TO DRINK OR NOT TO DRINK
TITUS 1:7
I don’t know about you but one thing that I really enjoy doing is reading the Bible, the Word of God. I know that I do not read it as much as I such, and I am quite sure that none of us do. In speaking with people regarding what the Bible teaches, and this is true with both believers and unbelievers, is that they tend to make one mistake in there understanding of the Bible. And that is the forget the culture in which the Bible written. They think in terms of Matthew, and Paul, or John, writing in the 20th century, instead of the 1st century AD.
We need to realize that some things cannot simply be taken out of their 1st century context and placed neatly in the 20th century. Now I am in know way suggesting that the God’s truth somehow changes, God’s truth is eternal.
But what I am saying is that we need to understand what the truth is the God is trying to teach us. This is why we need to study the Word of God, and understand some things regarding the culture in which the New Testament was written. We need to understand that so that we can apply that truth to our lives today.
Some are simple. The Bible teaches "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures," That when we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour we have eternal life. The fact that you need to admit you are a sinner and go to the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ for forgiveness is a truth that transcends time and culture. Now that truth can be applied to any point in history. We can understand that no matter what culture we live.
We also read a story about Jesus and the money changes. How Jesus chases them out of the temple, calling them thieves. Now I do not see any money changers here this morning. In fact I would be willing to go out on limb here and say that none of you have seen a money changer in a church.
Now because the Bible tells us that "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," there is a true to be learned in that story. In order to understand what that truth is we need go back into the 1st century AD, look at the culture and the circumstances, and then apply the truth that we find to today.
The reason I point this is because today’s topic is like that. When discussing the topic of drinking wine, or other alcoholic beverages many people place today’s cultural taboos and today’s outlook on the 1st century and try to make the scriptures states something it does not state.
We need to look at what the Bible states, look at the culture of the time, and then apply the truth of God’s word to today.
As a preacher of the Word I have no right to preach from my convictions, unless those convictions a based solidly on the Word of God. It matters not what I want the Bible say, or what you want the Bible to say, but what matters is what in fact it does say.
Please turn with me to our verse for today. That would be Titus chapter 1 verse 7. That would be page 1032 in your Pew Bibles. Remember we are still going through the list of qualifications of and elder or leader of the church. This list is given to Titus by Paul as Titus seeks to build the church on the island of Crete.
"For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money,"
Now we have spoken of what it is to be blameless, a steward of God, not self willed, not quick tempered and violent, this morning I want to look at the phrase "not given to wine". Now as we have seen in the past sermons, each one of these qualities can be applied to all Christians. This is how all Christians should walk.
The phrase "not given to wine" comes from a single Greek word. The Greek word here is, and please excuse my punctuation, "PAR-O-IN-OS". It can be translated literally "tarrying at wine". It refers to who would use alcohol as a form of escape. One who would set around and drink wine rather then face a problem. One who would seek joy and peace in a bottle rather then in Christ.
Now Paul’s point is that an elder, a mature man in Christ, should have joy and peace in his relationship with Christ and does not need to seek it from drinking to much wine. And this portion of Scripture can certainly be applied to any Christian. Our joy must come from God, not from some outside source.
Now in reading this passage, "not given to wine", the question that arises for many people is "IS it acceptable for a Christian to drink wine, (or other alcoholic beverages) at all? I have been approached by many people who have asked me this question.
Does the scripture teach abstinence? Does it teach that it is ok? Today I want to take the opportunity to look at those questions.
As we take a look at wine in the New Testament we are going to be looking at a lot of Scriptures, but because of time I am not going to have you look all of them up. I would suggest that you jot them down as we go along to look them up late if you would like.
The first thing I would like to say as we get started is that drunkenness is a sin. Today we are discussing whether it is permissible for a Christian to drink, not if it is ok to get drunk. The scripture condemns drunkenness plane and simple.
Eph. 5:18; "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit," You cannot get much clearer then that. Any alcohol is never to be drank with the purpose of getting drunk.
Scripture also calls being drunk a work of the flesh, In Gal. 5:19-21 we read Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: (the passage list several things)
envy, murders, drunkenness, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Notice that that passage also states that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
So the scripture is clear on that point. If you drink to get drunk, even a little it is wrong, it is a work of the flesh, and if it is a habit, then you have a serious problem with your relationship with God.
Now I do not the standard God uses for being drunk, whether .01 or whatever, but if you drink and you feel the affects of it, then your drunk and the scripture calls that sin.
Now within the New Testament there are different words for wine, or wine drinkers. The most frequently used word is "O-IN-OS" this is uses 33 times in the NT always translated "wine".
We also have "O-IN-O-PO-TES". Which it translated "wine drinker", this work is used only twice in the NT.
Then there is the word "GLEU-KOS", which is a less common word for wine, and refers to a sweet wine, and is only used one in the NT.
Then the is the word "SI-KERA". This denotes a strong intoxicating drink make from several ingredients such as grain, vegetables, fruits or honey. This work is only used once in the NT, but several times in the Greek translation of the OT.
Now there is a word in Greek for grape juice, or new wine which is not fermented, but it never appears in the NT.
Now there are some who say that the word "wine" in the NT refers to grape juice, in fact there was an article in the Daily Star by a pastor friend of mind that said just that. However I believe that if you study the Word of God you will find that not to be the case.
Within the OT we see some interesting teaching concerning wine. Through the writings of the prophets we see those who live within the grip of wine as being denounced.
There was no rehab in those days. Some drunkards were to be put to death, Deut. 21:20-21; "And they shall say to the elders of his city, ’This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear."
Priest were forbidden to drink wine when engaged in their duties. The book of proverbs gives many warnings concerning the love of wine.
Wine on the other hand was drunk at the feasts and was valued as a gift in those ancient days.
Now as we move into the NT we also see some interesting teachings.
The word wine is usually always used in the literal sense with the book of Revelation being the exception.
We are told that John the Baptist did not drink wine. We are told that drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. As I pointed out Paul warns about getting drunk. We also see that wine can be used as medicine.
If we look at the scriptures it is clear that the wine mentioned in the NT is a fermented beverage and not just grape juice. Let us look at some passages.
In Matthew 9:17 Jesus speaks of placing "new Wine" in old wineskins. The word for wine there is "O-IN-OS". He speaks of how the fermenting process would burst the skins. If this were just grape juice it would not have that affect.
In Matthew 11:19 we read these words, "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ’Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children."
Jesus tells us how some were accusing him of being a "winebibber" which is a derogatory term basically meaning a drunk. If Jesus were just drinking grape juice this would have no meaning.
In the 10th chapter of look we read of the story of the Good Samaritan. It tell us in the 34th verse, "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him."
In NT times wine was often used as medicine because of the alcohol content which would sanitize the wound. What good would it do to pour grape juice on a wound?
In John chapter 2 we have the recording of Jesus first miracle. Changing the water into wine. Now some say that Jesus did not turn the water into wine but into grape juice. That view simple does not follow the context of the story. People would have immediately seen, and tasted the difference between grape juice and fermented wine. Yet they state that the best wine was kept for last. Now we all know that there are different degrees of how good wine is. (Personally I think it all taste pretty bad), but in ancient times grape juice was grape juice.
Just a couple more passages. In Romans 14:21 we are told that it is good not to do anything that would make a brother stumble, including eating certain foods and drinking wine. How could drinking grape juice cause a brother to stumble.
In the passage I quoted before Eph 5:18 that states do not be drunk with wine but be filled with Holy Spirit. If that work "Wine" or "O-IN-OS" means grape juice how will it make us drunk.
If you apply the grape juice theory to our passage today, what it would be saying is that elders should not drink to much grape juice. If that word does in fact mean grape juice and not fermented wine, then many of these passages become meaningless.
Now there are other passage which could be sighted but I think we have made it clear that when the Bible refers to wine it does refer to fermented grape juice.
Now we cannot just stop there. As I stated in the beginning of my sermon we need to take in account the culture in which these things were written. We cannot just apply this to our own culture.
In the ancient word wine was very much different then it is today. And it was consumed differently. In the Greek and Roman worlds the grape juice was squeezed from the grapes in large winepresses and vats. The juice was drained off into large containers, and allowed to ferment naturally. Natural fermentation can only raise the alcohol content to a certain point and no more, depending on the sugar content of the juice.
If you wanted a stronger wine then artificial fermentation must take over, something which at no been developed in the time of Christ.
Today’s wine is much stronger then the NT wine. Also in ancient times wine was rarely consumed by itself. It was usually mixed with water, to dilute the wine and purify the water. The average mixture was 3 parts water to 1 part wine. So we can see when we take a look at there culture it was very different then ours is today.
Now some ask the question did Jesus drink wine? Some believe that Jesus only drank grape juice. To be honest the Bible never states that Jesus did drink wine. But an argument from silence is a poor one. The Bible never states Jesus memorized scripture either but it is plain that he did.
The view that Jesus never drank wine has several problems. As we have seen already that Greek words for wine in the NT all refer to fermented beverage.
Many people believe that Jesus did not drink wine because He could not have drank wine, that it would have been a sin to do so. This is without any scriptural support. The bible condemns drunkenness, but it does not forbid drinking except for the temple priests at certain times, and Jesus was not a temple priest.
Wine we need to understand was the drink of the Passover meal. Jesus certainly celebrated the Passover all his life. There is not scriptural prove that He would not have kept with the custom of drinking wine.
Now some people say that Jesus did not drink wine because they do want to give anyone an excuse to drink alcohol. They fear that if they teach Jesus drank wine then others will think that it is OK for them to drink wine. But we must teach what the Bible teaches. We cannot teach our own personal opinions as being Bible facts. Nor can we slant what the scriptures state because of how people might react.
Those who would use Jesus as an excuse to drink would find another excuse to drink even if the Bible stated Jesus did not drink wine. The problem is with there hearts not with what the Bible states.
We need to understand that the consumption of wine and alcohol did not have the stigma that is had today. Sure they were abused to point in those times, but not like they are today. We cannot take our 20th century standards of social conduct and apply it to 1st century people. Wine was a common, popular and accepted beverage in the NT times.
So as we have looked at what the scripture states are still looking at the question, "Is it OK for a Christian to drink wine?" As we ask that question we need to look at some present day facts.
There are 10 million problem drinkers in the US
Of all adults who drink 36% are classified as problem drinkers.
Alcohol related deaths run about 200,000 a year. Alcohol abuse costs the US over 50 billion dollars a year.
Fetal alcohol syndrome is the third greatest cause of birth defects.
Half of all traffic fatalities and 1/3 of traffic injuries are alcohol related.
A high percentile of parents who abuse their children have a drinking problem.
Of all adults who drink 1/3 will become problem drinkers.
Ask yourself is drinking worth it.
Will drinking wine or any alcoholic beverage lead to sin, not necessarily but possibly. I think of the words in 1 Cor. 6:12, "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."
This teaches that just because something is allowed does not mean it is good for us. Just because something is lawful, it becomes unlawful when it brings us under it power, and many times that is what alcohol will do.
I will tell you now that I do not drink alcoholic beverages, I do like one of the those non-alcoholic beers now and then. They worry Darleen because she thinks someone will think I am really drinking beer.
I do not drink not because I believe the Scripture tells me I can’t. I do drink because I do not wish to make my brother stumble, and I also I can see no point in it.
In closing I will say that I cannot honestly stand up here and tell you the bible states you cannot drink wine because that’s not what it states.
Abstinence is not taught in the Bible, but neither is drunkenness. If you choose to drink moderation is the key. If fact moderation is the key for many things we do in life. But before you do drink remember this passage, from 1 Cor. 10:31;
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
LET US PRAY
(Pray for freedom from those things that have us in bondage)
