Grace Bursting At The Seams!

Jesus used three illustrations to explain His answer to John the Baptist's disciples. The first illustration was about how the guests at a wedding couldn't possibly think about fasting with the joyful Bridegroom among them.

2) The second illustration was a well-known parable about the impossibility of mixing the old with the new. Putting a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment would cause the old cloth to pucker and tear. Since the new patch came from a new garment, this would have spoiled both cloths, because the new one would now have a hole in it and the old one would be torn.

3) The third illustration was very similar, concerning the impossibility of the old holding the new. Skin bottles were made by skinning an animal carcass, cutting off the head and limbs, sewing it up with the fur on the outside, and closing it all up except for the neck.

A new wineskin was soft and pliable. As the leather aged it would become hard and brittle. If new wine, which was still fermenting, were put into an old skin, then the buildup of fermenting gases would split the hardened container, spoiling both it and the wine.

These last two illustrations showed that Jesus' way of grace could not simply be patched onto old Judaism, or poured into the old wineskin of tradition.

To try to mix the two together would ruin Judaism and Jesus' teaching. This was what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus:

"...unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." [John 3:5-6]

Compare that to what Jesus is saying here,

"And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins."" [Mark 2:22]

If the new wineskin is the born-again believer, the new wine is grace, God's love to the utterly undeserving.

1) Grace is God's goodness, the kindness of His heart, His good will, His benevolence.
2) Grace is God's compassionate attitude towards sinners, His willingness to forgive and restore
3) Grace is God's divine assistance, He helps us to do what we can't do alone. It is His power which begins with salvation, then sanctification which is the growing in personal holiness, and finally glorification, when we will see Jesus face to face, being just like Him.

Saving grace is found in the most important doctrine of Christianity: Justification by grace through faith. It means you and I are saved on the basis of God's unmerited favor towards us through the Lord Jesus Christ, which we can only receive by believing His Word when He tells us of it.

Following Jesus requires being reborn, living a new way of life

* The Pharisees preferred the old wine and saw no need for the new.
* John’s disciples were cautious, admiring the old wine and distrustful of the new.
* How about you?

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Why Didn't The Disciples Fast?

Matthew’s banquet drew out another group of people who were having trouble accepting Jesus’ ways: John the Baptist's disciples.

They were fasting, as were the Pharisees, yet here were Jesus and His disciples having a big feast. John the Baptist was known for his devout personal discipline, and his disciples admired him for it, they copied John the Baptist. So they asked Jesus

"Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink." [Matthew 9:14 with Luke 5:33]

Was Jesus against fasting? By no means! Jesus taught, in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 6, how to fast in a way that pleased God. His answer to John's disciples was to teach them a deeper truth: the difference between the law and grace.

John’s disciples were living the old life, the life of legalism to earn the acceptance and forgiveness of God. Jesus was saying that His grace would burst the seams of this old life of earning acceptance, because grace is infinitely abundant, a gift that couldn’t possibly be earned.

Jesus used three word pictures:
1) The first was of a bridegroom with his guests. A Jewish wedding was all about joy, a week of feasting, all the friends and family came to eat at the new couple’s house. It was unthinkable to fast during that time, fasting was for sorrow.

Jesus was using a Messianic metaphor taken from the prophet Isaiah who referred to God as the Bridegroom. Jesus was saying the Messianic age had come, He was the Messiah. God's people had been mourning over their sin, waiting for the Messiah. Now the Messiah was here, it was time for celebration.

Have you ever really thought about what that means, that Jesus is your Bridegroom? All throughout the prophets God describes Himself as the Bridegroom: He chose you for Himself, He desires you and the Bible says He sings love songs to you. God exults over you and values you above even the life of His own Son, which He was willing to sacrifice for you.

The Bible says God thinks about you all the time, even when you’re asleep. He is faithful to you, He longs for the day when you will be together with Him, He even has your initials carved in the palms of His hands. He has sent you His word as a love letter.

How in love are you with your Bridegroom? Right now is the time of the Lord's favor, and your life can be a celebration of being with Jesus. What will you change this week to reflect your joy of being Jesus' bride?

[The other two illustrations come tomorrow]

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The Pharisees Have a Problem: Eating With Sinners

The word used for “sinner” in this passage actually refered to notoriously evil people as well as those who refused to follow the Mosaic law as interpreted by the teachers of the law.

Anyone eating with these "sinners" was assigning friendship to them and ran the risk of ceremonial uncleanness. Matthew wanted his friends to be able to experience the same forgiveness and joy that Jesus had given him, and Jesus freely came.

How closely does this picture resemble your church?
* How often have you introduced Jesus to your friends in this joyful, generous way?
* How approachable are you?
* Do you keep your distance from certain types of people?
* Or are you the kind of person that puts others at ease?
* Can you name five people you know that need to be introduced to Jesus Christ?
* How about three? If you are struggling to come up with names, you're out of circulation!
Christians are to bring others to Christ

The Pharisees had a real problem with this. They were expecting a Messiah who would crush the sinful and support the righteous. Instead Jesus welcomed the sinner and dismissed the Pharisees.

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" [Matthew 9:11]

Notice Who answers them! Jesus heard what they were talking about, standing on the outskirts of this banquet

Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." [Luke 5:31-32]

which is from Hosea 6:6,

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

What do you do when you’re criticized? Isn’t the first instinct is to either defend yourself, or get the other person back? But Jesus didn’t do either of these things. He explained to his critics what He was doing so that they could learn. The Lord said He came for the very people the Pharisees had rejected and expelled because they knew they were sick, they knew they needed to be healed.

He came to give forgiveness to those who were filled with sorrow over their sins. Jesus did not come for the people who felt they’re perfectly healthy and didn’t need a doctor. It is God’s desire for you and I to extend to others the same covenant love He gives to us. That is more important, more valuable to God than any religious observance.

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Blended Gospels: A Question About Fasting

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and sinners reclining with Jesus, eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And when the Pharisees, and the scribes of the Pharisees saw this, they grumbled and said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink."

And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn and fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. For the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.

"Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed and so are the skins. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.'"

[Matthew 9:10-17, Mark 2:15-22, Luke 5:29-39 ESV]

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