Part 23: Back to the wineskin (Luke 5:37-39)

This entire series of lessons started as a way to understand these verses:

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. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, 'The old is good enough. '" (Luke 5:37-39 NASB)

The new wineskin is made of animal hide  with an animal bladder lining.  When the new wine (not yet fermented) is poured into the wineskin, the fermentation process gives off carbon dioxide gas and causes the bladder (and thus the hide) to expand. Only a new skin has the flexibility to expand as the gas is produced. An old skin is stiff and lacks "give".  The advantage to the old skin is that it is strong. It's less fragile and less likely to sustain damage from routine use. 

The new wine contains tannin, which will help to condition, or tan, the hides. Don't miss this point. New wine doesn't stay new. New wineskins don't stay new. In fact, new wine in a new wineskin allows the new wine to become transformed to old, and allows the new wineskin to become transformed to an old wineskin. New wine is limited to new wineskins. Old wine is at home in either an old wineskin or a new wineskin. No special concession is needed. 

This transformation is vital because new wine is not delicious. Old wine, however, has had time to develop a rich aroma and flavor. It is much more desirable than new wine. Jesus was not saying anything negative about old wine or old wineskins. 

Look at this chapter in its entirety. Simon the fisherman was transformed to Simon the disciple. The paralytic was transformed to a walking testimony of the healing power of Christ. Matthew was transformed from a money-obsessed tax collector to Matthew the Evangelist, introducing all his friends to Jesus. Even in the discussion about fasting, Jesus said His non-fasting disciples would be transformed to fasting disciples. 

The wine example was a word-picture everyone could understand. It was part of the vernacular. Fermentation was the only way available to preserve the fruit juice. There were no canning jars, refrigeration, or freezers. Their options were fermentation or wastage. Of course, fermentation was preferable, and that was the method used for preservation. 

Jesus was saying that, just as grapes are transformed by a very clear process that moves from grapes to must to new wine to old wine, disciples are transformed by a process, too. New disciples must experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives to cleanse and grow them into mature disciples. They cannot instantly fit the discipline and study of a mature disciple. An old wineskin would be confining. Being a mature disciple, however, is infinitely better than being a new one. Mature disciples can fit into any situation or challenge Christ presents them. They are at home in flexible new wineskin conditions or more structured (possibly confining or difficult) old wineskins, and they fill either with the aroma of Christ in such a way that the situation becomes infinitely more desirable. 

The only way to become a mature disciple is to begin as a new disciple, but no one should stay "new".  Maturity is the desirable state. Like the wine, that moves from being a grape on the vine all the way to vintage, well-aged and matured wine, our desire should be to move from the "baby Christian" stage to fully mature believer in a steady process. 

Where are you in your journey of transformation from new wine to old? What needs to be done to move you closer to maturity?

As we pray today, ask God to move us and our loved ones toward greater maturity. Pray that the process does not stop until we (and they) are as fully developed in our faith as our Lord planned and that the bouquet of Christ is recognizable to all we meet.

  

Part 19: The Racking (Luke 5:37)

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. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. (Luke 5:37, 38 NASB)

The entire process of converting grapes to wine is fairly amazing. The grapes are harvested, crushed, put in a vat, yeast is added, and the work begins. First the yeast reproduce, then they gobble up all the available sugars in the must. The period of yeast "eating sugar" is known as fermentation. During this time, the yeast give off waste products of alcohol and carbon dioxide. Because the carbon dioxide is a gas and is formed at the bottom of the vat, we can "see" the action of tiny bubbles (that seethe at times) on the surface of the vat. This fermentation over the first few days (7-10 days) is called primary fermentation. As the yeast use up the available sugars, the alcohol that is released begins to build up to levels that are toxic to the yeast. There comes a point when the level of alcohol is greater than the yeast can survive, and they begin to die. 

To bring the wine to full fermentation, an intervention is required. The wine must be "racked".  That is an odd term for transferring the wine to a second container. The transfer separates the developing wine from the dead yeast cells and the sediment of the fruit (leftover from the crushing) so that the fermentation can be completed. Winemakers call this secondary fermentation. This is not a second fermentation.  It is a completion of THE fermentation. 

You may remember (from the section on crushing) that the skin, seeds, and pulp from the wine's former life as a grape are allowed to remain for a while. Eventually, the remnants of the crushing will have to go, and this is the point where it is all removed. The grape will never be thought of as a grape again. Although it is not fully mature wine, it's well on its way and that former grape will forever after be considered wine. It is transformed. The process is not yet complete, but it is clearly underway. 

It's amazing to me that God, in His infinite mercy is so gentle to us. He tempers the crushing with His great love, allows us to keep the remnants of our former life far longer than seems sensible, and at the point where that former life has lost its luster for us, He separates us from it completely. We are transformed through this amazing process. It's a process all maturing believers experience. Where are you in this fermentation process?  Where is your loved one?

Pray today that we and our loved ones would quickly reach the end of our "primary fermentation", that point where our old life and old ways are stripped away, and we are transformed in such a way that we are "never a grape" again. 

The White Christmas That Wasn't

My five year old son wanted his daddy (my ex-husband) to come home again. With the faith of a child, he began to pray and to fast (sweets) for his daddy to "come to Jesus and come home to live with us".  After what appeared to be a miraculous transformation and the answer to a child's prayers, I remarried him. It may have seemed a naive decision, but I fully recognized the risk of the old problems resurfacing. I never expected what happened, however.

I certainly wasn't blameless, don't get me wrong about that. I could see something was awry, but could not seem to fix it, and pretty soon I began to wonder. Were the old problems back again?  

That particular Christmas Day was the best ever. All the children were home and we had a wonderful time. No one was ready to leave, so my husband went to visit his parents alone, and didn't come home that night.  In fact, he never came home. it was months before we saw him again. 

Christmas Day was the beginning of the worst few years of my life. I soon learned that he was having an affair with a much younger woman. Things went from bad to worse, and before a year had passed, she would bear him a son. 

As the summer months were waning, I began to think about the coming holidays. My dread was so great that I could hardly talk about it. Somehow, his leaving and Christmas Day seemed hopelessly intertwined. How could I celebrate the birth of my Savior on the anniversary of the death of my marriage? 

When I mentioned it to my sister, she had an immediate solution. She had been thinking that renting a cabin in the mountains where we could all be together for a white Christmas would be the very thing to do. Somehow, Cookie the Super Sister managed to convince our Mama, her husband, all her children, her son-in-law and the grandchildren that this white Christmas was what everyone wanted to do (or at least what they should do for me and my son). Ever the organizer and maker of lists, she soon had the holiday organized into easily divided tasks. Cookie the Super Sister assigned each of us a meal to cook, a time to clean, chores to do. It wasn't all work, though. She had planned games and activities that we could all enjoy. We laughed and played together.  We loved each other right out loud.  We enjoyed being together. Not once did the avid hunters in the group complain about missing prime hunting season. Not once did anyone complain about missing holiday traditions or long time routines. No one grumbled. No one argued. There was hardly any whining about the lack of snow!

What could have been a black cloud overshadowing the birth of Christ for years to come was transformed into the sweetest of memories by the agape love of God demonstrated by my family. Even now, the depth of my sister's love and my family's sacrifice astounds me and moves me to tears.  I didn't deserve it, but I will never forget it. In fact, I was transformed by it. Yesterday's pain has become today's cherished memory. 

I've begun to decorate my home for the holidays, dragging out all those cherished ornaments and nativity sets, again this year. The traditional family Christmas I have planned with my son this year will be all the sweeter because of the white-Christmas-that-wasn't and the love that was lavished upon us that year so long ago. 

There's a Christmas song that says "Love came down at Christmas". It certainly did!  Because of the love of a tiny God-man more than 2000 years ago, love came down again at Christmas in the form of a loving sister and sacrificing family. So much love...

Blessings of joy this Christmas season, dear ones. Merry Christmas!

,

Working for you or in you? (Luke 4:42)

When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. (Luke 4:42 NASB)

The crowds. It seems like crowds would be a blessing for a traveling evangelist, but these crowds were anything but a blessing. Jesus had gone to a quiet place for time with His Father. Although it was a secluded spot, the crowds searched and found Him. They were trying to keep Him from moving on to the next town. They wanted this miracle-worker all to themselves. 

We know from Scripture (Matthew 10:14, 11:23) that Jesus lived in  Capernaum but that there was not tremendous faith there. The crowds wanted what Jesus could do FOR them, not what He could do IN them.  That's a word for us today, isn't it? Do we come to Jesus with a shopping list of miracles we want Him to do, or come to Jesus desiring to be more like Him? There are many Scriptures dealing with prayer in general and answered prayer specifically. He delights in answering our prayers, but our Heavenly Father sent His Son to redeem us. Part of that redemption was the sinless life He lived and which He desires us to emulate. 

In a way, praying for others begins by praying for ourselves. We need to pray  for greater transformation, that we could be more like Christ and that we would know Him in a more personal, intimate way. If we were more like Jesus, many of the things on our "prayer shopping list" would take care of themselves. Today, begin to pray for our loved ones by seeking greater transformation and intimacy with Christ for yourselves, then pray the same for those we love.