Is Drinking Wine the Devil?

    One of those expected but perhaps under publicized aspects of becoming reformed is the propensity to indulge oneself in the exercise of alcoholic liberty. For some the concept of ever getting to this point is what keeps men from considering reformation theology. For others perhaps this is the drawing factor.
   
All this to say that the exercise of these liberties or carnal activities needs to be evaluated on a Biblical basis divorced (as much as possible) from underlying presuppositions.

First off wine is mentioned many times in Scripture. In some cases it is used as a catalyst for sin and stupidity (Noah's nakedness, and Lot's daughters). In other cases wine is viewed as a gift and a blessing.
   
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) Genesis 14:18

He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. Deuteronomy 7:13

    My purpose is not to lay out an entire case for why wine is okay. I think the arguments are apparent, and Scripture clearly teaches in many passages that alcohol is a gift that can be abused like anything else. Martin Luther summed it up well when he said we'd have to kill all the women and dump out all the wine if we were to remove something just because it has been abused.

    My main point is to say that the sin involving alcohol is neither partaking or abstaining. The sins involving alcohol are 1. Drunkenness and 2. Pride. Drunkenness goes without saying. Pride however is the one issue that gets overlooked.

    The pride that motivates one to say, "I'm a good Christian because I don't drink alcohol" is equally odious as the pride that says, "Because I'm a smart Christian I know better than those ignorant fundies and I'm gonna laugh it up as I fill up my glass".

    The correct motive in partaking or abstaining should be the glory of Christ. We are instructed to do everything to his glory (1 Cor 10:31). Therefore if you will not drink wine, be sure your motive is for His glory. If you will drink wine, be sure your motive is for His glory.

    I can honestly say that in the past I have drunk wine in a spirit of pride and condescension. But now when I raise a glass, I partake with a spirit of humble gratitude for the gift God has given to be used moderately and with thanksgiving.

The Power of Christ

Eph 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

My friends, this is the key to overcoming sin in our own lives, this is the key to triumph over addictions, bad habbits and cowardice. We must learn to be strong in Christ’s might. There is nothing within us that can resist the devil and the flesh.

The craftiness of our own minds, desires and demonic intellect is beyond us, but when we shout at the devil, “Be gone, be gone! Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he has given me all power to conquer sin. You will not win, Satan, you will lose because Jesus is working his perfect will through me,” he must flee!

Finding Power in Christ

God has a way of breaking down every sub-deity of our greatest idol - the false god of self-sufficiency. Every sin imaginable springs from this fount-head. Even pride, the great sin of the devil comes from a belief in self-sufficiency. This sin lurks in nearly every motive and thought of even the regenerate man! Every successful relationship is marked with the seal of ‘I’m such a nice guy people love me’, every paycheck is complemented with the smug feeling that ‘I am a satisfactory worker, able to make my own way in the world’, and more than often even our successful ministry endeavors are poisoned by that small whispering demon, ‘You and God sure did something amazing, didn’t you?’

And so our optimism and every positive emotion becomes inextricably linked to this mother weed of self-sufficiency that saps the true meaning out of life’s events (to glorify God) and transforms them into nutrients for its own destructive growth. When the weed dies, it wrenches the heart of any human to the breaking point. Thanks be to God who kills the weed!

When God begins to crush our own self-sufficiency, there are many ways to react. Most of us will sample them all in the period of His chastisement. The first is to imagine that this is just a tough spot in life and that with enough effort, I can push through it. Time frustrates this diversion. The second is to react with anger. God is unfair in not allowing me to demonstrate what I can do for myself! When God does not repent, the third reaction ensues, which unfortunately for some is often the last in the sequence. This is the reaction of anger and supposed disillusionment. Some walk away from Christianity, some become bitter and sour the lives of those around them, some commit suicide. But the man who is blessed by God turns about and sees the weed that has seized his life. He repents of his own self-sufficiency and cries out for mercy.

This process takes some weeks, others months, others years. For me it has been the journey of seven months in a long dark forest. I have alternated through all of the reactions, and only recently have my eyes been opened to the great sin that has infested my life. The Spirit gave me a golden lamp to find my way out, a single phrase that has lit my way, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The ability to find work, friendship and love, successful ministry and fulfillment comes only through Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Kingdom is Now

This morning, as I was doing some very preliminary preparation for a sermon, something directed me to Zechariah chapter 3. Brothers (and sisters), reading Christ’s instructions here to Joshua the high priest, I was overwhelmed again with the teaching from the Old Testament concerning the millennial kingdom.

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree." Zechariah 3:8-10 ESV

God says that in the day that he removes the iniquity of the land, the kingdom age will begin! In what day was the iniquity of the land removed? In the day of atonement - the day of Christ! The kingdom is now brothers! There is no future thousand year reign of Christ! Christ is ruling and reigning now!

Other passages to explore in this book: Zechariah 9:9-10

Seeing Christ in the Old Testament

Christ is the true Adam, the father of a lineage of righteousness and life rather than sin and death

Christ is the true Abraham, leaving behind the riches of Ur to follow the calling of God.

Christ is the true Melchizedek, a priest, once for all.

Christ is the true Moses, mediating between a sinful people and wrathful God.

Christ is the true Israel, wandering forty days in the wilderness as the nation did forty years, but keeping the law with perfection.

Christ is the true serpent in the wilderness for those of faith to look up to and receive healing.

Christ is the true Joshua, leading the people of God into conquest over the land of Canaan - the world, and driving out the chaff from his storehouse.

Christ is the true David, ruling over the people of God as King.

Christ is the true Prophet, fortelling the glories of the kingdom now and forever.

Christ is the true tabernacle and temple, the place where God meets with man.

Christ is the true manna, the bread given from God to His people.

Christ is the true Lamb of God, bearing the sins of the world on Himself.

A parable and more thoughts on the Glory of God

There once was a boy who lived on the coast. His father was a fisherman who spent days at a time out at sea. One night a terrible storm swept over the area while the man was out in his boat. The next day he was found washed up on shore barely alive. As he lay gasping on the doctor’s bed, he grabbed his son’s hand and panted, “The sea is a wild thing my boy. I knew every sandbar, every current, every wind, but the sea itself is unfathomable.”

If men could return from the dead; if great saints of old could write one last appendix to their institutes and systematic theologies, I think it would read similarly to this fictional sailor’s words. I knew every doctrine, every creed, every confession, but YHWH in His glory is beyond our finite minds.

The implication here is not that He is broader than the Scriptural confines He has set for Himself, but that He is deeper than we have or can imagine.

More thoughts on the Glory of God

Psa 106:20 They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.


Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

A more intense horror can not be imagined. Mankind has bartered with the devil - the infinite, awesome, glory of YHWH for the finite, filthy idols of this world.

I am not sure how to comprehend this. How is He able to have mercy on any of us? Such a crime is most incriminating. Esau's selling of his birthright is nothing compared to our selling of the glory of YHWH for the pleasures of this world.

Thanks be to Christ for redeeming us from our own hellish bargains and returning to us the promise of gazing upon the glory of YHWH.

Thoughts on the Glory of God

Americans love false realities. Think of the films we watch, the books we read, and especially the fictional characters we impose on our holidays - Santa Clause, the Easter bunny etc. Why do we love fantasy so much? Why is Jesus Christ too boring to keep kids interested in Christmas?

I am saddened by this, and recently I've been thinking over what it will be like to see YHWH in all His glory some day - to know Him as He fully knows me (1 Corinthians 13:12). My vision of Him now is very incomplete and shadowy, but then - it is a strange product of a regenerate man that his greatest desire is to see YHWH in His glory.

We speak of majesty and love and mercy and faithfulness and justice, but then we will SEE it! I'm not even sure how to articulate this. Once I saw a picture taken of the earth - it was a small speck (like dust) in a huge sunbeam, and I was struck by our puniness. The creator of this whole galaxy by a word will reveal His glory to me.

I expect to be engulfed in terror, to be prostrate, to cling to the cross for defense, but honestly I can't wait for that day.

What's the Problem??

I’m having a hard time understanding why so many are questioning the role of women in the church. According to 1 Timothy 2:12, they are not to teach or exercise authority over men. What is so difficult about this?

In the name of chauvinism, in the name of culture, and a host of other false gods, some question this passage. Why not make the atonement cultural while you’re at it? Jesus only died on the cross because He was trying to make a cultural point about sacrifice to the Jews by using their concept of a lamb. Since we don’t see the need to offer lambs for sin anymore, Jesus death would not have been necessary in our day. He could have shown the nature of sacrifice by giving millions to the poor and being a street sweeper.

No! Please pay attention to the context here! Paul is giving specific instructions to the church. Preceding this passage is the section on what prayer should look like. After the passage there are qualifications for leaders in the church. So this book sinks or sails as a whole. Either the whole thing was cultural, only intended for this church, or it is standard rule for the body of Christ. If you chose the former, than we are permitted church leaders who don’t meet the qualifications in this book.

If this isn’t enough to satisfy, look at the specifics of the verses! The reasons are not cultural - they are based on creation and susceptibility to deception. If Genesis 1-3 didn’t happen, fine, this can be cultural, but in my Book, it happened. How can you contest the apostle’s logic? Adam was first by created order, and first by perception of truth.

This is not to say that women don’t have a place in the church, and that they are a bunch of pliable Christians! What it does mean is that God has a place for men in the church, and he has a place for women. We are not to usurp each other’s role. For a woman to try to usurp a man’s role, is like a man trying to usurp Christ’s role. This has happened before; it is called Roman Catholicism. The pope usurps Christ’s role in the Church.

There is always the issue of Deborah that will be brought up. This is a bad argument. It is never wise to impose shadow over reality. The Judges were characterized by a time when Israel was very disorganized, and God used some strange characters. In our time, we have more light and a clearer view of God’s desires, and we are to live by them, not by something people in a darker time did. This would be like trying to force everyone to exchange their rubber tires for rounded stones. That may have worked dandily back then, but technology has increased the efficiency. In the same sense the New Covenant has increased our understanding of who God is, and it would be foolish to usurp a command given in the New Covenant by an example in the old. This would be like discarding Christ’s command against divorce because the Israelites were allowed to do it in the old covenant. Or in an opposite sense, returning to the dietary laws at the expense of Acts 10.

This is one of the most literal passages in Scripture. If we can’t handle it accurately, what business do we have in things like eschatology? Please brothers and sisters, don’t take offense at this. I love the Word of God and am distressed when I see it improperly handled.