Let's Talk About... Alcohol

Intro:

If you happen to look up jokes about baptists, the number one topic you will find is jokes about baptists and alcohol. For instance: What’s the difference between a catholic and a baptist? A Catholic will say hello to you in the liquor store and the Baptist will act like he doesn’t know you.

Or

How do you stop a Baptist from drinking all of your beer on a fishing trip? Bring two baptists on your fishing trip.

Both of these jokes are getting at a hypocrisy that our world sees among many christians- especially in our denomination of Southern baptists- who seem to speak very loudly about the evil of alcohol and then secretly drink when they are alone.

Unfortunately, this is the story I have grown up in and it’s the world you are growing up in as well. Many Christians will drink, even get drunk, but will never admit it.

Obviously that should never be the case. We shouldn’t appear hypocritical and we should never have christians living secret lives or covering up sin.

The only way we will change this story is if we are willing to take an honest look at what the Bible actually says about Alcohol!

It’s also important for us to realize that christians all throughout history have viewed this topic in different ways. There were many church leaders that had a positive view of alcohol throughout history- even many breweries were run by christian monks. At the same time there are also many cases of christian leaders starting movements or being advocates for total prohibition- legally stopping the sale and imports of alcohol.

So, even though most of us have only heard one side of Church history, it’s important to realize it hasn’t always been this way.

But the question isn’t what has the church done with this topic in history, or what do we think about it now. No, we must know-what does the Bible say about alcohol? What does God say about alcohol in our lives?

Let’s talk about that!

Let’s begin with the question: Is drinking alcohol a sin?

So right up front let me be really crystal clear- is drinking alcohol a sin, no. But also it may be a sin for you. Got it?

I promise, we’ll clear up what I mean by that as we go tonight.

But we need to be honest- nowhere in the Bible does it say that there is something innately sinful about alcoholic beverages, or even drinking alcohol. But that doesn’t mean we all can or should drink.

Fun fact: The word wine appears 232 times in the Bible. The phrase fermented drink, in reference to more powerful alcoholic beverages, is mentioned around 20 times.

Again, none of those references say that drinking alcohol in general is a sin.

However, the Bible is clear that we ned to be very careful and even that there are a few areas in which it can become sinful:

When is drinking sinful?

1. Underaged Drinking, To be super clear right off the bat- anyone who drinks before the legal age is committing a sin.

Romans 13:1–5 CSB

Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience.

God commands us to obey the laws of our earthly authorities because God has allowed them to be in authority and they are meant to govern laws that are for our good. (For the record- Legal drinking age is a very good, protective law)

So, no one under the legal age should drink because it’s breaking the law, and that is a sin. And, that means these years leading up to the legal age, you should be considering whether or not you SHOULD ever drink- we will get to that later.

Next,

2. Drunkenness, meaning affected by alcohol to the extent of losing control of one's faculties or behavior. And losing control here doesn’t mean out of control, it means that alcohol is impacting your thoughts or actions in ANY WAY! So, anyone who says oh they aren’t drunk, they are just buzzed- well that is still considered drunkenness for the record.

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 CSB

Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.

Notice- Paul here, and in many other passages lists drunkenness with such sinful behaviors as idol worship, adultery, prostitution, homosexuality, thievery, greed, abuse, and cheating. (Clearly God takes drunkenness far more seriously than our culture does!)

To get drunk is sinful. It is a sin because God said so. It also is clear why- Getting drunk stops us from being able to make Christ-like decisions, It leads to behavior that does not glorify God, love people, or lead people closer to God.

On top of that, drunkenness means we are not Sober-minded which is a command in scripture. One place is 2 Timothy 4:5

2 Timothy 4:5 CSB

But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Paul tells the young church leader Timothy that he must keep a sober mind, here its translated self-control, but it is actually saying keep a sober mind, keep his head clear, or keep a clear mind.

Ephesians 5:18 CSB

And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:

Our sober-mindedness- us having a clear, unhindered, non-intoxicated mind is necessary for us hearing from and obeying God’s Spirit speaking to us. That is a huge part of why drunkenness is such a big deal- when a substance impacts our mind- that potentially hurts our ability to hear from God and experience God’s Spirit leading us to live like Jesus!

Side note- While we are talking about this- this area is why I’d also say it’s clearly not ok to smoke weed or vape. I know these things are more and more common and publically acceptable. But they destroy our bodies and they impact our minds that we are called to keep clear and sober.

Getting high, from any substance is sinful.

Drunkenness is sinful and clearly has no place in the life of a Jesus- follower

3. Addiction, meaning forming a dependency, obsession, or compulsion towards a substance or behavior.

1 Corinthians 6:12 CSB

“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

Paul says, ok, maybe some things are not sinful but that doesn’t mean they are good for me. He says, I must not be mastered by anything. When something becomes our master, it has control over us, it has influence in our decisions and actions. Addiction to anything is wrong because Addiction eventually wrecks all relationships. And biblical love is impossible for addicts because addiction is the epitome of selfishness.

Addiction to alcohol is a real struggle. Statistically, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 25 women who drink will become addicted to alcohol. That’s about like saying if every student in our ministry decided to drink, about 3 students would statistically become addicted to alcohol.

And just a heads up- if the phrases i need this to unwind, I need this to relax, I need this to fit in or have fun, …… are how someone talks about alcohol- or any substance- that is an unhealthy use of anything. Those should be big red flags of a problem.

So is drinking alcohol a sin? Well, if you’re breaking the law, get drunk or mentally affected by it by alcohol, or become addicted to alcohol, it’s clearly called sin by the Bible.

Transition:

But, this still seemingly leaves a lot of room for alcohol to be in our lives and not sinful. But we need to see a few more things.

So, we started with the question of is it sinful. In other words, we are asking is it right or wrong.

And that is good to ask and start with. Ok, if God calls something sin in the Bible that is enough reason to full stop and trust it shouldn’t be in our lives.

But after that, for anything in life we have to ask an EQUALLY important question:

Is it Wise?

So, we have to have a quick conversation on Christian Freedom.

If you haven’t heard of that- Christian Freedom is the understanding that we no longer live under the burdens of the law but we live under God’s Grace! We have been set free by Christ and we aren’t controlled by laws anymore but Grace!

And this is true and super important. But we haven’t been set free to live however we want.

Many people try to reference that idea of Christian freedom as an excuse to do whatever they want, live however they want and not have any rules. Because they have “freedom in Christ”

To be really clear, Christian freedom is not freedom to do anything you want. Our freedom in Christ is freedom FROM SIN!

Romans 6:14 CSB

For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.

Christian Freedom is the freedom from sin to live a holy life!

God’s grace is seen in that- We were slaves to sin until we were set free by Christ to live in His new, holy life!

Galatians 5:13 CSB

For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.

SO, we have freedom from the law to live in a new life without any burdensome rules.

But it is not so we can continue sinning without fear of consequences, it is so that we can stop sinning and start build others up in love!

Again, let’s go back to 1 Corinthians 6:12

1 Corinthians 6:12 CSB

“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

You should have quotation marks there as Paul is talking, that is because Paul is actually quoting what he is hearing many new Christians saying at that time- Hey I don’t have to listen to the Jewish laws anymore- everything is allowed now. And Paul says- yeah but that doesn’t mean everything is GOOD for you as you follow Jesus.

Let’s look at a tangible example:

One of the most common struggles of that day was deciding what Christians should do with the meat sacrificed to idols by people around them.

So in Jewish law, of course you couldn’t eat meat that was sacrificed to idols. But in Christ, they were no longer under the law so they had to decide- should we eat it now?

On one hand- to eat it could be seen as supporting idol worship, it could make you feel like you were participating in idol worship or even it could cause others to stumble into idol worship. So, DON’T eat it obviously.

On the other hand- it was just meat, those idols aren’t real, and you aren’t guilty of breaking jewish law anymore so just eat it and don’t worry about it!

You see how it’s a tricky decision there?

What is Paul’s advice to them?

We see this in 1 Corinthians 8:4-8

1 Corinthians 8:4–8 CSB

About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him. However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

First, Paul essentially is saying, each person must decide for themselves and live according to that conviction. If they felt guilty about eating the meat they shouldn’t eat it, if they didn’t feel it was wrong- they were free to eat the food. We must develop personal convictions about everything in life, not based on our personal preferences or desires- but based on Biblical truth and Christlike love.

For a personal example, I don’t believe there is anything wrong with getting a tattoo for myself- so I have gotten a lot of tattoos. But there are some people who feel like it is really wrong to get tattoos- and Paul would say- they SHOULD NOT get tattoos, that would be wrong to go against their own convictions. And Paul here says we shouldn’t look down on each other for those convictions.

Romans 14:22–23 CSB

Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.

Paul is clear if God lays a personal conviction on our hearts- we must live by it.

To disobey how the Holy Spirit has guided us to live is sinful no matter what the topic is.

But notice- it doesn’t stop there:

Paul continues in verse 9:

1 Corinthians 8:9 CSB

But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.

Then in verses 12-13:

1 Corinthians 8:12–13 CSB

Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.

Paul is clear, just because you have no problem with it- if it causes someone around you to struggle, stumble or feel guilty- you are sinning against Christ!

Bringing us back to the topic of alcohol-

Let’s say, you turn 21 and you have prayed through it and you know that you don’t believe alcohol is wrong for you to have in moderation in your life. That’s great totally fine.

Let’s say You can have a drink and not get drunk or be tempted to get drunk. That’s Great.

But you then are around other Christians who see you drinking and they feel guilty about it because of their own convictions. Or worse, they end up drinking with you and get drunk. Well, that is called sin clearly all throughout the New Testament.

Paul goes so far as to say, if a certain behavior is a stumbling block for the believers around him, the christlike thing is to abstain all together from it so that you can love them well and not risk causing them to fall.

Now, I don’t think Paul is literally saying that he will never eat meat again, but he is clear that he would rather never eat meat again if that would prevent any christian around him from ever stumbling.

Yes that is a high standard but if we feel like we NEED anything in this life more than we are willing to love those around us and help them follow Jesus- that doesn’t look like Jesus.

I know, this isn’t cut and dry should I drink alcohol or should I not. But that’s not how many decisions work when following Jesus.

We always want to filter any decision in our life through the questions of: Does the Bible say this is sinful? That’s a clear and immediate decision if the answer is yes it’s a SIN.

Does this help me love God?

Does this help me love others?

Those last two take time in the Bible and in prayer and conversation with other believers to navigate and make a wise decision on.

I know this has been a lot so to summarize- my goal is not to say yes you should drink or no you shouldn’t drink. My goal has been to show you that this is a very sensitive decision that each person must weigh the cost of and decide if it is right or wrong for you by the Holy Spirit’s leadership.

Again, no it isn’t a sin to drink alcohol in general, but it is a sin in many circumstances.

Here is a really helpful list that I have heard another pastor use when talking about this:

You shouldn’t drink if:

You’re underage and it’s illegal (Romans 13)

You’re addicted (1 Corinthians 6:12)

You’re tempted to get drunk (Eph 5:18)

You’re around those who struggle with alcohol (Romans 14:13-23)

You’re around those who believe it is wrong (1 Corinthians 8)

You’re in a position to make important decisions (Proverbs 31:1-9)

We’ve covered all of that tonight so Write those down with the verses, check them out and pray through them before deciding if alcohol should be in your life and come back to them in the future as you decide whether or not you should drink in a certain setting.

Now, as a final piece of advice, if you do one day choose to include alcohol in your life, there only seems to be one right context for it in Scripture- its in times of fellowship with other believers. That’s it. To drink with unbelievers breaks many of the standards we have already talked about. And to drink alone lacks accountability and likely reveals sinful motives.

My prayer for this time for each of you is that you would see that every decision we make is worth being evaluated on all sides like this. Don’t incorporate anything into your life without genuinely asking is this right Biblically and is it wise as I follow Jesus!

Ultimately, if you commit to set your heart on loving God and loving people like Jesus you will make the right choices in your life when you make them wisely with the Word of God, the Spirit in you and the counsel of other Believers!

Response:

Bow your heads with me and let’s respond. If you are in the band you can make your way up to the stage as we have one more song in just a minute. but everyone else, let’s take what we have just heard to God. There are a few ways we could respond to this message tonight.

Confess sin that comes to mind in the area of alcohol and know there is forgiveness for you and new life ahead of you!

Confess areas you have misused your christian freedom to continue sinning, or in a way that offended or caused another christian to sin.

Ask God to give you wisdom and a clear conviction in the years ahead for whether or not alcohol should be in your life.

If you’re here tonight and have never turned from your sins in general and you need to be saved and given new life by Jesus you can do that here and now! The Bible tells us all of us have sinned and are separated from god by our sins. The Gospel is the good news that God loves you so much that even while you were still sinning against him he sent Jesus to live a perfect life, die in your place to pay for your sins and he rose from the dead. If you will trust Him as Lord and follow Him with your life You can be forgiven for your sins, given a personal relationship with God and eternal life in His kingdom. Is there anyone here tonight who needs to be saved and follow Jesus right now?

Let’s pray!

PRAY

Stand up and come back to the front and center here.