Today, we continue in our Luke - Exploring who Jesus is - series.
‘He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” (Luke 5:36-39)
Lesson: Jesus wants us to build a ‘new wine’ church - one that’s justified by faith, born again and empowered by the Spirit and saturated in the grace of God.
To listen to this devotional, go to:
I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a meeting where someone prays something like, “We need new wine and new wineskins…”? What’s often meant is that we need to change the way that we do church or be more free in worship etc. These desires may well be very good, however, the new cloth, new wine and new wineskins that Jesus is speaking of remains available and unchanged since the ascension of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit. In essence, a new cloth, new wine and new wineskin church is one that is living in the New Covenant. Sorry if that sounds boring, but that’s it and if it seems boring it’s because we may be too addicted to what’s novel and to the sensational!
To be a new cloth, new wine and new wineskin church means things like: We believe that Jesus in the lamb of God and our perfect ‘once for all’ sacrifice for sin. We believe that we are born again through faith in Christ. We believe that we are new creations in Christ. We believe that we are justified by faith and not by the works of the Law. We believe in the empowering of the Holy Spirit for fruitfulness. We believe that we are a priesthood of all believers. We believe that we are a temple of the Holy Spirit…
The new wine church is living in what was promised and foreshadowed in the Law and the prophets (The Old Testament). In essence, a new wine church is built on the grace of God and the Spirit of God and so these will be a major foundation stone in its culture.
Response
Jesus wants us to build a ‘new wine’ church - one that’s justified by faith, born again and empowered by the Spirit and saturated in the grace of God. Are you waiting for the new wine or do you see that Jesus is offering this right now! Specifically, are we reliant on the death of Christ and the giving of His Spirit for our peace and power?
COMMUNITY GROUP NOTES AND STUDY
This week is our week of prayer so we won't be meeting in our Community Groups.
Please go to Church News or contact the office or your CG leader for more details.
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