When More Isn’t Better: The Trap of Overindulgence | Cornerstone Church | Scott Rogers

A struggle that I've been having is that we live only about twenty five minutes away from a place called Franklin barbecue. And, if you've ever wondered what heaven might be, just come on out to Austin sometime and go to Franklin barbecue. The catch is you have to stand in line for a couple of hours.

And, when you get in, it's just it's amazing. It's like the pearly gates are right there in front of you. And I've been there several several times. Even when we lived in Houston, I would drive in and when we have friends visiting from out of country or out of state, I'd take them to Franklin and, I'd say, hey, but we're gonna drive three hours,

but then we're gonna stand in line for a couple of hours, and we're gonna eat, and then we're gonna drive back for three hours. So it's about an eight or nine hour ordeal, and people would say to me, you what you're crazy. And I'd I'd say, hey, I have an issue, man. Like, brisket is my drug. I love

Texas barbecue brisket. I know it can start a little bit of a debate and argument whenever you bring up barbecue, but Franklin is amazing. And so we would go there, and my problem every single time is my eyes are bigger than my stomach.

And, you know, I step up and and maybe there's three or four or five or six of us, but I step up and I'm like, you know, I'm gonna have I want a pound of moist brisket. Give me a pound of those ribs too because they're to die for. You know, might as well do a little bit of coleslaw,

maybe some maybe some beans, some chattro beans, and, I'll take one of those, those those apple pies too. Yeah. I'm I'm good. And you sit there and just eat and eat and eat. I cannot finish it. And literally, by the time we're done, I feel like just Like, I'm literally guilty of gluttony.

Pushing back from the table, walking out to the car, and just I'm like, this is not good. This gluttony thing, I think it's in the bible. And I just wanna have this moment of confession with you to lead the way because today, we're gonna talk about something in this series that we're in called the seven deadly sins

of suburbia. What are these sins that are in our very own backyard, meaning in our lives, in my life. If you've got a bible, I want you to open it up to the New Testament way towards the back to first John chapter two. First John chapter two, and we're gonna dig into a passage in in just a couple of minutes.

But I wanna What I wanna do is I wanna share with you a definition that I got online about gluttony. Here's what vocabulary.com says, not about gluttony, but, but an indulgence. Excuse me. Because that's what we're talking about today. We're talking about indulgence. Can you say indulgence?

Look at your neighbor next to you and say, we're talking about you, bro. I'm just kidding. Don't be doing that. We're not playing the shame game here. Here's what vocabulary.com says in defining indulgence. It says, doing something you enjoy even if it has negative consequences.

Doing something you enjoy even if it has negative consequences. Raise your hand if you're like, ding. Been there, done that.

Just 12 of us? Okay. Everybody in the depot, be honest. Raise your hand if it's you've done something you enjoy, but there's been negative consequence. Okay. Everybody else in here who's honest now, raise your hand. Something you enjoy but has negative consequence. We we all. We all. We all. We all.

I mean, some things to think about though are comfort, food, entertainment, social media, substances, even work, things that we can enjoy, but they can become unhealthy in our lives. And what I want to encourage all of us to ask ourselves in the course of this conversation is this, how's my relationship with blank?

How's my relationship with, and you fill in the blank. How's my relationship with comfort? How's my relationship with food? How's my relationship with alcohol? How's my relationship with work? How's my relationship with entertainment and media? How's my relationship with barbecue?

And it kind of reframes this challenge that we all have when we identify it as a relationship. Has food become a bully in your life? Has alcohol moved from an acquaintance to a master in your life? We're talking about indulgences.

Now, wanna give you a definition that I've spun up based on my understanding of the bible of holy scripture. And here's what I wanna share with you. A working definition of indulgence, chasing after pleasure,

position, or comfort at the expense of my health, my relationships, and my spiritual well-being. Because the reality is that these indulgences that we all can struggle with in different ways at different times, they almost always start small, don't they? It's just a little extra. One more. Give me the next one.

And it starts small, but if it goes unchecked, it turns into a big thing. And when the little things turn into the big things and they begin to spiral out of control, it's to the detriment of our own health and even affects our families, our vocations, and could literally derail God's calling on your life and my life.

We're talking about the seven deadly sins of suburbia, and we're just gonna unpack this reality of indulgence for a couple of minutes. And I wanna share some ways to get the victory over the indulgences because that's why we're here, because Jesus gives us the victory.

There's a church in the bible called the church of Corinth, And the church of Corinth is really interesting because it's in the New Testament and it's Paul the apostle writes two letters to the church in Corinth, first Corinthians and second Corinthians. And a lot of what he writes is in response

to the questions that they're asking, but he's also responding to literally a church gone wild. A church gone crazy. I almost look at Corinth as kind of the Mardi Gras church. You open up first Corinthians and second Corinthians and you see believers, followers of Jesus, like many of you and me,

who are living in sexual immorality. They are operating in in a very spiritually dysfunctional environment. There's politics going on, the abuse of power, and it's just a crazy mess in the Christian church in Corinth. And one of the things they seem to be wrestling with is what they're doing in response to the grace of God.

Just like I would say, they're probably saying, hey, I am I'm going to heaven because of Jesus and Jesus only. Nothing added, nothing taken away. That's what gets me into relationship with the father and gets me eternal life.

So I'm saved by grace through faith. It's the gift of God so that none of us can boast, and they're probably people that are embracing this truth, yet they're kinda going off the rails. And here's what Paul writes to him.

In first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 23, we'll get to first John in just a moment, so hold it there. Here's what, verse 23 says in Corinthians 10. Paul says to them, and they're kind of going back and forth. He says, you say, quote, I am allowed to do anything because it's grace.

And then he responds, but not everything is good for you. You say, he repeats, quote, I am allowed to do anything, and then he responds, but not everything is beneficial. Some of these indulgences are perfectly allowable, perfectly fine until they get to be big things and they're no longer beneficial, they're detrimental.

So let's look at first John two,

and let's look at where these indulgences begin, kind of the origin of these things that we all, wrestle with in different ways in our lives. Go to first John two, and let's read through verses 15 through 17. If you're there, say I'm ready. Alright. I just need four of you. I'm ready to go. First John two verse 15 says,

do not love this world nor the things it offers you for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the father in you. Now, let's pause there for a moment. I'm reading from the new living translation.

John the apostle writes, don't love this world or the things it offers you for when you love the world, you don't have the love of the father in you. What is he saying here? Because it seems like a contrast. Have you ever read or know the most famous bible verse in all the world, John three sixteen? What's it say?

It says, for God so loved the world. So he writes in his gospel of John. He says, God so loved the world that he gave his only son. And then he writes to the church in first John two and he says, do not love the world. What in the world is he trying to say?

And he mentions in this translation the world five times, in other translations it six times. The Greek word is kosmos, And there's a distinct difference between John chapter three, God so loved the world, and first John two, do not love the world because John three sixteen is talking about God's love for you, for people,

for those created in his image, which is every single one of us. God so loved the world, he gave everything to redeem you and me back into relationship with him, and give us life eternal with Him. God so loved the world. John is actually saying, don't fall in love with the things the world

tries to pull us in with. He's saying, don't fall in love with pursuing worldliness because it takes us down a path that is not God's best for our lives. Don't love the things of the world. Let's keep going. Verse sixteen and seventeen. He says, for the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure,

a craving for everything that we see in pride in our achievements and our possessions. Another translation says, call it calls it the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This is the origin. This is our broken nature that we have. This side of eternity,

even in Christ, we still have these cravings and these desires, and this battle goes on. And then he says, these are not from the father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave, but anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Not only is he saying it draws us away from the things of God, but it's temporary. It's gonna fade away. All of this energy and this pursuit we put into things at some point, it's gone.

If you think of, if you're, if you if you read your Bible and you've ever read the book of Romans chapter 12, Paul writes, do not be conformed to this world. Don't allow the things of the world that are not of God's original design. Don't allow them to shape who you are. Do not be conformed

to this world. And I think John is saying here something a little different with that. He's saying, do not be contaminated by the world. Don't be contaminated by the world. Why would he say that? In addition to the unhealth and and the pain that it brings,

why else would he say this? Don't don't don't be contaminated by the things of this world. Hey, follower of Jesus, be careful. Don't be contaminated. One of the reasons I think is because when we are contaminated with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, these cravings that we have,

our indulgences dull our spiritual senses. They dull our spiritual senses. Do you realize that when following Jesus, God's desire for you and for me is to live a spirit filled life, A holy spirit empowered life. A spirit led life. A life so intimate with Christ that we are saturated with the presence of the holy spirit

in broken vessels, living out God's calling to be a great commission people and to grow into Christ likeness. And the more that we allow these little cravings to go from little things to big things, it dulls our spiritual senses. And we walk around in the fog, lethargic, to live in the hangover of our indulgences,

while trying to walk with the power of the holy spirit, it dulls our senses.

So, so what do we do with it? A little a little church humor, if I may, for just a moment. How many, how many Pentecostals does it take to change a light bulb? Three. One to change a light bulb and two to cast out the spirit of darkness. Now, I kinda come from that background, so I'm thinking on myself,

and here's the reality. With these indulgences, and these lusts of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, we can't cast it out. We can't cast it out. But what we do have to do as we walk with Christ is we crucify it. We crucify it.

Let me read what Jesus says in a verse that many of you are, familiar with. Matthew sixteen twenty four twenty five, Jesus says to his disciples that that is those who are following him, living in his ways.

Disciples of anybody here a disciple of Jesus? Put your hand in the air if that's you. Okay. The rest of you are gonna be before I dismiss you today. He says, then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross. Well, Scott, what what what's going on there? Because again, I can't work my way

into God's love and his favor. I can't do things to get to heaven other than just surrendering my life to Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. But there's something here that sometimes it's easy to overlook. And I want to throw out a little bit of a theological term to y'all

to think about for a moment. It's called the cruciform life. Cruciform or the cross centered life. When we read through the New Testament, saved by grace, but called to live a cross centered life, taking up our own cross. Why is that?

You know, this is really interesting because at our church in, Lakeway, Texas, last week, I was teaching on, Jesus' statement. We're we're going through this seven I am statements in the gospel of John, and they're all about Jesus' identity. And he says in John 11, he says, I am the resurrection

and the life. And it's just kinda funny to me that last Sunday, I'm talking about how we are a resurrection people. He is risen and we have life in him and so we are a resurrection people. And then, this weekend at Cornerstone, I'm saying, we are a crucified people.

We are a cross bearing people and you think, which one is it, Scott? You're kinda getting a little weird on us. You know, in in in Texas, you're saying, we're resurrected people. And in Phoenix I'm saying, we're a crucified people. That's the theological tension in the bible. Yes, we have life in him.

Yes, we are born anew. If anyone is Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come, but this side of heaven, take up your cross and follow me. Why? What's going on? Let me give you a statement. If you remember anything, remember this and forget everything else

because it will inform how you walk with Jesus for the rest of your life. First is his cross saves me. His cross saves me. My cross shapes me. My cross shapes me into spiritual maturity, into Christ likeness. We are called as a resurrection people to walk a Christ centered life, admitting

our desperate need for a powerful God who fills us with his spirit to live our, his calling on our lives. So I wanna give you just a few simple, introductory, but lifelong things that you and I can practice doing to begin to crucify our indulgences. And they're really simple,

but trust me, if you and I practice these consistently, we will get victory more and more over these things that we all struggle with. And again, this is just beginning kind of stuff.

And here's the first one. The next time you you you're you have the you're tempted with an indulgence, the next time your flesh tells you something,

or your eyes are telling you something, or the pride that we all have is telling us something, the next time any of those things in who we are says, hey, Scott, you deserve this. To say, no, I don't. I deserve better than this.

I don't deserve two pounds of beef. I deserve better. Just give me a give me a half a pound.

Scott, you deserve a second glass of wine.

No, I deserve better than that. To some of us, it might not even be one glass of wine. Scott, you deserve to numb out on social media for an hour because your day was so crazy stressful. Yes, I do. No, I don't. I deserve better than that. My family deserves better than that.

My legacy deserves better than that. God's calling on my life deserves better than that. God's calling on your life deserves better than that. Just remind yourself the next time you say to yourself, I deserve this. Just talk back to yourself like all of us crazy Christians do and say, no, I don't. I deserve better.

My kids deserve better. My relationships deserve better. God help me. That's one thing we can do to start to crucify some of these indulgences. Another one is this, and allow me to read it because it's a little longer. I just, I connect with Jesus daily, deepening my relationship with him.

Now, if you're a part of Cornerstone, you call this your home, this is what you're challenged and encouraged to do all the time. Connecting with Jesus. John 15 says, calls it abiding in Christ. Every day, just take the time and grab your chair and your Bible and read your Bible and just sit quietly contemplating, praying,

maybe journaling. God, your words speak to me today. God, strengthen me today. Well, give me wisdom and just worship the Lord. On your back patio, by your pool, whatever, just spend time with Jesus because when we spend time with him, our affections shift. We become hungrier for the things of God and our flesh

gets kind of pressed back as we spend time with him. Another one is just this and some of are gonna laugh at me, but it's it's just true. I practice self denial by saying no to at least one small indulgence each day. Again, beginner steps. Just say no at least once a day. Now I realize some of us need to say no definitively

in a massive way even beginning today. I understand that. But for the regular things, just start practicing saying no to one thing a day.

No, I'm not I'm not gonna pop that cork today.

I'm not trying to be cute and overlook the more serious things in life, but maybe it's like I'm not having dessert today. If your relationship with food has brought you to a place where it's a detriment in your life, I'm not having that today.

Is it Hulu or Netflix or Amazon Prime or all of the, not

today. I deserve better. I'm gonna go for a walk. Oh, you're in Arizona.

I don't know what you're gonna do. You're gonna have to figure that out on your own. I deserve better. Say no to one indulgence at a time or temptation for it. And what's what's crazy is this conversation, this kind of conversation has been happening in the Christian church church since the beginning

of the Christian church. Since the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus. They've been talking about these things. And if you look at church history for a moment, allow me to give a little bit of a, a church history lesson, if I may try. After the apostles died, then we have what are called the church fathers.

And the church fathers were the literally the disciples of the apostles. And they were passionate about crucifying the flesh, so that they could walk in the spirit.

And they kinda went to the extreme and I wouldn't encourage what all of that they did, but they got into this ascetic lifestyle, meaning they they were crucifying the flesh, they were going out into the desert, and they're praying all the time, and they're just trying to like live by the spirit. The intent was amazing.

There were There have been monastic movements like monks. Like I look at them and like, what are they thinking? What are they doing? And their their intent was to get away and to pray and to crucify the flesh and their indulgences and walk with the spirit of God, filled with him in their lives.

I think the struggle is that scripture doesn't tell us to be separate from the world, but we are in it, but through him we're to be different in it. There's things like the rule of Saint Benedict in the sixth century. If you ever look it up and you read it, you're like, man, this, this, this brother was intense

in his sanctification, his separation from the world. And it's it's a little intense for me, but his heart was to walk in the fullness

of the spirit and not succumb to the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the and the pride of life. And even today, there's a movement in the Christian church, and really amongst younger people, where they're calling it a rule of life. I wanna live my life by these things so that I give God

the most that I can for him to work with through me. And I think throughout the history of the church, I literally believe that Satan, our spiritual enemy, has taken these once good things and twisted him, and now we look at them, I look at them as legalism

In an attempt to be accepted by God, that was not the reason for it. It was to give God all of me, uncontaminated. You know what our church in, the Austin area, we do, something that's kind of new for me. We practice Ash Wednesday. And if any of you are familiar with Ash Wednesday, it's a really interesting service.

What happens is a few of our pastors will will kind of do the service and we'll kind of stand by the front. We'll have this little bowl of like charcoal And people come up and

put put my thumb in the charcoal, and they come up and they put a cross on their forehead. Have you ever seen someone walking through the grocery store with a curry You're like, what is going on there? And

and what we do, what we say is we put the cross on their forehead, we say, from dust you have come to dust you will return. And it's a statement of humility, and it's recognizing our mortality in a physical sense and saying, God, I am but

human. I need your strength and your power in my life. And I gotta tell you, it's pretty humbling to have a 100 people walk up to me, and I'm this close to them. Not quite that close, but that close, and I'm like putting a cross on their forehead.

From dust you have come to dust you will return, And many of them are kind of tearing up. Some of them are just really deeply processing. Others kind of have that look like, I have no idea what's going on right now, but I'm just going with the flow. And it's a pretty powerful experience. And Ash Wednesday comes from this,

thing called a liturgical calendar, which was designed for good things and it's gotten all upside down. But there's this thing if you and this this progression of things, there's something called fat Tuesday. Anybody ever heard of fat Tuesday? You're like, yeah, I've been in New Orleans.

I mean, it's like Mardi Gras, and Fat Tuesday is all about indulgence and debauchery. And I'm here to say, don't do that. It is unhealthy, and it is sin. But there's fat Tuesday. And then what would happen is the Christians who indulge themselves in this fat Tuesday time would go to an Ash Wednesday service,

and Ash Wednesday would be repenting of their indulgences. Repenting of their their debauchery, and saying, Lord, I need you. Well, then the day after Ash Wednesday begins a season of Lent. And Lent is a forty day season that leads up to Easter that is all about sacrifice. And it's again, it's a reality of, like, I am

pushing down the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. I'm fasting. I'm praying. I'm serving sacrificially. I'm going outside of my cravings and my desires.

And then comes Easter, the resurrection. He is risen. He is risen indeed. New life in Christ.

And I guess what I'm saying before I pray for you here in a moment is I'm challenging us. Let's let go of the fat Tuesday life.

Walk away from it.

And maybe we embrace more of an Ash Wednesday lifestyle because these indulgences dull our senses, and I'm gonna crucify them so that I can live a spirit filled life full of the Lord, full of Christ and the power of God in my life.

I wanna pray for us if you're comfortable with bowing your head and maybe closing your eyes for just a moment. Father God, we're we're grateful today. God, we're grateful that you give us the holy spirit, you give us the word of God, you give us new life in Christ, you give us meaning and purpose and calling in our destiny,

and Jesus is incredible. Jesus, you say that you have come to give us life and life to the full.

And yet you give us a warning. Do not love the things of this world.

Do not be contaminated by these things. Lord, help us with this.

Lord, we know that we don't do these things to be loved by you because we already are. Your cross saves us, but our cross, it shapes us. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, allow me to speak to you for just a moment.

What's your indulgence?

What's your indulgence? Name it. Give it a name. Call it what it is. Tell yourself the truth.

And then just in your own way, say, Lord, help me crucify this. I bring it to the cross.

And I just wanna speak some truth over you as you're in a posture of prayer. Everyone online and in the depot and right here in this room, your indulgence does not define you. The blood of Jesus washes away every sin that you've ever committed. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ by faith, by surrendering to Jesus.

Do not let your indulgence define who you are. You are a child of God, loved by God the king, and his calling on your life is for you to fulfill. Father, I pray that we fulfill your calling on our lives and not let these indulgences derail us for your glory. In Jesus' name, pray.

Amen. Amen. Let's stand up for just a moment, everybody. Let's stand up. I wanna dismiss you. And I wanna let you know that the prayer team's gonna be down here. They'd love to pray with you. Same in the depot, I'm sure. Hey, love you all,

and, have an awesome day. Please keep praying for all of us in Central Texas. God bless you.