The Bible takes
a dim view of drunkenness. That should be a surprise to no one. And it’s not a
recent development, either. It started with Noah, way back in the book of
Genesis. You may not know that after the great flood, one of the first things
that Noah did was to plant a vineyard. Now, there’s nothing wrong with planting
a vineyard. When that vineyard produced grapes, he made wine from them. There’s
nothing wrong with that, either. (You wine lovers don’t have to worry!) The
problem was not that Noah drank wine, but that Noah drank too much of that wine; and he got so drunk that he passed out, which
caused a huge problem for his family. (Interested in the details? You can read
the story in Genesis 9:20-27.) And that’s not the last time that drinking too
much got someone in trouble. The book of Daniel tells us that King Belshazzar
of Babylon got drunk and decided to use the goblets from the Jerusalem Temple
for his feast. That made God so mad that he took the kingdom away from
Belshazzar and gave it to the Persians (Daniel 5:1-31). If you know the story
of Judith (which is in the Apocryphal book of Judith), you know that the
Persian general Holofernes got drunk; and when he passed out, Judith cut off
his head! One of Jesus’ parables even warns us not to behave like servants who
get drunk and aren’t ready to serve their master when he comes home (Luke
12:42-46).
Yeah,
getting drunk can lead to real problems. It can cause you to do all kinds of
crazy things, because when we get drunk, we lose our inhibitions. We do things
that we would otherwise never do.
Think you wouldn’t dance on a table with a lampshade on your head? Get drunk
and see what happens! And when we’re drunk, we say what we’re really thinking.
You might even tell your boss that he’s an arrogant, boated windbag with
terrible fashion sense and a worse management style! Getting drunk leads to folks
doing and saying things that they would not usually do or say. That’s why some
of the people who witnessed the behavior of Jesus’ disciples on the first
Pentecost were convinced that they were drunk. After the disciples began
speaking in other languages, “Some [people] made fun of them and said, ‘They
have had too much wine.’” (You can read the whole story in Acts 2:1-13.) Peter
was quick to respond that they weren’t drunk, because it was still early in the
morning. But, you know, Peter was wrong. The disciples were drunk! Oh, they weren’t drunk with wine. They were drunk with
God’s Spirit. It filled them after the Spirit’s wind swept through the room
where they were gathered and the Spirit’s fire settled on each one of them. They
were as drunk on the Spirit as some folks get on Margaritas at La Fiesta!
And it got
some of them into trouble. I’ll bet that you know the story of Stephen (Acts
chapters 6 and 7). Stephen was one of the first Christians. The book of Acts
tells us that he was “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5), and
that he did “great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.” (Acts 6:8)
But because the Jewish authorities didn’t like Stephen preaching that Jesus was
the Messiah, he was arrested and put on trial. When he was asked what he had to
say for himself, he gave a magnificent sermon that related the entire story of
the Jews beginning with Abraham. But he didn’t end his story by praising the
ones who had arrested him, even though that would have been the smart thing to
do. No, because he was drunk on the Spirit, he told them exactly what he
thought of them: that they were stupid, stubborn, and violent; that they had
ignored what the prophets had to say; and that they had murdered the Messiah! Oh,
he spoke his mind, all right! And after that… well, things didn’t go so well.
They dragged Stephen outside and stoned him to death. And it just so happened
that a young Jew named Saul was in the crowd. He approved of what they did to
Stephen. Later, though, when Saul was on the road to Damascus, he met the risen
Christ. When he did, he must have recalled the day that Stephen was murdered.
He must have remembered Stephen’s courage in speaking his mind despite knowing
that it would get him into trouble. And soon enough, Saul would be drunk with
the Holy Spirit himself. He changed his name to Paul; and he traveled all over
the world doing things that got him into trouble and saying things that he
never in a million years thought that he would say. That’s what happens when
you get drunk with the Holy Spirit.
Now, even
though the Bible warns us against getting drunk on wine, it is delighted with
folks who get drunk with the Holy Spirit! “Do not get drunk on wine…” says
Ephesians (5:18). “Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” In other words, don’t
put a lampshade on your head and dance on the table; but do go do things in the name of Jesus Christ that you might not
otherwise do! And say things that you would normally keep to yourself. But
don’t insult the neighbor you can’t stand. Talk to the man in line at the
grocery store, instead! He might be looking for a new church home. And for
goodness sake, risk getting into trouble for the sake of the gospel! If you are
offended by a joke that makes fun of blacks or Hispanics, don’t laugh. Say that
you don’t like it; and say why you
don’t like it. You might be opening someone else’s eyes to the fact that God
loves other people who aren’t just like we are. If you see that other people are
being mistreated because of their economic status or their ethnic heritage,
speak up! Remind other people that God is on the side of those who are the most
vulnerable. And if you are concerned about hungry children or homeless
families, get involved with something that can help them! There are all kinds
of ways to do that.
When was the
last time that you were drunk with
the Holy Spirit? Was it last week? Last month? Last year? When did you last do
what you had to do and say what you had to say without worrying where the chips
would fall after you did? This week, I invite you to have a Happy Hour with the
Spirit. It may be one of the best things that you ever do!
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