Social Drinking
Put To Death Immorality • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Today, we continue our study on the theme, “Put To Death Immorality” from Colossians 3:5.
Up to this point we have examined God’s word on immodesty, gambling, and abortion.
Next week we will examine “Euthanasia.”
But for today we are going to study God’s word on the topic of “Social Drinking.”
By social drinking I mean drinking alcohol for the purpose of pleasure not for medical purposes.
So what do we find concerning…
Imbibing In The Old Testament
Imbibing In The Old Testament
A Lack Of Wisdom.
A Lack Of Wisdom.
There is no doubt that drinking alcohol is consider “unwise” to God.
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
20 Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
Why does God consider social drinking unwise?
Social drinking was consider unwise because it was a defilement of the body under the Old Testament.
Daniel 1:5–6 (ESV)
5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.
Daniel 1:7–8 (ESV)
7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. 8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
Social drinking was considered unwise because it was a crime and thus sinful to give to another in the Old Testament.
Habakkuk 2:15 (NKJV)
15 Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even to make him drunk, That you may look on his nakedness!
Social drinking was consider unwise because it led to them “not knowing God.”
Deuteronomy 29:5–6 (ESV)
5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
Social drinking was considered unwise because God admires those that are abstinent from it.
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers; then offer them wine to drink.”
5 Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.” 6 But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever.
7 You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ 8 We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,
9 and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, 10 but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the Lord. 14 The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me.
Not only do we see that God considered social drinking “unwise” we see he forbid many from consuming it altogether.
Those Forbidden From Consuming.
Those Forbidden From Consuming.
God’s civil leaders that he put in place of his chosen people were forbidden from social drinking.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, 5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
God’s priests were not have have any alcohol when they went into the house of the Lord.
8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 10 You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”
So God’s leadership and priests were to make sure they were holy which forbid social drinking, what about the every day Jewish man or woman?
Proverbs 23:31 (ESV)
31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
Why, because verse 33…
Proverbs 23:33 (ESV)
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.
Summary.
Summary.
The Old Testament is clear on what God thinks of “alcoholic wine and strong drink.”
It is unwise in the eyes of God and defiles the person who partakes or offers it to others to partake.
But that is the Old Testament, what about…
Imbibing In The New Testament
Imbibing In The New Testament
All Christians Are Priests.
All Christians Are Priests.
All those that obey God’s gospel plan of salvation and added to the one church by our one Lord (Acts 2:47; Ephesians 1:22-23) are priests today.
1 Peter 2:5–7 (ESV)
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
1 Peter 2:8–9 (ESV)
8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
As seen Christians i.e., priests of God, are living in the perfect tabernacle constantly, the church.
Hebrews 9:11 (NKJV)
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
Hebrews 8:2 (NKJV)
2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
If Christians are always in the perfect tabernacle with Christ as their high priest and God forbid his priest under an inferior tabernacle to consume alcohol when in the tabernacle it isn’t a great leap to see we should not social drink as God’s priests.
We also find that…
All Christians Are To Be Sober-Minded.
All Christians Are To Be Sober-Minded.
Look at what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8
1 Thessalonians 5:6–8 (ESV)
6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 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.
The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek defines this word to mean, “to abstain from [alcoholic] wine.”
Vines defines this word to mean, “to be free from the influence of intoxicants”
The Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon defines the word as meaning, “to drink no [alcoholic] wine”
All Christians are to be sober not just a select few but all Christians.
1 Peter 1:13 (ESV)
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 4:7 (ESV)
7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
If it hasn’t been made clear enough that God expects his children to not social drink we find God also considers “one drink of alcohol to make one drunk.”
In Ephesians 5:1-18 we find Paul has been building upon a point that we must “be imitators of God” and therefore those things of sin “must not even be named among us” (Ephesians 5:1-2).
We are not to have “any” fornication or covetousness but what is proper among God’s saints (Ephesians 5:3).
We are not to have “any” filthy nor foolish speech” but instead thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:4).
We are not to partake of “any” darkness but the light which is the will of the Lord (Ephesians 5:5-17).
We then find Paul write this in Ephesians 5:18.
Ephesians 5:18 (ESV)
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit
The word for “filled” here in the Greek means…
“fill completely or to the most complete state”
2 Timothy 3:17 (ESV)
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Colossians 1:24–25 (ESV)
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known
Summary
Summary
What we have here is God saying that Christians are to be “filled to the complete brim” with the Holy Spirit and if one takes a drink of alcohol they are no longer filled with the Holy Spirit but “drunk with wine.”
They are “one drink drunk” and no longer “free from intoxicants i.e., sober-minded nor filled with the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Next week we will look at those passages used to justify social drinking and demonstrate why they lack truth with God’s word.
However, this lesson is definitive on God’s thoughts on social drinking and why it is sinful for God’s holy priests to partake of such a thing that would make us unable to properly “keep watch” against the roaring lion.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.