New Wine

In one paragraph

This message was the first week of a short series called New Wine and New Wineskins, prompted by a question from a congregation member the week before. Brian walked the room through what Jesus actually meant when he used those images, and the congregation worked through it together in conversation. Communion closed the service as a direct encounter with the new wine Jesus described. The passage...

Read together

1. Matthew 9:14-17 read aloud as the primary text on new wine and wineskins
2. Luke 5:33-39 read aloud as a parallel account with additional details
3. Matthew 5:1-12 referenced by title as the Beatitudes, named as an example of new wine
4. Matthew 5:17 quoted to show Jesus came to fulfill rather than abolish the law
5. Romans 3:21-23 quoted to explain the new way of being made right with God through faith in Christ
6. Romans 8:1 quoted on no condemnation for those in Christ, used to illustrate new wine language

What was said

• Ask God this week to show you specifically where and how he is releasing new wine in your life.
• If you have a prayer request, fill out a connect card and leave it in the box by the doors so the staff can lift you up at their next meeting.
• Read Matthew 5:1-17 on your own and sit with the question of what the new wine Jesus describes means for your daily life.
• If you need prayer, find John and Kate Micas and let them pray with you.
• Take one verse from this week's study and try to restate it in your own words, the way Brian asked the congregation to do in the service, so it moves from something you know in your head to something you actually believe.

Talk about it

1. Brian pointed out that Jesus jumps from a question about fasting straight into talking about wineskins and fabric patches, suggesting he is getting at something deeper than the surface topic. What do you think Jesus was really trying to communicate by doing that, and why do you think he chose those particular images to say it?
2. Several people in the room observed that Luke ends the passage with 'no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say the old is better.' Where have you seen that resistance to new wine play out, either in your own life or in church culture generally?
3. Brian described new wine specifically as Jesus coming to fulfill the law and establish a new covenant, a new way of having right relationship with God, and generally as any new way God is moving. What is an example of new wine, past or present, that you have personally witnessed or experienced?
4. Brian said that as long as something stays in your head it does you no good, and that it is not until God's word makes the eighteen-inch drop from your thinker into your knower that it has any ability to change your life. What has that drop actually looked like for you in practice?
5. Brian closed by asking everyone to consider this question during the week: where and how is God releasing new wine over my life right now? What is your honest answer to that question?