Latest / Reformed Thinking / Not Near Wine: The Elder’s Sobriety as Gospel Credibility (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7)

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Not Near Wine: The Elder’s Sobriety as Gospel Credibility (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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  It is good to have you with us today as we open up a new set of
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  sources. Yeah, good to be here.
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  We're doing something a little different today.
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  Usually when people talk about church leadership, the
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  conversation you know it moves toward charisma or preaching
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  ability or. Maybe how well a guy can manage
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  a budget. Exactly.
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  But today we are going to look at something much more specific
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  and honestly a little bit tense. It is a tense topic, yeah, but
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  it's one that sits right at the intersection of our theology
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  and, well, our daily lives. That's true.
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  We're looking at the biblical requirements for elders and
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  pastors, specifically focusing on the issue of alcohol.
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  And I know what you might be thinking.
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  You're thinking, here we go. Is this going to be a
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  prohibitionist rant or are we going to hear about how cool it
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  is to drink Liberty beer? Yeah, that's the spectrum, isn't
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  it? Because we really do live in a
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  culture that swings between those two extremes.
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  We do. On one side you have this this
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  lingering legalism that views the substance itself as somehow
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  evil. And on the other side,
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  especially in some reform circles, you have this
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  celebration of intoxication as if it were a harmless hobby.
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  Right. So the question we're posing
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  today is this. What is the actual biblical
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  standard for an elder? Is the bar just don't get drunk
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  on Saturday night so you can preach on Sunday?
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  Or is God asking for something, well, something more
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  significant? That is the central question and
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  the answer it. We're going to be looking at
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  2:00 significant theological articles.
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  Our mission is to examine a very specific Greek phrase found in
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  First Timothy 3.3 and Titus 1.7. The phrase is may para by on.
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  Which is usually translated as not a drunker.
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  That's the standard translation, yes, But as we look at these
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  sources, we're going to see that this isn't just a rule about
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  beverages. It's a theological boundary.
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  It touches on stewardship, spiritual warfare, and the
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  credibility of the gospel itself.
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  And just to set the stage for you, the listener, we are
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  viewing this through the lens of Reformed theology and, of
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  course, the Westminster Confession.
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  We aren't just looking at the elder as a, you know, a manager
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  of a nonprofit. We are looking at him as a
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  steward of God's household. That distinction changes the
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  entire landscape. If the church is God's
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  household, the rules for the caretakers are going to be
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  different than the rules for, say, the casual visitor.
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  That's a great way to put it. So let's get right into the
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  text. You mentioned this Greek term.
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  More purling on. If I open my English Bible it
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  usually says not a drunkard or maybe not given to wine.
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  It sounds pretty straightforward.
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  It does. It sounds like Paul is just
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  banning alcoholism. Is that all there is to it?
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  It definitely includes that. But if we stop there, we miss
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  the nuance. The sources we have today break
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  this word down in a really a really fascinating way.
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  OK, The word peroinos is a compound word.
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  It's made-up of two parts. You have oinos, which means
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  wine. Right, that's the easy part.
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  That's the easy part, but the prefix is.
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  Para para like parallel or paramedic.
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  That's it. It means beside or alongside.
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  So if you translate me para, no literally hyper literally it
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  means not a wine sitter. A wine sitter.
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  Or not a man who is beside wine. Not a wine sitter that paints a
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  very different picture than just someone who had too much to
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  drink one time. It does.
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  It shifts the focus from a biological state to being
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  intoxicated to a, well, a sociological or
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  characterological posture. It's describing a man's
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  proximity to the substance. OK, let's unpack that proximity.
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  What does it look like for a man to be beside wine?
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  It implies a habit, a lingering think about the difference
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  between someone who, you know, eats a meal and someone who is
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  always hanging around the buffet.
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  OK, Paul's not using the word mythouche, which refers to the
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  actual physiological state of being drunk.
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  He chooses Perinos to describe a man who gravitates toward
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  alcohol. So it's someone whose life is
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  kind of oriented in that direction.
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  Yes, a man whose social life, whose relaxation, whose
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  emotional regulation is tethered to the bottle.
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  So it's about identity. Precisely.
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  It's about character. The sources argue that Paul is
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  forbidding an identity that is shaped by drink.
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  He's ruling out the man who is known for.
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  It you know the type of person where if you think of them, you
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  picture them with a drink in their hand.
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  Yes, that's exact. The guy who's always at the pub
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  or the guy who cannot watch a football game without a six pack
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  right there. Sure.
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  And Paul is saying that. The overseer, the elder, cannot
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  be that man. It's not just about whether he
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  crosses the legal limit of blood alcohol content.
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  It's about whether he is near wine as a settled posture of his
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  life. That is a much higher bar.
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  It is, and the sources point out that this is not an isolated
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  requirement. It's not just floating out there
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  by itself. We have to look at the syntax
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  where this word sits in the list.
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  In First Timothy 3, right, It's in that list of qualifications.
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  Yes, and look at what it sits next to in the Greek text.
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  MO peroyana is almost always placed right next to MU
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  plucktos. Which means.
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  Not violent or literally not a striker.
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  Not a guy who throws punches. Interesting.
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  So you have not near wine and not violent sitting side by
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  side. Is that is that accidental?
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  The experts in these sources say no, it's not a random grocery
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  list of sins. There's a logical connection
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  here, a kind. Of cause and effect.
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  Absolutely. In the ancient worldview and
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  frankly in common sense today, there is a cause and effect
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  relationship. The removal of inhibition, which
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  is what Wine does, leads to the removal of restraint.
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  Which leads to violence. Exactly That makes sense.
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  I mean, we see that in bar fights or sadly, domestic abuse
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  cases all the time. Correct.
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  The source material puts it this way.
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  The Church is forbidden from ordaining a man beside wine
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  because the flock cannot be entrusted to a man who is 1
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  drink away from losing his temper.
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  Wow, one drink away. That really puts it into
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  perspective. It does, and all of this sits
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  under the main heading of the passage.
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  The very first requirement Paul lists for an overseer is that he
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  must be above reproach. Right week.
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  That's an epileptos. It means blameless or
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  unaccusable. So not a drunkard or not a wine
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  sitter is like a supporting pillar for that main idea of
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  being above reproach. Correct.
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  If the pillar of sobriety collapses, the whole roof of
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  being above reproach comes down with it.
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  So. You can't be blameless if you're
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  known as a man who lingers beside wine, no?
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  The reputation itself is damaging to the office, to the
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  gospel. So we have established that this
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  is a character issue, not just a rule about a liquid.
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  But I want to zoom out a bit. Why is God so strict about this?
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  I mean, is he just a killjoy? Why does the leader have to be
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  so guarded? To understand the why, we have
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  to go back way back. Old Testament.
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  Yes, we need to look at the Old Testament shadows.
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  One of our sources brings up a well, a terrifying story from
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  Leviticus chapter 10, the story of Nadab in Abiahu.
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  Oh right, the sons of Aaron. The strange fire incident.
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  Yes, these were priests. They were the sons of the high
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  priest. They went into the Tabernacle to
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  offer incense, but they did it in a way the Lord had not
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  commanded. They offered unauthorized fire.
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  And the result was immediate judgement.
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  Immediate and severe fire came out from the presence of the
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  Lord and consumed them. They died on the spot right
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  there in the Tabernacle. It is one of the scariest
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  moments in the Torah. But what does that have to do
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  with wine? That's the fascinating part.
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  Immediately after they die. I mean, while their bodies are
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  still being carried out of the camera, God speaks directly to
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  Aaron and he gives a new command.
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  OK. Leviticus 10 verse 9.
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  Drink no wine or strong drink you or your sons with you when
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  you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die.
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  Wait, so the implication is that Nadab and Abaihu might have been
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  drunk? Many commentators believe that
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  yes, that their judgement was clouded by alcohol, which led
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  them to treat the holy things of God carelessly.
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  Like they just got sloppy with their duties.
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  Exactly. But even if they weren't, God
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  established, which is the rule right then and there.
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  It's a permanent statute. And He gives the reason, which
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  is, you are to distinguish between the holy and the common,
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  and between the unclean and the clean.
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  Distinguishing between the holy and the common.
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  So the priest needed a sharp mind, a clear head.
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  Correct. The priest's job was a
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  terrifyingly noble stewardship. He was handling the sacrifices.
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  He was mediating between a holy God and a sinful people.
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  He could not afford to be fuzzy. He couldn't afford to have his
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  edges dulled. No, he needed absolute cognitive
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  clarity to handle the things of God properly.
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  His mind had to be as sharp as the sacrificial knife.
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  OK. But that's the Old Testament
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  priesthood. We're in the new covenant.
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  We have grace. Does that same standard apply to
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  a pastor in 2026? The argument from the source is
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  an argument from the lesser to the greater.
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  OK, walk me through that. Think about it.
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  If the Old Covenant priests needed sobriety to handle the
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  shadows, the blood of bulls and goats, the types and figures,
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  how much more does the New Covenant overseer need
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  vigilance? Because he is handling.
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  Because he is handling the reality, He's handling the
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  mysteries of the Gospel. He is stewarding blood, bought
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  souls. The stakes are actually higher,
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  not lower. That is a powerful point.
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  We tend to think the Old Testament was the serious time,
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  and now we can kind of relax. But you're saying the
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  responsibility is actually heavier?
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  It is. The source references Proverbs
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  31 as well. It's advice to King Lamuel from
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  his mother, right? It is not for kings to drink
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  wine, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and
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  pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
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  So kings need to be sober to rule justly.
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  Yes. And elders are called to rule,
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  they're called to judge. Within the church they have to
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  make difficult decisions about discipline, about doctrine,
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  about protecting the sheep from wolves.
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  And you cannot do that if you're mentally compromised.
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  You cannot. If a man's judgement is
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  impaired, he cannot protect the vulnerable.
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  He cannot apply discipline impartially.
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  So the reason for the rule is not the God hates wine, it's the
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  God loves his church. He wants leaders who are fully
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  awake. Fully present, fully vigilant.
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  This brings us to the theological synthesis.
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  We've talked about the Greek. We've talked about the Old
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  Testament. Now let's talk about the nature
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  of the job itself. You mentioned stewardship, yes.
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  Titus 1.7 calls the overseer God steward, and that word steward
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  is crucial. A steward manages a household
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  that does not belong to him. Right.
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  It's not his church, it's Christ's church.
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  He's just the caretaker. Correct.
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  And drunkenness. Or even just that heavy
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  lingering beside wine fits the profile of a consumer, not a
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  caretaker. A consumer is there to indulge.
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  A caretaker is there to watch. The source makes a very
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  practical point here. What happens when the midnight
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  call comes? The midnight call.
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  I think every pastor knows what that is.
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  Yeah, it's two point over, AMA. Marriage is just blown up.
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  Someone has attempted suicide. A tragedy has struck a family.
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  The phone rings. If the elder has spent the
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  evening beside wine, maybe he's not falling down drunk.
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  But he's fuzzy, he's slow, he's impaired.
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  Is he fit to handle that crisis? No, he's useless in that moment.
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  Or worse, he's dangerous. He is dangerous.
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  He cannot offer clear counsel. He can't pray with vigilance.
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  He's rendered himself unfit for duty because he prioritized his
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  own relaxation over his readiness.
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  His own comfort over his calling.
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  Yes, and that connects to the idea of sin is bondage, does it
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  not? It does.
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  The Bible views sin is slavery and drunkenness is a specific
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  kind of surrender. It's a surrender of self
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  government. When you look at Ephesians 5.18,
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  Paul sets up a direct contrast. He says do not get drunk with
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  wine, but be filled with the spirit.
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  We usually just quote that as a command.
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  But why those two things? Why contrast wine and the
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  spirit? Because they are competing forms
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  of filling, they're competing sources of power.
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  The expert source calls drunkenness A counterfeit
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  filling. A counterfeeling.
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  I like that. Think about why people drink.
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  They want courage. They want relief from anxiety.
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  They want a mood. Lift.
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  They want to take the edge off. That's it.
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  They're seeking a chemical solution to a spiritual need.
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  They are looking to creation to give them what only the Creator
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  can give. So when a leader does this, he
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  is demonstrating in that moment a lack of reliance on the
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  spirit. And that has to affect his
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  public witness. Hugely, we talked about being
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  above reproach, Paul says. An elder must have a good
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  reputation with outsiders. Right with those who aren't
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  believers. If a leader is known as a wine
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  near man, it confirms the world's cynicism.
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  The world looks at him and says, see, his gospel doesn't actually
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  give him peace. He needs the same crutch I do to
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  get through the day. He's no different, he just wears
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  a suit on Sunday. That's convicting.
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  It really challenges the idea that freedom means doing
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  whatever we want. Which leads us to the
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  conventional framing. Because we are, after all,
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  reformed. We love our liberty.
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  We believe in the Westminster Confession.
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  We do. And I can hear someone shouting
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  at their, you know, their phone right now.
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  But Christian liberty, God gave us wine.
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  It's in Psalm 104. It makes the heart glad.
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  And that listener is correct. The sources are very careful
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  here. They are not arguing for
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  prohibitionism. They affirm that wine is a
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  created good A. Gift from God.
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  A gift from God, it is distinct from the sin of drunkenness.
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  The Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 20 is clear.
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  God alone is Lord of the conscience.
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  No man made rule can bind us where Scripture has left us
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  free. So if I'm a regular church
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  member, I can have a glass of wine with dinner.
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  I am not sinning, correct? But here's the pivot.
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  The Westminster Larger Catechism, when it explains the
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  6th Commandment Thou Shalt Not Kill, lists the duties required
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  to preserve life, and it includes the sober use of meat,
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  drink, and physic or medicine. And it lists intemperance as a
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  sin, because it endangers life in judgment.
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  So there's an ethical duty for everyone to be sober minded,
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  yes. But for the elder, there's an
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  even higher standard. This is where the concept of
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  mastery comes in. The expert source distinguishes
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  between the private member and the public office.
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  The office carries a different weight.
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  It does. An elder voluntarily limits his
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  liberty for the sake of the weaker brother.
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  Like Paul says in First Corinthians 8, if food makes my
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  brother stumble, I will never eat meat.
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  Correct. The elder asks a different
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  question. The immature Christian asks, Is
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  this allowed? Can I get away with this?
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  The mature leader asks. Does this serve the flock and am
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  I mastered by this? That phrase Am I mastered by
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  This is key. It is first Corinthians 6.1.
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  All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by
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  anything. If a man cannot give up alcohol,
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  if the thought of abstaining makes him angry or irritable or
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  just plain miserable, then he is already mastered.
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  He's not free. He's not free, He is a slave to
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  his liberty, which is a terrible irony.
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  This brings us to a very modern, very specific cultural issue.
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  The source calls it Craft Beer Christianity.
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  Yes, and this is a, this is going to step on some toes.
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  I think we have all seen this, especially in the younger reform
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  movement, there is this trend where flaunting alcohol
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  consumption is almost seen as a badge of honor.
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  It is. It's like, look at me, I'm not a
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  legalist fundamentalist. I drink Ipas and listen to indie
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  music. It's a reaction.
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  It's a pendulum swing away from the legalism of the previous
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  generation, but the source argues it has become an idol of
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  its own. The idol of relatability.
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  Yes, the idol of relatability. We think the drinking makes us
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  more missional. We think if I can match the
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  world drink for drink, they'll listen to my gospel.
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  But does that work? Does that actually win people to
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  Christ? The source argues no.
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  It posits that this is positioning oneself beside wine
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  rather than beside Christ. It's seeking approval from the
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  culture by mimicking the culture, not by offering a
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  compelling alternative. The expert source uses a term
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  that really stuck with me, Liquid sovereignty.
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  That is a piercing phrase. Liquid sovereignty.
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  Can you unpack that? It describes the, well, the
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  functional atheism of a pastor who finishes a hard day, maybe a
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  brutal elder meeting, maybe a tragedy, and the very first
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  thing he does is pour a drink. Functional atheism that is
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  heavy. It is heavy, but think about the
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  theology of it. In that moment of stress, who is
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  his God? Where does he go for peace, for
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  comfort, for rest? He's not going to the throne of
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  grace. He's going to the bottle.
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  He's acting as if God cannot soothe him, but alcohol can.
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  That's it. And the danger is the idol of
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  comfort. If your patience with your kids,
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  your relaxation, your ability to be nice to your wife depends on
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  that drink, you've crossed the line.
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  From liberty to slavery. Yes, you are seeking sovereignty
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  in a liquid. You're letting a chemical rule
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  your spirit. And for a watchman, for a
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  shepherd, that is a dereliction of duty.
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  OK, so we've laid out the theology, the history, and the
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  cultural danger. But now we have to get
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  practical, because churches actually have to choose elders.
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  They do. This isn't just theory.
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  And it's not like you can just give a candidate a breathalyzer
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  test and be done with it. So how does a search committee
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  or a session practically evaluate if a man is not a
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  drunkard in this deep biblical sense?
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  The sources outlined several diagnostic tests.
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  These are tools for discernment. They're not a checklist, but a
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  guide. Let's run through them.
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  What's the first one? The first is the pattern test.
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  Is there a history of regular overindulgence?
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  The Church needs to look at the long game.
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  This isn't about one mistake five years ago.
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  It's about the pattern of a man's life.
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  So does he have a track record of knowing when to stop?
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  Or is there a pattern of oops, I went too far again Exactly.
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  That seems basic, but it's a necessary starting point.
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  OK, what's next? The mastery test, as what we
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  touched on earlier. Can he abstain?
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  Gladly. Gladly, that's the keyword.
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  It is if you asked him to give it up for a season, maybe for
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  the sake of a weaker brother in the congregation, would he do it
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  with joy or would he grumble and fight for his rights?
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  The man who says I can stop anytime but never actually does.
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  That man is likely mastered. His reaction to restriction
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  tells you everything. That is a great test.
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  The reaction to the suggestion of restriction tells you a lot
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  about the heart. Absolutely.
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  Then there is the judgement test.
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  Does alcohol ever diminish his clarity or his speech?
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  Does he get loose lipped? Does he say things he regrets?
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  Does he get overly sentimental or on the other hand, angry?
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  Elders live and die by their words.
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  They do. If alcohol changes his words, if
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  it makes him unreliable or foolish, it disqualifies him
• 18:33
  from an office that depends on wise counsel.
• 18:36
  What about how others see him? His reputation.
• 18:38
  That's the reputation test. Would his neighbors, his Co
• 18:42
  workers or his non Christian friends describe him as a
• 18:45
  drinking man if that is his primary descriptor?
• 18:48
  In their minds, he has failed the test of being not near wine.
• 18:52
  He's already too close. He's too close.
• 18:54
  The reputation is already there. And finally.
• 18:57
  The fruit test. This is often the most revealing
• 19:01
  and the hardest to assess from the outside.
• 19:04
  What is the fruit of his drinking in his home?
• 19:07
  Does it produce peace that produce tension?
• 19:11
  Does his wife walk on egg shells after he's had a few?
• 19:13
  Do his kids know a different dad after 8:00 PM?
• 19:16
  That leads to the need for corroboration.
• 19:18
  You can't just take the guy's word for it on these things.
• 19:20
  We cannot. We are experts at deceiving
• 19:22
  ourselves about our own habits and addictions.
• 19:25
  A wise session will talk to the wife if it is appropriate and
• 19:28
  safe to do so. That's a critical caveat, right?
• 19:30
  They will talk to close friends, to other men in his life.
• 19:33
  Yeah. And they will ask specific
• 19:35
  questions, not just do you drink.
• 19:36
  But do you drink to manage stress?
• 19:39
  Yes. Has alcohol ever affected your
• 19:41
  temper? Has it ever caused conflict in
• 19:43
  your marriage? Those are hard questions to ask,
• 19:46
  but they protect the flock. They are Shepardy questions.
• 19:48
  They're born of love, not suspicion.
• 19:51
  No, I want to hit some of the edge cases and objections
• 19:53
  because life is complicated. We have already touched on the
• 19:56
  Bible has wine objection. Right, and the answer remains.
• 20:00
  The presence of wine as a good gift doesn't negate the
• 20:05
  prohibition it against being controlled by it.
• 20:07
  It's not about the liquid, it's about the Lordship.
• 20:10
  Here is a tougher one. What about the former drunkard?
• 20:13
  The guy who was an alcoholic in his 20s, got saved, has been
• 20:17
  sober for 10 years. He is a godly man, serves the
• 20:20
  church faithfully. Can he be an elder?
• 20:23
  This is a really sensitive area and the source distinguishes
• 20:27
  between restoration to fellowship and qualification for
• 20:30
  office. Unpack that distinction for us.
• 20:32
  The. Gospel offers full and free
• 20:34
  restoration to fellowship. If a former drunkard repents, he
• 20:37
  is washed, he is sanctified, he is justified.
• 20:40
  He's a member of the body in good standing.
• 20:43
  No question, he's a brother. But the office?
• 20:45
  The office requires being above reproach.
• 20:49
  The source argues that a history of a life wrecking public sin
• 20:52
  like addiction might require a very long season of testing and
• 20:57
  in some cases, for the protection of the man himself
• 21:00
  and the safety of the flock. It might mean he remains a
• 21:02
  faithful member but never holds the office of Overseer.
• 21:06
  Because the pressure of the office, the spiritual warfare,
• 21:08
  might trigger a relapse. That's part of it, and also the
• 21:12
  need for public confidence. If the community knows him as
• 21:15
  the guy who used to wreck his life with drink, it takes a
• 21:18
  very, very long time to rebuild that blameless reputation that
• 21:22
  Paul requires. So it's not about forgiveness,
• 21:24
  it is about fitness for a specific public facing task.
• 21:28
  Exactly. It's a high and holy calling and
• 21:30
  the standards are high to protect the church.
• 21:32
  What about medicinal use? Paul tells Timothy to take a
• 21:34
  little wine for his stomach. Right.
• 21:36
  And the source acknowledges that medicinal use is valid, but it
• 21:40
  comes with a warning. It must not become a cloak for
• 21:43
  craving. We have to be honest with
• 21:45
  ourselves. Deeply honest.
• 21:47
  Are we taking it for the stomach or for the buzz?
• 21:50
  And even with legitimate medication, impairment is
• 21:52
  impairment. If a medication makes a man
• 21:55
  unable to think clearly, he might need to step back from
• 21:58
  active oversight while he is on it.
• 21:59
  And one more objection, context. It's normal in my culture.
• 22:03
  You know, maybe in Europe or certain parts of the world, wine
• 22:05
  with lunch is just what you do. It's not a big deal.
• 22:08
  Context matters, but the expert source argues that context
• 22:12
  cannot lower the bar. The standard is always above
• 22:15
  reproach. In some context where alcoholism
• 22:18
  is rampant, or where there are many new believers from
• 22:21
  backgrounds of addiction, the most loving use of liberty might
• 22:25
  be total abstinence. So even if it's normal, an elder
• 22:28
  might choose to abstain to avoid being a stumbling block.
• 22:31
  Correct. The question is not what is my
• 22:33
  culture doing. The question is, what does my
• 22:35
  flock need from its shepherd? We're coming to the end of our
• 22:38
  time, and I want to land this plane by looking at the big
• 22:40
  picture. We've talked about rules and
• 22:42
  Greek and tests, but there's an eschatological conclusion here,
• 22:46
  isn't there? Why does this matter for the end
• 22:48
  of the world? It matters because the elder is
• 22:51
  a watchman. A watchman.
• 22:53
  Yes. Think of the city walls.
• 22:55
  In ancient times, the watchman's job was to stay awake while the
• 22:59
  city slept, to watch for the enemy, to watch for the King's
• 23:02
  return. And you cannot watch if you're
• 23:04
  drowsy. Or drunk first.
• 23:06
  Peter 4.7 puts it perfectly. The end of all things is at
• 23:10
  hand. Therefore be self controlled and
• 23:12
  sober minded. Why?
• 23:14
  So you can pray? So you could be vigilant.
• 23:17
  The intoxicated watchman is a traitor to the city.
• 23:19
  He is. He is sleeping on his post.
• 23:21
  He's a danger to everyone he's supposed to protect.
• 23:24
  That is a chilling image. The enemy is prowling like a
• 23:26
  lion and the watchman is Buzz. Correct.
• 23:29
  The call to sobriety is not just about behaving nicely.
• 23:31
  It's not about PR. It is about spiritual warfare.
• 23:34
  It's about being ready for the return of Christ.
• 23:36
  You know, there's one final thought from the source that
• 23:39
  really, really struck me. It's about Jesus at the cross.
• 23:42
  Yes, when Jesus was on the cross, they offered him wine
• 23:45
  mixed with myrrh. It was a stupefying drink, a
• 23:49
  painkiller, an anesthetic. And he refused it.
• 23:52
  He refused it. He tasted it and then pushed it
• 23:54
  away. Why?
• 23:55
  He chose to drink the cup of God's judgement with full
• 23:59
  consciousness. He did not take the edge off.
• 24:02
  He faced the full weight of wrath with a sober mind for us.
• 24:05
  That's incredible. He didn't numb himself to our
• 24:07
  salvation, no. Yeah, and the challenge for the
• 24:10
  elder, and really for all of us, is this.
• 24:13
  Let the elder be a man who needs no other stimulant than the
• 24:17
  gospel. Let him stand vigilant like his
• 24:19
  Savior until the true Vine returns.
• 24:22
  That is a powerful place to end. The gospel is enough.
• 24:25
  We do not need liquid sovereignty.
• 24:27
  No, we don't. We have the King of Kings.
• 24:29
  Amen. To our listener, I hope this
• 24:31
  deep dive has challenged you. I know it challenged me.
• 24:34
  Whether you're an elder aspiring to be 1 or just a member of the
• 24:37
  flock, consider your own habits. In light of this, consider your
• 24:39
  stewardship. Are you watching or you sitting
• 24:42
  beside the wine? It's a question worth asking.
• 24:45
  Thanks for listening to Reformed Thinking.
• 24:46
  We'll see you next time.