Se7en
Glut2ony
Galatians 5:19-21
April 20, 2008
How much is too much? How much is enough? Gluttony says, “Enough is never enough.”
What is gluttony? How would you define?
Gluttony is over-indulgence or excessiveness.
What can you over-indulge in? Just about anything. Could be alcohol? Drugs both illegal and prescription. Food. Certain kinds of food. Coffee. Pop. Even work. Sex.
In fact, we live in a culture of excess. We produce over 80% of the world’s waste. We consume about the same amount of the world’s resources.
We are going to look at Galatians 5:19-21. This passage has most of the seven deadly sins encompassed in it. I am going to read to you two versions so that you can hopefully see a bigger picture on the topic. But first…
Two old friends met one day after many years. One attended college and now was very successful. The other had not attended college and never had much ambition, yet he still seemed to be doing well.
Curious as to why, the college graduate asked his friend, "How has everything been going with you?"
The less-educated, less ambitious man replied, "Well, one day, I opened my Bible at random, and dropped my finger on a page. The word under my finger was oil. So, I invested in oil, and boy, did the oil wells gush. Then I tried the same method again, and my finger stopped on the word gold. So, I invested in gold, and those mines really produced. Now, I’m as rich as Bill Gates."
The successful friend was so impressed that he rushed to his hotel, grabbed a Gideon Bible, flipped it open, and dropped his finger on a page. When he opened his eyes, he saw that his finger rested on the words, "Chapter Thirteen."
Galatians 5:19-21. First from The Message. It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.
“All-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants.” Or how about “frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness”? “Small-minded and lopsided pursuits.” Listen to the NIV. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
It is a serious problem for us. While almost thirty thousand die from starvation and starvation related diseases each day, we suffer from the effects of being overweight: heart attacks, clogged arteries, hip replacements, knee replacements, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and even intestinal problems. This is a serious problem.
Serious Problem.
Check out Proverbs 23:1-3:
When you sit to dine with a ruler,
note well what is before you,
and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to gluttony.
Do not crave his delicacies,
for that food is deceptive.
God seems to say that this is serious. It is so serious the writer says that if you cannot have self-control in public than you might as well slit your throat.
Most if not all of us have been guilty of gluttony. Our bodies tell the truth. How many of us have ever over-eaten? Maybe at a buffet. I know that I often do because I want to get my money’s worth. And here is why excessiveness whether we are talking about food or any other excess is such a great sin and a great sin of our character.
Gluttony makes idols.
Basically, whenever we can’t or won’t stop, then something is more important that anything else including God. When something has a hold in our lives that we have a hard time either refraining or stopping or practicing moderation, then we have created an idol that becomes more important than God. This is tough sometimes because so many things start out innocently. Some things even start out as a good thing but we twist it and distort into something destructive.
Eating is ok. But we can eat to excess. Work is good. God created work. It is very beneficial but people are obsessed with work to the point that it destroys their relationships and even their health. Even exercise can be overdone. Of course, I really don’t want to hear you use that as an excuse—“I don’t exercise because my pastor said that it lead to gluttony.” Even not eating can be destructive—anorexia and its sister disease bulimia.
Somehow, someway, we have this tendency to take anything and everything to such an excessive extreme.
Let me give you a guideline to consider. It is a pretty high standard. This is what I’ve distilled from God’s Word.
Guideline: If it is hard to let go, then maybe it’s an idol.
If it’s hard to let go, then maybe its an idol. This leaves things pretty open. This is intentional because he who is without sin… If it’s hard to let go, maybe it’s an idol. The applications are very broad.
All those things that people become addicted to are obvious fits: medications, alcohol, food, sugar, caffeine, nicotine, work, gambling, video games, sex, pornography. But even more subtle things can be hard to let go.
Perhaps a relationship (called co-dependency). Maybe a project or hobby. I once heard about a guy that became obsessed with building cars. How about that favorite TV show? Especially those ones that are on every week day.
Chewing nails. Cracking knuckles. Now I’m getting kind of personal, I know. But it is not limited to these types of things.
We can be spiritual gluttons as well. Now I’m really getting personal. I once heard John Maxwell describe it this: We are educated beyond our level of obedience. Meaning: what some people need is not another sermon or prayer meeting or bible study but to get out and do something with what they have heard. And then there those who can’t let go of personal preferences. We all have our favorite songs but I think we all can be on dangerous ground whenever we start thinking that these are the standards to measure everything else against and then of course everything else is found lacking then perhaps there is a problem.
When we can’t let go and adjust our conceptions of what worship should be like or what a church should be like, then we need to do some serious soul searching and ask if perhaps we have created an idol. I hope and pray that God keeps me flexible and moldable. When my kids and grandkids decide that we need to take the drums out of the worship service because they are old fashioned, I hope I never say, “You can’t do that. You don’t know what we had to go through to get those in here.” Or what would be even worse would be that I might take it personally because I play drums and then believe that I must not be important either. That for me would be tragedy.
There is a remedy though.
The Remedy
Find your identity in Jesus
Let who you are and your immense worth be found in who you are in Christ. Sometimes people confuse their roles in life and their occupations with their identity. This seems to me to be an excess as well as dangerous.
Here is a test. What would people put on your tombstone? Brick layer. Contractor. Bus driver. Cook. Secretary. Machinist. Pastor. Would we really want our lasting legacy to be known for the job that we had? I hope mine might read: Man of God Full of Faith. That is what I hope and strive to be in Jesus.
Be content in Jesus
Excessiveness seems to me to be about our lack of contentment. We always want more. When we can’t let go, it can be because we are not content with Jesus. Contentment is a choice and it is something we learn to be. Perhaps we just need to learn to abstain from certain things (the bible calls these things temptations). We might need to learn to do a new exercise, which is one you do right at the dinner table. It is called not a push-up or a sit-up or a pull-up but a push away. Push ourselves away. We can abstain for small amounts of time from some things like food (the bible calls that fasting) but we cannot completely give it up. There are also some things that are very beneficial so instead of abstaining we need to practice moderation and self-control. Then there are also some things that we just need to change our attitudes and be content in and be content with Jesus.
4 Tools
Abstain
Practice moderation
Seek self-control
Adjust our attitude
There is a song that we sing called, “Enough.” Sometimes singing the message of a song can have a tremendous impact. This is one for me. The words are about contentment in Jesus.
All of you is more than enough for all of me. For every thirst and every need. You satisfy me with your love. And all I have in you is more than enough.
I wonder if there might be some need or thirst that you have been satisfying with something besides Jesus. Is Jesus enough? Does the love of God truly satisfy you or are there other things you seek to find fulfillment? Maybe the satisfaction you have been seeking started out in a good way with a certain style of worship, or a certain relationship with another person, or with a certain job but somewhere along the way that dissatisfied hole has grown too large that you don’t believe even Jesus can fill. Maybe it is time to confess or admit and then truly seek the source of life that abundant and contented life of Jesus. Whatever might be hindering you, you and Jesus and your brothers and sisters in Christ can overcome. Seek him out with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your being. Jesus is more than enough for all of you if you will allow him to be.
