[Satisfied] Overcoming Food Fixation

John 6:22-35

Currently, as a congregation we are participating in a 21 day fast. For some of you this is your 86th time fasting and for others this is your very first. I think the beauty of fasting, when done correctly, is that God loves when we draw near to him. His faithful to keep his promise. James 4:8b says, “draw near to me and I will draw near to you”. When we fast we are inviting Jesus to draw closer to us. And when Jesus draws closer, there is revelation because Jesus is the light and where there is light, there can be no darkness. This revelation often reveals things in us and to us. Beautiful things, enlightening things and challenging things. It can also reveal brokenness in us, sin, and pain.  

I began this fast with a time of repentance. Day two, I was here in this very sanctuary, that corner specifically, crying out to God repenting for sin revealed to me. See, I am what you call a foodie.

Urban dictionary defines it as:

A person who enjoys eating food, unlike everyone else, who hates food, thinks it's disgusting, and would never consider eating it.

Person #1: I'm a foodie, I love eating food! 
Person #2: Wow, you're so unique. I hate food and wouldn't eat it even if I had to stay alive. 

Seriously though, this is a person with a particular interest in food, a connoisseur if you will. I was the type of person who would be eating dinner and fantasying about what I’m going to make for dinner the next night. I was the girl who would go to sleep thinking about what I was going to make for breakfast the following morning. I was the girl who would wake up and already be thinking about what I was going to have for lunch. I love to cook. It relaxes me, it rids me of anxiety, it makes me feel good to serve people food I know they will enjoy. I love the challenge of a picky eater and being super creative in the kitchen with new ingredients and new recipes. 

Now some of you may be thinking what’s wrong with this? Sounds harmless to me. Well, let’s back up a little. After giving birth to Ezra, the doctors thought I had what is called endometriosis. I’m not going explain it here, because that might get weird, but pretty much this meant certain foods were causing me to swell up and be in extreme pain. It meant good-bye diary, good-bye gluten (BREAD!) and possibly good-bye coffee and a million other things. Guys, I mourned for weeks. Like legit mourned. I was depressed, anxious and I was super angry at my body for betraying me ever since entering the delivery room. I went from being Ratatouille when he realizes he CAN cook (because everyone can COOK!) to Cinderella moping around because she can’t go to the ball.

So fast forward to this fast, I start reading a book call Full by Asheritah Ciuciu. It is all about women in the church and their fixation on food and how it is sin blah, blah, blah. I disliked the first chapter so much, I was convinced I wasn’t going to finish it. But then I stopped and asked myself “why is this upsetting me so much? (long awkward pause) Oh man, this must be an issue in my life.” So I kept reading, through the book and scriptures the Lord began to show me my sin.

1.     I had made food an idol in my life. I woke up thinking about food, went to sleep thinking about food, would eat thinking about my food and in between think about what I was going to cook next.

2.     God showed me I had been worshipping the created over the Creator.

3.     He showed me that food had been my reward. Not him.

(Gen 15:1 The Lord said: I am your great reward.)

4.     He showed me that I used food to cope with/get through hard/uncomfortable things.

5.     Food was what I was using to bring me comfort and peace.

6.     Food was ruling over my thought life.

7.     Food was what I’d run to during times of boredom, need or to find satisfaction.

Yup. Huge problems here. Jess Connolly says, “God allows you to feel the weight of your sin, to reveal to you the power of his grace.” Havilah Cunnington says, “Anything He reveals, He simultaneously offers grace to learn, grow and hear.” Praise God for that and trust me, by this point I was ready to feel his grace, learn, grow and hear.

And so he started speaking. (Because he is good and keeps his promises). Through a passage the Lord showed me that the disciples had a food fixation issue too! Jesus tells them “Listen, you’re not here because you understand the miraculous signs I’ve performed, you’re here because you want food! Stop worrying about food and start focusing on the things that are eternal” (John 6:26-27) In other words, stop fixating on food, fixate on me!

Church, I am certain the Lord wanted me to bring this word to BCF today. Why? Because as a church in the USA studies have shown that Christians are addicted to food. Think about the majority of our gatherings, bible studies, all of that, they usually center on food. Leadership all across the USA have been quoted saying “If you have food, they will come.” This is a huge issue and we joke about it! It is funny to us. But Jesus clearly tells us in His word, to come for Him, the bread of life, not for things that perish.

Last Sunday, we heard a sermon on fasting and it was said, “a true fast is one that abstains from food”. And I’m going be real with you. I had a problem with that because I didn’t want to hear that. She made it clear that we can abstain from other things, but a fast is from food and she used scripture to back it up, so it is kind of hard to argue with that. But something tells me, I am not the only person in this room who had trouble hearing this.

So right now, in this room, I want you to stop and ask Holy Spirit to speak to you. Right now, I want you to take the focus off of anybody else and think about your relationship with food. Has any of this resonated with you? Is any of this making you uncomfortable or upset? Or challeging you? Ask Holy Spirit right now. Why? Because church, we have to be done tolerating sin in our lives. We have to come to a place where we are ready to get personal and real with God. Willing to surrender all control to him. Willing to stop playing games and do this for real. Our God can free us from any addiction…from too much Netflix to pornography. He wants to free us from it all so we can walk in the fullness of what he has for us.

So now that we have checked-in with ourselves and have chosen to be real and honest, this is what the Lord has been teaching me in order to walk free from food fixation:

 1.     God is my reward. I’m learning to celebrate victories with Him!

2.     Only God can bring me true satisfaction.

3.     Take every thought captive. Thoughts like “I wish I had more” are now “Thank you Lord for this meal and that only you can truly satisfy.”

4.     Checking in with myself. “Am I truly hungry?” “Do I need that?”

5.     Giving God his rightful place. (Celebrate and mourn with Him)

6.     Being mindful of Him “Thank you Lord for your creativity. Thank you that I can make all these different things using such few ingredients. Thank you that I can be creative in the kitchen because you made me creative, just like you.”

7.     Food is fuel. Do I actually need fuel to get through the rest of the day?

And guess what? These things are actually working. I am feeling so much freedom in my thought life and connecting with God through his gift of food.

These are things we can do as a church to fight against food fixation:

I would encourage you, if you struggle in this area, to find an accountability partner and ask them to hold you accountable. When they see you grab that fourth chocolate chip cookie, that they will ask you “Do you really need that?” “Are you still hungry?” And for some of you, this might make you want to smash the cookie in their face or shout “HOW DARE YOU! I AM PREGNANT!” but guys over eating is a sin, fixating on food is a sin and it is a sin WE DON’T DARE TO TALK ABOUT because we might hurt someone feeling or they may think we are calling them fat. But we have got to be there for each other. That’s why building community is so important because community becomes a safe place to have these conversations. So I will say, if you aren’t in true community with someone, don’t you dare confront these things, but if you are in deep community with someone, you have earned the right to confront these people that you love, in love.

NOTE: if you want freedom you won’t take it personally. You’ll know it comes from love and because you asked for it. I would recommend having your spouse or a close friend be this person for you. Someone you trust and knows loves you and that is why they are confronting it.

As a body, there are ways we can help each other out with this too. First off, don’t make every gathering about food or coffee. Try meeting sometimes solely for prayer, fellowship, study, worship or Jesus. (GASP: A church meeting solely for Jesus! Outrageous!) It is funny because when I started our Thursday night bible study, the Lord spoke this to me. He made it clear there wasn’t to be food or coffee regularly during our gatherings. I didn’t really understand why, but now it is clear. He wanted these ladies to come for Him. To learn to be truly satisfied by Him.

And church in the end I think this is what the root of this sin is. We become satisfied with something that isn’t Him. We fall for the counterfeit satisfaction, the fake, the copycat.

The word satisfied is seen close to 100 times depending what translation you’re reading. It comes from the word “Saba’” (SA-BE-A). It means to be full, satisfy, fill, enough and plenty. It shows up all over the bible, but interesting enough in the book of Hosea (you know, the book about the prophetic who marries a prostitute). At the end of the book, the Lord is upset with the people of Israel (the prostitute represents the people of Israel).

He says, “But when you had eaten and were satisfied you became proud and forgot about me”. (Hosea 13:6)

Proverbs 30:9 reads similarly “…May I not be full (satisfied) and deny you and say “Who is the Lord?”

The idea in these verses are the same. Food had the ability to lord over us, to take up space in our mind and offer a fake satisfaction. The problem with this satisfaction is that it is counterfeit, temporary and takes our eyes off of Jesus.

And Proverbs 1:31 reads “So they shall eat of the fruit their own way and be satisfied with their own devices.”

This verse shows us that food isn’t the only thing that offers counterfeit satisfaction. The word devices there means, any wickedness, mischief, wicked mind, thought, purpose or crime.

 So ladies and gentlemen here are our choices:

1.     We can choose to be temporally satisfied by food fixation.

2.     We can choose to be temporally satisfied by our devices.

3.     We can choose eternal satisfaction found by fixating on Jesus.

Proverbs 12:14 says “A man will be satisfied (saba) with good by the fruit of his words and deeds of a man’s hands will return to him.”

Proverbs 18:20 says “With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied (saba). He will be satisfied (saba) with the product of his lips.”

Whoa. Did you hear that? The fruit of our lips. Church we have been given such a rich opportunity here. Jesus is offering us the opportunity to be satisfied by Him in such a way that if we partner with Him in words and deeds, His promise to us is that we will literally feel our bellies filled. Guys, this gives a whole new meaning to speaking life. It not only blesses us, but it satisfies, fills, leaves us feeling like we have had enough to eat. Whoa. Praise Jesus for He is the true bread of life.

I’ll leave you, the same way I began. Please stand as I read and pray this scripture over you.

John 6:32-35 New International Version (NIV)

32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 

33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Father may the disciples plea, become our plea. Always give us this bread! Give us this bread of life. So we may never go hungry, never be thirsty and find our true satisfaction in you.

Praise God from whom all blessing flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. 

Additional Note: Since writing this sermon, I have found a lot of freedom from food fixation. This doesn’t mean I am not tempted to go back to old ways. I still have days I realize “man, that was too much” or I need to readjust. When those days come, I have realized that what my body really needs is to put food back in its rightful place. Food is trying to creep back into that #1 spot, which is already taken. In order to reset or keep food in line, I fast. I force my flesh to submit to the Spirit and remind it where it belongs. This may be a day fast or a 21 day fast (I ask the Lord to lead me). It works every time. I encourage you to try it when food needs to be reminded of where it belongs. Ps. After finishing the book Full, I now recommend it as a resource.

If you have any questions or comments we’d love to hear from you.

Until next time,

We Are Ecclesia