Sunday class: Proverbs 25:21-28 Self control and dealing
with one's enemies.
Choruses: Shine Jesus Shine (F); How Great Thou Art (Bb)
Scripture reading: #669
Sunday evening - The life of Christ
chronologically in a 'harmony' of the Gospels. Luke 12:48-59 ...of whom much
will be required.
Wednesday
evening - Developing a Biblically Consistent World-View:
New 'wineskins'
Mark 2.14-22
14. As he walked along, he saw Levi son
of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus
told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15. While Jesus was having dinner
at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with
him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16. When the teachers of the law who
were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors,
they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and
`sinners'?" 17. On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the
healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners."
18. Now John's disciples and the
Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that
John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are
not?" 19. Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast
while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.
20. But the time will come when the
bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. 21.
"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old
garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear
worse. 22. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine
will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No,
he pours new wine into new wineskins."
Problems with wineskins…this
is an interesting story - told in Mark 2. The story is of Jesus eating at Levi's house with lots of
tax collectors and 'sinners' and, of course, his disciples.
The rub was two-fold:
a) Jesus was eating with
tax collectors, 'sinners' and his disciples
b) Jesus was eating with
tax collectors, 'sinners' and his disciples.
The 'company' was all
wrong...and then there was the problem of 'eating' when the rest of the
religious community was fasting.
I've heard people speculating as to why the rest of the religious
community might have been fasting, as though that may have had significance to
the situation. I think that the reason why others were fasting is totally
irrelevant to the discussion.
That side-track is merely more evidence that we strain over the same type
of arguments today as those that were stumbling blocks to the religious
community back in Jesus day.
We can additionally complicate the conversation with discussion as to
which and what 'wineskins' are best for carrying and serving the 'living water'
today. It becomes a matter of 'pride and prejudice.'
The question about wineskins isn't really to be framed by which is better
or what is right, but rather by an understanding as to what taste of new wine God has for each one of us
and whether or not each of us is willing to be a new and unique wineskin for that new wine.
Carrying old wine in an new wineskin doesn't
make any more sense than carrying new wine in an old wineskin. God has a taste of new wine for
each of us. A new and refreshing touch from the Holy that is to be
carried by each of us in the joy of us as new creations is what Jesus wants -
and wanted the teachers of the law to realize back then.
It is about newness, refreshing, joy, opportunity, dreams, hopes, faith,
vision…life!
When you open yourself to dream large, God
will take your flights of fancy far beyond anything that you can initially get
your arms around. Don’t be scared - I think God is in it!
In your dreaming, you are really stretching,
and it's good! We are never to dream according to the size of our vessel, nor
the condition of our vessel. We
are to dream and then fashion/adopt/adapt the vessel according to the need.
We need folks who can get excited about
other people’s dreams. We
need folks who have a gift of getting people to dream big dreams and making
them happen!
We
need individuals who are bringing new vessels to those who are dreaming dreams
and having visions.
There are plenty of folks who stand around
saying, “You’ll never get that to work.” “That’ll never happen.” “We’ve never
done it that way before.” “That’s not how we do things.” “Let’s be practical.” Old wineskins!
God told Isaiah that sometimes He will just
do a “new thing,” and not the “former things or the things of old.” “Do not
call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new,
now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a
roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
He said, “Behold…” ‘Watch me!’ ‘Step back!! Watch this!’ - God
was saying, ‘If you can see this; if you have the perception; if you have
vision…’ “Behold, I do a new thing.” There were no roads in the wilderness – no
rivers in the desert! These are things that have never been before! God is
calling us beyond the norm.
This isn’t about fasting or traditions or
social order. This is about the old prophet Joel’s dreaming dreams and having
visions. It is about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon God’s children. It
is about opportunities for the kingdom and His purposes. It requires new
dreams…new wine and new wineskins.
Relax, let God be
God and don't compare wineskins...
Don’t measure the wineskin for the size of the dream.
Measure the dream and believe for the wineskin!