Living Stones – Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Wineskins
Matthew 9:17
“Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
This strange reply that Jesus gives to the question about fasting is not about the wine, it is about the wineskins, we would do well, therefore, to understand the issue of wineskins a bit more since it is alien to most of our cultures and experiences. Our wines come in bottles with some modern technology built into them.
The point that Jesus seems to be making here is not about wine but about wineskins. It’s the wineskins that had to be ready for the new wine, not the other way around. It’s the wineskins that have to be supple and flexible and responsive to pressure from the inside. It’s the wineskins that have to change with time over the duration of the process. And it’s the wineskins that hold all the precious contents throughout the process and then become the storage place for a long time after.
The wineskins facilitated the fermentation process, but the wineskins are transformed by the very process they facilitate and then they hold and preserve the content that changed them until it is released to those for whom it was preserved. After all of this, the wineskin is discarded, it empties itself for the benefit of people.
The late Myles Munroe had declared, sometime shortly before he died, that he wanted to “die empty.” His idea was that we shouldn’t die until there is nothing left for us to do with all of the gifts and talent and resources placed at our disposal, and all of the education, training, and experiences we have accumulated.
Munroe’s idea reminds me of the wineskin, holding all of the potential power of “wine that makes glad the heart of man, Psalm 104:15, but that is ‘useless’ once that purpose has been served and men have had a good time.
The Word of God and the Spirit of God must come into us and change us, we must be the host of their transformative power, and once we are changed we are to demonstrate and affect the world with that change. The New Testament is full of the call on transformed believers to be of service, first to those of the household of faith and then the others. This the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:10.
In order to receive the new wine of the Word and Spirit, new wineskins have to be produced. Many Christians today are untransformed by the Word that is preached to them because they have arrived at a place where, thinking that they already know what they are being taught, it is unable to change them any longer.
Fixed mindsets, previous teaching, and preconceived ideas are among the things that keep us in our boxes and stop us from learning new things. This was the experience of the Apostle when God was ready to push the Gospel among the Gentiles.
The Spirit of God came to Peter in a vision and, showing him animals considered unclean in Jewish teaching and tradition, said, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” The Spirit responded to Peter telling him that “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” It is not until this sequence was repeated three times that Peter was open to the move of the Spirit of God.
Wineskins were made from the skins of goats. To produce a wineskin the goat had to be killed. Goats were killed either in the regular course of events for meat production or in a sacrifice involving a priest. Either way, the slaughtered goat was skinned, then the hair was removed, and the skin was put out to dry. Later the openings were stitched and tied while being shaped into a wineskin.
While the vintner (winemaker) was busy working with the owner of the vineyard and the vinedressers to ensure that the grapes were ripening properly and that the right time was set for harvesting, getting ready for pressing and juice collection, settling and filtering to produce new wine, a goatherd was caring for his flock to bring them to maturity to be handed over to a skilful butcher or priest. Later the skill and creativity of a wineskin maker were employed to bring together the work of those in the vineyards and winepress, with the work of those in the field and abattoir or temple.
The production of a new wineskin for new wine required the sacrifice or death of some things, the cleaning and the drying out and then the fashioning. The goat and then its skin were put under pressure to be formed into something that would eventually hold this new wine.
If we want an experience that which is new and fresh and powerful we need to come as new wineskins, having made some sacrifices, been under some pressure, and reshaped, ready for new wine.
Think on these things:
- What changes do you need to make in your life in order to be like a new wineskin?
- Are you open to new and fresh ideas and experiences or are you settled in your thinking and do not want disruption?
- Is there any teaching or application of the Scriptures that challenged your thinking recently?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would be willing to go through the sacrifice and change that are required to make us useful vessels in God’s hand to minister his glory to others.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex