Forgotten God #4 discussion topics for Bible study.
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Forgotten God #1 discussion topics for Bible study
What did Jesus mean when He said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins”?
Of the 40 or so parables we see in the teachings of Jesus, only a handful are recorded in all three synoptic gospels. The parable of the wineskins is one of those that deserves our close attention.
This parable was given in the context of answering a question about fasting.
Matthew 9:14-17 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 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.”
What does fasting have to do with wineskins? I think most of us have not made the connection between this parable and the practice of fasting. We tend to read over the passage without realizing that Jesus is teaching us powerful truths about living with the fullness of the Spirit.
Here is Mark’s account.
Mark 2:18-22 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Jesus is using old and new wineskins, and old and new cloth, as an analogy of our old and new natures. The old carnal nature that we are born into under Adam, and the new nature of God that we receive by the Holy Spirit at our new birth in Christ.
So, what significance does fasting have in the context of this parable? Jesus was explaining to them the purpose and significance of fasting.
I see people fasting for many different reasons, but when you boil it down, there is only one primary reason for fasting. To break through the veil of carnal flesh so the Spirit can have full expression in our lives.
We live in this incredible paradox of having two natures that are constantly battling and warring against each other. Jesus is telling us that fasting is how we fight the battle and win the war.
Fasting is not very popular with most Christians because it requires discipline and self-denial. Some fast for the wrong reasons with little understanding and have little results.
Let’s look at Isaiah 58 and see what the purpose of fasting is.
Isaiah 58:6-9 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
There is much more to this chapter, and I highly recommend reading the whole thing, but the point I want to make is that biblical fasting is not just about denying our physical bodies of food, but reaching out and helping others in need as we are denying ourselves. There is something supernatural about the combination of denying ourselves while tending to the needs of others that brings powerful breakthroughs in our lives. It frees us from bondage, breaks yokes of unbelief, and brings healing to our bodies.
A true fast is not just denying the physical body, but the soul, mind, and will as well. Fasting should include denying every part of our being that is touched by the fall of man. Bringing the whole being into subjection so our light will shine brighter and ultimately give God more glory.
We all desire to be filled with the new wine, but it is God’s mercy that withholds it. If He filled us with the fullness of the Spirit before our wineskins were made new it would destroy us.
The kind of fasting that Isaiah describes creates in us a new wineskin that is meant to contain that new wine. It increases our capacity in the Spirit and empowers us to live a sustained life of power and demonstration of the kingdom of God.
Let’s look at Luke’s account because he brings out a very interesting point that Matthew and Mark do not address.
Luke 5:33-39 Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”
34 And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.” 36 Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise, the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.”
Look at verse 39. Luke recorded Jesus as saying, “no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
Jesus is telling us up front, “our flesh is going to resist this. We are not going to immediately desire to practice this.” Our flesh will always argue that the old way is better, leave things as they are, the old wine is good enough, and fasting is not necessary.
This is not going to be easy for anyone, but if it was easy there would be no significant rewards. The promises we see in Isaiah 58 are absolutely mind-blowing. We desire, and pray for new wine, but we are asking God to put in our old wineskin. Isn’t gonna happen!
Because of our fallen, broken nature, we seek more of God without making the necessary sacrifices. We desire the new wine, but we don’t want to release the old, craving change, yet, allowing things to remain stagnate.
In our present culture, we are inundated with the constant temptation to consume more. More food, more stuff, more entertainment, etc. Excess results in nothing but a strong, well-developed carnal nature. We feed the monster that wars against our souls.
We must choose new wineskins to be filled with the new wine and become everything Christ paid for. This choice is vital to our lives, but more importantly, it is vital for His glory!
Are you satisfied with the old wine of your carnal nature? Most of the Church is satisfied with the status quo of living a carnal existence while claiming Jesus as Lord. Personally, I just don’t have the stomach for it anymore.
There is so much that our Father desires for us to be and to have, but it cannot co-exist with the old fallen nature. The old wineskin must be “put off” and the new wineskin “put on.” We either choose to be who our Creator designed us to be, or we remain the same. The choice is new life in Christ with full kingdom power and authority or remaining distant and separate from the Father which is described as spiritual death.(Deut. 30:15-20)
Choosing life is easy. Living the life that God has provided takes a certain amount of discipline, resolve, and self-denial. It will require us to maintain a new wineskin. It will require biblical fasting.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
It is impossible to follow Jesus without denying ourselves. We will not have the strength to pick up our cross without this denial of self.
We are in those days. It’s your wineskin. What are you going to do with it?
For more teaching on Spiritual Warfare, CLICK HERE.
Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.
JC
Becoming childlike seems like a characteristic that would not be desired in any type of warfare, but in spiritual warfare it can be the difference between a sweatless victory and a prolonged and difficult battle.
Jesus said if we don’t become as a little child, we will not enter the kingdom of God. That is a sobering statement that we should examine closely. Our warfare must be waged with kingdom authority, and from a kingdom perspective. A childlike perspective is a kingdom perspective.
Matthew 18: 1-4 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
It is critical to recognize that the phrase “kingdom of heaven” is not referring to eternal life, but the kingdom of God on Earth. There are two phrases in the New Testament we must discern properly to understand this passage and many others. The phrases “the kingdom of God,” and “the kingdom of Heaven”. These two phrases are always talking about the same thing, which is the kingdom of God on the Earth.
The kingdom of God is any place on Earth that God’s rule and reign is acknowledged. Primarily it is in the hearts of men. The kingdom of Heaven is God’s dwelling place, where there is no corruption, no darkness, and no decay.
The phrase, “the kingdom of God” is used almost 70 times in 10 different books of the New Testament. The Phrase, “the kingdom of Heaven” is used 32 times exclusively in the gospel of Matthew.
The explanation of this is simple. Matthew was a Jew. His audience was Jewish, and he was writing about Jesus who was a Jew. Devout Jews at that time, and even today, have a holy reverence for mentioning the name of God. They will only utter or write the name of God when there is no other alternative. I believe Matthew tailored his message to his audience so that the gospel would be better received by the Jewish leaders of his time.
This can easily be verified by looking at all the parables about the kingdom recorded in the gospel of Matthew. Most of them will not make sense any other way.
Anytime we see the phrase kingdom of Heaven used, we can safely replace it with the kingdom of God without any danger of adding to, or taking away from the scriptures.
All the kingdom imagery and terminology we see in the Gospels is not about going to Heaven when we die, but about Heaven coming down to earth while we live.
Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Earth is the domain of the kingdom of God. It is Heaven’s outpost, given to Adam for stewardship for a season, lost by Adam through deception and rebellion, redeemed through the blood of Christ, and is now under our stewardship. We gain our entrance and citizenship into Heaven by accepting Christ as Lord. We gain entrance to the kingdom of God by becoming like a little child. This will never become a reality if we don’t become childlike.
What does Jesus mean in Matthew 18:3 about entering the Kingdom like a child?
Becoming childlike requires a putting aside of our will. This way our opinions and misconceptions do not get in the way of trusting God wholeheartedly.
A child understands that they do not always know what is best. Children often have very little control over their own lives. They embrace the fact that they have to put their trust in other people. They trust what their parents, teachers or other adults say without doubts or fear. For example, when a young child is shown a magic trick, their eyes light up with wonder.
Adults, on the other hand, are much more skeptical than children. This childlike faith and sense of wonder are somehow lost in the process of growing up.
There is something essential about a childlike perspective that pleases the Father and empowers a person to enter the kingdom, but what is Jesus talking about? What is this childlike perspective that Jesus has in mind?
We throw terms around like, “childlike faith,” but faith is never mentioned by Jesus. He is answering a question about who will be the greatest in the kingdom of God. I am not saying that faith has nothing to do with it, but Jesus did not put emphasis on faith. He put emphasis on a perspective that greatly effects our faith.
Is it possible that becoming like a little child means that we maintain the sense of wonder and innocence of a child that life in this sinful world tends to beat out of us?
Could it be that Jesus is talking about living life without being self-conscious, without guile, being open about our feelings and emotions, having an undefiled conscience and living life with excitement and boundless energy? Could He be referring to childlike inquisitiveness, vivid imagination, and creativity? Or a heart that is humble, joyful, hopeful, tender, loving, gentle, quick to forgive, and willing to believe the best of every person?
These are the sort of qualities that tend to define a child but get quickly stripped from us as we mature and become more “self-aware,” encountering the sin and brokenness of our fallen world.
As we grow into adulthood, we become jaded and prideful. We hold grudges and stay angry, refusing to forgive. We tend to lose hope because our hopes have often been dashed and destroyed. We allow negative emotions to rule us and let unimportant things matter more than what matters most. We lose our joy and live with a seared conscience.
As adults, we do things “because we’ve always done it that way” and have trouble with new ideas. We tend to reject things we do not understand, and this hinders us from trusting in the seemingly impossible. Children do not behave this way. Neither did Jesus.
Does this mean Jesus lacked maturity? Did He lack wisdom and understanding? Far from it. Jesus was full of wonder and hope for humanity. I believe Jesus lived in a constant state of awe and wonder. Jesus lived in awe of His Father, in awe of humanity, in awe of life, and in awe of His Father’s creation.
Anyone who witnessed how Jesus lived began to see how life should be lived. I believe this made Him the most attractive person on the planet to those who were not too jaded by selfish pride. It also made Him hated by those that were blinded to truth.
Jesus revealed to us how God intended life to be lived. The life of Jesus is the perfect example of childlikeness. His life is perfect theology.
Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
I think many of us have a hard time seeing Jesus as joyful and childlike, yet some of the fruits of the Spirit are gentleness, meekness, and joy. I think His fruit was probably ripe and could easily be harvested just by being in His presence.
People began to see the rule and reign of God’s kingdom unfold before their eyes as Jesus began to embrace His earthly ministry with demonstration of the Kingdom of God and power. Signs and wonders were the fruit of His childlikeness before the Father
Jesus modeled the life we should live, and Jesus invited us to follow Him. He taught us that if we want to experience the kingdom of God in this life, then we need to become like a little child.
I encourage you today to get alone with God and don’t bring a prayer list. Just come to Him as a child that loves His Father and wants to be just like Him. Ask Him to help you be more childlike, in fact, ask a bunch of questions. Be open, vulnerable, humble, and forgiving. Tell Him what you struggle with, what makes you happy, what you would like to change about yourself. He’s a good listener.
Be attentive to His voice, practice being still in His presence and listen with the expectation of Him speaking to you.
The first step in becoming more childlike is to spend time with Him and allow Him to Father you. Embrace His love, invite His correction, pursue His instruction, and believe that change is coming.
For more teaching on Spiritual Warfare, CLICK HERE.
Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.
JC
Truth Pressure Ministries 