When the subject of “change” is introduced at a meeting for discussion, we may often find ourselves supporting various opinions. Consider a topic like the style of worship. Some of us favor traditional methods while others are drawn to contemporary ideas. It can be challenging for us to discern the concept of time regarding the differentiation between traditional and contemporary periods since time continues to move on. What is considered today’s contemporary method may become an old traditional style in the future.

Speaking of the use of musical instruments in church, surprisingly, many protestant churches, including Presbyterians, did not allow organs nor hymns in worship services in the early nineteenth century. Even humming and clapping were forbidden during singing. A capella worship was a common practice in those days. Using psalters or a collection of psalms from the Old Testament without music would be a standard style of worship. In the middle of the nineteenth century, many Presbyterian lay leaders began advocating for the use carnal instruments, such as an organ, in church services. Since then, organs, along with other musical methods have been used in services. The Presbyterian Book of Praise was published in 1918; it was revised in 1972, and it was refined again with a more conservative collection in 1997. Please understand this. We can find references for both a cappella singing tradition and an instrumental worship assembly in the Bible. The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 5:19-20: “Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” According to this scripture, we can learn the view of an instrument-free worship. As worshippers, we are to praise the Lord with all our hearts and strength using psalters and our God-given musical instrument, the human voice. The Bible introduces a different point of view regarding the use of musical device in Psalm 150 as well as other scriptures: “Praise the Lord. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, harp, lyre, timbrel, strings, pipe, and cymbals, and even dancing.” The reason I have shared both perspectives of praising the Lord with our wholehearted voices and minds, regardless of using musical devices, is that both views are based on the Bible.

Like many of you, I believe that it is easy to always do the same things. Like many of you, I am hesitant to move out of my comfort zone and do things I have not done before. We need courage and confidence when we move into unfamiliar territories.

In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus encourages us to become new wineskins in spirit to experience new divine wine in our faith journey. As the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus, who knows from the beginning of our individual lives until the end, has come to make all things new. Making or creating all things new not only implies that Jesus prepares the New Heaven and New Earth for God’s people, but also applies that Jesus transforms His followers into new creatures for the Promised Place. Jesus summarizes this principle in the following statement: “New wine must be poured into new wineskins” (Luke 5:38).
This morning, I want us to reflect on what Christ’s declaration means and how we can apply this sacred principle in our faith journey.

Before we proceed further, I want to briefly share the background of new wine and new wineskins. Before Jesus mentioned this topic, there were a couple of conflicts between Christ and some of the Pharisees. The first incident happened at Levi’s house. He was a tax collector, one of the most hated jobs in those days. However, Jesus chose Levi to be His disciple, went to his house, and had a meal fellowship with him and his other friends. The Pharisees could not understand why Jesus, according to them, as a good religious leader, had associated with sinners. The second conflict was regarding fasting. They wondered why Jesus and His disciples did not observe the tradition of fasting. The third argument was about how to keep the Sabbath. We can find this story at the following chapter of our Gospel: Jesus’ disciples were hungry, so they broke a Sabbath law by not harvesting on the Sabbath. The Pharisees accused them of not observing the law of the Sabbath.

Instead of excusing Jesus and His disciples from those things He and they had done, He introduced a new transformative paradigm for His followers to keep in mind called the New Wine and New Wineskins. In His days, much water was undrinkable, so wine would be a “popular and safer alternative” in some areas. Many people used animals’ skins to make wine. During the process of fermenting in the wineskins, gas was released, and the skins had to expand. If new wine was put into old wineskins, the skins would burst or be ruptured due to the inability to stretch.

In this sacred text, the New Wine can symbolize Jesus Christ. A taste of new wine is like knowing Jesus Christ. He changed plain water into good wine. He can change people’s plain lives into tasty and joyful lives. The wineskins can represent the hearts and minds of people. Some of the Pharisees in Jesus’ time would be old wineskins. They did not accept Jesus and His ministry because of their own mindsets. By contrast, when the people heard Jesus, many of them accepted Him and became new creatures in Christ.

Returning to the question I have posed earlier: How can we become like new wineskins to accept New Wine Jesus Christ and apply this principle to our Christian life?

First, in order to become new wineskins, we need to repent of all our uncleanness and deceitfulness. In the Book of Old Testament, when humans began to populate the earth, the Lord saw how wicked they had become (Genesis 6:11-12). According to ancient scholars, there are two different theories on human nature called the “Theory of Goodness” and the “Theory of Evilness.” Some people say that individuals are born with “an innate goodness.” When we are young, we are pure and innocent, but as we grow older, we become corrupted by outward influences. On the contrary, others believe that human inborn tendencies are evil. Even babies, they argue, display traits of greed and selfishness. That is why education and discipline are crucial for us to become better. Both theories appropriately describe our human nature. The Bible introduces a new theory of human attributes called the “Theory of Combination of Good and Evil.” Before the fall, our spiritual ancestors, Adam and Eve, sought goodness; however, after they disobeyed God, we, as their descendants, have a tendency to be attracted to evil. The Apostle Paul experienced this and said, “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me” (Romans 7:21-23). Our minds can become full of wickedness if our hearts are left in sinful nature.
One of the differences between Canada and South Korea, my homeland, is the system of garbage collection. Here in Fenelon Falls, Tuesday is our usual day to place garbage at the curbside or near our houses. We separate recyclable items, such as paper, glass, plastic, and metal, from regular waste. Sometimes, we load waste items into a vehicle and dispose of them at landfill sites. Some cities or towns provide a “Green Bin” program so food scraps can be separately collected. Most garbage services are operated through our taxes. In contrast, Korea has adopted a “Pay-As-You-Throw” system, in other words, residents are charged based on the amount of garbage they generate. The population of South Korea is around fifty-one million compared to around thirty-nine million in Canada. The size of Korea is much smaller than that of Canada, approximately one hindered times smaller. Because of the geographic environment and the limited land area in the country, the Korean government encourages residents to reduce garbage as much as possible. They are obligated to follow strict regulations on waste management. Many recycling centers are available in their communities, and some people even collect recyclable materials, including food waste, for a living. Garbage is a necessary and unavoidable aspect of life. If it is not managed properly inside our houses, they can become messy and dirty and provide unsafe and unhealthy environments.

When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, Peter initially resisted. He did not want Jesus to perform this humble act. Jesus replied: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” In other words, without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, everything would amount nothing, no matter how hard or long Peter worked for the kingdom ministry. Peter desperately wanted Jesus to wash his whole body, saying “Then Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well.” Jesus explained to him what He meant. “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean…” (John 13:6-10). Like Peter, when we put our trust in Jesus and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, He completely cleansed our whole being through the blood shed upon the cross. However, our feet remain dirty as we live in this sin-darkened world. Just as I described the waste collection system, every week I am amazed to see a lot of garbage collected from the inside the house. No one is exempt from the repentance of our sins because we were and are all sinners. We need to examine ourselves through the Word of God and engage in proper spiritual waste management through repentance before Christ.

Secondly, we need to replace the old heart with a new one. God said to Ezekiel, “… I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:25-26). In the biblical language, the word “heart” does not merely refer to “the muscular pumping thing in our chest that keeps blood flowing.” In a spiritual context, our hearts represent the foundation of our entire beings – our integrity before God. The prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our fallen heart condition cannot be cured. According to today’s Old Testament scripture reading, a heart of stone in spirit can never be inclined to God and His characteristics. The people of Israel in those days would have been embarrassed due to their repetitive failures in obeying and following the Lord.

Ezekiel used a dramatic story to convey God’s redemptive work. The people of Israel needed a heart transplant. They needed to have their old hearts replaced with new, fresh hearts. A recurring phrase in this scripture is “I will.” God repeatedly emphasized what He was going to do for the people of Israel using this phrase. Regardless of the desperate situations they had been in, God had determined to replace the hearts of the people of Israel with His new heart. Through this divine plan, God wanted to restore the identity of the people of Israel as God’s chosen people and help them become His Holy people living in His Promised Land called Canaan.

Creating a new heart in us is impossible for us to imagine. There is a famous saying: “Rome was not built overnight.” Similarly, patterns of old bad habits cannot be broken overnight. Transformation is not just a one-time event but a lifelong process. For most of us, the cleaning process of our hearts will take an extended period. Some of us might have been stuck in our shortcomings for a long time and might say: “To me, real change is impossible.” However, there is nothing impossible for God. With the help of the Lord, our spiritual hearts can be replaced with God’s divine heart, and our old dirty hearts can be changed into His new holy heart. Our God is a wonderful sculptor, working on each one of us as rough pieces of marble. It is a challenging task because the material is cracked and in bad shape. But the Lord is faithful and patiently picks up His chisel, chipping away everything that doesn’t look like Jesus. The Lord, who began a good work in, will finish it in His time and in His way. That is what God promises to us through the prophet Ezekiel.

Thirdly, we need to reproduce the joy of tasting the new wine by sharing it with others. A wineskin was never designed to store for long periods because it would eventually burst or give the wine an unpleasant flavor. When Levi repented of his sins and his heart was replaced with the heart of Jesus by accepting Christ’s invitation, he was overjoyed. After experiencing the true joy and happiness Jesus gave him, Levi held a great banquet and invited all of his friends, including his best friend, Jesus. We can imagine what Levi did at the feast. He wanted to introduce Jesus to his friends and to share with them what the Lord did for him. That was the evidence that Levi’s life had become like a new wineskin in Christ.

When we share the love of God with others, we can experience more joy and indescribable happiness overflowing within our hearts. God has given each of us our own stories. Many of you have heard of the story of Alcoholics Anonymous (also abbreviated as A.A.) Co-Founder Bill Wilson… Personal stories or testimonies can indeed be very powerful!
Now, let us revisit the Word found in verse 39. Jesus said, “No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better’” (Luke 5:39). It is critical to understand this concept: Jesus is not saying that the old forms are always bad, and the new structurers are always superior. That is not the case. Like old wine, older methods can be sweet and potent. Traditional practices can be good and useful. However, if we believe that only old wineskins are suitable, we are not open to experiencing the new wine in our lives, which may bring sweetness and robustness. This closed mindset might cause us to miss out on some of the ways God intends for us to mature.

Our Almighty God continuously initiates new things for us, encouraging us to “expect great things from Him and attempt great things for Him.” Are we witnessing God’s new work here in our church? Fortunately, as Christ’s church and followers, we have been actively involved in numerous ministries, bringing glory to God over the years. In addition to this beautiful work, there are still areas where we can grow more.

I want to remind us of our church’s mission statement as well as its inclusive declaration. We are “to communicate faith, hope, and love by supporting and serving our congregation and the local community.” Additionally, we are to “welcome into our church everyone who seeks to love God and participate in an open and supportive congregation grounded in the teachings of Jesus Christ.” When we hold this divine guideline in our hearts and challenge ourselves to establish this sacred assignment with renewed hearts, fresh commitments, and a changed perspective, we can effect real change in our community.

This concept of being new wineskins can apply not only to us collectively as a group of Christ’s church but also extend to each of us as individual followers of Christ. Let us earnestly pray that God may instill in all of us strong desires to grow more like Jesus Christ and to experience His transformative presence in our faith journey. Amen!

*In this sermon I have used some thoughts from various sermons based on the texts, Ezekiel 36:16-28 & Luke 5:27-39.