As we approach a new year in 2016, I’m praying that each of us will fully embrace with great anticipation our position/role in Christ’s plan for our church/ministry, as well as in our lives and family. Just in case one hasn’t figured it out yet, our Lord is always up to something “new,” and unquestionably He has plenty of “new” lined up for you!
In Mark 2:22 Jesus states:
No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.
In this text, Christ reminds the Hebrew people that His presence with humanity (see John 1:14) was something “new,” and He wanted the people to clearly understand that this newness (or current fulfillment of God’s promises) unmistakably signaled the passing of the old. Any attempt to bind the newness of His Gospel to the old religion of Judaism is as futile as trying to patch an old (Gk – palaion, “worn out by use”) garment with a new, unshrunk piece of cloth. When the new (Gk – kainon, “qualitatively new”) piece (Gk- pleroma, “fullness”) becomes wet, it will shrink, pull away from the old, and make a larger hole.
It is equally disastrous to pour new (Gk – neon, “fresh”), not fully fermented, wine into old (Gk – palaious, “worn out by use,” with no elasticity, brittle) wineskins. Inevitably, as the new wine ferments (expands), it will burst the skins and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Salvation, available through Jesus, was not to be mixed with the old Hebrew/Judaistic system of legalism (religious laws, statutes, and regulations) as explained in John 1:17:
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Jesus taught:
1. He came to save sinners by/through grace and truth!
2. He didn’t come for those that wanted to remain in the status
quo … dead religion … instead He offered grace and truth!
3. He came to introduce the new by/through grace and truth —
not to patch up or attempt a revitalization or remodeling of
the old!
Jesus came to relentlessly usher in the new, not to unite with the old. The Mosaic system was decaying, getting very old, and ready to vanish away (See Hebrews 8:13). Therefore, Christ fulfilled and abolished the old so that every believer would have a new life in Him (See II Corinthians 5:17). The Lord established this New Covenant in/by His blood (See Luke 22:19-20) and this new Law would be written on human hearts, not on stones or tablets (See II Corinthians 3:1-3; Hebrews 10:15-18). Additionally, the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit would enable His people to live rightly/righteously (See Romans 8:1-4).
By using this illustration, the Lord refuted once and for all, the popular idea of a compromising “world religion.” Well-meaning but spiritually blind leaders often suggest that we take “the best” from each religion, blend it with what is “best” in the Christian faith, and thus manufacture a synthetic faith that would be acceptable to everybody.
But the Christian faith is exclusive in character; it will not accept any other faith as its equal or its superior. Remember, according to Acts 4:12:
There is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved!
Salvation is not a partial patching up of one’s old life … instead, we put on something new. (See Isaiah 61:10) II Corinthians 5:21 declares:
He (Father God) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Therefore, the Christian life that each of us will embark upon in 2016 is not a mixing of one’s old life with the new; rather, the old being crucified and transformed (Gk – metamorfousthe – from Romans 12:1-2 meaning completely changed) into the new. An acorn is planted in the ground and it is ultimately destroyed, but out of that seed pops an oak tree! Small ones, young ones, big ones, and not so young ones — all reaching for new heights because of the our relationship with Christ!
Are you ready? May 2016 be a year when each of us is …
Like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he/she does, he/she prospers.
Psalm 1:3
That’s my prayer for all of us this year.
His & Yours, Pastor Frank