The Church and New Wineskins

Most of us have dark times in our past that make us shudder with embarrassment or pain when they come to mind. It may have been a rebellious youth, things we have done that we knew were wrong, a wilderness experience, a broken relationship for which we were responsible, or one of many other things. Providentially, as we confess them we find forgiveness at the cross, but that does not keep us from cringing inwardly when they come to mind.

The Exile

The children of the Southern Kingdom had long been disobedient to God. After being warned many times, they were finally exiled to Babylon. It was there that they began to consider their guilt, turn back to God, and a desire to worship Him was reborn. Because they did not have the Temple, they created smaller worshiping communities we know today as Synagogues. Many scholars believe that the Synagogue was developed as a worship form during the Babylonian Captivity.

To pull it together, the people of Israel were being disciplined for their disobedience. Yet, while in their “wilderness,” they began to seek and find forgiveness. Absent the Temple, God guided them to create the synagogue as a new worship structure, which they brought back with them when they returned.

The Ministry of Jesus

Hundreds of years later, Jesus had a huge following. He taught in the synagogues, healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead.

Jesus had His critics. He was socializing with those whom the conservative religious leaders had rejected as social outcasts. He ate and drank with prostitutes, alcoholics, traitorous tax collectors, and others who had been disenfranchised. Jesus countered that His mission was to sinners, not the righteous. He even spoke of his ministry as being new wine; and about new wine needing new wineskins, or structures. For that reason, the new wine (His teaching) would burst the old structure (the Temple) and be lost.

However, Jesus also offered a very curious observation. He said in Luke 5:39, "No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'" In other words, those who were part of the existing religious order had gained their wealth, influence, and power through the “old,” and would prefer the old for the new.

New Wineskins

Fast forward to the disciples in the Upper Room. Jesus had given the “about 120” explicit instructions to wait there for power. On the day of Pentecost, the new wine of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them all; it was the birthday of the Church. A new wineskin was being filled; a new religious community was born; a new synagogue was founded. The synagogue became the new wineskin, of which Jesus was speaking, into which the new wine of the New Covenant was poured.

Just imagine! While God was disciplining the children of Israel for their sin in Babylon, He was also fashioning the Synagogue; the instrument through which the whole world would hear about salvation in Christ.

We Are the New Wineskins

Let me take this metaphor one step farther. The curtain in the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, giving the human race direct access to God – to all who will believe. By extension, you and I are the true wineskins.

Think about it! God used the Synagogue, formed while the Israelites were being disciplined, to transform them and to become the new wineskin for the New Covenant. Here is the larger lesson for us. God can transform those things in our past which we have confessed, and found forgiveness into a powerful means of advancing His kingdom. God does not waste anything He has redeemed. He is in the business of making even that of which we are ashamed into instruments of His grace, mercy, and love to others if we will allow Him to do it.

What has God used in your life for His glory?