"Tell me a Story” is a simple and shorter way to reference Jesus' use of parables. A parable is a relatable way to share a moral or spiritual lesson. While some don’t like parables because they don’t get right to the point. Others love a good story because it forces us to think and question.
Storytelling forges connections among people, between people and ideas, and they convey the culture, history, and values. You just have to love a well thought out short story. Jesus told 36 different short stories in the gospels.
Like the story I heard recently of three smaller churches whose average age was over 65. They weren’t getting any younger so they decided to sell the two less attractive churches and merge into one. After all, they were so similar: the same schools growing up, bell choirs, organ music, after service coffee hours and no families with children. They merged thinking surely now that they had 150 people with a full time pastor, people would surely come to their church. The unfortunate fact is they missed the church consultant’s warning that a church (a group of people committed to Christ) not focused on sharing their faith in word AND deed is bound to die. The new three in one church has lost many people since the merger and the start of covid. They have settled in and are once again focused inward. They all got along and didn’t even get descent when the memorial committee agreed to build an 80 thousand dollar 3-bill memorial out front recognizing their three in one merger. They are once again on their way to becoming one of the five churches in each American city that will close soon because of Covid.
The moral of the story is simple: A new building does not ensure success. A new attitude does.
Today, I’d like to tell you a story you can find in the middle of Matthew 9. Jesus has just healed a paralyzed man by forgiving his sins, called a hated tax collector to be a disciple (who wrote this book) and continued to eat with the undesirables of his day. It was just another day in the life of Jesus as he was questioned/challenged by the spiritual elite as well as the culture of His day.
Then John the baptist's disciples came up and asked a question about fasting. Let’s take a listen…
14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
I don't want you to miss a couple of key parts of the scripture. “John’s disciples” refer to followers of John the Baptist. They were following John who was alerting everyone to coming change. “The Messiah is coming” was his life verse. It was time to get right with God. However, this message was being largely ignored. People did recognize there was something different about John the Baptist. It wasn’t just his camel hair clothes, or his diet of bugs. He was a prophet, alerting everyone to the coming of Christ. A message many heard but didn’t fully understand the major shift taking place in their lifetime.
Let’s be real, change is difficult and the longer you have been doing something, the harder it is to see the need for change. The Jewish nation was practicing religion. They had become complacent. There hadn’t been a prophet in over 400 years. John the Baptist fit the tradition. He was radical in lifestyle. He was blunt, persistent, fearless, faithful, named the problem, called for repentance and kept his eyes on the future. Some were willing to listen but the majority weren’t. John the Baptist was prophesying for the people to return to the original relationship with God before it was too late. His disciples were committed but didn’t understand the messiah had already arrived so the practice of Jesus' disciples confused them. A reality Jesus shares in a way they would understand.
The word “bridegroom” would have been well understood by John’s disciples as referring to the Messiah or Yahweh. So when he continued with a parable or short story or illustration, everyone knew what he was talking about.
16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Jesus used everyday items and situations to illustrate spiritual points. In this case, the wineskin. An item everyone would have been familiar with. As people living in hand to mouth society, the need to use items until they were worn out was common. Those standing around would have experienced a leak in their wineskin, the need for patching it or even having it burst at lack of attention.
The story is so relatable and the ending, “they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” leads us to a truth many Christian don't want to admit.
When spiritual actions of love seize to bring us health, joy and wholeness, we need to check the original intent of the action and start anew. The old actions are not worthless but without the best of intent, they not only fail in the long run, they become a hindrance to the relationship with God, His Son and His Spirit.
The three in one church had the right idea, but the wrong motivation. They weren’t combining to further the kingdom, they were coming together for their own benefit.
We can do the same. We can have the right idea but the wrong motivation.
If your faith is on auto-pilot or you just aren’t feeling as connected as you once did. It’s time to do something different to connect - journal, fast, mediate, pray, read scripture, try solitude or do a personal retreat by reading a spiritual father of old - maybe Augustine, John Wesley, George Whitfield or Mother Teresa. As you begin to move closer to God, listen carefully for the promptings to do what the small still voice says. Maybe it's telling you to get involved or its time to start a ministry. God does want a relationship with you and does want to help you grow in your faith and knowledge of Him.
The old adage: if you do what you have always done, you get what you always have. It might be time to open a new wineskin and fill it with new fruit from the vine.
The story of the wineskins is a parable reminding us Jesus came to bring spiritual health, spiritual joy and spiritual wholeness. His arrival wasn't to just patch his believers up but to start anew. The Jewish religion was a worn-out wineskin that would burst if it filled with the new wine of the good news. Jesus did not come to renovate Jewish law, He came to offer new life.
This sermon can be found online at http://Communitycenter.life
