Ep. 003 Habits Part 2 - Gluttony

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your

host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing

to you and bring you closer to God. Hello and welcome back to the channel. Today

we're going to be looking at a message that I've put together. It's part of a series

and this one is called Habits Part 2. We're going to be looking at gluttony. The interesting

illustration here is something a lot of us are probably pretty aware of or you've probably

heard of called the seven deadly sins. You probably don't really understand the history

that goes behind that or exactly what that is. Before we jump into that, I have a quote

from Frederick Buechner. I believe that's how you pronounce his name. He says, a glutton

is one who raids the icebox in search of a cure for spiritual malnutrition. I like that

quote. It's pretty poignant to the point that oftentimes with any of these habits, with

any of these vices that we fall into, it's to feed a spiritual need that we're not getting

from the proper source. The text that we'll be looking at today will be in Proverbs. We'll

be looking at a couple different verses within Proverbs 22 and Proverbs 23 and 19. With that

though, the seven deadly sins were first compiled by Pope Gregory the first. Now I know you're

probably thinking, wow, the seven deadly sins are in the Bible. Well, no, not specifically

in the Bible in sort of a list form. Pope Gregory the first, around 600 AD, compiled

a list of what we consider to be the seven deadly sins. They are pride, greed, lust,

wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. Gregory also compiled a list of seven virtues, faith,

hope, charity, justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. The Bible does validate these

concepts but nowhere is it recorded like this in a list form, as I've mentioned. Nowhere

in the Bible are they specifically referred to as the seven deadly sins or seven virtues.

They do not predate the Ten Commandments, which were given in Mount Sinai in around

1450 BC. It's probably true that they were used extensively to teach principles from

God's Word, particularly in the centuries before the invention of the printing press

when the Bible was not available in a form common for someone to read and study themselves.

These kind of lists made it easy for a largely uneducated populace during the Dark Ages to

be able to have some semblance of moral teaching. But this brings me to a story from the Marine

Corps. In basic training, there was this one time when we went to the Chao Hall. This is

one of my favorite Marine Corps stories. It just kind of exemplifies the Marines in and

of themselves. So we went to the Chao Hall and we should have known something was wrong.

Why do you think we should have known? Well, because they let us eat way more than they

normally let us eat. They gave us way more time for lunch than you typically ever see

in basic training. So that should have been our first clue. But needless to say, most

of us, we ended up gorging ourselves on food because in basic training, you're working

out a lot. You're not sleeping very well. So you tend to be extremely hungry. So we

ate everything that we could. And that's when the fun began.

So before we get into that fun, though, let's look at our text. In Proverbs 22 verses 17

Proverbs 22:17

and 19, it says, Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise. Apply your

heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have

all of them ready on your lips so that your trust may be in the Lord. I teach today even

to even you. And then in verse one of 23, it says, When you sit to dine with a ruler,

note well what is before you and put your knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.

Do not crave his delicacies for that food is deceptive. And on verse 19, it says, Listen,

my son, and be wise and set your heart on the right path. Do not join those who drink

too much wine or gorge themselves on me. For drunkards and glutton's become poor and drowsiness

close them and rags. So as we look at the battle against nature, let's define what gluttony

is. Gluttony is the excessive or ongoing eating of food, the habitual greed or excess in eating.

It's present in old French and Middle English as the word gluttony derived from the Latin

gluteur, to swallow, which in turn came from gula, the word for throat. And in some cultures,

gluttony is considered an indication of a country's wealth. But in most cases, it's

simply gross and unacceptable. Nowadays, though, gluttony is seen as an emotional cry for help.

As succinctly put by author Peter DeVries, who said, gluttony is an emotional escape,

a sign something is eating at us. So it's interesting how we feed ourselves to the point

of gluttony, because something is eating away at ourselves. One of the interesting parts

of gluttony is something is somewhat of a synonym or similar to other sins that we are

called to avoid, like lust and greed. And what I consider these, you know, these to

be grouped as, is like sins of excess, if you will, you know, things, things that drive

us to do a certain act or suit a certain behavior in excess. So I would kind of group gluttony

into that subcategory. Likewise, some of the anonyms are apathy, hate, or lethargy, because

on the opposing sides, it's not a sin of excess, but a sin of lack would be something that

you can see in someone who's apathetic or who's slothful, like we talked about before.

We can see both similarities to some sins and differences to others. And I think it's

important because it highlights God's understanding of human nature, the nature of man. After

all, he created man and he knows that some will be tempted to live a life of sloth and

others life of excess. Right? So other synonyms for this are craving, demand, fondness, greed,

longing, lust, passion, penchant, weakness, yearnings and zeal. Anonyms would be like

I mentioned apathy, indifference, lethargy, aversion, disgust, distaste, loathing, repulsion,

revulsion. Some people buy because of their the they are opposite from gluttony, they

will go to the point of making themselves sick from not eating anything. And again,

it's because of something that's missing some sort of malnourishment within their own soul

that would cause them to be susceptible to that. But some examples of gluttony in today's

society in some ways that gluttony has become acceptable, you can see this in our culture,

but they because they have a similar route to this gluttony, or this had this sin of

gluttony, the bigger house, Jesus himself did not have a place to rest his head. We

see that in Matthew 820, our Lord and Savior spent a portion of his life in ministry homeless.

Yet most American homes could fit all 12 disciples and have room to spare. Now I'm not saying

it's wrong to have a house. I have a house. But what I'm saying is, they're in some people's

lives, they get to a point where it's like they need to keep getting better, you know,

bigger houses, more toys. Right? They just keep, they keep having to get more and more

and more. And it's like a hunger within their soul. Because they they that they can't fill.

So you get your first condo, and then you have to like up size to get your first detached

home and then you need a better home and more parking and more bigger garage so you can

have more stuff. Who causes you to become somewhat of a hoarder. Even with our food

choices often oftentimes, you know, you don't look at the calorie content of what you actually

are going to eat. You just eat because you want more and more and more and a bigger portion

and more. And we'll kind of rationalize it sometimes as saying, Oh, well, I need to have

I need to get more bang for my buck, despite not actually needing, you know, a bigger portion.

Jesus called himself the bread of life and John 648, but at a local restaurant, we might

receive enough bread for five lives. That kind of is the same point is that we should

be filling ourselves in the Word of God, we should be filling ourselves with like a relationship

with Jesus Christ. And then today, we also have something that we call like binge watching

TV, like where you you'll sit down and you'll watch like a whole, not a whole season, even

but like a whole series of programming. And we call it binge watching TV. And that's kind

of a gluttonous behavior, even though it's not eating, because basically, you're just

gorging yourself on the world's entertainment. Another example that's really prevalent in

our society today is is the hookup culture. Right. So this hookup culture is is one that

causes people to go out and sleep around with as many partners as they can and collect a

body count. Now, you could say that's more more of lust. But again, it's like I said,

it's these sins of not lack, but sins of excess, where you're gorging yourself for your gluttonous

for these behaviors. So this brings me back to my story from the Marine Corps. Now, we

left this this chow hall experience full and for the moment happy. But it didn't take long

before they took us back to the barracks. They lined us up. And they started to rail

against us for for some perceived wrongdoing that I can't even remember at the you know,

anymore what it was that we did wrong. But I certainly remember the punishment. And I

certainly remember the cost of our gluttony. So they started to make us drink water to

the and they we start with a you have two canteens, each one being a court. So just

a little bit more than like a liter. And so they sit you down or a little less than a

liter, I guess. It's so they they don't you're lined up. And they tell you, okay, drink a

liter. So you're you're drinking your quart of water. And then you have to hold your canteen

over your head to make sure that everybody is getting every drop of water out of that

canteen. So then you put that canteen back and then you have to grab your other canteen

and they make you drink that. So now you've got, you know, two quarts of water in you.

And you almost two liters. And they make us run to the to the washroom or to the head,

to the bathroom. And they say, fill them up. And so then you fill them up and then you

get back online. And the process starts over again. As you can see, like, or as you can

imagine, you know, you've got like half a gallon of water in your belly, it's starting

to get a little uncomfortable because you just had a huge meal, half a gallon of water.

But they wanted to make sure that we understood the cost of our gluttony, they wanted to make

sure they understood the wrong that we had committed. So then we had to drink another

quart of water. This process didn't stop until everybody in the unit started vomiting up

from their from their overindulgence. It's pretty excessive, you know, story from the

Marine Corps. And I can tell you, like, it was it was pretty surreal, pretty surreal

when we were there. But it was definitely a an eye opening experience being in the Marine

Corps and, and seeing and experiencing what happens when you're not aware of the sins

you've committed. And again, I don't remember the wrongdoing we did for that event. But

I do remember the punishment that came with it. So let's let's go back and let's take

a look at our scripture to investigate gluttony from a spiritual context and see what wisdom

we can pull from God's Word. So again, in Proverbs 22 17 through 19 says, Pay attention

to turn your ear to the sayings of the wise apply to your heart what I teach for it is

pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips so

that you trust your trust maybe in the Lord I teach you today even you. So we need to

have the Word of God on our lips, we need to have some understanding some wisdom of

what we're saying, you know, moving forward in life so that we can be able to use this

the word of the sort of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, you know, against our

desires against, you know, things that we know to be sinful. In verse one of, of Psalm

or Proverbs 23, it says, When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you

and put a knife to your throat if you're given to gluttony, do not crave his delicacies for

that food is deceptive. So with this one, we also see that it's it's on us to control

our behaviors. So if you're prone to doing to overeating, if you're prone to doing this,

when you're sitting down with someone important, you need to be able to control this because

the food is deceptive and people are judging you in that situation. If you were to go sit

down with the president or go sit down with the prime minister, sit down with the king,

you're going to need to control these behaviors. When we pick it up again in verse 19, it says,

listen my son and be wise and set your heart on the right path. Do not join those who drink

too much wine or gorge themselves on meat for drunkards and glutton's become poor and

drowsiness close them in rags.

This is an important part too, because we see that here, you know, in the Proverbs,

we see that there's this clear understanding that you need to be wise. Don't put yourself

in situations that are going to cause you to falter. Don't put yourself in situations

that are going to cause you to fall. And then because of that, because you have fallen into

these situations, you are more likely to be poor. You're more likely to be clothed in

rags because this is what the sins of excess can do in your life. And first Corinthians

10 31 says, therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory

of God, because that is really the purpose of of living a Christian life, living a life

for God is to do everything unto the Lord. So you have to really do the filter all of

your your choices through that lens of am I glorifying God with this behavior? That

one hurts, right? It hurts. But that's the truth. That's the reality is every action

you do is meant to be done for the glory of God. So you have to filter all your actions,

even how you eat, even how you live your life and every aspect through that filter of this.

Does this bring glory to God? And Hebrews 12 14 through 17, it says, make every effort

to live in peace with everyone and be holy without holiness. No one will see the Lord.

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to

cause trouble and may defile you. See that no one is sexually immoral, sexually immoral,

or as godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest

son. Afterwards, as you know, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected,

even though he sought the blessing with tears. He could not change what he done. The Bible

is clear that many vices or sins, the root cause is the void that we have when we are

not filled with the spirit of God, when we are not actively pursuing the will of God

in our lives. It can creep in rather slowly. And that is why we need to be on guard all

the time and continually examine our lives against God's word. This doesn't discount

the grace that God has. It confirms God's grace. He gives us countless opportunities

to repent and change our behavior, to grow closer to him and to adopt his will for our

lives rather than fighting against his will and only seeking the easy route or only seeking

pleasure. Some additional Bible verses we could look at are Psalm 78 verses 17 through

Psalms 78:17–19

19, but they continue to sin against him rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High. They

willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God.

They said, Can God really spread a table in the wilderness? Here we have the children

of Israel judging God because they're hungry. Their bellies are not full with the food that

they desire. Even though the miracles that have happened in the past, it is now what

my belly desires that drives me in my relationship with God. And Philippians 3, 17 through 21,

join together in following my example, brothers and sisters. And just as you have us a model,

keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For as I have often told you before and now

tell you again, even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny

is destruction, their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind

is set on earthly things, but our citizenship is that of heaven. And we eagerly await a

savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring

everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like his

glorious body. This brings me to my final point, which is the godly call. So what do

we do? How do we apply this to our lives? In Philippians 3, 20, 21, but our citizenship

is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by

the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly

bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. So remember that quote I started off

with, a glutton is one who raids the icebox in search of a cure for spiritual malnutrition.

So how do we rectify this situation in our life? We have to turn to God's word. Since

gluttony can be an idol of excess, used to fill a void in our lives that only God can

fill, we should turn first to the word of God. I know that's not very exciting for a

lot of people today, but I believe that that's because the sugary candy of today's the world's

entertainment today is very palatable for a short time, but leaves you wanting. When

you binge watch a show, you usually get up and feel like, wow, I wasted a lot of time.

But typically when you sit and you read, even if it's hard or challenging for you to do

so, you usually feel better after having read because you've accomplished something. And

that's why I believe you should spend time in the word of God, because that's the best

thing to read is the word of God. And I challenge you to do that. Displaying gratitude. King

David tells us to give thanks to the Lord because he satisfies the thirsty, fills the

hungry with good things. Psalms 107, eight through nine. In other words, God fulfills

our needs. Gluttony tells us that we need more and more and more to satisfy our hunger.

But God is the bread of life who fulfills our stomach with good things. And I do like

this because you know, this, this Psalm from, from King David tells us to give thanks to

the Lord because I also notice that the more you give to others, the more you spend time

in service of others, the more satisfied you are. Because God has a powerful way of satisfying

our thirst and filling and filling that void within us when we, yes, when we give our lives

to him and then we serve others for his sake. Practice temperance. Temperance cures gluttony

by implanting the desire to be healthy, therefore making one fit to serve others. And Philippians

413, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. So we're called to be temperate with

our behavior. And first Corinthians six 19, or do you know that your body is a temple,

the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, you are not your own. This one right

here shows us that it is, it is our call as Christians, as believers to be able to show

our bodies as a sacrifice unto the Lord, we are a temple unto the Holy Spirit. So therefore

we should treat ourselves as we would treat something that is precious, precious to the

Lord. So we shouldn't be doing things to our bodies or doing things like, you know, with

our bodies, that wouldn't be something that would be glorified within the body of Christ

or within the Church of Christ. So would you, when you again, when you hold that yourself

accountable for your behavior, and you filter that through God's word, would you be willing

to do what you're doing in front of the King in front of the president in front of the

prime minister? These are earthly leaders. And then even more so would you do it in front

of the Holy being like God, the Father or Jesus, our Lord. These are these are important

questions to ask. But as I close, I just, you know, if I could have every head bowed,

every eye closed, if you're driving, obviously not. But the question is that we come to is

that if you're living a life of excess, why? Why are you living this life of excess? Is

it because of this void that's in your soul? I can tell you that that void can be filled

instantly with Jesus Christ, and that you could come into right relationship with Him

at any moment. All you have to do is is repent of your sin, which means turn away because

we've all done wrong. Accept Him as your Lord and Savior. And by grace, you will be saved

and you will be you will be made one. You'll be made a son of the Father or a daughter

of the Father. And it's very easy. You can just repeat this prayer says Dear Lord God,

I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I'm not perfect and I turn away from my sin. I

repent. I accept you, Lord Jesus, to be my Lord, my Savior. I accept you into my life,

into my heart. I thank you for your sacrifice. I thank you for washing me clean of my sin

and for salvation through grace. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. It's a very simple message,

a very simple prayer today. But the reality is that that simple prayer can fill you more

than any food can. It can fill you more than anything the world has to offer. Whether it

is a sin of lack or a sin of excess, God fulfills the need. And I thank you for taking the time

to listen to me today. I hope you'll come back again. And I look forward to you sharing

another message with you soon. Amen.