We have been emphasizing the relationship of personal self-control to the larger political issues related to self-governance. If a people are enslaved to their own passions and desires, then it will not be long before their enslavement takes on a larger and more sinister form.
The most obvious area where a lack of self-control can be seen is with something like alcohol. When someone drinks too much, the symptoms are immediately evident. But something similar can happen with food—and it happens in both directions. Just as teetotalers think of every drink as excessive and unnecessary, so also some want to say that a second helping of mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving, or a superfluous Snickers bar, are plain evidences of gluttony. But that is not how the Bible speaks of it.
The Scriptures place the sins of drunkenness and gluttony in parallel. They are spoken of in the same breath and in the same way.
“And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard” (Deut. 21:20).
“For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: And drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” (Prov. 23:21).
What this is referring to is an orgiastic way of living. Someone is out of control. He throws himself into a pattern of sensual excess. Generally it is a life that involves sex, drunkenness, drugs, music, and food. When you think of the kind of person who participates in raves, you have found your man. Paul flatly prohibits such revelry and carousing (Rom. 13:13). Scripture plainly prohibits raves (komos) and drinking parties (potos).
The apostle Peter makes a very similar point:
“For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you” (1 Pet. 4:3–4).
So those who throw themselves into a life of dissipation will not inherit the kingdom of God.
And to stay with our larger theme, they will inherit political despotism. A people who will not govern themselves will be governed somehow.
This is probably a case of “you can’t say everything every time you say anything or you’ll end up saying nothing,” but it almost makes it sound as if dissipation is always a highly social sin. Of course if someone can be a drunk all by his lonesome (and there are plenty such), then someone can be a glutton in solitude, too. It’d be helpful to identify that sort of dissipation, as well.
I agree. I wonder if it is part of the deadly, enslaving nature of sin that it often begins with conviviality. Drinking with our friends is social and generally harmless, as long as we recognize the moment that alcohol is becoming more of an addiction than a choice. I would have thought the same thing might be true for smoking pot or pigging out at the all-you-can-eat buffet. Once we lose control of ourselves, the behavior becomes secret rather than social.
People openly and deliberately participate in orgies, drinking and drug parties.
This is a good point. Where is the line between enjoyment and dissipation, and who assigns it? In the beginning of his article Pastor Doug highlights those who advocate against even the hint of excess. Yet, his definition also seems too particular, but in the opposite direction. There’s a broad spectrum between the two extremes.
Perhaps the focus is sideways from where it should be. Instead of focusing on what not to do, we might ask, as set apart people, how should we behave in social settings and alone? Does our behavior honor God?
I think there is an obvious difference between people who have a few glasses of wine or beer at a New Years party or wedding reception, a husband and wife enjoying a glass of scotch before bedtime, and people who get together every other night to drink themselves into oblivion and shoot up controlled substances (or do it on their own). The first is enjoying God’s gifts responsibly, the latter is dissipation and sinful, gluttonous.
“To dissipate” actually means to cause something to spread out and disappear. In that context we are not set apart as we are called to be, there is no recognizable difference between the culture and those who follow Christ.
“[W]e should thank God for beer and Burgundy by not drinking too much of them.”
– G.K. Chesterton, (Orthodoxy, The Ethics of Elfland)