Wine and Wineskins. A Lesson For Today

 "No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskin is ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins." Mark 2:22

1. New wine is a type of the Holy Spirit. God is always new wine. Fresh and vibrant.

2. Wineskins are where wine is stored. The Holy Spirit is present in people. He is not just a wandering cloud. All that God does in this age He does through people.

3. The container must match the contents. It matters where God pours out the Spirit. God pours out the Spirit where it will work.

4. Discipleship works when new wine is put into new wineskins. It's a perfect match.

5. Disaster strikes when we get the containers wrong. Both the wine and the wineskin are lost.

As I get older I notice that in some churches they use a one size fits all approach to ministry. Every sermon is for everybody in the building. Everyone should be involved in everything the church does. Older saints agree with everything the mature pastor says. They just can't do everything that he says.

The danger of the immature and shallow one size fits all approach is that you hurt the person, and you run the risk of losing them. And you lose something of the the anointing and blessing of the the Lord's presence. The wineskin is ruined and the wine is lost.

Jesus did not tell us to make the old wineskins new again. He said to use wisdom to preserve something valuable. Jesus never told us to throw away the old wineskins either.