How To Drink Orange Juice to the Glory

of God
September 15, 1986 | by John Piper | Topic: Christian Hedonism
Subscribe to...
When I asked two weeks ago, "Is the Doctrine of Total Depravity Biblical" my answer was, Yes.
And one thing I meant was that all of our actions (apart from saving grace) are morally ruined. In
other words, everything an unbeliever does is sinful and thus unacceptable to God.
I said that one of my reasons for believing this comes from 1 Corinthians 10:31. "Whether, then,
you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." I asked, "Is it sin to disobey this
Biblical commandment?" Yes.
So I draw this somber conclusion: It is sin to eat or drink or do anything NOT for the glory of
God. In other words, sin is not just a list of harmful things (killing, stealing, etc.). Sin is leaving
God out of account in the ordinary affairs of your life. Sin is anything you do that you don't do
for the glory of God.

But what do unbelievers do for the glory of God? Nothing. Therefore everything they do is
sinful. That is what I mean by saying that, apart from saving grace, all we do is morally ruined.
Some of you then asked the practical question: Well, how do you "eat and drink" to the glory of
God? Say, orange juice for breakfast?

One answer is found in 1 Timothy 4:3-5: "[Some] forbid marriage and advocate abstaining
from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the
truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with
gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer."
Orange juice was "created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe the truth."
Therefore, unbelievers cannot use orange juice for the purpose God intendednamely, as an
occasion for heartfelt gratitude to God from a truth heart of faith.
But believers can, and this is how they glorify God. Their drinking orange juice is "sanctified by
means of the word of God and prayer." The word of God teaches us that the juice, and even our
strength to drink it, is a free gift of God (1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Peter 4:11). The prayer is our

humble response of thanks from the heart. Believing this truth in the word, and offering thanks in
prayer is one way we drink orange juice to the glory of God.
The other way is to drink lovingly. For example, don't insist on the biggest helping. This is
taught in the context of 1 Corinthians 10:33, "I try to please all men in everything I do, not
seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved" (RSV). "Be imitators of
me, just as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). Everything we doeven drinking orange
juicecan be done with the intention and hope that it will be to the advantage of many that they
may be saved.
Let us praise God that we have escaped by his grace from the total ruin of all our deeds. And let
us do everything, whether we eat or drink, to the glory of our great God!
Seeking to saturate all of life with God,
Pastor John

 : .
( ) .

:
(. )01:13 .
. :
. , ,
. .
: .
.

: ,



:5-0:3

.


.


,

,
.
, .
. , ,
, :

.
( )4:3 :

. .

( .)11:3 .
.
. ,

.

( )00:13

(. .)1:11

.

 , ,
, .
.