Summary: Teaching can be boring, teaching can be tiring, or teaching can be interesting and exciting. Our Lord never bored people in His teaching. Some were converted, some angered, but no one was bored or uninterested.

Introduction

A. There are many literary forms used in the Bible.

1. There is poetry

2. Proverbs

3. Legal documents

4. Dramatic narratives

5. Hymns

6. Sermons

7. Theological treatise

8. Personal letters

9. And apocalyptic visions

10. And sprinkled into all of these forms are figures of speech and word pictures that highlight what is being said

a. The form that a writer or speaker chooses to use in order to communicate his or her message indicates it’s meaning or how it should be treated or interpreted

11. For example, Jesus could have given us a 1-hour lecture on who my neighbor is

a. He could have bored us to death for hours on how to treat someone in need

b. But instead of writing or presenting a theological thesis on this, Jesus simply told the story of the Good Samaritan

c. It wasn’t a lecture they needed; it was a story that had the potential of softening their hard-hearts

(1) Jesus was the master storyteller

(2) Jesus used stories or parables to connect with his listeners

12. Some of the parables were true stories taken from daily life

a. They are told as fact in the present tense

b. We understand seed growing

(1) Yeast at work in dough

(2) Children playing

(3) Sheep grazing

(4) And we all know what it’s like to lose something

(a) Jesus told true stories about these things

(5) Some of the parables were story parables

(a) These stories, which may or may not have actually happened (being real history is not important

(b) These stories are meant to convey a significant truth

i) Jesus made up some of these stories and used them as illustrations

ii) Then there are example stories. They give us examples to either follow or avoid

iii) They focus on the character and conduct of the individual.

c. While these stories teach us many good and wholesome things (as we will learn together), the parables do two other things that are easily overlooked

(1) First, the stories of Jesus indicate that He was fully acquainted with human life in its many experiences

(2) He was knowledgeable in farming, sowing seeds, and reaping a harvest

(3) Not only was he familiar with the workaday world of the farmer, the fisherman, the builder, and the merchant

(a) But also he moved with equal ease among the managers of estates

(b) The ministers of finance at a royal court

(c) The judge in a court of law

(d) The Pharisees

(e) And the tax collectors

(4) His stories portray the lives of men, women, and children, the poor and rich, the outcast and the exalted

(5) He knew about work and wages, about weddings and festive occasions as well as funerals and sickness

(6) See, Jesus used illustrations the common people understood

(a) They were familiar truths He used in order to teach an unfamiliar or unrealized lesson

13. Second, Jesus’ stories reveal His heart

a. They tell His autobiography and the autobiography of God

b. Do you want to know how God feels about people being a good neighbor, read the story of the Good Samaritan

c. Do you want to know how God feels when someone who is lost finally finds home again? Read the story of the Prodigal Son

d. Do you want to know how Jesus feels about people obeying His teachings? Read the story of the house built on the rock or sand?

14. When we come to some of these stories, let’s not forget what we’ve already learned

a. We’re not looking at a legal document in which every word is carefully chosen

(1) God has chosen each word Himself, by the Holy Spirit

(2) Remember, it’s a story

(3) It’s meant to make an immediate impact and was to be enjoyed and re-experienced and thought about over time, not dissected and torn apart and analyzed word by word like prepositional truth should be

(4) And behind the story is a major point (not to the exclusion of sub points however), usually coming at the end of the story and is determined by the historical context

b. We’ll continue today by looking at Stories About Change and New Things

(1) Lets turn to Matthew 9:14 - 17

II. Body

A. Jesus told a story in Matthew 9 to teach us about the new things He wants to do in our lives

Matthew 9:14-17 NKJV

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?" {15} And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. {16} "No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. {17} "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

1. Notice that Jesus told 3 stories to make His point, the last of which will be our focus today.

a. During our recent economic downturn, many auto dealerships were making offers on cars that, if you believed their advertising, they were nearly willing to give them away just to get them off their lots

(1) I read about a man who has a world-wide ministry, but he drives a 1974 Dodge

(2) He has often said, "I never have to lock it up or worry about it being stolen!"

(3) It is great to be able to fix things up, but sometimes there is the need to trade in the old for the new.

b. In our passage this morning Jesus is explaining a similar principle to the Pharisees

(1) Sometimes it is necessary to make a change

(2) This was the case with the spiritual need of mankind

(3) Jesus came to provide the world with something brand new

(4) Ironically enough, it all came to head with a question about fasting

(a) Lets turn to Matthew 9:14

B. Lets look at a little background

1. John the Baptist’s disciples had a problem

Matthew 9:14 NKJV

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"

a. When you read the Gospels you find that Jesus was constantly having run-ins with the religious establishment

b. Our story comes at the end of three episodes of conflict in the life of Jesus

(1) In the first episode, Jesus forgave the paralytic’s sins and upset a group of scribes.

(a) Only God could forgive sins

(b) Who do you think you are, Jesus?

(2) In the second episode, Jesus hung-out with sinners, and, again upset a bunch of Pharisees

(3) And here in this third episode, Jesus never pushed for his disciples to fast during his ministry again, the religious were critical

(4) We’ve never done it that way before

(a) It seems that Jesus made a lot of people unhappy

(b) Why?

(c) Why did Jesus make those decisions?

i) Didn’t he know that people would get upset

ii) Didn’t he know they went against everything religious people believed in

iii) Jesus was always pushing the limits

c. Jesus saw something that these people in particular and that the world in general was in greater need of than religious traditions

(1) Jesus saw discouraged people all around him who were carrying the weight of unforgiven sin

(a) Rather than focus on the sobriety of fasting or on making all the religious people happy, Jesus decided to extend the celebration of his coming Kingdom to those who least expected it

(b) And it was met with opposition by the religious establishment

i) Lets go back to Matthew 9:14

2. The question of John the Baptist’s disciples

Matthew 9:14 NKJV

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"

a. The Pharisees fasted twice a week

(1) Conspicuous piety

(a) We talked about this practice earlier

(b) A practice spoken of by Jesus

b. John's followers were probably fasting in mourning for him

(1) In reality there were only three days of fasting required by the Pharisees’s law

(a) The Day of Atonement

i) The only day of fasting required by the Mosaic law

(b) The day before Purim

(c) And the ninth of Ab, commemorating the fall of Jerusalem

i) Lets turn to Matthew 9:15 - 17

3. Jesus heard the disciples of John and answered them using three illustrations

Matthew 9:15-17 NKJV

And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. {16} "No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. {17} "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

a. Jesus began His answer using the illustration of a wedding

(1) Lets turn to John 3:29

(2) Jesus compared His ministry and teachings to a wedding celebration

John 3:29 NKJV

"He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.

(a) John the Baptist had described himself as what we might call the "best man" and Jesus as the "bridegroom"

(3) Jesus expanded John’s figure and described His disciples as the friends of the groom

(a) They were so joyful that they could not fast because they were with Him

(b) This was not the time for the sobriety of fasting.

(c) This part of the world needed some relief

(d) Religion had become so heavy for the people

(e) The Pharisees and John’s disciples were off in their timing and in their perception of what was fitting for such a time as this

(f) There’s a time for fasting, but not when you’re at the wedding!

(g) In essence, they were not recognizing Jesus as Messiah who had come to bring joy and deliverance!

(4) There’s a time for fasting and mourning and the two are linked

(5) But when God brings you the wedding, celebrate the feast

b. Then there are two illustrations which are a mystery to many because we don’t see a connection

(1) The illustration of the cloth

(a) There used to be a process called Sanforizing

(b) This was a process which caused fabric to shrink before it was used in garments and other applications

(c) In the New Testament times there was not such a process

i) The application is very simple. If you patch a garment with cloth that is not preshrunk, when the patch shrinks it will pull apart the area of the garment that was patched

ii) Jesus was not going to be just a patch in the garment of Judaism to cover a threadbare area

iii) Jesus was bringing in a whole new outfit to wear

(2) Jesus is not into patchwork

(a) He doesn’t want to “patch-up” your old lifestyle or just be used as a temporary patch

(b) He wants to give you a brand new lifestyle

(c) Besides, you can’t patch selfishness

(d) It must be dealt with at the core

(e) Some people will try to dump some Jesus into their old self and it will not work too well

(f) If you are going to follow Jesus

i) He expects to be your whole wardrobe, not just a patch

ii) Jesus came to cleanse our hearts and to outfit us in a whole new lifestyle wardrobe that would testify of His great grace

iii) The theological term is regeneration, a new creation

(3) There are times when we need to scrap a project or plan entirely, and just start over

(a) God loves to help us make a fresh start

(b) Do not suppose that being a sinner must keep you from God

(c) Recognizing that you are a sinner is the first step toward God

(d) Jesus came to call sinners

(e) It is only the self-righteous who shunned Jesus, for Jesus came to forgive sinners and to have fellowship with them

(f) You cannot be too sinful for God to save, only to holy to need His salvation

c. The last illustration is about wine and wineskins

(1) Now we’ve got wine and wineskins

(a) Wine was kept in bottles made of sheep skin

(b) Glass would have been nice, but sheep skin is what they had

(2) Wine was the most common drink for people in Judea

(3) However, they never had a modern bottling company that could process and packaged their drinks for them

(4) Neither did they have refrigeration like we have today

(a) But fortunately, the wine was less likely than water or milk to be contaminated as its alcohol content killed germs

(b) Along with this, they had leak-resistant sheep skins that could be processed and treated in such a way that they could expand and stretch along with the new wine as it fermented

(c) Putting new (unfermented) wine in old wineskins, which had already been stretched and somewhat dried out, would result in the bursting of the wineskins

(d) Old wineskins become brittle and rigid with age; when new wine is put in these, gases build up, producing pressure and Bang

(e) You’ve ruined your wineskin and lost your wine

(5) The meaning of the saying new wine into new wineskins is that the presence and teaching of Jesus was something new and signaled the passing of the old

(a) Jesus could not patch or pour His new ministry into old Judaism

(b) Judaism had become inflexible due to the accumulation of centuries of non-biblical traditions

(c) Jesus could not be confined within the old religion of Judaism

(d) Furthermore, Jesus did not come to reform an old and worn out system but to fulfill or complete it and then introduce something radically new

(e) For example, He Himself would be the ultimate sacrifice for sin, so the sacrificial system would no longer be necessary

(f) Can you imagine still sacrificing sheep, goats and bulls when Jesus has paid the price for our sins

(g) The Pharisees liked the old way better

(h) They didn’t want to let loose of the old way

(i) Ever met anybody like that

(6) God has a new thing He wants to do

(a) We must be willing to make the changes and stretch with new ideas

(b) Do we need to become new wineskins?

C. Conclusion

1. Be restored to spiritual health

a. The load of sin accumulates and life gets heavy

b. But we can get our obedience up to date

c. You know what you need to do in order to get it right with God by Jesus Christ

2. Become submissive to Jesus’ Lordship

a. The Lordship of Jesus Christ cannot be poured into the old skin of our settled personality structure, our presuppositions about life, our prejudices about people, or our plans for the future

b. Jesus wants all of your life

3. Be responsive to the call

a. I believe that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation

b. To do this we must call the lost to the table to sit with Christ

(1) Like Matthew did last Sunday

(2) A couple was arranging for their wedding, and asked the bakery to inscribe the wedding cake with "1 John 4:18" which reads "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." The bakery evidently lost, smudged or otherwise misread the noted reference, and beautifully inscribed on the cake "John 4:18" ... "for you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband."