Loving the Old Ways, Missing the New – Luke 5:33-39
Gladstone Baptist Church – 26/9/04
Last week I spoke about the fact that Jesus loves unlovely people. I don’t mean people who are physically ugly, but people who the rest of society considers as unlovely or different or inferior. These are the people which Jesus welcomed to himself. Do you remember what 3 things Christ modelled to us through his acceptance of Levi the tax collector.
1. We needed to Notice the unlovely and see that they had needs that only Jesus could meet.
2. We needed to befriend the unlovely and intentionally do so
3. We needed to accept the unlovely as they are before they change
Jesus came to seek those that were lost. Those who were sinners in need of forgiveness. He said “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick . I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance” Jesus wanted to show that God cared for them and that He was going to die for them too – so why wouldn’t he notice them, befriend them and accept them.
What about people who don’t act right? E.g. People who don’t Fast.
Okay, you say, I can accept the fact that Jesus wants us to reach out to people who are different to us, who we might snub our nose at or who we think are different. But how about people who refuse to do what is “right”? What if they don’t ACT RIGHT
The Pharisees were struggling with this same question. If you’ve got your bibles there I want you to open them up to read what the Pharisees have to say about Jesus’ activities. Read Luke 5:27-39
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. 29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” 34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
In vs 33, the Pharisees question Jesus. “John’s disciples often fast and pray and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
Fasting is the practice of abstaining from food or other physical nourishment. Today, it is typically used as a political tool to force the hand of a government or authority – like the hunger fasts of refugees or prisoners. But in bible times, it was practiced not to force the hand of God, but to open oneself to God’s work in that person. People fasted to express grief over sin or a catastrophe or a death of a person. People fasted to show they were sorry for their sins and seeking God’s mercy. People also fasted as a means of growing closer to God.
Fasting was a God ordained practice. Back in Lev 23:27 or Num 29:7 we read that the people were to fast on the Day of Atonement. This was the day where the people were to come before God and seek his forgiveness for their sins as a nation and as individuals. It was right that they fast to express regret and sorrow for their sins and seek God’s mercy.
But in the time of Jesus, the annual day of fasting instituted by God had been turned into a twice weekly ritual that had all but lost its meaning.
There was once a guy who had just got married and as all husbands do, he was watching his wife preparing a pot roast and drooling in anticipation. As he watched she cut off one end of what looked like a perfectly good roast and threw it away. Asked “What did you do that for.” The answer - "Because that’s that way it is always done – ask my mother if you don’t believe!"
The poor guy was confused. He rang his mother-in-law and asked why we cut the end of the roast off. She said, "Because that’s what my mother always did!" He then rang his wives grandmother, now old and feeble, and asked her about this strange family practice. The old woman laughed. She said she “I always had to cut off the end because I didn’t have a pot large enough to fit the whole roast!”
Often, there is a perfectly good reason for a practice when it is instituted, but after a time, the meaning gets lost. At some point in time, some very sincere and devoted Jews wanted to show their love to God and so they decided to fast regularly. They thought that continuous fasting might be a bit unhealthy after a while, so they chose the 2nd and the 5th day of the week to fast. Why these days? Well Moses went up to Mt Sinai to meet with God on the 2nd and he returned on the 5th. So every 2nd and 5th day of the week, they fasted and I’m sure that they benefited as they spent time with God and dealt with their sin.
But over time, the ritual which was meaningful to those who started it, became a meaningless tradition carried out by the Pharisees. They wanted to show they were religious and devoted Jews, more than they wanted to be devoted. Instead of being an opportunity to grow closer to God, the weekly fasts became a show to other people that they were “devout” and “religious.”
Over time, people got to thinking – what is the use of fasting if no one knows we are doing it. No value at all is there. So by Jesus’ lifetime the Pharisees would go to the fire and put ash on their faces to make them look pale and sickly. They would put on clothes made of sack cloth or a rough fabric like hessian. Some would even suck in their cheeks so they looked as though they were wasting away and they’d walk around town saying – look at me everyone, I’m fasting, aren’t I so spiritual and religious.
The day of Levi’s big party was apparently one of the days ordained for fasting by the Pharisees. So you can imagine all of these Pharisees dressed in their sackcloth with pale faces hungry after a day of fasting. No wonder they were jealous of Jesus and his disciples who were in a party – eating and drinking to their heart’s content. I bet their mouths were watering just looking at it. It is really hard to suck your cheeks in and keep your drool in at the same time – try it some day.
So the Pharisees challenge Jesus “What is the go - John’s disciples fast and pray often and so do our disciples, but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus wasn’t impressed by their outward show and their meaningless rituals. In Matt 6:16 he condemned their fasts.
Matt 6: 16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
But here, Jesus responds to them saying (vs 34 – 35) … “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
In essence Jesus says “What is there to be sad about? Why grieve? You don’t grieve at a wedding when the bride and groom are there do you? No it is a celebration. Everyone is happy not sad.” Leave the mourning to the funerals.
Jesus was God in flesh and bones. He came to forgive sin and save people. His coming is not a sad event - it’s a joyful event. There is no reason to mourn and grieve because God has come to rescued us.
In the case of fasting, it was a tradition that was entirely INAPPROPRIATE for the time. Sometimes, in our churches we have traditions which are totally inappropriate for the time. Yes, when they were instituted, they were good and for a reason, but by us continuing to enforce them, we are like the Pharisees with their fasting rituals.
Let me give you some examples,
- When my parents were newly married there was a revolution sweeping the churches which caused much disunity. Choruses began to become popular. Now the traditional music in churches were hymns. What were these chorus things. Deanna grew up in a Uniting church and even as a teenager, she remembers that the minister would not allow choruses to be used in the service. There was a praise and worship time held before the service for choruses and when the service began, the chorus books were put away and the hymn books picked up. While hymns were the latest and greatest thing in worship music at one point in the past, to force their continued use to the exclusion of any other music is a tradition is inappropriate in our society and culture. Are hymns good – yes, are other styles of music good too – yes.
- I know of a church in Brisbane which is having current problems over whether it is right to use an electric keyboard in worship. They have just built a new building and because the piano was the traditional instrument, it had to be incorporated in the new church stage area, even though many thought that an electric keyboard was all that was needed. There was a time when people would have gasped at guitars or drums being used in a church. Again - what is for many the only way to worship has become a tradition and can become meaningless, divisive or inappropriate for others.
- One more example - In many churches in the past – it was traditional for the minister or pastor to do all the pastoral care. In fact, you could take it one step further and say they should be responsible to do all the preaching and all the administrative work and all the bible studies and to make the cakes for Sunday morning tea too please. This worked in many places for a long time when congregations were small and there was only one service a day. But over time, congregations are getting larger. It is not possible or practical for single person today to do ALL the pastoral care work, ALL the preaching, ALL the administration, etc. What was once a very good way of doing things, may not be appropriate for a time. But when things change, it may not be appropriate any longer. Today, in a church this size, everyone needs to be responsible for pastoral care. The pastor has a special role to play, yes definitely in crisis situations, but it is not only up to them to care for the church members. Someone you know is sick or away for a few weeks. Don’t wait for the pastor or board member in charge of pastoral care to do something – you do it. You know about it, you are their brother or sister in Christ, you show some family care and support them. Should Pastor Roger and myself be doing all the work in this church – No it is unrealistic and inappropriate. We need to be building up leaders for the future and equipping each and everyone of you for the task God has for you.
Just like the Pharisees we can get caught up in upholding traditional ways of doing things without thinking through what their purpose was and whether they are appropriate for this time and place. Jesus said to the Pharisees. The bridegroom has come, celebrate with us, don’t get bogged down with tradition.
To further reinforce the point, Jesus told 2 parables or stories.
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
It’s like these 2 pairs of shorts. One is obviously old. One is new. It would be stupid of me to try to PATCH this hole in the old shorts by tearing a strip off the new one and using it to patch the old. Why?
1) First for all you fashion police out there – The fabrics don’t match. You never wear stripes with checks!!!
2) I’d ruin a perfectly good shirt to fix a perfectly bad one. How smart would that be.
3) The new fabric might not have shrunk. In Matt and Mark’s account of this parable, they record a slightly different slant to Jesus’ words. Matt 9:16 “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.
I’ve got a big canvas marquee that was my Dad’s. We used to go camping in it as a family. It is older than me. Now when you get to be my age, you get a bit frail and delicate and my Dad’s tent is no different. The canvas and the calico walls have deteriorated somewhat and it is fragile. It tears easily. When we go camping with connections, we pull out the marquee and use it, but every time I bring it home, I need to do some repairs to it. Something has torn on it. This is the current tear that I need to repair before the next camping trip.
Now in repairing this tent, there is a trap for young players. If I went and got some ordinary calico and sewed it onto the tent, at the first sign of rain and weather, the new patch would shrink. It would create puckers in the rest of the material and these could concentrate any stress and here is where future tears would occur. Before I can patch the tent, I’ve got to make sure my patch has already shrunk, so I don’t destroy the tent. Now Imagine if I had a brand new marquee – it would be stupid of me to cut a piece out of the side of that new tent to patch my old tent – as much as I love it, I’d be better to throw the old one out and use the new.
What Jesus is saying is that sometimes, the new way of doing things is better than the old. If you try to patch up the old by taking bits from the new, you can be sure of 3 things … 1) they won’t match 2) you’ll destroy the new and 3) you’ll likely end up destroying the old too.
Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, “The old was good for a time. But it is now worn out and time to be REPLACED. I’ve come to bring life and salvation. The way of forgiveness that I am offering is better than the old ways. You won’t have to offer sacrifices any more. You won’t need the cleansing rituals any more. Be prepared to throw the old shirt made of sackcloth in the bin and put on the new shirt I’m offering. It’s a nice shirt and ready for the party.”
The second story Jesus tells is about winning winemaking.
37 And no one pours new wine into OLD wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
Wine was the most common drink for people in Palestine. However, they never had a bottling company that could process and packaged their drinks for them. What they used to store the wine was not bottles, but animal skins. The goat or sheep was skinned and the skin tanned over fires of acacia wood. Then the openings were sewn shut, the neck of the goat was used for the spout, and unfermented grape juice was poured in. Afterwards the neck was sewn shut and the fermentation process began. Animal skins were good because they could expand and stretch along with the new wine as it fermented.
Though I’ve never tried any brewing, some of my engineering colleagues at Uni were quite adept at it. So I have it on good authority that when you are brewing beer, wine or even ginger beer, there are 2 mistakes you can make that can really ruin your day. One is to bottle the brew too early. If you do this, your beer will continue to ferment and the gases released will build up so much pressure that the bottles can actually explode and cause a bit of a mess in your closet, cupboard or where ever you are storing your precious drink. The second trap is to store your bottles where it is too hot. If they aren’t put in a cool place, the heat can cause the fermentation to keep going and an exploding bottle can result again.
When new wine was being prepared, the wineskins needed to be flexible and pliable to allow for the fermentation process. Putting new wine into old wineskins, which had already been stretched and become dried out and brittle, would only result in 1 outcome. The skins would burst, you would make a mess and lose your wine – not the preferable result.
The message of this parable is the same as the first – The old was good for a time, but it is now worn out and time to be REPLACED. If you want to have the new, you need to put it in a new container. Jesus’ presence signalled that times were changing. The old religious constructs – of traditions and rituals won’t be able to cope with the dynamic energy that the new covenant of God creates. If you try, it will be destroyed. God’s purposes couldn’t be confined within the old religion of Judaism and sometimes I wonder whether God’s purposes can be contained within the traditions of Gladstone Baptist Church.
GBC is like every other church and the Pharisees also - we have a set way of doing things. We have a set range of ministries. We have a set order for our church services. We even have set people who we will allow to serve in some areas. It is nice. I like it, I’m comfortable with it – just like you are. If I didn’t like it I would never have joined this church and neither would you have.
But do the traditions we have here restrict God and prevent him from carrying out his purposes for Gladstone Baptist and For Gladstone? What do I mean by this?
I’ll give you one example. We have a nice picture of what church is like that has grown up with us over the decades. We meet twice a Sunday and the services which take place in this church (building) are focused on worshipping God and on teaching and preaching for the encouragement of the body of believers. We teach the gospel and if we want people to come to know Jesus, we need to bring them here to this church (building) to hear the gospel. But does this accomplish the work God has for us here in Gladstone?
When my parents were kids, it was normal for children to be sent to Church or Sunday School. When I was a kid, it was fairly rare for kids to be sent to Sunday School, but still fairly common to go to church at Christmas and maybe Easter. Today – most kids in our society have never set foot in a church and never will. Why would they go to church? Whereas my parent’s generation know all about church and most have had some experience with it. Today’s generation won’t have a clue about it. Today’s generation – wouldn’t have a clue that the church has anything relevant to say.
Why am I saying this? I think that we as a church are being called to be flexible in order to engage the people in our society. People don’t feel comfortable coming inside these 4 walls. Let’s face it, people in today’s society are not becoming any keener to even set foot in a church (building). So I don’t think it will be very long before we are forced to take the church (people) outside the 4 walls of our church (building). We as the real church of Jesus Christ will have to move outside of our comfortable building and go to where the lost people are rather than expecting to invite people to our services. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should sell up this property and disband our church and the ministries that meet here – no way, but I think that the ministries of the church will to an increasing degree have to think about how they engage people in the community. Will our traditional ideas and our established norms of what church looks like allow this to happen? When God wants to use us, will we be holding on tightly to the old shorts and trying to stuff the new things into our old wineskins or will we be willing to let go of what we are comfortable and take hold of the new.
That is not easy to do. Jesus acknowledged it in vs 39
And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
For us, we are comfortable with what we have got now. We like the taste of the old. Why would we want the new wine – our taste buds are conditioned to the old. It is here and now and we don’t have to wait for the new to ferment.
Change is hard, but Jesus calls us to be flexible and to be willing to move out of our comfort zone. I think for GBC, that is going to mean that in 2005 we have a very hard and close look at what we are doing, why we are doing it and how we are doing it.
If we are just running programs because we have always done them – maybe we need to stop them if they are no longer effectively meeting our goals.
If we are doing the same thing in our programs because that is always how it has always been done – even though it doesn’t seem to be reaping any harvest in changed lives – maybe we need to do things differently.
In our task of showing the people of Gladstone the person of Jesus, we need to be asking God to help us have the courage to accept change and not be boxed in by how it has always been done. Many of you are involved in ministries in this church. Will you be willing to give up the old clothes and wine skins if the God offers us the new? I hope and pray so.
