GLUTTONY: THE MOST ACCEPTABLE SIN OF OUR TIME

Proverbs 23:1-8; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ezekiel 16:49-50; Colossians 3:1-10

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: ¹⁹Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.

Introduction: The Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas boasts the largest and most expansive buffet in the world. At a mere $50 per person, you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner and have every one of your food desires met. WATCH THIS. They offer more than 500 different entrées at breakfast, another 500 at lunch, and another 500 at dinner, you can experience every nationality of food, and you can experience every taste of food from the mundane and the normal to the highly exotic. You will never walk away disappointed. If you have a craving for something, you will find it, you will enjoy the finest delicacies known to man. And you don’t have to simply taste these things—you can have all you want. There is a sign at the buffet that says, “You never have to leave.” Why does this place even exist? This was their response: “We live in a world where and a time when people want what they want, when they want it, how they want it and at their disposal on demand. We are here to serve those desires and send them home satisfied.” They understand who we are. They understand our need to be filled, and they said, “Bring your desires. Bring your wants and we will fill them. We will satisfy you in all ways, shapes and forms.”

In the New Testament, St. Paul the Apostle includes “drinking bouts, orgies, and the like” in his list of “works of the flesh” that will keep “those who do such things” from inheriting the kingdom of God (Letter of Paul to the Galatians 5:19–21). Paul also likens gluttony to idolatry, as in his description of the “enemies of the cross of Christ” in the Letter of Paul to the Philippians: “Their end is destruction. Their god is their stomach; their glory is in their ‘shame.’ Their minds are occupied with earthly things” (Philippians 3:18–19). St. Thomas Aquinas specifies five ways in which gluttony can present itself in one’s behavior: (1) hastily, by eating or drinking too rapidly or at the inappropriate time; (2) sumptuously, by eating or drinking richly or expensively over healthier or more moderate eating; (3) excessively, by eating or drinking too much; (4) greedily, by eating or drinking too eagerly and refusing to share; and (5) daintily, by eating food that is dainty in quality or excessively prepared, basically, eating for the experience, and not for the reason why people eat.

Three aspect of focus:

1. Health
2. Scripture
3. Self-Control

1. HEALTH

Excessive fat accumulation; It may lead to diabetes; Hampers a good night’s sleep; May Increase cardiovascular health risk; Disrupts the digestive system; Might impair brain function

2. SCRIPTURE

Ezekiel 16:49-50 (New Living Translation)

⁴⁹Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. ⁵⁰She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.

Luke 7:34 (NKJV)

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

Matthew 11:19 (NKJV)

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

Proverbs 23:1-8…

3. SELF-CONTROL

Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken through, is a person who lacks self-control.”

Conclusion: “Gluttony is overindulging appetites of all kinds and never being satisfied, leaving us with a void we can’t seem to fill. But Jesus sets us free and gives us self-control to receive true and lasting satisfaction through Him.”