7 Great Ways to Ruin Your Life
Part 3 - “Binge Triggers”
Gluttony: An excessive desire to consume more than one requires. (Opposite: Self-control)
“Gluttony is the enjoyment of food that has become untethered from contentment in God as the governing love of your life” - John Piper
1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
According to healthdata.org: The highest proportion of overweight and obese people 13% of the global total live in the United States, a country which accounts for only 5% of the worlds population. An estimated 160 million Americans are either obese or overweight.
Shapes of Gluttony…
1. Overeat
2. Overspend
3. An Escape
4. Neglect
5. Obsession
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Why is gluttony so deadly?
1. It could literally kill you
2. It weakens self-control in other areas
3. It leads to idolatry
Philippians 3:19
Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
Genesis 25:27-34
When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Esau was hunger-driven, not God-driven.
Genesis 25:32
Esau said…what use is a birthright to me?”
Genesis 25:30
And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!”
Matthew 4:1-4
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus was God-driven, not hunger-driven.
John 6:26-29
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
When we keep God in His proper place, food stays in it’s proper place.
John 6:33-35
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Is the will of God more fulfilling to you than food?
Get a Grip on Gluttony:
1. Fast from one meal, once per week
2. Establish your “enough line”
3. Pray before you eat (ask is this honoring to God?)
4. Visit the vegetable isle first, not last
5. Remember that you are the temple of the living God
(can’t neglect the temple, nor worship the temple)