It's Gonna Cost You

In one paragraph

This message was the third week in a series on new wine and wineskins. Brian Hunter walked through what it actually costs a person to receive the new things God wants to do in a life. The short answer he kept coming back to was death, not as a metaphor to soften, but as the literal price of a new wineskin. The first two weeks of the series had established two questions and answered them. New wine...

Read together

1. Matthew 9:14-17 read aloud by a congregation member as the first primary text on new wine and wineskins
2. Luke 5:33-39 read aloud by a congregation member as the second primary text on new wine and wineskins
3. John 19 cited as the passage showing Nicodemus came to claim the body of Jesus, demonstrating he had received a new wineskin
4. Mark 10:17-28 read aloud by a congregation member, the story of the rich young ruler used to illustrate the cost of a new wineskin
5. Mark 10:46 pastor read the story of Bartimaeus as a contrast to the rich young ruler, illustrating willingness to receive new wine
6. Exodus referenced in relation to a cloak given as loan collateral, used to explain what Bartimaeus threw aside
7. 1 John 1:9 quoted to assure people that confessing sin before communion results in forgiveness and purification

Talk about it

1. Lissa talked about singing the word 'majesty' and said it carries a governmental meaning, proclaiming God's rightful legal authority over every situation. What is something you bumped up against this week, and what does it actually mean to say God has legal authority over that thing?
2. Brian walked through the story of Nicodemus and said that getting a new wineskin costs death, specifically death to old mindsets, tightly held traditions, and previously held constructs. What is something in your own life that Jesus might be asking you to let die in order to receive what he is doing now?
3. Brian contrasted the rich young ruler and Bartimaeus. The rich young ruler walked away sorrowful, and Brian said he could not just add Jesus to his existing life without it wrecking everything. Where in your own life have you been tempted to add Jesus rather than surrender to him?
4. Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak, which Brian described as his most important material possession, before he even received anything from Jesus. What would it look like for you to throw something aside before you see the outcome, the way Bartimaeus did?
5. Brian ended by saying that the wineskin we have had up until now may have been adequate for a previous season, but that Jesus is saying it will not hold what he is pouring out next. What does it feel like to hear that, and what is your honest response to that invitation?