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.
Through this parable Jesus was telling His disciples something about His own life and ministry. Jesus is the new wine, and the traditional religion of ancient Israel was the old wineskins. The form of devotion to God in the Old Testament relied on the keeping of the law for righteousness; it was a works-based salvation. The Lord saw that mankind could not uphold the law, and that no one could work his or her way into heaven. The world was in desperate need of salvation.
God sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world to die for our sins; and through Jesus we are made righteous. The very event that spawned Jesus’ illustration about the wineskins occured just a few verses before this parable. Look at Luke 5:33. The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?”
The Pharisees were arguing the old ways of Judaism and a works-based salvation, over Jesus’ new ideas and practices. Jesus came to bring what Paul called grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). We do not have to go through rituals to be saved. All we have to do is confess our sins, believe in Jesus Christ, and have faith that we are saved through Him.
David Garland, in the NIV Application Commentary, says, “The point is clear. The new that Jesus brings is incompatible with the old. He has not come to patch up an old system that does not match the revolutionary rule of God. He is not simply a reformer of the old, but one who will transform it. There can be no concessions, no accommodations, and no compromises with the old.”(3)
So, now that we understand what’s taking place here, let’s apply our content and container analogy. In the one hand we have God, and in the other hand we have religion with its rules and regulations. Which is the content and which is the container? God is the content, and religion is the container. Jesus came to change the container, not the content. The old container, or old practices, did not function right. The old container did not meet people’s need; it could not bring salvation, or help people reach God. Therefore, the container needed to be changed.
What we have with Jesus is a relationship, not a religion; however, I am going to use the word “religion” to help convey the concept here. Jesus came to bring a new form of religion or container – one that we call Christianity – but the God of this new religion was still the same God. This new religion made it possible for people to enter a personal relationship with the Lord. The content, however, still remained the same. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). A new method, or container, does not mean that the content has been changed.
The question we are hoping to answer is, “How do we reach the lost of today’s world without compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ?” The lesson here shows us that as long as we do not change the content – or the message of grace through faith in Jesus Christ – then we’re not compromising the gospel in any way. When we speak of reaching the lost of today, our real concern often has to do with the container. We’re afraid to change the container and do things differently.
Desiring the Old Wine (v. 39)
39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, “The old is better.”
What was Jesus saying here? Basically, that we’re secure in what we already know. We see how God has worked in our church and ministry throughout the past fifty years or more. Our container has held the gospel and carried it to many of the lost in need of Jesus Christ; but our familiar container faces an upgrade in this rapidly changing culture. People today don’t speak King James, they listen to music that is completely foreign when compared to our hymns, their attention span is much shorter, and information presented through technology seems to be preferred over paper – just to mention a few examples.
Our ways of ministry used to be very effective, but something is happening. It appears that we’re not reaching America with the gospel like we once did. I have asked the same question that many you are probably asking: “Why are our methods not working anymore?” We often insist on believing the answer is that people do not want to hear about Jesus, but do you believe this is really true? I know it appears this way, and I am tempted at times to believe it myself.
But our country is very religious these days. The occult and new age religions are on the rise. People have a deep spiritual hunger, but they are not getting the message of Jesus. Maybe it’s time for the container to be switched – meaning, the methods we use to present the gospel, and even the style of music and worship in our church services. However, we often find ourselves resisting, because we think that if we leave behind what we saw work once upon a time, that we will be compromising the message, or the content, but that’s not true.
I pointed out at the beginning of the message that when we go to a restaurant we do not worry about the cup. We know that we must take what the restaurant gives us, for the cups they use are unique to their business. We do not complain, because we realize that the coffee is still coffee, no matter what container or cup it’s in.
Similar to when we go to a restaurant, we must work with the cup the restaurant gives us. Today’s restaurant, or culture, has a new cup that’s unique to it. So, let’s come to an understanding that even though we’re not drinking out of our favorite cup, that we still have the same coffee, so to speak. The content in the container can still be the same; we can still share the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Time of Reflection
This evening’s sermon, and application of the wineskins parable, is intended to bring us an awareness of our ever-changing culture, and the need for new and creative ways of presenting the gospel message. Every church has to discover on its own what methods will need to be used to reach people, because the needs vary with each culture and community. What works for one church, or context, doesn’t necessarily work for another.
We can’t model our ministry off another one. I don’t want us to do any such thing; however, I’m hoping you will begin brainstorming how to reach those around us at work and in the community. I am also hoping that we can find the freedom to use the creative energies that God has blessed each and every one of us with. We should have a sense of freedom in realizing that we do not have to change the message of the gospel in trying to reach this ever-changing world.
Hebrews 13:8 declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Our Lord and Savior, and our God and Father, is always relevant. He is not a God of the past, but the God of today and tomorrow. Isaiah said He is the God who does new things (Isaiah 43:19); and in Revelation 21:5, the Lord said, “Behold, I make all things new!” He is also the God of new beginnings; for Paul declared, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). If you need the Lord to do a new work in your heart tonight, then I encourage you to come forward.
NOTES
(1) Leonard Sweet, Aquachurch (Loveland: Group, 1999), 28-29. Basic idea taken from an illustration in the pages cited.
(2) The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1962.
(3) David E. Garland, “Mark,” The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 105.
