Jesus: Eating And Drinking

Introduction

Dean loves leading that song. And he certainly picked a great morning to do so, as we have a very full auditorium, in part due to some visitors, of course, and many of our young people, nearly half a dozen coming home. But where’s Ariel? Ariel’s not coming home this summer. But it’s good to have you traveling college students back in our midst and the traveling Olympics. There’s 10 right there that have filled the pews today. So full, in fact, that John has been shoved to the front row. How appropriate is that, John?

First of all, as I mentioned, this is a lesson that I would normally preach on a Sunday evening. It’s your job to figure out what is truly a Sunday morning versus a Sunday evening sermon. But it’s from if it’s from the scripture and it’s truth, then it would be beneficial at any time. But if you want to hear what was going to be the Sunday morning sermon that threw Dean for a loop because we didn’t get it changed on the website in time, which is partly my fault, is lights in the world. And it’s something I would like to preach to everyone here this morning. If you can come back tonight at 5 p.m. I don’t typically preach about mothers on Mother’s Day, not that there’s anything wrong with doing that.

Sometimes to me that gets a little bit corny to do that every Mother’s Day. There’s an appropriate time to preach about mothers, but then on Father’s Day, if I preached on Fathers, it would be, it would appear to be very self serving, would it not? But they should get equal billing as well. So I would just say, in introduction, men properly regard your mothers today, young men especially. Especially if they have trained us in the things of God. Give them their proper due on this special day that our culture has set aside. The lesson this morning is entitled, Jesus eating and drinking. Some will go to great lengths to justify what they want to believe and what they want to practice. And instead of acknowledging that what they believe and what they practice is not consistent with God’s righteousness, they will instead attempt to manipulate the scriptures to justify their conclusions and their practices.

This is an extremely dangerous thing to do. As Peter would say, that some were doing with the instruction of Paul or with Scripture generally, they twist and distort the scriptures. Even though some of those things that Paul wrote were difficult to understand, but they misused what Paul said. They distorted or twisted those scriptures, and it says the result of doing so is to their own destruction. Serious consequences. This lesson is the product of something that happened early last month as I was invited to speak on the radio in Beaumont, Texas. The Dallin Road Church has a twice-weekly radio broadcast at lunchtime on Thursday and Friday. And Chris had been wanting me, Chris Emerson, since he moved to Beaumont, had been wanting me to come over and to speak on the radio show, in particular to address the subject of drinking in the Bible, because as you know, I’ve done some work in study in regard to that particular topic.

In fact, our young people were the recipient of the study that I did, as we had a whole quarter dedicated to sobriety and some of the studies that I had at that time. In fact, somebody even posted that material I noticed this morning on the bulletin board. So if you want to stand there and flip through all those pages and read that material that I put together for the teens, it’s even back in our little library area there, whatever we call that room. What is that room we call it? Resource. What is that room? The mail room. It’s the mail room. So that’s where it is located. Yeah, that’s funny.

So anyway, as a result of this study that I’ve done, and this material has received a wider circulation thanks to Chris. I told him that I was not ready to publish these thoughts as of yet, but he has given this a wider circulation, especially among preachers, and especially in the Beaumont area. So he wanted me to be on the radio show that particular weekend and talk about these things. So Chris arranges all this, and then he doesn’t get on the radio with me. Ben Lee, the young evangelist at Dallin Road, he and I are on the broadcast. Chris is just sitting there now. He has a microphone, but he’s not involved in the discussion, at least not very much. And Brett just happened to contact me just before we went on the air.

And I told him, I said, Brett, I’m going to be on the radio shortly. And he says, How can I listen? And so Chris, at least Chris does this. He tells Brett how he can listen to the radio broadcast. And if you want to listen, I can tell you how to listen to that broadcast. And so Brett is listening from Tampa, Florida, and we receive a call that got Brett all fired up. And so he called in. And so I’m talking to my son. I’m in Beaumont, he’s in Tampa, and Brett is one of our callers on this radio broadcast. I was not expecting, and this is a passage I do not deal with in the material. I was not expecting a caller’s use of the statements of Matthew chapter 11, verses 16 through 19.

And this same material is found in Luke’s account in chapter 7, 31 through 35. And we spent a good deal of the broadcast dealing with these verses. A young man calls in and uses these as justification for a believer buying and drinking wine in our time. The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves. It says in verse 30 of Luke 7. I’m going to be looking at Luke’s text. That’s why it’s bigger. Not having been baptized by John. To what then, Jesus says, to what then shall I compare the men of this generation? And what are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and they say, We played the flute for you, and you did not dance.

We sing a dirge, and you did not weep. Okay, two opposite extremes there. For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine. And you say, He has a demon. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking. And you say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax gatherers and sinners. Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children. What this young man was saying is that because it says Jesus came eating and drinking, that drinking part is a reference to wine, and therefore we can drink wine because Jesus drank wine. What we found out later, because this, I could tell he was a younger man just by the nature of his voice. This young man actually stops by the radio station after the show concludes, like a minute after it’s over.

We’re still sitting there, and he walks in and introduces himself as the caller. And he was a younger man, and he identifies himself as an apostle at a church here in Houston. He just happened to be in Beaumont, just happened to know where the radio program was because it’s a religious station, and he actually stopped in to speak with us personally, and so we had a longer conversation that resulted from the radio broadcast. Well, of course, Jesus says John came not eating and not drinking in his comment, he came eating no bread and drinking no wine. And if you look in Luke chapter 1 and verse 15, it says of John’s coming, that he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.

1. Whatever Jesus Did, He Did No Sin

And said in contrast to John, Jesus came eating and drinking, so the argument is, Jesus drank wine, so we can too. And he says, Jesus is acknowledging, though he is taking these accusations to task, and more on that in a moment, these accusations that people are making that are not true, Jesus acknowledges in these verses that he did come eating and drinking, and so because Jesus drank wine, we can drink wine. Well, here’s some of the observations that flow out of that. I’ve been meaning to preach this for a while. Whatever Jesus did, what we know is he did no sin. He left us an example that we should follow in his steps. He did no sin, nor was there any guile found in his mouth, 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 21 and 22.

And I would add further, not only did he not practice sin, whatever was involved in this eating and drinking, but he did not encourage the practice of sin in others and was not a stumbling block to others. And I would conclude from that he did not produce a highly charged, a potently alcoholic beverage, when he turned the water to wine in John chapter 2. Because that would have quickly caused drunkenness, at least in some. It’s exquisite taste, notwithstanding. And I’ve made the point many times. Jesus is the creator. If anybody could make oinos, the product of the grape taste outstanding, it would be the creator of the world. And this is a miracle that was done instantly in John chapter 2. So the first observation that I would make about this text, and whatever eating and drinking Jesus did, is that first of all, he did no sin.

2. What Was He Teaching? They Could Not Be Pleased

Now, what was he teaching? In verses 31 and 32, he is talking about the people of this generation. And the point is simply, they could not be pleased, no matter how God’s prophets came to them. The nature of John’s ministry, and this is obvious, was radically different than the nature of Jesus’ ministry. John’s out in the wilderness. He is a man living off the land, and he was not a great socializer. That was not the purpose of his ministry. He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. And then in contrast, Jesus was a man of the people. And we often see him associating in the cities, in the towns, with people. And so John isolates himself, eating no bread and drinking no wine. But what did they say about John?

He has a deep. Well, that wasn’t true. John didn’t have a demon. In contrast, you see, here’s the chart. John, on one hand, is way too unsocial, and Jesus is way too social. That’s the nature of the contrast being drawn here. John was eating no bread and drinking no wine, and they said he has a demon. And Jesus, on the other hand, was too social eating and drinking wine with the people. And they said, Behold a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax gatherers and sinners. John didn’t have a demon. Jesus was not a drunkard or a glutton. But remember, he did no sin. Now, the charge that he was a friend of tax gatherers and sinners, that was true. Because he wanted to save sinners.

He wanted to rescue them from their sins. And the Pharisees hated them. They had no compassion for those people at all. They considered them beneath them and not worthy of their time.

I would not have thought about this that says the sated man loaves honey. That is the man that’s filled or full. The sated man, and you know how this is, even pie doesn’t sound good, except to Ed. Pie doesn’t sound good when you’re stuffed. The Satan man loaves honey, but the famished, to the famished man, any bitter thing is sweet. I like that. And that’s exactly what he’s saying. The Pharisees saw themselves as full spiritually. They needed nothing or no one. They were God’s elite. They were God’s special people. And so when these prophets came and they really didn’t measure up to the kind of teaching that they wanted to hear, that approved of them and said how great they were, they rejected John. Oh, John was this extreme, hated him.

Jesus was the other extreme, hated him. And so they rejected both of them. But Jesus said, wisdom is justified by her children. The fact is, these two different kinds of ministries, both rejected by the religious leaders, produced the kinds of fruits God was looking for. Both of them, though different approaches. Accomplished God’s will. Obviously, Jesus could not be sinless and be a gluttonous man or a drunkard. But the argument this young man made, again, who was an apostle, and what scared me the most about this is this young man is influencing other people. If he’s in the leadership of the religious organization of a church somewhere, and I take it a larger congregation, if he is promoting the drinking of wine and suggesting that’s okay, he is influencing people.

3. Biblically, Wine Can Include a Wide Variety of Liquids

So anything that we drink in the category of wine is okay. Did Jesus drink wine? That’s true. But what was the nature of what Jesus consumed? And that is the issue here, as we talked about briefly, or more than I wanted in our Bible class. Biblically, wine can include a wide variety of liquids. Hear me now. Biblically, the Greek word, even the Old Testament words, but in the Septuagint, the word oinos or wine would be in both testaments in many of these places. Wine can include a wide variety of beverages and liquids. And the mistake people make is that some start reasoning about the Bible’s teaching on wine from the standpoint that every time the word wine is used, that it is speaking to something equivalent to our wines today.

This is false. This is false and dangerous. It is the result of irresponsible Bible study. And as I suggested, seeing what one wants to see.

But if I talked about it a lot, I guess some people want to question and challenge me. And the question that was sent to me, just answer these questions. What passage declares wine to be sinful? What passage declares the drinking of wine sinful? Well, I would start with Proverbs 20 and verse 1 as an answer, even though I don’t think it’s adequate in and of itself to answer these particular questions because of what these questions are really saying. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is a brawler. And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise. Now, whatever beverage the wise writer is talking about in Proverbs 20 and verse 1, and he equates it contextually with strong drink. He says, whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.

And I would use Proverbs 20 and verse 1. I would further use Proverbs 23, as this passage was referenced this morning already. Who has woe, who has sorrow, those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine? And of course, that would involve a more potent alcoholic content, a design to make one inebriated. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. And again, let me just stop and say.

But there is a particular kind of wine under consideration in these contexts in Proverbs 20 and in Proverbs chapter 23. And so the difficulty I have in answering these questions again points to the nature of the wine that’s being consumed. You know, you can’t really add what passage declares wine sinful. The reason why there’s not a passage that says, anybody who drinks wine has committed sin, period. I don’t have that passage. Because we’re talking about a different beverage than what is commonly bought at our stores today. And so you’re not going to have a passage like that. People drank wine. Jesus drank wine. Jesus turned water to wine. But again, what was the nature of the substance? That is the question. What passage declares that those that drunk wine were sinners?

My answer. Not a passage. Because wine could mean a drink that does not intoxicate. And I wish I would have added further, or has mere traces of alcohol content. What passage tells the Israelites and the Christians to abstain from wine? There’s not a passage. Because wine could be a drink that does not intoxicate. Where is the passage that declares there are two types of wine, fermented and unfermented, and that the fermented wine is sinful? There were many types of wines. And some wine was not intoxicating at all. And I gave these references, and I suggested to the brother who asked me these questions, I’ve already given you these references. Isaiah 65 and verse 8 refers to wine that is still within the cluster of the grape.

Are you arguing that oinos in Isaiah 65 and verse 8 in the Greek Septuagint version that oinos is intoxicating? Though it is still in the cluster? This isn’t talking about what we buy in the store. And in the promise of better days ahead for God’s people in Joel 3 and verse 18, one of the promises that God makes to the prophet is that the hills will drip with sweet wine. Also they’re going to drink with an intoxicating substance? Is that what he’s talking about in Joel 3.18? And that’s just a couple of passages that could be referenced. Wine was the product of the great and was indication of God’s blessing of the nation of Israel that they were living right and being faithful. That’s the whole idea in the Old Testament.

4. Wine in Many Different Stages of Development

And so you have some passages, and you could probably list as many on the negative side as the positive side in the Old Testament. Positive passages about wine. A non-intoxicating substance. The product of God’s blessing. Negative passages, they obviously would understand that he’s talking about a heavier laden alcoholic content beverage that intoxicates. And you just have to determine from the context. Was there a scripture against drinking of wine in the New Testament? Yes or no? Well, again, that depends on the nature of the wine. And so I’ve made this observation to him, and I’ve made it to many others. The Bible speaks of wine. And if you don’t get anything else that I’ve said, please mark this down and get this. The Bible speaks of wine in many different stages of development.

The practice of drinking wine in biblical times could vary from zero alcoholic content to a carefully developed beverage of roughly 10% alcoholic volume. There’s some debate. Anywhere from 8 to 12%. And I’m going to hit it in the middle here. Roughly 10% of alcoholic volume. Well, which one are you going to drink? The 0 to 10% or somewhere in between? That depends on what kind of purpose you have. That’s what it boils down to. What was your purpose in drinking that? Now, okay, let’s talk about this stronger end of the scale. The most they could produce. Strong drink, which is routinely condemned in the Bible, strong drink is equal to or weaker than today’s beers and wines. So when we get toward this higher end of the scale, we’re talking about some of the weaker beverages.

Beer would be one of the weaker beverages that is available today, but that would still fit in the category of what they would call strong drink. So we’re talking about what was on the maximum end of the scale in biblical times up to the 13th century AD, even beyond biblical times, that the strongest of drink would be equal to some of our lesser drinks in terms of alcoholic content. And that difference needs to be recognized. The problem with questions that have to do with what wine means is that sometimes it was a great thing. It was the blessing of God. But once it has been allowed to become strong drink, like in Proverbs 20 and verse 1, like in Proverbs chapter 23, it is routinely condemned.

And that’s why I strongly promote abstinence. Abstinence leads to sobriety and the character that Jesus calls us to. If I’m promoting modern day wine drinking, I believe I’m going to stand in danger of the judgment. I don’t believe I’m going to do that promoting abstinence. And encouraging people to be sober. So I say, well, you’re putting a hedge about the law. Well, I want to tell you, if we had the same kind of beverages that they did, we might be having a different discussion. But what is sold in our marketplace is far more potent and quickly mind altering. And judgment is quickly impaired and often leads to other sins, as we talked about in our Bible class this morning. I would encourage every person. While it may be true that you could argue from a biblical standpoint that a trace of alcoholic content passing our lips is not a sin, it’s not missing the mark, it’s not a violation of the scripture.

5. Misuse of the Bible Is a Stumbling Block to Sobriety

Where is that beverage? How do we compare apples to apples in this discussion? Where do you draw the light? Okay, Jesus drank wine, Jesus turned water to wine. We can drink wine. Anything in the category of wine, is that what you’re arguing? Anything. How about fortified wine? How about a beverage that is two to three times stronger than any drink that could have been available in biblical times? Anything that’s wine’s okay, just throw it open there. Wine, good, go. If it says wine on the bottle, you can drink it. Is that what you’re advocating? Surely you have to have some judgment involved in this. See how dangerous that is? You tell some young person anything in the category of wine is okay because Jesus turned water to wine?

Well, why not fortified wine? We can get our buttons quicker. How much of that would it take? 25% alcoholic content. How much, how long would it take to be an Ebre eater? Not very long. This, my friends, this kind of argumentation and misuse of the Bible is a stumbling block to sobriety. It will inevitably lead someone to sin. In our discussion later, there was a reference made also by this young man to Romans 14.

Where it says, For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And then verse 21, it is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. And he acknowledged that your consumption of wine should not cause a brother to stumble. But that would imply that the drinking of some wine under some circumstances would be okay. I don’t deny that at all. But again, what kind of wine are we talking about? I’m not suggesting that it had perhaps a minimal amount of alcoholic content. I can’t know that for sure in every circumstance because of the way they consumed wine in biblical times. But I know this. Whatever this passage is talking about, it is talking about liberties and not things which were opposed to righteousness.

He’s not saying any kind of drinking is okay, and any kind of beverage is okay, or any kind of eating is okay. That’s not what he’s saying. Gluttony would also obviously be unapproved as well in this text. These are talking about liberties that you might have to forego for the sake of your brother. And I would say an attempt to use this passage, and the Luke 7, Matthew 11 passages. You see how difficult it is to answer some of this? These are the subtle arguments of error. I’ve studied so many times so many different issues where trying to answer what someone says takes six times as long as for them to spout their error. That’s how error works. It’s very easily spoken. But to give sufficient and correct answers might require a great deal of work on your part.

I would warn in this category of these things about this text in Luke 17 and verse 1. Already mentioned that. Luke 17 and verse 1. It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea and that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. People who are less experienced in regard to their faith, who are spiritually immature, are going to look to the examples of older people. And if we are saying irresponsible things like Jesus drank wine, Jesus turned water into wine, so we can drink wine, that is inevitably going to lead to someone stumbling. Young, impressionable people in particular.

6. The Eating and Drinking Jesus Promotes Is Life-Giving

And you do not want to be a stumbling block to little ones. This passage makes that very clear. Today’s wines are potent and powerful and have destroyed the lives of countless millions. Why would a Christian want to promote that? Well, let’s end on a very practical note. The kind of eating and drinking that Jesus promotes for us is life-giving. In John 6 and verse 53, he says, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in yourselves. And that’s the eating and drinking we need to be doing. Because I’ll tell you, if you drink today’s modern wines and beverages, you’re going to get thirsty again. It’s not going to satisfy your thirst. And I don’t think people even drink them because they’re thirsty.

They drink them for other purposes. But the kind of eating and drinking we need to be doing comes from the fact that Jesus provides living water. And he who drinks what he provides will never thirst. And even the eating that we do, it only has a temporary place for us. We need to work for the food that does not perish, that endures to eternal life, all the sustenance that Jesus provides. Because I’ll tell you what people do. People that turn to, for example, today’s modern beers and wines. The same thing happens to them that happened in the days of Jeremiah.

My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken the fountain of living waters. And hewn them out sisters, broken sisters that can hold no water. Let us focus on the right things, life-giving things. To know the Father and the Son brings eternal life, eternal in both quality and duration. Well, believe it or not, I found out last night there’s a preacher in another place, not very far from here, who says, I’m soft, and I don’t preach hard things. Well, listening to this sermon might make you conclude otherwise, I guess. Maybe I need to send him a copy. But here’s the thing. As we’ll see tonight, unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has some very strict standards about how we’re to live and we’re to teach these things so that people might have life and might have it more abundantly.

Conclusion

Do you need to start drinking from the right fountain and from that fountain of righteousness? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5 and verse 6. Is there someone this morning who needs to come to Christ and learn of him and be his disciple and receive salvation? We bid you come.