New Cloth and New Wineskins

3/25/2000

Luke 5:10-11, 27-39; Heb 8:13; 6:4-6

CONTEXT

Luke chapter five is set in the context of Jesus selecting some of his first disciples. He selected Peter, James, and John who were uneducated fishermen. Jesus selected Levi a publican (tax collector). Levi became Matthew, the author of the gospel of Matthew. Soon after he was selected, Matthew gave, what we are learning to call, a "Matthew Party." Matthew invited his tax collecting and other friends to a party at his house to which he had also invited Jesus. The reason was obvious. Matthew wanted his friends to meet the savior.

Why were the Pharisees and scribes there?

Also at the party were some ever present Pharisees and scribes. My question is, Why were they at this party? I have two thoughts. One, there always seems to be critical religious people at every gathering. Someone is there that goes to church someplace where they are taught to be critical.

My second thought is probably the correct thought to the question of why were the Pharisees and scribes there? I suppose the answer should be obvious. Matthew invited them. It was Matthew's house. I believe it in within this thought that we find why the two parables were told (three actually) that we here look. Matthew not only was attempting to introduce his friends to the Lord. Matthew was also desiring that the Pharisees see that Jesus, if the Pharisees would allow him, could help them. It is in this direction that the parables are spoken. How many of us tend to believe or have been told that had the Jews accepted Jesus that he could have fixed that Jewish system? Much to our alarm, it could not have fixed it had he wanted. It was not fixable. More on this in a moment.

The Pharisees and scribes' problem.

(1) The Pharisees and scribes had a problem with Jesus and his disciples eating and drinking with publicans and sinners (Luk 5:30). They actually questioned Jesus and his disciples about why they did this. Jesus responded to them by saying, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luk 5:31-32). What was Jesus saying? He was saying that he came to love those that were distant from God. He came to minister to and care about those that were far from God. That was exactly what the Pharisees were supposed to have done. They knew it. So, instead of arguing that point, they seemed to stammer and stutter and quickly change the subject.

I am so thankful that the Lord is adjusting us in this area. We are actually seeing by the Spirit, that we need to reach out to those not serving the Lord. We all need to eat and drink with publicans and sinners.

(2) They said, "Well, well, uh . . . Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers . . . and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink? (Luk 5:33). Their problem was that the disciples of Jesus had too much fun. To them serving the Lord should be laborious and pious (noting wrong with being piety when done correctly). Jesus came to give us life and that abundantly. The kingdom of God is righteous and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is supposed to be enjoyable, not laborious. To the Pharisee and scribe, serving God should not be fun. Serving the Lord should be a hard thing. Jesus told them that John's disciples and the Pharisee's disciples were fasting and praying for the bridegroom to come. The disciples of Jesus had the bridegroom with them. They didn't need to fast. They had him.

How many of us have ever been around religious people that attempted to make us feel that we were not as "spiritual" as they were. We were having too much fun being a Christian. Going to church should not be fun. Serving the Lord should not be enjoyable.

TWO PARABLES (actually three)

It was at this point that Jesus told them two parables. The NIV version makes this passage very clear.

1. Old garment / New garment

Jesus explained that when a garment is old , worn out, and has a horrible hole in it, a person does not tear a piece from a new garment to patch the old garment. That would not be very intelligent. There are a few reasons for not doing this. First the new garment would now be ruined and need patching. Also, the material would not match. In actuality, the old garment is not corrected, it is just patched.

To understand the parable, we need to know what is meant by the old garment and what is meant by the new garment. The old referred to the Old Covenant. The new referred to the New Covenant. Jesus did not come to "fix" the Old Covenant. He came to fulfill it (Mat 5:17; Luk 24:44). Another way to say that would be to say that Jesus came to end the Old Covenant. Fulfill would mean to end.

Except it or not, the things of the Old Covenant are completed. That is true, or Jesus was inaccurate. He was not going to attempt to "restore" the Old with the New because there was no restoring. Remember what Hebrews 8:13 said, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. The old was not to be "restored." It was to end and vanish. The New covenant was so different from the Old that it would not match. In fact, attempting to "patch" the Old with the New would only make the hole worse and it would definitely ruin the New.

Jesus was not going to train his disciples in the ways of the Old. The New was to be enjoyable. The disciples of the New would not match the disciples of the Old. The New is an entirely different piece of garment. Actually, attempting to attach a New Covenant disciple to the Old would only make the tear worse. We are a new garment that displays the new covenant. We display the abundant life. We display the joy of the Lord. We display the righteousness and peace. We display that this covenant is enjoyable.

2. Old wineskins / New wineskins

Jesus told another parable. This parable was about, of all things, wineskins. What is a wineskin? Fermenting wine needed to be sealed, but released gasses. This required a container that would allow expansion. To accomplish this, the hide of an animal was removed in such a way that when, after tanning, the neck and four legs could be tied off and sealed. A container was provided that allowed expansion for the fermenting wine. Naturally, after the skin had been used, it was stretched and could not be used again.

Jesus said if a person poured new wine into old wineskins, the new wine will burst the skins. Jesus said, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.

Again the parable was about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Jesus did not come to "patch" (restore) the Old Covenant. He came to provide an entirely new wineskin. Attempting to include the New Covenant into the Old would burst it. Then the New wine of the New Covenant would be spilled out and wasted. No, No, No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.

The disciples of Jesus were new wineskins. They were totally different from the old. New in and of itself means not having the old in them. The disciples that Jesus selected did not have the old in them. Jesus chose twelve of the most unlikely people we can imagine. He chose uneducated fishermen, a tax collector, a Zealot, and others just like these. With these he would change the universe. None of us would have picked these to change the world. None of us would have picked these to build the church upon.

Jesus did not come to restore or patch the old. He came to fulfill or end the old and to establish the new. The old at best was a type and shadow (Heb 10:1). It was only the schoolmaster to bring us to the new (Gal 3:24-25). The old looked toward the coming of the Christ and the judgment that would end the old. The new can now look back at that coming and see and experience the mercy, love, the forgiveness, the peace, the joy that Jesus came to give.

Life Gate church is a new wineskin. We are able to expand as the new wine of his love and glory is poured into us. You are new wineskins. We are also a new garment. We are not at all like the old. People look at us and see that we enjoy our salvation. We enjoy the mercies and love of God and each other. We receive his forgiveness and we experience and express his love.

LUK 5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

The Lord's disciples would not be taken from the religious pool of trained Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees. His disciples would be those who have never tasted that stuff. Once that had gotten into a person, it was very difficult to change their taste. It was easier to go back to the old saying it was better. That is exactly what the book of Hebrews is about.

HEB 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

HEB 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

HEB 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

That simply will not work. Those trained in religious ways will revert back to those religious ways. The disciples of Jesus would be new wine, new wine skins, and a totally new garment.