Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
February 10, 2008 – 1st Sunday in Lent
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7      
Romans 5:12-19   
Matthew 4:1-11

Pill Power or Will Power

It’s safe to say that our culture is not obsessed with its spiritual health. Granted, we’re really into angels, and the supernatural, and stuff. But our own spiritual health?  Next subject.

We are, however, quite interested in our physical health. Witness the pharmaceutical culture we live in. We can’t turn on the TV without discovering to our amazement that there’s a new syndrome or disease or ache or ailment out there to avoid or be aware of. 

I took a look in Prevention Magazine and – not counting the creams, lotions, injections and herbal remedies, found ads for the following: Advil PM  - ease your aches and pains and help you sleep:

Alli – weight loss / fat burn
Amitiza – chronic constipation
Bone Strength
Coricidin – powerful cold medicine
Enablex – reduce bladder leaks
Esther – C “the Better Vitamin C”
Fish Oil / Flaxseed Oil / Co Q-10
Kaneka QH – sustained  natural energy
Prilosec OTC – heartburn
Roserem – sleep aid
Spiriva – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (inhaler – not a pill)
Topamax – Migraine headaches
Zetia  - (fight cholesterol)

… and that doesn’t include Lipitor and all the controversy about Dr. Robert Jarvic.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m sure that some of us sitting here are taking one or more of the ones I’ve just mentioned … and they have been a “God send.”  But we have become a culture of folk who are more willing to rely on a pill to fix things for us.

Probably the most recent one is Alli.  (I was going to get a bottle and bring it in, but wasn’t willing to pay the $50 for a twenty-day supply just for a sermon prop!)  The web site says that works out to be about the price of a can of soda and a bag of chips a day.  In other words, put down the chips and you can afford to pop a pill.

The claim is that Alli “eats fat,” but if your read the fine print, it “eats the fat you already have stored” … and if you actually consume fatty foods … well, not only will Alli not work for you, you will end up with what has become affectionately called the “Alli oops!”  I’ll leave it to your imagination – or your own research – to get more details.  What happens is that this pill forces you to eat a low-fat diet … or you are severely punished. 

Bottom line:  Alli works only if you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly.  Duh!  The truth is that most of us don’t need a pill … we just need the will power to go out and do what is right for our bodies.

The truth is that most of us don’t need a pill … we just need to go out there and do what is right for our souls.  (How was that for a shift?)

There is no magic pill that can cure a “sin-sick soul” as the hymn says.  There is no pill that can curb our appetite for self-indulgence. 

This is really what Lent is all about:  adopting some sort of spiritual discipline that will help us curb our self-indulgence. 

What are the things, behaviors, substances in which we indulge – even when we know we are doing wrong, even when we know it isn’t good for us?   What are the attitudes which seep out and embarrass us?  What is it that tempts us? 

The Gospel lesson is a story about the kinds of things that might have tempted Jesus and continue to tempt us:  to use our God-given talents and possessions in ways that serve only our own needs and wants; to trust that God has our own best interest at heart and  to be in the world without compromising our integrity. 

There are two lessons for this morning:  to challenge ourselves to some sort of self-denial … to do it for 40 days … It will be good for our soul!

The other Lenten prescription comes from the Psalm we read:  the discipline of acknowledging our sins before God, and allowing God to instruct us on how to live.  The A.A. 12 Step program invites participants to take a fearless and searching moral inventory of ourselves … then to be completely honest with ourselves, God and one other human being.  How’s that for a step toward spiritual maturity?

It isn’t about taking a pill … it is about exercising our will.  There isn’t a better time than Lent to start!.

NOTE:  Today’s sermon was taken in large measure from Homiletics Journal, January / February 2008, Vol. 20, no. 1, pp 52-55.

SERMON IN A SACK:  Spaghetti and sauce.  Talk about what happens when you cook sauce with the lid on.  It boils over.  When we try to keep the lid on our sins, the things we’ve done wrong, it spills over and makes a mess