Content And Container Series

How many of you have a favorite glass that you prefer to drink out of? I do. For example, when I drink coffee I like to have a really big cup. My wife, on the other hand, likes to have a little dainty china cup, with a handle just big enough to fit her finger through. Ask either one of us to switch, and we’ll probably frown at the other’s cup.(1)

Why would we frown at another cup? Well, because we’re used to the cup that we drink out of. We know how to add just the right amount of sugar for our cup’s size. We are also familiar with how the cup feels in our fingers, so that we can pick it up with our eyes closed, or when we’re staring like zombies at the breakfast table. We can adapt a lazy style of holding the cup, so that it barley clings to our fingers without slipping and crashing to the ground.

But let me ask you something. If we were to switch cups with each other, would the coffee not be coffee anymore? It would still be coffee, wouldn’t it? When we go to a restaurant, we don’t worry so much about the cup sitting on the table before us. We know that we must take what the restaurant gives us. The cups they use are unique to their business. We don’t complain, because we realize that the coffee is still coffee, no matter what container or cup it’s in.

This evening we’re going to be looking at the cup (or container), and the coffee (or content); however, it won’t be coffee, but rather wine. Jesus presents us with what could be called “The Parable of the Content and Container.” As usual, I’m not going to give everything away from the beginning; because I want to keep you wondering to create a little suspense and intrigue.

The Wine and the Wineskins (vv. 37-38)

37 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.

This passage has received a bad reputation. The reason why is because some pastors have used this passage to justify leaving a church. They might say, “I was giving those people good, new wine, but they weren’t ready for it!” I actually heard a pastor once say that when he read this passage, the Lord told him he needed to leave his church and start a new one. I am sure you’ve noticed the unfortunate fact that the majority of church plants are actually church splits.

Before we go any further, let me assure you that this is not how we are going to interpret this passage tonight. Jesus didn’t reserve this parable only for pastors, to tell them two thousand years later that they should abandon His people. This is not a scapegoat passage for when the going gets tough. The words of Jesus contained in these verses are for all believers, and there is a very important message for us.

“The Parable of the Content and Container” speaks a message of stability in times of change. This is a concern that many of us have in this day and time. How do we reach the lost of today’s world without compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ? Have you been contemplating this question? If so, then Jesus has provided an answer. So, let’s get started by looking at the surface level of this parable; and then we can dig deeper.

We see here that Jesus spoke of putting new wine into old skins. So, what is the literal meaning of “new wine?” The New Bible Dictionary tells us, “The term ‘new wine’ does not indicate wine which has not fermented; for in fact, the process of fermentation sets in very rapidly . . . It represents, rather, wine made from the first drippings of the juice before the winepress was trodden; as such, it would be particularly potent.”(2) What is being described here is fermented wine.

Have you ever watched someone open a bottle of wine; especially a champagne bottle? It will make a loud pop, and it might even shoot the cork across the room. Fermented wine is under pressure. When Jesus said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins,” He was saying that the wineskins needed to be strong in order to hold the pressure of the new wine. If the wineskins were old, then they would be too weak. New wine, simply, must go into new skins.

So, why would Jesus decide out of the blue, to up and tell His disciples about bottling wine? We are well aware that Jesus used parables to convey something much deeper than what was on the surface; He liked to stimulate people’s thinking. He presented a simple image, or model, into which He would fit a much larger concept. In a sense, His parables were containers into which He would pour out something that, without that container, would just sift through our fingers; or go in one ear and out the other.