IS ALCOHOL GOOD FOR YOU?
Proverbs 23:29-35
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 23:29-35
INTRODUCTION:
1. If you watch the news you have seen blurbs about the health benefits of alcohol
a. They often show a tiny village in Italy that consumes wine in small quantities each day
b. And they extol the virtues of alcohol in lower levels of heart attacks saying that alcohol has health benefits that extend the lives of its consumers
2. In my research for this lesson I found several websites operated by health industry professionals
a. None of them advised anyone to begin drinking alcohol
b. Most indicated that if you drink now you should drink very little and not depend on alcohol’s health benefits
3. As Christians we want to be God’s people and in this lesson we want to look at our approach to alcohol and how to remain HIS:
a. Health issues
b. Influence on others
c. Scripture teaching on the issue
4. I cannot point to a specific passage in the New Testament that teaches that alcohol is intrinsically evil but the clear teaching of the New Testament will show that it is something we should avoid, even in just social or minimal amounts
TRANSITION: First of all, many people claim that alcohol helps us live longer, let’s examine its:
I. Health issues
A. This matters because 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”
B. What are the best claims that the medical profession makes?
1. Reduce your risk of heart disease and intermittent claudication (leg cramps due to poor circulation)
2. Reduced risk of heart attack
3. Lower risk of gallstones
4. Possible reduced risk of ischemic stroke (restricted blood flow)
5. Possible reduced risk of diabetes
6. The best they can say is that you that you may be in a lower risk of these health issues if you drink one to three glasses of wine per day
C. What do the health professionals say of the risks of alcohol?
1. Increase risk of cancer of the breasts, pancreas, mouth, larynx, esophagus, and liver
2. Sudden death in people with pre-existent cardiovascular disease
3. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy which damages the heart muscle and leads to heart failure
4. Stroke
5. Brain atrophy (shrinkage)
6. Cirrhosis of the liver
7. Miscarriage
8. FAS
9. Injury due to motor skill impairment
10. Suicide
11. The list of dangers is greater than the list of benefits
12. And it is very interesting that an act that is used by some to escape the difficulties of life increases the risk of suicide
D. None of the sites I checked that were produced by reputable medical associations recommended consuming alcohol in any amount because the risks actually outweighed the potential benefits
E. The world has not even convinced itself that alcohol is good for you
TRANSITION: So the health benefits of alcohol are not really there, what about our:
II. Influence on others
A. We have discussed how we have certain liberties, things we are allowed to do that may not be best
1. 1 Corinthians 10:23, “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify”
2. There may be some things we are allowed to do
3. And God will not stop us from making just about any decision we want to make
4. But that does not make it the best decision
5. Our decisions must do two things
6. Profit, us and the kingdom
7. Edify the body, building it up
8. A decision that does something other than this is the wrong decision, even if it is not necessarily condemned in the Bible
B. Matthew 18:6 says that if we cause someone else to stumble we would be better off with a millstone hung around our neck and drowned in the sea
1. We would not survive that
2. It was done in the dark ages with those who believed that infants should not be baptized but adults who could understand and believe
3. And there was 100% mortality rate with that practice
C. We are to be careful with our example
1. Romans 14:21, “It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles”
2. We must remember that others are watching us to see what we do and how we behave
D. How dose alcohol hurt our influence
1. I cannot talk to someone else about Christ if I have a six-pack of Budweiser in my hands in the grocery store
2. If I am drinking alcohol in front of someone who is an alcoholic I am participating in his demise
a. A friend of mine completed AA
b. 5 years after completing AA he confided in me that if he were around people drinking the urge was too powerful and he had to leave
3. By drinking alcohol I show that there is no difference between the rest of the world and me and there must be a difference according to 2 Corinthians 6:17
4. The greatest tool God has in the world is the example of faithful Christians who practice His word and show that it is possible to accomplish what God demands
5. If we diminish that power then we have circumvented the power God placed on the earth and made null His ability to change people
E. Protect your influence for God in the world, you do not need alcohol, it is not good for your body, and it is not good for His body
TRANSITION: Finally, to be His we have to do what He says, so what do the:
III. Scriptures teach about alcohol
A. 1 Timothy 5:23, “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments”
1. “Ah-ha,” proponents of social drink say, “I got you, Paul gave Timothy permission to social drink”
2. He did no such thing, he said to drink it medicinally for the sake of his stomach and other frequent ailments
3. We have medicine for that kind of thing now for one thing
4. And a prescription for you to take medicine does not allow me to take it
B. John 2 Jesus made good wine
1. Not necessarily alcoholic as the word oinos does not indicate the alcoholic level
2. For the argument that those were well-drunk to mean inebriated would mean that God participated in temptation and sin as
a. Ephesians 5:19 clearly says that getting drunk is debauchery
b. And that is sin so Jesus could not have produced an intoxicating beverage and given it to people who were getting intoxicated
c. James 1:13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone”
3. For Immanuel to tempt those to evil with intoxicating beverage would be for the Bible to contradict itself and become null and void
C. So then consider our text from Proverbs 23
1. Verse 29 refers to redness of eyes
a. A more literal translation of this would be dimness of eyes
b. The darkening of the eye in reference to the ability to see properly and understand what you see
c. Matthew 6:23 warns about the eye being dark and allowing darkness to creep into the entire being
2. When alcohol enters the system it darkens the eye making the body dark
3. Woe, sorrow, contention, and wounds come seemingly without cause
a. But often it is with cause that the drunk does not remember
b. Friends fight and cease being friends because of what happened during a drunken night of evil and debauchery
4. In seeing strange things your heart utters perverse things
a. Matthew 15:18, “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man”
b. The man can be defiled by the effects of alcohol in his body
5. Alcohol will eventually take over your life
a. Verse 35 b, “When shall I awake? I will seek another drink"
b. “But that’s an alcoholic” you may say
c. No one ever took the first drink planning to become an alcoholic
d. But every drink you take is one closer to alcoholism, a completely avoidable and sinful disease of mind and body
D. Verse 32, “At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper”
1. You would not pick up a poisonous snake and play with its teeth
2. Why would you pick up a poisonous drink and play with its bite?
E. The Bible does not say that wine, strong drink, or alcohol in any way shape or form are good for you
F. It does clearly inform us of the dangers and the destruction they are to our body
1. His scriptures tell us that alcohol is not a good friend of the Christian
2. And if it is not our friend it has the potential to be a vile enemy
3. So avoid the perils of the enemy which has no real place in our homes anyway
CONCLUSION
1. Even health professionals will not stand behind the claim that people should drink alcohol based on its potential health benefits because there are more risks than benefits involved
2. Your influence in the world is to be His and you cannot be that if you are a consumer of alcohol, not all things that we can do are best for us, we must do what is best for our Lord, and that includes protecting our influence by not drinking alcohol
3. While the New Testament does not have a “Thou shalt not” concerning alcohol, the plain teaching of God throughout the Bible would shy us away from consuming alcohol
4. Paul had to tell Timothy to consume it, meaning that his time with Paul led him to abstain from wine
5. Alcohol is even more potent now that it was then and so its sting is even greater and its poison even stronger
6. Avoid the appearance of evil (1 Ths. 5:22) by staying away from the bottle that leads so many into misery and woe
