--From the online study blog post--
This chapter is about being moderate in all things and does not just focus on drinking. It is a focus on addictive behavior. Alcohol is the dominant example because it is the probably the most visible area of addiction (next to drugs and smoking) that our society faces, but as Christians, we are to avoid ANY addictive behavior and I would be so bold to say, any behavior that does not bring glory to Jesus or any behavior that may cause someone to stumble no matter how innocent it may appear to us.
I remember back when I lived in Florida I used to play poker with some guys at work every couple weeks. I had fun and enjoyed the game of poker (taking 20 bucks from my friends wasn’t bad either) but after I got saved, I struggled with playing and justified it saying to myself that I would be a light to them because for awhile, they did ask questions about the Bible and Jesus and why I was now going to church. But after while, the questions stopped, I went from not drinking to “only having a couple” and finding myself engaging in the same conversations, jokes and mannerisms as I did before when I was in the world and I found myself no longer being a light. My light was being dimmed by the world around me. I was getting angry when others would get hammered and not pay attention to the game so I realized that this behavior was not glorifying God, was becoming sinful because of my actions and needed to be removed from my life. Jesus said to cut off your hand or gouge out your eye if it causes you to sin. We all know that He wasn’t referring to self mutilation, but referring to removing an area from our life that is causing us to sin so our whole life would not be destroyed.
I removed that area from my life and do not regret it one bit. Now I still had the occasional drink from time to time and the Lord really worked on me in this area to the point that I first gave up drinking in public (to avoid the appearance of evil and to not cause someone to stumble), then I gave up drinking in front of my kids (so as to not present a bad example) to eventually not drinking at all because it provided no positive effect on my life but could only hinder my spiritual growth.
I do believe that Christians should not drink or engage in any behavior that may be construed as sin because people watch us and will use our actions to justify there own. I know this because I used to do it a long time ago when I thought I was saved and going to church. I used to justify drinking and smoking and casual sex because if those around me that went to church to. I figured that if they were doing and were “Christians” then it must be okay.
I feel that we need to live to a higher standard and set the higher example to our family and the world around us and trust me, if we are sincere in wanting to live this way, God WILL help us. He did me.
Now, while some argue whether or not the Bible teaches total abstinence from alcohol (not the point of this post) it does teach abstinence from an area that causes you to sin. If we know we have a problem in a certain area, we avoid those areas. If it is alcohol, we don’t buy beer, we don’t hang around people that drink, we don’t go to places where we may be tempted to drink. If it is porn or lust, we don’t watch movies that contain that, we have our internet pages monitored by a friend for accountability or get rid of it, we don’t go to strip clubs, etc. These things may seem easy to say but I know hard it is but it is something we have to do if want to achieve the victory over this sin.
We can’t confuse “struggle” with “surrender.” We can say things like, “Well, God knows that I struggle in that area and He forgives me and is working on me.” But if we are WILLINGLY putting ourselves in situations that allow us to sin, then we are not “struggling” anymore but are instead “surrendering.” We have two choices when it comes to sin, we can “struggle” and achieve “victory” or we can “struggle” and “surrender.”
When we let the sin control our lives, we are surrendering and admitting defeat. Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says about achieving victory in Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”
There are three things we must do:
1) Remove the sin from our life and avoid the circumstance that cause us to sin
2) Run the race with endurance using the strength and power of the Holy Spirit
3) Keep our eyes on Jesus
I want to focus a little on the third one. It is easier to sin when we are looking away from Jesus. John 3:19-21 states:
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
When we are sinning, or have sinned, the last thing we want to is to study God’s Word, pray, talk to a fellow Christian. Why? Because we know that are deeds are (were) sinful and we would rather stay in that darkness where there is no truth and only lies instead of coming out into the light of God and exposing our sin so we can be convicted and let God work in us. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and on the cross to remember that He hung there and died for us so that we could have power over sin and that it would not reign over us any longer. One of my favorite verses is Colossians 1:13 and it says “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ” (NIV)
Jesus died on the cross so we could live in the light and no longer live in the darkness. Our flesh was crucified with Christ but yet we still let it have dominion over us. This is not what God wants. He wants us to live a life led by the Spirit and not by the flesh. We need to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God that dwells in us to defeat the flesh and awaken the Spirit so we can live in VICTORY.
My final thought is for us to not deceive ourselves in thinking we are living for Christ just because we know His Word but to live His Word instead (James 1:22)
