Luke 5:33-39 ESV
The Pharisees and their scribes said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
Jesus 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. 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. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
I am no seamstress and I have no knowledge of wineskins, so I will not attempt here to explain these things. Yet, I do believe God has given me an understanding of what is meant here by these two illustrations, and I believe it is two-fold:
First of all, the question was asked as to why, if the Pharisees and John’s disciples fasted, Jesus’ disciples did not fast. I believe this fasting represented the old system, which the Pharisees and their scribes thought Jesus and his disciples should follow. Yet, Jesus was bringing in the new system, i.e. he was the fulfillment of their prophecies of old concerning the promised Messiah of the people. He was the embodiment of the kingdom of heaven, and he had arrived.
He was bringing in the new way of the cross, and the new way of God’s grace and redemption through Jesus’ shed blood on the cross for our sins. I believe he was telling them that he was not an addition (like the patch of un-shrunk cloth) to the old system, but he was a new way all by itself (new wine in new wineskins). For it is not the Old Covenant law plus Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. For it is by God’s grace that we are saved, through God-given faith in Jesus Christ, and it is not of our own doing.
But what is faith? Well, first of all it originates with God/Christ (Hebrews 12:1-2), so it comes from God, and it is gifted to us by God, and it is not of our own doing, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13). And it is persuaded of God (John 6:44). So, it is going to align with the divine character and will of God. And it will be obedient to the will of God for our lives, according to God’s Word.
For the Scriptures teach that by faith we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Therefore, we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, not to life everlasting. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it leads to righteousness and to sanctification and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23; cf. Roman 8:1-14; Luke 9:23-26; Titus 2:11-14).
Secondly, I believe the old garment and the old wineskins not only represent the Old Covenant Law, but I believe they also represent our old lives of living in sin and for self. Therefore, we cannot put Jesus Christ, in the person of his Spirit, into our old sinful lives. He is not an add-on to our old lives. He is a replacement for our old lives of living for self and in sin. That is why he died. He died so we would die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we might live for him (See 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
For when we become Christians by faith in Jesus Christ, he doesn’t just clean up our old lives a little at a time, as many people would like you to believe, but he radically transforms (via metamorphosis) our lives. He delivers us from slavery to our old lives of living for self and in sin, and he sets us free to walk according to his Spirit, living lives which are given over to God in submission to his will, and living to please him. But this doesn’t mean we will never sin again but that sin should no longer be our practice, our habit.
So, I believe there is a caution here to make sure we have not just added Jesus on to our old lives, because if that is what we think we have done, it won’t work. For, in reality, we cannot just add Jesus on to our old lives of sin. We have to die to our old lives of living in sin and now live for our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, in living holy and godly lives, or else we don’t have genuine faith nor salvation nor eternal life with God.
I also believe there is a caution here against following religious practices which we think are going to make us more spiritual, but then for us to still end up living our lives for ourselves. For what good is it to deny yourself food for a period of time so you can pray and draw near to God if, once the fast is over, you go right back to business as usual? God doesn’t want that kind of fasting. He wants the kind of sacrifice to him that is there all the time, and that doesn’t just add him on to our old lives, but which allows him to put our sins to death so that we can now live new lives by faith in him.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
My Heart’s Desire
An Original Work / June 29, 2013
Based off Rm. 10; Lu. 9:23-26; Ep. 4:20-24
Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire
Is that you might come to Jesus.
Many appear zealous for God,
But they do not trust in Him.
They have not submitted to the One
Who saved them from their sins;
Not forsaken their sins,
Nor have they obeyed their King.
The word of the Lord is near you:
The word of faith we’re proclaiming:
That you must confess your faith
In Jesus as your Lord and King:
Believe in Him as your Lord,
And follow Him where’er He leads.
Share the gospel; be a witness,
And meet others’ needs.
Beautiful are the feet of those
Who bring the good news of Jesus:
Anyone who would come to Him
Must deny himself today;
Die to sin and self, and
Let the Spirit transform you in heart;
Put on your new self in Jesus,
Yielding to the cross.
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