Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change – Jesus uses the images of new patches on old garments and new wine in old wineskins to illustrate that His message cannot simply be added to old religious traditions; instead, genuine transformation requires embracing the new and letting go of rigid, outdated forms. People often resist change, preferring familiar traditions, but Jesus calls for openness and flexibility to receive the fullness of His kingdom.
This sermon on Luke 5:31-39 addresses several important questions about Jesus’ teachings and the nature of spiritual change.
Four Key Points from Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change:
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE CHAPTER 5
by Pastor Delbert Young
You can find this series and more at sermonsbydelbertyoung.com and Delbert Young Sermons on YouTube.
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
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Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
Scriptures: Luke 5:31-32, Luke 5:33, Luke 18:11-12, Luke 5:34-35, Luke 5:36, Luke 5:37-38, Luke 5:39,
Luke 5:33-39
Luke 5:33-39 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.'”
Jesus is Unique
Jesus used unique illustrations to communicate how he would not include their religious traditions in his gospel.
His gospel is unique. His kingdom is unique. Everything about Jesus is unique. Christianity is unique to any other religion. It stands alone. It will not be sad and legalistic. Of course, it will not connect itself to or mix with any other religion – not with Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, Islam, Buddhism, or even Judaism.
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
Today, Our study happened immediately after Jesus attended a great banquet given in his honor by a tax collector named Matthew Levi, the most despised and hated man in Capernaum. Jesus was not only openly associating with sinners, he was partying with them. After only one year into Christ’s earthly ministry, there was a growing hostility between Jesus and the religious leaders of Judaism.
Jesus associated with sinners instead of following religious traditions.
The PhDs and Pharisees first complained to the disciples of Jesus, asking, “Why do you eat with those kinds of people?” I told you that is what Pharisaical people do. They come to you, not me. You are the ones they injure by talking about me. Jesus knew what they were up to and sarcastically said to them,
Luke 5:31-32 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus said sarcastically, “I can’t help you. You’re so healthy.” “Just look at your life. Look at your family. Look at your children. You’re so righteous. Look at all you do for God. Look at your ministries.” It’s intriguing to me how people listen to and take advice from people who project themselves as righteous and spiritually healthy, but are the most unrighteous and spiritually unhealthy of all, doomed for hell. They go to people who have the worst marriages, the most misbehaved children, and the worst financial problems. Selah!
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
Jesus came for sinners. As we said, a church is not a club for the righteous. It is a hospital for sinners. When we pass a church, we should think, “There’s a bunch of sinners.” Unless we realize we are all sin-sick sinners in a hospital, Jesus can’t help us.
If we realize we are sinners, people can come with all kinds of sin-sicknesses and be helped, not condemned.
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
The problem was not the Old Testament.
It was the traditions of Judaism and religion added. Judaism and religion are about staying away from sinners. Christianity is about connecting with sinners. Judaism and religion are concerned with justifying self and being self-righteous. Christianity is concerned with being right with God. Judaism and religion are concerned with what people think and say. Christianity is concerned with what God thinks and says. Judaism and religion are concerned with what you do. Christianity is concerned with who you are. Judaism and religion are concerned with the outside. Christianity is concerned with the inside – the heart in our soul.
Jesus’ approach to fasting differed from the religious practices of his time.
Luke 5:33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
The disciples’ not fasting was an outrage. It was a serious breach of Judaism for a rabbi, even one in a relationship with John the Baptizer, to not fast. A rabbi and his followers were required to fast twice weekly.
Luke 18:11-12 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week…
Somehow, the PhDs (scribes—doctors of the law) decided that Moses went up Mt. Sinai on a Thursday and came down on a Monday when he received the commandments and law from God. From that myth, they invented a tradition. Every rabbi, Ph.D., Pharisee, and their disciples must fast on Monday and Thursday. It doesn’t say anywhere in the scriptures to fast on Monday and Thursday. The only time God declared a fast was on the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:27).
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
Religion is like that. It makes things up, invents things, and creates myths. There’s nothing wrong with fasting. Jesus fasted once (that we know about). He taught about fasting in Matthew 6:16-18. The problem is a fast should come from the heart, not from a religious mandate and tradition. Fasting is to God, not so people know you fast. The Pharisees and PhDs became hypocrites, rubbing ashes on their faces to look pale, wearing torn clothing, not combing their hair, etc. Jesus condemned worthless religious fasting, but not correct fasting.
Fasting twice a week, praying three times a day, the Sabbath regulations, and many such things (Mar 7:13) were invented by the Pharisees and PhDs, making serving God a burden, not an act of love.
Jesus despised what they did to God’s Word by adding their traditions.
Have things changed? No, not really. Denominations are full of traditions, but we can all become caught up in traditions, and traditions are difficult to break. For example, the Bible doesn’t tell us to have Sunday School, nursery, children’s ministries, student ministries, men’s ministries, women’s ministries, etc. It doesn’t even tell us to meet on Sunday. It tells us to assemble but doesn’t tell us what day, and it doesn’t tell us to have musical instruments, but we like them.
However, it does tell us to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another. It does tell us to preach the word, and it does tell us to come with the gift(s) the Holy Spirit gave us. My point is that many things we do are traditions of men, but nothing is wrong with traditions as long as we don’t see them as equal to the word and burdening people loving God. Even communion is as often as you will (1Co 11:25).
What traditions do you hold to? What do you think should happen at church? Is it biblical or traditional?
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
I suppose Levi pitched his big gala shindig for Jesus on a Monday or Thursday. Instead of fasting, Jesus was feasting. Instead of being all sad, long-faced, and sackcloth and ashes, Jesus and his disciples were laughing. The Pharisees’ and Ph.D’s problem was, “How do you expect us to receive you as Messiah when you don’t even observe our religion?”
Jesus gives four examples to answer their “Why should we accept you as the Christ?” problem about fasting.
It’s a bachelor’s party.
Luke 5:34-35 Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
Jesus isn’t against fasting, but there is a right time to fast. It’s not at a bachelor party. For his disciples, it would be after his death and burial. If there was ever a time to fast, it was then.
They knew exactly what he meant about the bridegroom. They had waited and waited for Messiah, the bridegroom, to come. He was there. It was a rejoicing, happy time, but they didn’t get it. The sinners got it. They threw a great banquet bachelor party “for Jesus.” Judaism and religion don’t get it. What kind of bachelor party would it be to be fasting? It is party time, not fasting time.
Jesus tells us that being with him is a party we, like Matthew Levi, should throw. Let’s throw it every week and call it church. How about you? Christianity should be a happy experience, but we all see so many sad Christians. Religion has slipped in. How do you feel about church? Are you attending a wedding or a funeral? Is church a party and fun, or a drag and a funeral? You would prefer a party every week, right? Then, what are you doing to help us make it one? What would it take to make Life Gate Church the “funniest” place around to be on Sunday?
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
New Garment
Luke 5:36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from THE NEW WILL NOT MATCH the old.
Jesus wasn’t giving a sewing lesson. Jesus would not tolerate cutting up his gospel and attaching it to Judaism, or any religion, as a patch.
I use a cast net to catch bait when I fish. Frequently, I will snag something on the bottom, i.e., submerged rock or tree limb. I usually get my net free, but not without tares in its webbing. It would be idiotic to purchase a new net and cut out a big chunk of the new net to fix the old one. Jesus said we will not take a chunk from the New Covenant and add it to fix what you’ve done to the Old Covenant. They had torn it. They had ripped it. There is no MATCH.
Don’t we attempt to do the same today? “Well, can’t we add drums, guitars, and a keyboard to the pipe organ?” No. Not here. It doesn’t MATCH what we do. “Can’t we add what Jesus said about the kingdom of God to traditional dispensation?” No. It doesn’t MATCH.
Let’s look a little deeper. I watch people attempt to take their ripped-up, “old” lives and try to patch them with a new piece of Jesus. Some of you do that. “I’ll go to church, and maybe God will ‘patch’ me up.” Jesus said that won’t work. He won’t let you take a piece to patch your life. A piece won’t MATCH your life. You’ll need to take all of him if you genuinely want him to help you. He will help you, but he won’t patch you.
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
New Wine and Old Wineskins
Luke 5:37-38 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine MUST BE poured into new wineskins.
New wine is wine that is fermenting. A wineskin is an animal skin, usually goat, removed by cutting around the neck and hoofs enough to peel the skin off, partially tanned but pliable. All openings were sewn to seal, except the neck. Grape juice was poured in and allowed to ferment, and then the neck was sewn to seal. It was their wine barrel. As the wine is fermented, the skin must flex to accommodate the fermenting gases. If the juice was placed into an old wineskin, it could not stretch, creating a wine bomb. Both the wine and the skin were lost.
Jesus wasn’t teaching about making wine. Judaism can not contain Christianity. Trying creates wine bombs. Today, “Messianic Jews” attempt to keep the feasts, laws, and traditions while believing Jesus is the Messiah. They ruin the Law of Moses and lose the New Covenant. That’s like being an Islamic Christian. “Let’s put Mohammad and Jesus together and come out with something good.” You’ll come out with a wine bomb! Attempting to combine Christianity with the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, etc., all create wine bombs. They create doctrines of demons, blowing people up, losing the gospel, and sending people to hell.
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
How about you? Do you attempt to put Jesus into an old dried raisin-like skin? What has changed and stretched in you concerning your Christian faith in the last few years? Have you stretched as the kingdom ferments in you? Have you stretched in worship, praise, giving, prayer, Bible reading, ministering, or anything? What is your ministry anyway? We all tend to get wrinkled and rigid. If we don’t remain flexible, we become wine bombs. Make yourself stay pliable.
New Wine Old Wine
Luke 5:39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.'”
He says, “The old is better.” Luke is the only gospel writer who includes this statement by Jesus in the story. At first glance, it doesn’t make sense and seems backward. Why would Jesus say, “The old is better”? People love their traditions. When I came to town, I was new wine. Some didn’t like to drink from me. They wanted the old. To them, the old was better. They were familiar with the taste of the old, smell of the old, feel of the old, look of the old. We all tend to resist change.
People do not like the “unknown.” The old seems safe. The new is a risk, but change requires risks. They drank Judaism for so long that they had no interest in the new wine Jesus came to bring, even if He was God himself. It’s the way they always did it. Jesus basically said, “You guys will never change. You’re addicted to your old wine. You are convinced your old wine is better.” Their love for the old caused them to miss the new. That’s the warning. You miss the new if you’re addicted to the old.
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
Why is it challenging for people to embrace new spiritual concepts after being accustomed to old religious practices? Religion is that way. People cultivate their taste for religious traditions. Very few people who have experienced religion for a long time will change. I watched them visit Life Gate and walk out when the music started. Wine bomb! I’ve attempted to teach many people new wine truth, and they exploded. Their religious ideology has become so woven into the fabric of their being that they refuse to see anything else. Thus, they refuse to receive anything else and miss expanding in God.
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
I want to mention this and then move on. Perhaps one day, God will help me develop it. My children left this area with their families because there was nothing here for their children or them. Some of you know exactly what I’m talking about. My point is that even an area can become an old, wrinkled wine skin deficient in new growth because of religious grips and dogma. Instead of ministering to people, it pushes people away. “The old is better,” many people around here say.
How should modern Christians balance traditional religious practices and new ways of expressing faith?
What about our church?
I’ve pondered and prayed about this thought. At one time, we were the only new wineskin in the entire area. Today, I don’t know. Have we wrinkled and dried? Does God want to do something new at Life Gate? I believe the church overall is changing, especially churches our size. What worked yesterday doesn’t work today. What excited people about church and Jesus yesterday doesn’t excite them today. In fact, it seems to push them away from God.
I believe God is about to take the church to people and not expect people to come to church.
To that, most of us say (including me), “The old is better. I want people to come here.”
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
I know something is changing about the church. The kingdom of God is advancing. We must remain open to change and take risks. What God did yesterday was good and new, but eventually, every day ends. The once new day becomes yesterday, and a new day begins. What does God have planned for tomorrow? Will we miss it or drink it up? Are we flexible wineskins or dried-up, unusable raisin skins? Will we try to patch the old with the new? I don’t know about you, but I want to stretch with new wine in me. What about you?
How fun is church for you? Is it a party or a funeral?
Do you keep trying to sew on a piece of Jesus here and there to patch your life? What has changed and stretched in you concerning your Christian faith lately? Have you stretched in worship, praise, giving, prayer, reading the Bible, or anything? What is your ministry? Is the old better, or do you want some new wine?
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
Traditions Patches Wineskins Luke 5:31-39: How to Change
Other Related Sermons:
The Gospel of Luke Chapter 5 audio video notes
Traditions of Men – sermon notes
New Wineskins and New Cloth – sermon video audio notes
The Resurrection Proofed – Easter sermon video audio notes
I SEE GRACE pt 2 – Easter sermon video audio notes
Parables of Jesus sermon series
Marriage in the Kingdom audio video notes
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