What Does the Bible Say About Alcohol? A Church Near Lyndon, KY Answers From Scripture

Lyndon Christian Church | Serving Lyndon, Hurstbourne, Westport, and St. Matthews (40222 & 40242)

Can Christians drink alcohol? It is one of the most common questions people ask when they start looking for a church near Lyndon, Kentucky, and the answers vary wildly. One church treats a beer at the picnic as no big deal. Another treats any drinking at all as off-limits. If you are searching for spiritual guidance in the 40222 or 40242 zip codes and wondering what the Bible actually says, here is what we found.

This is week two of our fall series, Bible Stuff (You Should Know), at Lyndon Christian Church, where we take the most-asked questions about the Bible and simply go to Scripture. Four things stood out, and some of them may surprise you.

1. God Commanded Israel to Celebrate With It

In Deuteronomy 14, God gave instructions for the festival tithe. Families were told to take their tithe money and spend it on "whatever your appetite craves, oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink," then eat and rejoice before the Lord. That is not mere permission. God directed his people to buy fermented drink for a public feast held as an act of worship. Psalm 104 says the same thing from a different angle, listing wine that gladdens the heart of man alongside bread and oil as good gifts from a good Creator.

2. Jesus Made More of It

At the wedding in Cana (John 2), Jesus turned six stone jars of water into roughly 120 gallons of wine, and the master of the feast was surprised because the good wine usually comes out first, before guests lose the ability to tell the difference. That detail only makes sense if the wine was genuinely alcoholic. Jesus, who never sinned, chose this as his first public miracle.

3. Drunkenness Is Treated With the Utmost Seriousness

Ephesians 5:18 says, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit." Proverbs calls wine a mocker and strong drink a brawler. Galatians 5 lists drunkenness among the works of the flesh. Scripture never says wine is sinful. It consistently says drunkenness is. Those are two different things, and conflating them in either direction gets you into trouble: one way is debauchery, the other adds a rule to the Bible that is not there.

4. Love Limits Liberty

In Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, Paul told Christians that having freedom to do something does not mean you should. Someone at your table may be in recovery, or may have grown up in a home wrecked by a parent's drinking. So the better question is not "how many drinks are allowed?" but "at what point does this start controlling me?" and "who am I with, and how can I love them best?"

Honest Questions Are Welcome Here

Lyndon Christian Church is a non-denominational, Bible-teaching church in the Lyndon neighborhood of Louisville, KY, minutes from Hurstbourne Parkway, Westport Road, and I-264. We are not a church built on tradition or on rules Scripture never gave. We just teach the Bible.

If you are new to the East End, returning to church after years away, or wrestling with a question no one has answered straight, come as you are.

Visit us this Sunday. Find service times and directions at lyndonchristian.org.