Gluttony: Dieting's Ugly Stepsister Series

We continue our series on the Seven Deadly Sins of Family this morning by looking at gluttony. Speaking on gluttony is really personal for all of us. Some of you have a lifelong battle for power and control with food. This impacts the way we look and the way we feel about ourselves. Yet, we are going to discover that the issue is bigger than our weight.

My hope is to address this sensitive topic with as much pastoral empathy as possible. Find Joshua 7 in your Bibles if you will. And note there are pew Bibles in front of you (NRHBC) or underneath of you (Cross Church) didn’t bring a copy of God’s Word.

A Quick Review

Again, we’re focusing on the Seven Deadly Sins. Some of you are guests and so let me get you up to speed. Now, you will never find the seven deadly sins listed in your Bibles. Believers years ago have organized and popularized these seven deadly vices as a means to warn fellow believers about toxic behavior.

The chief sin of all the 7 deadly sins is pride where all the other vices work under this chief vice, the vice of pride. You heard about the woodpecker was pecking on a pine tree when suddenly a bolt of lightning hit it and split it right down the middle. He looked at it, backed off for a while, flew away, later on he was seen flying back with nine other woodpeckers. He said, “There it is gentlemen, right over there.” Pride is an attitude of independence from God: “I don’t need you, God. Stay out of my life. I can handle it myself.”

Next, there is envy. Envy is when I resent you for your success. Envy can kill the harmony of your family. Anger makes the list of the seven deadly sins because for centuries people have witnessed its destructive power and influence. Next up on the docket is apathy. Apathy sneaks up on us live a Navy Seal approaching his target with tremendous stealth Surely you have responded to someone with “Whatever?” Apathy happens when we’ve lost our purpose in life. Lastly, our fifth deadly sin for families is greed. Don’t you dare underestimate the good you can do if you’re generous with God’s possessions. Now all sin is deadly but the 7 Deadly Sins are some of the biggest problems we can find ourselves in.

And today, we deal with our sixth deadly sin is gluttony. Obesity has become a public health crisis in the United States. The medical condition, which involves having an excessive amount of body fat, is linked to severe chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and cancer. Obesity causes one of five deaths in American each year.

This a series devoted to family. We want help your family be strong in Christ and so we are offering a unique opportunity this Sundays. Responding to your questions today is Danny Hart (Licensed Professional Counselor). Your family may have some obstacles that go deeper than a sermon series. We invite you to text your questions regarding your family, I want to invite to text the word FAMILY to 817-339-6633. You can text questions about any topic related to family and marriage.

Today, let’s focus on one man’s gluttony who messed up things for entire nation.

Today’s Scripture

“But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel” (Joshua 7:1).

Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones (Joshua 7:19-25).