YOU DRINK TOO MUCH

YOU DRINK TOO MUCH

Ephesians 5:18. “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be ye filled with the Spirit.”

Have you ever had too much to drink? That is really a loaded question because who sets the standard of drunkenness? Are you good as long as you can still stand up? Maybe your definition goes along with what the law says is legally too drunk to drive. Maybe you describe too much as being when you pass out or go to toilet hugging. For me, I choose not to drink alcoholic beverages. First of all alcohol is a slippery slope that leads to bad decisions and horrible consequences. Secondly, God has provided a much better drink, He has given us the new wine of the Spirit. You can’t have both so I think I’ll stick with the new wine.
Jonathan Edwards had some interesting observations about spiritual drinking. He said that there was no such thing as excessive spiritual drinking. Now that’s what I am talking about, you can get as intoxicated as you like on new wine and all the consequences are good. Here is Edwards’ comment on Eph.5:18.

” ‘And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be ye filled with the Spirit.’
As much as to say, In this there is no excess. It is no matter how full ye are of the Spirit. A being full of wine, or being “drunk with wine,” were expressions of the same import in those days. Thus when the apostles were filled with the Spirit at Pentecost, some “mocking said, These men are full of new wine” [Acts 2:13]. There is excess in being full of wine, but no excess in being filled with the Spirit. There is no excess in spiritual enjoyments. We may be drunken with the Spirit, and there is no excess in that, as ’tis said, Song of Solomon 5:1, “Drink, and be drunken, O beloved.”

Now just think about the comparison of the consequences of spiritual drunkenness to being drunk on alcohol. If you drink too much booze you do stupid things such as getting into fights, car wrecks, profanity, and possible sexual compromise. Excessive drinking can lead to other problems such as losing your job, your marriage, or loss of friends. Ultimately excessive drinking will effect you physically; all sorts of disease is connected to alcohol consumption.
Now what about spiritual drinking, what are those consequences? The first is extreme joy that drives depression out of our lives. You keep drinking new wine and you begin to be overcome by God’s love, this tends to spill over into our other relationships. Our marriage improves, our friends are better friends, and our job performance improves. Finally, spiritual drink connects us to the power of God. We live a more moral life, we have power in our testimony, and we can actually be used by God to bring miracles into other’s lives. So what am I going to do, I think I’ll have another drink.