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

Cornerstone Church

67 min

Scott Rogers · Jul 8, 2025 · 4 min read · 67 min listen

The big idea

Our small indulgences dull our spiritual senses, so instead of trying to cast them out we must crucify them daily by taking up our cross and following Jesus.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 8Indulgence is doing something enjoyable even when it carries negative consequences.
Point 2 of 8Indulgences almost always start small before spiraling into something destructive.

Point 3 of 8Paul told the church at Corinth that grace allows anything, but not everything is beneficial.
Point 4 of 8John's command not to love the world means not falling in love with worldliness itself, not a rejection of people.
Point 5 of 8Indulgence dulls our spiritual senses and keeps us walking in a spiritual fog.
Point 6 of 8We can't cast out indulgence like a demon; we have to crucify it by taking up our cross daily.
Point 7 of 8Church history shows believers have wrestled with crucifying the flesh since the earliest church fathers.
Point 8 of 8Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season model repentance from indulgence and a return to dependence on God.
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

1 Corinthians 10:23
1 John 2:15-17
John 3:16
Romans 12:2
Matthew 16:24-25
John 11

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Scott Rogers · Jul 8, 2025 · 67 min watch · 2 min read

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

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

1 Corinthians 10:23
1 John 2:15-17
John 3:16
Romans 12:2
Matthew 16:24-25
John 11

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Our small indulgences dull our spiritual senses, so instead of trying to cast them out we must crucify them daily by taking up our cross and following Jesus.

Jesus saves us by His cross, but our own cross shapes us into spiritual maturity. Indulgences — chasing pleasure, position, or comfort at the expense of our health, relationships, and spiritual well-being — start small but dull our spiritual senses if left unchecked, so we're called to crucify them daily rather than let them define us.

Key points

1
1Indulgence is doing something enjoyable even when it carries negative consequences.
Pastor Scott opens with a definition from vocabulary.com and personalizes it with a confession about overeating Texas barbecue at Franklin's, admitting his eyes are bigger than his stomach and calling it gluttony. He invites the church to ask 'how's my relationship with ___' about food, alcohol, work, entertainment, and comfort.
2
2Indulgences almost always start small before spiraling into something destructive.
He describes indulgence as chasing pleasure, position, or comfort at the expense of health, relationships, and spiritual well-being, noting it begins as 'just a little extra' and 'one more' before it derails a person's calling.
3
3Paul told the church at Corinth that grace allows anything, but not everything is beneficial.
Pastor Scott describes Corinth as a spiritually chaotic church wrestling with how to respond to grace, and reads Paul's rebuke that things may be permissible without being good or beneficial for us.
4
4John's command not to love the world means not falling in love with worldliness itself, not a rejection of people.
He contrasts John 3:16 (God so loved the world) with 1 John 2's warning not to love the world, explaining that the Greek kosmos in this passage refers to the world's system of cravings, not the people God loves and died for.
5
5Indulgence dulls our spiritual senses and keeps us walking in a spiritual fog.
Building on the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life from 1 John, he explains that unchecked cravings leave believers lethargic and hungover from indulgence rather than saturated with the Holy Spirit's power.
6
6We can't cast out indulgence like a demon; we have to crucify it by taking up our cross daily.
Using a joke about Pentecostals casting out a light bulb's darkness, he pivots to Jesus' call to deny yourself and take up your cross, introducing the phrase 'His cross saves me, my cross shapes me' as the key distinction.
7
7Church history shows believers have wrestled with crucifying the flesh since the earliest church fathers.
He traces the impulse through the desert fathers, monastic movements, and the Rule of Saint Benedict, cautioning that these good intentions were sometimes twisted into legalism, and connects it to the modern 'rule of life' movement among younger Christians.
8
8Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season model repentance from indulgence and a return to dependence on God.
He describes his own church's Ash Wednesday practice of marking foreheads with ash and the words 'from dust you have come to dust you will return,' contrasting the debauchery of Fat Tuesday with the sacrifice of Lent leading to Easter's resurrection.

A story from life

Story about overeating at Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas

Application

Pastor Scott frames the charge as learning to crucify our indulgences instead of trying to cast them out.

Tell yourself 'I deserve better'
When your flesh, eyes, or pride tell you that you deserve an indulgence, talk back and remind yourself that you, your family, and God's calling on your life deserve better.
Connect with Jesus daily
Set aside time each day to sit with your Bible, pray, journal, and worship, since time with Jesus shifts your affections and presses back the flesh.
Practice self-denial by saying no once a day
Choose at least one small indulgence — dessert, a show, a drink, social media — and say no to it as a beginning step toward victory over bigger struggles.
Name your indulgence and bring it to the cross
In a moment of quiet prayer, identify your specific indulgence honestly and ask the Lord to help you crucify it rather than let it define you.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“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”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“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”
From the transcript
“It says, for God so loved the world. So he writes in his gospel of John”
From the transcript
“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”
From the transcript
“then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”
From the transcript
“And he says in John 11, he says, I am the resurrection and the life”
From the transcript
“Connecting with Jesus. John 15 says, calls it abiding in Christ”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

Pastor Scott began this week with an honest question: "How's my relationship with ___?" He filled that blank with food, admitting his eyes get bigger than his stomach at a good barbecue joint. It landed because it wasn't a lecture — it was a confession. Paul gives the church at Corinth a line worth sitting with today: "You say, 'I am allowed to do anything' — but not everything is good for you" (1 Corinthians 10:23, NLT). Grace really does allow anything. That's not the question. The question is whether a thing is beneficial, whether it builds you up or quietly wears you down. Corinth was a chaotic church trying to figure out what to do with all that freedom, and so are we. Naming a relationship with food, work, entertainment, or comfort isn't the same as condemning it. It's simply asking an honest question before it needs to be an urgent one. There's no verdict here, only an invitation to look clearly at where your freedom is actually taking you. Start the week the way Pastor Scott started the sermon — not with guilt, but with a plain, unhurried look at your own life.

For reflection

If you asked "How's my relationship with ___?" about one area of your life today, what would you honestly put in the blank?

Pray

Pray for honesty about where your freedom is helping you and where it is quietly wearing you down.

Day 2

It's easy to hear "do not love the world" and flinch, because God so loved the world that He gave His Son (John 3:16). So which is it? Pastor Scott drew out the difference: the word John uses here points to the world's system of cravings, not the people God treasures and died for. You are not being asked to stop loving your neighbors, your city, or the messy people around you. You're being asked not to fall in love with worldliness itself — "the cravings of physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions" (1 John 2:16, NLT). Those three describe most of what pulls at us in a given day. What's freeing is John's next line: "the world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever" (1 John 2:17, NLT). The things that shout loudest for our affection have the shortest shelf life. That reframes the whole struggle. You're not white-knuckling against pleasure for its own sake; you're setting your heart on what actually lasts. Loving people and refusing to love the system that uses them can live together in the same heart.

For reflection

Which of the three — physical pleasure, wanting what you see, or pride in what you've achieved — pulls hardest at you right now?

Pray

Pray for a heart that loves people the way God does while loosening its grip on what is fading.

Day 3

Pastor Scott used a vivid image: indulgence leaves us lethargic, walking in a kind of spiritual fog — hungover from what we've chased rather than saturated with the Spirit's power. That's worth pausing on, because it explains why small compromises matter more than they seem to. An indulgence rarely wrecks you in a day. What it does is dull you. The cravings of the flesh, the cravings of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16, NLT) don't usually announce themselves as rebellion; they just slowly turn the volume down on your spiritual senses until prayer feels flat and Scripture reads like static. If your walk with God has felt muffled lately, this is a gentler diagnosis than you might fear. The fog isn't proof you've failed. It's often the residue of ordinary cravings left unchecked, and residue can be cleared. The point isn't to shame yourself for feeling dull. It's to notice the dullness honestly and ask what's been feeding it. God isn't distant in the fog; sometimes our senses are just clouded. Naming that today is the first step toward feeling clearly again.

For reflection

Where has your spiritual awareness felt foggy or flat lately, and what might have been dulling it?

Pray

Pray for clarity where indulgence has left your spiritual senses dull, and for a fresh awareness of the Spirit.

Day 4

Here is the sentence at the center of the whole sermon: "His cross saves me, my cross shapes me." Pastor Scott made the distinction with a joke about trying to cast out the darkness in a light bulb — you can't. Darkness isn't a demon to expel; you deal with it by turning on the light. In the same way, we don't cast out our indulgences like something foreign. We crucify them. Jesus said, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it" (Matthew 16:24-25, NLT). Notice the daily, deliberate weight of "take up your cross." This isn't a one-time exorcism of a bad habit; it's a repeated, chosen laying-down. That's actually good news for anyone tired of quick fixes that never stick. You were never meant to zap the flesh out of existence in a single dramatic moment. You're invited to follow Jesus into a shaping that happens one honest day at a time.

For reflection

What would "taking up your cross" look like in one concrete choice you could make today?

Pray

Pray for the willingness to lay something down daily rather than waiting for it to disappear on its own.

Day 5

One of Pastor Scott's charges was strikingly practical: say no to at least one small indulgence a day — a dessert, a show, a drink, some scrolling — as a beginning step toward victory over bigger struggles. It sounds almost too minor to matter. But Paul frames small offerings as worship: "give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him" (Romans 12:1, NLT). A living sacrifice is one that keeps climbing off the altar, which is exactly why the practice has to be daily. Saying no to one small thing isn't about proving your discipline or earning anything. It's a rehearsal — teaching your body that your appetites don't get the final word. Paul goes on: "let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think" (Romans 12:2, NLT). Transformation starts in the mind and gets practiced in the hands. The small no today builds the muscle you'll need for the bigger yes to God later. Pick one thing. Keep it small. Let it be worship.

For reflection

What is one small indulgence you could say no to today, not as a rule but as an act of worship?

Pray

Pray for grace in the small, daily nos that rehearse a bigger yes to God.

Day 6

Pastor Scott was clear that self-denial alone isn't the goal — it's what fills the space that matters. His charge to connect with Jesus daily, sitting with your Bible, praying, journaling, and worshiping, rests on a simple truth: time with Jesus shifts your affections and presses back the flesh. You don't defeat a craving mainly by staring it down; you starve it by feeding on something better. Jesus put it this way: "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5, NLT). Notice He doesn't say "try harder." He says "remain." Fruit isn't squeezed out of a branch by effort; it grows because the branch stays connected to the vine. That reframes the whole week. All the talking back to your flesh, all the daily nos — they don't work as willpower projects. They work when they flow from staying close to Jesus. If you've been trying to change from the outside in, this is the invitation to change from the vine out. Remain first. The fruit follows.

For reflection

What would it take to build one unhurried, daily point of connection with Jesus into your week?

Pray

Pray for a settled daily rhythm of remaining in Jesus, that your affections would be reshaped by Him.

Day 7

Related passageMatthew 16:24-25; 1 John 2:15-17

Tomorrow an ordinary week begins — the commute, the inbox, the fridge, the phone within reach. That's where this all gets tested, and that's the point. Pastor Scott gave one more piece of self-talk for those ordinary moments: when your flesh, your eyes, or your pride whisper that you deserve an indulgence, talk back. Remind yourself that you, the people who depend on you, and God's calling on your life deserve better. That's not self-punishment; it's remembering who you are and what you're for. As you step into the week, hold the two crosses together — His cross that already saved you, and your cross that keeps shaping you (Matthew 16:24-25). You're not earning anything this week. You're being formed. So name your one indulgence honestly, bring it to the Lord in a quiet moment, and ask Him to help you crucify it rather than let it define you. Then go live an unremarkable Tuesday faithfully. The cravings John names are fading away (1 John 2:17), but a life lived close to Jesus lasts. Don't aim for a dramatic breakthrough this week. Aim for one honest day, and then the next. That's how the shaping happens.

For reflection

In the week ahead, what is the one specific indulgence you want to name and bring to the cross?

Pray

Pray for strength to talk back to the flesh this week and to keep bringing your named indulgence to Jesus.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Pastor Scott opened by confessing that his eyes are bigger than his stomach at Franklin's Texas barbecue. What's a food you always take too much of when it's in front of you?

Discussion questions

1
Read 1 Corinthians 10:23 aloud together. What difference does Paul draw between what's permissible and what's actually beneficial for us?
2
Pastor Scott described indulgence as something enjoyable we keep doing even when it carries negative consequences, noting it usually starts as 'just a little extra' or 'one more.' What makes those small beginnings so easy for people to miss?
3
Read 1 John 2:15-17 aloud. The sermon explained that 'the world' here means the world's system of cravings rather than the people God loves. How does that reading change the way we hear this warning?
4
Read Matthew 16:24-25 aloud. What does Jesus mean when He calls us to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily?
5
Pastor Scott summed up the message with the phrase 'His cross saves me, my cross shapes me,' and said we crucify our indulgences rather than try to cast them out like a demon. What does that distinction look like in the everyday life of a believer?
6
Pastor Scott suggested small practices like saying no to one indulgence a day and setting aside daily time with Jesus. How might habits like these shift a person's affections over time?

Pray together

Ask the Lord to help us take up our cross daily, sit with Him each day, and let Him reshape our affections toward what truly gives life.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Go deeper

Where these passages are preached

1 Corinthians 10 1 John 2 John 3 Romans 12

Explore related topics

Indulgence Repentance Self-Denial Spiritual Maturity

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