*below are pre-sermon manuscript notes - not a sermon transcript

Hunger Gains | Luke 15:17

 

Have you ever been hangry?

Hangry is when you get so hungry that it puts you in a bad mood and everyone around you knows that you are in a bad mood.

But is hangry a real thing?

Are you really not you when you are hungry?

A recent study out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that hangry might be more than a Snickers wrapper.  

The researchers performed some hunger experiments that showed that the hungrier people were the more inclined they were to be negative or unpleasant. 

They also ran an experiment that showed that when you are hungry you might be more inclined to get stressed out quicker. 

In general, their study showed that feeling hungry can raise levels of negative emotions like anger and stress and disgust.

Jennifer MacCormack, a doctoral student who was the lead author of the study said this:

Jennifer MacCormack

By better understanding the factors that lead us to become hangry, we can give people the tools to recognize when hunger is impacting their feelings and behaviors.

I know the tools I need for when I’m hangry – bacon and cake.

But there is kind of hunger that will not lead you to being hangry.

It’s a kind of hunger that does not raise levels of negative emotions, but rather raises levels of desperation. 

It feels like your desire is food for your stomach, but what actually happens is you begin to long for what will satisfy the hunger of your soul. 

What kind of hunger are we talking about?

Let’s find out.

One day Jesus was teaching a huge crowd of people and he was sharing with them a parable.

A parable is a story with an important truth for life. 

His parable was about a young man who went to his father and demanded his inheritance. 

He basically stood face to face with his dad and said:

“I wish you were dead, so I could have the money that is coming to me and then I would have the freedom to get out of this house and go live my life my way.”

Contrary to the norms of their culture and their customs, the father gave him his inheritance. 

And the son quickly launched out on his own to a distant country and squandered every last dime of his money on things like:

• Fast cars
• Strong drink
• Loose women
• Lots of gambling
• Fancy gadgets
• Expensive concerts
• Major sporting events

And no sooner than he lost all his money a severe famine hit the distant land he was in and he found himself a desperate man among an entire country of desperate people.

He got a job feeding pigs, but it didn’t pay him enough money to buy his own food and his boss wouldn’t even let him eat the food he was feeding the pigs.

He was a young man who wanted to be:

• Free from his father’s house
• Free from his father’s business
• Free to live his life however he wanted to live

And he got that freedom and he blew it…all of it!

So, what happened to him next?

Listen to Luke 15, verse 17:

17 But when he came to his senses,

24 years ago, I was driving from North Little Rock, Arkansas to Simpsonville, South Carolina, for a wedding.

I left at 4 am and by 6 am I was getting pretty sleepy. 

How did I stay awake?

I started talking to myself…out loud.

I remember driving across the big bridge over the Mississippi River in Memphis telling myself jokes.

It sounds “muy loco” but laughing at my own bad jokes kept me awake.

It sounds like I didn’t have a lick of sense but talking to myself was keeping me safe.

This son started talking to himself a long time ago. 

His first conversations sounded something like this:

• “Ugh!”
• “I’m so sick of my dad!”
• “He is so lame!”
• “I don’t want to do what he does!”
• “I don’t want to live by his rules!”
• “I don’t want to live in this boring town!”
• “I want to get out there and do my own thing!”
• “I want my own money, so I can live my life my way!”

That’s how he first started talking to himself. 

And he convinced himself that he was right. 

He convinced himself that his dad was keeping him down and holding him back with his rules and his ways and his advice. 

He wanted out. 

And one day with a heart filled with rude, unloving, uncaring selfishness he walked up to his dad and demanded the money that was coming to him.

And he got it. 

And then he kept talking to himself. 

• He convinced himself that he was right
• He convinced himself that he was free
• He convinced himself that he should go live it up a little

And he didn’t go live it up a little.

He went and lived it up a lot. 

And the whole time he was living it up he was still talking to himself and it sounded something like this:

• “This is what I’m talking about!”
• “This is what it means to live!”

Two weeks ago, the world was shocked to hear that the intriguing and entertaining and endearing chef and world-traveler Anthony Bourdain had taken his life.

Sadly, he shared some ideas that match the way the son was talking to himself.

In his book Kitchen Confidential, he wrote:

Anthony Bourdain

Your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.

The Apostle Paul had some opposite thoughts.

He wrote this to the folks at the church in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 6:12

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

Just because you have freedom doesn’t mean that you should use your freedom to do whatever you want. 

Using your freedom any way you want to use your freedom doesn’t mean that it will be profitable for you or for anyone else. 

Using your freedom any way you want to use your freedom might land you face down in pig slop miserable and desperate in a distant country far from:

• The home you hated
• The father you hated
• The rules you hated
• The life you hated

Just because you can take your body to all the proverbial amusement parks of life and ride the rides of fun and pleasure and immorality, doesn’t mean that you should.

In fact, Paul gives this advice:

1 Corinthians 6:18

Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

1 Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Let me note that your body being a temple does not mean that you can only leave your house for work and school and you can only eat unleavened bread and olives and you can only drink self-bottled water from healing springs.

In a world of sin and poverty and because of the various commands of Jesus, we should be wise with extravagance, but traveling the world and eating exotic foods is not evil.

So, with that disclaimer, why should you go the route of the temple instead of the amusement park?

Paul tells us:

1 Corinthians 6:20

For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Dear Christian, you have been redeemed by Jesus Christ!

C.H. Spurgeon

Redemption is our chief blessing – nothing better can be said of you than this, “Ye are bought with a price.”

C.H. Spurgeon

An angel sent from heaven could not bring to any man or woman here a more delightful message than this, “Thou art bought with a price, even with the precious blood of Christ.”

The reason we fight to stay on the route of the temple instead of the amusement park is because Jesus has bought us with his own precious blood.

And make no mistake – it is a fight!

The temptations and pleasures of sin and immorality and foolishness and greed are strong, and we will have moments when at the very least our minds will be in the amusement park.

But we fight, and we repent, and we confess, and we pray for mercy and grace and strength because we know that Jesus, our Savior and Friend, is still saving and helping and keeping and loving.

• To be redeemed by Christ is the chief blessing!
• To be redeemed by Christ is the best news ever!

But the opposite is also true.

C.H. Spurgeon

“Bought with a price” makes existence life; to be unredeemed would make existence an endless death.

If you have never repented and turned to Christ, we plead with you to come to him now so that the song of your soul will not be endless death, but endless life – life abundant and free!

The amusement park of immorality promises us pleasure and freedom, but it can only provide those things temporarily. 

The only thing it can provide permanently is endless death. 

Anthony Bourdain also once said:

Anthony Bourdain

I was raised without religion…I don’t believe in any higher power. I am hostile to any kind of devotion. Certainty is my enemy.

Pastor Greg Laurie has a gracious and powerful response:

Greg Laurie

I too was raised without religion. My mother was married and divorced seven times, and on top of that, she was a raging alcoholic. She would drink every night until she passed out.

Greg Laurie

I had to grow up fast, and in some ways, I had to be a parent to my parent.

Greg Laurie

That strange upbringing sent me on a search. I was asking the questions, “What is the meaning of life? Why am I so empty? What happens after I die?”

Greg Laurie

I found the answers to those questions in an encounter with Jesus Christ. I didn’t find it in religion, I found it in a relationship with Jesus.

Have you had an encounter with Jesus Christ?

If so, it should change the way you talk to yourself. 

You should be preaching the gospel to yourself over and over and over again.

Greg Laurie shares a few other thoughts:

Greg Laurie

Doesn’t traveling the globe open up a treasure trove of insight and understanding? Perhaps, but it also could reveal that there is nothing there once you get “there.”

Greg Laurie

It surprises us that the rich and famous live lives that have the potential to be just as miserable as the rest of the world, and sometimes, theirs are even worse. How could that be?

Greg Laurie

I think it’s because of their unique perspective – they have experienced all the riches and wonders of the world and have seen the sheer emptiness of it all.

Greg Laurie

Regardless of how full your wallet or passport is, your heart can be empty, lonely and completely broken.

Greg Laurie

There can be a certain pleasure in just chasing after whatever you desire. The Bible speaks of “enjoying the pleasures of sin for a moment”.

Greg Laurie

There is that initial high that can come from that first sexual experience, or the excitement from drugs or booze. But of course, we all know there are those nasty repercussions that follow.

Greg Laurie

Eventually, you have to face the consequences. Not only in this life, but in the life to come as well. After the initial rush and excitement, a numb deadness kicks in.

Greg Laurie

If you’re looking to live for pleasure, you will find it’s one of the most unpleasable things you can ever do.

The son, the prodigal, found that his pleasure became one of the most unpleasable things he had ever done.

Mother of four Nancy Flory also responded to Bourdain’s death:

Nancy Flory

I’m overwhelmed with sadness for his loss and for the loss of fashion designer Kate Spade…The words that come to mind are senseless and utterly unnecessary. I may not know their specific struggle, but I know mine.

Nancy Flory

I struggle with depression. Some days it’s hard to get out of bed. Some days I’m fine. It’s been a long time since I had suicidal thoughts or ideation. I thank God for that.

Nancy Flory

…some struggle alone. Especially celebrities whose very livelihood depends on keeping up their image. Depression is not an image most celebrities want to portray.

Nancy Flory

Should a celebrity’s depression become public, they may not get the next gig. Or they could lose fans. Perhaps they feel that people would look at them like they’re crazy.

Nancy Flory

I can tell you from my own life, suicide is not the answer. As the saying goes, “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”

She goes on to share what we might call the way she talks to herself.

Nancy Flory

Although I struggle with depression, I know that God loves me endlessly. He tells me that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). He “knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).

Nancy Flory

Even better, He “saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16). Even “the very hairs of [my] head are all numbered” (Matt. 10:30).

Nancy Flory

Sometimes it seems there’s no way out of a situation. Sometimes all those biblical promises sound empty. Like they may be meant for someone else, but they’re not meant for you.

Nancy Flory

But there is an answer: Jesus. He alone can take me from the lowest lows to the highest highs. And He has.

Nancy Flory

When I was at my lowest point – when depression overwhelmed me as my marriage failed – I cried out to Him. He comforted me and stayed with me. As I leaned into His love, I felt the peace that passes all understanding.

Nancy Flory

Now I know to turn to Jesus the moment my thoughts go dark. He still holds me and loves me endlessly.

There are only two routes. 

There are only two paths.

Temporary pleasure and endless death on the rides of the amusement park of immorality.

Or endless love and endless life leaning into the perfectly satisfying and eternally saving arms of Jesus.

Which route are you taking?

Which path are you on?

How are you talking to yourself?

What are you preaching to yourself?

The son, the prodigal, was telling himself he needed to be free. 

He was telling himself he deserved to be riding the rides in the amusement park of pleasure.

And he convinced himself he was right and spent some time riding the rides.

But then, as the lies of sin always do, the ride majorly crashed and burned.

The son, the prodigal, was still talking to himself.

But this time it sounded different. 

17 But when he came to his senses,

He came to his senses. 

Ray Pritchard

Sin is senseless. Sin is a form of temporary spiritual insanity.

Ray Pritchard

Turning away from God is insanity because you are turning away from that which is good to that which is bad,

Ray Pritchard

from that which is worth everything to that which is worth nothing, from that which has eternal value to that which has no value.

Ray Pritchard

You are turning away from living water so you can drink out of a sewer. That is the definition of insanity.

Let me ask you a question:

Are you insane?

I’m not really talking about being “muy loco”.

I mean right now are you living like the prodigal son?

Are you dabbling on the rides of immorality?

Or have you bought a season pass to the whole amusement park?

When you look at the normal patterns of your life do you find any of the things that Paul describes to the Galatians as “deeds of the flesh”?

• Adultery
• Fornication
• Impurity
• Sexually unclean
• Verbally unclean
• Financially unclean
• Sensuality
• Public indecency
• Flaunting lustful attitudes in what you wear
• Flaunting lustful attitudes in what you say
• Flaunting lustful attitudes with your bumper stickers
• Idolatry
• Worshipping something or someone in place of God
• Finding your identity in something or someone other than God
• Sorcery
• Worshipping things that are evil
• Finding your identity in things that are evil
• Enmities
• Hateful and hostile attitudes toward other people
• Making enemies and enjoying it
• Strife
• Loving to argue over trivial things and personal preferences
• Jealousy
• Pridefully competitive
• Outbursts of anger
• Consistently losing your temper
• Disputes
• Fighting with others to get your way
• Fighting with others to make a name for yourself
• Dissensions
• Clicks with unnecessary personal agendas
• Factions
• Heresies
• Twisting God’s truth for selfish gain
• Envying
• Hating when good things happen to other people
• Drunkenness
• Getting plastered by abusing alcohol
• Carousing
• Wild, late night parties

Do any of those things define how you talk to yourself?

Do any of those things define how you live?

Then you are functioning as a spiritually insane person.

You are choosing the sewer over fresh spring water.

And I hope you heard in that list from Paul that we aren’t just talking about a lack of family values. 

We are talking about attitudes and actions that can mark pastors and elders and deacons and church members who sit in the church every Sunday morning. 

Scotty Smith

Prodigals on an island of self-sufficiency are often harder to reach than prodigals on a hedonistic holiday.

You could be a prodigal on an island of immorality or you could be a prodigal on an island of morality. 

So, what brought the prodigal to his senses?

He was hungry.

Your immorality will not ultimately satisfy the hunger of your stomach or the hunger of your soul.

Your morality will not ultimately satisfy the hunger of your stomach or the hunger of your soul.

There is only one thing that can ultimately satisfy your soul.

And I say this with no hint of being unnecessarily rude or narrow-minded or foolishly fond of fantasy or fairy tale.

I say this with grace and joy and mercy and love and confidence and hope and a genuine desire to honor God and help you.

The only thing that can ultimately satisfy your soul is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah.

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing or whatever you are not doing, please come to your senses.

Come to Jesus and live!

Dow Welsh | June 24, 2018 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

more |

Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at http://www.preceptaustin.org/

https://greg.harvest.org/the-tragic-story-of-anthony-bourdain/

https://stream.org/anthony-bourdain-suicide-and-the-love-of-god/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scotty-smith/a-prayer-for-the-prodigals-in-our-lives/