"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."

Introduction

A popular local tavern was moved to another part of a certain city, leaving vacant the building it had been in for many years. About the same time a local church was remodeling their building and needed a place to locate temporarily. Upon seeing the vacated tavern, the church leaders decided to use it for their services. They came in and cleaned up the place. The bar was changed to a pulpit, and temporary pews were installed. The tavern owner, however, had forgotten to take his parrot along, so the bird still sat in the corner when their first service was held in the "renovated" building. On Sunday morning the preacher took his place and the parrot squawked, "Say, look here! We have a new bartender!" When the choir entered, he added, "and a new floor show!" But when the members began to come in, the parrot croaked, "Aark! But the same customers! The same customers!"

Wouldn't it be sad if that story were true? Of course, it is only fiction, but it does suggest a truth that I believe must grieve the heart of God: Professing Christians who imbibe alcoholic beverages and/or encourage others to do so.

In Proverbs 23:29-35, we read these words:

"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."

I make no apology for the conviction that professing Christians should not drink alcoholic beverages, moderately or in excess. I doubt that any of us would contend for drunkenness, which is clearly condemned by the Bible, but I'm aware that there are often questions when it comes to the use of alcohol socially, in so-called "moderation."

The case against the use of alcohol, "socially" or otherwise, is compelling. Like a criminal, the "rap sheet" on this repeat-offender of society is long. I fail to see how any lover of God could know the whole story about alcohol and continue to imbibe. Here are my reasons why…

1. The Fruit Of Social Drinking Is Bad.

God's Word gives both commandments and timeless principles that guide Christian behavior in any age. Applying these commandments and principles of morality to the issues of our day should be of utmost concern to all those who claim to love God. One such principle is found in Matt. 7:17-18.

"Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit."

In the context, Jesus was warning his followers to beware of false teachers, but His words would apply also to their false teachings. It is a reasonable principle to follow that if you are unsure of a particular thing, examine its fruit. See what it produces. Jesus said it's an effective way to spot a lie.

So what is the fruit of drinking alcohol? Is it good or is it bad? One would be hard pressed to present much of anything good about drinking alcoholic beverages.

*Next to heart attacks and cancer, alcohol is the nation's third most serious health problem.

*Alcohol related health problems account for 26% of all admissions to state and county mental hospitals.

*Beverage alcohol kills one person every 24 minutes in traffic "accidents."

*1/2 of all highway accidents involve alcohol impaired drivers.

*Alcohol is a contributing factor in 80% of all crime.

*Beverage alcohol accounts for 40% of all problems brought to family courts.

*According to TIME MAGAZINE, alcohol is involved in 1/2 of all murders.

*3/4 of all divorce is associated in some way with the consumption of alcohol.

*Statistics kept by a county in New Jersey indicated that alcohol was a factor in 65% of all drownings in the county, 63% of all exposure deaths, 50% of private airplane crashes, 49% of auto deaths, 46% of carbon monoxide deaths, and 29% of burn deaths.

If I were best friends with someone who caused that much damage to society, wouldn't you tell me to change my company?

But someone might object to this by saying that these problems are caused by alcoholics, not social and moderate drinkers. The statistics show otherwise. For instance, 72% of alcohol related arrests in the City of Denver in 1977 were non-skid-row individuals. It isn't the drunken bum who kills and injures people as much as it is those who drink to unwind, who drink to feel more successful, or who drink because of social pressure. Besides, it is usually the so called "moderate" drinker who ends up becoming the alcoholic. I doubt that there is an alcoholic alive who got that way without first going through stages of moderate and/or social drinking.

Our society has subscribed to a lie about this, pushed vehemently by the alcoholic beverage industry with its slick TV adds. Sadly, some in the church have bought it as well. Of course, the ads never tell the whole truth about what drinking really does. The fruit is bad, my friends, not good.

One night in October
When I was far from sober,
And dragging a load with manly pride:
My legs began to stutter,
So I laid me in the gutter,
And a pig came up and parked right by my side.
Then I began to warble,
"It's good weather
For good friends to get together,"
'Till a lady passing by was heard to say,
"You can tell a man who boozes
By the company he chooses,"
Then the pig got up and slowly walked away."
(Author Unknown)

2. Alcohol Consumption Can Harm the Physical Body.

Two drunks were going up a railroad track. The first one said to the other: "These steps are sure close together." To that, the second replied, "Yeah, but boy, these low handrails are what are killing me!"

We read in I Corinthians 6:19-20,

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

Certainly those two bums couldn't be said to be "glorifying God in their bodies." But what about the lesser physical effects of alcohol?

When ethyl alcohol enters the body as a result of drinking beer, wine, whiskey, or the like, it passes very quickly into the bloodstream because it does not have to be digested first. Within a matter of minutes it is on its way to every part of the body, most concernedly, the brain. This is significant, especially to the Christian, because it effects the brain's control over the thoughts and actions - both things we are accountable for before God. It also effects the heart rate, blood circulation, breathing, muscle action, and other body functions.

In the brain, alcohol has the same effect as a narcotic drug. It depresses. In fact, it has been said that alcohol is the oldest drug known to man. Many of the same arguments that apply to taking narcotic drugs can be applied with equal force against alcohol. Probably none of us would advocate or defend the "social" use of narcotics such as heroin or opium. Yet alcohol is a narcotic. Can we defend the one and denounce the others and still be consistent? We can in our culture, but can we do so before a watching God?

Alcohol in the brain has an effect similar to removing the brakes on an automobile. It takes away the controls that normally would restrain feelings and actions. These, like a car with failing brakes, careen more and more as blood alcohol content goes up.

In another analogy, alcohol progressively puts the brain to sleep. The passage we read in Proverbs speaks of one so anesthetized that he does stupid things like going to bed in the middle of the ocean and taking a nap atop the mast of a ship. People who drink do dumb things. They utter perverse things.

Some people drink to relax and lower inhibitions. As they consume their drinks they become more loose-tongued and assume they are more witty and charming when, in reality, they often appear foolish to others.

Of serious concern to the Christian should be the effect of alcohol on the conscience. The "inner voice" of the conscience is one of God's sentries meant to guard the entrances of our hearts and minds. Self restraint (in the Bible called "self control") heads south when alcohol is consumed. Doesn't it seem a bit ironic that a Christian, interested in seeing the Holy Spirit produce the fruit of the Spirit in his or her life (of which self control is a part), would knowingly do something that knocks that virtue out?

This temporary dulling of the conscience presents another problem, too - something drinkers often fail to realize. With self restraint being put to sleep, the first drink can and often does lead to the second, which makes it more difficult to say "no" to the third. Drinking that begins as "moderate" can quickly become excessive by anyone's definition. Wives and husbands of drinking spouses know these things all too painfully as they find themselves constantly forced to make excuses for the irresponsibility of their indulging mates.

With judgement impaired by alcohol, the drinker often doesn't see reality. You tell him he is getting drunk and he argues. He has it under control! (He says) But his brain is going to sleep! He thinks he's a better Christian, a better husband, dad, lover, or what-have-you, when in reality he is far worse. Tell him, though, and he'll argue with you because his judgement is impaired. He doesn't see it. He insists he has wisdom. All the while he is holding a gun to wisdom's head and pulling the trigger.

But what about just a little alcohol, say a beer or two or a little wine? These, too, effect the body.

*A crack rifle team submitted to experiments that showed that drinking as little as a glass of beer materially lowered their scores.

*Two cans of beer or the equivalent of alcohol lowers a person's driving efficiency by 25%. (That may not seem like much until you are on a two-way street going 55 MPH and you zoom past a car going the same speed in the opposite direction. The combines speed is 110 MPH and your door handles pass 2 feet apart.)

*One bottle of beer reduces reflex action by 6% - two bottles by 11 %. On the highway, that can spell the difference between a near miss and a sudden catapult into eternity.

Glorify God in the body? How can it be said that these things glorify God?

3. It Cannot Be Shown That Jesus or The Apostles Engaged in Social Drinking.

"After all, Jesus drank wine," I've heard people say, "so what could be wrong with moderate drinking?" Those who say that are not careful students of the Scriptures.

Four instances are usually cited as "proof" that Jesus and the Apostles drank fermented wine. The first is John 2:1-10 where He performed His first miracle at Cana by changing water into "wine." There is no mention that Jesus drank wine in that passage, but of course the point is made that He did not disapprove of it or he would not have provided it for the feast. I'll deal more specifically with this point in a few moments.

The second instance usually cited is Matt. 11:19, the trumped up charge made by Jesus' enemies that He was a "glutton and a drunkard." The passage says, "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!'" The point made is that since it says He came "eating and drinking," He must have been drinking fermented wine.

The third instance usually cited by those who would try to justify the use of alcoholic beverages from the Scripture is the institution of the Lord's supper in Matt. 26:27-29 where it is alleged that Jesus gave the disciples bread and wine. This one can be dismissed rather quickly if you go back and read the laws of the Jewish Passover in Deuteronomy 16. The Jews were forbidden by the Law of Moses to have anything leavened or fermented in their homes during Passover. If Jesus served fermented wine on this occasion, he broke the Law of Moses and is disqualified as a sin offering because He sinned Himself. Consistent with this is the fact that the word "wine" never occurs in all the Bible's descriptions of the Lord's supper. Rather, it is the terms "fruit of the vine," which could and does refer to grape juice.

The fourth passage cited is I Timothy 5:23 where Paul told Timothy, "No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments." If ever there were a passage that has become a sort of "drinker's proverb," it is this one!

Let's go back now and look more closely at these arguments.

A critical point to make in a discussion like this is that many people assume that when the Bible says "wine," it refers to the equivalent of what is bought in liquor stores and supermarkets today. Modern wine, however, is a different product in most cases. It has had a considerable amount of alcohol added to it to make it stronger. If Jesus and the Apostles consumed intentionally fermented wine in their day, and I believe that they did not, what they drank was not like what most drinkers consume today.

Secondly, the Greek word for "wine" in the NT is "oinos." It is not specific. What I mean by that is that the word was used to refer to unpicked grapes still on the vine, freshly squeezed grape juice, and fermented wine. The presence of the word "wine" in a verse of the New Testament then, doesn't necessarily mean alcohol. Only the context can determine the specific meaning of the word.

Thirdly, the juice of grapes was consumed as a food staple in ancient Palestine much as we consume milk. Often it was drunk in place of water due to polluted water holes in hot months. Certainly it would be difficult to preserve unfermented grape juice under such conditions and the people had to deal with that problem. It has been estimated that such natural fermentation, unaided by man's intent to make it stronger by adding yeast, would have yielded between 2 and 8% alcohol. In order to deal with this fermentation problem, archaeologists and researchers tell us the ancient people did two things. If they had time, they would boil the water off of fresh grape juice to yield a thick paste or jam. This was put into jars or "wineskins" for later use, whereupon it was either spread on bread or reconstituted by adding water. If they didn't have time for this, they would dilute the fermented grape juice with water to keep it from being intoxicating. Ratios of 20-to-1 (water to wine), 8-to-1, and 3-to-1 are mentioned in ancient literature as common. (The more it fermented, the more they diluted it.) Evidence shows that ratio mixtures of 1-to-1 (half and half) were frowned upon among the Jews as "strong drink."

With these things in mind, what can we say about the passages cited earlier? At the wedding feast of Cana, the "wine" referred to was probably either the reconstituted variety or it was diluted. Someone has calculated that at a ratio of 3 parts water and one part naturally fermented wine, it would take 22 glasses of this to become as intoxicated as drinking two martinis. Given the circumstances of short supply of the wine at the wedding, I'm inclined to believe they probably diluted it even more when they saw the number of guests present. The "best wine" that Jesus produced was probably pure, sweet, grape juice. I say that because that is how the term "best wine" was used in that day. In the writings of Pliny, Plutarch, and Horace, we learn that the "best wine" referred to the freshest juice, not the most fermented. This evidence points to Jesus having made unfermented grape juice at the feast, not the opposite.

As to the derogatory remarks of Jesus' enemies in Matt. 11:19, where they called Him a glutton and a drunkard, I suggest to you that they called Jesus a servant of Satan, too. Would we contend that we are free to be Satan's servants on the basis of such statements? Beyond that, though, if you examine the passage closely, you will see that Jesus' enemies were comparing Him with John the Baptist. (John came neither eating nor drinking. Jesus came eating and drinking.) A quick look at Luke chapter one will show you that John had taken a Nazarite vow, an OT vow that forbade the drinking of any product of the grape. (You can find more information on the Nazarite vow in Numbers 6). John also lived the separated lifestyle of the Nazarite - remember that he lived in the desert. But Jesus spent time with all kinds of people. He drank the product of the grape ("oinos" - either the reconstituted or diluted kind). So, His enemies, finding nothing better, accused Him of drunkenness. Surely the God who inspired one of His apostles to write that no drunkard will inherit the Kingdom of God would be a drunkard himself!

We already addressed the passage about the Lord's supper, so, what about the last passage? What about, "a little wine for your stomach's sake"? That one really ought to be clear to you by now. That word "oinos" could refer to any product or the grape or the grape itself. How do we know which it was? Answer: we don't know directly. But again, do we really think that Jesus, the Apostles, and the OT prophets would say so much bad about fermented wine and then turn around a prescribe its use? That isn't reasonable!

Timothy may well have been keeping some version of a Nazarite vow, the same vow as John the Baptist, in order to be "all things to all men" and win them. If so, he had been drinking only water (i.e., none of the grape juice that was in so many homes). Paul, seeing a sick man, prescribed a common remedy for stomach problems - grape juice – which medical authorities today still say is good for the stomach - the fresher, the better.

Considering these things, it cannot be shown that Jesus or the apostles ever drank fermented wine. Those who have taught such things are mistaken. If you have used any of these passages to justify drinking alcohol, now you know better and your actions ought to change accordingly.

4. There is Always a Danger of Drunkenness.

The Bible says clearly in I Corinthians 6:10 that drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Most people know this. The question remains though, "What is drunkenness?" How much can be consumed before one is drunk? The Bible doesn't say. Is a person drunk after one drink? Two? Three? When he passes out?

How many hairs on a man's chin make a beard?

The world defines drunkenness as so much percent alcohol in the blood. But that is the world's standard. The world is quickly coming to believe that adultery and homosexuality are permissible, too. Can we trust the world's standard?

How much alcohol does it take to make one drunk? We really don't know. Can a woman be just a little bit pregnant? Can a person be just a little bit drunk? Are any of us willing to risk going to Hell over a six pack of beer or a bottle of wine?

5. Social Drinking Puts Us On a Slippery Slope.

What would you think of an airline company that had a flight record that showed that one out of every ten passenger seats fell out of the bottom of the plane on takeoff? Would you book a flight with them? Certainly not!

What if one out of every ten Boy Scouts who explored the Florida Everglades was devoured by alligators. Would you send your son?

That is exactly the odds that the social or moderate drinker faces when he cracks open a can or bottle of booze. One in every ten drinkers becomes an alcoholic. Some statistics say one in eight.

No wonder Proverbs says, "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."

The Bible says it is wrong to lust because of the sin of adultery. Could it be wrong to drink because of the sin of drunkenness?

The space between moderate, social drinking and drunkenness (if there is a space) is a slippery slope. I suppose fools gamble on much worse odds than that, but who wants to be a fool?

6. Our Example Could Condemn Us.

A television documentary once showed a lot about the behavior of sheep. One scene was of a packing house where sheep were slaughtered. The sheep had to walk from their large pen up a narrow ramp and then turn right. In order to get the sheep to move up the ramp, a "Judas goat" was trained to lead them up the ramp to their death. The goat was placed among the sheep and then walked confidently to the ramp as the nervous sheep watched. After the goat got about five feet up the ramp, he stopped and confidently looked around at the nervous sheep, who then began to follow. Near the top of the ramp the goat turned left, as a gate opened only for him and then closed. The sheep, however, continued up the ramp and turned right, to their death.

You may think that there is a gate to the left of the "ramp" of alcohol use that will somehow save you from the effects of alcohol on your body. But what about the sheep that follow you up the ramp? What about your children or grand-children who end up drinking because you did. What about that friend or neighbor you tip the bottle with who gets hooked and becomes a hopeless alcoholic? Are you free from guilt if that happens?

The Bible says no. The Bible says that if that happens, it would be better if they took a millstone weighing several thousand pounds, tied it around your neck, and threw you into the ocean!

In nearly any congregation of Christians, there are certain precious brothers and sisters who have been addicted to alcohol in the past. Would any of us run the risk of causing one of them to stumble? That is why Paul said in Romans 14:21 - "It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles."

I cannot control what you may do in the privacy of your home, but I plead with you for the sake of your weaker brethren to consider your ways. You can undo in a moment's poor example what it takes years to establish in a life. I say this in love, as I hope you know, but I also say it in earnest.

Conclusion

A certain craftsman was fond selling a goblet he made by hand. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing unusual about the glass, but a closer examination revealed a figure at the bottom. It depicted a snake in a coiled position, its mouth wide open and its fangs exposed. It was poised to strike out at its victim. When the goblet was filled with an alcoholic beverage, the snake couldn't be seen. But when the contents were drained to a certain level, the unsuspecting drinker would be startled by the shocking sight of that serpent's head with its glaring eyes, its gaping mouth, and its deadly fangs. So it is with the consumption of beverage alcohol.

 

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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