New Wineskin, New Capacity

In one paragraph

This message was part two of an ongoing series on new wine and new wineskins, drawn from Matthew 9, Luke 5, and John 3. Brian used the story of Nicodemus to put flesh on what Jesus meant when he said new wine cannot go into an old wineskin. The central question the congregation was left sitting with: what is the actual condition of your wineskin right now? Brian opened by recapping where the...

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 of the new wine and wineskins teaching
3. John 3:1-21 read aloud to examine Nicodemus wrestling with the new wine Jesus offered
4. John 19:38-42 read to show that Nicodemus came around and helped bury Jesus
5. 2 Corinthians 5:17 cited by a congregation member connecting new creation to the new wineskin
6. Psalm 2 referenced to describe Jesus ruling nations with an iron scepter
7. Isaiah referenced for the image of the returning Messiah treading the winepress with the blood of his enemies
8. Ezekiel referenced for God withholding rain from nations that refuse to celebrate the feast of Sukkot in the millennial reign
9. Luke 9:23 cited by a congregation member on taking up your cross daily as a step toward a new wineskin

What was said

• Read John 3:1-21 this week with two different colored highlighters, marking in one color every place Jesus pours out new wine and in another color every place Nicodemus wrestles with whether it fits his old wineskin.
• Ask yourself honestly what the condition of your wineskin is right now, and name at least one area where your thinking has gone brittle toward the way God might want to move.
• If someone prays for you this week, be brave enough to ask them afterward whether the Holy Spirit showed them anything specific, and tell them if something shifted for you.
• If you are carrying bondage, addiction, or a mindset that contradicts the gospel, find one person this week and ask them to pray with you rather than keeping it under a mask.
• Sit with the closing question Brian left the room with: what price are you willing to pay for a new wineskin, knowing that Nicodemus paid with his standing, his cleanliness, and his place at the Passover table.

Talk about it

1. Brian said that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night with what sounds like genuine curiosity, and that Jesus responded with patience but also with real challenge, never softening the new wine to fit the old wineskin. Has there been a time when someone loved you enough to say something hard rather than just comfort you where you were? What happened?
2. Several people in the room offered the idea that the wineskin represents a person's capacity to receive and adapt to a new work of the Holy Spirit. What does that word 'capacity' mean to you practically, and what do you think limits it?
3. Brian walked through a stretch test, listing things like meeting in a bar, the Holy Spirit moving in power today, God's heart for Israel, and the returning Jesus as a conquering warrior rather than just a gentle shepherd. Which of those, if any, pulled at something in you, and why do you think that is?
4. Nicodemus shows up at the end of John 19 carrying 75 pounds of burial spices, and Brian pointed out that this act cost him his ceremonial cleanliness and his ability to celebrate Passover. Brian landed on the idea that a new wineskin will cost you something. What do you think it might cost you personally to make room for what God is doing right now?
5. A few people shared that they tend to condemn themselves for making the same mistakes over and over, and wondered whether they even deserve a new wineskin. How does that kind of self-condemnation interact with the idea of giving the Holy Spirit permission to build something new in you?