Some decisions cost us more than we ever want to pay. This is true with Lot, but he was a slow learner. I can identify with him on that. I am a slow learner when it comes to some things. Perhaps we all are.
Sometimes I get a question: Is it a sin to drink in moderation? There are many sides to this issue, but maybe that is the wrong question.
Consider this from a recent study: Alcohol is involved in fifteen thousand homicides and suicides annually, twenty thousand accidental deaths, plus one-half of all auto accidents and the additional twenty-five thousand deaths they cause. Even 40 percent of the pedestrians who are killed have been drinking.
Tonight, we are going to look at an unintended consequence of one of Lot’s social behaviors.
Gen 19:30 “Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.”
Lot had a head on collision with the God of Abraham. Let me tell you, you do not have a revelation about God in your life that it does not change you. Lot, in his life-habits, requested to live in Zoar instead of obeying and going to the hills. However, when he got to Zoar, he quickly decided, “This isn’t going to work.”
We know, looking to 2 Peter 2, that Lot grieved from the sin of Sodom when he lived there. Now, after this confrontation with God, he is no longer comfortable just sitting by amid evil. I believe this is why he left Zoar and went where God had told him. So Lot and his two daughters set up house in a cave in the hills, away from sin, he thinks.
Let me propose another reason they may have not stayed in Zoar. Zoar is 5 miles from the destruction of Sodom and the valleys. The citizens of Zoar must have seen it and fled their city in fear of being destroyed. It could have been that Lot and his daughters found the city vacant, or near vacant. What they may have found was only looters taking advantage of the mass exit of the citizens.
There is something that Lot has yet to learn about the gravity of sin and society. Sin affects those who you love most. I have mentioned this.
Gen 19:31-32 And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father."
First, realize that these daughters lived in a home without God-centered values. This is not a total excuse, but does come into play. Lot, as a father, had failed to supply his children with a spiritual upbringing. There girls did not have a concept of God, His purpose, provisions or His righteousness.
So the older one suggested they get Lot drunk and that they sleep with their father so they could have children. Children begin understanding the world by what they see and understand from the home. To them, the way it is at home is how the world must be. If they see their entire life blow up, then life must be that way everywhere. If they see mom and dad not getting along, then that is what family life must be for everyone. No wonder the suicide rate among teens is so high. What hope do they know? If mom and dad do not have a close walk with God, then God just must not walk close to mankind. This underlines the importance of marriages and homes built around truth.
Second I mentioned earlier the possibility of the citizens fleeing in fear, so the world-view of these girls may have gave them the impression that the entire world was destroyed. This may explain the oldest daughter’s statement, “…there is not a man left on earth…”
Here is the second message to parents and future parents. Where your children are raised, what they experience at school will shape their lives. We must stand guard to protect our children and build the defense of truth in them.
Third, our expectations on children shape their futures and decisions. These girls may have been motivated by the passion of the father to have grandchildren. The reasoning may have meant, “…so that our father will have offspring, or grandchildren.”
Sometimes, parents put unreasonable expectations on children. This is most harmfully true when the children do not have the same gifting as the parents. Yet the parents want to live their lives through their children. We have seen this in athletics through the years, but can happen in academics, dating, popularity, or any number of topics.
It would be unfair to say that the parents are motivated by this; “That is a little me out there. I could have achieved more if I had the opportunity, but I didn’t. Let my child prove to you what I could have been if I had the chance.” I say it would be unfair because this sounds so unloving to the child. Although there can be great love for the child, this motivation can still be there. When it is, it seems to look like the primary motivation because of its ugly nature.
Yet the parents can always fall back on this, “Well, I only pushed you because I love you. I just wanted you to achieve more than I did. I wanted you to have more than I had.” There is the key: The comparison to self. Why not say, “I wanted you to be all you were created for, regardless of my background and experience.” The focus of this should be on the child and their gifting, with no comparisons to the parents.
Gen 19:33-35 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father." 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
So the girls went through with this on two subsequent nights. Each night, they made their father drunk with wine, so drunk, he did not know what was happening. Each night, one of his daughters came to him and slept with him to get pregnant.
There is a hot topic now days in Christianity concerning alcohol. It seems that we as a denomination are as divided about alcohol as we are any other topic. Historically, it has been universally taught that drinking alcohol for anything but medicine is a sin.
I was taught that alcoholic drinks were brewed in Hell and delivered by demons. OK, that is an exaggeration, but, honestly, what I was taught wasn’t that far from that.
If we preach that alcohol is a sin, we have to violate some scriptures and contradict some of Jesus’ words. But if we preach that alcohol is OK and perfectly safe, we violate other scriptures.
Typically, those who are against even alcohol in moderation come from two camps. One is the traditionalist; those who were raised as teetotalers always believing that alcohol consumption was a sin. They stay tee-totally away from alcohol as a recreational or casual beverage. Most of these have scriptural and theological reasons for being against alcohol.
The other camp is those who have seen the deadly destruction and powerful pull of alcohol. Some were raised in homes with alcoholic care-givers and received the abuse that comes from alcohol abuse. Others fell into alcoholic addiction and struggled with freedom from it, only to hate it in their souls. Many are the numbers of people who say they wish they never had the first drink. They will promise you that if you do not have the first drink, you will never fall into the destructive clutches of alcohol.
The other camp comes from two camps I have identified. There may be more. One is those who do not want their liberties removed because of the judgments and weakness of others. Their position usually migrates to this: Just because someone abuses alcohol and cannot control it does not mean I can’t enjoy it in moderation.
The other camp is that of the theologians. These use the Greek definition of “oinos” and other biblical passages to support their position. They point out that Jesus made wine (the big debate is what kind, grape juice or alcoholic). They point out that Paul told Timothy it was OK to take a drink now and then for the sake of his stomach. Many of these are, themselves, teetotalers, but they teach moderation in the lives of those who drink.
I have found all of these in Baptist Churches. Obviously, all of these exist in the Southern Baptist Convention, despite our history of abstinence teachings. We might disagree on the major topic, but there are much topics in this subject that we can agree upon.
We can agree that the Bible is filled with warnings about alcohol. Pro 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”
Pro 23:20-21 “Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, 21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.”
We can agree that drunkenness is wrong. There is no question; drunkenness is a sin.
Rom 13:13 “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.” Drunkenness is listed with pretty nasty stuff (sexual immorality, fighting, jealousy, etc…).
Pro 23:31-35 “Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. 34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. 35 "They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink."
We can certainly agree that alcohol, like no other sin, opens the door for other sins and/or disaster. Noah became drunk and ended up putting a curse on his son (Genesis 20-26). Alcohol caused Samson to be captured and blinded (Judges 13:4, 7, 14). Absalom got Ammon drunk so he could kill him without defense (2 Samuel 13:28-29).
The scripture is filled with events where alcohol led to more sin and no resistance to sin. Lot is a perfect example, as he committed incest with absolutely no ability to resist.
We can agree that being filled with wine is opposite from being led by God.
Eph 5:18 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit…” The implication of this scripture is simple and clear. We are supposed to live completely filled with the Holy Spirit and we cannot if we are under the influence of something else. Alcohol and drugs inhibit our ability to walk in the Spirit.
Truly, we can agree that some people are predisposed to becoming addicted to alcohol. Just as each of us has our bent towards sin and a particular weakness, some people certainly cannot take one drink without the drink taking them and controlling their lives. Some of us can’t handle large amounts of money without becoming covetous, greedy or struggling with honesty. Some of us can’t go to the beach without being tempted to look at other people with ignoble ideas. Some of us can’t discuss areas of other people’s weakness without struggling with pride. Each of us has at least one area of sin that we have to be truly on guard about. For some, this will be alcohol and drug addiction.
Pro 31:6-7 “Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; 7 let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.”
Although some view these verses as permission to give alcohol and narcotics to the down and out (I can’t imagine buying into that), others believe this means we can use them to relieve the dying. However, I believe it shows the greater susceptibility to addiction for those who are in desperate situations. It shows that strong drink makes nothing better but the memory. However, when you sober up, the problems are still there.
We must agree that people have used alcohol to control other people. David tried to get Uriah drunk in order to justify his own adultery. Delilah got Samson drunk to defeat him for her people. An many of people have gotten someone else drunk to take advantage of them. Alcohol is dangerous no matter how you present it.
Gen 19:36-38 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
Thus, they did it. Two decedents of Lot were the Moabites and the Ammonites. Both of these were troublesome people for the children of Israel. Their false religions created problems for Israel.
Their wars with Israel were extremely troublesome.
This message was not lost on Israel, as an Israelite would cringe when they heard the names Moabite and Ammonites. This message is simple. Sin starts a path of destruction that will affect generations and generations. A simple decision to pursue the financial advantage and move away from the spiritual advantage, is costly and deadly.
F. B. Myers said, “This is the bitterest of all--to know that suffering need not have been; that it has resulted from indiscretion and inconsistency; that it is the harvest of one's own sowing; that the vulture which feeds on the vitals is a nestling of one's own rearing. Ah me! This is pain! There is an inevitable Nemesis in life. The laws of the heart and home, of the soul and human life, cannot be violated with impunity. Sin may be forgiven; the fire of penalty may be changed into the fire of trial: the love of God may seem nearer and dearer than ever and yet there is the awful pressure of pain; the trembling heart; the failing of eyes and pining of soul; the harp on the willows; the refusal of the lip to sing the Lord's song.”
Let me end with this. Some will look at the scriptures and say it is obvious that drinking alcohol is a sin. Some will say, “It’s not what goes into the man that condemns him but what comes out.” Matt. 15:11. However, you do not have to believe drinking is a sin to decide that it is not for you.
When we see the vulnerability that alcohol makes us to all other sin, when we see the cost of sin that we are more likely to do under the influence, we can say “I don’t want to go there. It’s not for me.” Telling you it’s a sin will not protect you. However, if you see the cost, you can make the wise decision.
