New Wineskin

Introduction

Everybody wants change in their life, but nobody wants to change.

People have said this for years.

What that statement is implying is that in order for their to be true change in our lives, our selves must first be truly changed.

Did you know that Christ believed that same thing?

Did you know that He is the only person in history to make it possible for humans to truly change?

Tonight we are going to look at how Jesus explains the way true change happens.

Mark 2:22 ESV

22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

What are Wineskins?

Put simply, a wineskin was something they used in the biblical days that was made out of animal skin, to hold wine.

Wine was one of the main drinks of the day in the NT, and these “wineskins” would act in the same way that bottles do today. They would “hold” or “house” the wine, so that the person carrying it could use it.

They were made out of animal skin, or leather.

Since these wineskins were made out of leather, when they would get older, they would shrink, and lose there ability to stretch.

This is what caused the new wine to burst the old wine skins, because when it was poured into it, the new wine would still be fermenting, and this means that the wineskin needed to expand, in order to fully house the wine.

Well the old wine skins couldn’t expand, so they would burst.

How does this apply to our lives?

We cannot receive or take in any of Jesus’ teachings or ways unless we first have a new wineskin.

AKA a New Spirit

Our spirits are like the wineskin. And if we still have an old, dry, worn out spirit we cannot receive the new wine that Jesus has for us:

Our spirits are compared to the “wine skin” they are what Houses the ways of Christ within us.

The new wine, that Christ wants to give each of us is not compatible for us in our old condition. We will not be able to receive the new wine, that Christ has for us if we are still stuck in our old ways.

We must give up our old ways, if we want to take up the new ways of Christ

The old ways have got to go, so that the new ways can enter.

in other words, Christ is saying, there must be a true change within us, if we are going to follow Him. Without that true change within us, nothing will change, He will not be able to teach us what is right and wrong.

Having a New Wineskin, also protects what Christ wants to give us:

if we do not have a new wineskin, then we can even abuse the very things that Christ would give us if we didn’t have a new skin:

Mark 2:22 (ESV)

22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

This is the only place in all of the NT where it mentions that if new wine is put into old wineskins, the wine is destroyed. In other areas, it only mentions the skins being destroyed.

This means that God places a high importance on what He gives me and you.

The gifts and purpose God has for you, is so valuable to Him, and you that He will not give you what you are not prepared for.

The teachings and ways of Christ are only understood and properly applied in our lives, when we have a new spirit. Without the new spirit, we could thwart and change what Christ’s teachings are to fit our own agendas.

Notice what Jesus said:

Mark 2:22 (ESV)

“But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

He is saying there has to be a true change within the container, (our spirits) to contain, what I want to give us.

God loves me and you so much, that He will only give us what we are ready for. If we are not ready for something He will not give it to us, because He doesn’t want us to lose or abuse whatever it is He has for us.

***Illustration***

So if we are going to follow Christ, we need a new spirit, it is a necessity, not an option! Without it we can’t understand or properly apply Jesus’ teachings to our lives.

2. We cannot properly treat others if we do not have a new wineskin.

If we do not have the way’s and teachings of Christ within us. Then we can’t treat people how they should be treated.

Luke 6:31 ESV

31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

This is how Christ says, we as His followers should be treating others. At all times.

Did you know that Christ was abandoned by his friends before he was crucified?

Did you know that one of His own disciples turned him into to be murdered for 30 pieces of silver?

Did you know that his right hand man, Peter denied that He knew Him, 3 times?

Did you know that as Christ was hanging on the Cross for me and you, after he had been beaten savagely, that He looked up to God in Heaven and said, “Lord forgive them, for they know not what they are doing”

A man who did nothing but good his entire life had to endure all those things by the very people he was friends with and was coming to save.

But yet, he never retaliated. Why? He had a fresh wineskin, Jesus had the Spirit of God, the same Spirit you and me have within him. That is how he was able to react the way he did.

As followers of Christ, we may face these same things:

rejection, loneliness, sadness, verbal abuse from others, maybe even physical abuse.

But if we don’t have a new wineskin, if we don’t have Christ dwelling within us, we will react in the wrong ways. We will not react in the Christ-like way.

If we do not have Christ within us, we will resort to our feelings and based on those feelings is how we will react.

Anger, rage, and resentment. We will never be able to see what it may be like for that person.

You see what was so great about Christ is He knew the root cause of why people acted the way they did. He knew that it was sin, and that they had no way of escaping it. He knew that us humans were acting In the way that the sin within us wanted us to.

He knew that He was our only hope in getting away from that lifestyle.

So since He had the Holy Spirit dwelling within Him, He was able to have compassion on people when they did Him wrong, instead of resorting to rage.

But His compassion flowed from the peace that was within Him.

He knew He had peace with God, because the Holy Spirit was within Him.

If we do not receive a new wineskin, we will not be able to treat people right because we will not be able to see them how Jesus sees them.

And the result, is we will live this life with no peace.

but that does not have to be the case for us, for you.

Christ has made it possible for you to live in peace, despite the chaos around you.

All you have to do is ask Him, ask Him to save you, and He will.

Big George Foreman

I watched a movie the other night, and it was about a boxer some of you may know about. His name was George Foreman.

George grew up in a rough life. His mom could barely support him and his siblings. They were very poor. Often times George would get made fun of by others in his school because he was poor, he didn’t have the money or the things that they had.

So over time George’s heart had gotten real hard. He thought the whole world was out to get him. He was so angry. When someone would disrespect him, he just fought them.

He got into so many fights, that he began to box, and he was very good at it. In fact, he became a professional, and went on to win the world heavyweight championship.

But do you know what his fuel source was for boxing?

Anger. Rage.

He used those things that he had picked up from how he was treated in life to bring him the success he wanted. For him, those things are what led to hm being a successful boxer. So he held onto them.

But this attitude, could not fulfill him. It may have brought him success, but he was not satisfied, he had zero peace.

As a result of this attitude he cheated on his wife multiple times, he got a divorce, and he became so unhappy. Though he had everything he may have wanted in life, he didn’t have peace.

He hit rock bottom. Started losing matches. And when he lost matches, he got more and more angry and depressed.

This is why having a old wineskin is so bad. It can only get us so far. It can get us success. But it can’t give us peace.

Georges old wineskin, was getting worn out. It had been abused for too long.

He needed peace. But peace is only achievable with a new wineskin. Peace is something only achievable by the Hand of God. You see it is what Christ would call “new wine”.

Looking at George’s life it seems similar to Christs’ in that from the very beginning of his life, George was rejected by the world around him. So was Christ, from the moment Christ was born the world was trying to kill Him.

Herod the king killed all the males babies in the town of Bethlehem because he heard that was where Christ was born.

People made fun of Jesus, because he grew up in a bad town. Jesus grew up in the town of Nazareth and many people had a bad opinion of Him because He grew up there. They had a opinion about George because he grew up poor.

And all throughout Jesus’ life, he faced rejection by those around him, just like George.

But Jesus, did not react in the same way as George did. He could have easily resorted to rage, but he didn’t. Instead he resorted to love. Why? Because he had a fresh wineskin. He was born by the Spirit of God.

This is what Big George was missing, and this is what many in the world are missing. Christ has came to give you His same Spirit!

Your life was never meant to be dictated or led by what or how you feel. Nor is your life meant to be defined off what you have went through Or your past.

Christ has came and gave you the opportunity to have a new life, a new wineskin.

And he says today is the day, for you to give up your old life and pickup the new.

He has great plans and dreams for us all. But only if we will give up our wineskin to him and allow him to give us a new one will we be able to experience it.