A Whole New Way
"And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the new
patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger hole
than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The wine would burst
the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine needs new
wineskins" - Mark 2:21-22 (NLT).
Jesus compares the Old Testament system with its laws and rituals (e.g., as
fasting) to an old wineskin, and his new message of salvation through himself to
new wine. His Good News of salvation by grace through faith (new wine) could
not be forced into the mold of the Old Testament laws and rituals (old
wineskin). The two were completely different ways of relating to God, and
finding salvation.
At one time, followers of God could be saved by obeying the 613 laws of Moses -
- if they could do it. Of course, no one could keep all these laws, so everyone
was lost and condemned. We couldn't even keep the Ten Commandments, much less
613 of them.
For example, the Ten Commandments forbid adultery and murder, and we might think
we've kept these, but the truth is we haven't!
Think about it. We are all adulterers or murderers. One of the Ten
Commandments says, "You shall not commit adultery," but Jesus said that if a man
even looks at a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery with her in
his heart. So this covers all the men!
The Ten Commandments also teach "You shall not kill," but the New Testament says
that if we even hate someone, we are a murderer. This covers all the women who
hate all the men for looking at all the other women!
We are all adulterers or murderers!
But seriously, no one can keep all of God's laws perfectly so as to be saved.
Therefore, we need a whole new way to God. We need Jesus.
Think of God as being in heaven, and you have to climb the Sears building in New
York to get to him and be saved. But you don't have any suction cups, no rope,
no climbing equipment, and no modern machinery. You have only yourself, and
your jeans and tennis shoes. Now there is no way you will ever climb such an
edifice like that. You'd get so far, and then fall.
That's what it's like trying to please God or be saved by keeping all his laws.
We get so far doing okay, then we fall. We keep some commands, then we fail.
Somewhere along the line, we will disobey God. We'll become angry, or lust, or
desire something we shouldn't, or fail to do something we should. We're going
to sin, and this makes climbing the building impossible.
But what if someone comes along with a whole new way to the top of the building?
Enter elevator! It's a whole new way of getting there. Suddenly, getting to
the top would be easy. Just climb in, sit back and rest, and trust the elevator
to get you there.
Jesus is the elevator. He is the new way to get to God. He is the new wine.
We don't work our way to God anymore, we simply climb into his kingdom by his
death and resurrection, sit back and rest, and trust Jesus to take us home!
It's not that we don't obey God or his Word. To the contrary! We obey him with
all our hearts, but when we fail, we remember that we aren't climbing the
building on the outside, we're resting in Jesus on the inside - - and a sweet
ride it is! We don't have to be good enough for heaven anymore; Jesus is good
enough for us!
So don't reduce your spiritual experience to rule-keeping or ritual. Jesus
can't be poured into that mold. And don't try to add Jesus to your own system
of salvation, that won't work either. Like the new patch on the old wineskin,
it will fall apart. Instead of either of these, just rest in his mercy and
grace, and enjoy the adventure of the ride.
Does that mean we do no work for him? No way! Do we labor for him? Oh, yes!
Try hard? You bet! Obey his Word? Every day! But do it in the elevator on
the way up.