What does the Bible teach about alcohol? You may recall famous alcohol scenes in the Bible such as Noah’s foolish drunkenness after the Flood, or Jesus’ awesome miracle where He turned water into wine.
Does the Bible teach total abstinence? No. Drinking is not forbidden, but drunkenness is. Yet, for some people total abstinence is a requirement. For some, because they have a weak conscience (Rom 14; 1 Cor 8) they believe that all drinking is sin. Thus, God expects them personally to abide by their conscience and totally abstain. Then there are those for whom the temptation of alcohol is too much, and so they must practice the rule Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.” If alcohol causes you to sin you have to cut it off entirely from your life.
Then there are those who are in control of themselves and having some drinks on occasion is not a problem for them. And it is not a problem in God’s eyes.
When it comes to alcohol, what is wise? Our Proverbs series is called, “Wisdom & The Wise,” and it has been an exploration of the wisdom that Proverbs gives regarding various areas of life. Today, we explore alcohol. The first half will explore the various warnings of alcohol in Proverbs, and then the second half will go over biblical instruction or how to be wise when it comes to alcohol.
#1 ALCOHOL RUINS LIVES
How many marriages, friendships, families, businesses, careers, finances, have been ruined by drinking? Proverbs tells us that excessive alcohol ruins lives. Turn with me to 23:19-21, “…” Those verses say too much drinking is the wrong path. It leads to poverty. The verses paint a picture of someone who is not prospering, but whose life is ruined.
APPLICATION: Do not surround yourself with people who drink too much. Notice what the verse says, “Do not JOIN those who drink too much…” Here again we have the repeated rule in Scripture, the maxim in life, that the company we keep is important because we are influenced by those we surround ourselves with. If your hand causes you to sin, Jesus said, “cut it off.” If your friends and buddies lead you into drinking you need to find new friends.
But then look at verses 29-35, and we see how alcohol ruins people’s lives even more, “….. Notice the description of a ruined life in verse 29, WOE, SORROW, STRIFE, COMPLAINTS, NEEDLESS BRUISES, BLOODSHOT EYES. This person’s life is ruined by alcohol. They “gaze” at their drink, its so mesmerizing on the front end of one’s drinking career. But on the back end too much drinking bites like a snake and poisons like a viper, as v32 says. You won’t see reality clearly, “your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things.” Your perception of yourself, others, situations, conversations, everything will all be skewed by your alcohol soaked brain.
This series is about wisdom. Wisdom means we don’t let alcohol ruin our lives.
APPLICATION: This may mean different things for different people. Wisdom means you have the skill to please God with your life and you know how to live righteously. For some, their right hand causes them to sin so they have to cut it off. For others, their right hand doesn’t cause them to sin, so they don’t have to cut it off. There are clear teachings of how God expects us to live in this life given to us in Scripture and our interaction with those teachings requires we apply the wisdom from God’s word to our own lives specifically. We have to think about how we will carry out God’s commands. Its not always automatic, or always readily clear.
#2 ALCOHOL CORRUPTS
Second, alcohol corrupts.
It makes you violent and quarrelsome. Proverbs 20:1 says…
It makes them forget and ignore justice. Proverbs 31:4-5 says…. Alcohol corrupts your moral compass, it corrupts your ability to see things rightly, it corrupts the way you judge people and situations, it corrupts the way you act.
It corrupts them by making them prioritize drinking. Isaiah 5:11 says…. They neglect everything else. Whatever else they do they always do with an eye to getting it done so they can get to drinking. Drinking is the day’s priority.
Drinking corrupts by making people disregard God. Isaiah 5:11-12 says, “….” using Jesus’ words here: you can’t serve both alcohol and God. You have to choose. There’s a reason alcohol is regarded as an idol for those who have drinking problems.
Wisdom means we see excessive drinking as a highway to our own corruption – and therefore we avoid corrupting habits with alcohol.
#3 ALCOHOL OUT OF CONTROL
Wisdom does not allow alcohol to get out of control. Proverbs 21:16 says, “If you find honey, eat just enough – too much of it and you will vomit.” Or like Isaiah 5:11 said, “Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.” The picture of “out of control” is the obsession with drinking, the energetic motivation towards it, and there being no mountain too high to climb to party.
IIf you’ve ever dealt with people who have addictions – of any kind – the self deception is incredible. They insist they are in control. They may have been at one time long ago, in the beginning of their journey with their substance. But not anymore. Self-deception is part of the power of sin. Ephesians 4:22 says sin is deceitful – referring to the sin within us that deceives US! Part of the deceiving power of the sin of alcohol is that the person is so insistent that they are in control of themselves and their drinking. A long time ago you may have started out only giving in one inch at a time. What’s one inch? The problem is you’ve given up thousands of inches and you are now miles away from the place you were when you actually had the power to say No. You are not in control of alcohol anymore, you are under its control. You gave up control one inch at a time.
APPLICATION: If you can’t enjoy a little bit, then you shouldn’t have any. Living a wise Christian life means living a life of self-control.
#4 ALCOHOL IS AN ESCAPE
The last point I’ll draw out from Proverbs is that alcohol is an escape. Proverbs 31:6-7…..
Rather than dealing with life and facing problems the person who drinks escapes the pressures and difficulties that come their way by turning to alcohol. Doing so perpetuates immaturity and adolescence, keeping a person from ever really growing up because they never grow through struggle and pressure to learn how to deal with life.
This is why so many talk about alcohol as an idol. Its the “go-to.” Its what someone turns to instead of turning to Jesus Christ.
BECOMING WISE ABOUT ALCOHOL & DRINKING
#1 SEE IT AS SIN, NOT SICKNESS
The trend today is to see and treat drunkenness as sickness, as though it is a medical issue. This is foolish, and it certainly is not biblical. The Bible never categorizes drunkenness as sickness – always as sin.
There may be some similarities between alcohol and sickness, but alcoholism fundamentally is not sickness. Let me use a different topic to illustrate this point: I may say that a church is like a business because there are some things about a church that are like a business (we have cash flows, bills to pay, payroll, budgets, etc). But a church fundamentally is NOT a business. All of us here would be offended by church leadership treating church like a business.
Its the same thing with alcohol and sickness: we may be able to note some similarities with sickness, but alcohol fundamentally is not sickness. It is sin. First Corinthians 6 does not say that cancer patients are among those who will not inherit the kingdom of God. But it does say drunkards are among those who will not inherit the kingdom.
To shift the diagnosis to sickness means incorrectly and ineffectively treating it as a medical issue. Whereas if we maintained it was sin like the Bible says, then we would have the real solution and power to leaving a life of drunkenness: humble repentance and confession of sin and new life at the cross.
See alcoholism and drunkenness for what it is: sin.
#2 CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES
Secondly, consider the consequences of drinking. Proverbs 27:12 says, “The prudent see danger and take refuge; but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” So the wise see the consequences of problematic drinking, and avoid it. While fools either don’t see the consequences or don’t care, and they plow forward and suffer the penalty for their foolishness. Everyone should consider the consequences: poverty, a ruined life and relationships, a corrupted character, no self-control, and as 1 Cor 6:9 poi-10 says – such a person will not enter the kingdom of God.
#3 BE A LOSER
Third, be a loser. Turn to Isaiah 5:22 with me, “Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks.” These are the victors, the winners, when it comes to drinking. You don’t want to be among them. You want to be a loser when it comes to drinking.
This speaks specifically to two mindsets: first, those who think drinking makes them a man, or tough, or cool. Second, it speaks to the mindset of someone who gives in to peer pressure. You have to decide who you’re going to live for: the opinions of a bunch of debauched party animals or Jesus Christ. This is similar to what 1 Peter 4:1-5…. See Peter warns that those champions of drinking, debauchery, idolatry and lust are going to revile you for not being a champion with them. When it comes to drinking, be a loser.
#4: BE SPIRIT FILLED
Next, be filled with the Spirit to overcome alcohol. Join me at Ephesians 5:18-20…. Notice the contrast is between alcohol and the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not referring to someone supposedly speaking in tongues. It is also not referring to getting the Holy Spirit as though you didn’t already have Him.
The correct understanding of being filled is that it refers to being under the control of or under the influence of something. It conveys the idea that your behavior reflects the dominant influence within you. Is alcohol the dominant influence? Or the Spirit of God? Rather than being under the control of alcohol, which makes you “out of control,” instead we should be under the control of the Spirit. When we are controlled by alcohol it leads to debauchery, but when we are controlled by the Spirit it leads to thanksgiving, worshipful singing, and righteousness.
How do we become filled with the Spirit? Being filled by the Spirit happens when the right things are happening in our lives: confessing our sin, studying and obeying the Word of God, praying, not acting and reacting out of our sinful flesh, and keeping our attention on God in each situation or decision we are facing. A believer is not filled with the Spirit when they are pridefully leaving sin unconfessed, following their flesh and not praying, continuing in ignorance of God’s word, ignoring God’s commands or justifying why they don’t have to follow them in their situation, and not really giving any meaningful thought of God in their situations and decisions, and going about life self-willed and so on.
#5 PRIZE YOUR DIGNITY
Another help for overcoming alcohol is Prizing Our Dignity. A wise person prizes their dignity. King Lemuel’s mother counsels him in Proverbs 31:4 about drinking and says, “It is not for kings, Lemuel – it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer.” It is out of place for royalty to be given over to drinking. It is completely unfitting for the honor and dignity of your position to be a drunk.
If you belong to Jesus Christ you are part of a royal priesthood, and Jesus has made you into a kingdom to reign on the earth. It is utterly unfitting and beneath a child of God, an heir of the world to come, to be a drunk. Prize your dignity, prize the dignity you have in Christ, because it is the very dignity of Jesus Christ that you are identified with in heaven.
#6 KNOW JESUS ALONE DELIVERS
Know Jesus Delivers. It is not true preaching if Jesus is not truly proclaimed as THE answer. Jesus himself said in John 8, “If the Son sets you free you are free indeed.” God said, “Do not call anything impure that I have made clean” (Acts 10).
Jesus and only Jesus delivers. If Jesus has set you free from alcohol (and only He can), then do not call yourself an alcoholic the rest of your life. That is one thing I can’t stand about AA. AA says you’re an alcoholic the rest of your life even if you never drink again. Its your immutable identity – you can never change it. In meetings if a man says he is not an alcoholic anymore because Jesus Christ has made him a new man he will be met with scoffing and criticism. He will be gently rebuked or corrected to help him remember he is an alcoholic for life. In AA your bondage to alcohol is your identity.
But the bible says do not call yourself a slave if Jesus has set you free. Do not call yourself unclean (an alcoholic) when God has made you “clean.” Do not call yourself an alcoholic when 1 Corinthians 6:11 says “That is what some of you WERE. BUT you were WASHED, you were SANCTIFIED, you were JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.” That is what you WERE.” The homosexual is not a homosexual anymore; the thief is not a thief anymore; the idolater is not an idolater anymore; the drunk is not a drunk anymore. Do not call yourself a drunk if Jesus made you into a brand new man. Do not call yourself an alcoholic if God has made you clean. Jesus delivers. So see yourself as delivered, as clean, and as a new man. By not seeing yourself as delivered you are DENYING Jesus has delivered you. You are DENYING the very work Jesus has done in your life.
Jesus and only Jesus delivers.
CONCLUSION: Silent reflection