(This is the second in my sermon series on the 7 Deadly Sins preached at Rivermont Avenue Baptist Church on February 17, 2013.)
My name is Glen and I’m a glutton.
I know of no single activity that is as clearly
defined as sinful in Scripture yet is given so little attention from the pulpit
than the sin of gluttony. To account for
this obvious avoidance I suggest three possible explanations.
First, there is the notion that gluttony is really only a
"minor" sin—more like a misdemeanor than a felony. Why waste valuable pulpit time on the
trivial? This disregards the fact that
for most of Christian history the church has listed gluttony as one of the
seven deadly sins, in the company of such sins as lust, avarice and pride.
Second, compared to the other seven deadly sins, the outward
physical evidence of gluttony is often difficult or impossible to hide. The preacher fears that people will think he
is preaching at an unlucky few
instead of preaching to the entire
congregation.
Third, gluttony is a sin that haunts many parsonages,
pastor's studies and convention offices.
Scan the crowd at any denominational gathering and it is apparent that
most of us would fail to meet the International Mission Board’s criteria for
missionary appointment, requiring a body mass index level under 30.0 (the low
end of the obesity range). We have
chosen to allow our unbridled appetites to limit our usefulness to the Kingdom
of God.
· High stress jobs and lifestyles for the ministers and their families.
· Lack of exercise and sedentary habits.
· Obesity. In overwhelming numbers we are overweight, often at dangerous levels.
This means that we are at much higher risk for
heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and a host of other
illnesses than is true for the general population. Insurance companies will not touch Baptist
ministers because we engage in such unhealthy lifestyles. We preachers ought to be ashamed of
ourselves. Our church members probably
are.
Then again, maybe the people in the pew would
rather not bring up the subject. Recent statistics show that among American
adults 20 and older, 149.3 million are overweight or obese. Half of these—75 million—are
clinically obese. And the really scary part is that childhood obesity,
something almost unheard of when I was a kid, is now commonplace and growing.
We were not satisfied with merely slowly killing ourselves. Now we are killing
our children and grandchildren.
Gluttony—A misunderstood sin
Though closely associated, gluttony is not
obesity. Obesity is a condition of the
body. Gluttony is an attitude of the
heart. One is a physical state;
the other, a spiritual condition. Obesity is not necessarily the result of
gluttony, though gluttony is frequently a factor. Obesity can have a number of causes. About 2% of the obese suffer from some
medical condition such as a thyroid or pituitary disorder that caused excessive
weight gain. Some prescription
medications can lead to weight gain. The poor are more likely to be obese than
more the affluent. Healthy food choices tend to be more expensive. But for the
vast majority of us, our weight can
be controlled with varying degrees of effort and success. Dieting cannot cure gluttony. Dieting is an approach, seldom if ever
successful by itself, for dealing with obesity.
It does not address the root causes of the sin of gluttony. In fact, you
can be skinny and still be a glutton.
Evangelical writers are largely silent on the sin of
gluttony. It was the Catholic
Encyclopedia that provided this definition:
Gluttony - (From the Latin gluttire, to swallow, to gulp down), the
excessive indulgence in food and drink. The moral deformity discernible in this
vice lies in its defiance of the order postulated by reason, which prescribes
necessity as the measure of indulgence in eating and drinking. This may happen
in five ways which are set forth in this English rendering of the Latin
scholastic verse: “too soon, too
expensively, too much, too eagerly, too daintily.” Clearly one who uses
food or drink in such a way as to injure his health or impair the mental
equipment needed for the discharge of his duties, is guilty of the sin of
gluttony. - The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VI
·
Gluttony is the sin of elevating the pleasures of
the palate to the level of sinful sensuality until disobedience to God is the
result. It is Satan's response to the natural and healthy
desire for food and drink. The definition can be broadened to
include excesses in all areas of appetite.
In this expanded sense gluttony merges with the sins of greed, envy and
lust.
·
Gluttony is appetite without temperance.
Temperance is not abstinence from alcohol. It is the practice of moderation. To be temperate is to go the right length and
no further. Temperance is the governor
that God gave us to keep our natural drives under control. The sex drive without temperance leads to
lust. The acquisition of possessions
without temperance leads to greed. Hunger and thirst without temperance leads
to gluttony.
·
Gluttony may be manifested as excess quantity
and/or excess quality. The demand for the very best of food and
drink is just as much a mark of gluttony as the demand for unlimited quantity. The
fictional detective, Nero Wolfe, exemplified both forms of excess. He demanded
that he be served only the finest foods and
in excessive amounts.
·
Gluttony is ultimately a form of idolatry. As Paul
expressed it in Philippians 3:19 - "...their
god is their stomach..."
There are at least three forms of gluttony
1. Seeking more pleasure from something than
it was made for
2. Wanting it exactly our way (delicacy)
3. Demanding too much from people (excessive
desire for other people's time or presence).
More Pleasure Than It
Was Made For
The world is full of good things, from the beauty of the
stars to the fragrant aroma of baking bread to the pleasure of human company.
We are free to enjoy these things so long as we don’t become focused on any one
of them to the exclusion of all else. But we can become so caught up in a
pleasure, whether food or fun, that we can no longer enjoy anything else and are
willing to sacrifice other pleasures for the one. After years of gluttony we can so destroy our
health that even the simple pleasure of taking a walk through the woods on a
spring day is denied us.
We enter into gluttony when we demand more pleasure from
something than it was made for. Normally, we can only eat so much food and then
we’re stuffed. But some people in Ancient Rome wanted more pleasures of the
palate than their bloated stomachs could accommodate. So after a heavy meal they
would gag themselves with a feather, making themselves throw up and thus
enabling them to go back and eat and drink some more until they finally passed
out drunk. A footnote is needed at this point. Contrary to popular belief, the
Latin term vomitorium did not
describe a special room where this disgusting act was carried out. Vomitoria were actually the wide
passageways that allowed crowds of Romans—hungry or otherwise—to quickly exit
an amphitheater. The Roman place of puking didn’t get its own special name.
Delicacy
In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
describes that particular form of gluttony known as delicacy as a desire to
have things exactly our way. Food, for example, has to be prepared just so, or
in just the right amount. But delicacy
isn't limited to food. We might complain about unimportant defects in a
product, the temperature in the room, or the color of a laundry basket. There
is a certain amount of discomfort and dissatisfaction to be expected in life,
but the delicacy glutton will have none of it. When faced by the minor
inconveniences of life, the glutton insists on being pampered and indulged. A
friend in the Christian music industry has worked for some big name
performers. Some of the folks he’s met are
really nice people. Then there was the
singer who made one his assistants pick out the green M&Ms because he
didn’t like the color…
Generally speaking—and with notable exceptions—women seem to
be more susceptible to this variety of gluttony than men. For us guys our
gluttony is usually measured with a butcher’s scale. Did you ever suffer the
embarrassment of dining out with a group of friends only to discover that some
woman in the crowd was so blessed picky that she would recite a set of
instructions to some poor overworked and underpaid waitress on just exactly
how her salad or chicken or whatever was to be prepared and then ran the
legs off the poor girl sending the plate back until it finally met her unreasonable standards?
Demanding Too Much
From Others
It is healthy and natural to enjoy time with friends but
some people just can't get enough. They make demands until the other person
moves away or explodes in anger. Most of us have suffered through the
smothering attention of someone who demanded more of us than we were willing to
give. These two-legged leeches attach themselves and proceed to suck you dry if
you let them. This, too, is a form of gluttony.
Consequences
of Gluttony are Physical, Social, and Spiritual
·
Physical Manifestations – The physical side
effects of gluttony run the gamut from heart disease to hemorrhoids—from a
decline in self-esteem to a diminished sex life. Heartburn, ulcers, high blood pressure,
diabetes, chronic skin rashes, arthritis…the list goes on and on. A church member in a former pastorate of mine
was many months recovering from serious complications after prostate
surgery—all because he was morbidly obese. Gluttony is certainly not the only
cause of these ailments, but it frequently contributes to their development or
adds to their severity.
·
Social Manifestations – Our culture places a
premium on youth and health. We can be
most unkind to those who do not measure up to the physical ideal. Of course, some of the pressure is
self-imposed. I always loved to swim but
find I avoid pools and beaches anymore.
I’m just embarrassed to be seen in public in my swimsuit with my gut
hanging over the waistband.
·
Spiritual Manifestations – If Jesus were to walk
by one day and say to me, as he said to the fishermen along the Sea of Galilee,
“Come, follow me,” I’d have to say, “Thanks for the invitation, but I’m afraid
I couldn’t keep up.” But the problem is
more than physical. I have come to
realize that I was already a glutton back when I could still wear size 30-30
Levi’s. For uncontrolled appetite is a
problem of the heart and it affects far more than your waistline.
Victory over Gluttony
Because gluttony is a sin of the flesh, the flesh tends to
limit it. If we consume too much food or drink, our body (usually) lets us
know, either by gaining weight or illness. If we are too fussy about things
(delicacy), people will tell us to do it ourselves. And if we demand too much
from people, they will fly from us and we will be alone more often. So, we
usually get a view of the problem, and a chance to change.
Gluttony’s cure lies in confessing it as sin and repenting
of it by deliberately reducing our use of pleasurable things, not by
eliminating them. When eating, quit before feeling stuffed. When snacking,
don't just keep stuffing, but quit before over-indulging. With people, allow
some quiet time together, and also get some time alone. Don’t smother your friends. And if the toast is a bit too brown for your
preference, eat it anyway.
We
Need Confession (with accountability)
For those of us in vocational ministry, one of
the dangers of our calling is that we often live our lives with too little
accountability. When I am eating at home
Joyce exercises some measure of control over what I eat. She is careful about limiting the fat and
empty calories in our diets: a concern that quite frankly I seldom shared or
encouraged. But when I worked for the
Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention I was on the road a lot. No one saw or
cared what I consumed. Of course later
the consequences are all too apparent to everyone. I gained ten pounds in my
first six months on the job.
In some ways I
was taught to be a glutton. Gluttony is
almost a Land family tradition. When I
was a kid we attacked the dinner table like a pack of wild dogs. This was also the environment that my Dad
grew up in. Mom recalled her first meal
at my Grandma and Grandpa Land’s home many years ago: “…I sat in amazement as
we ate. I had never seen people eat like
that, so fast and everyone reaching until I thought someone would get a fork in
his hand. It was a Jeff Foxworthy
experience.” If the Land family had a
coat of arms I think it would feature a growling wolf standing over the carcass
of a dead elk. The motto in Latin emblazoned across it would be, “Succederem super illud et vox leaenae.”
(“Step on it and growl.”) One of the
reasons that obesity tends to run in some families is a shared culture that places
too high a value on food. Cleaning your plate is not, regardless of what you
may have been taught, an ultimate good.
But we need not be the captives of our past. If you want to lose weight and exercise it greatly
helps to have a small group of friends to whom you will hold yourself accountable. They know what the problem is, they know your
plan to deal with it and they have your permission to hold your feet to the
fire. This is not unlike the way AA
deals with recovering alcoholics. This
is also the way of discipleship. For
believers, it is necessary that we deal with the underlying spiritual component
of our weight control problems—the sin issue—if we are to have lasting
victory. Make getting your body in
better condition for God’s service a regular focus of your prayers. The goal should not simply be to look and
feel better. Becoming a more useful and
versatile tool in the hand of the Father is what this is ultimately all about.
As is the case
with any sin, the starting point is confession and repentance. We must admit to
ourselves and to our God that we are guilty of gluttony. And we are all
experienced masters at avoiding that painful confrontation with our selves.
Outside a funhouse, the mirror doesn’t lie. Neither does the camera. The
evidence of this particular sin is hard to hide. I stand before you this
morning easily 20 pounds overweight. Thank God I’ve never crossed the line into
outright clinical obesity but at times I have flirted dangerously close to that
threshold. So what am I to do?
Rationalization is always an option. I could do nothing. I am, after all, well into middle-age. Middle-aged spread is common. One might even argue that it’s normal.
Most people reach a point in life where they succumb to the inevitable
and just decide to let aging take its toll.
It’s about the same time that they quit caring if their ties are out of
date or that their hairstyle went out of style with polyester leisure
suits. Graying hair shading a receding
hairline, wrinkles, reading glasses, some hearing loss, the early hints of arthritis
pain soon to come, teeth breaking off in my food—all the signs are there. Youth has fled and old age is looming. Why fight it?
I have two problems with this line of reasoning.
First is a memory from childhood of my father’s thinly
veiled disgust with fat (which he equated with lazy) men in general and fat
preachers in particular. Most of what I
learned about what it means to be a man I learned from my father. I am not too old to still want his respect.
Second is the memory of what the Apostle Paul had to say
about unbridled appetite:
Philippians 3:18-19
18For many, of whom I
have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the
cross of Christ. 19Their end is destruction, their god is their
belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
Romans 16:17-18
17I appeal to you,
brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles
contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18For
such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by
smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
The challenge is one of self-confession—admitting to myself
why I’m fat. I’m not fat because I
frequently eat in restaurants where portion size is completely out of control,
though that certainly contributes. I’m
not fat because I’m no longer a young man, though a slowing metabolic rate
plays a role. And I’m not fat because of
problems with my thyroid or any other medical condition that can cause obesity.
I can’t even plead depression or a psychological need for “comfort food” or the
like. I don’t dispute that this is a
real issue for some people, but I don’t eat because I’m depressed or bored or
in need of comfort. I eat, quite simply,
because I like food and I would rather eat a lot than a little. And as my longsuffering wife has pointed out
to me on several occasions, I have the uncanny ability to pick up a menu and
zero in—radar like—on the least healthy offering. Why pick a salad if I can get a well-marbled
steak? Why select a lean chicken breast
if I can get barbequed ribs? And why get
four ribs if I can order a full slab?
The clinical term for my condition is gluttony. My name is Glen and I am fat and getting
fatter because I am a glutton.
A NEW LIFESTYLE
Spending the rest
of your life on a diet is not what this is all about. Nor am I suggesting that we exchange
undisciplined eating for a life of obsessing over some illusive physical ideal.
We gain nothing by trading shame for pride. The real work begins once you reach
your long-term weight goal. For then you
must develop and maintain lifelong habits that will enable you to sustain that
new weight. You see, I’ve been down this trail before. I’ve lost and found and
lost again that same 15-20 pounds numerous times. On one occasion I dropped
close to 30 pounds. First I lost the Cheese Whiz and Velveeta—fat easily gained
and easily lost. Then I lost the Brie and the soft, mild Colby. Finally I
started whittling away at that sharp, old, aged Cheddar that I’d been carrying
around since shortly after I got out of college. Hard fat. Resilient fat. Fat
that had successfully resisted all earlier attacks. Then I quit the diet, went
back to my old bad habits and regained most of what I’d lost.
One of the new
habits that is essential to defeating the sin of gluttony is learning to
balance feast days with fast days. Both
were a part of the life of the ancient Israelites. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a feast
so long as you don’t expect every meal to be a banquet and every day a feast
day. We fret and worry about gaining
weight over the holidays. But the problem is not what we eat between
Thanksgiving and New Year’s. The problem is what we eat the other 10 ½ months
of the year. We must develop and nurture the spiritual discipline of
temperance. And unlike an alcoholic, just swearing off food really isn’t an
option. For true temperance isn’t about abstinence. It’s about moderation. It
is giving Jesus Christ Lordship over your mouth, your tongue, your teeth, and your
belly. It is recognizing gluttony for what it is: a sin—an area of our lives
that we have withheld from Christ and over which we maintain our own lordship.
And the evidence that we are doing a really lousy job of managing these little
fiefdoms is all too evident.
A second
essential habit is to sustain and increase a daily exercise regimen. Muscles burn calories. The better your physical condition the more your
metabolic system serves as your partner in maintaining a healthy body. I’ve
lost weight without exercise many times. But I’ve concluded that I’ll never
keep it off without adopting a lifestyle that burns more calories.
Wednesday was the
first day of Lent. For my Lenten sacrifice in 2013, this chubby preacher boy is
giving up that old, aged, hard cheddar. I’m seeking the healthy body trapped
inside. Until those goals are met, I will be living off of the fat of the Land.
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