Sure Reasons Why Christians Shouldn't Drink Series

Sure Reasons Why Christians Shouldn’t Drink

(Series: Why It Matters)

Rom 14:10-21

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - Sept. 10, 2006

*Some people try to say that Jesus never drank alcohol, but that doesn’t make sense to me. In Matt 11:16-19, Jesus was talking to a crowd about John the Baptist and himself, about how John and Jesus were very different from each other, yet how the same people rejected them both.

*And Jesus said, “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; we mourned to you, And you did not lament.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ . . .”

*A winebibber . . . The NIV says “drunkard” and that’s what it means: A sot, a wino. Well, you can’t very well accuse someone of being a drunkard, if they never drank.

*I have to conclude that Jesus did drink alcohol. He’s not talking about drinking water in these verses. But if Jesus drank alcohol, then why shouldn’t we?

*It’s an important question, because there are possibly six kinds of drinkers here today.

-Young people who think it’s a grown-up, hip thing to do.

-Young people who are having fun partying, at least so far.

-Responsible adults who drink in moderation.

-Hurting people who are trying to use alcohol to numb their pain.

-Alcoholics living in denial.

-And people who desperately want to quit, but who so far haven’t been able.

*By the way: Don’t judge. It is easy to throw stones at someone who drinks, especially if you never drank or maybe have never even been tempted to drink. But don’t judge other people. God’s Word is speaking to all Christians here in Romans 14, when it says:

10. . . . Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

11. For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’’

12. So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

13. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore . . .

*We are not here to judge each other, but let’s look at this important question: If Jesus drank alcohol, then why shouldn’t we?

1. We shouldn’t drink first of all, because alcohol is easy to abuse.

*We know that because there are so many problem drinkers in America. infoplease.com says that nearly 14 million Americans currently abuse alcohol or are alcoholic. (That’s 1 in every 13 adults.) And several million more adults engage in risky drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems. Over 50% of people in the United States report that one or more of their close relatives have a drinking problem. (1)

*Alcohol is easy to abuse. We know that because the average amount of alcohol consumed by Americans over thirteen is 2.2 gallons per year. (2) That means over 400 million gallons of alcohol were sold in the United States last year. That’s a lot of drinking! There is enough alcohol within a mile of where we sit, that if we poured it out in here today, we could all swim in it. Every grocery store, every gas station, most every drug store and most every restaurant are loaded down with it. Somebody has to be drinking all of that beer and liquor.

*Alcohol is easy to abuse. We know this best of all because the Word of God strongly and often cautions us against drinking too much. Nave’s Topical Bible lists 32 references dealing with drunkenness, and there are others.

*One of the strongest warnings is in Prov 23:29-33. Let’s take a few moments to see what it says.

29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

30. Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine.

31. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly;

32. at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper.

33. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things.

*God put this warning in His Word, so that you and your loved ones won’t have to live it. But you might, if you drink.

*Daniel Akin is the president of our seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. And last summer he wrote: “I readily confess to a personal bias when it comes to the issue of alcohol. My wife Charlotte grew up in the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home because her parents were alcoholics. Her father died a lost alcoholic. Her mother, by God’s grace, was saved on her deathbed; the twin killers of alcohol and tobacco had ravaged her body. Today, Charlotte’s sister and brother are lost alcoholics and so are most of the rest of her family. (3)