MOCKING GOD IN OUR FOOD
01/04/18 10:25
To make things worse, we don't just choose food over God we choose food over God and then we mock God over our choice; not so much in WHAT we eat but in HOW MUCH we eat. We joke and make light about food and about gluttony as if God has no care in how much we eat.
When I mention Sodom and Gomorrah the first thing that comes to peoples minds is sexual immorality. Yet, when we look at Ezekiel 16, we see a list of why God destroyed these cities; and sexual immorality is last on the list while gluttony is second.
Ezekiel 16:49 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
And when we look at James, you remember James right? He's the one who set the four subjects to have the gentiles follow in Acts. When you look at James, in chapter five, you see a warning to those who are rich and gluttonous:
James 5:1-6 (NLT) Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. 3 Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
Did you see that in verse five? When we are operating in gluttony, we are fattening ourselves for the day of slaughter. Like cattle before they day they are killed, so we are fattening ourselves for the day of our destruction.
I know many reading this don't think of themselves as very rich. We often hear about, and look to, the ones we call the one percenters. Fact is, if you make 41,000 a year or more, you are in the top two percent of the richest people. If you make 34,000 or more a year, you are in the top three percent of the richest people in the world. In America, we throw away 40% of our food. Truth is… all the warnings of the Bible about rich people, gluttonous people, people living in luxury, is talking about us Americans; who are the richest people in all of history.
Christ did not die on the cross so we could eat what we want and how much we want. Christ died so we can have communion with God and to be the image of God to others in the world. When we choose ourselves over God, there is no communion; there is no image.
This is not the un-Biblical works based salvation no more than my not sleeping around on my wife is done because she said not to. I don't sleep around on my wife because I love her and I don't want to sleep around on my wife. This is the call, a call to love God so much that we would not worship ourselves or food above His desires.
Let us enter into communion with God. Not by saying I can't do this or I can do that, but by saying, this is Your Word, Your desire, I'll choose you over myself.
This is not a radical form of Christianity - This IS Christianity. This is what it means to be called a Christian. We don't call the shots - He calls the shots.
This is my call to you. This is the call of God to separate ourselves from the things and the desires of this world AND to give glory to Him in what and how we eat. And I believe God will bless us for it. Not because we didn't eat dirty meats but because we put Him first in every aspect of our life.
Part 14 - Diseases Caused by Pork
When I mention Sodom and Gomorrah the first thing that comes to peoples minds is sexual immorality. Yet, when we look at Ezekiel 16, we see a list of why God destroyed these cities; and sexual immorality is last on the list while gluttony is second.
Ezekiel 16:49 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
And when we look at James, you remember James right? He's the one who set the four subjects to have the gentiles follow in Acts. When you look at James, in chapter five, you see a warning to those who are rich and gluttonous:
James 5:1-6 (NLT) Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. 3 Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
Did you see that in verse five? When we are operating in gluttony, we are fattening ourselves for the day of slaughter. Like cattle before they day they are killed, so we are fattening ourselves for the day of our destruction.
I know many reading this don't think of themselves as very rich. We often hear about, and look to, the ones we call the one percenters. Fact is, if you make 41,000 a year or more, you are in the top two percent of the richest people. If you make 34,000 or more a year, you are in the top three percent of the richest people in the world. In America, we throw away 40% of our food. Truth is… all the warnings of the Bible about rich people, gluttonous people, people living in luxury, is talking about us Americans; who are the richest people in all of history.
Christ did not die on the cross so we could eat what we want and how much we want. Christ died so we can have communion with God and to be the image of God to others in the world. When we choose ourselves over God, there is no communion; there is no image.
This is not the un-Biblical works based salvation no more than my not sleeping around on my wife is done because she said not to. I don't sleep around on my wife because I love her and I don't want to sleep around on my wife. This is the call, a call to love God so much that we would not worship ourselves or food above His desires.
Let us enter into communion with God. Not by saying I can't do this or I can do that, but by saying, this is Your Word, Your desire, I'll choose you over myself.
This is not a radical form of Christianity - This IS Christianity. This is what it means to be called a Christian. We don't call the shots - He calls the shots.
This is my call to you. This is the call of God to separate ourselves from the things and the desires of this world AND to give glory to Him in what and how we eat. And I believe God will bless us for it. Not because we didn't eat dirty meats but because we put Him first in every aspect of our life.
Part 14 - Diseases Caused by Pork
