What do the following people have in common?
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They are all gluttonous. みんな大食いなんです。
Today we continue our look at seven primary sins (the seven deadly sins) and, more importantly, their blessing counterparts, and we start today by looking at gluttony.
The big mistake in looking at gluttony is that we tend to think of it only as over-eating – as if that weren’t a big enough problem on it’s own in our world.
(You might be aware that this current generation is the first in human history to have more obesity than hunger.)
Yet gluttony refers to more than this.
– It refers to any kind of excessive indulgence.
– It refers to wanting more pleasure from something than it was made for.
– It also refers to wanting pleasure in exactly our way/on our own terms.
暴飲暴食は過度に欲しいままにすることならどんなことにでも当てはまり、本来あるべきよりももっと、自分の欲しいままに快楽を求めることです。
Let’s look at some ways that gluttony can appear:
Excessive eating 過食
Excessive drinking 飲みすぎ
Any kind of substance abuse (legal or illegal) あらゆる薬物乱用
Excessive sexual appetite 過度の性欲
Excessive working 過度の労働
Excessive internet use 過度のインターネットの利用
Obsession with making money and wealth 金儲けにとらわれ過ぎること
Excessive talking (“Where words are many sin is not absent” – Provs) 過度のおしゃべり
Excessive viewing of entertainment 過度の娯楽鑑賞
Obsessive demanding of time from others (often in dating but in any relationship) 人から時間をしきりに要求する
Obsession with fashion 流行にとらわれ過ぎること
Excessive religious activity 過度の宗教活動
I’m not going to go into detail on how each of these can impact a person’s life. I’ll let the Holy Spirit do that as you pray over these things.
I will comment comment briefly though on the last one. Excessive religious activity – anything from sermon preparation, to music practice, to cleaning the church, to church attendance and even reading the Bible – these can all become sins of excess – gluttony – IF they become more than what they were intended to be. If they become the focus of our lives over and above God Himself, then we become gluttonous.
Let’s look a little more at Why is gluttony a sin? なぜ暴飲暴食は罪なのでしょうか？
* It’s a form of idolatry.一種の偶像礼拝。 It places joy in the gift above joy in the Giver of the gift.
When we find more joy and value in the pleasures of this world – good, God-given pleasures – then we are guilty of gluttony and idolatry.
* It can reflect a lack of trust 信頼の欠如を反映する- either that God can provide for all our needs or that He will satisfy our desire for happiness. God’s provision of manna in the desert. God’s provision of “joy unspeakable” in the Spirit.
* It shows contempt for others who go without.持っていない人を軽蔑する It shows a disregard for the great commandment that we are to love our neighbours as ourselves.
Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Prov. 23:2
Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags. Prov. 23:20,21
What is the blessing counterpart of gluttony?
Self control. Moderation/Restraint. 自制 適度
But the fruit of the Spirit is…self control. Gal 5:22
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Proverbs 23:4
So we’re called to show moderation/restraint and self-control with the blessings in our lives. In 私たちは
our speech 話すこと
our eating 食べること
our drinking 飲むこと
our attitude to work 仕事への態度
our attitude to money/wealth 金銭の考え方
our use of the internet and social media インターネットやソーシャルメディアの使用
our viewing of entertainment 娯楽鑑賞
において適度に行うようにとされています。
and so on.
A moderate, self-controlled life is not only healthy for us, it can be a powerful witness to others:
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Phil 4:5
But moderation/restraint can also be a dangerous thing because if we misapply it, we risk compromising our faith. We risk becoming luke warm.
Applied to our enjoyment of blessing and godly pleasures, moderation is good and right. Applied to our devotion to God, and we have a problem.
In fact the very area that we are not to apply moderation to is our love of God. In fact, our love for God is to be anything but moderate. 控えめにしなくていいことは、私たちが神を愛することです。
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.’ Luke 10:27
The good news is that loving God whole-heartedly naturally leads to moderation in all other things. If God is the great love of our lives then we won’t have the desire to be gluttonous with anything else.
Seek first the kingdom of God and you won’t want to or need to chase after anything else. (Mat 6:33)
You can’t serve both God and money. If you truly love God, you won’t be obsessed with money. (Mat 6:24)
Scripture. 1 Thess 5:(2-7), 8-11, (12-24)
Use communion prep time to seek the conviction of the Holy Spirit on areas of our lives that might be gluttonous.
Pray.