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0:00 [Music] We talk about substances on the podcast quite a lot. Uh alcohol, drunkenness, nicotine, smoking, vaping, chewing tobacco, the abuse of caffeine, painkillers, morphine, and of course, marijuana. Uh you'll see my digest of all those episodes in the Ask Pastor John book on pages 269 to 276. We're back talking about alcohol today because one of the most important texts on alcohol is in our Bible reading tomorrow. Ephesians 5:18, a timely text for us in the advent of this question from a Christian teenage boy who's seeking to grow closer to God and facing temptations to drink. Obviously, uh it's illegal for a teen to drink in the US. So, that's one angle we need to just
0:46 state here from the outset. But here's the question. Pastor John, hello. I'm a Christian teenager trying to get closer to God. And I've been wondering if getting a little drunk every so often for fun or to help with some pain is sinful. When I've been drunk, I've stayed in control and haven't done anything bad. I even pray for God's help in making good decisions. I've never been so drunk I forget things or act crazy and I don't intend to. Is it still sinful to do this even if I don't do anything wrong or out of hand? Pastor John, beyond the legal question here, what would you say to a Christian teenager asking this question? The most encouraging thing about this question is that this young man says, "I am a Christian teenager trying to get closer to
1:33 God." That's encouraging because the Bible says, "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you." And for God to draw near to us, that's just glorious, right? Yeah. I mean that when when it says draw near to us, it doesn't mean in judgment. It means in fellowship, in blessing, in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forever more. And he's offering that to us as we as we draw near to him. That's what nearness means. Pleasures and joy now and forever. So that's a beautiful aspiration for a teenager or an old man like me. I want the nearness of God with our young friend. So when he asks if getting
2:19 a little drunk every so often is sinful, my question back is is he really asking are you really asking or should you be asking does getting a little drunk every so often get me closer to God? because that's the way everything started. Those may not be the same question for him. Is it sinful? Is it getting me closer to God? There are religions that think that the use of some drugs puts you in a kind of mental trance where you do in fact have closer experiences with God. Some Rastapharians and some Hindus and some Native American religions use drugs that way. But
3:07 Christianity has never viewed drug induced states as a bonafide way of getting close to God. And the reason for this becomes really clear when we look at the passage of Ephesians 5 that is referred to that leads up to verse 18. Don't get drunk with wine for that is debauchery. So, let me read the verses leading up to it, and I'll I'll emphasize the words that I think are so opposite to drunkenness, which causes Paul to say, "Don't do that. Don't get don't get drunk with wine." That's what he says in verse 18. But here's verse 14. Awake, O sleeper. Rise from the dead, and Christ
3:53 will shine on you. Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, buying up the time, redeeming the time, because your days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And then by way of example, he says, "And don't get drunk with wine, or that's debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit." So the reason Christianity doesn't use drugs, including alcohol, in search of closeness to Christ is that God puts a huge premium on being seen himself. He
4:40 wants to be seen, understood, known for what he really is with our minds that he's given us in his own image. So that he he piles up words that emphasize mental clarity, alertness, precision. So he says, "Be awake, not drowsy or sleepy or woozy in your perception of reality. Be alive, not dead towards spiritual reality and and the beauties of God and and the world. Look carefully how you walk. In other words, don't be careless in where you put your foot, your mental foot, your physical foot, your spiritual foot. Be alert. Be careful. Look, look. And
5:26 and the word is acribos, accurately, carefully. Don't be unwise, but wise. In other words, be able to use your mind clearly to assess situations and make good judgments. Purchase the time. In other words, there's a sense of uh urgency about the choices you make, and you want them to be shrewd and wise and good and not blunder your way into any situation that would make you unalert or act in a stupid way. Understand what the will of the Lord is. In other words, involve all your mental capacities. Don't be dull. Don't let them be dulled with drugs and heighten them with wakefulness and alertness and careful thinking and careful observation. In
6:12 other words, just all of that is a leadin to don't get drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. And the implication seems to me to be the Holy Spirit is precisely the power of God in you to make you wakeful and alive and careful in your observations and alert in your senses and wise in your judgments. The Holy Spirit doesn't come in to replace human faculties, mental faculties, faculties of observation or thinking, but rather to take them to a new level of spiritual accumment. I think that's really crucial. The Holy Spirit doesn't replace mental faculties
6:59 of observation and thinking. It takes them to a new level of spiritual acummen because the Holy Spirit is given to bring about exactly what our young friend says he wants, namely closeness to God. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. He reveals Christ. The Holy Spirit leads us to Christ. To be full of the spirit is to be full of the enjoyment of the nearness of Christ, which Paul says is the opposite of drunkenness. Because drunkenness dulls the very faculties God has given for the enjoyment of Christ. And we're not even talking
7:45 here about the 32% of all fatal car accidents involving alcohol or the $81 billion a year that are lost in businesses owing to alcohol abuse or the 178,000 people who die every year in America from the overindulgence of alcohol or the devastation on marriages and the wreaking of divorce. We're not talking about any of that right now. We're just talking about this man's desire to get close to God, which is the fundamental error that I want to point out. At least I think it it's in his mind. I don't know for sure, but from what he says, it looks like it. And it's really common, and it's common for all
8:32 of us. We're all tempted to to this at one time or the other. And the error is this. If your desire is truly to draw near to God, you don't calculate your behavior by asking how close you can get to sin. You want to get close to God, you don't ask, "How close can I get to sin?" If you're asking how to get close to God, you ask, "How can I do everything that would enhance closeness to God?" Not, "How can I nuzzle up as close as possible to sin without really sinning?" That's like asking, "Is it okay to drive a car when I'm a little bit sleepy?" Uh, well, if your goal is to drive
9:20 safely and get to your destination, namely God, you better pull over and take a nap and not indulge in sleepiness while driving. Not even a little bit of sleepiness. Open the window, stick your head out, drink something, slap your cheek, you know, just you you're taking steps away from sleepiness. not how close can I get to sleepiness and still drive. So, so my conclusion for our friend and for all of us is when when you look at the list of sins in Galatians 5:21 that keep you out of the kingdom of God, you don't say, "Well, can I be a little bit envious? Can I be a little bit angry?
10:07 Can I be a little bit jealous? Can I be a little bit idolatrous? Can I be a little bit sensual? Can I be a little bit lustful? Can I dabble a little bit in sorcery? Can I enjoy a few moments of strife? You just don't ask those questions. Not if your goal is really to be close to God as you can be. So, let's not ask, "How close can I go to sin, but how full can I be of the Holy Spirit?" Yeah, that's well said. A great warning for the teen years and for the entirety of the Christian life. Thank you, Pastor John. Uh subtle question we
10:52 all ask at some point, really not explicitly. So, we need to make it explicit. Can I be a little bit angry, a little bit jealous, a little bit idolatrous, a little bit sensual? So, key. Thank you, Pastor John. Well, on the podcast, we have talked about alcohol, drunkenness, nicotine, smoking, vaping, chewing tobacco, and the abuse of caffeine, painkillers, morphine, marijuana, those kinds of topics, all of those. And in those topics, Proverbs 23:29-35 comes up a lot, too. A text that applies to so many different substances. And uh there are other shared principles that apply to these substances as well, which I hope to show you how these texts work together in Pastor John's mind in my digest of all those past episodes on substances in the APJ book on pages 269 to 276. Thanks for joining us today. Have a
11:38 question to ask Pastor John? Find a link to email us and uh you can even find our complete episode archive at the same place at askp.com. Every episode with audio and full transcripts available for you. Well, staying in Ephesians, we turn our attention to Ephesians 6:12 next time, which tells us that our struggle, our struggle is not against flesh and blood. So, how does this apply when it seems like our enemies are only flesh and blood people who are causing our relational, emotional, physical, and mental pain? That's a great question. I'm Tony Ranky. See you Thursday.
