“… no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

Jesus said no one puts new cloth which hasn’t been shrunk on an old garment…and they don’t put new wine in old wineskin’s.  The idea he’s getting across is one of FLEXIBILITY. In that day, garments weren’t as disposable as they are for us. If a tear was made in an outer coat they would patch it with another piece of material, but they had to have material that wasn’t going to shrink up over time (as cottons and wools are prone to doing).  It had to be preshrunk or the patch would just shrink and tear the coat again.

Same with a wineskin. When they would bottle their wine, they would store it in flexible skins because as the new wine is fermenting, its going to expand and contract.  If you have this kind of morphing liquid in an old leather skin that’s no longer flexible, that’s become brittle and unchanging… it will tear it.

Jesus is pointing out in this that there will be no cookie cutter religion when it comes to the kingdom of God!

We can end up looking at other fellowships, and how they go about doing their meetings or outreach and start measuring our community by their community…and you know…Jesus used this imagery of flexibility for this very reason because he didn’t want this kind of attitude of comparison to prevail.The kingdom of God at work in the church is going to have a variety of diff expressions!  It’s going to change and flex and move in different ways.

Its not a rigid bottle…a rigid structure…it wont always look the same, it will change from age to age, from culture to culture…to meet an infinite variety of needs.

That’s why threre’s no description of what the meeting of the church should look like in the New Testament!  There’s no order of service or formula of teaching or anything like that…that way…the church is always fluid. There’s structure of some kind (the wineskin implies that) but its flexible, ready to change, to grow to shrink to take on any shape to accommodate what the Holy Spirit is doing!

I’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way in trying to understand what God is doing here with this community called Eastgate…but one thing I learned very early on is that I can’t look at any other model or see what some other fellowship is doing and presume to think God wants to do that here. I tried that, several times, with very frustrating results.

I’ve learned to be content with flowing and flexing with what God is doing right here, right now, with us…and I’ve learned that it wont always look the same from day to day.

How cool is that?

 

From Eugene Peterson’s “The Message”

Matthew 5:13-16

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Salt brings out the natural flavor of a food.  It enhances what is already there.  Jesus used the idea of salt losing it’s salty-ness…but there’s also an opposite application as I contemplate this.  Ever have food with too much salt on it?  No good, right?  Why?  Because the salt overwhelms the natural flavor…all you can taste is salt.  The flavor is God…God’s presence and grace evident on this fallen earth.  If we put too much of our ministry, too much of our ingenuity in the mix…all the world will taste is the salt.  Maybe our culture has been screwing up it’s face at Christianity lately because all they taste is salt…and not the wonderful God flavors we were supposed to be highlighting.

The same can be said for light.  I’ve always heard this concept put negatively…that light illuminates what’s hidden in the darkness (which usually meant pointing out sin)…but when I read Peterson’s take on it, it gave me a fresh vision.  Light enables us to see things in color…see things for what they really are.  But, a light so bright and beaming straight into your eyes will only make you see spots and irritate you.  God is the color we are supposed to put on display…but if we put too much emphasis on our clever programs or catchy phrases or slick presentations….maybe all this world gets is a blast in the eyes of our light. 

The world will never make a place for Christianity…Jesus pretty much promised that.  But, that doesn’t mean we can’t examine our methods to make sure we aren’t putting an artificial barrier between Jesus and those who may seek Him.

Right on?

Here’s an interesting article from the Christianity Today site:

“Attack Dogs of Christdondom”

This is presented as a problem for Christianity…which it most certainly is….but think about this:

Isn’t this almost an “American” thing? Our present 21st Century culture, with it’s prioritization of free speech over civility and intense individualism has sort of created this kind of attitude of hostility in any exchange of ideas.

For example…look at the 24 hour news networks. There are only a few minutes of any real reporting of actual events, the rest of the HOURS are filled with split screens of two people who hold opposing views about who’s to blame for everything who viciously attack each other publicly.

We have sort of become Vick Nation….one giant, ongoing dogfight (except with no apologies or promises of reform).

I’m somewhat convinced its not even just a 21st century American Christian thing as it is an American culture thing that the evangelical church has adopted and perversely sanctified under the banner of “taking a stand”.

Either way…we as the evangelical church have got to repent for being prompted by antichrist methods.

The Kingdom of God is revealed in so many different ways.  It’s revealed in a kind touch.  It’s revealed in spaghetti noodles, soccer balls and summer camps.  We were never called to promote a church.  We were called to preach what Jesus preached, that the Kingdom of God is close at hand.  Then we were called to stretch out our hands and let the Kingdom of God press through us toward others.

The Kingdom of God is basically God’s rule over the hearts of men.  Anywhere there is a person who has submitted his or her life to God through Jesus Christ; the Kingdom of God is there.  Anywhere kindness is shown in the name of (for the sake of, in the style of, in harmony with) Christ; that is the Kingdom of God at work on this earth.

“Let Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth, like it’s done in heaven.”