The Stories That Jesus Told
Sermon # 16
“The Parable of Cloth and the Wineskins”
or
Are You Willing To Change?
(Luke 5:33-39)
There is something about all of us that is
resistant to change. The Song “As It Was In the Beginning” could be the
theme song of many churches. Someone has said that the last seven words of a church are:
“We’ve
never done it that way before.” The church is an institution with great
tradition. These traditions should be respected but not worshiped. And
sometimes we need to stop and ask “Why
Do We Do The Things We Do?”
“A Newlywed husband watched
his wife preparing a pot roast. As he watched she cut off one end of the roast and set it
aside. He asked her why she did this. She answered, “Because my mother always cut off
the end of roast.” The man was still
confused so he went to his mother-in-law and asked the same question. She said. “Because
my mother always did it that way!” The man still thought it was
strange and so he went to his wife’s grandmother and asked her about this strange
family practice. The old woman just laughed and said, She always cut off the end of the
roast because they didn’t have a pan big enough to hold the hold roast.”
Some traditions are like that!
Perhaps we need to give ourselves a quick
mental examination this morning. How do we react when faced with change in the church? How often do I say things like, “That will
never work” or “We did not do it that way at my last church.”
Now before you get all nervous, let me put
your mind at ease, I am not using this sermon to introduce some wise spread change in the
church. I just want us to examine ourselves to see if we are willing to change if God
wants us to!
There are two extremes that are evident in
the Church of today. Many churches today refuse anything new and as a consequence lack the
joy and the power that God has for them. Other churches are just the opposite they accept every
new thing that comes along and in the process destroy the old things that should be
preserved.
This morning in our
series “The Stories That Jesus Told”
we are going to be looking at the Parable of the Cloth and the Wineskins and asking
ourselves the question “Am I willing to Change?”
Notice with me three
things that Jesus warns us to beware of….
First, Beware
of Being Too Spiritual To Be Joyful. (vv.
33-35)
The scribes and Pharisees were not only
upset at the disciple’s friends, but at the obvious joy as they fellowshipped with
Jesus and the guest. Verse thirty-three,
“Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John
fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”
(34) And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the
bridegroom is with them? (35) But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken
away from them; then they will fast in those days.”
There were a number of issues which by this
time had caused the Scribes and the Pharisees to be unhappy with Jesus. He had healed the
paralyzed man who had been lowered into his presence by forgiving his sins (Lk 5:19-20).
He was willing to eat a meal with Matthew a tax collector and other guests who were
sinners (Lk 5:27-30). And Jesus’ disciples did not fast by the rules that scribes and
Pharisees held as important (v.32).
By time Jesus came on
the scene the Pharisees had decreed that “godly” people must fast twice a week
(Mondays and Thursday). But the real issue is never stated. It really is not about
fasting. The real issue is; “Why are your disciples able to enjoy life while
we merely endure it?” The
sinners are celebrating; the Pharisees are grumbling. The sinners are happy; the Pharisees
are sad. The sinners are enjoying life; the Pharisees only endure it.
For them fasting was synonymous with
mourning. To the Pharisees fasting was a sacrifice of the flesh in order to attract the
attention of God. The overall affect of their views on fasting was to portray true
religion as solemn, joyless and gloomy. The
underlying idea is that you cannot be spiritual unless you were uncomfortable. For the
Pharisee’s spirituality
consists of doing things you do not want to do, and refraining from things that you do
want to do. It sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it?
But Jesus tells them
that his presence alone justified a feast. Just
as one was excused from fasting when they a part of the bridegrooms party, so it would
have wrong if not down right impossible for his disciples to mourn while in the presence
of the Lord of Heaven.
Not only Does He point
Out the Danger of Being Too Spiritual Too Be
Joyful but…
Secondly, Beware of Being
Too Good Too See Your Need – (vv. 36-38)
Some people think they are pretty good and
only need Jesus to come and patch up their lives. Jesus tells that he has not come to
patch up the old but to give something completely new. Jesus said as much when He spoke
first of putting new patches on old garments beginning in verse thirty-six, “Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a
new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was
taken out of the new does not match the old.”
I have a pair of blue jeans that are just
too comfortable to get rid of. You know the
kind they are worn in “just right.” But unfortunately they have also developed
some holes that could get me arrested it I wore them out in public. So what is a man to
do? I could ask my wife to mend them, but I too ashamed to ask because I know what she
will say, “Mend
what? There is not enough left here to mend!” So the only choice I have left
is to do it myself. So I get some of those iron-on-patches and go to town. It only took
two packets of them to get all the holes covered. The
patches were satisfactory until the time came that the sacred jeans had to be washed and
dried. When they came out of the clothes-drier all the patches that I had so carefully
placed were gone. Apparent no permanent bond was made.
Many people have a “patchwork”
religion of their own making, instead of trusting Christ alone. Too many people when they hear about Jesus just
try to add Him to whatever is already in their lives but verse thirty-six tells us that
this will not work.
When Jesus comes into your life. His goal
is not to reform you. His purpose is to
transform you. We are sinners by nature and by choice. To try and “fix”
our sinful nature is like my unsuccessful patches on my old jeans. Paul tells us in 2
Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone ?is in Christ, he is
??a new creation; ??old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become ??new.”
Beyond the personal
application, Jesus states very clearly that he did not come to patch up the old religious
system but to give us something new as well. The
New Testament grows out of the Old, but is fulfillment of, rather than an addition to the
Old. Jesus was saying that the old forms of Judaism were not suitable for containing the
force of the gospel. There is power in the
gospel that demands a new container. The
church became that new container.
In verse thirty-seven
and thirty-eight Jesus adds a second parable about placing new wine in old wineskins, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine
will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. (38) But new
wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Jesus often used very subtle Jewish humor
in his teaching, using things that were so silly or foolish as to be comical such as
straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. This parable would funny because he is
insinuating that only an idiot would put new wine in an old wineskin. Because everyone
listening probably rolled with laughter because they knew what would happen. An old
wineskin already expanded and hardened would become rigid. It was hilarious to imagine the
result of pouring new wine into the old wineskin. Perhaps I can give you a modern
equivalent. As a young boy I got the bright idea (I use that word advisedly) of putting an
unopened can of bean into the fireplace to heat (no I did not put a air hole it). Well
after several minutes let’s just say it heated up. A better description was it
exploded. Beans on the ceiling, beans on the
walls, beans on the furniture, beans….. well I think you get the picture.
This is the kind of picture that Jesus is
giving of attempting to put new wine in an old wineskin. In Acts Chapter 2 the new wine of
the Holy Spirit was poured out into the new wineskin of the Church.
Beware of Being Too Good Too See Your Need and…
Third, Beware of
Being Too Comfortable To Change. (v. 39)
It’s a dangerous condition when a
person’s mind loses the ability to be stretched. To ever stop learning or being open
to new revelations of truth is a hazardous spiritual condition. Jesus
Himself recognized
it is much more comfortable and pleasant to stick with the “old ways.” That’s
why He said in verse thirty nine, “no one drinking the
old wine desires the new, for he says, ‘the old is better.’” Jesus
wasn’t making a judgment about the superiority of aged wine; He was making an
observation about human nature. We like new cars, new houses and new toys, but we don’t
like new ways, new ideas or new truth. Nobody enjoys change. We all enjoy our normal
“routines.” We like to sit in the same seat at church every Sunday. Routines
become habits and habits become ruts – and a rut is nothing but a grave with both
ends kicked out.
I believe that He was
looking right at the Pharisees when he concluded his thoughts with verse thirty-nine. He
was telling the Pharisees, the religious conservatives of their day, that they had
forgotten why they did what they did, they had forgotten that they were to tell
“sinners” that there was a God who loved them.
They had become so exclusive that they forgot their reason for existence. Unfortunately the church of today, can become so
busy doing good things that we forget that have been left here with a commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
You see, we all can
get too comfortable where we are. We get comfortable with the time we come to worship.
There is nothing sacred about the 11:00 on Sunday morning. Do you realize that was a
concession to a time when most American families had to milk the cows and do their chores
before they could come to church?
We get comfortable with the style of
worship that we like. Are we willing to re-arrange a few things if that is what God has
for us? Or would we rather just stay the way that we are? Are we interested in God doing a
“new” thing here at First Baptist?
Sadly, we like the old
wine, the old ways. We tend to view the old as better simply because it is old and be
suspect of the new. But we need to take note that the people God has always blessed most
have been those who have guarded against becoming like old hard wineskins.
Rudyard Kipling once accompanied General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army to a
foreign country. They were met by a group of Christians who were dancing and playing
tambourines. Kipling, a proper
young Englishman,
was shocked by this activity. His orthodox soul resented the dancing and tambourines and
he expressed his displeasure to General Booth. Booth replied, “young
man, if I thought I could win one more soul for Christ by standing on my head and beating
a tambourine with my feet, I would learn how to do it.”
Conclusion
So how about you today
are you
Too Spiritual To Be Joyful.
Too Good Too See Your Need.
Too Comfortable To Change.