Holiness Codes

Buster Brown, the pastor of the church I go to down here is an amazing, amazing man. He is a brilliant man who is clearly in love with the Lord and has a passion for what he does, and he's great at it.

He always says tons of great things, but on Sunday, he said something that definitely surprised me. In my opinion, he was dead on with what he was saying, but it was a little shocking that he actually said it.

Buster is huge on the concept of relativism (versus absolute truth, etc.), and 'individualism that has divorced sin from a caring community' and tons of things of that nature, and a lot of his preaching recently (and I say recently, meaning the past 2 weeks I've been) has been totally applicable to the quote-unquote "issues" that we as a country are being bombarded with in todays society. He's mentioned things like homosexuality, divorce, adultery, sex (out of wedlock), and alcohol...to name a few.

He is totally biblical with his teaching; totally in line with scripture; totally and brutally honest, yet all out of an extremely loving heart, and a heart that is broken for the lost.

OK, so I say all of that to say this: Buster Brown, a 50-ish year old pastor at a very large, prominent, southern baptist church said from behind the pulpit on Sunday "I'm sure I'm about to ruffle some feathers with this comment - but nowhere in the Bible does it say that drinking alcohol is a sin. Nowhere does it say that if somebody has a beer that they are sinning....."

He was speaking about what he called "self imposed cultural holiness codes" - which can be kept by our OWN powers. But, he says, those codes "underscore the fact that it is only by Holy Spirit empowered living that we can declare His praises." The error of holiness codes is that they reflect cultural manifestations, and they can be kept in our own flesh apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

People came up with these 'holiness codes' that for the most part aren't Biblical, in my opinion, as some sort of strange way to "prove" that they are Christians, or that they are living holy lives, or for some reason other than that I'm not sure of....but the thing about it is, that I can not take a sip of alcohol in my entire life by MY OWN POWER. So what does it matter? What does that prove? That I love God? Heck no. Just because I read my Bible everyday doesn't mean that I love God, I can do that easily if I put my mind to it, whether I have the Holy Spirit or not. Just because I don't drink alcohol, doesn't mean that I am living a 'holy life.' And if the only life worth living is a Holy Spirit empowered life, then what does it matter that I can live by these 'self imposed cultural holiness codes'? It means nothing.

Yes, he of course spoke about what the Bible says about drinking - and that God says clearly that 'drunkenness' is a sin, and that we aren't to let anything (including alcohol) take over our minds or bodies....and he stated clearly that he does not drink, nor will he...but that he sees no problem with it if someone drinks a beer if they so choose to do so.

It was awesome. Finally, a pastor standing up, and not being afraid to "ruffle the feathers" of the older generation who have so staunchly been taught that consuming any sort of alcohol is a paganistic activity....and saying - hey guys...this is NOT Biblical. Get over it.

He of course backed things up with scirpture - and actually the sermon was about living as Saints (Colossians 1:2; 1 Peter 2:9-10) and how we are to declare his praises (1 Peter 2:13-22: set my hope fully on grace, live with reverent fear and watchfulness, grow in understanding of the cross work of Christ, and fervently love with a pure heart). Also that we are to abstain from the passions of the flesh (2:11); have honorable conduct, especially among non-believers (2:12), and live in submission to God ordained authorities which will 'put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.' (2:13).

Then he talked about a whole lot more, which I won't go into, because this was just supposed to be a simple post saying: "my preacher is awesome - and he said drinking alcohol in moderation isn't a sin like so many people claim that it is - and he said that to a southern baptist church - hence, he is ballsy...and I like it." He is ballsy when it comes to preaching truth - and that is what Godliness is all about. Loving the Lord, backing your life up with Scripture, and not being afraid to speak truth...even if it may "ruffle some feathers."

amen? amen. Preach it Buster Brown....preach it, brotha!