Last week we introduced a new sermon series at Cleary that I have called "Secrets of the Kingdom: Parables in Luke's Gospel. This week we are looking at the first parable recorded in Luke. It is found in Luke 5:33-39.
And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink." 34 And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days." 36 He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.'"
Jesus is accused of breaking, not the law of God, but the tradition (the religion) of man. He is questioned about his disciples failing to follow the fasts and prayer rituals of the Jews and he responds with this parable. It is a clear warning about the danger of clinging to the past, to old traditions and to dead religion over the inspired Word of God.
We see 3 things about the tradition and "religion" in this parable that our Lord shared. Last time we noticed the rut of traditions and the fact that Jesus came to reform those traditions. Today we are going to focus on the resistance of traditions to reform. That is really what the parable that Jesus shares is about. Like old garments are not easily matched to new patches and like old wineskins are not flexible enough to contain new wine, traditions and religion are extremely resistant to reform. Furthermore, maintaining religion is a lot less demanding than maintaining a relationship. A religion is for certain days, certain places, and certain people. A relationship is a real walk with God. That is what sets TRUE CHRISTIANITY apart from every religion on earth.
Islam has come up often around the office lately, especially since we have adopted the Mappila people of India (a people group of 9 million Muslims). I told the guys yesterday that Islam is an awesome religion. Of course their eyes widened. I even said, if I were wanting to join a religion I might even consider becoming a Muslim. Then I went on. Islam is great for a person seeking religion, but it is worthless for someone seeking to know God. It is useless for someone who wants to enter into a relationship with God. A religion is for certain days, places, and people, but a relationship is a real walk with God. Religion is easy. Relationships are work! So, traditions and religion are hard to change. They are so hard to change that God tearing the veil in the temple at Jesus death was not enough. He had to destroy Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70 to put an end to the sacrificial system.
This is what Jesus is trying to get across in this parable. To patch the old with the new not only did not help the old but, it also tore apart the new. New wine if placed in old wineskins will destroy both skins and wine because as the new wine ferments, the old wineskin is not sufficiently pliable and thus will burst, spilling out the wine. Jesus is saying, you cannot patch up Judaism (or any religion)…it will ruin the garment and the patch. You cannot place the new wine of the gospel in the old wineskins of Pharisaic Judaism (or any religion), for what will result is neither the gospel nor Judaism. You must make a shift. You must change!
The problem is, most people are resistant to change. A man drinking old wine does not want even to try the new. The old is good, he says (not better, but good). He is not even comparing them. He is so content with the old that he does not consider the new for a moment. It’s the old that's good! We have a tendency to cling so closely and dearly to the past that we are not open to the present, much less the future.
The warning is, the Jews clung so closely to the old, that they missed Christ. We can cling so closely to the old, to our traditions, to the way our grandparents lived and worshipped, that we miss what God has for us. Don't cling to the old just because it happens to be old or you may miss the new! God said in Isaiah 43:19, "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" We must be open to it, to perceive it. Are we open or are we resistant?
I want to challenge you and encourage you, as you read the New Testament, to pretend that you have been stranded on a desert Island your entire life. All that you have to judge yourself by is the New Testament. All that you have to pattern your life by is the New Testament. All that you have to imagine the church by is the New Testament. Open the New Testament with that mindset and see what a difference it makes in your life, your walk, and your church. Open the New Testament with that mindset and see how many old traditions and how much dead religion God points out to you in your life and in your church. Then, pursue as much as you can, the pure Gospel in your life, family, and fellowship. Until next time…
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