In part one of The post ‘The New wine ’ we established some
important facts.
Ø
The promise of restoration of Wine and oil to
the nation of Israel was not only for that time but for the latter day when the
spirit is to be out poured in the whole world.
Ø
The promise of the new wine speaks of the era of
the spirit when the spirit is poured on all flesh. This has been inaugurated by
Jesus being manifested in flesh and after his death and resurrection the spirit
being released and poured on all flesh (Acts 2)
Ø
The Lord is
doing something new , by outpouring his spirit upon all today. He is
doing a new thing and it springs forth,,, the question remains “will you
perceive it ?” The threshing floor will
be full of grain and the vats overflowing with wine.
In the second part of this post, we examine the fact that
you don’t put new wine in old wineskin for the wineskin will burst out . We
also don’t do it the other way round; put old wine in New wineskin for it
simply cannot be compatible.
Scrip: Matt 9:17, Mark 2:22,Luke 5:37-38
First of all before we engage further, lets shed off the old
thinking, the old mentality of lack, striving , always struggling to get things
and acquiring status, being people pleaser, etc. I will call this the Old wine
skin mentality for now.
We have seen that Jesus brought with him something new,
superfluous and out of this world which is to succeed the old frail, monotonous, predictable, boring,
religious way of thinking. Jesus did not bring an improvement of the old order
neither does he intend to patch up the old cloth with a piece of a new one. He
brings something totally new.
Matthew 9:16-17: “No
one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull
away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine
into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and
the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and
both are preserved.. N I V
The Pharisees wanted to pin Jesus down and to disgrace him
by opposing his ministry in every way. This time they accused his disciples of
not fasting as the others were. This kind of fault finding judgmental
tendencies was what they had superbly specialized in. However in their endeavor
they missed the point completely. They thought they could confound Jesus into
their little winy behavior modification system of religion. What was unknown to
them is that Jesus did not bring a behavior modification scheme but a whole
different way of life.
The pharisaical way of thinking is that of patching a new
cloth on an old garment. It looks like repair on the old garment of which
result is catastrophic. You don’t want to do that .If you bury your head in the
detail of religion, ou will miss out on Christ. Religion is basically a way of
life which is performance based . Its fueled by how well you feel you can pray,
how well you have mastered your bible (With the aim of proving others wrong),
it could also manifest the good things we do in the name of God ignorantly but missing out on the newness and freshness
that Christ brings.
I have found out that whenever I seek to do things of Christ
with an old mindset, I get to be frustrated. I may appear to be zealous on the
outside but hurting and remorseful in the inside. I may do good things
religiously giving praise and honor to God but murmuring J Ryle says that we
need to be careful not to attach excessive importance to lesser things of
religion.[1]
When we attach so much meaning to our outward expression. How good we look, how
happy we make people be, we’re likely falling into religion and missing out on
the new life, freedom in the spirit that Christ has for us.
Peter the apostle tells that we have been rescued from an
empty way of life.
1st Peter 1:18 For you know that it was not with perishable
things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life
handed down to you from your ancestors 1st peter 1:18.
I will equate this empty way of
life with the worthless, empty way of life handed over to us by our ancestors.
The empty way of life could be human tradition we have held on to for ages.. it
could have been wisdom packaged and filtered through human minds and passed on
to us that creep in subtly and occupy the spaces in our hearts where the true
unadulterated word of God is supposed to settle.
I would ask you what kind of
garment are you? Do you want to take the promises of God, the fresh new things
that God promises and patch against an Old heart ? Is that even worth your time
and effort? Why wouldn’t you allow the fresh wave of the spirit overwhelm and
flood your heart with his loving kindness? Why would you waste your precious
time patching up worn out segments of your garment and God is inviting you into
something altogether lovely and new? He with one stroke of loving kindness and mercy
can give you a whole new heart, change your heart completely.
Why do you labor so hard for that
which doesn’t satisfy, why do you spend so much on that which is not bread
?(Isaiah 55:1-2) Come to the waters. Come to him who pours into you new wine, New
way of thinking. Receive the spirit through whom we receive life and all that
pertains it freely from God. Come , ooh Come yee.
[1]
J.C Ryle,Matthew (Expository Thoughts on the gospels ):The Banner of Truth
trust,Edinburg(2012),7
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