Gluttony

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Category: Holiness

Published on Friday, 03 April 2009 04:32

Written by Ryan Hicks

GLUTTONY

By Ryan Hicks

Proverbs 23:1-3
1   When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
2   And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3   Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

Many claimed Christians and pretend ministers are given to appetite. Their appetites rule them and their decisions. They are fat and treacherous in the eyes of God. The Bible forewarned of people like this. A few Scriptures relating to these people are seen below.

Romans 16:17-18
17   Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
18   For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Philippians 3:17-19
17   Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
18   (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19   Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

These people that are given over to eating and food serve their own belly and not the Lord Jesus Christ. They have made a god out of their belly (appetites) and are enemies of the cross of Christ. These fat ministers that have fattened themselves up with food and yet are spiritually starving from lack of the word of God. They are doing great damage to the cause of Christ. They are making God's ministers look as if they lack temperance (i.e. self-control, a fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23). NO TRUE MINISTER OF GOD LACKS TEMPERANCE (Titus 1:7-9)! We must have self-control and not be given over to anything except Christ!

Deuteronomy 21:18-21
18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Notice that among the sins of this son is that he is a glutton. It is considered right up there with drunkenness, stubbornness, rebelliousness, and made him worthy of death. How many preachers today would have been put to death if they lived under the Old Testament law? I would have to guess by the fatness of the majority of preachers that many of them would not make it long.

God gives us the body we have and yet people deform it by packing on pounds and pounds of fat. This DOES DO damage to one's witness, for it shows the world that this person cannot control their food intake. How is someone different from the world if they are gluttons and their bodies testify against them? How then are the unsaved going to want to listen to someone who has less temperance than they do?

Proverbs 23:21
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

Once again drunks and gluttons are seen in the same category. The truth is that they are almost identical sins. The drunk drinks to feel better, and the glutton eats more than he should to feel better. Both are centered around feelings and not around Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

Here Paul tells us to not company with drunkards and the like, no do not even eat with them! With the two verses that mention gluttony ALWAYS also mentioning drunkenness can it be hard to imagine that we should act the same way toward the glutton that we do the drunk? The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not founded on food and feasting, but is founded on faith and holiness. It would be well for churches to stop having so many "socials" and "feasts" and have more times of fasting and more times of prayer.

Many people spend more time eating in a day then they do praying, studying the word, and thinking on the things of the Lord. THINK ABOUT THAT! Who would be the god of those people? It certainly could not be the Lord, for He is a minor aspect of their lives. No their god is their belly which is the seat of their appetites and passions. We need to help brothers and sisters that were gluttons before salvation and think about what foods we offer them and how much.

Let us fast if we must if it will keep a brother or sister from stumbling back into gluttony. Encourage, edify, and rebuke those that have been gluttons. Encourage those that have forsaken that sin. Edify those that are overcoming the temptation daily. Rebuke those that refuse to control themselves and if they refuse to listen to your concerns then do not company with them.

Gluttony is a wicked sin that is popular in all cultures, but believers should have no part in it. We have been made new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and have the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Things you can take away from this treatise? Well, besides obviously abandoning the sin of gluttony, can you be a blessing to a brother or sister that has repented of gluttony and is now trying to lose the weight they packed on from the sin? Why not go jogging with them? Why not bring them some healthy and good tasting food to eat so that they can enjoy proper portions of a healthy food? Why not buy them a membership to a gym to be a loving support to them? This is a brother or sister and they deserve the love of God from the saints.

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