SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/6/2019 10:11 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Will Drinking Offend Other Believers
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 5:18a
Message of the
verses: “And
do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation.”
In this section of Ephesians we have
been talking about the drinking of wine and other alcoholic drinks, and also in
this section I have been talking about what Paul has to say about other things
that could cause other believers to fall into sinful habits. Let us look at a series of verses where Paul
is speaking of food sacrificed to idols “We know that there is no such thing as
an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one…However not all men have
this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as
if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is
defiled. But food will not commend us to
God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do
eat. But take care lest this liberty of
yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak…For through you knowledge he
who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died” (1 Cor. 8:4,
7-9, 11).”
I mentioned in a earlier SD about an
interview with candidate Donald Trump and the one interviewing him ask him why
he did not drink, which Trump stated was because his brother had become an
alcoholic and he did not want to take that first drink for fear that he would
become an alcoholic too. A believer with
a strong conscience may be able to handle to drink in moderation, however if a
weak believer sees this and tries it and he becomes addicted to drinking it
would be a great tragedy. MacArthur
writes “not only that (addicted) but in Paul’s day, a former drunk who becomes
a Christian will often associate many immoral and corrupt activities with
drinking, and to see a fellow Christian drink is likely to offend his
conscience. Our freedom in Christ stops
where it begins to harm others, especially fellow believers. We have no right to ‘destroy with [our] food
[or drink] him for whom Christ died’ (Rom. 14:15). We cannot be absolutely certain even of our
own ability to always drink in moderation, and even less certain that our
example will not cause others—including our children—to drink beyond
moderation. ‘Do not tear down the work
of God for the sake of food,’ Paul continued.
‘All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and
gives offense. It is good not to eat
meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles’ (vv.
20-21). Our own freedom in Christ should
not be cherished above the welfare of even one other believer. We are to do those things ‘which make for
peace and the building up of one another’ (v. 19).”
The verse that goes along with
Charles Swindoll’s quotation from yesterday is from Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep
him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You.”
7/6/2019 10:35
AM
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