OLD OR NEW?

"And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better'" (Luke 5:39).

Which is better? Old or new? 

If price were no object, would I buy a new table at a fine furniture store or pick one up at a private auction? Maybe I'd choose a round table, part of a collection sold by Thomasville. Its a classic design which boasts a burl veneer top with a decorative inlay of Zebra wood (imported from West Africa). Price is no object so it shouldn't matter if it only costs $1100, right? After all, it's a new table made by a top furniture maker.

Or maybe I should go to a private auction. If price were no object, I might buy an endtable in the French Rococo style. The Tufft pier table might fit the bill. I love the hand-carved legs and the delicate claw feet. But someone beat me to it back in 1990. They sold this precious table for a mere 6.4 million dollars! And it didn't matter that it was built way back in the 1700's! 

So which is better? The old or the new? Jesus gives a very different slant for answering that question. He says, "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 a new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the wine will be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins" (Luke 5:36-38). 

In Bible times, grape juice and other drinks were often stored in a bag made from animal skins. But unless you were very careful, the skins would dry out and become hard like stone. Normally, when you put new juice in these wineskins, it starts to ferment. But if the skin is dry and hard, the bag can't expand--it would only crack. The wineskin would, of course, be ruined and the wine would spill out.

It's easy to see that a new wineskin needs to be used with new wine. You can't mix the old with the new. But that's what Jesus was up against in His ministry. "Sin had become a science, and vice was consecrated as a part of religion. Rebellion had struck its roots deep into the heart, and the hostility of man was most violent against heaven" (Desire of Ages, pg. 37). 

The priests in the temple went through the motions of worship day after day, but to them, it had lost its saving power. They couldn't see beyond the symbols and the rites. The tradition of the elders held more weight than the commandments of God. And God's Law of love was perverted into a law of bondage, as they loaded it up with meaningless requirements that could never be kept. Zealous for its honor, they were constantly violating its spirit. They were like "white washed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful" but on the inside, they were only "full of dead men's bones and all uncleaness" (Matthew 23:27, RSV).

Christ was ready to fill them with the power of His Spirit, but they felt no need of His cleansing power. They could have been disciples of the greatest Teacher of all time, but they felt they were above instruction. They were too righteous to need salvation, too rich to need anything from the Savior's hand. They never knew how poor they really were. 

"They were represented by Christ as the dry skins which were then used as bottles. The gospel of Christ could not be placed in their hearts; for there was no room to contain it. They could not be the new bottles into which He could pour His new wine...He must find men who were willing to have regeneration of heart" (Selected Messages, book 1, pg. 386). So Jesus turned to uneducated fishermen like Peter and John, to the tax-collectors in the marketplace, to the woman of Samaria, and the common people who heard Him gladly. There he found bottles for his new wine.

Now it's not that Jesus wanted to get rid of everything that was old. After all, He said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17). In fact, "the Lord was pleased, for His righteousness' sake, to magnify His Law and make it glorious" (Isaiah 42:21, RSV). He did this by "showing in every part its wonderful meaning. He showed that it is to be obeyed, not only in the actions, which are seen by men, but in the thoughts, which are known only to God" (Steps to Jesus, pg. 70). So instead of merely keeping the sixth commandment which says, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13), He went to the heart of the command, saying, "whoever is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire" (Matthew 5:22, RSV). Murder was more than just an act of violence to the Savior; it was also a matter of the heart. 

And heart religion was something that was so foreign to the Pharisee that it sounded like something new. And so radical that they wanted no part of it. 

So what's this got to do with you and me? It's possible to find ourselves in the same spot as the Pharisee--as an old, dried up wineskin--if we hold onto our cherished ideas or some 'idol of opinion' rather than the truth that comes from Jesus. Are we trusting in ourselves to be good or do good, thinking everything is okay between us and the Lord? Do we see ourselves through the eyes of Christ or do we think that "we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing" (Revelation 3:17)?

Jesus stands at the door of our heart, knocking today. He says, "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see" (Revelation 3:18, RSV). "Faith and love are the gold tried in the fire. But with many, the gold has become dim, and the rich treasure has become lost. The righteousness of Christ is to them a robe unworn" (Desire of Ages, pg. 280). Oh, how we need to put on Jesus! To give Him our polluted hearts and allow Him to give us a new one! We need His blood to cleanse us from all sin and His righteousness to overflow in our lives.

I've discovered this week the most beautiful verse. I don't think I've ever seen it before--at least it hasn't spoken to me as it has this week. Job says, "Inside I am like bottled up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst" (Job 32:19). When Jesus fills my heart, it is soft and pliable. It's easy to hear His voice and do whatever He asks. And when the new wine of His love fills me to overflowing, I am ready to burst! I can't keep it to myself!  I want to shout with the news of His salvation! I want to be poured out in love for my Savior.

I certainly don't want the old wine anymore! The new wine is so much better! But that's only because I am new. It's just like the old wineskins in Bible times. When they became old and crusty, they could be brought back to life by being submerged in water. Then they'd be rubbed all over with olive oil until the skin was soft and flexible. The Holy Spirit does the same thing for us. He brings us back to life "through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). Where does that renewal come from? Jesus said, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). The same creative power that God used to make this world out of nothing is in His Word! Every verse is packed with the life and power of God! He speaks through the Bible with the same energy and resurrection power that Christ spoke when He told the waves to be still, when He called Lazarus from the dead! 

I have been renewed, revived and changed by that life-giving Word. I'm so excited about what God is doing in my life. A daily miracle is unfolding in my heart. And it's only because I'm submerging myself in Jesus every day. I'm drinking in the new wine and it's keeping me soft and pliable. And it's making me thirsty for more of Jesus and for walking in the Living Way.

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