Thoughts on New Wineskins

Recently I have been thinking about the new wineskins that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 9:14-17 NIV:

[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.

[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.”

Now, Jesus was specifically speaking about some of the traditions of the religious.  As I have understood this is also a good way to understand some of the changes that are required in the Body of Christ to engage the new generations, especially those like my kids age, where Church as we practiced and experienced it does not meet their needs.  The new wineskin clearly has a flexibility required to allow for the expansion of the new wine.  Jesus was speaking of a new age being birthed on the earth, and His message of the Gospel was the new wine.

Where I see new ages in the church begin is in Acts 10-15 when the Gentiles get added to the Body of Christ, and they don't have any of the structure or experience of the Covenant of the Law, and the Church leadership is asked to figure out what of the Law is kept, and it is a minimal list (See Acts 15).  The Gospel of Jesus, while being spoken to the Jews, had a message that did not require the Law as a foundation.  

Jesus spoke primarily about the Kingdom of God, and demonstrated this Kingdom reality, and His primary commands were to Love God (Luke 10:27) and Love one another (John 13:34).  Although complimentary to the Law, these messages transcended the Law.  God's Kingdom demonstrated His dominion over all, and His command to Love extended beyond just the Jew, to all mankind and the whole world (Acts 1:8).

This was new wine (This Gospel of the Kingdom of God, available through grace by faith), and the new wineskin was an Apostolic church focused on teaching, prayer, fellowship, the Lord's supper (Acts 2:42), and signs and wonders that demonstrated the reality of the Kingdom (Acts 2:43).  The Apostles spoke and Holy Spirit confirmed their words (Mark 16:20 & Acts 14:3).

Somewhere along the way, this new wineskin of the Apostolic church got bottled into wine bottle, different shapes and sizes, but in general unmoving and inflexible.  This was in part due to the need to clarify the Gospel, to set down the truth, to refute heresy, to bring correction, to record the Gospel as we now have it. In the same way that when first making wine at home, you don't use the same equipment that is used in the large vineyards and volume wine-making for consistency and purity, the new wine (Gospel) was easier to bottle and transport once it was codified and given its shape and boundaries. Once this occurred the church become more structured and hierarchical.

What we need these days are new wineskins, not new wine.  The old wineskins of the hierarchical church are no longer meeting the needs of this new generation.  In many ways, it seems we have lost much of the richness and personal uniqueness and application of the Gospel, replacing it with a recipe of tradition and ideas that can be ascribed to without real relationship.

The Gospel is, first of all, personal and relational, meant to birth new sons and daughters of God, new creations, co-heirs with Christ, representatives of God to the world, walking in the realities of the King's dominion, and the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are meant to experience the progressive revelation of the Father's love and interaction in our lives, even as Abraham first experienced, for we are all children of the promise.  We are called and chosen, and destined for great things, "world-changers" as Bill Johnson calls us.  We are meant to walk in the authority of the Lord, as His representatives to a lost world.  Our mission is a continuation of that which Jesus spoke in John 3:16-17 NIV:  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

Oh, that we would learn to live our lives in the fullness of the Gospel, and our relationship as God's sons and daughters.  Lord, lead us to the new wineskins that are needed for these new generations.

Amen!