Ephesians 5:17-21 Are you drinking the cup of blessing?

Summary: A verse by verse examination of what the book of Ephesians in the Bible teaches. This message covers Ephesians 5:17-21 discussion of drunkenness vs. cup of blessing.

Bible References:

Ephesians 5:17-21 ¹⁷Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  ¹⁸And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  ¹⁹Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;  ²⁰Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

2 Peter 3:9 ⁹The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 
Philippians 4:4-9 ⁴Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.  ⁵Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.  ⁶Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  ⁷And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  ⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  ⁹Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Proverbs 20:1 ¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Proverbs 23:29-35 ²⁹Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?  ³⁰They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.  ³¹Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  ³²At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.  ³³Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.  ³⁴Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.  ³⁵They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

Genesis 9:18-29 ¹⁸And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.  ¹⁹These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.  ²⁰And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:  ²¹And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.  ²²And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  ²³And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. ²⁴And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.  ²⁵And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.  ²⁶And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.  ²⁷God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. ²⁸And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.  ²⁹And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Habakkuk 2:15-17 ¹⁵Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!  ¹⁶Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD’S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.  ¹⁷For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

Genesis 19:30-38 ³⁰And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.  ³¹And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:  ³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.  ³³And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.  ³⁴And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.  ³⁵And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.  ³⁶Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.  ³⁷And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.  ³⁸And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 ⁹When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.  ¹⁰There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,  ¹¹Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.  ¹²For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.  ¹³Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.  ¹⁴For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

Romans 14:21-23 ²¹It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.  ²²Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.  ²³And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

1 Corinthians 10:4-24 ⁴And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.  ⁵But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. ⁶Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.  ⁷Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.  ⁸Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.  ⁹Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.  ¹⁰Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.  ¹¹Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.  ¹²Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.  ¹³There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.  ¹⁴Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.  ¹⁶The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?  ¹⁷For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.  ¹⁸Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?  ¹⁹What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?  ²⁰But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.  ²¹Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.  ²²Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? ²³All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.  ²⁴Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.