Forbidden
Part 2- What’s The Bid Deal About Alcohol Anyways?
Pastor Ryan Akers
Hymn #365- A pastor was preaching on alcohol one Sunday and to finish up his sermon with some passion he said, “If I had all the beer in the world, I would throw it into the river!” Then with a little more passion and fire he said, “And if I had all the wine in the world I would throw it into the river!” Finally really fired up with a fist shaking in the air he yelled, “And if I had all the whiskey in the world I would throw it into the river!” With that he sat down and the the music director came up on to stage to close the service with a song. When the director saw what they were singing he laughed to himself and then said to the congregation, “Please turn to hymn #365, “Shall We Gather At The River.”
The topic of alcohol is a very sensitive subject in the church today. I have never drank (one drink of corona, grew up in a home of drinkers.) Churches have diverse opinions. Some require total abstinence to be a member and others have beer tents at community events.
Been has been around a long time- Genesis 9- Noah made, drank and got drunk on his own wine. Until Prohibition many churches used wine for communion. Thomas Welch- Dentist and Wesleyan created grape juice as an alternative to wine for communion. His son would later start Welch’s juice company… after the lifting of prohibition alcohol became a major problem in the United States. The American Medical Society classifies alcohol as an “addictive drug” yet it is readily available and heavily advertised (Best Super Bowl Ads)
61% Americans drink. 10% adult drinkers are alcoholic (10 mil). 60-100 billion is spent each year by gov’t to educate and help with alcohol related problems. 50% of all traffic fatalities and 33% injuries are b/c of alcohol. Today it is the leading cause of death of youth between 14 and 17 years of age. 21,634 alcohol induced deaths in 2005. Same year, 12,928 alcoholic liver disease deaths.
Some have a belief that wine is “good for you”- same anti oxidants in grape juice as there are in wine. Some say, “Doesn’t effect me.” 200 pound man, after one drink has .02 alcohol level. Liver only metabolizes one drink an hour. .08 is legal limit over 21. 2 drinks 200 pound man will be at .05-.06. Feeling of warmth, relaxation, mild sedation, exaggeration of emotion and behavior, decrease reaction time; impaired judgment about continued drinking. Whiskey= feeling of warmth but actually thinning your blood and making you colder. Some believe shots are okay because their smaller- 1 shot = 1 12oz. beer. This is not a basis for if drinking is right or wrong these are just scientific facts.
Major confusion in the church. There are people who love Jesus who are on both sides of this issues. What does the Bible say? All Christians can agree drunkenness is sin…Isaiah 5:11-12, Prov. 23:20-21, Eph. 5:18. To get drunk is sin. All believers can agree on that.
But to drink is not a sin. In fact God says some positive things about alcohol. Psalm 104:14-15, Isaiah 55:1. Jesus drank wine, Matthew 11:18-19- Some might say, “maybe he was drinking grape juice.” If that was true why would they accuse him of being a drunkard if it was just grape juice. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine.
So if drunkenness is sin but drinking is not what then do we need to know? Drinking is not sin but abstinence still might be the best way for a believer to keep from sinning. Why? Because living a life of holiness that is pleasing to God means living in the middle of two polar opposites. One side is incredibly legalistic while the other is completely immoral. You have to live a life of balance and to do that means you may have to sacrifice things in life that may not be sin, but you know you cannot say no to, you have a hard time letting go of, things that will hurt your relationship with Christ or things that set a bad example for others.
Our natural tendancies are sin and evil and immorality. Nobody need to teach us how to be bad. So to me when it comes to the issue of alcohol I believe it is better to not drink at all then to have to worry about how much is too much or worry about falling into pressure, or worrying about if my drinking might lead someone down a wrong path.
Besides alcohol there are many “gray areas” the bible never directly addresses like smoking, tattoos, clothing(what’s appropriate for school or church or swimming), should we watch rated R movies, should we watch TV shows that portray any sex or violence, should our kids play Grand Theft Auto, should teenagers kiss or even hold hands, should we listen to music that is not categorized as “Christian”?
Paul tries to help with these “gray areas” by giving us 3 things to look at to determine if what we have questions on should or should not be permissible in our lives. Conviction, Conscience, and Consideration.
Conviction means “that which anticipates”. Does he look forward to what he is going to do in high anticipation and enthusiasm? Conscience ask, “Does he look back on what he has done, wondering if he were right or wrong?” Consideration ask, “Are other people negatively affected by what he does?
Paul wants to help us find that balance between legalistic Christian and an liberal Christian. Romans 14:1- Paul warns believers to quit condemning questionable matters which are not forbidden in scripture. A person who is weak in faith does not know what they should do on certain matters of conduct. We may not agree with them but we need to accept them. You may not like their tattoos, or their ear rings, that they wear jeans to church, or work on Sundays, or read Harry Potter books but you need to accept them as your fellow believer in Christ and quit judging for things that are not condemned as sin in scripture.
Pastor J. Vernon McGee writes, “One group of believers is not to sit in judgment upon another group of believers about questionable matters of Christian conduct. Some things are not expressly condemned in Scripture, but some believers separate themselves from these things. And if they want to do this, that’s their business. These things are not to separate believers.”
But, we as individuals have a responsibility to look at everything we do, all of our conduct, and apply this idea of the conviction, conscience, and consideration to it. Why? Because we are to live a life that is first and foremost pleasing to God. (Matt. 6:33, I Cor. 10:31) Its about pleasing Christ not pleasing man. I will sacrifice because I want to please God by not causing a brother to stumble because of my conduct and because I want my life to radiate Christ in a positive example and way.
Let’s take this issue of alcohol today and apply Paul’s process of conviction, conscience and consideration to see why abstinence may be the best choice for us.
Conviction- Romans 14:10-13- All of us are going to give an account someday on how we lived our lives. Far too many of us have taken the legalistic side of things and we are more worried about what others are doing and how others are living that we forget to make sure we ourselves are right with God. We love to point out other people’s “sins.” We love to point out how other people are gossips, liars, grumblers or whatever. But what we need to do is to take a hard look in the mirror at ourselves and quit judging others. My devotion this week (My Utmost For His Highest) read, “The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuiness in others is that they are all in our own hearts.” This first part goes with what I have already spoken about in that we need to quit judging other people’s conduct that is not condemned in scripture and we need to have some conviction about our own life choices or conduct. We need to ask, “Is what I am doing and how I am living pleasing to the Lord?
Some of us need to quit worrying about who reads Harry Potter books and start focusing on fixing our own gossip problem. Some of us need to quit criticizing how Joe and Jane are raising their kids when your own kids are out of control. Some of us need to quit acting so shocked about the movie that little Billy was aloud to see while you go home each night and stare at porn. We are so quick to make others feel convicted and judged yet we never look at the convictions of our own hearts.
I need to quit worrying about others and focus first on how I am living my life. Am I overcoming my convictions? Because I give an account the best thing for me is to be as far away from evil or the temptation of evil as possible. I Thess. 5:22- We need to stop and really think about whether its worth it or not. Do you approach alcohol with enthusiasm or is there even a little bit of questioning in you on whether or not you should do it? You need to start and maybe think about why you drink in the first place? Do you drink to relieve stress? The Bible says, “cast all your cares on Him”. I abstain because I want to stay away from even the appearance of evil and alcohol, although not a sin, gives off a very negative appearance because of how many problems it causes.
Conscience- Romans 14:14-17- Another way to say this is it’s not a matter of “can I” but “should I”? There are many things we can do that are not openly condemned in scripture. The bible doesn’t say we can’t drink, but should we? It doesn’t say I can’t watch rated R movies, but should I. It doesn’t say I can’t wear a thong speedo but seriously “should I?” It’s not about “can I” but its about where is this conduct going to take my heart? If the conduct takes you down a path of sin or has even the slightest chance of taking you down a path to sin then you need to cut it out of your life no matter how much you enjoy it and regardless of whether the bible condemns it or not. If I can’t handle rated R movies because the language and nudity tempts me to have vulgar language and look at pornography then I probably need to cut it out of my life.
If I can’t drink with friends without getting drunk or if drinking is the only thing that you think will help you relax then you need to cut that out of your life. Why? Because it is causing you to sin by putting something before God. I Cor. 6:12. Free will gives me ability to do anything I want from murder to drinking to driving into a building just for fun but it is not necessarily beneficial. Paul here says, “listen to your conscience.” Skip down to vs. 23. If you have any doubt as to whether you should drink then he says you shouldn’t. If you have any doubts and do it then it is sin. And if there is any question that your drinking will cause others to stumble then don’t do it. Because you will be sinning by causing others to stumble and sin.
Some of you might be saying right now, “well I’m not convicted.” “You may think those things are wrong but they aren’t wrong to me.” It doesn’t matter if you think they are wrong or not, are they beneficial, are they making your relationship stronger with Christ, are they setting a good example for other believers around you? Or is what you are doing have even the smallest chance that it could impact someone negatively. Or that it could cause you to go down a path that leads to sin.
I do know this about alcohol…if I never take a drink of alcohol I will never have to worry how it might reflect on God, I will never have to worry about being mastered by it, I will never have to worry about how much is too much. My brother in law, who helped me put this message together ask this question, “How come in the gray issues we tend to lead towards the darkness instead of the light?” Our human nature always wants to know how far can I go without crossing the line into sin? If we are truly seeking first His Kingdom and if we truly desire to know Christ and be close to him then shouldn’t our first desire be to go towards the light and not lean as close to darkness as possible?
Consideration- - People are watching- co-workers, kids, spouse, church family- Romans 14:20-23- The moment you accepted Christ as savior you became set apart as a child of God. Your life was no longer about you but it was all about serving God whole heartedly. You are living in the world yet you are now an alien, a stranger. I Peter 2:11. We don’t have much time and what time we have needs to be focused on living out God’s purpose for our lives. When you proclaim Christ as savior people will start watching how you live. I Timothy 4:12. We need to quit worrying how far to the dark side of gray areas we can go and start focusing making everything about our lives a pleasing aroma to God.
I abstain from alcohol because I don’t want there to even be a chance that my example could hurt someone else. We may, even as Christians, not think it’s a big deal but how do you know your drinking even if its just once a month won’t cause your kids or your spouse or your friends who see you drink become alcoholics? I don’t want people to look at me and say, “Well, I saw Pastor Ryan drink a beer so it must be okay.” And what if they start drinking and become an alcoholic. If I don’t drink I don’t have to worry about it.
Its not just alcohol we need to worry about. We need to set a higher standard on living in general. We need to be very conscious of how we talk, what we watch, or listen too not because we want to become legalistic but because I want my life and you want your life to set the best possible example for Jesus Christ. We are set apart. That truth that we are God’s child, should drive us every single day to want to be better. We should want to cut out the things that are tempting us to sin or cut out the things that may cause our brother to sin.
I want to close with an interview I did this week with Jared Taylor. Jared is a perfect example of a Christian kid, raised in a Christian home that got caught up in drinking and drugs. Like all things it started very innocently but soon escalated until it literally controlled his life but by the grace of God he was able to overcome and be freed.
Video- Jared Taylor - you can watch the video at http://www.vimeo.com/1258110
I want to just challenge you this morning on this issue of alcohol to think. While it is not a sin and not forbidden to drink according to scripture the abuse of alcohol is a sin. Drunkeness is a sin. I would challenge every Christian in here today to approach alcohol with conviction, conscience and consideration. While the bible doesn’t call it a sin it is clear that the result of drinking alcohol can cause a brother to stumble, it can cause you to become addicted, to cause offense to others and can very easily have a negative impact on the witness you are trying to proclaim it seems to make sense from these that abstinence from alcohol is the best option if you want to guarantee to have a positive effect on the people around you who don’t know Jesus as Savior.
More than anything I just want you to stand out….
