The Gospel According to Beer
I reckon Aussie Beer commercials are pretty funny
They capture something of the Aussie larrikin spirit, and they remind us to not take ourselves too seriously.
We have ads with blokes doing bombies into spa's; cooking our national symbol on the bbq; enjoying late night lamb sandwiches (kebabs), catapulting deer into the clouds to make it rain beer (???), getting lifts home from the pub in pizza delivery cars, and speaking ‘woman’ to a mates missus to explain to her why he should be allowed to go away with the boys. And of course to be successful you’ve got have a really big canoe (which goes without saying really).
Carlton Draught have some funny ads.
"Through the power of Dance Kevin DID become a Brewery worker"
And what a great slogan: 'Made from Beer'
Some of their other ads are a bit weird!
Weird hey!
But I also like Aussie beer commercials because they touch on deeper issues. They whet our appetite for something real and satisfying; they promise us a more fulfilling lifestyle; they present a solution to some of the drudgery in our lives; or they promise to quench a deeper thirst in us.
So how do beer ads point us to God?
Beer is sometimes marketed as a heavenly or utopian beverage.
The reason this beer is so good is because it’s been brewed in some heavenly, angelic paradise.
And that’s what we want isn’t it – something pure and good, something from out of this world that might satisfy us.
The bible says alcohol is 'from a place much more pure than yours'.
It describes heaven like this: “The LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine - the best of meats and the finest of wines.” (Isaiah 25:6)
It also says alcohol is a good gift from God for us to enjoy: "God made wine to “gladden the heart of man” (Psalm 104:15)
But it's not the thing that can quench our deepest thirst.
It's a good gift to enjoy, and we're to honour Him with it. So "whether you eat or drink...do it all for the glory of God". (1 Corinthians 10:31)
But that's a challenge for us because we live in a world that's not so pure.
It's hard to do the right thing, all the time.
“Every call you make affects your man-brand”
How’s your man-brand? Have you always stayed premium?
Of course not! None of us have. We’ve all made calls we shouldn’t have.
It’s hard to say no to temptation and to always do the right thing.
And drinking the right brand of beer isn’t going to help us make the right choices, especially if we've had a few of them!
"Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise". (Proverbs 20:1)
Too much alcohol can lead to some pretty messy stuff (stupid choices, big regrets, broken relationships, fights, getting behind the wheel, and sadly even injuring or killing other people).
So it's important we don't let alcohol control us (by getting drunk) or enslave us (by becoming dependent on it, or addicted to it) or cause us to hurt others.
"It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall" (Romans 14:21)
It's hard to stay premium all the time. And when we give into temptation, we sin. And that's our biggest problem.
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...and the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23, 6:23)
And there’s nothing we can do to make ourselves pure or premium again. No amount of good deeds can undo what we've done.
But thankfully, God doesn't write us off.
Another campaign I really like is the Tooheys New ‘official currency of the beer economy'
It's about helping your mates and getting paid in beer.
Apparently we’d do anything ‘for the love of beer’.
And the scabbier the job, the more beers it’s worth.
The beer economy is pretty simple: the scabbier the job you do for a mate, the more beers it’s worth.
The bible describes Jesus as the True Mate. He didn't just turn water into wine, he came to do he scabbiest job of all.
Jesus said: “No one has greater love than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
And that’s what he did. He died a brutal death on the cross, in our place, for our sins, so we could be forgiven and not come under God's judgment.
“Christ died for sins – the righteous for the unrighteous – to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18)
Talk about 'helping a mate'!
How many cases was that worth? All the beer in the universe couldn’t pay him back.
But he didn’t do it ‘for the love of beer’.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” ( John 3:16)
Jesus is the true friend, who serves us, and doesn’t expect any payment in return.
And that’s the new currency of God’s economy – grace. It's free.
We don’t deserve it, we can’t earn it, and we could never pay it back.
What do you believe?
It’s one thing to believe that Australia is the best country in the world (and it is hard to argue against that!)…but I'm not sure many Aussies would think Fosters is the best beer we have to offer.
What do you believe? Not just about beer, but the bigger issues of life? Who is God? How can you know Him? How can you be acceptable to Him?
I believe beer is a good thing, but it can become a bad thing if:
we look to it as the high point of our day (‘I can’t wait to get home to have a beer’…or five?);
we rely on it to help us socially (‘I’ll be right once I get a few drinks into me’);
we turn to it for comfort or to escape from realities we’d rather forget (like being lonely, or hating ourselves for who we are, what we’ve done, or what we’ve become).
Beer is good, but it's not the solution we need. We need another drink - one that's out of this world.
Jesus said: “Everyone who drinks this (normal) water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life…If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…streams of living water will flow from within him.”( John 4:13-14; 7:37-38)
Jesus says he can quench our deepest thirst for life (now and forever), and that he can give it to us if we come to him.
Are you thirsty for that?
This beer is brewed with magical transforming water: “These pure waters are special, something goes in there, comes out different. But in a good way”.
I love the way these guys hit back!
What part of your life would you like to dip into that pure water to make it come out better?
We should probably throw our whole selves in there. We all need to be transformed, changed, made 'different – but in a good way'. Somehow cleansed from our impurities and made better.
But we can’t change ourselves. We need God to do that for us.
Maybe you need that?
“let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water”. (Hebrews 10:22)
Jesus can help you with that. He is the One who can forgive us, wash us clean, change us from the inside out - make us different, but in a good way.
Like the dove we have ‘homeward bound’ longings – we’re looking for a return to Eden, searching for a connection to God and a desire to end up in heaven when we die .
But we keep crashing into dead ends and cheap imitations. We know there’s a better world beyond the one we’re in, but we can’t find the way there.
Beer might help us to enjoy where we are; but it can’t get us to where we really need to be.
So Jesus came to lead us home.
He said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am….I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:1-6)
VB is the drinking beer for ‘everyone’ – cashed up bogans, manscaper’s, blokes punching above their weight, me and you.
'It doesn’t matter which banner you march under, it doesn’t matter who you are'; what you’re like or what you’ve done – Jesus invites everyone to drink.
He invites YOU to drink. And it’s his shout.
Here's his invitation and promise again: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life…If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 4:13-14; 7:37-38)
Are you thirsty for real life? Will you come to Jesus and drink?
He won’t let you down.
He will quench your thirst, and lead you to life – life to the full.
To find out more about Jesus, check out these talks:
Jesus – God with us, and God for us
To enter God’s kingdom you must…?
Got a problem with alcohol?
If beer has become your master, it's time to get some help.
Pray to God, and find some people who can help you move forward.
Here's a link to Alcoholics Anonymous
Guinness and God?
The story of the Guinness family is a remarkable one.
Whether through brewing beer or preaching to thousands, it's the story of many different people called and inspired to make a difference in many different ways.