Why a Christ-Follower Should Surrender His or Her Permission to Drink Alcohol

Things are changing.  Surely we see the changes in our American culture but things are changing here in the church of Jesus as well.  Some of those changes are good and needed.  The denominational divide that once sliced us into different pieces is slowly giving way to a greater sense of Christian unity across those once firm demarcations.  Yes, we still have a long way to go in that division by ethnicity and race still prevail, but even that is being challenged by many Christ followers.

But not all change is leading us to good places, so let me speak to one area that I see especially prevalent among Christ's youngest followers, though not limited to them.  I'm referring to the new found freedom to bring alcohol into our lives.

First, let me acknowledge some things that are absolutely Biblically true.  God doesn't forbid the drinking of alcohol.   Many have tried to make that case, but they can't do it using the Bible.  In fact, wine was most likely the choice drink in Old and New Testament times.  Wine is often portrayed as an example of some really good things.  For example, the Song of Solomon often compares the sweetest of loves to choice wine.   In fact, he says that love is better than wine!   Our Lord Himself even turned water into wine so that the festivities at a wedding might continue.

Now with that foundation, let me agree that drinking alcohol is not in itself morally wrong or a sin.   I'll even acknowledge that drinking wine with a meal would have been the norm in Jesus' day, but nonetheless I'd like to argue against the growing use of alcohol among the body of Christ.

Most followers of Jesus are familiar with Paul's admonition to us: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything" (1 Corinthians 6:12).  Actually, twice in this same letter Paul says the same thing and both times it has to do with eating and drinking in context.  Side note here, but it's amazing how often we quote this verse as saying 'All sinful things are lawful for me but all are not profitable.'  It doesn't say that at all.  Sin is still sin and holiness is God's expectation of us.  Sin is never permissible.  There is nothing that fits the context of these verses, for us 21st century followers of Jesus, more than this issue of alcohol.  So let me give you three reasons why drinking alcohol, though it may be permissible, it is not profitable.

First would be the constant warnings against the over use of alcohol.  I've never met a Christian who doesn't agree with the Bible that drunkenness is wrong.  "Do not get drunk with wine," Paul told us, "but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).  Proverbs 20:1 says, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise."  And one more; Proverbs 21:17 says, "He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not become rich."

One of the reasons for these warnings, I believe, and something that I think is lost to so many young Christians, is the power of alcohol to addict the soul.  In Proverbs 23 the author writes, "Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.  Buy truth, and do not sell it, get wisdom and instruction and understanding... Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause?  Who has redness of eyes?  Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine.  Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.  Your eyes will see strange things and your mind will utter perverse things.  And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.  They struck me, but I did not become ill; they beat me, but I did not know it.  When shall I awake?  I will seek another drink” (Proverbs 23:22-23, 29-35).  The author is clearly warning against the power of alcohol to control and overpower our lives.

I've watched many a man and woman who starts out seeking to drink in moderation only to find that it's addictive powers overtake them.  Everyone thinks that it won't happen to them, but when alcohol overtakes you it's a battle to overcome, and the effects can be devastating.  Who hasn't heard of the recent dismissal of Perry Noble from New Spring Church in South Carolina?  Perry is obviously a brother who loves the Lord Jesus, who had freedom to drink, but in time the alcohol overtook him.  He was removed from his ministry and even his family was under intense pressure from his addiction to alcohol.  Another pastor friend of mine found himself more and more controlled by alcohol and more and more given to drink in excess.  Finally, able to admit that to himself, he gave it up.

Yes, it's permissible to drink, but as powerful as alcohol is to master us, is it profitable?

A second reason why alcohol, though permissible isn't profitable, is because we don't need it.  We don't need it on two fronts.  First, we don't need it as a drink to sustain life.  Whenever I travel to the third world, I'm often given Coca-cola products to drink by my host.  Do you know why?  It's because the water isn't potable. and the soft drink products are far less dangerous.  There was a day when wine was much safer to drink than water.  That's not true in our day.  We have more choices and more varieties of drinks available to us than in any generation of the past--we don't need to drink wine or alcohol because it's "safe."  And on a second front, we don't need to drink alcohol for an emotional reason either.  Proverbs 31:6 says, "Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to him whose life is bitter."  Fellow believers, we have been given joy--great joy!  Jesus said I came that you might have abundant life.  He spoke often of the joy of life that is ours in Him.  It's not a circumstantially caused joy, but a joy that flows from us like rivers of living water--if we let it.  It's a joy that we can choose.   Have you noticed that more and more celebratory events in the lives of Christ-followers must be punctuated with alcohol?  Rarely do I go to a wedding that there isn't alcohol for the Christians.  I'm sure the goal is merriment and joy, but isn't joy ours without substance help?  I suggest it is--we merely must choose it.

Finally, I suggest a third reason why alcohol isn't profitable and it's because it blunts our testimony.  What I mean by that is it blurs the lines and erases the distinctions between those of us who have the joy of the Lord, and those who do not.  One of the marks of the believer should be our joy and our peace, but if we can't have either without the help of a wine cooler, how is our faith transforming our lives?  Why do we need to pitch the corn hole bag with one hand while we hang on to our second or third beer, wine cooler or hard cider in the other?  Please don't misunderstand.  I'm not saying that not drinking makes us joy-filled or peace-filled--I'm saying that if we are joy-filled and peace-filled, why would we want to hide that behind a bottle?  What if people saw our joy and happiness, our peace and contentment, and they saw it not as a result of alcohol but our relationship with Jesus?  Wouldn't that sharpen our witness?

It's funny, but in this day when the call for a Christian's freedom to drink alcohol is so strong, I feel like I'm stepping out in traffic as I call for the opposite, but nonetheless I do.  Follower of Jesus, I'd like to encourage you to consider that maybe drinking alcohol isn't the most profitable path to take.  Would you consider giving up what is permissible, for something that may be much more profitable for you and for the Kingdom of God?

I want to be happy-- don't you?

I want to be happy--don't you?  I think it would be a truthful statement to say everyone just wants to be happy--and all the time.  For many years I've heard Christians make a distinction between happiness and joy and that made sense to me.  After all, God calls us to rejoice always, to have joy always, and we all know that no one can be happy all the time.  How can I be happy when my loved one dies, or my child is fighting cancer, or I lose my job?  Right?  Therefore, we conclude, there must be a difference between joy and happiness.

Recently, I heard Randy Alcorn make a strong case for how Biblically, and throughout history, joy and happiness have been used as synonyms.  He shared that Oswald Chambers was the first to espouse the idea that "joy" and "happiness" are different; that is,  joy is that deep, abiding contentment that remains even in the most dire circumstances of life, while "happiness" is that more temporal, emotive feeling that makes us feel so wonderful.  Alcorn says that prior to Chambers, everyone used the words interchangeably-- to be happy was to be joyful and to be joyful was to be happy.

I've been thinking a great deal about happiness as of late and I think this confusion might lie in how we view this idea of happiness.  Let's be honest.  Happiness is not something I achieve and then I'm done--never to be unhappy again.  "Ok, now I'm happy--I don't have to think about that anymore!"  That's really not how it works.  Happiness and joy, as an emotional state, is constantly being challenged--at least it is in my life.   On our trip home from Alabama for Thanksgiving, we were caught in an accident and stuck on the interstate for over an hour, and then to top it off, immediately upon getting off the interstate I got a ticket for driving through a stop sign I didn't see.  I admit it--I was not happy and my wife even reproved me for my unhappiness over such temporal, unimportant things.  I think that it might be helpful for us to see happiness as a state of heart that needs to be continually replenished.  There are many difficulties in life that want to rob us of our happiness.  Some of those difficulties come at the end of bad choices we've made.  Others are absolutely independent of anything we've done, yet both have the same result of potentially draining away our happiness.

David Murray identifies six streams of happiness that are available to all people everywhere.  He says all of us experience nature happiness, social happiness, vocational happiness, physical happiness, intellectual happiness, and humor happiness.  I think it's easy to understand what Murray is saying--good jokes, good friends, and a good back massage all make us feel happy--they add to our "happiness tank."  People recognize this and are always trying to find happiness in these six areas and more, which is why we visit the Grand Canyon and go to hear comedians.  All too many of us are too often thinking, "If I could just find the right relationship, or have this one thing, or have 'that' job or 'this' amount of money, I'd be happy."  We strive for those things because deep down we believe those things will give us lasting, enduring, happiness.   Sometimes we actually achieve the things we pursue; but invariably and unfortunately, the happiness they bring is often fleeting and we set out to refill our happiness tank, this time with something else that will prove itself equally transient.

But Murray identifies one more stream of happiness which he calls "spiritual happiness," and this happiness comes only from having a relationship with God through Jesus.  This source of happiness is always available, and it's what I believe Chambers was seeking to identify when he said that joy and happiness were different.  Here's what spiritual happiness is:  it is the joy and happiness that comes from knowing that God loves me, that my life matters and has purpose, and that God Himself is watching over my life.  What I mean by that last statement is that God in His love for me is overseeing my life so that I can trust Him that everything is going to be okay in the end.  Romans 8:28 promises that "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose."  But here's the challenge-- I have to choose that spiritual happiness and joy.  I have to decide that I'm going to walk in it, no matter what.  Just having experienced an added hour of interstate driving to an already super long drive, followed up with an immediate moving violation ticket for running a stop sign, I tell you that is no easy task!  So how do I always walk in happiness and joy? Here are two suggestions that I'm trying to practice myself.

Use your feelings of unhappiness as a warning.  If you are a Christ follower and you are unhappy, somewhere along the line you've lost sight of Jesus and that spiritual flow of happiness, and you are focused on the bad.  Remember, God says he loves you and nothing happens to you that He's unaware of or isn't supervising.  If He's allowed it, He will use it for good.  I'm not saying the thing is good--I'm saying God will use it for good.  Trust Him.

Stop, pray and choose happiness!  You can do it.  You can choose joy even in the hardest and most difficult times of your life.  You may have to choose it over and over but you can.  Pray it out loud.  Remind yourself that God loves you and you can trust Him.  "Rejoice, and again I say rejoice!"

It didn't take me but a few seconds to realize my wife was right.  I had allowed some petty things to rob me of my joy and happiness.   I'm pretty sure it won't be the last but I want to be a happy and joyful person-- all the time.  Join me in that pursuit.