Dealing with Addiction Pt 1: A Reason for Hope
Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Luke 4: 18-19
Date: 14 March 2010
Elevator: You can have hope for the addicted
Bible
Sometimes it seems like the words ‘Addiction’ and ‘substance abuse’ are always in the news. They are frequently hitting the headlines! Consider this small sample. In the middle of last year the Law Commission conducted a major review on alcohol laws. Just before Christmas there were the news stories about obesity and people’s obsession with food. In January news reports told us about problem gambling in the post-Christmas period amongst the poor. On 6 February a Manawatu man was charged with possessing over 300,000 porn images on his computer, many of them of children. That same month TV1 played a rerun of Paul Holmes documentary called ‘Chasing the Ghost,’ explaining that N.Z. has the highest ‘P’ rate in the world! On 3 March there was a stoush between the Police and Air NZ over a pilot’s drink-driving convictions. Wednesday afternoon –addiction was Danny Watson’s main topic on Newstalk ZB. On Thursday night it was reported that actor Corey Haim has died as the result of an addiction to medication. On Friday the tobacco company Philip Morris testified before a Parliamentary Committee and said that if people wanted to kill themselves from smoking then that’s their democratic right! And on Saturday –tell me -did anything happen about addiction? If so, call it out if it did. [Pause]
News of addiction and compulsive, abusive behaviour is now becoming so common that I believe that we are becoming increasingly deaf to the issue. It’s a bit like our reaction to these –[drink driver with a broken arm]. It’s seems like the more horrible the drink drive adverts get, the more people seem to ignore them.
So over these two weeks we are going to look at the serious problem of addiction, and what you can do about it. In particular this morning I want to explode four key myths about addiction. I want to blow four common misunderstandings right out of the water today.
1. The first myth is that “Addiction isn’t a serious problem in NZ.” Yeah right!
It seems like we are in national denial about this, so consider this assortment of statistics:
-125,000 teenagers under 17 are binge drinkers, with about 50,000 drinking at least once a week “with the intention of getting drunk.”
-Approximately 667,000 Kiwis engage in harmful levels of alcohol and drug use each year. (The BERL report)
-1000 kiwis die each year from alcohol related deaths (Alcohol Action NZ, 2009)
-A survey of more than 25-year-olds found one in three admitted to an alcohol problem and one in 20 was alcohol-dependent or had an addiction where liquor ruled their lives (Otago University’s Christchurch School of Medicine 2007)
-At any given time between 10,000-60,000 people are problem gamblers. Each problem gambler is likely to affect between 5-15 other people to some degree, so the number of adults and children affected by their own or someone else’s gambling ranges up to 500,000.
-Each year second hand smoke causes more than 500 children under 2 to be admitted to hospital with chest infections.
-100,000 people used Amphetamines last year. 33,000 were regular.
-New Zealand has one of the highest rates of met amphetamine use in the world.
-76,000 people committed crimes last year while influenced by drugs and alcohol.
-Public health sector costs for alcohol harm is $655 million a year, crime and related costs $240 million, Social Welfare costs $200 million, and other government spending $330 million. The total cost of harmful alcohol use in New Zealand is? Between $4.8 billion and $5.3 billion. The total cost of alcohol and other drugs combined is? Approximately $6.9 billion!
But those of you who know your Bible you will also be aware that addiction and substance abuse can be a hidden, but very real problem in any society. The biggest problem in Bible times was with wine or alcohol. It ruined people individually. Proverbs 20:1 says, “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.” Ephesians 5:18 says, “ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.” Proverbs 23 says, “(20) Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, (21) for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags. (29) Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? (30) Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.”
But it can also affect a whole society. Joel 3:3 says, “They sold girls for wine that they might drink.” Proverbs 31:4-6 advises, “It is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, (5) lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.” And Isaiah 28:7 pictures a whole society where “Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.”
Folks, it’s time to tell the truth. Wellington, we have a serious problem here.
2. But the second myth is that “It will never affect me.” Many good people like to imagine that addiction only affects people a long, long way away, perhaps somewhere poor, certainly not right next-door, definitely not in their own home. But beware -the problem of addiction may be closer than you think once you understand the problem
For instance Webster’s dictionary defines addiction as “to surrender oneself to something obsessively or habitually.” Gerald May says, “Addiction is a persistent, compulsive dependence on a behaviour or substance.” While I quite like Edward Welch’s slightly more spiritual definition. He says, “Addiction is bondage to the rule of a substance, activity, or state of mind, which then becomes the centre of life, defending itself from the truth so that even bad consequences don’t bring repentance, and leading to further estrangement from God. To locate it on the theological map, look under sin[1].”
Dr. David Eckman points out that addiction can be seen in a variety of ways such as: 1. Sexual problems like pornography, 2. Eating and weight disorders, 3. Workaholism, 4. The desire to control or be controlled, 5. Gambling, 6. Smoking and alcohol abuse, and 7. Illegal or prescription drug misuse. But most importantly Eckman estimates that at any one time 10% of a congregation (or any group) is addicted to something (involved in damaging behaviour), 30% are compulsive (their hearts are preoccupied with it for pleasure), and everyone will be tempted at one time or another.
You see at heart (as Alcoholic Anonymous agrees) addiction is a spiritual disorder. Okay some people may have a genetic disposition due to hereditary factors, but it begins in here [heart]. As 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man, “ so anyone could be affected. It can affect anyone in your network. It might be a work colleague. It could be friends and associates, or a family member. It might be your child. (A number of you have shared with me that the person with the addiction was your Mum or Dad). It might be you! It could be anyone, and so you need to be equipped to deal with addiction. (It’s part of your basic training like First Aid or CPR).
3. The third myth is that “There is no hope.” And this is a bit sad, because many people when they do meet someone with addiction or if they suffer it themselves give up. They avoid and possibly write the person off. They decide that this situation is too hard, too difficult, too demanding to ever change. They think I can’t do anything about it. Well, a bit of self-care is important (and sometimes you do need to withdraw to look after yourself), but the idea that there is no hope is a barefaced lie from the devil! It is completely wrong!
How do we know this? -Because Jesus Himself came, died on the cross and rose again in order to set free people from their addictions (and obviously do a whole lot of other things). Let’s read what Jesus Himself says in Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV) (18) “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; (19) to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
This directly addresses the needs of the addicted person. As I’ll explain next week addiction often begins because there is unresolved pain in a person’s life. There is pain that they are struggling to cope with. Well Jesus comes and he heals the broken-hearted. He heals the ache inside people’s hearts. Addicts are like also prisoners. When you are addicted you are enslaved to repetitive destructive habits. You know what I discovered on a PBC Men’s Camp many years ago? Addictions and sin are incredibly predictable and boring. You go through the same routine and motions again and again. Well Jesus came to liberate the captives. He came to set the people free!
Also addicts create and inhabit their own little world of fantasy. They fantasise that this behaviour makes me more confident, sexier, better loved or more able to conqueror the world, when all the while it’s really destroying them. But Jesus has come to give sight to the blind so that they can really see. Jesus has come so that the oppressed can see reality and be set truly free! Some of you here today are living testimonies so how Jesus can do this.
What those of you who have been around church for a while will realise is that what we are talking about is sanctification. Jesus came to free humanity from the selfish cravings of their flesh, and the warped influence of the world. He came to bring us life and life in all its spiritual and emotional abundance (Luke 20:20). God’s whole purpose in sending Christ is to deal with the roots of addiction in our lives! It may not be instantaneous. It may well be a lifelong process, but because this is God’s purpose in sending Jesus Christ, you have immense reasons for hope and immense resources to help you! You will never ever meet an addict that Christ didn’t die for or send His Holy Spirit for. There’s hope!
4. And the fourth big myth is that “It’s got nothing to do with me! (x2)” I mean it’s easy to shrug the shoulders at times isn’t it? It’s easy to think, “This is someone else’s problem or responsibility.” But honestly I’m not so sure! We are called to be what Pastor Murray Robertson calls a ‘redemptive community.’ The church is about redeeming people. After all, the mantle that was on Jesus shoulders when he said those words in Luke has now shifted to you and me.
What this means is that we need to:
1. Tell the truth about addiction and proclaim the hope there is in Jesus. You need to be very clear with people about where their destructive behaviour is leading them, but also to hold out warmly the great hope that we have in Jesus. Jesus is the answer to the world’s problems. He’s given us what we need. As Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
2. Secondly we need to be examples and to set standards. As a church we need to be an alternative community where there are examples of drug, alcohol and addictive free behaviour. As Romans 14:21 says, “It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.”
This is why the Bible says church leaders are to be examples. They “are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain” 1 Timothy 3:8. Older women ought to “be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good” Titus 2:3. There need to be healthy attitudes in the body of Christ, the church, because we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
3. And lastly we need to support each other. The fact is that we are called to be our brother and sister’s keeper. We are called to bear each other’s burdens and to help each other along the road for there are many us who used to be involved in various addictions.
One example of this is in the Lord’s Supper, which we are about to take part in. For over 1800 years the Christian church celebrated the Lord’s Supper with proper wine, but in the 1800’s people like us made a very important decision. The majority of Baptist’s decided, that although God does not forbid the consumption of alcohol in the Bible, they would abstain from its use in Communion. This was a sign of solidarity with their brothers and sisters who suffered from alcoholism, but also recognition that not everything you can do is necessarily good for you and others. They made a conscientious decision in their own way to support others who struggled with addiction. We need to too!
C. That’s why I’m asking you to join us and the public 7:30pm this Wednesday night for a free information evening run by Abacus Counselling where you can find out how to addiction proof your family, to recognise the signs of abuse, discover forms of intervention, learn how to build family support structures and all about treatment options. Consider coming along with a work mate, a family member or neighbour who might benefit as well.
And do join us next Sunday morning, when we will look at how you can break the addiction cycle in you and in others. Join us and bring a friend to both of these meetings.
Let’s pray.
[1] Welch, Edward T., Addictions , p. 35
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