Opening Illustration: Show the wine skin – explain the meaning of Jesus teaching here to the church.
The teaching is simple – you cannot put new wine in to old wineskins because the old worn out skins will burst and the new wine will be lost. Instead there needs to be new wine and a new skin to contain the natural process of fermentation which will expand the wine skin. The new skin is flexible and therefore can sustain the pressure of expansion whereas the old wineskin is rigid and unable to expand and therefore it splits and breaks open.
Jesus knew that the Pharisees where irked with him because he was not following their manmade traditions of religion. They wanted to know why he was allowing his disciples to break long standing traditions. Jesus lets them know through this parable that the manmade traditions of Judaism where not compatible with the new wine of the Gospel and the new out pouring of the Holy Spirit which was coming. He tells them change is coming to the way you worship God and it’s new and refreshing not old and dry.