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 no, 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 believe 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 saek 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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