Gluttony

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Welcome to Thrive. It's good to have you here. You see, we're starting a new series that we did last week. It's called The Seven Deadly Sins. And I think we're exploring these. I like the word exploring because we're not here to berate. We're not here to lecture. We're not here to demand perfection or shame anyone. These are all things that we all struggle with in different ways. This is not a series to say, you better not even think about greed or gluttony or envy. It's really much more about our human fallibilities and foibles and how deadly that can be, you know, left unchecked. But we have a God who is a cure for it all, for that deadliness, who is himself the resurrection and the life. And this text today that we're going to be looking at, we're going to be working on gluttony today. And you think right away, what do you think when you hear gluttony? Food. It's not really about food or only food. It's about consumption, just living a consumer, suck it all in, take it all in lifestyle. So yes, food, pleasure, experiences, material gains. You can be gluttonous in so many ways. You know, we believe in original sin. That doesn't mean I sin originally. My sins are copycat sins. My sins are the same ones I keep doing, okay? What original sin means is that there is an origin point where it happened all the way back with Adam and Eve, okay? There's an origin point to sin, and we all get it passed on to us, the gift that keeps on giving from one generation to the next all the way through, and we're all stuck in this. That's what we're talking about. So when we talk about the seven deadly sins, we're really talking about different proclivities we have from that original root, if that makes some sense. So some people, yes, my original sin and your original sin is the same, but my proclivities and your proclivities are a bit different, you know? So I'm a little more easily envious of other people, or maybe a little wrathful at times. Others may be more greedy or gluttonous or slothful, right? So we all have those different things, and it also seems like there's different cultures and different periods of time where different sins seem to be highlighted. So some cultures believe anger's a good thing and you need to let it out, and other cultures believe that what makes the economy hum is greed, so let's go for it. And still others are more self-indulgent or what you'd call gluttonous, and others wear sloth or leisure take precedence. So different cultures around the world, none of them are perfect, none of them are great. Ours as well will kind of emphasize one or the other, but the root is still the same. The root is still the same. And in fact, you know, the seven deadly sins list is not something you're going to find in the Bible as, like, here's the list. In Proverbs there is a list of seven things that God hates, but they're not this seven deadly sin list specifically. It was something that was developed over time to say these are the seven that we think are, but you probably could come up with new ones, in a sense. I think the tribalism of our day and age is a deadly sin that's going on right now, but you could also say tribalism is very similar to pride, okay? So maybe the seven are not a bad list to go with. So today, like I said, we're looking at gluttony, and first of all, I want to do say thank you to so many of you that have been so supportive at the news that my mother passed away this last Wednesday up in Michigan, and I'll be traveling up there this week. And there's some real timing God has made that this parable that we're going to be looking at in Luke is the one text that I'm preaching on today, considering my mother's life and how she lived it, and where she found her help and her sustenance and her foundation, versus how many people do live and handle it. And so we're looking at that today. And like I said, the best place I think when I think of that sin of gluttony, the best one I could think of is this text from Luke chapter 16, verses 19 to 31. So let's read that now. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried up by the angels to Abram's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment. He lifted up his eyes and saw Abram far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus and like men are bad things, but now he is ...