Adjusting To Transition Series

Luke 5:36-39

INTRODUCTION

There are two parables in these four verses that teach us many things about transition.

• Old & New Garments

• Putting New Wine into Old Wineskins

I. LIFE IS FULL OF TRANSITION

A. We can’t live life without transitions

1. Physically our life changes…

2. Psychologically we change…

3. Socially we change. - How many of you are real close friends with your High School friends? (Our lives take different paths)

4. Spiritually we change…

B. We can’t grow without transition

1. Time and experience brings wisdom. (Two ways to learn, Mentors or Mistakes)

2. Education opens doors.

3. Culture waits for no one.

4. Leaders aren’t born they are made!

II. OLD & NEW GARMENTS

• Luke 5:36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.

A. Typographically we view this passage as the difference between Old Testament Law and the Dispensation of Grace. Here are a few typographical takeaways.

1. You can’t mix the Law with Grace. If we try to mix them we contaminate them both.

a) The Law says, “We must do.”

b) Grace says, “Jesus already did!”

2. Bible Commentator, J. N. Darby said it well. Here is what he said, “Jesus would do no such thing as tack on Christianity to Judaism. Flesh and law go together, but grace and law, God's righteousness and man's, will never mix.”

a) Our righteousness is as filthy rags that’s why we must be “made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!”

B. The Life Application Principal of this example is simply stated, “Don’t mess with God’s design!”

1. God doesn’t throw out the old… He build’s on it. (If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?), but it’s wrong to try to “replace” the old.

• God doesn’t “replace the old with the new”… He creates the new and asks us to embrace it! (There is a difference)

2. The Spirit of Excellence… - Whatever we do for God should be done to the very best of our ability. (No shoddy work for God…)

a) There’s still a garment but it’s a “New Garment” not an “Old Garment.”

b) Adding new cloth to an old garment will create a mismatch in color and strength.

c) God is into excellence.

III. NEW WINE INTO OLD WINESKINS

• Luke 5:37-39 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. 39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

A. Typographically this passage explains the difference between the rigidness, legalism and formalism of the Law and the exuberant Joy, Spiritual Power, Peace and Hope that a life in Christ brings.

1. Old Wine - The Law was harsh. It was a slave master. The Believer’s Bible Commentary references it in this way, “The outmoded forms, ordinances, traditions, and rituals of Judaism were too rigid to hold the joy, the exuberance, and the energy of the new dispensation.”

2. New Wine - The Dispensation of Grace brought “Great Joy.”

a) From the birth of Jesus - Matthew 2:10 - When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

b) The Ascension of Jesus - Luke 24:52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

c) Philip preaching Christ and performing miracles in Samaria - Acts 8:8 And there was great joy in that city.

d) The proclamation of the gospel message to the Gentiles - Acts 15:3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

e) Great joy was evident even in the midst of trials that eventually caused the Corinthian Church to abound unto riches and liberality - 2 Corinthians 8:2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

f) There is joy in heaven! - Luke 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

B. The Life Application Principals of this Parable

1. Everything has a time and a season.

a) Don’t try to recreate memories when their season has ended.

b) Honor history by letting it go. (When we try to recreate the past we can mess up the memories of bygone days)