New Wineskins For New Wine

Those who are familiar with the writings of Karl Marx will probably also be familiar with the concept of dialectics. It formally says that thesis plus antitheses equals synthesis. Informally, it says that two opposite ideas need not fight each other or cancel each other out, because a third and better concept can be formulated between the two. This idea was not originally from Marx. He borrowed it from another German
philosopher, Hegel. Hegel, in turn, got the concept from a Roman Catholic Bishop. It seems that the Bishop was trying to convert a Chinese monk, who as it turns out, converted the Bishop. The concept of dialectics sounds plausible, and when used effectively, it solves issues, and all parties win. This holds out as true, except
when we're deal with Spiritual truths. Yes, God has found a way of combining justice and mercy in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus, but perhaps they were never really opposites, but merely seemed so to created beings. Truth and falsehood, light and darkness, and, good and evil, cannot be combined, for they never produce
anything other than more falsehood, a different shade of darkness, and another type of evil. Dialectics is not Biblical, unless Christ is the synthesis or third and better alternative.

Putting new wine in old wineskin is dialectic. Nothing good can come out of it. Jesus says in Mark 2:22, “And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.” Sister White says of this parable:

“The skin bottles which were used as vessels to contain the new wine, after a time became dry and brittle, and were then worthless to serve the same purpose again. In this familiar illustration Jesus presented the condition of the Jewish leaders. Priests and scribes and rulers were fixed in a rut of ceremonies and traditions. Their hearts had become contracted, like the dried-up wine skins to which He had compared them. While they remained satisfied with a legal religion, it was impossible for them to become the depositaries of the living truth of heaven. They thought their own righteousness all-sufficient, and did not desire that a new element should be brought into their religion. The good will of God to men they did not accept as something apart from themselves. They connected it with their own merit because of their good works. The faith that works by love and purifies the soul could find no place for union with the religion of the Pharisees, made up of ceremonies and the injunctions of men. The effort to unite the teachings of Jesus with the established religion would be vain. The vital truth of God, like fermenting wine, would burst the old, decaying bottles of the Pharisaical tradition.”

We too can fall in the danger of the Pharisees. If we chose to follow our traditions, and our own interpretations of the law, while ascribing it to God, we could become old wineskins that refuse to accept the simple message of truth. By not rejecting and foregoing old ideas and belief systems we only please ourselves, not God. Sister White continues,

“The Pharisees thought themselves too wise to need instruction, too righteous to need salvation, too highly honored to need the honor that comes from Christ. The Saviour turned away from them to find others who would receive the message of heaven. In the untutored fishermen, in the publican at the market place, in the woman of Samaria, in the common people who heard Him gladly, He found His new bottles for the new wine. The instrumentalities to be used in the gospel work are those souls who gladly receive the light which God sends them. These are His agencies for imparting the knowledge of truth to the world. If through the grace of Christ His people will become new bottles, He will fill them with new wine. The teaching of Christ, though it was represented by the new wine, was not a new doctrine, but the revelation of that which had been taught from the beginning. But to the Pharisees the truth of God had lost its original significance and beauty. To them Christ's teaching was new in almost every respect, and it was unrecognized and unacknowledged. Jesus pointed out the power of false teaching to destroy the appreciation and desire for truth. "No man," He said, "having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better." All the truth that has been given to the world through patriarchs and prophets shone out in new beauty in the words of Christ. But the scribes and Pharisees had no desire for the precious new wine. Until emptied of the old traditions, customs, and practices, they had no place in mind or heart for the teachings of Christ. They clung to the dead forms, and turned away from the living truth and the power of God.”

We know we face solemn times. There are many wolves in sheepskins’ selling us wine that is not heavenly. They claim that by buying their wine we can become new wineskins, but if we truly could see the reality, they are just patching the old wineskin with even older cloth. By not foregoing old beliefs such as: “do your best and God does the rest,” the old gospel of Eros and Agape combined (Caritas), and by accepting concepts like cultural relevance, we have not truly let Christ transform us into new wineskins that can receive his new wine. We also need to realize that sometimes, new wine is merely our new taste buds tasting it for the very first time. Christ says in the book of Mark,

Mark 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Mark 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mark 7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
Mark 7:9 And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

So, our biggest danger today is that we mix new wine with old wine and patch the old wine skin with old material, and think that we are indeed honoring God. But, we deceive ourselves if we think this is true. With our new ways we are still following the commandments and traditions of men. Many believe that by constantly repeating the same worship (or song) phrases time and time again, they are actually worshiping God. Realize that when you mix the new wine with the fermented wine the new wine becomes fermented also. It is like mixing truth with falsehood, light with darkness, and good with evil. The synthesis may be great. But, remember our very best to God is an abomination.

Christ not only gives us new wine. He will do away with the old wine, and the old wineskin, transforming us into new wineskin in the process. Are you willing?

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http://www.1888message.org/sabbathschool/