GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 5:37-38
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins. The wine will spill out, and the skins will be ruined. 38 No: new wine must be put into fresh wineskins so both will be preserved.
In the parable of the new patch (verse 36), the point was that a little of the new will not match the old. Now Jesus makes an even clearer point: one certainly cannot mix all of the new with the old. Wineskins, unlike waterskins, were usually made of the exterior hide of a goat. The animal had to be dispatched carefully and the hide was removed in such a way that no slit was made and the hide was left intact. The openings at the feet and tail were closed up securely, and the neck of the hide was used as the mouth of this ‘bottle.’ Because it is essentially uncured leather, a goatskin stretches somewhat when new, but after a time (after the wine inside has fermented) it becomes stiff and will not stretch anymore. It will burst under most any pressure.
If Jesus allowed his doctrine to be forced into the works-righteousness of the Pharisees, it would be destroyed like the wine bursting the wineskin. The new wine—the teaching of Christianity—must never be forced into the old skins. But we must take care: The teaching of Jesus is never to be considered “old” even though it has now been two thousand years since the Savior said these things. His is always new; it is never old. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
We need to be careful about the many subtle ways we become guilty of sinning in this way, forcing the gospel into legalism. When I was a missionary (and a very new pastor) a colleague would sometimes catch me or others saying something like, “I have to preach this weekend.” He would very confidently correct us: “Of course, you mean that you get to preach this weekend!” It took me a long time to figure out what rubbed me wrong about that statement. Then it hit me: His ‘correction’ was a command, and it only condemned. There was no gospel to what he was saying. I, and others, had been put down by a Pharisee. And what’s more, it was by a Pharisee who doesn’t understand modern English, since when we say “have to,” we only mean “it’s on my schedule,” and not really that “I’m obligated in some way.” When we teach, rebuke, correct and train one another in righteousness, it needs to be motivated by the gospel—even when (or especially when) we correct one another about not being motivated by the gospel.
Whatever you do, do it to the glory of God, and out of thanks to Jesus Christ for everything he has done. We don’t serve him out of any obligation, but out of pure joy.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota