New Wineskins
33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 •The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told •them a parable•: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ” (Luke 5:33–39, ESV)
There are some buildings that are not worth saving. The first church I served at had three buildings that were separated from each other by a driveway that went between them to drop off people at the doors. It was a very old and impractical situation. We had a great idea for the church to build a lobby in that location with an amazing entrance that would be very inviting for guests. We hired an architect and quickly began to draft out the idea. By the time we were done the lobby was projected to cost two million dollars due to the elevation of the three buildings being different from each other by no more than six feet which would then require three elevators and then all the buildings needed a sprinkler system due to codes and other regulations began kicking in. At the time we were done we decided that we could use the back field of the property and build a brand new building the size of the three we owned for the same amount of money that it would cost to build a modest size lobby.
Jesus reminds us in this passage that you cannot put new ideas into old structures. When you do the structures cannot support the new ideas and they in turn begin to crumble. This is what happened to the Jewish culture with the arrival of Jesus. The idea of being saved by grace instead of works had nowhere to fit into their structure. The whole religious system was built on earning God’s favor through what you did or did not do. They could not fathom that there was nothing they could do to earn the favor of God. So the system shook violently until the only conclusion was to kill Jesus and destroy his ideas in order to preserve the system.
I find that people have a very difficult time accepting new ideas when it contradicts their current reality or beliefs. They tend to sabotage things in order to bring things back to what they were before. Is there a new relationship that you are unconsciously destroying because it does not fit your reality? Is there a project that you are against because it simply feels uncomfortable?
I find in church life, we constantly repel people from the faith because they do not fit our expectations of how a church attender should act or dress. I also find that we try to fit new ideas of buildings, policies, and procedures into a system that is worn out and cannot support these new things. Much of Jesus’ teachings were based in wisdom. He reminds us to stop and consider what we are doing instead of blindly following the blind. What in your life needs to change and what do you need to stop working against? May this be your prayer and may God lead you in new discoveries as you continue to follow him.
Pastor Aaron
Executive Pastor