"And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, nd the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins." Mark 2:22
And in the same story Luke adds this statement: "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, the old is better." Luke 5:39
There is more truth to these statements than I am going to address today. Let me give you just a few thoughts that I see when I read these verses.
1.Putting fresh wine into dry skins ruins both the wine and the skin. It is a waste and unproductive.
2. Revival is a youth movement. When everything is new and everything is a wonder it's easy to do anything.
3. The old wine is only better to those who have drunk it.
4. The key word is "immediately". This implies that old wine drinkers can develop a taste for new wine in time.
5. Forcing new wine into old skins is irresponsible and short sighted and immature.
6. Old wine can go from valuable to undrinkable if let alone long enough.
7. Finally, wineskins are people. The wine is the Holy Spirit. But people put the wine into bottles. The skill and understanding we use in this process determines whether people will thrive or disappear in our church.
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