Zambia Lessons - Drunkeness

So often we try to find things to take the place of God.

One of the things that we often turn to is alcohol.

- Some people begin drinking to have something to do, because they are bored.

- Others begin drinking because it helps them deal with the world. They have personal tragedy or pain, and so they turn to alcohol for their comfort or source of strength. They try to escape from their problems by drinking.

Many of us think that we can handle it. We can drink and be fine. Alcohol will never control our actions. We are stronger than alcohol.

In Leviticus 10, we are told the story of Nadab and Abihu. Nadab and Abihu were the sons of Aaron, the high priest. They were also priests, but they did not take their job seriously. They thought they could get drunk before they went in to worship God.

“The the LORD said to Aaron, ‘You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die… You must distinguish between the holy and the common, the unclean and the clean…” (Leviticus 10:8-9).

God demanded their holiness. He did not want them to come before him drunk, because it meant that alcohol (and their sinful desires) was more important than God.

As Paul is writing to the Christians in Ephesus, he writes these words:

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (wild/unholy living). Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18)

Paul started by saying, “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise…” (Ephesians 5:18).

Paul tells them that it is not wise to play with alcohol, because it might start off innocently but eventually will consume you. Paul tells them that although they think they can handle it, they cannot. They cannot live as both a drunken life and a Christian life.

If we are filled with the Spirit, we cannot be filled with alcohol. The Spirit consumes us. The opposite is also true: if we are filled with alcohol, we cannot be filled with the Spirit. We cannot serve two masters. We cannot keep on drinking, thinking that God will approve of our actions. Through our drinking we are cutting God out of our lives. We make it impossible to be filled with his Spirit.

Jesus tells us, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” (John 6:63).

Paul says something similar in 2 Cor. 3:6, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

We cannot have true life without the Spirit. We cannot have the Spirit if we are always drunk. If we are filling ourselves with alcohol and trying to live a Christian life, we are only pretending. We are not living as Christ would have us live. And we must STOP! You must put aside alcohol in order to follow Christ.

In Galatians 5:16-17, Paul writes: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”

We must live by the Spirit, because only through the Holy Spirit, given to us by Christ, do we receive true life. Alcohol is a false life, an idol, which promises us happiness but only leads to destruction.

My brothers and sisters, let us put aside our sinful nature so that we can follow Christ fully!