New Wine Skins

Have you ever seen the way wine was originally made? The grapes are picked by hand, put into a large crate, and crushed into tiny scraps under foot. This is clearly not a pleasant experience for the poor old grape. After the crushing, the juice is put into a wineskin, and as the grape juice ferments, it expands. The new wineskin is specifically designed to stretch with it. Matthew 9 points out that when new wine is put into an old wineskin, the old skin has already stretched as far as it can. It bursts during that fermentation process.

As we think about Father God and the new things that He does daily, He wants us to learn more and expand with His teaching. He is inviting us to stretch our faith around new, godly concepts. However, if we are stuck in our old mindsets and yesterday's revelations, then we have no more stretch in us. If we aren’t continually being made new, there is no more room to keep growing with God.

We see ourselves being stretched into these new wineskins as we embrace God’s counter-cultural way of life. His processes are so different to ours. For example, when we first learn about tithing, our way of thinking is “if I give, I’ll have less.” Yet, God wants to stretch our thinking to His way of thinking. Malachi 3:10 says, “‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!’” How can God do something so extraordinary? How does He multiply what we have given until we have more than before we gave?

Another stretch I have found is that God asks us to “forgive so we will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). How do we fully embrace that concept? The old wineskin way of thinking is if we are to forgive, our forgiveness says that what they did was ok. But God wants us to adapt the new wineskin to stretch our thinking: new wineskins knows that forgiveness actually sets us free. When God puts new revelation, new truth, and new wine in us, we must be willing to stretch along with it and become new ourselves.

Matthew 9 paints a compelling analogy of our lives and how we must be willing to be new wineskins on a daily basis, willing to embrace the new mercies of God every single morning. As you go throughout your day, look for the ways that God is inviting you to stretch into His forgiveness and generosity, His thoughts, and His new ways of living. Where can you trade the old for His new today?

Pray With Me

Father God, I thank You for the truth that Your way stretches me, sets me free, and brings new life. You are calling me forward with You on a daily basis. Holy Spirit, please help bring awareness to me every time I start to get stuck in our old thinking and shying away from the stretch. Help us remember that the stretch is good and that You are always with us, empowering us to win. Amen.

Key Memory Verse

Matthew 9:17, "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved."

Written by Tim & Wendy McDonald, Location Pastors, Citipointe Church Brisbane West