Faith and Alcohol: Navigating Moderation, Self-Control, and Spiritual Integrity

Can alcohol be part of a Christian’s life, or does faith ask us to abstain entirely? Join me as I unravel this age-old question through the lens of my own journey with alcoholism, shedding light on how self-control—a fruit of the Spirit—has become my guiding principle. We take a hard look at Ephesians 5:18, where the Apostle Paul cautions against drunkenness and its potential to lead lives astray. Our discussion navigates the varied perspectives within Christianity, from complete abstinence to moderation, and explores why I've chosen the former. Witness how alcohol, for some, can be a slippery slope, distorting virtues into vices and highlighting the necessity for thoughtful choices in line with faith.

The episode also unpacks the delicate balance between consuming alcohol and maintaining a spiritually aligned life, emphasizing the stark distinction between moderation and excess. Romans 14:21 serves as a pivotal point, reminding us how our choices can influence the faith journey of others. We explore the vital roles of accountability, modesty, and wisdom, urging believers to wield their personal freedoms responsibly. Discover how living free through self-control can improve relationships and remove barriers, reinforcing a deeper connection with loved ones and God. Whether you're wrestling with similar struggles or simply seeking wisdom on this topic, tune in to enrich your understanding and embrace a life that honors both personal growth and spiritual integrity.

Chapters

• 0:00 Is Alcohol Biblically Acceptable for Believers?
• 13:21 Balancing Alcohol Consumption and Faith
• 26:19 Living Free Through Self-Control

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

What is up? Faith and failures community. Thank you for coming back to another episode today. We're gonna dive in a little bit to the topic of Is it biblically wrong? Is it morally wrong? Is it personally wrong for you, as a believer, to drink Alcohol? So stick around, because we're to look at some scripture to see what does the Bible say.

Speaker 1: 0:27

Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you to all of the new subscribers. If you haven't yet, consider subscribing. Hit that bell notification so that you can see every time I put out a new video. A major portion of you that watch my videos haven't subscribed yet, so why not? It's free. You can also find a PayPal link below if you want to give a one-time or give a monthly to support the channel. Anything, great or small, is appreciated. Now let's get into the video. I'm so glad you decided to join me today.

Speaker 1: 1:04

We're going to, on today's episode, dive into some real struggles, something that I personally have had a year's span of dealing with something called alcoholism. Some of you might not, like my wife, have never experienced that pull of something that, like smoking or any kind of substance, where it feels like it's just pulling you and you have no control and you can't do anything to escape the grip of this thing. Some of you may say well, I'm fine, I don't have any issues, I don't have anything pulling at me that way, and I'm really glad you said that. But just because you think you don't have any issues, should you still consume alcohol? Should you still smoke cigarettes? I believe, from personal experience, from tried and true evaluations and struggles and errors and falling and over and over again, trying to find freedom in my life, there was not the element of freedom that I really wanted present in my life until I began to give everything away that was of the flesh and began to live out things for Christ. Now that doesn't mean that I have zero struggles, that doesn't mean that everything is perfect and there's no issues, no hangups, no stumbling, no mishaps. But my life is so much better when I introduce which is one of the fruit of the spirit self-control. So I want you to think about that as we walk through this today and stop looking at things as okay, well, is it a sin? Now, why am I saying that? Because if you only look at things in the lens of is it a sin, you may actually let things that shouldn't be included in your life to actually stay when in reality, you could live a much fuller and more robust and fulfilled life, when you exclude things that maybe aren't necessarily biblically wrong or maybe aren't necessarily like socially wrong, but you could have a better life more. I don't know about you, but I don't like drama. My household is pretty much drama-free 99% of the time. That doesn't mean like there's no fighting, there's no voice raising, things like that. We have a teenager and we have a little baby. There's voices that get raised, attitudes that get thrown around, not saying that doesn't exist. What I'm saying is imagine if all of the stuff that is just regular life, everyday life, and I throw alcohol in the mix or I throw some other habit or issues or something that magnifies the worst qualities in someone usually is wrapped up in alcohol.

Speaker 1: 3:56

Now, most people let's be clear different organizations, different denominations, different Bible teaching places. They have different options, different viewpoints. So some of them believe that total abstinence, which is my point of view, my stance at my denomination, is total abstinence is the best route. Denomination is total abstinence is the best route, while others believe in moderation. Responsible drinking is acceptable, as with all things. What does the Bible say? So what does the Bible say?

Speaker 1: 4:38

I want to start off by reading a key verse in the New Testament that often shapes, and should shape, the conversation around alcohol. It is found in Ephesians 5. Verse whoops, it's supposed to be 20. No, that's right. Yeah, okay, I was looking at the wrong place in my notes. I jumped ahead of my notes. All right, so yeah, ephesians 5, verse 18, it says Don't be drunk with notes. All right, so yeah, ephesians, chapter five, verse 18, it says don't be drunk with wine. Pretty straightforward, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the spirit. Now, the apostle Paul here isn't saying merely tasting wine is a sin. Tasting wine is a sin. He's warning that it, specifically against drunkenness can ruin your life.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Most people, most and when I say most, understand that what I'm saying is not a blanket statement for everybody, and this is always, and there's no room for nuance. But what I'm saying is there's a major reason besides my denominational stance, of what my denomination believes. I stand by what they say. Obviously, I'm a pastor in that denomination. I'm going to back it up, I'm going to stand next to it, but I believe that what they say is accurate and biblically true. And what I mean by that is that if you've ever drank before and what I mean by that is that if you've ever drank before, you've ever been drunk before it lowers your so the fruit of the spirit. It twists them up and makes them into forbidden fruit, if that makes sense. So it takes away your inhibitions, it lowers them down Like I'll give you a short, quick story when me and my wife first got married, she had never drank before.

Speaker 1: 6:29

I come from drinking, not from my parents, but just when I got out on my own underneath their roof, I started doing my own thing and the pastor that was over us, in the same denomination I'm in now, apparently had his own take on things, and I'm not saying that his take was wrong, but it was wrong for me. Now let me explain. When I was out in the world, I was doing meth, cocaine, I was drinking, I was being of the world and drinking was a major part of that. Obviously, a lot of bad choices. Obviously a lot of bad choices, a lot of bad paths in my life, because I allowed substance to control my brain. I wasn't thinking clearly. That's the major reason why alcohol. When someone asked me, I said that alcohol needs to be something you stay away from because it ends up luring you into a mindset that normally wouldn't be a part of the way you think. It doesn't make you think wiser. It doesn't advance you in any way spiritually. It doesn't advance you.

Speaker 1: 7:36

I used to be the guy that would argue about me being able to drive. I would drive drunk all the time. I don't know how. I've had wrecks. I've totaled a vehicle before. My dad's truck ran it into a ditch. Come to find out later that past that little place I went in, was it dropped off and there was nothing but trees. I probably would have died, but God made it to where. It was a wet night and the truck sunk instead of went forward.

Speaker 1: 8:07

But I fell asleep at the wheel because I've been up for days doing drugs and I was drinking alcohol and those two things don't mix. I just fell asleep at the wheel, hitched a ride back to town and got dropped off at a bar and started drinking again. There's nothing in my life that has been good that has come from alcohol. So I was talking about my wife. That pastor instructed us that it was okay in the confines of our marriage, which I'm not disagreeing with our own home, the privacy of our home. You know what we do. There is our, our, um, our business, and if we don't, if we feel it like we're not doing something against the word of God and we are keeping it between her and I, nobody else is introduced. No, there's no other, we're not having a party.

Speaker 1: 8:49

He led us to believe that it was okay, and so, because he said it was okay, we started going down stuff she'd never tried before, didn't start at beer, we started at champagne and wine, things like that. And so we quickly realized me I was about to get off work and I started in my head thinking about of getting off early and drinking Didn't really have anything to do with my wife, it was me and I couldn't wait to get off of work so that I could start to drink with my wife. Now, keep in mind again, this is something that has not been in my life for by that time, probably a couple of years. That has not been in my life for by that time, probably a couple of years. And once I felt that of like, I needed to drink or I was looking forward to drinking, I couldn't get it off my mind. I realized that the loop of sinful nature was about to start again and it was going to pull me back in because I was inadvertently, unknowingly being seduced again by that lifestyle. I couldn't get it off my mind. And when I realized that, I actually came to my wife and I said hey, I think we need to, I think we need to stop this. I can't stop thinking about it. She said I was thinking the same thing and she never had a problem with it. We hadn't touched it since. But there was something spiritually that was manipulating me physically and it was getting it to where my mind couldn't be on my regular job I actually was. I couldn't stop thinking about the alcohol. I couldn't stop thinking about the alcohol. And so 1,000% for me.

Speaker 1: 10:40

In my house we do not mess with alcohol, aside from denominational belief and aside from my papers on the wall that say I'm a pastor and ordained through a specific regime, church of God. It doesn't matter In my house, whatever they say, I don't care. In my house we're not doing it, because I was reminded early on in my new birth in Christ that there is an alluring element to the alcohol and to that lifestyle, because alcoholism is attached to fornicating, adultery, smoking, all other substances. When I went into that, I went into even smoking cigarettes. All of that was through the doorway of alcohol. So from what I have experienced now, obviously I can't work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That's something you got to do between you and God.

Speaker 1: 11:42

But is it possible that you won't let go of things that you should let go of because you like them, no matter what the word says, no matter what the spirit is leading you and no matter what your convictions are like? Maybe we have numbed our convictions to fit our preference, and that's the whole point of this video today. I want you to actually think about this. Like what are you allowing to stay in your life? Could it be that alcohol is one of those and you should have let it go a long time ago?

Speaker 1: 12:10

So let's go on to 1 Timothy 5, verse 23. And here Paul is telling Timothy to do this. He's saying wait, you just got done with this long story about how you don't touch alcohol and it shouldn't be a part of your life. And now you're saying that Paul, the same guy that just said don't be drunk with wine, is telling him to drink wine. So listen, there's a difference. So 23 says don't drink only water. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach, because you are sick so often. Okay, now you have to understand that in this day and time modern medicine did not exist. Today we live in a very different world. Now, I'm not saying that some of the stuff they give us is any better, but the apostle Paul here is not saying merely tasting wine is a sin. He's warning in specifically against drunkenness. Okay, that's what Ephesians is saying. So here in 1 Timothy, this verse indicates that wine was used in biblical times for medicinal purposes. Notice that Paul says a little wine.

Speaker 1: 13:21

The main point in these passages is that there's a difference between moderate use and abuse. There's a massive difference in allowing it to control your life, to do it for, and what is your motivation behind it? So let me ask you this when you talk about hanging out, you talk about doing something. Say, 4th of July is coming up. That's a big one, 4th of July coming up. You're like we're about to get drunk, we're about to do shots. Think about how you're speaking. What is your motivation behind the way you're talking like that? If you were a Christian? That life. That mindset, that desire to do that should be dead. It should be gone. It should not exist anymore in your vocabulary of those types of things. So here's the thing In Christianity, what we love to do is to take Christ and mix it with flesh, and it's no longer Christ.

Speaker 1: 14:21

If you put any flesh, any worldly thing that you used to do, and try to mix it in with Christ and Christianity, it is no longer Christianity. You have made yourself an idol and a God in your own life, to where you're not going to adhere what the word says. You're not going to follow Christ example, you're going to follow your own. Okay, that's very. I'm not saying that's like it's not sexy. You know what I mean. It's not attractive, but that's the truth. When you start mixing in what you want and desire and label it, use the label of Christ on top of it, you have done nothing but poisoned any good that can come out of that, because you're mixing sinful nature with Christ-like attributes for what you say and then they end up not being. If there's any flesh mixed in with Christ, it's not Christ at all. You are to do the opposite, to repent, to turn from what you were doing and go after God and if your conviction makes you feel that way and you're not letting go, you have not picked up your cross and I would even wonder if you've really accepted Christ as your Lord and your Savior, because you're wanting something of Him to benefit you, but you don't want to give up what you enjoy. There's a massive difference in picking up your cross daily and just saying that you are saved Big difference. So let's look over in Romans 14, 21. It's better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble.

Speaker 1: 16:05

Now, before we dive into the alcohol part, women, you cannot get upset. Christian women, you can't point blame to men, visual men, the way we are built and designed, with you wearing leggings up your and you're blaming us for being perverts. You are responsible for what your body does. And you wearing things that cling to you and show all your junk and you got cleavage popping out, but you got a scripture in your profile description. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth. You're wanting to claim God while dressing like a whore At the same point.

Speaker 1: 16:45

Men, you are responsible for where you look. I say this to guys that I disciple and to my close friends the first look is free. What does that mean? Close friends? The first look is free. What does that mean? That means that I can't control when I'm scanning with my eyes and there's somebody in front of me but I can't control breaking my neck trying to look twice. Okay, my wife knows I have this problem. I'm very blunt and open with her and it takes every ounce of self-discipline inside of me to not look twice, especially when it looks good. I'm just being honest. Maybe you're the perfect Christian and you never do anything wrong, but I am a man saved by grace and mercy, and so for me to really not look again, I have to, on purpose, look in the other direction. On purpose. I have to be intentional. The same with eating the meat and here he's talking about I believe this is one where he's talking about the meat given to idols and things like that. There's other references.

Speaker 1: 17:50

I think Peter was talking about this. What it's saying is if you're doing something that brings someone else out of a place of repentance, if you going to a bar is causing other people to be alcoholics, not going to a bar. If you're drinking and it causes other people to be alcoholics and you're not the one with the problem. Maybe you can drink literally one glass of wine and I mean like one glass, not like one glass and you don't have a problem with it. But you have people over and you drink and they end up getting drunk. They end up sitting against their own body because that was your responsibility. You are the one being held accountable. You're the one that will be held responsible.

Speaker 1: 18:34

Paul addresses a different angle on the drinking. Paul addresses a different angle on the drinking to refrain from doing that around them. The guiding principle is love for others, show respect for their struggles and not using our freedom in a way that harms someone else's faith. So is drinking wrong? The Bible doesn't outright forbid every believer to not drink of all consumption. Rather, it consistently warns against the dangers of drunkenness and the potential havoc. It can be dangerous to our lives and it can wreck our lives and our communities and other people around us.

Speaker 1: 19:35

Everything that we do as a believer affects everybody around us, even when we have spiritual gifts. Paul talks about the spiritual gifts being not for us but for others. So let's look at four things. Stewardship of the body Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Even moderate drinking should be approached with caution if it affects our health or mental clarity, and nine times out of ten it does. Are we honoring God with our thoughts, with our feelings, how we perceive things, and are we willing to lay things down if it is pleasing to God, or are we willing to let it go if it's not Wisdom and self-control? God gives us the Holy spirit to guide us.

Speaker 1: 20:20

If you know you have an addictive personality or a past problem with substance abuse, then be wise and avoid alcohol altogether. So I struggle, I've gotten past substance abuse. Some people say this is like another form of it, but uh, I've had serious struggle with with pornography and there's an app called Twitter that if it is not on my phone, um, I don't ever look at porn. You're saying, well, twitter's like a um, like a social media platform. What are you talking about? Well, on Twitter they actually have pornography profiles and videos and everything else that they can post on there, and it is not banned yet. I don't know if it's going to be, but it and it's like there's just some sort of spirit on Twitter for me, and so I'll go a long time, I won't have an issue, won't even like get up against the line to get close.

Speaker 1: 21:22

I'm like, okay, I think I've mastered this, I think I can have Twitter again, cause I post on Twitter every now and then. And then I would download Twitter and then, within like a month, it's like that pool to get me again. Then I would say, okay, I'm not going to deal with this, I'll delete it. Be two months, three months, four months. I was like, okay, I can handle this, I'm I'm strong. Now I won't have this pool. And then all of a sudden, I put Twitter on my phone again and all of a sudden it's like it pulls me right back again, trying to get me again. So this last time I was like I don't understand how it's connected to Twitter, but it doesn't matter. Here's what I would try to do. I would say that I was strong enough, my self-discipline was good. Now I had it figured out. And then I would invite the very thing that was the window or doorway into what I did not want. And so if the Holy Spirit has given me the wisdom to understand that it is from that app that I end up messing up, then I should not ever want to download that app again.

Speaker 1: 22:25

The same goes with anything in our lives that we know is not good and healthy for us. We should not want to continue to rub up against it and be next to it and invite it back in because we think we're strong again. It is unwise to allow sinful nature to be next to our self-control, because that flesh will win every time. So number three is concern for others. In Romans 14, 21, we read that our choice might affect others. If you know of a friend that has a history of alcohol abuse, or having a drink in front of them might cause them to stumble. Exercising love and empathy sometimes means that you have to not do what's good for you so that other people can benefit. You have to lay what you desire to do. You have to lay what is maybe not an issue for you to decide to keep it away from them for the benefit of them. It's not all about you.

Speaker 1: 23:18

Conviction versus condemnation. Some believers feel personally convicted not to drink at all. Others may feel the freedom to drink occasionally without getting drunk. Okay, that's fine. But we should respect individual convictions without condemning each other. The key is prayerfully seeking God's direction in our lives. So here's something that I've learned Most of the time, it is better for me to subtract something in my life for the betterment and the future health of me, my mind and my body and my family, even if it's not something that I'm like overtly convicted about, like it's not so in my face that I'm convicted about it, but I know that it does a lot of damage. It's best for me just to stay away and I believe this is the same with alcohol Just because you may be able to control yourself.

Speaker 1: 24:16

There may be one day where something hits you hard and what's your first response? It's on every TV show, it's on every movie, it's in everything we see is the first thing people do when they get upset or get in a situation or they celebrate or whatever. What do they do? They drink, and one turns to two, two turns to three and three turns to nine. All of a sudden, you're doing something stupid and getting in trouble. Or you're texting on your phone and you're getting in trouble because you allowed something that is a doorway to so many obvious sinful nature patterns back in your life.

Speaker 1: 24:51

You are receiving them, you're welcoming them in and saying, oh, I'm strong enough, I'm not calling you out, but I'm saying this is human nature, I have done this and I have to set parameters in my life for the safety and the sanctification of my mind and my heart, so that I remain faithful to what I know is true and faithful to what I know is right, and faithful to what I know is right. God wants us to live a life of freedom and he desires for us to remain free. And we can't remain free if we're constantly inviting the thing that puts chains on us back into our lives and say here, sit down. We can't be next to each other, but just kind of sit here in this chair over here. I just want to see you from afar. We're not going to participate together, but just be in the same room with me. And how many of you know, if you sit in the same room with your sin long enough, you'll end up talking to it and entertaining it again. That's the human condition.

Speaker 1: 25:48

So I hope that today is maybe if you drink, maybe you drink a little bit, or maybe you have a problem, or maybe you know somebody that has a problem. I hope that this encourages you and helps you realize that, first of all, everybody has a problem with something. It could be food. My goodness, here in America we have a serious problem with overconsumption. It could be pornography, it could be alcoholism, it could be drugs. All of these are underneath the umbrella of substances, could be drugs. All of these are underneath the umbrella of substances.

Speaker 1: 26:19

What is it that you are allowing to control your life and that is robbing you of the freedom God desires for all of us to live in? I'm sure all of us can. I don't have a problem with overeating on food, but I have a problem with looking when I shouldn't. I have a problem with not necessarily speaking the kindest sometimes. I'm a human being and I have to rein myself back in and put that self-control, put my spirit and my mind back in check so that I remain blameless before God and I won't be a stumbling block to somebody else. And we are here to help and encourage and strengthen and lead and guide and disciple other people from the direction of Jesus Christ. We get discipled from Jesus and we replicate that in other believers.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Take up your cross and die daily. Kill your flesh and you will have a more fulfilled and more sustainable life. Your marriage will be stronger, your relationships will be stronger. Your relationship with God will be stronger. It will be more. You can focus more because you don't have that wall between you and God. You'll be able to focus more because you won't have when you lay this stuff at Jesus' feet. You won't have that partition between you and your spouse anymore, you and your kids or your parents. Like God desires for us to be free, so I hope that you also make the choice today to live. Begin to live free. I love you and I'm praying for you. Don't forget, if you're listening on the podcast, make sure you, if you would, it'd be awesome if you would subscribe, download and give a five-star rating, as well as go to the YouTube channel. Subscribe on there, give a thumbs up. We love you, praying for you and you can be free.