Intro
Last week I began sharing with you nine reasons “Why I Don’t Drink Any Alcohol.” In that message we addressed the first three:
1. Drinking a little alcohol easily leads to drinking too much alcohol. It can easily lead to drunkenness which is clearly condemned in Scripture. If you drink a little alcohol, I don’t condemn you for that, and I don’t think the Bible condemns it. But the Bible warns of the dangers involved. “Wine is a mocker” (Prov. 20:1).i It can make a mockery of your life. It can fool you and take you down a road of destruction. It can be a very slippery slope.
2. Alcohol has the potential of becoming addictive and dominating my life. It can potentially cost you your eternal salvation. First Corinthians 6: 6:9-12 warns Christians:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
Too often people play around with alcohol only to discover too late that they have come under its power: they are addicted to it. The process leading up to that addiction was filled with rationalizations that justified just a little more. Listed among those who will not inherit the kingdom of God are “drunkards.”
3. I have found a better source of joy and peace. Ephesians 5:18 commands Christians: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (NIV). God has given us a far better source of joy and peace. Regardless of what they say, people drink alcoholic beverages for the buzz. If you are just looking for taste, there are plenty of non-alcoholic drinks that taste just as good. The contrast in Ephesians 5:18 is between something that is infinitely profitable against something that is extremely destructive.
Now we continue where we left off.
Reason #4: I have a better use for my money.
I will give an account of the stewardship of every penny in my bank account. Studies by the CDC estimated the cost of excessive use of alcohol in the U.S. to be “almost a quarter trillion dollars in 2010.”ii I wonder how many souls could be saved if all that were given to missions. I wonder how much more God would bless the Christians in America if they would just give the money they spend on alcohol to the work of the Lord.iii When you sit down in a restaurant, the first thing they often do is try to sell you alcoholic beverages. Why? They know the tab will be much higher when all is said and done. For me, abstinence is a stewardship issue.
Reason #5: Alcohol is detrimental to my health.
This is another stewardship issue. “Even low or moderate consumption is damaging to brain cells.” Of course, large quantities can cause major health problems. Most people are aware of the connection between alcohol consumption and liver disease. But other cells are damaged as well.iv Many are not aware of increased dangers of cancer, heart disease, etc. The breweries work hard to keep those dangers out of the public eye.
Put simply, alcohol is toxic to the human body.v It carries no nutritional value.vi There is a reason why doctors ask about the patient’s alcohol consumption. It affects the long-term health. Both beer and wine contain a lot of calories and can therefore contribute to excess weight which carries all kinds of health issues.vii
Some people argue for drinking wine in moderation as a health benefit.viii It does reduce inflammation, not because of the alcohol, but because of the grapes. The alcohol carries no nutritional value. These benefits can be gained through non-alcoholic products without the risks associated with alcohol consumption.
We have already seen in our discussion of Paul’s admonition to Timothy that alcohol could be used for medical purposes.ix Under the supervision of a physician, it could be used the way prescription drugs are used. Of course, those must be managed carefully lest the patient becomes addicted to the prescribed drug. It is tricky to use any substance for medical purposes because an addiction can easily develop. A person falling into addiction has an amazing capacity to rationalized increased use of the drug. That’s why a responsible doctor won’t just give a patient all the opioids he requests.
We hear a lot about illegal drugs, but 96% of those who misuse opioid drugs are addicted to prescription drugs.x When people try to be their own physician and administer alcohol for medical purposes, they are usually vulnerable to self-deception. I know a person who began drinking a couple of beers occasionally “for his stomach’s sake”. He became a full-blown alcoholic. On the old sitcom, The Beverly Hillbillies, Granny used her moonshine as rheumatism medicine. It is a humorous part of the show because her motivation is obvious.
Even the secular world recognizes the significant health risks associated with alcohol consumption. The more they research it, the more concerned they become. The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) recently released a nearly 90-page report detailing “a variety of health risks associated with what was previously considered low alcohol consumption.” For example, they now know “the risk for head and neck cancers increases by 15% [if a person uses the more liberal guidelines previously recommended], and [the risk] further increases with every additional drink."xi
The CCSA dramatically reduced their guidelines for low-risk alcohol intake. A BBC report explains the reason given for this momentous change: “Canadian experts say the drastic change in guidance - from nearly two drinks per day to two per week - is the result of better research over time.” The article quotes Professor Jacob Shelley as saying, “The data across the board is improving in terms of how and what we're measuring.”xii Previous recommendations for drinking wine or beer for your health are based on research that is now outdated. So even by the world’s standard which has no concern for spiritual accountability to God, low-risk drinking is defined as two drinks per week.
But the recommendations go further than that. Erin Hobin, one of the experts who participated in developing the new guidelines, sums up the recommendations saying, “The main message from this new guidance is that any amount of alcohol is not good for your health, And if you drink, less is better.”xiii According to the science and according to what I am sharing from Scripture: Any amount of alcohol is not good for you physically or spiritually. Much more could be said about the health risks of alcohol, but we must move on.
Reason #6: My alcohol consumption may trip up someone else.
Drinking a little alcohol is not an issue of legal rights. It is an issue of love, according to Paul. In Romans 14 Paul taught a principle of love and grace when it comes to issues that are not clearly condemned in Scripture. We know from 1 Corinthians 8 that one of those issues in his day had to do with eating meat that may have previously been sacrificed to idols. We do not have time to expound these two chapters today. But we must apply the principle being taught there to the question of drinking a little wine or a couple of beers. In Romans 14:21 he said, “It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.” The Greek word translated offended is skandalizo. We get our word scandalize from it. It’s first meaning is “to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall, metaph. to offend.”xiv
I may be able to handle my liquor, but the person who follows my example may become a drunkard and ultimately be lost.xv Evangelist Billy Sunday told a story about “a man who lived in east Tennessee. That man hunted rattlesnakes for a living. He would sell rattlesnakes. One particular time he caught a rattlesnake that had fourteen rattlers. It was a huge rattlesnake. He put that rattlesnake in a box and put a glass top on that box so people could look down in that box and see that venomous snake. This man had a five-year-old son. When the father was out to work, he slid the glass aside and that rattlesnake reared its ugly head with those beady eyes, hissed several times, and then stuck that five-year-old boy right in the cheek. He went screaming out of the house. The father heard the scream and realized what had happened. In a rage, he chopped that rattlesnake into pieces. And then not knowing what to do, being miles from the nearest hospital, he reached into his pocket and got his pocketknife. He cut a big chunk of flesh out the boy’s cheek. Then that father frantically put his mouth up to his son’s cheek and tried to suck the poison out of the boy. Despite those efforts, he watched his boy’s head swell about three times its normal size. He watched his son as he shuttered and cried in excruciating pain. He watched as the boy’s eyes rolled back in his head. He watched as the boy died. And then that father let out a wail and cried out, “Oh God, Oh God, I would not give my boy Jim for all the rattlesnakes that ever crawled over the Blue Ridge Mountains.”xvi
That father may have been able to handle that rattlesnake. But the one who was following his example was destroyed by it. It’s not just about what you can handle. It is also about your influence on others—as Paul said in Romans 14:7, “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.” Regardless of whether I can handle it or not, if my drinking alcohol, trips up one other person, it will not be worth it. Love demands that I forfeit the right to drink it. So, Paul writes in Romans 14:8, “It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.” Paul concludes his teaching in 1 Corinthians 8 saying, “when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” My abstinence from alcohol is not just about me. It is about the possibility of tripping up someone else.
Reason #7: My alcohol consumption could damage my testimony.
This is obviously true if I become a drunk. But any alcohol consumption could damage my testimony with some people.xvii Some sinners would think nothing of it. But others associate alcohol with a lifestyle contrary to the Christian values. I probably won’t get the opportunity to explain my own justification for drinking as a Christian. Those people will come to their own conclusions without talking with me about it. Not every sinner will think that way. But for those who see it as a compromise of Christian values, for those, I have weakened by testimony.
If my alcohol consumption leads to drunkenness, it could open me up to other sins. Ephesians 5:18 tells us that drunkenness “leads to debauchery” (NIV). Those sins may have serious negative consequences. The incestuous relationship of Lot with his two daughters in Genesis 19 happened in the context of his drunkenness. Someone might say, “It wasn’t his fault; his daughters initiated the sexual sin.” But it was his fault as well as theirs because he was responsible to not get drunk in the first place. That sin produced the Moabites and Ammonites who have been enemies of Israel for centuries.xviii “The nation of Moab was located within the modern-day country of Jordan.”xix The Ammonites were probably absorbed within the Arab society.xx
If my drinking leads to drunkenness, it could mar my reputation and bring shame on my family. Prior to the flood, Genesis 6:9 says, “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” He was a shining light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.xxi He was the one man in all the earth that God chose to save from the judgment of the flood. Sadly, that is not the end of the story. After the flood, Genesis 9:21-25 reports,
“Then he [Noah] drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness.” 24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.” Noah’s drunkenness led to the sin of his son Ham and a curse upon Ham’s son Canaan. We do not have time to explain this passage fully. I just want you to see the link between Noah’s drunkenness, the sin of Ham, and the curse on Canaan.
This incident is the last one recorded in Noah’s life: a tragic stain on this man’s reputation. We are reading about it today. I’m sure Noah regretted getting drunk that day. I’m sure he would rather not have this blemish on his history. But there it is for all to see. Ecclesiastes 10:1: “Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.” This is not a warning to wicked people. This is a warning to honorable people.
Reason #8: Alcohol could disqualify me from leadership ministry.
God placed special restrictions on alcohol consumption by those with certain leadership responsibilities. For example, in Leviticus 10:8-11 we are given insight on God’s thoughts concerning the influence of alcohol. “Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying: 9 ‘Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, 10 that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, 11 and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.’”
Reading that, do you think it’s better to drink alcohol or better to abstain from alcohol? The Nazarite vow of consecration included the abstaining from “wine and similar drink” (Num. 6:1-3).xxii In Jeremiah 35, the Racabite family is commended for obeying their patriarch’s instruction to abstain from drinking wine.xxiii Certainly, total absence is not wrong in God’s eyes. In these passages, it seems to be associated with higher consecration to the Lord. Do you want to get as close as possible to the error of drunkenness or do you want to get as close as possible to the Lord?
More clearly to the issue of leadership, we read in Proverbs 31:4-5: “ It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes intoxicating drink; 5 Lest they drink and forget the law, And pervert the justice of all the afflicted.” That passage explains why leaders should be very guarded against alcohol: “Lest they drink and forget the law, And pervert the justice of all the afflicted.” They need clear thinking to fulfill their responsibilities.
In the New Testament, this issue of alcohol consumption by leaders is addressed. When establishing the qualifications for church leadership Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3:2: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 Not given to wine . . .” (KJV). Notice, he does not say the man must drink wine so everyone will know he’s not legalistic. No, the caution is in the other direction. Make sure he is “Not given to wine.” Paul applies the same caution to deacons in verse 8: “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre” (KJV).xxiv Titus 2:3 instructs the older women to not be “given to much wine.” So, a creeping addiction to alcohol could ultimately disqualify a person from spiritual leadership. I want to avoid that at all cost. I want to finish the assignment the Lord has given me. I want to finish well.
Reason #9: Drinking a little alcohol could easily put me in violation of 1 Corinthians 5:11 concerning my associates.
Pay attention to the command concerning who we associate with. Paul writes, “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard [that’s our specific interest in this sermon], or an extortioner — not even to eat with such a person.” The command here is to not hang with people who get drunk.
You say, “I only have a couple of drinks and never get drunk.” What about the others that you’re drinking with. Do any of them get drunk? Paul is specifically talking about people who “claim” to be a Christian. So, don’t use the excuse that you’re evangelizing. This is referring to your buddies who claim to be Christians. Do any of them get drunk? “Do not be deceived,” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Evil company corrupts good habits.” The RSV says, “Bad company ruins good morals.” Over time those people will have an influence on you, and that influence will not be good.
Someone will invariably point to Matthew 9 where Jesus ate with publicans and sinners. In that chapter, Jesus even condemned the Pharisees self-righteous attitude toward that. So how does Paul’s command not to keep company with drunkards square with Jesus’s activity in Matthew 9?
Let’s read Matthew 9::9-13 for an answer to that question.
“As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him. 10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ 12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’”xxv
First, Jesus states His purpose for being there in verse 13: “For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” He was not there to join in with their ungodly lifestyle. He was there to call them to repentance. My experience is that when I connect with sinners for that purpose, they do one of two things. They either repent or they leave my company. If they are not willing to repent, they will not want to hang with me. If you don’t get that reaction from the sinners you’re meeting with, you are probably not calling them to repentance.
Sinners love to hang with lukewarm, compromised Christians who are doing the same things they are doing. Why? Because it actually mitigates the guilt they were feeling about their sin. If this guy who claims to be a Christian is doing the same things I’m doing, it must not be so bad. So, the first answer to the argument that Jesus ate with publicans and sinners is that he wasn’t just hanging with them. He was confronting them about their ungodly lifestyle.
Secondly, the distinction between this story and Paul’s command to not hang with drunkards is found in Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 5:11: “anyone named a brother.” The people Jesus met with in Matthew 9 were sinners. They were not claiming to be righteous. They knew they were sinners, and that laid a foundation for their repentance. But Paul is telling Christians to not keep company with or to use today’s popular phrase: “hang with”xxvi people who claim to be Christians, yet practice drunkenness.
That confronts us with the question. Are you going to obey that command or not? When we disobey it, we are keeping that person comfortable in their sin. We are not doing them a favor. It is never loving to support ungodliness. Why? Because in the end it is detrimental for that person.
Conclusion:
The theme of this message has been: Why I don’t drink any alcohol. While there is no law in the Bible that says you can’t have a couple of beers, there are many warnings of the potential dangers involved. When we examine the whole counsel of God, there are plenty of good reasons to abstain from alcohol altogether.
You can choose to do that or not do that. Whatever that choice may be, you are responsible for where it takes you. If it leads you into the wrong company, you are responsible. If it leads you into alcoholism, you are responsible. You chose, and you live with long-term consequences of the choice. As for me, by God’s grace I will abstain.
I do so for the following nine reasons.
Reason #1: Drinking a little alcohol easily leads to drinking too much alcohol.
Reason #2: Alcohol has the potential of becoming addictive and dominating my life.
Reason #3: I have found a better source of joy and peace.
Reason #4: I have a better use for my money.
Reason #5: Alcohol is detrimental to my health.
Reason #6: My alcohol consumption may trip up someone else.
Reason #7: My alcohol consumption could damage my testimony.
Reason #8: Alcohol could disqualify my leadership ministry.
Reason #9: Drinking a little alcohol could easily put me in violation of 1 Corinthians 5:11 concerning my associates.
I do not offer a single proof text to justify my position on alcohol. I do not offer a chapter and verse telling you to never drink alcohol. I offer the overall counsel of Scripture on the subject. And from that instruction, I conclude that it is better to simply abstain from it—not as a prudish, legalistic stance, but as the better part of wisdom.
ENDNOTES:
i All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
ii “Excessive Drinking is Draining the U.S. Economy,” Center for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Accessed at https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/features/excessive-drinking.html.
iii My friend, Frank, understood the cost of alcohol. In his early adulthood he was an alcoholic. In fact, he murdered a man during an argument over a bottle of wine. Later in life, he became a Christian and was set free from his alcohol addiction. For many years he lived in that freedom. But he eventually began drinking again. One night he called me in a state of despair over the return of his addiction. I went to his house; we prayed together; he made a commitment to turn from the alcohol. With his stated commitment, I began pouring out the bottle of liquor he had been drinking. In his kitchen cabinet was an unopened bottle of Wild Turkey liquor. When I began to pour that out, he screamed, “Wait, that’s expensive stuff.” It was expensive bourbon. But the real cost was the damage it was doing in Frank’s life.
iv Andrew Huberman, “Alcohol & Your Brain,” Huberman Lab Clips. Accessed at https://youtu.be/CJynHWYo7D8.
v Cf. 1 Cor. 6:19-20. While these verses focus on sexual sin, the stewardship of one’s body is implied.
vi Andrew Huberman, “Alcohol & Your Brain,” Huberman Lab Clips. Accessed at https://youtu.be/CJynHWYo7D8. See also Jordan Peterson, “ALCOHOL IS UNBELIEVABLY DANGEROUS! (you should stop drinking alcohol now),” Success Chasers. Accessed at https://youtu.be/yNunMOV5t6U.
vii “Are There Health Benefits to Drinking Wine?” WebMD. Accessed at https://www.webmd.com/diet/wine-health-benefits.
viii “Can a Glass of Wine Benefit Your Health?” Healthline. Accessed at https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-wine#benefits.
ix 1 Tim. 5:23.
x “Addiction Statistics,” Addiction Group. Accessed at https://www.addictiongroup.org/blog/addiction-statistics/#:~:text=Other%20SUD-related%20figures%3A%201%20Every%20year%2C%2016%20million,substance%20abuse%20treatment%20is%20over%20%24600%20billion.%2010.
xi Holly Honderich, “What's behind Canada's drastic new alcohol guidance,” Jan. 18, 2023, BBC News. Accessed at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64311705.
xii Honderich, “What's behind Canada's drastic new alcohol guidance,”
xiii Honderich, “What's behind Canada's drastic new alcohol guidance,”
xiv Strong’s NT:4624.
xv Cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-10.
xvi Billy Sunday as told by Adrien Rogers, “Battle of the Bottle,” SovSergey. Accessed at https://youtu.be/vjMqvx3MXyE.
xvii According to Rom. 14 and 1 Cor. 8, there is some room for contextual judgment as to whether it would be wise to consume a little alcohol with a host. In some countries, it might be better for a missionary to drink a glass of wine offered by a host. I would first look for a gracious way to decline the offer. It would never be appropriate to get drunk.
xviii Gen. 19:37-38. See Megan Sauter, “Who Were the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites in the Bible?” Biblical Archeology Society. Accessed at https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/ammonites-moabites-edomites-in-the-bible/
xix “Who Are the Moabites Today?” Reference. Accessed at https://www.reference.com/world-view/moabites-today-e745f1d9eeba6fa7.
xx “What do we know about the Ammonites?” Compelling Truth. Accessed at
https://www.compellingtruth.org/Ammonites.html See also Larry G. Herr, “What Ever Happened to the Ammonites?” Center for Online Judaic Studies. Accessed at What Ever Happened to the Ammonites? Larry G. Herr, BAR 19:06, Nov-Dec 1993. : Center for Online Judaic Studies (cojs.org).
xxi Cf. Phil. 2:14; 1 Pet. 4:1-5.
xxii See also Num. 6:20; Judges 13:4-7.
xxiii This passage requires much more explanation than we can accommodate in this message.
xxiv Cf. Titus 1:5-9.
xxv Luke 5:276-32 makes clear Matthew’s objective for this gathering. Matthew had just consecrated his life to Christ, and this was an opportunity for his friends to do likewise.
xxvi This phrase means to keep company with or “socialize with. ”Hang with (one),” The Free Dictionary by Farlex. Accessed at https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hang+with+someone/
