going to experience in just a few moments. Monday

Thursday, we're going to come to this table that

is going to totally reframe our hunger. This

meal is called communion. Sometimes it's called

the Lord's Supper. Sometimes it's called the

Eucharist. But it invites us not just to come

and consume food, but to come and commune with

God and with each other. That night at the table,

Jesus took bread. And when he had given thanks,

he broke it, and he gave it to his disciples,

saying, take it, it's my body. And then he took

a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave

it to them, and they drank from it. This is my

blood of the covenant, which is poured out for

many, he said to them. Now sometimes people have

asked, why do we have communion every single

week here at Trinity Streetsville? It adds time

to the service. The service could be 15, 20 minutes

shorter if we didn't do communion. You're right,

it takes time. Communion slows everything down

and isn't that great. Because in a fast food

culture, in a culture detached from community,

in a gluttonous culture that says, I just need

to be fed and I need it now, Jesus gives us this

meal. Not as our own little private indulgence,

not to satisfy our stomachs, it's not gonna fill

your stomach, but to reorient our hearts toward

the cross, to re -center our lives on his grace.

And the more we hunger for this meal, the more

it cures us. Communion, look, look what it does.

Communion cures that relational rupture, because

we eat together. This is not your own little

private picnic with Jesus. It is a shared meal

where everyone comes together and we are reconciled

with each other as we gather around this table

together. Communion also cures our spiritual

amnesia. Do you know what Jesus said when he

gave us communion? He said, do this in remembrance

of me. I want you to remember. I want you to

not forget the story of God, the story of who

you are, the story of how much God loves you.

And as we remember that story, as we remember

Him, we're reshaped by Him. And communion, of

course, Finally, it cures us of all those disordered

desires. The Lord's Supper is a disciplined act

of eating and drinking that teaches us how to

desire rightly. That's the sermon in a sentence

because here at this table, hunger gets retrained,

appetites get realigned, idols get dethroned,

gluttony says I need more, Eucharist says Christ

is enough. At the table we learn that ache inside

of us isn't for food. is for fellowship with

the one who made us. So, that's it. Let's end

this, though, by not being too hard on ourselves.

It is really easy to confuse the craving for

food with the desire for the love of God. It's

that darn cardio gastric canal. You can read

all about it, as I mentioned, in the journal,

Appetitus. But tonight, we've seen the symptoms,

we've understood the conditions, we've explained

the disordered desires, and now we know the cures.

Jesus. Doesn't want to leave us hungry. He's

inviting us to this table tonight Not just to

consume but to commune not to indulge but also

to remember and not just to fill our bellies

But to calm our restless hearts Guys, this is

not just a ritual This is not just a symbol This

is a cure This is a cure. So come with your hunger

with all your disorders Come with your empty

hands and your messed up cravings and be made

whole at this table. Thanks be to God.