PARABLES OF CHRIST
THE NEW GARMENT AND THE NEW WINE
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 5:36-39
FEBRUARY 21, 1999
Pluto is the smallest and usually the most distant of the nine planets in our solar system. It was discovered 69 years ago in the year 1930. But today, the International Astronomical Union, the IAU, is planning to reclassify the planet Pluto, and it will no longer be a planet, no longer be classified as a planet. It will be classified in one of two ways. It may be classified as a minor planet, and this would be a major demotion for Pluto. The IAU currently classifies almost ten thousand objects in our solar system as minor planets.
It’s also possible that Pluto might be classified as a Trans Neptunian object, a TNL This simply means that Pluto would be regarded as simply another icy rock in the midst of the sea of asteroids beyond the planet Neptune, a sea of asteroids known as the Kuyper Belt. Either way, this is going to be a major demotion for this one-time planet.
The problem is, according to the International Astronomical Union, Pluto simply isn’t very planet-like. We have four planets in our solar system that are rocky. We have four planets in our solar system that are gassy. Pluto is unlike any of those. It’s not like either of those categories. It’s difficult to classify. But more important, the eight “real” planets in our solar system have orbits that are almost circles, but Pluto’s orbit is goofy. It is so goofy that frequently it is closer to the sun than the planet Neptune. But the biggest problem, most importantly, Pluto is simply too small. In fact, seven of the moons in our solar system are actually larger than Pluto, even our earth’s moon is larger than Pluto. And so, in the early spring of this year, Pluto is going to be reclassified and it will no longer be a planet. Some people are upset. Some people are mad. There is a generation of people who grew up being told that there are 9 planets, and the 9th planet is Pluto. They don’t like this new truth. They don’t like this new labeling. They like their old truth and their old labeling. We live in a world like that, don’t we?
I mean we live in a world where people oftentimes do not like new truths, particularly when it threatens their old truth. Galileo found this out, the Italian astronomer and physicist, who along with Copernicus announced to the world that the sun does not rotate around the earth but in fact the earth rotates around the sun, and the earth is not the center of the universe. This was new truth to a lot of people in the world and they didn’t like it. It violated their old truth. Galileo got in trouble with political and ecclesiastical authorities. He was arrested. He was made to recant, and he was sentenced to life in prison, although he ultimately did not serve that sentence. But the world does not like new truth. Jesus Christ came into this world. He came into this world with new truth. A lot of people didn’t like it and it led Christ to Calvary and to the cross. This parable before us this morning, this little parable, is about new truth, and it might threaten our old truth.
This little parable tells us that Christ is offering the world two new things. First of all, He is offering us new garments. He offers us new garments. The Greek word for garment in this parable is the word “himation.” This word comes from the Greek word “hima” which simply means robe. But the word himation was generally used of costly robes, even kingly apparel. It is related to the word “himatismos” which is the word the Bible uses to describe the dazzling raiment of Christ as He was transfigured on the Holy Mountain.
The Bible tells us that there’s a sense in which every human being, a sense in which every person in this world needs to take off their old garment which is soiled and threadbare and tom and cannot be patched, and every single person in this world needs to put on a new garment offered by Christ. To understand this, we need to go back to Genesis, chapter 1, where the Bible tells us that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God, male and female, created in the image and likeness of God. Theologians debate the meaning of the divine image in man as they debate most things, but theologians tend to agree that the divine image in man has nothing to do with the soma. It has nothing to do with the body or with the physical, but it has rather to do with the psyche or the pneuma. It has to do with the soul and the spirit. The image of God and man has to do with our spiritual moral makeup and perhaps our rational makeup. Perhaps theologians call the divine image in man the “amah go day.”
You come to the third chapter of Genesis, and you discover that something happened to the Imago Dei. Something happened to the divine image in man. In Genesis, chapter 3, we read about Eden, and we read about Adam and Eve, and we read about their fall into sin. We read about their temptation and their fall. As they fell into sin, we are to understand that the Imago Dei was broken. The image of God in man was shattered, not completely eradicated but broken to the point of shattering. Mankind no longer reflected the glory and character of God. Man had fallen into sin and had become sinful.
The Bible tells us, in Romans, chapter 5, and in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, that every single person in this world is in Adam. Every single person in this world is in Adam. That means that in every single person in this world, the divine image is broken. The Imago Dei is broken in you. It is broken in me. It is not what it was meant to be. People do not look at us and see the glory and character of God, not as they were meant to. We have fallen into sin because we are in Adam. We are born in sin, and we are born with a sin nature because we are in Adam. That is why children must be reared with discipline because they are born in Adam. If they are just left to their own devices, they will not be like a garden which simply grows beautiful flowers. They will grow weeds. They will grow weeds because they are in Adam.
We have prisons in this world because mankind is in Adam. Insofar as those prisons are correctional institutions, and insofar as in any measure they seek to rehabilitate, they are seeking, perhaps, in some measure to restore the Imago Dei but they cannot. They cannot. In this world, we have a discipline called psychology. We have men and women who are psychologists. We have millions of people, women and men, who benefit from seeing psychologists. Perhaps in some measure, psychology seeks to limit and to restore the brokenness of man, and in some sense to restore the Imago Dei, but psychology cannot do it. It has not the power.
In this world, we have countless religions, and these religions call men and women the world over to good works. These religions warn men and women the world over of hellfire. All of this is to thwart the fallenness of man in an effort to, in some sense, restore the Imago Dei but it cannot be patched. The image of God, the divine image in man cannot be patched.
Jesus Christ came into the world. Jesus Christ came into the world, and the image of God was not broken in Him, and He was not in Adam. He was conceived of a virgin, conceived of the Holy Spirit. In Him there was no sin. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature. The Bible, through the gospel, invites men and women the world over to take off Adam and to put on Christ. This is the invitation of holy scripture, and it is the invitation of the gospel. In Ephesians 4:22-24, in Colossians, chapter 3, verses 9-14, mankind is invited to put off Adam, put off the old nature and put on Christ and put on a new nature. These words, put off and put on, are Greek words which are from the garment industry, from the clothing industry. The counsel of scripture is that we take off the old garment that reflects Adam and the old nature, and we put on the new garment that reflects Christ and the new nature.
This only can happen as we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior. The Bible tells us that when we accept Christ as Lord and Savior, in that moment, we are regenerated. We are reborn and we become children of God, daughters and sons of God. In that moment, our sins are forgiven us. In that moment, we are forgiven by substitutionary atonement and by His blood shed on the cross. We are forgiven and that soiled threadbare, tom, old garment is taken off, and we are clothed in a new garment in Christ. We are clothed in a white robe, the Bible says.
It’s not our righteousness. It’s the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. It’s the righteousness of Christ vested upon us. When we receive him as Lord and Savior, the old comes off and the new comes on, and we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, His righteousness, His holiness imputed to us.
If you’re sitting there this morning in your old garment, if you’re sitting here this morning in this worship center and you’re in your old garment, God wants you to know it is soiled. It is threadbare. It is tom. You cannot patch it. Not even if you take a piece of the new garment, not even if you take a piece of Christ and try to use it to patch the old. You can’t do that.
Thomas Jefferson tried to do that. Thomas Jefferson was, of course, the third President of our United States. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence, the founder of the University of Virginia. He was, by human standards, a great man. He was a deist. He was not a Christian. He did not believe in the cross. He did not believe in the atonement of Christ on Calvary. He did not believe in the empty tomb. He did not believe in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and he did not believe that Jesus Christ was divine or the Son of God. And yet he greatly respected the moral and ethical instruction of Christ.
So, what Jefferson did was, he took the Bible, and he edited it. He took the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and he edited them. He scripted everything relating to the atonement out. He scripted everything relating to the resurrection out. He scripted everything relating to the supernatural out. Everything miraculous, Thomas Jefferson scripted out. He left the ethical and moral instruction of Christ. It’s called the Jefferson Bible. I hold it in my hand.
Thomas Jefferson, who was a product of the enlightenment and the age of reason and was a rationalist who believed in God but believed that God never intervened in history supernaturally. Thomas Jefferson thought that somehow through the ethical and moral instruction of Christ, he could patch the old garment, but he could not, and neither can you.
God wants you to know today that if you’re wearing an old garment, you simply need to take it off and you need to embrace Christ in His fullness and let Him clothe you in His righteousness. Let Him put new raiment on you. Let Him put a white robe on you.
If you’re sitting there this morning and you’re in your new garment and your sins are forgiven you by Christ’s shed blood, and you are clothed in that white robe, His righteousness imputed to you, perhaps you’re feeling pretty comfortable. Christ wants you to have peace and joy, but He doesn’t really want you to be comfortable, because He wants to remind you that the righteousness you have is merely an imputed righteousness. In our behavior, we are not righteous. Our righteousness is merely imputed. It’s vested upon us. Our righteousness will not be full until the day we see Jesus face to face. In the meantime, there’s this struggle within us as Christians, a struggle for righteousness behaviorally, a struggle for holiness. Christ calls us to hunger and thirst after that righteousness and to engage in a struggle with sin. He wants us to take that struggle seriously.
This last Wednesday, Barb and I met each other for lunch. We met at the Cherry Crest Seafood Restaurant there on University near Orchard Road. We’d ordered our lunches. I noticed a couple who had come into the restaurant. They had dark splotches on their forehead. They took a seat. Then another individual came into the restaurant with a dark splotch on the forehead and took a table. Then another couple came in and they had a dark splotch on the forehead, and they took a table. Barb and I looked at each other. Was there a cult in town that was meeting here? Then we realized, “This is Ash Wednesday!” We realized it was Ash Wednesday.
In the western churches, the Catholic Church, and Anglican Church, the Lutheran Church, Ash Wednesday tends to be a pretty big deal. It’s the beginning of Lent, the 40 days that precede Easter. The ashes that are placed on the forehead, and they should be placed in the shape of a cross, that’s how it’s normally done, but these were all blurred, and I think that’s typical. Those ashes are simply a reminder of penitence, of the fact that, as Christians, we have repented of our sin, and we have sought His righteousness and His forgiveness and His white robe. It’s good that we remember that, not just on Ash Wednesday, however. Not just during Lent, but in every day of every year of our life. As long as we draw breath as Christians, we need to remember what Christ has done for us, and we need to commit ourselves anew to take sin seriously and engage in a struggle with sin, and hunger and thirst after righteousness.
There’s a second teaching from this little parable, and Jesus Christ offers us something else new. He offers a new garment, but He also offers a new wine. He offers a new wine. In this little parable, Christ said, “No one puts new wine in old wineskins, for if he does, the new wine bursts the skins, and it is spilled, and the skins are destroyed. New wine must be placed in fresh wineskins.”
In biblical times, wine was not stored in bottles, but wine was kept in bags. Those bags were made of animal skins. If the animal skins were fresh, then the bag had flexibility. It had elasticity. If the animal skin was fresh. But if the animal skin was old, then the bag was hard, and it was rigid and it did not have elasticity. You could not put fresh wine or new wine in an old wineskin or in an old bag because it would burst the bag, because new wine is fermenting wine. New wine is wine which is in the midst of fermentation, and it will expand the skin. If it’s an old skin, it will break it and the bag will burst.
Now, Jesus offers new wine. Bible scholars and theologians have discussed the meaning of wine metaphorically. Of course, in the Bible, wine represents everything from divine wrath to divine joy. But in the New Testament, wine supremely manifests the new covenant in Christ’s blood. Every time we, as Christians, take communion, and every time we take the cup, we remember what it represents—the new covenant in Christ’s blood.
Bible scholars and theologians agree that the new wine that is offered in Christ is the new wine of the covenant, where we are saved through faith by grace, or by grace through faith. This new wine cannot be put into the old wineskins of Judaism. We cannot put the new wine of Christianity into the old wineskins of Judaism.
If you’ re a Christian, you’ re perhaps sitting there thinking, “Well, what does that have to do with me?” I’m a Christian. I acknowledge that Christianity has its roots in Judaism. I acknowledge that the law is from God and provides a perfect standard of righteousness and perfection and holiness, but I have not put my Christianity into the old wineskins of Judaism. How does this apply to me? Well, the Bible tells us that many Christians put the new wine of Christ into the old wineskins of Judaism without knowing it. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia and warned them that they were, in a sense, putting the new wine into the old wineskins. They were falling back into legalism, and they were misunderstanding the law. When we misunderstand the law and when we fall into legalism, we tend to put new wine in old wineskins.
As we begin to close the service this morning, I want us to just examine briefly how it is that we can fall back into legalism as Christians and put that new wine into old wineskins so that we can avoid these things.
First of all, we put new wine in old wineskins, and we fall back into legalism when we view the law as a means of divine acceptance. If you feel like you can win God’s approval by your obedience, you’re putting new wine in old wineskins. Of course, as Christians, we believe in the law. We believe in the decalogue. We believe in the Ten Commandments, and we believe in the commandments of Christ. We are not a people without laws. We are not a people without rules. We are not a people without commandments. We take the commandments of God seriously. But we also acknowledge that in this new covenant of Christ, we cannot, through our obedience to the law, win divine approval. That’s not the way to divine approval.
There’s an amazing little passage of scripture. It’s found in Luke’s gospel, the 23rd chapter, verses 39-43. It describes an episode of Christ on the cross. This passage of scripture tells us that on Golgotha that day, there was not one cross but three because Jesus Christ was crucified between two thieves, between two common criminals. This was not by accident because the Jewish leaders wanted not only Christ to be humiliated but all of those who followed Christ to be humiliated.
Well, the Bible tells us that the crowds began to mock Christ as He was on the cross. They said, “You’ve saved others, save yourself! Come down from the cross.” The Bible tells us that one of the thieves, one of the criminals crucified with Christ, joined in mocking Christ, but the other thief, the Bible tells us, became penitent. The other thief repented, and he rebuked those who were mocking Christ. He said, “We are sinners, but this man is innocent. This man is without sin.” He confessed Christ as Christ. He confessed Christ as the Messiah. He said, “Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” This, the penitent thief said to the Son of God while on the cross. “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus turned to him, and He said an amazing thing. He said, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise.”
That word paradise was a Persian word, “paradisio,” a Persian word borrowed by the Hebrews and by the Greeks. It referred to a royal park, a walled royal park. It was a word that described the garden of a Persian king, and into that garden, the king would take his most honored guests and they would walk with him. Jesus was saying to this penitent thief, “Today, you’re going to be with me in heaven and you will be My honored guest, and we will walk together in the beauty of heaven.” What an amazing statement.
And, you see, what did that thief do to deserve that? Had he found acceptance through the law? I mean he had disobeyed the civil law and he had disobeyed the moral laws of God. How did he find that acceptance? Not by any righteousness of his own. Simply through faith in Jesus Christ. The law is not our savior. Jesus Christ is our Savior. You will call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sin. He is the Savior, and we do not win His acceptance by our obedience. He grants it by His grace when we receive Him and come to Him in faith. Isn’t that incredible? Isn’t that amazing? If you’re trying to win His acceptance still by your obedience and by your good works, you’ve put new wine in old wineskins.
A couple of years ago I met with a member of our church for lunch, and he told me that he was not sure of his salvation. I said, “Well, have you come to Christ, and do you believe in Christ?” He said, “Oh yes, I believe in Jesus.” He said, “I’m just not sure whether Jesus thinks I’m good enough.” I can guarantee you that he wasn’t good enough. Not by anything he had done. None of us are good enough. We’re not saved by our own righteousness. We’re saved by the righteousness of Christ. Not by our good works but by His. Not by our obedience but by His. If we’re trying to win His acceptance in heaven or on earth through our own good works, we put new wine in old wineskins.
We also put new wine in old wineskins when we divorce the law from mercy, when we apply the law without mercy, in our own life or in the life of others. One of the most incredible passages in the Bible, and I know we need to close, is John, chapter 7, verse 53 through John, chapter 8, verse 11. That passage of scripture tells the story of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. I think most of you know that story and you know how the Scribes and the Pharisees, the Jewish and religious leaders, brought this woman, caught in the act of adultery, before Christ. They said that the law of Moses requires that we stone such and what do you say? It was a trap, designed to ensnare Jesus. Jesus knew that if He said, “Let her go,” He would violate the law of Moses. He also knew if He said, “Stone her,” He would lose favor with the people. The Bible tells us that Jesus knelt down and He wrote in the sand, wrote on the ground—we don’t know what He wrote but we know this—He looked at the crowd and He said, “Let he among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” The Bible tells us the crowd disbursed and they went away one by one.
The amazing thing is, that passage of scripture, John, chapter 7, verse 53 to John 8, verse 11, is not in many of the early manuscripts. That little passage of scripture is not in many of the earliest manuscripts. Bible scholars and theologians do not doubt its authenticity. They believe that it was left out of many of the early manuscripts because the Christian scribes who had backgrounds in Judaism just couldn’t comprehend that kind of incredible mercy. How could God have that much mercy? But, you see, God does have that much mercy. Jesus said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Is there no one to accuse you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” The law, but with mercy.
We need to be sure that as we live our lives in Christ, we apply the law with mercy. The Bible says, “Judgement will be without mercy for those who have shown no mercy.” We don’t want to take the new wine of Christ and put it into the old wineskins.
As we close, another warning that we put new wine in old wineskins when we use the law to deny basic Christian freedoms. Of course, as Christians, we believe in moral absolutes. We live in a culture where Judeo-Christian values are eroding, and people are drowning in a sea of moral relativism and situational ethics. We believe in moral absolutes based on holy scripture. We believe certain things are simply wrong, and certain things are simply right. There are moral absolutes. But we also acknowledge that in Christ we have tremendous freedom. Some people who put new wine in old wineskins try to take that freedom away. We have a lot of freedom in Christ and it’s wonderful.
Can you go to a movie? Well, that’s a matter of Christian freedom. There are probably some movies you should go to and some movies you shouldn’t go to, but it’s a matter of Christian freedom before Christ. There are Christian fundamentalists who say all movies are wrong and they use the law to try to deny those basic freedoms. Is drinking okay? The Bible condemns drunkenness, but it does not condemn drinking per se. It’s an area of Christian freedom.
You see, fundamentalists say, “You can’t smoke. You can’t drink. You can’t play cards. You can’t dance. You can’t go to movies.” They’ve put new wine in old wineskins. They’ve used the law to try to take away basic Christian freedoms. As we close, and our time is up, we acknowledge that Jesus offers us new garments and new wine. He offers us new garments, and He tells us if we’re wearing old garments, they are soiled, they’re threadbare, they’re tom, they cannot be patched, and we need to take them off. He invites us to receive a new garment that He alone can offer, a white robe so that you can have His righteousness imputed to you, and you can receive that new garment today. He offers new wine, the new wine of the new covenant based on faith and received through grace, and He cautions us not to put that new wine into the old wineskins of legalism. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.