The Christian, the Bible, and Alcohol (Part 4)

Today’s post is really at the heart of why I felt compelled to write on this subject in the first place.

As I have already written, I do not believe drinking alcohol is a sin. I have friends that drink socially and I myself have had alcohol in my life. So why I write what I write today is not because I am a prohibitionist. I write it because the growing trend of alcoholic consumption in the local church is not a good trend … in my opinion.

So with that in mind, let me share 2 angles on this discussion that I believe are seldom discussed when it comes to dealing with the question of alcoholic consumption in the church.

1. Make sure others know more about your Savior than you beer or wine of choice.

One of my larger concerns with the contemporary church is not the brewing of beer or offering alcohol as a beverage at church functions, but too many professing Christians are becoming known for these facts at the expense of far more important eternal realities. You might ask, “What’s wrong with that? If drinking alcohol is not a sin, what’s the problem?”

The problem is this: when people start following beer-making blogs that have been started by pastors or go to church functions because they can get free alcohol, those institutions or church leaders become known for their use of alcohol. It becomes trendy to attend a certain church because they celebrate things like Christian liberty or they are more modern or trendy because they have an open bar.

And more attention is given to their use of alcohol than their Lord and Savior and the Gospel. When people are more interested in seeing your pictures on Facebook of a recent drinking session with your fellow Christian buddies than the faith you profess, there is a problem.

I have actually heard people say or seen people write that they can’t listen to a certain individual because of his overuse of alcohol and devotion of time to promoting it by example or social media. In other words, so much of the giftedness of these pastors or churches is being lost by those who are offended by it.

Didn’t Paul warn us about this in I Corinthians 8? Paul warned us about those who may not share the same convictions as we do and all we do is risk a relationship or, even worse, that God’s message would not be heard.

I would hope every “brewer preacher” out there would rather see someone come to Jesus Christ than follow his blog, but sometimes I wonder. Paul even said he would give up his own eternity for such a salvation (Rom 9:3)/ How many pastor’s would give up their beer-making abilities for the sake of one person getting into the kingdom. I would hope all of them.

Some might ask, “What about Jesus?” Some labeled Him as a drunkard (Matt 11:19). Doesn’t that prove He drank often? I would answer, “No, because Jesus never sought out to be known for drinking alcohol. He didn’t seek that reputation or start a series of messages on how to drink responsibly as a Christian. He wanted His reputation to be far more significant than that. He wanted His message to be at the forefront – not His creating wine at a wedding or passing the cup at the Last Supper.

Is this not the example for us to follow? Should we not be asking ourselves, “Is there any preference I have in my life that is getting in the way of people’s salvation? Is there anything prohibiting fellow believers from being built up by own God-given giftedness?” Unfortunately, too many Christians are missing this reality. They don’t realize they are not doing the church much good for focusing and spending so much time on the consumption of creation of alcohol.

Christian, how are you known? As a consumer of alcohol first and then a Christian second? May it never be!

2.The question for the Christian is never “How much can I drink?” but “How holy can I be?

Again, I will reiterate, as I did in my first posting: I do not think if you drink alcohol you are sinning. If you get drunk with it, you certainly are. But to drink even socially would not be outside of the bounds of Scripture as I see it.

And for some Christians, they may ask, “How much can I drink? If drunkenness is a sin, when do I cross that line of drinking too much?”

And let me say as clearly as possible: THAT IS THE WRONG QUESTION! We never ask “How close can I get to sin (e.g., drunkenness) without touching it?” Holiness is separation from sin and not closeness to it. The opposite question should always be preferred: “How holy can I be? Or how separate can I be from drunkenness?”

It is my belief that professing Christians who drink regularly are not sinning, but they are living foolishly. Each sip they take is closer to sin, is it not? Each drink they swallow puts them one step closer to drunkenness. A foolish man walks closer to sin without actually sinning.

Let me illustrate this with another example. If you were offered the position of manager of a strip club, would you take it? Would you accept the job of being inside that strip club every night, making sure the food or drinks were being served properly, making sure those who were your employees are performing their “duties” for clients, etc.? Would you feel comfortable as a professing Christian spending your evenings managing such a business? Most Christians would say “Absolutely not!”

Why? Would it be a sin to manage a business? No! So why wouldn’t most professing Christians want to manage a strip club? Because it puts us one step closer to lust, adultery, sexual compromise, etc. It opens up Pandora ’s Box and invites more temptation into our life.

I might argue that drinking alcohol can have the same effect. It may not be wrong to drink it, but just think of all the sins it can lead to alongside of drunkenness.

So I don’t encourage Christians to drink. I don’t confront them if I see it, but if I see it regularly, I would strongly advise and warn them of the road they are taking.

Christian, there are more eternally significant things to live for and I can guarantee you when you lay on your death bed, you will not utter the words, “I wish I had a more drinks in my life.”