What God Says About Alcohol
A member of Alcoholics Anonymous once sent columnist Ann Landers the following:
We drank for happiness and became unhappy.
We drank for joy and became miserable.
We drank for sociability and became argumentative.
We drank for sophistication and became obnoxious.
We drank for friendship and made enemies.
We drank for sleep and awakened without rest.
We drank for strength and felt weak.
We drank "medicinally" and acquired health problems.
We drank for relaxation and got the shakes.
We drank for bravery and became afraid.
We drank for confidence and became doubtful.
We drank to make conversation easier and slurred our speech.
We drank to feel heavenly and ended up feeling like hell.
We drank to forget and were forever haunted.
We drank for freedom and became slaves.
We drank to erase problems and saw them multiply.
We drank to cope with life and invited death.
After reading the letter and posting it in her column, Ann Landers made this comment:
People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.
 It Can Start Early
Do you realize that in our country, by the time young people reach the 10th grade, only three in ten are non-drinkers? Results of a study indicates that about a third of high school students are moderate to heavy drinkers in the classification of the scientists who organized students into six categories: abstainers, infrequent, light, moderate, moderate-to- heavy and heavy drinkers. Ease of availability is related to heavier drinking. Those states that allow 18-year-olds to purchase alcohol have heavier drinking.
SuperBowl Commercials
It really shouldn’t surprise us that we are a culture that embraces alcohol at so many different levels. More creativity, more money and more energy is place in alcohol advertising than just about any other product in our country. You know as well as I do that the funniest and most entertaining commercials are beer commercials. They have helped to define our popular culture! Our popular culture does so much to encourage us to drink. But the final decision to do so is still ours, isn’t it? So why do you think so many people drink so often? The answer may surprise you. You might think that people drink to feel good, or to relax or to have more fun. Maybe you think some people drink to feel accepted. This all may be somewhat true, but the REAL reason people drink is to GET INTO SHAPE!
To Be the Best Runner
Let’s say you are not in shape right now to run a marathon. What are you going to do? Well, you are going to start to train so you can become that thing that you want to be! Not only that, you are also going to visit the businesses that have some of the tools to help you get into shape. You might want to buy shoes ore specific clothes or maybe a new running watch! Well what if your goal is not to be a runner, but just to be something that you presently AREN’T? Most of us would like to change something about ourselves. We want to change our shape! Well if that is you goal you might start to do those things that would help you see yourself in a different light, and for many people this means drinking alcohol. And they too find themselves visiting the businesses and locations that will provide them with the tools they need to see themselves in a different shape. They aren’t looking for shoes or a new watch. They’re looking for beer or wine or hard alcohol.
The Ideal People
All of us fall short of the expectations of someone, and many of us simply fall short of our own expectations for ourselves. But let’s face it, our culture often sets a high bar for what it is to be the perfect guy or gal. From the earliest of ages, boys are told that they are to be tough, rather unemotional adventure seeking sorts, and it is certainly true that God has given this nature to men for a reason. But there are many shadings of what God would have each of us to be as a young man, and we don’t have to measure ourselves against each other or some sort of “norm” to see if we are OK. Women struggle in the same way. From the earliest ages, girls are told that the model they are to strive for is nearly impossible to attain. Images of beauty and athleticism compete with one another, and none of us can measure up against the cultural pressure.
That’s because we are caught up in trying to respond to what our CULTURE says we should be! And they, for the most part, rely almost exclusively on what they see on the outside. So we naturally begin to shape our identity with the layer of externalism! We spend so much time trying to convince the world that we are valuable based on what we appear to be. We need to stop looking at all that stuff and realize that we were made by God to be the individuals that we already are! Check out the Scripture:
 Psalm 139:13-14
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Even with this being true, we often find ourselves trying to deny who we are (and see ourselves as something we are not) by using alcohol or drugs! We want something more: to be happier, or more popular, or more confident, or simply to have the family we would prefer to have!
Alcohol and the Church
Part of what I have to do at the Police Department is background searches on events that occur within our city. These events have to be licensed by the city, and I often work with local churches who are planning fundraisers. It might surprise you to know that I have NEVER licensed a church fundraiser that did not include an alcohol permit. For many churches, there seems to be no contradiction or problem with what I call “Christian Drinking”. It simply reflects the current controversy within the church related to alcohol use!
Many people within the church believe it is OK to drink alcohol. They recognize the fact that wine is often mentioned in scripture as an acceptable offering (see Genesis 14:18), Paul seems to advocate wine medicinally (see 1 Timothy 5:23), and Jesus drank wine at the last supper and with tax collectors who dined with Matthew! At the same time, there are many in the church who would disagree, observing that heavy drinking is often condemned (see Proverbs 21:17), we are often told not to get drunk (see Ephesians 5:18), and leaders are told that they must not be addicted to wine (see Titus 1:7). So which is it? What are we to believe?
The Miracle at Cana
Well the first issue we have to address is this often argued issue of the nature of the wine in Jesus’ day. Many of those people who don’t want us to drink as Christians argue that wine was not alcoholic in the days of Christ, therefore any encouragement to drink is not related to alcohol at all. They say that wine in these days was just like weak grape juice. Well, that is simply not true. Scripture recognizes that wine was intoxicating, even in the days of Jesus. Look at Jesus’ first miracle at Cana, where he turned the water into wine. After doing this, the master of the banquet made an important statement:
John 2:8-10
…the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
What is he saying? Well most people used the good wine up front, and only after all the guests were DRUNK, did they bring out the cheap stuff! Clearly, wine was intoxicating, even in these days!
Verses For and Against Alcohol Use
So what exactly does the Bible say about alcohol use? Let’s look at the statistics for a minute, OK? On the negative side, there are 17 warnings against abusing alcohol, 19 examples of people abusing alcohol, 3 references to selecting leaders, and one verse advocating abstinence if drinking will cause a brother to stumble. Total negative references: 40, or 16%. On the positive side, there are 59 references to the commonly accepted practice of drinking wine (and strong drink) with meals, 27 references to the abundance of wine as an example of God's blessing, 20 references to the loss of wine and strong drink as an example of God's curse, 25 references to the use of wine in offerings and sacrifices, 9 references to wine being used as a gift, and 5 metaphorical references to wine as a basis for a favorable comparison. Total positive references: 145, or 59%.
So what are we to believe in all of this? Well if you take a close look at all of the NEGATIVE verses related to alcohol, you will see that they all deal with EXCESSIVE use. Moderation appears to be acceptable, but excessive use is not Godly. And that shouldn’t surprise us. Excessive use of ANYTHING good, leads us to a place where God does not want us to be.
 Eating / Gluttony
Let’s take a look at a few “good” behaviors and see what happens when we become excessive. Eating is obviously a good thing, but carried to the extreme, it becomes gluttony, something that God does not care for.
 Money / Greed
We all need to make money to live, but if we become excessive and obsessive in this pursuit, we become greedy and this is not something God wants for us either.
 Love / Lust
Love is an incredibly high value to God, but when we obsess with this emotion or apply it in excessive ways to people with whom we do not have an intimate relationship, the behavior can become destructive, resulting in inappropriate passion or lust.
 Success / Selfishness
God wants us to be successful, but when success is our single goal, we become idolaters and lose sight of what is really important!
 Medicine / Drug Abuse
God has given us the ability to create and use medicines to cure so much of what ails us, but he never intended us to become obsessive with drugs and use them in inappropriate ways!
The Empty Extreme
I will tell you something. Because the far extreme is so destructive in these behaviors, it is always better to retreat as much as possible to the bottom end of the extreme. It is better to under eat at a meal than to over eat. It is better to be financially conservative than to be a spend-a-holic! And while these behaviors are NOT optional (we have to eat and we need to make money), Alcohol use IS optional, and we have the option of simply reducing it to the extreme! That’s why, more and more these days, I have come to see John the Baptist as my personal role model for many reasons. One of the things I love about john is the fact that his parents were told by God that he would be very special. And they were instructed by God to take special care with John in the area of alcohol:
Luke 1:13-16
He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.
See, God knew that John would have to be alcohol free for a reason. I think this reason involves the fact that so many people would come to John to hear him preach. They would come and observe his life closely, and I think God wanted to make sure that John was alcohol free so that he would not be a stumbling block to anyone. They would not come over to john’s place and catch him drunk or with the smell of alcohol on his breath and then think, “hey if it’s OK for him, it must be OK for me!” Paul understood this as well. He talked to the Corinthians about the way that they were eating food that caused observers to question their faith and do things that they really believed they should not do:
1 Corinthians 8:6-13
We have only one God, and he is the Father. He created everything, and we live for him. Jesus Christ is our only Lord. Everything was made by him, and by him life was given to us. Not everyone knows these things. In fact, many people have grown up with the belief that idols have life in them. So when they eat meat offered to idols, they are bothered by a weak conscience. But food doesn't bring us any closer to God. We are no worse off if we don't eat, and we are no better off if we do. Don't cause problems for someone with a weak conscience, just because you have the right to eat anything. You know all this, and so it doesn't bother you to eat in the temple of an idol. But suppose a person with a weak conscience sees you and decides to eat food that has been offered to idols. Then what you know has destroyed someone Christ died for. When you sin by hurting a follower with a weak conscience, you sin against Christ. So if I hurt one of the Lord's followers by what I eat, I will never eat meat as long as I live.
He basically is saying, “Hey don’t drink in front of people who think that Christians should not drink. It only causes them to doubt your faith, start drinking themselves, and find themselves feeling bad about what they have become. It’s better for you to never drink again!” God does not want us to be dependent on anything other than HIM. When we are, we become slaves to that thing and begin to ignore him altogether. Look at what God says about this kind of dependency:
Matthew 6:24
You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
1 Thessalonians 4:5-6
Don't be a slave of your desires or live like people who don't know God.
John 8:34-37
I tell you for certain that anyone who sins is a slave of sin! And slaves don't stay in the family forever, though the Son will always remain in the family. If the Son gives you freedom, you are free!
Only Jesus can set you free from the bondage of ANY kind of addiction, whether it is sexual narcotic, or alcohol or whatever! God Know that these addictive behaviors will separate you from God altogether if you are not careful:
1 Corinthians 6:9 Video
Don't you know that evil people won't have a share in the blessings of God's kingdom? Don't fool yourselves! No one who is immoral or worships idols or is unfaithful in marriage or is a pervert or behaves like a homosexual will share in God's kingdom. Neither will any thief or greedy person or drunkard or anyone who curses and cheats others.
But you also need to know that God has the power to help you clean up your life, even if you are already addicted! Only God has the power to forgive and empower your recovery:
1 Corinthians 6:11
Some of you used to be like that. But now the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of God's Spirit have washed you and made you holy and acceptable to God.
Shape Up
So much of alcoholism is simply running to get into the shape you want to be in. except instead of running toward the Goal of reaching a relationship with God, the true healer, these folks are running away from their problems on the back of alcohol abuse. They want to cure some great pain in their lives, but can’t figure out just how to do that. A few years ago, my aunt Anna died of lung cancer. In the weeks before her death, doctors realized that her condition was terminal and they gave her all the medication they could to make her feel better. She was happy to take all the morphine she could handle, because she so desperately wanted the pain to go away. But what she was really looking for was a CURE. Alcohol will often take away your pain, but it will never be a cure for the underlying problem. God knows that HE IS THE CURE! He wants us to run the race that will truly get us in shape. It is the race that leads us into a relationship of dependence. Not on alcohol, but on the creator of the universe.
1 Corinthians 10:1
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
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