Today is the last Sunday of 2012. How has the year flown past so quickly?
If you can remember way back to November we started taking a look at the Covenant of Christian Conduct which a person agrees to honor when they join the Church of The Nazarene and become members.
Initially we took a look at how we covenant to avoid engaging in entertainment which is detrimental to living a holy life and degrades the spiritual authority of God in your life.
Then we took a look at the devastation caused in our society and in individual families and lives by addition to gambling. Therefore we covenant to refrain from gambling in all of its forms in order to cut off the chance of addiction and the devastation it causes it individuals, families, companies and the nation as a whole and to present a pure witness to the world, a world which is watching carefully to see if we walk the talk or if we just talk the talk of holiness.
After that I was planning on working through the rest of the Covenant of Christian Conduct but was afraid that it would seem as if it was just a list of “we don’t do this because we’re Nazarene’s” sort of a thing.
Instead, what we’re really looking for in this sermon series is the answer to this question; Do we follow make a promise to live within the Covenant of Christian Conduct because of a desire to obey a legalistic code of conduct or are we making this covenant because it is a natural behavior for those who love God with all of their hearts and who love others as they love themselves?
For comparison let’s take another look at a form of legalism.
Jim Peterson in his book Living Proof gives us a clear example of legalism.
A young man once asked, “What must I forsake (to be saved)?”
This is the answer he was given:
"Colored clothes for one thing. Get rid of everything in your wardrobe that is not white. Stop sleeping on a soft pillow. Sell your musical instruments and don't eat any more white bread. You cannot, if you are sincere about obeying Christ, take warm baths or shave your beard. To shave is to lie against Him who created us, to attempt to improve on His work."
On the other hand, Abraham Lincoln said this - “When any church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement of the substance of both law and Gospel, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and thy neighbor as thyself’ that church will I join with all my heart and all my soul.”
So, which is it that we see in the Covenant of Christian Conduct? Do we see a list of man-made rules with no basis in the Holy Scriptures or do we see the natural outflow of a life sold out to Christ and His work in the world?
As a Scriptural basis for this part of the Covenant of Christian Conduct we will be using Proverbs 22:3 (NASB)
“The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on, and are punished for it.”
Or, as it is stated in the NIV,
“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
So, what will we be looking at today? Here are a couple of hints …
There is an activity that many people engage in which is totally, totally, totally unnecessary for a full, healthy, peaceful and prosperous life. At the same time this voluntary activity carries with it tremendous probability of danger not only to the individual who engages in the activity but also has the potential to endanger those around them.
Billions of dollars are spent each year by this industry with an emphasis on targeting 12 - 20 year olds in order to entice them into taking this dangerous path. What is this path?
It is the path of the recreational use of the drug called alcohol. It is the use of alcohol for pleasure and not for medical purposes.
Alcohol is the only legally available recreational drug in most of America. Check it out. Go stand in the grocery store during the time of the commute back home on a Friday afternoon and take a look at what is piled high in the shopping carts.
So, what does the Covenant of Christian Conduct say about the use of alcohol as a beverage?
In light of the Holy Scriptures and human experience concerning
the ruinous consequences of the use of alcohol as a beverage, and in light of the findings of medical science regarding the detrimental effect of alcohol to the body and mind, as a community of faith committed to the pursuit of a holy life, our position and practice is abstinence rather than moderation. Holy Scripture teaches that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. With loving regard for ourselves and others, we call our people to total abstinence from all intoxicants.
As much as I like what this covenant says, it sounds like a lawyer or some sort of scholar wrote it for other scholars to read. But how is it when it’s spelled out for the common man?
The Free Methodist Book of Discipline says it this way:
The abuse of alcohol, a legalized drug, is damaging to individuals,
families, and society. It is unpredictably addictive and its destructive effects cannot be fully measured. Its abuse leaves a trail of broken marriages, family violence, crime, industrial loss, ill health, injury and death. As concerned Christians, we advocate abstinence for the sake of health, family and neighbors. Moreover, we see the adverse social consequences as so pervasive that we seek by advocating abstinence to make a united social witness to the freedom Christ gives.
Didn’t Jesus drink wine? What beverages were available in the time of Christ?
Water that most likely had some form of parasitic infestation or septic waste leeching into it and was drawn from dug wells or slow moving rivers, or, grape juice which without refrigeration would soon turn to wine or there might possibly be milk if available.
What do we have to choose from? Purified water,
juices, orange, apple, grape, cranberry, pineapple, grapefruit, even prune juice, etc., hundreds of varieties of soda, tea, coffee, cocoa, cool aid, sports drinks, and much more.
So, what’s the reason for the use of alcohol as a beverage today?
Does its pleasure value out weigh its potential for danger?
Just how would it compare to the Scripture we are looking at today?
Proverbs 22:3
“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
As you can see from this verse it is written in the singular sense and not in the plural sense of the prudent or simple as a group. Why is this important? Because, that’s exactly where the decision lands, with you and with me, not with some nebulous groupings of people but squarely on the shoulders of you and of me!
Now, here’s the thing it says that “The prudent man sees danger and takes refuge.” That makes sense doesn’t it? If you see danger anyone with common sense would take refuge, wouldn’t they?
But here’s the amazing thing, it does not say that the simpleton does not see the danger, it only says that “the simple man keeps going and suffers for it.”
At this point many people would exclaim, “What danger? What danger? I can handle it! It won’t get the best of me!”
This phrase from the Free Methodist Book of Discipline is so amazingly accurate that it overwhelmingly describes the danger of non-medicinal alcohol consumption for recreational purposes:
“(Alcohol) is unpredictably addictive and its destructive effects cannot be fully measured.”
Have you ever heard of Russian Roulette?
(Describe Russian Roulette at this point but leave yourself open to being checked by the Holy Spirit and stop when He says to stop!)
You know you would never participate in such a deadly activity!
One chance in six that you would die!
How about if the revolver cylinder was chambered for 100 rounds and you only loaded one, would you try it then?
What if the revolver cylinder was chambered for 1,000 rounds and you only loaded one???
No one in their right mind would do such a thing because, if it all lines up, you’re dead …
I’m not sure exactly what the chances are that a person will become an alcoholic if they take that first drink but it is much like Russian Roulette. You just don’t know! You never know!
But, there’s even a greater danger with alcohol than there is with Russian Roulette! Look at it this way, with Russian Roulette the gun is only pointed at your own head. With alcohol it’s as if you have placed a round in the cylinder of the gun, spun the cylinder and instead of pointing it at yourself you decide to twirl the gun on your finger not knowing where the bullet will go when it does go off.
Some innocent person may be killed, and why? Because you thought you could control the alcohol instead of it controlling you. You said, “It will never happen to me.” But it did and someone else paid the price.
You see … “A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
Here’s a report from this Christmas season near Cincinnati, OH.
Four people were killed when a minivan carrying a family leaving a Christmas party went the wrong way on a south-western Ohio highway and hit another minivan whose driver and family were going to see grandparents for the holidays, police said.
Investigators smelled liquor in the minivan that was going the wrong way and found a bottle of alcohol in the vehicle.
The driver of that minivan going the wrong way must have thought he would be able to handle it. It would never happen to him. Now he is dead, his seven year old son is dead, his wife who was home at the time is a widow and his nine year old daughter is in critical condition. And that’s not the end of it. In the van that was going the right way on the highway on their way to the grandparents home for Christmas both parents were killed and the family’s four children are now orphans.
Now imagine this same accident happening 2,470 times! That would total the number of traffic deaths due to alcohol in 2011.
That’s four people dead in one accident, but, this will blow your mind! MADD, the Mother’s Against Drunk Driving are celebrating this year because the number of drunk driving fatalities dropped below 10,000 in 2011! That’s considered a victory! In 2011 9,878 people died in alcohol related traffic accidents. This is a 100% preventable crime but the simple keep going and often times others pay the penalty!
Chip told me about a month ago of them coming across the aftermath of just such an accident in Buffalo where an infant was killed when the car she was riding in was cut in two in a crash. The vehicle causing the accident was being driven by a woman who had already been convicted of an earlier DWI. The drunk driver was fine, by the way …
I personally knew a man who would come to work each week and brag about how drunk he got each weekend bar hopping. His boss would say to him, “Zukie, what are you going to do when you kill someone?” Sure enough a month or so later he was driving home in the morning after a night of drinking and killed two brothers who were also headed home but sober. Their lives were snuffed out and he went to prison.
Every one of these drivers who caused the needless death of others knew the danger and with their actions said, “I can handle it! It won’t happen to me!” but it did. You see, the simple man sees the danger and continues anyway and often others suffer for their indiscretion. The one alcohol abuser who did die in the accident never even knew that his actions murdered his own seven year old son.
And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Sexual predators will strike up a friendship with a young woman, take her to a bar and feed her drinks knowing that the alcohol will affect her judgment and then take advantage of her, often changing the course of her life forever.
Alcohol abuse increases the likelihood of poor job performance or even the loss of a job.
Alcohol abuse vastly increases the likelihood of domestic violence.
Alcohol abuse vastly increases the likelihood of divorce
Alcohol abuse vastly increases the likelihood ill health and disease
Alcohol abuse vastly increases the likelihood injury
- We all at one time or another have watched at least one episode of AFV on TV and have seen multiple videos of people dancing on tables and falling off, usually at weddings. Have you ever seen someone dance on a table who was not drunk?
Alcohol abuse vastly increases the likelihood of assault and murder.
- How many times have you listened to the local news and it says,
“The assault took place at 3 AM outside the bar on such and such a street.”
“The stabbing took place at 2 PM outside the bar located at …”
“The shooting took place at 4 AM outside the such and such lounge…”
This is part of an article by Dr. Keith Ablow entitled America is Drunk
According to the Centers for Disease Control, we’re becoming a nation of drunks. Booze hounds on benders.
New data reveals that one in every six Americans downs eight mixed drinks within a few hours, four times a month. Twenty-eight percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 binge-drink five times a month, putting away seven drinks in one sitting. And 13 percent of those between the ages of 45 and 65 binge drink five times a month, too.
News of the magnitude of this intoxication—resulting in frequently and dramatically altered states of consciousness for tens of millions of Americans—is no different than if we were to learn that a quarter of our young people were snorting half-a-gram of cocaine more than once-a-week or injecting heroin on that schedule. The psychological/cognitive effects of seven or eight drinks are no less intense, and, possibly, even more dramatic.
Proverbs 23:29-35 aptly describes the destiny of many who thought they could toy with alcohol …
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
“Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things.
“You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. ‘They hit me,’ you will say, ‘but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?’”
You see, every one of these examples started with the first drink. Just the very notion of the phrase, “I can handle it.” or, “It won’t happen to me.” indicates that the person making the statement is aware of the dangers of alcohol and continues on anyway which puts them in which category?
“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
And, on a side note, do you want to hear a moronic phrase?
“Drink responsibly.” What that phrase is saying is that you should go ahead and consume a drug which alters your ability to make rational judgments and after you’ve done so and your ability to make rational judgments is impaired, then go ahead and make a rational judgment of when it is time to stop!
Does that make sense to anyone?
And, it’s not just you that you are putting in danger. You as parents and grandparents set the example for your family. If you are a recreational or pleasure drinker and your children or grandchildren see you they will most likely follow your example.
The first time someone sets down a “manly” mug of beer before your son or grandson he will make what could quite possibly be a life-or-death decision and your drinking habits will figure significantly into that decision.
The first time someone sets down a “sophisticated” glass of wine before your daughter or granddaughter she will make could quite possibly be a life-or-death a decision and your drinking habits will figure significantly into that decision.
You will have set the example. How much responsibility will you bear? You see, it’s not just you which you have to think about. Alcohol is unpredictably addictive. Will your child or grandchild be addicted, will they go down to the ravages of alcohol abuse? Satan certainly hopes so! Did you hear that? Satan certainly hopes so!
Pastor Karenlee and I both have multiple relatives who fell to the ravages of alcohol addiction including my own father.
There is a family which I love dearly. The wife is a daughter of a Free Methodist holiness pastor who I am sure knew of the dangers and preached against the use of alcohol. Her mother was righteous and of the same mind. But, somehow, in the recent years alcohol use has been welcomed into this family even though it has ravaged the siblings of the husband.
At the last gathering I was at with this family which I love dearly all but one daughter was drinking alcohol. And, I am convinced that one day, perhaps not in this generation or the next, one day the day will come when they will look back at the day they set this example for their family and will mourn the cost of that decision as alcohol addiction destroys a family member. How I pray with all of my heart that this will not happen, but, it will. Why do I say that it will?
Proverbs 22:3 says,
“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
So, as a conclusion, is the prohibition of the recreational consumption of alcohol found in the Covenant of Christian Conduct just one more example of rampant legalism, or, is it the natural outflow of loving God with all of our heart, soul and mind and loving others as ourselves?
If you are a recreational or pleasure drinker ask yourself this question the next time you have a drink setting before you, “Will someone in my generation or in the generations that follow me suffer and perhaps die or walk away from the Lord because of what I am about to do?” And, if so, how does that square with the two great commandments?
Prayer
- Lord, give us wisdom in this area, help us to be prudent men and women with spiritual discernment in this dangerous minefield of alcohol
- For those in our congregation who are already in the grip and ravages of alcohol addiction, help them to be freed from the bondage, and, help us to help them as you give us wisdom to do so
- Help us to see clearly all of the ramifications of our actions not only on our children and grandchildren but on all of those who are watching our lives as we live out our testimonies for Jesus every day
