Hello and welcome
to this message from Skip Heitzig
of Calvary Church. We pray this message
strengthens your relationship with the Lord. If it does, let us know. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online securely
at calvaryabq.org/give. Overindulgence is a hallmark
of our modern American culture. The temptation to eat
and drink too much or indulge in any number
of things is constant. It's also trivialized. As we continue the
series, White Collar Sins, Skip explains how you can bring
honor to God with your body. Now open your Bible to First
Corinthians Chapter 6, as Skip begins the message Gluttony,
Society's Most Acceptable Sin. Would you please
turn in your Bibles to First Corinthians Chapter 6. We are continuing this series
called White Collar Sins. It's interesting. Matt said, how many of you
are enjoying this series of White Collar Sins? And you were gracious
enough to affirm that. But I was thinking, that
enjoyment may have just ended with this message title,
Gluttony, Society's Most Acceptable Sin. So fasten your seat belts. I'm going to tackle a
very difficult subject. There's a great old story about
DL Moody that great evangelists from Chicago in
the last century-- And Moody loved
Charles Spurgeon. He considered Spurgeon
a mentor, a hero. Even though he didn't
know him personally, he had followed him from afar. And had always wanted to
meet Charles Haddon Spurgeon. So Moody went over to
London, knocked on his door. Spurgeon opened the
door, answered it, and opened the door with
a big cigar hanging out of his mouth, which
shocked DL Moody. And he kind of stepped
back a few steps on the stoop, shocked
and bewildered. And Moody said Spurgeon how
can you, a man of God, do that? And Spurgeon was always
up for a challenge. And he smiled, took the
stogie out of his mouth, walked down a few steps
where Moody was, and pointed to DL Moody's rather
large rotund stomach, and said the same way that
you, a man of God, can do that. It was reported that
Spurgeon even said Mr. Moody, I'll put down my cigars
when you put down your fork. Have you noticed that Christians
are quick to judge others on obvious blatant sins? I would call them cultural
sins, in some regards. They're quick to say,
well you shouldn't smoke, you shouldn't drink, you
shouldn't say those words, you shouldn't own those things. But they themselves,
while they say that, may be guilty of this
very sin of gluttony. Now I'm going to venture a
guess that you've probably never heard a sermon on
gluttony in your life. It could be, but I doubt that
you have or very, very few have. I've never preached one on it. This is the first time. You're thinking you must
be crazy to even try to tackle the subject. You want to make
everybody your enemy? And that is certainly
not my desire. When you hear the
word gluttony, I wonder what image
comes into your mind. I'll be honest with you,
when I think of gluttony, the first image comes to my mind
is from the movie Star Wars. I think of Jabba the Hut. That big old,
(GRUFFLY) I'm so large. That is the personification
of gluttony. Now maybe some of you are
more spiritual than I am. You don't think
of Jabba the Hut. You might think to that story in
your Bible of a King and judges three, called King
Eglon of Moab. The Bible says that
he was a very fat man. That's right there in the
Bible, King James and all. And it says that
Ehud from Israel was a left-handed warrior who
came to give a message to King Eglon. And it was a 18-inch bladed
sword that he kept on his side. He said I have a message for
you from God to his enemy, and he plunged it into Eglon. And it says Eglon was
so large that it just consumed the 18-inch
blade, handle and all. Just the folds of the fat
kind of went around it. And I just gotta say, it's
one of the coolest stories in the Bible if you're a guy. But the Bible does speak about
this issue in Proverbs 23. Solomon, who probably
knew a lot about gluttony, said do not mix with wine
bibbers or gluttonous eaters of meat, for both
will come to poverty. In Ezekiel Chapter 16, there's
a very interesting text regarding the city of Sodom. Most people think of
Sodom as being destroyed by God for one particular
sin, and they're quick to bring that out. However, it says in Ezekiel
16 that the sins of Sodom were pride, laziness,
and gluttony, while the poor and the
needy suffered outside. Then there is this crazy
text in Proverbs 23 where Solomon says when you
sit down to eat with the ruler, consider carefully
what is before you and put a knife to
your throat if you are a man given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food. Now the idea isn't go sit
down and slit your throat. The idea, graphically
put in poetic language, is don't allow yourself to
be controlled by a meal, even if it's a really great
meal from a really great King. The basic idea of gluttony
is over indulgence. And sure, we can
talk about food, and that's what our minds go to. And the Bible does
speak about that. But I think we also need
to broaden that out a bit and think of over-consumption,
over consumerism, over indulgence in
just about anything. And I think you might agree that
of all the periods of church history, this subject
has never been more pertinent than it is now. I read an article by
Joe McKeever, a pastor and an author. The article grabbed
my attention. It was called Five
Reasons Pastors Don't Preach on Gluttony. I thought I got to read that,
Five Reasons Why Pastors Don't Preach on Gluttony. Before I even read the article I
thought, I know why they don't. They want to keep their job. But that wasn't
one of the reasons. He gave five reasons. It's in Christianity.com. But afterwards, he
gives three reasons why they should
preach on gluttony. Number one he says is health. I'm quoting him. He said, "obesity is the
scourge of our times. It is the Black Plague
of the 21st century. Look at an old video clip
of city life in the 1940s and how slim people were,
then stand in the mall and look at your neighbors." So he says health
is the first reason. Second, he says is scripture. First Corinthians 10:31 tells
us whatever you eat or drink, and whatever you do, do
all to the glory of God. And the third reason McKeever
says preachers should preach on it, is for godliness sake. Part of godliness, he
argues, is self-control. And that is part of the
fruit of the spirit, as we'll see in Galatians 5. Now we live in this culture. We live in this society. And what you should know
is that our society is now beginning to adjust for this
lifestyle change, this sort of gluttonous behavior. Airlines are redesigning
and reconfiguring their airplanes to accommodate
larger sized patrons. Hospitals are adding
space just to handle the multiple diseases that are
stemming from this lifestyle. Now having said that-- and it's interesting
how quiet we got at this last few moments-- you could almost hear a pin
drop if we had a hard floor-- at the same time,
I need to say this, we have to be very,
very careful here not to judge a person based
upon outward appearance, based upon body type. We do not see the heart. Only God sees the heart. And it's wrong. In fact, it's sinful to
judge the inside of a person based on the
outside of a person. We don't know the
conditions that exist. Different people have
different metabolisms. Different people have
different genetic makeups. And there are certain
medical reasons why a person can gain weight. Even Jesus was accused of being
a glutton, which was untrue. But I've had to turn to
First Corinthians Chapter 6 because I want to look at this
through a very particular lens of two verses. First Corinthians Chapter
6 beginning in verse 19. "Or do you not know
that your body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in
your body and in your spirit, which are God's." In view of this
very negative topic, I want to give you four positive
truths, four affirming truths about your body. And essentially, what Paul
gives us in these two verses could be seen as a mini
theology of the human body. Here is Paul the Apostles
theology of your body. First of all, your
body is a holy place. Notice, he says do you not
know verse 19 that your body is the temple? Now three times in First
and Second Corinthians, the apostle Paul regards the
individual Christian's body as the temple of God. Once in a Ephesians, he talks
about all of the members, all of the people, the corporate
body of Christ as God's temple. But three times in First
and Second Corinthians, he's referring to the individual
Christian as the temple. So Paul is speaking here
about the physical human body. And what he is dealing
with is a culture that was existing in
Corinth at the time. And that was the
culture of pleasure. So what I want you to
do is notice something. We're going to look
at context here. I want you to go
back to verse 12. Paul says, "All things
are lawful for me. But all things are not helpful." Just because I can do
anything, they're not right. I shouldn't do all things. "All things are lawful
for me, but I will not be brought under
the power of any. I'm not going to be
addicted to anything. Foods for the stomach and
the stomach for foods. But God will destroy
both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual
immorality, but for the Lord. And the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the
Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your
bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take
the members of Christ and make them
members of a harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he
who is joined to a harlot is one body with her. For the two, he says,
shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the
Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man
does is outside the body. But he who commits
sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know
that your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from
God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in
your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Now verse 13 was a slogan spoken
by people who lived in Corinth. I want you to
notice what it was. It says "food for the stomach
and the stomach for foods." People were saying that all
over the streets of Corinth. That was a modern common slogan
in Corinth 2,000 years ago. And what it meant was
this, food is a necessity but it's also a pleasure. And for that matter, so is sex. It's a necessity for procreation
but it's also very pleasurable. So they use this little
slogan to justify their excessive behavior. They used it to justify
gluttony, sexual immorality, drunkenness. It was a lifestyle of hedonism. It's all about getting
pleasure for my body. So Paul says that may be
true that food and sex are both necessities as
well as the pleasure. But what you need
to know is your body serves a higher purpose
than just your pleasure. It is God's place. It's a holy place. So get this, you have a body,
but you are not just your body. You are body and spirit. Paul says that in verse 20
that you should glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God. So you have a spirit,
but you also have a body. And the body is the means by
which your spirit communicates to others around you. You want to share your feelings,
your innermost thoughts, how you process
things, your values. That comes through the
medium of your physical body. But Paul calls it a temple. Something they would be familiar
with, because in Corinth there were many temples. And I've been to Corinth and
I've seen the ruins of temples to Aphrodite and Apollo
and Aesculapius and others. But if they were Jewish in
their background, some of them were, they would
automatically think that there was also
a temple in Jerusalem to the true and living God. And that would have
special meaning to them. Because a temple was
a place of worship. The temple was a
place of prayer. A temple was a place of
sacrifice, celebration. Temples were built in cities to
remind inhabitants of that city that God had a plan and
a purpose for their life. So when he says your body is a
temple, it's very significant. So these temples were built. But they were also kept clean. They would build a temple. They wouldn't just let
it go off on its own. They would maintain and clean
that temple, even in Jerusalem. If you remember, I'm not holding
you accountable to remember this small detail, but back in
First Chronicles Chapter 23, after Solomon built
the temple, it says that he employed 38,000
people, 38,000 men, Levites, to help the priest with
their daily responsibilities. And 24,000 of them were
to look after the work of the house of the Lord. That is, they were to maintain
the temple, clean the temple, make sure it was just right. And then we even say that Jesus,
twice in his ministry-- we call it "cleansed" the temple. Have you ever heard
that terminology? That didn't mean he had
a sponge and a bucket, and he's out there
cleaning the temple. It meant that he took a whip
and he drove out of the temple those who were buying and
selling in the temple courts. He cleansed the temple. Likewise, when we view
our body as a temple, we are raising the
viewpoint of our life. It raises life to
a higher plane. Because now, I see my
body, not just as a tent, though it is temporary. I don't see my
body as a tenement. I don't see my body
as a trash can. I see my body is a temple. So your body is a holy place. Second affirming truth, second
positive truth about your body. Your body is a holy place but
your body has a holy person. In fact, that's what
makes it a holy place. Did you see what he said? Your body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, and
whom you have from God. In ancient pagan temples, there
was the belief among the pagans that the god or goddess that
they worshipped at that temple was housed in that temple. So they would put up
an idol, a statue. And they actually believed
that the god or goddess inhabited that likeness, that
idol, that was represented. Now this was far
different from Jerusalem. Was there any statue in
the temple in Jerusalem? Any picture of God? How many pictures of God
or statues were there? This many, zero. Because of the
second commandment, they couldn't make statues. They couldn't make
images of God. They believed however,
that God was present there. They called it the
kavod, the holy presence of God in the temple. But they knew that the power
of God and the might of God does not dwell in temples. As Solomon said, and Stephen
repeats in the New Testament, for the most high does not dwell
in temples made with hands. He does however, dwell in
this temple, the physical body of the Christian. He takes up residence
in your body. Jesus Christ said
in John 14 speaking of the Holy Spirit, the spirit
of truth dwells with you and He will be in you. So your body is a holy
place because your body houses a holy person, the
Holy Spirit, the third person of the triune God. What does that mean
to you practically? Well, what it should
mean is that you ought to see or body as
the base of operations from which the Holy Spirit
works in the lives of people around you. Just as Jesus moved from
Nazareth to Capernaum, and made Capernaum the
headquarters for 3 and 1/2 years of his earthly
ministry, start looking at your body as HSHQ,
Holy Spirit's headquarters right now in my physical body. He is taking up residence in me. So Jesus wanted to win
you so the Holy Spirit can dwell in you. That's part of his redemptive
plan it's not just to save you, it's to save you
and then use you by planting His Holy Spirit in
you as the base of operations. So my body as a temple,
should be used to worship and serve the true
and living God. Hold that thought. When Paul writes his letter
to the Philippians, which we covered in depth on Sunday
mornings not too long ago, he said a strange
phrase in Chapter 3. He spoke about those
whose God is their belly. Isn't that a weird phrase? Whose God is their belly? What, do I go hallelujah
belly, I praise you. Worship-- that
just sounds weird. But listen to the
whole sentence. "Whose God is their belly
and who set their mind on earthly things." In other words, they
worship their appetites. They are controlled
by their appetites. They don't control
their appetites. Their appetites control them. They just serve their appetites. That's what it means by
their God is their belly. Question, why do
people become gluttons, to use the Bible term? I want to be careful here
because I am not a doctor. I am not a psychiatrist. I'm not a psychologist. There are a variety of reasons
that people have food issues. But let me give you one of
the most fundamental reasons why a person would
resort to gluttony. It's because so many
people have a flawed view. The primary view of
humanity is flawed. And that is most people,
many people in this world, their primary view
of humanity is I exist here for my pleasure. Life is about my personal
pleasure, which by the way was the unsaved
Corinthians view of life. There's a whole Greek school
of thought called epicureanism. And Epicurus and his
followers, the Epicureans, believe that life's sole
purpose was for enjoyment, sensual enjoyment, enjoying
food, enjoying drink, enjoying all those things
in excess as much as you want as long as
it brings you pleasure. Now many times
gluttony is the result of trying to cover up
some emotional scar. Gluttony is often regarded
as an emotional cry for help. As author Peter Devries
writes, "gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign
that something is eating us." Back in the 1980s
there was a young man from New York called
Christopher Rios. He was a rapper, a rap artist. And his nickname-- they
called him Big Pun, which stood for Big Punisher. Now he admitted to
eating to seek relief from emotional pressure, to seek
relief from emotional pressure. He eventually died
because of obesity. When he would go
to the stage, they had to put him on a golf
cart just to get them there. They had to take him off
the stage on a golf cart, take him to his room,
put him in a van, take him back to his
hotel room, et cetera. And before and
after every show he had to just be hooked up
to oxygen just to survive. Well he died of a
heart attack at age 28, most articles will tell you
directly due to obesity. Then there's actor
Marlon Brando. And his eating binges
were legendary. He frequently ate two whole
chickens, a half a cheesecake, and a pint of ice cream
in a single setting. He was also known to drive to
food stands in the wee hours to gorge on several hot dogs. So he put on his hat and
sunglasses like he's hiding. And I mean, come on,
he's the Godfather. (MARLON BRANDO IMPERSONATION)
Give me some hot dogs. [LAUGHTER] Close to his death Brando,
weighed over 300 pounds. Now did you know that Satan
often tempts people with food? He did it with
Eve in the garden. He held out food to tempt her. She looked at that and
said it's good for food. Satan tempted Jesus with food. He said, hey, if
you're Son of God, command these stones to
be turned into bread. Jesus said man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Satan tempts people with food. But the stomach might be full
while the heart remains empty. And for many
people, they're just trying to cover up what has
long been called the God sized hole that every person
has in their life. There is an emptiness
that everyone's born with, a God sized hole. And people can try to fill
it with food, with drink, with sex, with status, with
wealth, with experiences, but that hole just grows bigger. Because a God sized hole
can only be filled with God himself. Now Christian, you and I, we're
the temple of the Holy Spirit. And if we're the temple
of the Holy Spirit, that means our temple should
be filled with what? The Holy Spirit. That's why the Bible says be
filled with the Holy Spirit. If your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit, you can't lock
the Holy Spirit up in some little room in
the corner of your temple and say you're staying in there
all long, except on Sunday. I'll take you out once a week. No, you give him the keys to
every single room in your life so it is filled with the
Holy Spirit, not just one little category, not
just one little area. Be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the very
resident that God has placed within you, the Holy Spirit. So your body is a holy place,
your body has a holy person. Let's take it to a
third positive thing about this very negative topic. Your body had a hefty price. Want to see what
God did to get you and your body, your
body and spirit? Verse 19 tells us,
"Do you not know that your body is the temple of
the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?" Now watch this. "And you are not your own." Whoa, you don't belong to you. "For you," verse 20, "you
were bought at a price." So get this. Before you could ever
think of saying it didn't matter what
I do with my body. What it really matters is
what I do with my spirit. Let these verses sink in. God paid a hefty price to
get both you, your spirit, and your body in one package. And that was, according
to First Peter Chapter 1, you were redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ. Vance Hapner put it this way. Salvation is free
but it's not cheap. Now because God paid
that hefty price, that means he owns
your very life. As Daniel would say to
Belshazzar back in Daniel Chapter 5, God holds your
very breath in his hand, what that means is you
cannot claim independence. You cannot claim individuality. You cannot claim
self-determination. You cannot say I'm own person. I'll do whatever I want to do. No, you're not. You are bought with blood. God bought you for
himself is Paul's point. So wouldn't you want to
make lifestyle choices that reflect that great truth? Wouldn't you want to make sure
that the base of operations for the Holy Spirit, your body,
is kept as pure as possible? Think of your body as a city. In ancient times
they would put a wall around the city to keep
bad guys from coming in and good guys from
getting hurt by them. They had walls around
every city for protection. And in those city walls
they had city gates. And that was to monitor
the flow of traffic. Let certain people
in, but not others. Let certain people
out while protected, but they could come
back to that protection. So think of your body that way. You have gates. You have the eye gates. You have ear gates. You have a mouth gate. You open your eyes
and you let images in. You let things into
your eye gates. Be very careful what you
look at, especially men. Be very careful what you
allow your eyes to fixate on. Protect the city by the gate. Be very careful what you
allow in your hearing that can be unwholesome. Be very careful in the mouth
gate what words you let out, what foods or
items you bring in. Make sure that it's protected. Now someone might
be thinking yeah, but Jesus said
it's not what goes into a man that defiles him
but what comes out of a man. You're absolutely correct. But we're not talking
about being defiled here. We're talking about being
usable as long as is physically possible. Make sure that your body
is a well tuned instrument in God's hands. Because you see
gluttony, according to this article that I
have, devalues and lowers our quality of life. Quoting from it, it says,
"obesity is a health hazard." It's a risk factor for such
serious health issues as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure,
unhealthy cholesterol levels, heart disease, stroke,
colorectal, breast, and uterine cancer,
gallstones, infertility, joint problems, and back pain. Sorry, for some of your TMI. But obesity causes 300,000
people a year their lives. That's the rate in this country. Every year 300,000 people die
of obesity, not to mention the emotional scarring,
the depression, the low self-esteem, and other
factors that are involved. So God did something
to purchase you so that the Holy
Spirit can then live in you from which he
can influence and work on people around you. Now let's close this
off and let me give you a fourth positive truth
about your physical body. Your body has a
heavenly purpose. There's a word in verse
20 that is the hinge word. It's the word therefore. Notice he says therefore,
glorify God in your body and in your spirit
which are God. You know, that's
how Paul writes. He was so logical. He would say stuff,
stuff, stuff, more stuff. And then he'd go, now therefore. So I said all that stuff
because it's leading to this. All that means this. And here's the hinge, therefore. Because God gave his Son to buy
you to place his Holy Spirit in, therefore, our
responsibility glorify God in your body and in your
spirit which are God's. In other words, your body
should be a billboard to the glory of God. That is, your body should
point people to God. Now, I know you've heard that
term before, glorify God. It's a Bible sounding term,
Bible sounding phrase. What does it mean exactly? Let me tell you what I think
it exactly simply means. I'll break it down. It means your mouth-- part of your body-- your mouth can
preach the gospel. Your hands can help the needy. Your feet can go to the lonely. Your ears can listen
to the brokenhearted. Your lips can smile
at the oppressed. Your eyes can give
attention to the forlorn. And in all these ways
you use your body, you are telling a world
God cares about you. God loves you. That's how you glorify
God in your body. [APPLAUSE] Now when I start thinking
of my life this way, life doesn't become
about my pleasure. It becomes about his purpose. So instead of this
slogan in Corinth verse 13 "foods for the stomach
and the stomach for foods." My slogan is my
life for His glory. My lips for His glory. My eyes for His glory. My ears for His glory. My whole life for his pleasure. Therefore, glorify God. Now here's the irony to this. When I live for his pleasure
and his purpose, I find pleasure and I find my purpose. It's funny how that works. The more you give
your life away-- Jesus said the more you gain
your life, the more you pour it out, the more it comes back. The more joy you get by not
living for your own pleasure or joy, but you live for
his pleasure and purpose, and that brings you joy. It's funny how that works. Best example I know
of, Paul the Apostle. Listen to this man standing
on the shores of Miletus with the elders of
Ephesus around him. And he says, I go
bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing
the things that will happen to me there except that the Holy
Spirit tells me in every place that chains and
tribulation await me. Now listen to his response. But none of those
things move me, nor do I count my own
life dear to myself that I might finish
my course with joy. What? Who are you, Paul? He says, I know it's going to
get bad when I go to Jerusalem. I know I'm going to get beat up. Going to get arrested. The Holy Spirit says
that everywhere I go. Here I go. Because actually, I
don't care about my life. I care about what he
wants from my life. And that brings me joy. I live for his plan
and for his purpose, and that brings me joy. I've said this on
several occasions. I'll repeat it again
to then turn it around, that the more you do
as you please the less you are pleased
with what you do. I know people all
over the place, they just do what they please. And the more you do
as you please the less you are pleased
with what you do. But here's the reverse of that. It's also true. The more you do as
he pleases the more you are pleased
with what you do. That's how it works. Now having said that, I want
to bring this to a conclusion. So I want to ask
this question and try to answer it a little bit. How does one overcome gluttony? Now that's not an easy question. It's not an easy answer. There are food
clinics and there are programs that deal with a
number of different levels. I just want to make
it simpler than that. I want to begin
on a simple level. And I want to say that to
begin, we need to say yes. We need to say no. And we need to say go. I want to explain those. First of all, we
need to say yes. Before we say no, we need
to say yes to something. And what you need
to say yes to is to develop an appetite
for truth, an appetite for the word of God. Don't tune me out here. Don't brush this over. Have you noticed in the Bible
how often times the Bible is used with the analogy of food? Like it says in
Psalm 34 verse 8, oh taste and see that
the Lord is good. Or First Peter
Chapter 2 verse 2, desire the pure milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. Or Jesus' words Matthew
Chapter 4 verse 4, man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So you say yes to that
and allow the Lord to develop within you a real
hunger for righteousness, for spiritual things. That's what you say yes to. Second, say no. Yes, there comes a point when
you are sitting at a table and there's stuff in
front of you to say no. Daniel said no. King Nebuchadnezzar brought
him all the scrumptious fare of Babylon and he said no. It says he purposed in his
heart not to defile himself with a portion of the
King's delicacies. He said no. Saying no is self-control. And the Bible says that's part
of the fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5, for the
fruit of the spirit is love, peace,
joy, long suffering. Down the list is self control. It means saying no to
certain kinds of food. It means saying no to
large portions of food. It means saying no to
seconds or thirds or fourths. One of the ultimate
ways of saying no is something that is little
talked about these days called fasting. The Bible talks about
fasting from food. That's where you say
no to food itself for a period of time
for a specific purpose. When Jesus spoke about this
on the Sermon on the Mount, He said-- and listen
to how he put it. When you fast, don't
be like the hypocrites. Notice he didn't say
if you ever fast. He just assumed you would. So he said when
you fast, don't be like the hypocrites who
make a big show of it, but do it this way. So when you fast, you are
making your appetite your slave. You're saying appetite, you're
not going to control me. Because your appetite
wants to control you. Because you're thinking
man, it's been 20 minutes. I haven't eaten. And we even say I'm
starving to death! So when you fast, you tell
your appetite get down, behave. You're not going to control me. I'm going to control you so
that for a period of time I can focus on the Lord's voice. So say yes, say no. And then finally say go. Now, this is very practical. It means get up and
move that body around. We live in a very
sedentary culture. We live in a desk bound, chair
bound, couch bound culture. And sometimes you just need to
tell your body like Paul said, I beat my body into
subjection, right? I make it a slave. Get up and go. First Timothy Chapter 4
verse 8 tells us bodily exercise profits a
little, but godliness is profitable for all things. I've heard people for years
quote that as a reason why they don't exercise. Well bodily exercise
just profits a little. OK, you need a little help. [LAUGHTER] And the idea is
Godliness is more profitable than bodily exercise,
but the idea of the verse is bodily exercise
has some value. So use the value and
keep your instrument, your human physical body
as usable in God's hands as healthy as possible until
the day he calls you home. I have a friend who's
around 80, very healthy, exercise all the time. And I said to him so
what do you like to do? And he said oh,
don't misunderstand. I hate exercise. I don't like any of it. I do it. I do it frequently,
but I don't like it. I said why do you do it? He says let me tell
you why I do it. I do it because
I see it as a way to tell God thank you for
the body you've given me. I'm a steward of
what he's given me. And so for me to
take care of this, I'm just giving him thanks
by taking care of the vessel that God gave me. So in conclusion,
gluttony did you know was once on the list
of seven deadly sins? I got to tell you
it's off that list. It's now on the
acceptable sins list. People don't bat an eye at this. Most people don't
even think about this. But at the same
time, we have to be careful not to judge people
based on outward appearance, on body type. There is a number of
reasons that people have different sizes and
weight, so we can't go there. However, having said that,
we also realize the culture that we live in. We live in a culture
of fast food. We live in a culture
of supersize drinks. Even the old, supersize me. We live in a culture
of taco Tuesdays and waffle Wednesdays
and French fry Fridays. And all you can eat buffet. I'm making a lot of you
hungry, self included. There's even a motto in some
Christian circles that goes like this, when we meet we eat. Can I encourage you not
to use that motto from now on if you do? How about when we meet we
meet each other's needs? When we meet we eat the
depth of God's word. Let's meet over those issues. Food is good. You need it. But too much food is not good. Too much of anything, excess
of anything-- something that is good can become
bad when it's not done for the right
reasons at the right time with the right amount. Father, we want to glorify
you with our bodies. You've given them to us. We're born with these bodies
for better or for worse, and things have happened
to these bodies over time. But Lord, they're still the
receptacle for your Holy Spirit to live within and shine from. So Lord, I pray in Jesus'
name that you would simply give us grace as we sang in this
worship said earlier on grace after grace. We need your grace
just to realize that we can live life
at a higher plane, that our bodies
isn't a trash can. Our body is a temple. And it's a temple
because the holy person of the Holy Spirit, the third
person of the triune God who lives in these bodies. Moreover, you bought
us with a hefty price. We belong to you. And because we belong to
you, we're not our own. We have a purpose to glorify
you with these bodies and with this spirit
that communicates through these bodies to a
world that God loves and cares for them. We want to do that well. In Jesus' name. Your body is a holy place and
it has a heavenly purpose. So how will you apply what
you learned in this message to become a better
steward of your body? Let us know. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/gift. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
