Proverbs 23:20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous
eaters of flesh: 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and
drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Here are some facts we have seen clearly with our own
eyes. I can remember a time, and it wasn’t all that many decades ago, on the
Eastern Shore of Maryland, certainly not as “sophisticated” and “cosmopolitan”
as New York and Los Angeles, when I’d listen to my parents talk about life.
Good people didn’t drink alcohol. Good people didn’t hang out at bars. Good
people didn’t live in such a way as to bring them shame. Oh yes, shame was
something people felt when they did wrong. It’s not something many people who
grew up during and after the 1970’s would know anything about.
You might find this hard to believe but there
are people today and have been for several decades whose lives revolve around
going to work and then getting a few drinks and even getting drunk, or in some
cases, smokin’ some weed, every night. If they have the money they’ll hang out
at the Sports Bars and chat with friends. Their church, their called-out
assembly, is that temple to Self, that church of self-indulgence, that house of
the flesh on the corner where they can anesthetize themselves of the fact that,
in the end, their lives are empty of meaning and they have no idea why they
were even born or if there should even be a purpose to it. And, yes, there are
carnal Christians there, living for themselves and not for God, and very, very
miserable as a result, thank you very much. I was once one of each of them, the
primary bad example for the unsaved and the saved.
You don’t prepare for your old age, accumulate
what you need to raise a family, grow spiritually, draw closer to God, receive
Christ as your Saviour and grow in Him, or find happiness on a bar stool at the
corner “lounge” or sucking down suds at the local sports bar. You don’t see too
many drunks talking about serving Christ, preaching Christ, or how much they
love their local church family down at Dino’s Bar and Grill at 1am on Sunday
morning.
Notice here, by parallel phrasing we know that a
winebibber is a drunkard and a glutton is a riotous eater of flesh, which
carries with it a loss of control. (Since healthy food is ten times more
expensive, according to one study I’ve read, than unhealthy food full of
processing and garbage, it’s hard for many of us not to be overweight, even
though we wouldn’t qualify as deliberate gluttons.) I can also remember in
elementary school, and I had most of the teachers that taught my father; Mrs.
Benson, Mrs. Dryden, Mrs. Godfrey, Mrs. Bloodsworth, and the few who hadn’t
were certainly old enough to have taught him like Mrs. Bateman. In any event, I
remember one of them saying to us little minds, “you should learn to eat to
live, you should not live to eat”. Of course, saying “eat to live, don’t live
to eat” today would probably be unacceptable lest you hurt the self-esteem of
some kid whose parents have allowed to graze at will and who is obese as a
result of their negligence.
Under the Law given to Moses the son who was a
drunkard and a glutton could be executed. He was worthless to the community and
a bad example (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). Of course, as Christians, we don’t have
that command from God. And it doesn’t work to constantly complain about what
people shouldn’t do. We have to provide our children with useful and good
things that they should do by example. Our time should be filled with the
things of God and we should not be devoted to Self and to being entertained
constantly. We teach our children that that’s the way to live. Work for your
own needs and then be entertained, sleep, and do it all again.
There was a fairly popular country song that
went like this, ‘the night life ain’t no good life, but it’s my life”. The
person who wrote that was just the kind of idiot this Proverb is talking about.
Young person, there are many more verses in the
Bible warning about drinking alcohol, especially binge drinking of more than
one alcoholic drink which leads to drunkenness. Those young people who hang out
at bars, with the tinkling of the glasses, the tinny music in the background,
the immoral behavior that results from participation in that lifestyle, are
headed for poverty and ruin. Stay away from them. Alcohol is typically only
good as a loosening agent; loosening tongues, wallets, and clothing.
The person soaking in booze is drowsy, having administered
the anesthesia to himself. Later on in Proverbs it will be noted that strong
drink is for people to deaden their misery, to forget their unhappiness and
their poverty. The world is either a very unhappy place, full of misery and
pain, or it is a place where people whistle in the dark pretending that there
is nothing really wrong. You are not of this world. Learn to spend your time in
the service and worship of the Lord, loving your spouse and your family through
His love, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine,
wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart
to the Lord;
Pray to God “who giveth songs in the night” (Job
35:10) and pray for “joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17). Drunkenness and
gluttony will never satisfy that longing you have in your heart for a closer
knowledge of Christ, and they will lead you to poverty and misery, and perhaps,
you’ll even draw others down into that pit with you.
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