NEIL ANDERSON DAILY DEVOTIONAL
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

February 8

New Wine

New wine must be put into fresh wineskins (Luke 5:38).

Jesus taught that the forms of our Christian practice must
change. In His parable of the garment and the wineskin in Luke
5:36-39, the garment and the wineskin are the external dress and
the container, not the substance of our faith. They represent the
religious customs, practices and traditions in which the
substance of our faith is packaged. Jesus is stating a fact–the
garment needs mending and the old wineskin is old! What worked
before isn’t working anymore. Times change, cultures change, and
what worked 20 years ago may not work today. But what doesn’t
change is the object of our faith.

“Time-honored faith” and “long-established practice” blend
together and become indistinguishable to the status quo. When
someone advocates another form of practice, it becomes apparent
that the security of the old wineskins rests in the
long-established practice instead of the time-honored faith.

The reasoning behind the resistance is logical: “I came to Christ
singing that song,” or “It worked for me. I don’t see why it
won’t work for my children.” We have to ask, “Is it relevant?
Does it relate?”

The older generation is the stable force in our churches. They
are faithful and mature, and they represent the financial
stability that every church needs. They also make up the boards
and committees that determine the style of ministry, but they
have a tendency to perpetuate long-established practices that are
meaningful to them.

This problem is more sociological than spiritual. Why is it that
a good, Bible-believing church which faithfully carries out its
ministry struggles to hold onto its young people, when down the
street a contemporary ministry rents a store building and has
four times more young people in a matter of months? Because the
contemporary ministry relates to the young and their style of
music. It caters to their desire for expression and
participation.

If we fail to provide new wineskins, we will be ill-equipped to
serve the “new wine”–the next generation of believers.

Lord, help me never to cling to the old ways just because they
make me feel comfortable.

This daily devotional is published and distributed by
http://www.GOSHEN.net/ . It is written by Neil Anderson at
http://www.freedominchrist.com/ .