So I am in the process of reading the Bible in a year. Reading through Luke I noticed something that
I have somehow missed every other time I’ve read it.
Luke 5:36-39 - And He was also telling them a parable: “No
one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment;
otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match
the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine
will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.
38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The
old is good enough.’”
Verse 39 is the one that seemed to suddenly appear. I’ve memorized 36-38 before, even preached on
Matthew’s version of this passage, but somehow missed verse 39.
If you are used to the old wine you won’t want the new
wine.
There are leadership implications here, to be sure. Trying to bring change is going to
be hard, if Jesus himself says that everyone who has tasted the old wine is
going to be satisfied… Every book on change worth it's cover will tell you that "good enough is the biggest threat to excellent that exists". Well-meaning people become
like the Pharisees, obstacles to change, because they like what they first
tasted…
But what about the personal implications for someone who
wants to constantly be moving and re-thinking?
How do I prevent becoming addicted to a certain kind of wine, and
whining about the rest?
I remember being a teenager in the 90's, and thinking that my parents
were weird for not liking the new music that was coming out. Now I’m 31 and my favorite type of music is
90’s rock (now called “adult contemporary”).
I’m pretty much annoyed with most of what comes out today, unless it is
heavily influenced by 90’s rock. I’ve
settled into a certain wine skin. When
it comes to music, I say, “The old is better!”
But just because I understand the “old is better” attitude
doesn’t mean I can defend it. That
attitude is the one that had Jewish believers upset when Gentiles started
coming to Christ. That attitude is the
one that pushed Paul to say (about those who were demanding that Gentiles
become circumcised if they wanted to pursue relationship with Jesus) “As for
those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” It is the attitude that caused the first big
church counsel in Jerusalem (one that ended in compromise rather than in leadership, and whose decisions were eventually reversed), and the one that caused Paul to oppose Peter to
his face in front of the Galatian church.
On the contrary, I have an obligation to do what Paul did,
and become “all things to all people so
that by all possible means I might save some”. I follow the example of someone who “did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped”, but emptied himself, and became like me. He gave up all the comforts of heaven to
suffer through being like me, not because there was anything in it for Him, but
because He loved me.
If singing along with some music I don’t like will help
someone else know God’s love, count me in.
If seeing things at church done differently than the way I’ve always
done them will help more people come to know Christ in 1 year than in the 5
previous years combined, count me in. If
I have to volunteer in some ways that feel a little awkward, instead of the old
comfortable ways, so that I can carry out the great commission, count me in.
And keep me accountable to my attitude, because I have a tendency to do the right thing through gritted teeth because I know I have to, instead of with
genuine love and compassion, and if I do that, then I’m not going to bless anyone. And I am tempted to only serve with honest love if I
get to do it my way, but if I do that I'm just forcing new wine into old wineskins.
So if I can't serve new wine with a smile, put a cork in me and put me on a shelf in the basement. The mission of the church is not to keep me content and tithing, but to go and make disciples. If I get in the way of the mission, then call me Jonah and toss me overboard. There are plenty of life boats out there that are happy to pick up the picky and serve them their favorite kind of wine. Maybe I'll even get swallowed by a big fish, get my act together and go do the right thing...
I try to avoid becoming a wine whiner, by remembering that the wine skins that helped last year's crop become a great vintage,
might not work well for this year’s harvest; thus the need to constantly move and
re-think.
I am not a change
agent, because I want things to be the way I like them.
I don’t want you to move and rethink your
ideas, so that they will be more like mine.
I want to move and rethink so that I can follow Paul’s example as he followed
the example of Christ, so that I will always have new wine-skins ready for new
wine, even while I privately prefer and older vintage.
After all, what is old wine to me was once new wine, and
someone cared enough to move and re-think their favorite vintage and to create one I could
fall in love with.
