What The Bible Says About Gluttony (EP 195)

What's going on guys, welcome back to another episode of the Bryce cover podcast. I'm Bryce and today by the title of the episode, we're gonna be talking about the sin that Jesus was accused of and the sin that I believe culture has compromised and straight away from talking about and actually allowed in our society and that is gluttony. We're gonna define what gluttony is. We're gonna look in the Bible, see what it says and actually talk about how to overcome it because gluttony is just more than how much you weigh on the scale or what kind of food you eat it's actually gluttony is a lack of self-control when it comes to eating food. It's an excessive consumption of food stimulating from lack of self-control or in other words an unrestrained ravenous appetite would be what gluttony is. Or in other words, gluttony is when you turn to food for comfort, control, escape, satisfaction instead of turning to Jesus. And I think the reason why we have stopped talking about gluttony is because it has become normalized and accepted in today's society that we can find escapeism in food. Rather, there's not just physical harm but there's also spiritual and emotional damage that comes from gluttony. But before we get into the scriptures, we need to understand something. When you look at like the seven deadly sins from Proverbs 7 or 6 including gluttony, greed, pride, whatever it may be. The goal of falling in a sin particularly with something like gluttony is to try to find joy, try to find satisfaction. Oh, I want this like, look, I get it. Like literally the other night, I fell into gluttony. I caved and had, I'm gonna snitch on myself here. I had 40 McNuggets for McDonald's. And I'm not proud of it when I say it, and I'm laughing because Chris behind the camera is grinning at the back of him saying that 'cause he knows it's true. And I had an unrestrained appetite, unrestrained ravenous appetite. And in my mind, I was like, oh, this is gonna feel good. This is gonna taste good 'cause that's what joy is. It's about feeling good and tasting good. That's what's like, and in the moment, did my 40 McNuggets for McDonald's taste awesome? Yeah, was I slam dunking them in barbecue sauce? Yeah, but was I nauseous and did my stomach hurt and I felt guilty after I ate it? Yeah, probably within 10 minutes. Yeah, that happened when that happened. And so we kind of look at gluttony, for example, and we think, oh man, this is gonna taste good. This is gonna feel good. And so I need to find joy in eating food. But when God has put parameters and restrictions and warnings around things, God is not robbing us from joy. God is actually saying, you will find the purist and utmost greatest form of joy in the limits that I have restrained around you because actually we will find enjoyment and requirements and we will find enjoyment and satisfaction in saying no. We actually begin to enjoy things more life food activities when we say no. Actually, when we don't say yes all the time, and here's the thing I wanna challenge you in. This is what really, whenever I have these moments of like, 'cause this is something I really sure with, I love food. I love food. I love the way it tastes. I love the way it feels. And you know, your stomach oftentimes beats your brain. Your stomach's like, eat more, eat more, eat more and your brain is like, no, don't do it. And I've had a hard time with gluttony. This has been so hard. And the reason is because I think it's going to make me feel good or I'm gonna find something in there. But the reality is, is no. The food actually isn't gonna be satisfying in that way. You can be satisfied nourishly with food, but it's not gonna satisfy in that way. And we have things like door to action that has created this instinct gratification of food where you can get an influx of food in such a short amount of time and at your doorstep and whenever you want and how much you want, whatever it may be, and has created this instinct gratification where I would argue that a lack of self-control when it comes to your food actually points to spiritual starvation in your life. Because the thing that I get convicted of if I have this unrestrained ravenous appetite for food or if I'm struggling with trying to eat the thing I get convicted of is if you lack self-control and just the food then you eat them, what else will you end up cutting corners on in your life? If you cannot control the appetite that you have for physical food, then what else will you lack self-controlling in the future? Because I would argue that small decisions on something like food, which may seem small, if we sell out on that, then we'll create excuses and make ways to sell out on other sin areas in our life. Let's look at Genesis 25 for example, all right? Prime example, what happens? Esau comes home, Jacob's cooking up some stew. That boy Esau was so hungry, he sold his birthright for some stew. Are you kidding me? He sold his entire birthright in the state of Israel's election for a pot of stew. Does that not sound insane? It's crazy what we will do when we are start physically and we think that like, oh, the thing that will only satisfy is if, oh, if I eat, then I'll find satisfaction. Actually, if we create consistent rhythms of discipline and fasting, we will find the greatest form of joint satisfaction in that. Because what Jesus has in store for our lives is what's best for us if we trust that. I wanna ask you something real quick. 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This shows that there is like financial stress that comes when your god becomes your belly. Because you waste all this money on food. You waste all this money on alcohol. Like it's no coincidence that like yes, people struggle with finances in college because they get student loans, pay for college. But people also struggle with finances in college because they spend so much money at the bars on the weekend and they wonder what's happening with their money that they need for food or for school or for supplies or if they're car breaks down or whatever. And so problems like, hey, practically two things happen when you fall to drunkenness and gluttony is you have financial stress, financial ruin, but you also have your mindset on earthly things. Because when we fall to gluttony, we are trusting in food or trusting in alcohol rather than Jesus. And our mind has become set on earthly things. First Corinthians 10 says in whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God. Do you think God just like put that rule in there as like, oh, you know, I wanted to be a buzzkill? No, in the things that seem small in what you eat and what you drink, do it all for the glory of God. Everything that you consume, do it for your glory. We have to watch what we eat and consume. We have to be careful and we don't watch it. We don't watch it, good enough. And so the questions we should be asking ourselves when it comes to gluttony is this, what is the quality of what I'm eating? What is the quantity that I'm eating it? What is the quantity, the amount of it that I'm eating it? When and why? The quality, the quantity, the wind and the why. These four questions are so important for us to ask ourselves because when we say no to food out of discipline, we are actually saying yes to joy and freedom. What else does Proverbs say? Proverbs 25, 16 actually tells us that when you eat honey, it uses honey in this phrase, eat honey and moderation or else you will vomit your food up. So what happens with gluttony? Gluttony actually robs you from enjoyment and numbs the pain that you feel with. Gluttony is deeper than just a taste problem. It's a hard issue. It's an escapism issue. A lot of people escape things from different ways. People avoid conflict or deal with sadness or anxiety by running away from it. And that just means that the problems follow them or people treat their problems with food and the gluttony becomes like an Advil. It just numbs the pain for a temporary amount of time whether the pain comes back up sometimes even worse than before. And so when we come to gluttony, we have to be careful that our feelings and our emotions when it comes to food are not driven by an excessive consumption out of lack. And our God becomes our belly because it can become our belly very quickly and very easily. And we need to understand this thing about gluttony is that self control is a fruit of the spirit. And this fruit of the spirit can be applied to a lot of different things, sexual sin, gluttony, social media use, whatever it may be, idolatry, anything that you idolize, because gluttony is a form of idolatry, you're idolizing food, your belly is becoming your God, self-control is a fruit of the spirit. And so actually if we're struggling with gluttony, we don't need to conjure up some game plan like, yes, there's practical things, right? Quality, quantity, when and how. What's the quality of the food? How much of it am I eating? When am I eating it? And why am I eating it? Yeah, those are practical things that we can apply to. But the spiritual aspect of it is love Jesus. When you find your satisfaction in Jesus Christ, when you love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, straight, this is why Jesus said, here's the greatest commandment. Instead of shooting at the commandment, so I got to target, oh, I got to aim at the, at the target of gluttony. I don't miss the mark. I'm going to aim at pride. So I don't become prideful. I've got to aim at sloth. So I don't say, I got to aim at wrath. I got to aim at lust. I got to aim on these things. It's like, no, love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength. He summarizes it up by saying, when you love me, you'll naturally obey my commandments. When we love God, we watch what we eat. When we love God, we watch what we look at on our screens and stuff to avoid lust. When we watch, when we love God, we are careful at our ego and want to remain humble. Because Jesus didn't come to be served, He came to serve. As when we love God, everything stems from this deep love of God. Now I mentioned earlier, we would come back to drunkenness. What does the Bible talk about alcohol? I mentioned this about money. Alcohol is interesting, too, because it's amorous. It has no feelings, thoughts or emotions, but here's the difference. There's a difference between alcohol and drunkenness. Jesus turned water into wine, but people like to pull that verse out of the Bible when they have an alcohol problem. So let's talk about drunkenness. The Bible says, do not be drunk on wine, but be filled with the spirit for it is a waste. Isn't it crazy how we called being drunk wasted? And the Bible says, hey, don't be drunk on wine, but be filled with the spirit because it's a waste. And in fact, in Proverbs 31, King Lemuel's mother is telling King Lemuel, hey, if you're someone that is a leader or in some higher form of status, it's probably wise that you don't drink alcohol, so you don't like butcher your decision-making, you don't sway your decision-making, and be sober-minded. Be sharp. Now I've never had a sip of alcohol before, I don't say it on a pedestal. So if I had half of a glass of wine or half of a beer, I wouldn't be sober-minded. So I've just made the conscious decision, I'm never going to do that. Whereas there's other people that can be sober-minded in moderation. And so the question is, when it comes to alcohol, do we fall into the drunkenness category or gluttony? Do we have this excessive motivation with this unrestrained ravenous appetite, whatever it may be? It has my belly become my God. Do I find escape in alcohol? Do I find escape in food? And if you do, we have to pray. We have to repent as God forgives in ways that we have turned away from him to find satisfaction in other things. And lastly, we ask God to give us strength and discipline to overcome gluttony. This sin is something that we don't talk about a lot because we have allowed it in culture. See, these are the ways that Satan is so deceptive and sneaky. It's like we focus on these big, bright, in your face topics when it comes to morality and Christianity, but then we forget about gluttony. And I'm saying this is someone that loves food and struggles with food. Like I understand, if you were someone that struggles with gluttony, I understand. Like when I first started my workout journey, I went two months without, I'm really telling on myself right now, I went two months without eating unhealthy and then one night I caved and I ate more crumble cookies than one sitting than you think a human being could eat. I ate more crumble cookies than one sitting than you think a human being on their own could eat. I couldn't even get out of the parking lot. I ate it all in my car. This was last year. And in that moment, I felt ashamed, guilty because I knew there was no satisfaction in there. And the thing that your appetite does because it's associated with feelings and oftentimes whenever we rebel against God, it's how to feeling you're trying, oh, I don't feel God. So I'm going to turn back to this in issue because I don't feel God. So maybe this single work for me this time, also, I'm feeling appetite will sneak up on you. It's like, oh, you can feel something if you eat this food. But let me, let me just tell you something. There's no greater satisfaction to be found anywhere else, but in Jesus. So I want to pray for you and I'm praying for myself as well. Continue discipline in our diets. Just watch and be careful about what we eat and what we consume and not let our bellies become our gods, but let Jesus Christ be the Lord over our life at everything we do. Whether we eat or we drink, we want to do everything for the glory of God. Lord Jesus, we love you. We thank you. Got a gluttony. Something that we've neglected. We don't talk about a lot because it's awkward and it's confusing. We don't know what to think or say. Lord Jesus, we want you to be the Lord over our food over everything we eat and over everything we drink. So God, would you give us continued discipline and habits in our food because we want to honor you with our bodies. Our bodies are a temple of you. It's God we want to honor you with that. Secondly, Lord, we don't want to turn to food as our God. We want you to be our Lord. So every day and everything that we do, God, can we give you the glory, especially in our food. God, we love you. We thank you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.