Alcohol and the Bible
The Bible says in Titus 2:11,12: “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age.” In order to be godly, there are certain things with which a Christian must not be in association. One of those things is alcohol and specifically modern-day alcohol.
Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines sober as marked by self-control, of sound, moral judgment. Sober Christians deny themselves any worldly pleasure that would compromise our self-control. This allows them to always be alert. Always be spiritually focused and able to guard against those ever-ready surprising attacks of the devil that we read about in 1 Peter 5. When Christ returns, disciples will be ready and waiting, no matter the time of day or day of week it occurs. Be on the alert, for you do not know the day, nor the hour. - Matthew 25:13
There’s simply no excuse to ever be in a position of any compromised focus or alertness when it comes to our faith.
1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 “But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”
Now there’s a mention of drunkenness there, but that’s not why I’ve read this passage. I’ve read it because of the focus on the idea of full control and sobriety, so that faith, love and hope will abide in us every day and every night, and every weekend of our lives. Sobriety is often placed in contrast with drunkenness, and rightly so.
When one comes under the influence of alcohol, judgment is impaired. That is what alcohol does. It impairs judgment. The ability to make wise choices is immediately diminished, one loses control and cannot calculate reason and weight to the mindful capacity. The more alcohol in the bloodstream, the less ability we have to make proper decisions. People often do things while inebriated that they would be hesitant to do if they were alert and sober. Inhibitions are often cast aside, and dangerous behavior often results, if not that which produces physical harm. Certainly, even greater issues of spiritual harm.
Now all I’m asking for in the introduction here is some intellectual honesty that there’s a certain amount of alcohol you can put into your body and you will lose your alertness. If anybody says no, you’re not being intellectually honest. Everybody knows that. At some point alcohol will have that effect on us. Alcohol, by its very design, is a threat to sobriety.
Even the spiritually declining public and the government get this. We are not told to drink a little and drive. We are told don’t drink and drive. Zero drinking for driving. In fact, we are informed about the dangers of inhibitions from alcohol, starting with drink one. I was doing some searches on the handbooks, and I thought I’ll pick California. If there’s anywhere that would have a liberal take on the amount of alcohol you can consume while driving it would be California. They’re trying to decide how much alcohol causes you danger. Regardless of your gender, how many drinks of modern-day alcohol equating to the definitions I gave you a minute ago? How many does the state of California say is safe for driving? ZERO. Well, I just had a steak. It’s ZERO. It’s always ZERO. And in every case, regardless of gender or weight. Do you see it? One drink impairs your skills. How many drinks to impair my skills? One. Who said that - some Bible thumping jerk? Nope. California handbook. It continues to say that a single drink defined as a beer, a glass of wine, or a liquor shot impairs the consumer. By the second beverage, some people are already legally intoxicated. The message to drivers is NOT don’t drink too much, IT IS DON’T DRINK AT ALL!
The state of California gives only one green light to drivers. ZERO alcoholic modern-day beverages. I tell you, if it’s important to stay away from it to maintain your vehicle, it’s important to stay away from it to maintain the Temple of God that you carry with you and interact with people every day.
When I wrote this material, I did not live in Lindale TX, where Miranda Lambert is from. Country star Miranda Lambert and her song Heart Like Mine talks about beer drinking and says: “I heard Jesus he drank wine. I bet we get along just fine.”
Now, what she’s done there is what a lot of people do. They say Jesus drank wine. I can drink wine. Wine is wine. I’m here to tell you if you learn nothing else tonight you will learn that wine is not just wine. Just because it uses the same term doesn’t mean it’s the same thing. This mentality simply believes that God’s Son drinks wine. Wine is alcohol. I can drink a beer.
All sobriety and drunkenness arguments aside, this is a simple way. Some justify and they don’t want to talk about it. They say, “I don’t want to talk about handbooks in California. I’m just telling you he drank it. I can drink it.” This is the wrong attitude.
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Taken from a sermon by Kris Emerson. You can listen to it at:
https://www.lindalechurchofchrist.com/sermons2222/
sermons222/2016/05/15/alcohol-and-the-bible.
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https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/resources/articles/2024/06/30/alcohol-and-the-bible
