So I posed this question to everyone on Sunday, "Have you ever seen a man or woman with a six-pack stomach with flabby arms and legs?" It just isn't possible. It takes a person much hard work and discipline to get those defined belly muscles, that to do so would have the net benefit of toning all of the muscles of the body.
The converse is also true. If you were to have a belly of this size (excluding pregnancy), one would probably be out of shape all around. The belly is the body's indicator light for toneness and definition. One look at the belly and you can assess one's appetite, discipline, and pleasures. And this was Paul's point in Philippians 3:17-21, for the person who lives for this world, their god is their belly. Sensuality defines such a person. He eats, sleeps, and sleeps with anyone and everyone to satisfy his cravings. I read an article on a group of men in India who move from "pleasure house" to pleasure house, sleeping with as many women as possible. The more women they slept with, the more they were unfulfilled and the more they needed to have sex with another. It was a never-ending cycle. Their god was their bellies.
The road to this cycle does not merely pass through India. This is a human frailty. One need only turn to the Internet to get a quick fix of porn. Our delight in craft beers and Cuban cigars and fine wines and delectable dining knows no bounds. Every night, people are constantly looking to amuse themselves. As Neil Postman so articulately writes in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death:
The converse is also true. If you were to have a belly of this size (excluding pregnancy), one would probably be out of shape all around. The belly is the body's indicator light for toneness and definition. One look at the belly and you can assess one's appetite, discipline, and pleasures. And this was Paul's point in Philippians 3:17-21, for the person who lives for this world, their god is their belly. Sensuality defines such a person. He eats, sleeps, and sleeps with anyone and everyone to satisfy his cravings. I read an article on a group of men in India who move from "pleasure house" to pleasure house, sleeping with as many women as possible. The more women they slept with, the more they were unfulfilled and the more they needed to have sex with another. It was a never-ending cycle. Their god was their bellies.
The road to this cycle does not merely pass through India. This is a human frailty. One need only turn to the Internet to get a quick fix of porn. Our delight in craft beers and Cuban cigars and fine wines and delectable dining knows no bounds. Every night, people are constantly looking to amuse themselves. As Neil Postman so articulately writes in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death:
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
More than ever before, George Orwell speaks to our day. The problem with our appetites is that we are never truly satisfied. Every sexual encounter needs another one to reach at least the same experience. Every drug needs another does. Every taste of wine needs more wine. Every vacation needs another vacation. But to further complicate the matter, we need more and better and stronger and more powerful. Climax in our experience is not satisfied with the feelings of yesterday. The normal progresses to the perverse. Is it any wonder then that some chaste Roman Catholic priests dive into the debauchery of pedophilia or so-called socially ultra-conservative ISIS soldiers can engage in the most heinous sorts of rape and sexual abuse of women?
Why are people who make their god their bellies so radical in their pursuits? The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:24-25: "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." God turns His back on people and allows them to gorge themselves to the fullest on their lusts which is the worst punishment of all.
God is not in the business of making people miserable. On the contrary, He wants great joy for us. But the only means to that end is to honor Him above all else. By refraining from sexual perversion and keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, we have the freedom and pleasure and joy in finding our spouse the most attractive person on the earth. By disciplining ourselves from over-stuffing bellies at buffets, we are able to taste and enjoy our foods. By limiting ourselves to drinking without drunkenness and addiction, we can experience the pleasure of the gift of wine. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. But a God-honoring amount of God's created things for God's glory (1 Cor 10:31) is the pathway to full joy. Their God is their Savior!
[If you have any questions from this past Sunday's message, please feel free to post comments here.]
Why are people who make their god their bellies so radical in their pursuits? The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:24-25: "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." God turns His back on people and allows them to gorge themselves to the fullest on their lusts which is the worst punishment of all.
God is not in the business of making people miserable. On the contrary, He wants great joy for us. But the only means to that end is to honor Him above all else. By refraining from sexual perversion and keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, we have the freedom and pleasure and joy in finding our spouse the most attractive person on the earth. By disciplining ourselves from over-stuffing bellies at buffets, we are able to taste and enjoy our foods. By limiting ourselves to drinking without drunkenness and addiction, we can experience the pleasure of the gift of wine. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. But a God-honoring amount of God's created things for God's glory (1 Cor 10:31) is the pathway to full joy. Their God is their Savior!
[If you have any questions from this past Sunday's message, please feel free to post comments here.]